Chapter 150: Unt.i.tled

Translator:

Atlas Studios

Editor:

Atlas Studios

On the extreme left was Mix battleteam. On the right, Tall Boots, Bug, Stickers, Nx, Skitters and more names of battleteams were listed in order. The stats a.n.a.lyzer said, “I recommend, we go from weak to strong. The later the training tournament, the less the local top battleteams have a grasp of our internal tactics and capabilities. Though we are stronger and have no fear of them, but using such a structure would be advantageous for the national qualifiers.”

“I’m afraid we can’t.” Mo Huaifeng shook his head lightly. “It’s the same for all of us. If we play the strong teams later, and they catch us by surprise, it would be extremely disadvantageous for us, whether for our mindset towards the compet.i.tion or the countering of tactics.

The stats a.n.a.lyzer thought for a moment. “That makes sense too. How about we do a give and take. Above average, below average, strong, average, going according to such a sequence, whether is it mindset or tactics, it should be more comprehensive.”

Mo Huaifeng nodded and said, “Skitters, Stickers, Wan Ning, Bug, Tall Boots, Nx, Bao Lu.”

As he listed, the stats a.n.a.lyzer noted it down on the white board with a marker, adding, “There’s still another eSports battleteam under Le Tian Club, W.J, formed last year, we can leave them to the end.”

Mo Huaifeng had no objections.

Only Ji Zhiyao was slightly stunned from hearing that.

W.J, this battleteam, the name sounded very familiar.

W.J…

!

Wasn’t that his opponent in the friendly match that he placed at Silver Throne Shopping Center before he became a professional player?

What a small world.

Truly fascinating.

Ji Zhiyao was a little dazed, Mo Huaifeng caught his dazed look with a dart of his peripherals and asked, “What are you daydreaming about?”

Everyone looked towards Ji Zhiyao. Ji Zhiyao answered honestly, “This time last year, before I became a professional player, I played a friendly match against W.J.”

Mo Huaifeng upon hearing the time frame, was reminded that he had asked Ji Zhiyao to play a match for him at the shopping center last year…

What a coincidence.

“Is that so?” The stats a.n.a.lyzer was full of interest. “I have only heard of this battleteam but still don’t have a concrete understanding of their competence. Noh.o.m.o, what do you think?”

Ji Zhiyao spoke frankly, “Especially lousy. Back then I played a round of solo against their jungler, he could not beat me.”

Mo Huaifeng was quiet for a moment before he said, “Couldn’t even beat you before you were trained, rather lousy indeed.”

Catching the contempt in his voice, Ji Zhiyao rolled his eyes and suggested. “But using them to boost the team’s confidence before the national qualifiers would still be good.”

“Why are the both of you so complacent? Beware that they’ve already taken flight after training for a year.” The stats a.n.a.lyzer chuckled. “Then let’s still add them to the list. Anymore questions? If not, I am going to organize the list and let Yuan Wei go invite the teams.”

Everyone gestured that they had no objections.

Hence the stats a.n.a.lyzer took a photo of the white board and said, “I’ll organize it back at my office later, Yuan Wei, I’ll send it to you tonight.”

“Got it. I’ll start inviting them one by one tonight.”

The stats a.n.a.lyzer picked up the marker and started to write sequence numbers in front of the battleteams.

Ji Zhiyao looked towards the white board and realized that this sequence was the rankings from the previous national qualifiers.

Mix Battleteam, first.

Tall Boots Battleteam, second.

Bug Battleteam, third.

Followed by Skitters, Stickers, Nx, W.J had not been formed then, thus they were placed at the end.

The stats a.n.a.lyzer explained, “At every national qualifiers, locally, there will be 20 battleteams qualified to partic.i.p.ate. The competing system is relatively simple, first these 20 battleteams will be divided into A and B groups, there will be a scrimmage within the group, the five victorious battleteams from each group qualify to move on. The remaining ten battleteam teams will then draw lots and go through a points segment, after four rounds of compet.i.tion, the top two teams with the highest number of acc.u.mulated points will compete against each other, the winner takes the number one spot and qualifies for the international league.”

“The competing system is generally so. As for the points segment, each round between battleteams is made up of a 1v1 match, a 3v3 match and three matches of 5v5. The 1v1 gives two points, 3v3 three points and 5v5, five points. Hence, the respective small points and the overall total are both important, but even more important than that would be teamwork.”

“Anything else you are unclear of?”

Ji Zhiyao committed everything to memory and shook his head with the others,

Seeing that the stats a.n.a.lyzer had finished speaking, Yuan Wei nagged on as usual like a mother. “There are more things to take note of, Captain will advise all of you when the time comes. But all of you must take note, be sure not to cause trouble, before the national qualifiers end, you all must be well-behaved, keep your tails between your legs. Just in case any accidents happen and you are banned from competing. Things can still be arranged for the mid-laner and jungler positions, for the rest, the consequences will be unimaginable. Once the partic.i.p.ating name list is submitted, it cannot be changed at the last minute. It’s not so bad if one person cannot compete, if you implicate because there are not enough numbers and the team cannot compete, just wait for Captain to kick you out.”

