Chapter 63: 63

At half past one in the afternoon, Coach Lin arrived punctually at the training room. He indicated for everyone to take their assigned positions, then immediately announced, "There are a few things I'd like to say to you all. First, Shaoyang's paperwork has already been processed. The league's official disciplinary committee will be visiting us next Wednesday to take stock of Tianhuan's conditions. I hope everyone will cooperate seriously with their check."Everyone uniformly nodded their understanding.Lin Feng then passed a notice to Chi Shuo. "Secondly, Season 9's tournament finals will be taking place this weekend—November 11th at seven in the evening. They'll be held at the esports arena in the capital. The league has requested that major teams do their best to attend and cheer from the live audience. I'd like to ask you all for your opinion. Do you guys want to watch the finals live?"The players exchanged dismayed looks with one another.Cheng Xing quietly said, "We were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs. Won't we be mocked if we appear at the live venue?"Xie Xiaotian also meekly whispered, "I want to go to the stadium, I want to watch the game live. Watching a game live and watching the video at our base… the atmosphere just feels different."Coach Lin looked towards Chi Shuo and asked, "Captain Chi, what do you think?"Chi Shuo calmly said, "Let's go to the venue."He paused for a moment, then lowered his tone and said, "The finals of the domestic professional league only take place once a year. This year, our Tianhuan's achievements weren't ideal. But next season, Tianhuan just might be one of the teams sitting up on the finals stage. Getting a feel for the venue ahead of time won't do us any harm."Everyone was speechless for a moment.Captain Chi was really the boldest of them all!Ye Shaoyang looked over at the very earnest Chi Shuo, then smiled and said, "I agree with Captain Chi. It feels like a bit of a pity to not attend a once-a-year finals event."Qu Jiang earnestly said, "That's right. Even if we're only there as spectators, we'll be able to get a feel for the atmosphere of the live venue. Plus, Old Nie and A-Ning bought tickets to watch the finals live too. I actually miss them a lot."Coach Lin nodded. "Okay. Then our starting lineup and second-string team will attend to watch the finals live. But there's one thing I want to remind you of. The league has set aside a special area for professional players to watch the finals. When the time comes, plenty of gaming gods from other teams will be present. You guys don't go running your mouths now."He glanced over at Ye Shaoyang and warned, "Especially regarding Shaoyang's identity. Before the league makes the official announcement, you guys don't go exposing him. If other teams ask, just say he's someone new at Tianhuan."Ye Shaoyang really was someone new. It was just that he'd broken the league record for the highest signing fee a newbie had ever received. It was just that he was a newbie who would debut as soon as he signed. And he was an omega. All these details were unprecedented.If all this information came out at the finals, there was a good chance that the news would be explosive. No one would even watch the finals. All the players from other teams would surround Ye Shaoyang.Ye Shaoyang didn't want to become a gorilla in a backstage circus, so it was best to keep a low profile. All he wanted was to watch a live game.Coach Lin continued, "The third thing is that I've talked with the coaching team, and we've decided Tianhuan's second-string team will sign up to compete in this year's Silver Dragon Cup. Yan Bin, you help make the preparations. Get your players' information together and send it all to me."Yan Bin lifted his head and looked towards the coach with some surprise. "The Silver Dragon Cup? Don't we usually not participate?""The prize pool is fairly large this year," Coach Lin said. "The champions will receive a two million yuan cash prize, and they'll be named Silver Dragon's spokespersons for the year. Second and third place will receive one million yuan and eight hundred thousand yuan respectively. Other teams who make it into the final round will also receive a two hundred thousand yuan consolation prize."The second-string teams of nearly every major club will be participating, as well as some other minor league teams. Early estimates have hundreds of teams signing up. The tournament will start with a knock-out round with randomly drawn match-ups. You guys can go and treat this as basic training."Ye Shaoyang quietly asked Chi Shuo, "Is the Silver Dragon Cup a minor league tournament?"Chi Shuo quietly answered, "Yeah. Gods War has a lot of tournaments. The most well-known minor league ones are the Frost Goddess Cup, which is an annual winter tournament; the Seven Stars Cup, which takes place in July; and the Silver Dragon Cup, which is held every November. The prize pools are always in the millions. Minor league teams rely on these tournaments for most of their winnings."Gods War was a game that had taken the world by storm. It had a daunting number of international players, and it made an astonishing sum in advertising profits. Any good-looking legendary skin could rake in billions of yuan. Every year, big and small tournaments took place nonstop, and there were countless players who made a living as professional Gods War esports players. In the domestic division alone, there were thousands of pro players.The official professional league, abbreviated as the GPL, was home to the most highly-renowned tournament in the professional world of Gods War. Each year, only eighteen teams were invited to participate, and a 'last place elimination system' was used. Every two seasons, the two teams ranked at the bottom of the league would have to play in qualifying games against the champions and runner-ups from the minor