Chapter 13

The night before the practice match, under the witness of Shen Chuan and Qin Yu Xuan, the ten members of the Youth Training Camp paired up by profession and had a one-on-one duel.

The five players finally selected to play the practice match against the first team were Pei Yun Chang, Pan Shi, Lu Chang Kong, Lan Mao as the mid laner, and Huang Mao as the jungler.

Except for Lan Mao’s slightly bumpy road to selection, the others defeated their opponents without any suspense, especially Pan Shi, who completely crushed PP.

However, it’s worth mentioning that a week ago, Pei Yun Chang, who was an undisputed choice, had to put in a lot of effort this time because of Bian Yan’s appearance.

He and Bian Yan had to play three full matches before he could completely win from operations to laning skills and earn the qualification for the challenge match.

The five selected players represented the Youth Training Camp in the match, while the rest were responsible for observing.

The first team’s training room was on the second floor, and Qin Yu Xuan led the ten of them upstairs.

WIN doesn’t rely on the Youth Training Camp to produce talent, so they don’t have the habit of showing the trainees around the entire base. Therefore, it was the first time these kids were visiting upstairs today.

“Wow, it’s really big…”

As soon as Lu Chang Kong entered, he couldn’t help but look around and whispered to Pan Shi beside him, “A luxurious five-person room, much better than our old shabby place. When can we come upstairs to train?”

Pan Shi didn’t say anything, just silently measured every detail of the first team’s luxurious training room with his eyes, unwilling to look away.

Bian Yan, standing at the back of the crowd, also had eyes full of longing as he gazed from afar, the surrounding exclamations fueling his desire.

Only by becoming stronger can he come here.

“Welcome everyone to the first team’s training room. Let’s introduce ourselves.”

Shen Chuan clapped his hands, and the room instantly quieted down.

The team uniforms of the first team and the Youth Training Camp were the same style but different colors. The Youth Training Camp’s was orange, while the first team’s was pure red, with the letters “WIN” prominently written on the back.

As soon as Shen Chuan finished speaking, five people in red uniforms stood up and introduced themselves one by one.

“WIN – Lao Miao, mid lane, 12,960 points, level 122 mage, fourth on the ladder.”

“WIN – Self, jungle, 12,310 points, level 118 jungler, eleventh on the ladder.”

“WIN – Ji Feng, development lane, 10,755 points, level 103 marksman, seventy-third on the ladder.”

“WIN – Qian Chi, side lane, 11,790 points, level 109 warrior, twenty-eighth on the ladder.”

“WIN – Cloud, roaming, 12,305 points, level 110 support, thirteenth on the ladder.”

The five of them neatly reported their IDs, preferred professions, lane strengths, and ladder rankings.

Lane strength, as the name suggests, is the standard for measuring a person’s strength in playing a certain profession in Sacred Domain Clash. It is calculated by adding the strength of the five best heroes played by the person and dividing by ten.

There is no upper limit, and it is ranked by level.

The leaderboard for lane strength in the entire game is called the Ladder.

Each of the five professions has a ladder, and the top 100 in the game are listed, making it the most authoritative and official way to measure strength in Sacred Domain Clash, attracting top players from home and abroad.

Except for marksmen and mages, the top five on the ladder for other professions are mostly dominated by foreign players.

Anyone who makes it onto the ladder in the country is either a starting player or a substitute in an esports team, with the worst going to the Youth Training Camp.

Major teams regularly sweep the rankings to ensure no hidden talents are missed.

It can even be said that as long as a passerby makes it onto the ladder, they have a stepping stone to the path of esports.

Except for Ji Feng, all five members of the WIN team are ranked in the top fifty on the ladder, with Lao Miao even making it into the top five.

Moreover, all five have lane strengths exceeding 10,000, with three of them surpassing 12,000, showcasing their formidable strength.

It’s worth noting that the entry requirement for the WIN Youth Training Camp is only 8,000 points.

Among the five selected, only Pei Yun Chang and Pan Shi made it onto the ladder, ranking eleventh and fifty-eighth in their respective lanes, with their strengths breaking 10,000.

The remaining three, except for Lu Chang Kong, who barely reached 9,900 points, have low strengths, with Lan Mao as the mid laner not even reaching 9,000 points.

Bian Yan, who ranked forty-ninth on the development lane ladder, couldn’t participate due to a conflict with Pei Yun Chang’s profession.

Fortunately, the format is a cross-team practice between the first team and the Youth Training Camp. If it were a direct challenge from the Youth Training Camp to the first team, there would be no need for a one-on-one duel.

After the first team introduced themselves, it was the Youth Training Camp’s turn, and their momentum was noticeably weaker.