With that, Yuan Wei stared eagerly at Mo Huaifeng. Ji Zhiyao followed suit and found that Mo Huaifeng very kindly made a “hmph” sound through his nose.

This guy better f*cking not be a fool.

The stats a.n.a.lyzer cleaned off the words on the white board. “It will essentially be these teams that we will invite for the training tournaments, there won’t be any change. Except for Skitters and W.J, we have played against the rest previously. All of you think back properly on their distinguis.h.i.+ng features. In a while I will go send the organized materials on the battleteam to all of you, study up by yourselves, do watch the videos of last year’s national qualifiers too.”

Everyone nodded without a word.

Everything that was to be instructed was finally done so, the stats a.n.a.lyzer moved the white board to a side, Yuan Wei also walked out of the training and sat on the sofa outside. Mo Huaifeng s.h.i.+fted his chair, “Let’s start training.”

Everyone s.h.i.+fted their chairs back to their seats in succession.

Ji Zhiyao had just settled in when Mo Huaifeng knocked lightly on the surface of the desk with his knuckles. “Noh.o.m.o, come out for a while.”

Ji Zhiyao looked confusedly towards Mo Huaifeng and realized that he had already stood up, all he could catch was a back view. Hence he then looked confusedly at the rest, the others all had an expression of not knowing what was going on. He sucked in the corner of his lips and willingly followed outside.

Mo Huaifeng was standing under a tree in the yard, upon seeing him, some hints of a smile could not help but appeared on his face. Ji Zhiyao smiled too. “Captain, why did you call me out here?”

The trace of a smile in Mo Huaifeng’s eyes became deeper. “Heart to heart talk.”

Ji Zhiyao dropped onto the long bench at the side, asking lazily, “Because we are starting to play training tournaments, you wanted to remind me to properly adjust my frame of mind? Don’t worry, my mentality is great.”

“No.”

Ji Zhiyao looked questioningly at him. “Then why?” He thought for a moment and came up with the most possible answer. “Could it be about who will go on between me and Brother Xiao?”

“Mm.”

Ji Zhiyao surveyed the surroundings, after finding that there was no one, he patted the empty spot beside him and indicated for Mo Huaifeng to sit with him.

Mo Huaifeng sat down and freely leaned his shoulders against Ji Zhiyao’s, saying, “Xiao went to the hospital for a checkup, his wrist has completely recovered. The stats a.n.a.lyzer has also done a comprehensive a.n.a.lysis for him, currently he cannot match up to his peak period, but there also isn’t much of a difference. If nothing goes wrong, for the national qualifiers, Xiao as the starter, will be the main player. But there are also chances for both of you to take turns going on, you must adjust your mindset accordingly.

Each starting player has always been the battleteam’s first choice, because they are better in terms of chemistry with their teammates and also their ability. Take Xiaofei as an example, though he was Mix’s mid-laner reserve, he rarely had any chance to go on officially, during usual trainings, he also rarely worked with starting members.

Since Ji Zhiyao came to Mix battleteam, he essentially trained as the sixth starting member. Battleteam activities, training tournaments, practice with ranked matches, there would always be a fixed place for him. All of a sudden, Ji Zhiyao was expected to return to being a reserve. Mo Huaifeng was worried that he wouldn’t be able to turn his frame of mind around well.

Ji Zhiyao went speechless in a second, when he looked up again, his eyes were bright as he said, “I am indeed a little sad.”

Mo Huaifeng pursed his lips.

Ji Zhiyao continued, “But Brother Xiao’s hand injury recovering, is a rather happy thing. I finally don’t have to worry about being blamed when we lose compet.i.tions in the future.”

Mo Huaifeng froze and his lips promptly curved up.

He had forgotten, Ji Zhiyao might be mischievous, but he had never been disappointing.

“Don’t worry. I’m still young, there are still many years to come.”

“Mm.”

Ji Zhiyao turned his body and looked at him. “What about the training tournaments? Am I to take turns with Brother Xiao?”

Mo Huaifeng nodded. “Yes. Heng, Xiaofei, Xiao and you are to practice rotating your turns. Because we don’t know if Xiao’s hand injury will relapse, your training mission won’t be easy.”

Ji Zhiyao exhaled deeply, seeming like he was completely relieved. “That’s great, I thought that I was going to be idle this summer vacation.”

“No chance.”

He reached out his hand and grabbed Ji Zhiyao’s one.

Ji Zhiyao held his hand too and let go after a while, his tone relaxed as he said, “Let’s go Captain, back to training!”

…

Training in preparation for the national qualifiers was much tougher than before.

The most obvious change was, to ensure there was time to train, the dinner parties for everyone in Mix had gone from three to four times a week to once every two weeks.

That afternoon, Mix battleteam welcomed their very first training tournament, against Skitters.