leagues, in order to compete for a spot in the following season's GPL tournament.In order for a minor league team to advance to the GPL, they had to gain points to become the top-ranked teams in the minor leagues. Then they would have to face off against those low-ranking teams from the GPL. If they won, their teams would be promoted to the GPL in the following season.Every year, some teams would be cut from the GPL while fresh blood would be brought in.That was the fierceness of professional esports.There were only eighteen spots for teams in the major leagues. A very limited number. So what happened to the players whose teams couldn't make it into the GPL? They could only play in minor league games and compete in those tournaments.Not everyone in the esports industry was as dazzling as Chi Shuo and Fang Zhengqing, who were worth tens of millions of yuan. Many players in the minor leagues would only receive a paltry salary every month. They relied on tournament winnings to make a living. Every year, many teams would also be forced to disband when they couldn't keep themselves running.This industry was actually quite cruel.Ye Shaoyang was undoubtedly fortunate to have won Tianhuan's recognition. He had directly signed with a team that played in the GPL. If he'd signed with a minor league team, he wouldn't even have had the right to play in major tournaments.Chi Shuo added, "Tianhuan doesn't actually need that prize money of two million yuan. We might be sending our second-string team to the Silver Dragon Cup purely as a business decision. The Silver Dragon Group invests in a lot of esports clubs, so this could just be to keep up appearances."Ye Shaoyang nodded his understanding.The Silver Dragon Cup didn't have much to do with them, as Tianhuan's starting lineup. But since their second-string team would be competing, they would still be representing Tianhuan. The tournament just so happened to fall during the team's internal training period, so they could swiftly raise up the game sense of the kids on the second-string team. Ye Shaoyang planned on giving Xie Xiaotian some extra lessons. Maybe they would produce some good results.After Coach Lin made those three announcements, he proceeded to get everyone started on the day's training.Yesterday, they'd practiced with the double flight comp. Today, they would start on the black/white wolf kings comp.Once again, Team Two was destroyed.Xie Xiaotian was chased all around the rift by Ye Shaoyang's four little wolf cubs. He was psychologically scarred by all their bites! Ultimately, Coach Lin rigged the game to give Team Two a huge advantage again, letting Team Two take one win to restore their shattered mental states.After training, Ye Shaoyang called out to Xie Xiaotian in Tianhuan's group chat: [@Happy Every Day Starting Today, Let's have a few rounds of 1v1 at midnight after training every night, before we go to bed. ^_^]Xie Xiaotian's soul was scared out of his body by the sight of that smiley face. He answered: [Yang-ge, I… did I offend you somehow? T_T]Ye Shaoyang wrote: [I just want to help strengthen your mental fortitude. ^_^]Xie Xiaotian: [……]Chi Shuo immediately added: [@QinSui, As the jungler of Team Two, you come 1v1 me too.]Qin Sui: [………]Coach Lin understood what these two were planning. He also wrote: [Captain Chi and Shaoyang are trying to help you, and you guys aren't jumping on the chance? In next week's Silver Dragon Cup, you'll be representing Tianhuan as soon as you step out of your base. You really can't be eliminated and sent home in the first round of the groups stage, can you?]Xie Xiaotian understood and answered: [Thank you for your guidance, Yang-ge!]Qin Sui also enthusiastically responded: [If I'm abused by Captain Chi a few extra times now, I won't be scared of other junglers in the tournament later.]And so, while Ye Shaoyang and Chi Shuo used to double queue every night after midnight, they changed their training schedule for a few days to start tutoring the kids from Team Two.While training with them during the day, the kids from Team Two were essentially like punching bags. It really was very easy for their mental states to collapse. In order to let Team One get some practical combat experience, Team Two had to study the lineups of other teams and learn how to emulate them. They really did work very hard.If Ye Shaoyang was willing to help cultivate Xie Xiaotian, their second-string mid laner, Coach Lin was actually thrilled to see it.As he watched these internal 1v1 training matches, Lin Feng couldn't help but sigh silently with a bit of melancholy—Back in the day, Chi Shuo had also been trained up by his master like this.Tianhuan had, for a full decade, gone through its tumultuous ups and downs, weathering many storms. They'd climbed to the highest peaks, and they'd sunk to the bottoms of the deepest canyons. The only thing that remained unchanging in the team was this atmosphere of constantly charging upwards together. And that was exactly why Lin Feng had been willing to stay at Tianhuan as a coach.Lin Feng took out his cell phone and sent a message to someone listed in his contacts as 'Tom': [Do you have time for a practice game in the week of November 20th to 25th?]Tom replied very quickly: [Second-string vs second-string?]Lin Feng: [Starting lineup. To get ready for next season.]Tom hesitated for a moment, then answered: [Okay. I'll talk the specifics over with the team.]Tom was the head coach of Team FNO, from the North American division. The captain of the team was Mitchell, a very popular mid laner. However, FNO had had the same bad luck as Tianhuan in S9. They had also been eliminated in the first round of the playoffs in the North American league. They lost to TBP, a team that had been the favored champions of the year. Being eliminated from the playoffs in the very first round meant that they, too, had no hopes of making it to the world