Rise

The clock ticked closer and close to 12PM, the official start time for the Battle Bonanza. But Zeng Rui was fairly confident that no challengers would approach the NetCow cafe right when things started, so Team Shanghai decided to jump into a practice game rather than sit around waiting. The idea of practice wasn’t inherently repugnant to the team, and even Lin Feng was on board. He smiled at all of them and exclaimed, “Yeah! Let’s practice, guys! Think of it as practice for when we all go pro!”

Zeng Rui stared at Lin Feng, his face completely expressionless. Lin Feng’s been talking about going pro a lot lately… Hm. Hm. Hm. He’s been hinting and pushing for all of us to go in every other conversation. But the thundering dumbass never bothered to ask if everyone here wanted to go pro…

The decision to transition into the professional scene was simple for some of the players on Team Shanghai, but more complicated for others. When it came to Zhang Hao, he was perfectly content playing in low level amateur tournaments and enjoying his high school days. He had no aspirations of becoming a professional player or making League of Legends his life. He was more than aware that he was simply not good enough to jump into the next level of play. It was simple enough for him, which is why he either ignored Lin Feng or cheered Lin Feng on.

When it came to Zeng Rui, that’s where things took a turn for the complicated. Zeng Rui was a talented player, one who definitely had the potential to go professional. Even the Shanghai Esports Association had their eye on him. Many of his friends, classmates, and fellow club members in Shanghai High School believed that he would eventually jump on over to the professional scene. But he always remained quiet and pensive whenever Lin Feng brought up the idea of all of them going pro together. Zeng Rui never said anything or tried to shut Lin Feng down. He just remained quiet and lost in his own thoughts. From his demeanor, it was clear that Zeng Rui had some reservations about going professional in his heart. But he wasn’t ready to start talking about them with the others. Zeng Rui was frozen in the limbo of hesitation.

Tang Bingyao was a combination of simple and complicated. She hadn’t given much thought to going pro, nor had she paid attention to what Lin Feng was saying about going pro. Her mind was entirely preoccupied with the potential profits from the Battle Bonanza. That was why she didn’t even mind practicing. All that mattered was the numbers. Every match is a best of three series, and each win is¥500. So that means two wins are ¥1000, three wins are ¥1500, ten wins are ¥5000! AND ONE HUNDRED WINS ARE ¥50,000! In her delight to watch the numbers grow in her mind, Tang Bingyao forgot that there were only so many matches to be played. She didn’t even care, she was too caught up in the windfall of finance that could be.

As Team Shanghai prepared to jump into a practice game, Qian Lu stood next to the stage with a satisfied smile plastered across his face. After watching them demolish the Lads, Qian Lu was more than confident in the skills that Team Shanghai possessed. And he knew that once all of the customers in the NetCow Cafe saw the team play, they would feel exactly as he did. There was nothing but profit to be gained from this practice game, and Qian Lu’s heart quivered in anticipation as Lin Feng and the others queued up for a ranked game. He even turned on all of the LCD screens above the stage, so that everyone spectating could get a better view of Team Shanghai in action.

But Qian Lu’s stance that action speaks louder than words was not enough for some of the customers of the NetCow Cafe. When Lin Feng and the others entered into Champion Select, they inched over to Qian Lu and started bombarding him with whispered questions.

“Ol’ Qian, where did you find these guys?”

“Are they good enough? This is our pride on the line too!”