Rise

Ren Rou was President of the high school esports club. She handled the logistics and day-to-day operations of the club, making sure that everything was in order. But when it came to actually playing League of Legends, that’s where she took a step back. Not because she hated playing the game or anything like that. She loved playing League! It was more that she wasn’t very good at it, definitely not good enough to represent the team well. She’d been hardstuck in Silver for more than a year. Sure, she could have pushed herself onto the team if she wanted to. She was the President. But she wanted the esports club to succeed, and her playing the game would not accomplish that. So she helped out as best as she could, taking care of the other things so that all of the other people in the club who loved the game just as much as her could keep playing on the team and keep fighting for glory.

Ouyang found himself on the same boat as Ren Rou. He loved League of Legends, he was all about gamer culture, and he loved the esports club. There was nothing that made him happier. But he also never made it onto the main team because he was never one of the best players in the club. His Gold 3 rank placed him solidly in the middle of the pack within the club. The role that he took on was similar to Ren Rou’s, where he assisted the club in administrative ways. It also gave him the opportunity to keep playing the game he loved with other members of the club.

Yang Fan was a little different from the others. He did have administrative duties within the club, but he also made it onto the main team. He was a Platinum player, and participated in the qualifiers for the 16 School Tournament last year.

“We have to take part in the training too?” Ouyang asked in surprise. He figured that Lin Feng would devote his time to people who would be representing the club at the tournament, and that he wouldn’t be included at all.

Ren Rou was similarly startled. She pointed at herself and asked, “Even me?”

“Correct!” Lin Feng said. Then he jabbed his finger on his chest and said, “I’ll be in charge of your training plan!”

Yang Fan looked at Lin Feng, hesitant. “The tournament starts in a couple of weeks. Don’t you think we’re a little bit late with this?” He trusted that Lin Feng really was a Challenger and he understood that being trained by a Challenger was sure to see their skill improve by leaps and bounds. The issue, the one that worried him, was about the time constraints. Or to put it more bluntly, he simply didn’t see how Lin Feng could turn them into contenders for the 16 School Tournament. He definitely didn’t see how Lin Feng could get them to the point where they’d be in the Top 4 in a little more than half a month.

“I can get you to Diamond! No problem-o!” Lin Feng said. Then he pounded his chest and added, “Trust me! I already have coaching experience!”

Lin Feng really did have experience coaching. He’d recently taken two students under his wings and they were both performing phenomenally after receiving his guidance. The first was Tang Bingyao. She’d been playing with him at the NetCow Cafe, and gone from Diamond 4 to the point where she could hold her own against players who were Diamond 1. Then there was Su Xue. She was struggling in Gold when he first met her. Then she spent some time playing and learning from him. Now? She’d spent the last two days climbing from Gold to Platinum 5. And she was still playing phenomenal games. She could get even higher!