Skitters Battleteam had already existed since the Chinese eSports scene just started, it was considered one of the earliest battleteams in the scene. Their former batch of members retired after partic.i.p.ating in the national qualifiers three years ago, the current batch of members was a new generation of players selected by the club, all were very young.

These three years, they took part in various big and small compet.i.tions and also left behind some video materials. After the stats a.n.a.lyzer observed and a.n.a.lyzed their gameplay, he came up with a distinguis.h.i.+ng feature of Skitters.

Stable.

Way too stable.

They were completely unlike eSports newbies who were filled with eagerness, instead they were more like wily old foxes that had been around for several years. No matter what battleteam they were up against, they would always adopt the practice of making progress through ensuring stability, attacking with the way of defense and rarely initiating an attack.

After a discussion, it would be Xiaofei and Xiao going on for this tournament.

Ji Zhiyao moved a little stool and sat behind Xiao with his notebook, preparing to take notes while watching the matches. Heng sat behind Xiaofei.

After selecting their champions, the match began right away.

Xiao could not control his itch once the match began and called Xiaofei along, both of them charging towards the opponent’s blue daddy.

Skitter’s jungler had probably saw them in the mini map and sent a signal telling his teammates to wait there. The levels and abilities of both teams were very low, after fighting head-on for a while, Xiaofei and Xiao decisively retreated.

K: “Develop wretchedly, don’t wander daddies.”

Xiao: “Chill chill. It’s because I haven’t played training tournaments in a long time, I’m just feeling slightly excited.”

Xiao returned to their jungle and began farming creeps.

Because Skitters was really too boring, only quietly killing waves of minions in their turrets, only their turret defense was top cla.s.s. Even Mo Huaifeng who all along not keen of creating trouble was a little annoyed and said, “Get some tank equipment, dive the turrets for kills. Xiao take note of the opposite jungler.”

Xiao grinned. “Roger.”

Telling him to take note of the opposite jungler, wasn’t it telling him to get ready to counter jungler anytime?

Even if they don’t like fighting, they would have to when the opportunity was created!

Xiao changed his equipment and stealthily made his way to the opponent’s jungle. When Skitter’s jungler moved closer, being completely unaware, Xiao who had been hiding for long rushed out and thrashed him.

At the same time, Mo Huaifeng who already lost his patience at the bottom lane put on his equipment and directly finished off the opponent’s top laner.

Two kills broke the 15 minute long deadlock situation with no kills.

However this match dragged on until the 50th minute. Both teams were as firm as rock, everyone harmoniously developed and dragged the match to a later stage.

Ji Zhiyao watched till even his head hurt.

Heng: “Goodness gracious, even the last match against Tall Boots at the previous national qualifiers hadn’t been this disgusting. Fortunately it was Xiaofei who went on today and not me. Xiao, does your hand hurt?”

Xiao: “Still fine. F*ck, are you sure these are new numbers? Why do they not have any sense of vigor at all! Nothing like my son, full of vigor and energy, rebuts the whole world and the team dictator.”

Nuo cackled: “Amazing huh Xiao. For Chinese New Year next year, Noh.o.m.o would have couplets to hang outside his dorm’s door.”

Ji Zhiyao had a speechless expression.

Mo Huaifeng saw a chance and pushed down the second last turret in the middle lane whilst hiding in the bushes, then said, “Xiao take the big dragon, Xiaofei bait. Lure them all to the middle, we’ll push directly from the middle lane.”

K: “Tell me I’m not the only one who caught the impatience in Captain’s tone.”

Mo Huaifeng: “I urgently need to pee.”

Following the mindset of “no matter what we cannot delay Captain from going to the toilet”, Xiaofei went to the middle lane and died gloriously in the face of their enemies, the middle lane directly became a complete mess. Xiao took advantage of that to take down the big dragon then obediently hurried to the defense turret to join the rest.

A training tournament that dragged on for 50 minutes, finally ended within the last five minutes. In the last moment, Nuo who was used as a human s.h.i.+eld and pushed out to block three of the Skitters’ players received affectionate gazes from everyone, Mo Huaifeng’s expression became incomparably relaxed and made an exception in patting his leg before hastily running towards the bathroom.

According to Nuo’s own words: “Turns out in Captain’s heart, I’m of greater importance than his physiological needs.”

His eyes were teary, Ji Zhiyao was especially tempted to get him to sober up quickly.

He wrote the last word and put his notebook away. Looking up, he saw his Captain, like a son of an aristocratic family, leisurely walk out of the bathroom, swung his hands and said, “Break for the afternoon, come back before 9 PM at night to train.”

Nuo cheered loudly, bouncing around the whole room in a pair of oversized pants. “I’m dying of hunger, I want to eat at the sauerkraut fish place at Chang Jing Road, Captain’s treat please!”

K asked, “Brother, did you not eat lunch?”

“If I had not eaten lunch I would have fainted long before the tournament. This meal can be taken as my afternoon tea, aren’t you hungry after defeating that bunch of rock men from Skitters?”