96: Chapter 96 The Dream of Esports

In Shenzhen, in that familiar internet café.

In front of the two computers furthest inside, Liu Yang pushed his keyboard forward.

On the screen, the results screen was frozen on the two large characters for "Defeat."

He had lost again.

This was his fourth consecutive loss tonight. He had played every match to the end, and each time he was just a little short, but for some reason, he just couldn't win.

Liu Yang didn't blame his teammates; he knew that his own skill had reached its ceiling.

It was impossible to advance any further.

He leaned back in his chair, rubbed his slightly sore wrists, and looked at the rank icon on the screen that hadn't budged for several days.

Diamond I, twenty points.

He was just one step away from Master.

But he had already tried to take that step countless times.

Every time it looked like he was about to promote, he would hit a losing streak, fall back down, have to climb again, and then fall back down.

Meanwhile.

Next to him, on A-Shui's computer, the results screen had just popped up.

"Victory."

"MVP."

A-Shui's Ezreal had dealt the highest damage in the game, and his KDA was quite impressive. His rank was already in Zaun—that is, Challenger in the second server with over five hundred points—showing his formidable strength.

Two months ago, they were still playing matches together in the internet café, with Fatty as the Support, A-Shui as the ADC, and Liu Yang as the Mid laner.

Later, when the ranked system went live, after a period of duo queuing, they couldn't duo anymore at higher ranks, so the two of them split up and started solo queuing.

A-Shui charged upward, from Diamond to Master, from Master to Grandmaster, and from Grandmaster to Challenger, almost without ever getting stuck.

Liu Yang, on the other hand, had been stuck bouncing back and forth in the Diamond tier for over a month.

He took out his phone and checked the time.

There were only three days left until the first stage of the league of legends esports tournament began. Only players at the Master rank or higher before the start of the first stage were eligible to form teams and participate.

Five-person teams, no substitutes. To accommodate the first nationwide tournament, the rule preventing duo queuing above Master rank had even been lowered to Diamond.

Liu Yang placed his phone on the desk and let out a long sigh.

Then he turned his head and spoke to A-Shui.

"Reaching Diamond is already my limit."

His voice held a hint of helplessness.

"I've been grinding for nearly a month since ranked came out, but I can't push any further. I'm afraid I won't be able to participate in the tournament with you."

"You'll have to find other teammates."

A-Shui had already reached Challenger, and Fatty had reached Master rank.

Only he was still spinning in circles in Diamond I.

A-Shui took off his headphones and turned to look at him.

"Don't be discouraged, there are still three days left."

Liu Yang shook his head.

"Three days is simply not enough time."

He knew where his talent lay; reaching Diamond I was his limit. Advancing any further was likely impossible.

"It's okay."

Liu Yang leaned back in his chair and forced a smile.

"I'll Support you from behind the scenes and cheer you on."

A-Shui was silent for a moment.

After thinking for a while, he spoke.

"How about I play on your account?"

Liu Yang shook his head without even thinking.

"Setting aside the fact that it's cheating."

"Even if you helped me get there, when the actual tournament starts, my skill level wouldn't be able to keep up with you guys. I'd just be a burden, and we might not even make it past the second round."

"It would just waste your opportunity."

Seeing that A-Shui wanted to say something, Liu Yang waved his hand.

He feigned an indifferent expression, his tone very relaxed.

"Don't traditional sports have coaches too?"

"You've said it yourself, my mechanics aren't great, but my understanding of the meta and the game is strong."

"I can help you analyze the opponents' strength and study their playing habits."

He paused.

"Maybe this esports system will eventually need someone like me?"

"After all, once we reach the offline stage in the third round, it can't just be the five of you running around everywhere."

Liu Yang became more and more serious as he spoke.

"I can order takeout for you, act as an assistant, organize opponent data, study match replays, and even analyze the opponents' pick-and-ban habits for you."

"As long as you pay me."

Seeing Liu Yang say this, A-Shui didn't try to persuade him further.

He leaned back in his chair and smiled.

"Alright."

"I won't speak for the others, but I'll definitely share a portion of my prize money with you."

After a pause, he continued.