championships that year.And FNO's marksman and support had also retired. A pair of newbies had been brought in. Their names were Allen and Angus. Just like Tianhuan, Team FNO's bottom lane was seeing big changes. And so, the two coaches felt a sort of kinship.This season's world championships would have nothing to do with either of their teams, anyway. Scheduling a practice game to help each other sharpen their edges would be good prep for next season. Plus, North American teams and Chinese teams could play together without too many complications.Very quickly, Tom replied again: [November 20th at 12. Our noon, your midnight. Or your midnight and our noon would be fine too. Let's play two rounds.]Coach Lin wrote: [Okay. Let's do our noon. I'll have them get up early.]Tom: [OK.]After arranging that practice game, Coach Lin set a reminder for himself on his phone, then happily drifted off to sleep.Season 9 was coming to a close, and Season 10 was set to begin next year. Their Tianhuan would definitely be able to climb up from the bottom!Chi Shuo had said that they would go to the live venue of the finals to get used to the atmosphere; he hadn't just been cracking a joke. They really might be able to enter the S10 finals as contestants. They really might sit up on that grand stage.Time flew by very quickly over the next few days.In the afternoons, Team One and Team Two continued with their internal practice games, switching through all sorts of team comps. At midnight, Ye Shaoyang would start to torment Xie Xiaotian, and Chi Shuo would start to torment Qin Sui.The second-string mid laner and jungler were wrecked by these two demon kings, to the point that they didn't have any energy left. But they did improve very rapidly.In the blink of an eye, November 11th arrived.November 11th, in Ye Shaoyang's old world, was a day where everyone could shop like crazy. November 11th in this world was like a festival for the esports community—every year, the finals of the GPL took place on the night of November 11th!The regular season of S9 had stretched on for half a year. Out of the eighteen teams in the league, eight made it to the playoffs. Tianhuan and Beimu had been eliminated in the first round, and Jingzhe had been beaten from the winners bracket to the losers bracket.But shockingly, after being defeated by Huowen, Jingzhe went on a winning streak and became the champions of the losers bracket! They made their way back to the finals!As for Huowen, the team favored by the masses—they were eliminated by Team Binghun.And so, the S9 finals would be a matchup between Team Jingzhe and Team Binghun.At noon on November 11th, Tianhuan's coordinator Tang Can knocked at Ye Shaoyang's dorm room door. She smiled and called out, "Shaoyang, your uniform is ready. It's been tailored for you. We had three sets made for you, so you can wear them in rotation. Come try them on."Ye Shaoyang accepted the clothes and returned to his room to change.Tianhuan's uniforms were blue and white. The design was stylishly simple, and the colors were quite plain, but the fabric was of an excellent quality. The uniforms were extremely comfortable to wear.A tailor had taken Ye Shaoyang's measurements earlier, so his uniforms were extremely fitting.Dressed in his new uniform, Ye Shaoyang approached Chi Shuo and grinned as he asked, "Captain Chi, what do you think? Does this make me look more like a member of Team Tianhuan?"Chi Shuo looked away from his smiling face and lightly coughed. "Looks… looks pretty good."The uniform really did look pretty good. The blue stood in contrast to Ye Shaoyang's skin, making him look even more pale. And those big, bright eyes were filled with mirth. The simple athletic clothes made him look even more youthful and energetic than usual. Ye Shaoyang actually looked quite delicate to begin with; the uniform completely made him look like a high school student. He could definitely film a team uniform commercial looking just like that.Unsurprisingly, Tang Can's eyes flashed with light. She praised, "Shaoyang is so handsome in our team uniform! When we have our photoshoot for next season's ads and merch, you get a few extra pictures taken. Our team's merchandise just might sell out!"Team merch was another income stream for the club. Sales of a team's uniform was one measurement of a team's popularity. Ye Shaoyang happily said, "Whatever the PR team needs, just let me know. I'm happy to cooperate, of course."Chi Shuo also changed into his uniform. The two of them went downstairs to eat, and they just so happened to run into the coaches.Coach Lin said, "No training in the afternoon today. We'll head out at exactly four o'clock and get to the venue early."At four in the afternoon, Tianhuan's car set out from their base.Ye Shaoyang had a pheromone suppressing patch stuck to his nape. He was wearing the jacket of their team uniform. With the collar standing up a bit, it perfectly covered up his sensitive spot.Chi Shuo was sitting in the back row of the van with Ye Shaoyang. After a moment of silence, he quietly warned, "At the finals, there will be lots of alphas in the audience. When we get there, you just sit next to me, to make sure no one else affects you."Ye Shaoyang nodded. "Okay."Chi Shuo looked at the obedient way Ye Shaoyang nodded. His heart inexplicably felt a little softer.Was it really true that omegas would develop a dependency on alphas who marked them? When Shaoyang climbed into the car, there had clearly been many open seats. But he'd simply sat next to Chi Shuo, and he'd even smiled over at him.Ahem. Forget it. He was the captain of Team Tianhuan, wasn't he?Protecting his own teammates was the least he could do. Author's Notes:We still have a ways to go before the official announcement. I've already glossed over a lot of daily training scenes. Everyone, don't be impatient~ ^_^

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