"So, Coach."

"Do I have any flaws right now?"

Liu Yang rubbed his hands together and thought for a moment.

"Actually, you do."

He sat up straight.

"Back when we were duo queuing, I noticed that you were sometimes too aggressive."

"Even when the enemy jungler's position was unknown, you would still go up to trade health. Several times, you ended up getting killed because the enemy jungler rotated in time, throwing away the advantage you had built up early on."

He paused.

"You must be careful about this during the tournament. Matches aren't like ranked games; you can't afford to lose any single game, and you can't let a moment of recklessness cost you the entire match."

A-Shui nodded, his expression becoming much more serious.

Liu Yang continued.

"Also, your champion pool is too small."

"Over the next two days, you absolutely must practice a few more bot lane champions; they might have unexpected effects when the time comes..."

...

South Korea, Mapo Middle School.

The bell for the last class had just rung, and the hallways were crowded with students heading out.

A tall student stood at the corner of the hallway, blocking a teenager with a cauliflower-shaped haircut.

His name was Liu Pushi, and he was half a head taller than the cauliflower-haired boy. He was currently pressing his palms together, his tone pleading.

"Just teach me."

"How exactly do you press Riven's fast QA combo? I saw someone on a stream do all three parts of the QA in one second. I've been practicing for three days and still can't do it; my fingers are about to cramp up."

The cauliflower-haired boy glanced at him.

"I don't have time."

"How do you not have time!"

Liu Pushi wouldn't give up.

"Don't tell me you guys, the Mapo Dual Carries, are really going to put your energy into that esports tournament?"

"Seriously, esports isn't going to take off. How could a game tournament possibly have that many viewers? That multi-million dollar prize money has probably already been rigged."

"You guys are so strong right now, Challenger with a thousand points, and you can earn a good amount of money from streaming ranked games every day, yet you're putting your energy into some esports thing."

"It's a waste of time."

The cauliflower-haired boy glanced at him, ignored him, walked past him, and headed downstairs.

His family background wasn't good, and his computer couldn't Support the setup for streaming. His only talent was gaming, so regardless of whether this esports tournament was real or not, he had to give it a try.

The cauliflower-haired boy walked through the hallway, went down the stairs, and arrived at the school gate.

Outside the school gate, a teenager was already waiting for him.

The other person was leaning against the wall, holding two cans of coffee.

Kim Hyuk-kyu, whose league of legends ID was Deft.

In school, he was the second person to reach Challenger in league of legends, second only to the cauliflower-haired boy. The two of them were among the first batch of players to reach high Challenger ranks in South Korea.

People at school gave them a nickname: the Mapo Dual Carries.

Taking the coffee from the other person, the two of them walked together toward the nearest internet café outside the school.

"Did you find a Top laner?"

Pulling the tab and taking a sip, the cauliflower-haired boy asked.

After they had climbed to Challenger, they stopped pushing for more points and started looking for other top South Korean players to form a team.

In fact.

They had already organized several scrims against other Challenger teams preparing for the tournament, with both sides winning and losing.

In the process, they had already confirmed two other teammates who fit their style. Currently, their team was just missing one last person.

"Found one."

"How's his skill level?"

"Don't worry, his skill level is incredibly high. I've already watched his ranked games; he has immense talent and has almost solo-killed every high-ranked Challenger Top laner he's faced."

They crossed two streets, turned into a narrow alley, and at the end was an old internet café.

They pushed open the glass door and walked past rows of computers filled with people.

Three computers were turned on in the private room at the very back.

Sitting on the left was a tall, thin teenager with hair covering half of his eyebrows. A ranked game was open on his screen, his fingers flying across the keyboard, and the Riven on the screen was weaving back and forth among three enemies.

"His Riven is flying through the air," Kim Hyuk-kyu murmured.

After a triple kill, the opponents surrendered, and the tall, thin teenager turned his head.

Kim Hyuk-kyu smiled and introduced the two to each other.

"This is our Top laner, Kang Seung-lok."

"This is the Mid laner I told you about, he's also my classmate."

"Lee Sang-hyeok."

"Now, we are teammates."