Until Pei Yun Chang—

“Youth Training Camp – Arrow, development lane, 12,570 points, level 128 marksman, eleventh on the ladder.”

As soon as he finished speaking, there were a few exclamations in the training room.

Shen Chuan was also a bit excited; he didn’t expect Pei Yun Chang to progress so quickly.

Two months ago, when he and Qin Yu Xuan went to pick him up, Pei Yun Chang was just an anonymous account ranked thirty-third on the development lane ladder, and now…

Although it was quite impolite, after Pei Yun Chang introduced himself, everyone couldn’t help but glance at the current starting marksman, Ji Feng.

Seventy-third and eleventh, 10,755 points and 12,570 points, this was the gap between a starting player and a Youth Training Camp member, and even Ji Feng’s current ranking wasn’t higher than Bian Yan, who had just joined WIN.

This was a kind of humiliation.

But Ji Feng, the person involved, seemed to have known about this for a long time, continuing his work with an unchanged expression, indifferent to the various gazes in the room.

Instead, it was his partner, the starting support Cloud, who had been fiddling with his Rubik’s Cube since they entered, seemingly indifferent to everything, who subtly moved forward.

He used his body to block those various gazes, smiling back at everyone, including Shen Chuan.

And Pei Yun Chang, the other person involved, showed no emotional fluctuations.

Whether it was arrogance or humility, there was nothing, as if he didn’t realize what it meant for a Youth Training Camp member’s strength to surpass a starting player.

For Bian Yan, who was also a marksman, this was even more deeply felt.

He noticed that although Ji Feng didn’t look up, his body unconsciously leaned an inch towards Cloud, a position that gave him peace of mind.

Before coming here, Bian Yan hadn’t encountered any passerby opponents until he met Pei Yun Chang.

But compared to his own Youth Training period being zeroed out by him, the frustration of Ji Feng, as a starting player, watching a rapidly growing junior while being powerless to resist seemed even greater.

Esports is cruel.

Every esports player has to go through a phase from peak to powerless, and neither he nor Pei Yun Chang can avoid it, but all he can do now is continuously improve himself.

Shen Chuan divided the ten people into two teams based on their lane strengths, which were—

A team led by Lao Miao with three starting players and two Youth Training members—

Mid laner Lao Miao, marksman Ji Feng, jungler Huang Mao, side laner Qian Chi, support Lu Chang Kong.

And a team led by Pei Yun Chang with three Youth Training members and two starting players—

Mid laner Lan Mao, marksman Arrow, jungler Self, side laner Pan Shi, support Cloud.

Although Pei Yun Chang’s team had one less starting player, he himself could be used as half a starting player, so the strengths of both sides were considered balanced.

It was unclear if Shen Chuan did it on purpose, but he actually split the old partners Cloud and Ji Feng into two teams and let Cloud partner with Pei Yun Chang.

To let the two get familiar in advance?

As expected, the moment the teams were announced, Cloud’s face immediately darkened.

Bian Yan couldn’t help but frown.

Their good coach really had no sense of humanity.

To avoid tactical leaks during open mic, the two teams played in separate rooms, and the five from the losing group could choose a room to observe.

Bian Yan didn’t hesitate and walked straight to Pei Yun Chang’s room.

“Good brother, you’re going over there? You’ve disappointed me, I’m so lonely.” Lu Chang Kong clutched his chest, pretending to be heartbroken.

Although Lu Chang Kong sometimes wasn’t very serious, he was clear-headed about important matters.

Thanks to Shen Chuan, he was going to partner with Ji Feng this time, but he wasn’t foolish enough to touch Ji Feng’s sore spot now.

With Pan Shi and Pei Yun Chang not around, he could only joke around with Bian Yan.

Bian Yan comforted Lu Chang Kong with nonsense, but his steps didn’t stop.

“Good luck, Brother Lu, I’m going to gather enemy intel.”

Before leaving, he couldn’t help but glance at the current starting marksman Ji Feng, who was wearing headphones.

Facing the rising star Pei Yun Chang, what was he thinking?

The ten of them sat down, and the game began—

[BP Phase]

Pei Yun Chang’s team clearly knew what the biggest threat on the opposing side was, so without any communication, they tacitly banned Lao Miao’s two best mages and an overpowered support.

The opposing side thought for a long time, hesitating to ban heroes.

Lu Chang Kong was restless, couldn’t help but put on his headset again, only to sadly confirm that there was indeed no sound in the mic.

What, do the starting players not communicate when playing games?

He looked left and right, casting a sad glance at the only other Youth Training member, jungler Huang Mao.

The other party also looked back at him helplessly.

“Brothers, who should we ban?”

Lu Chang Kong cautiously asked.

After a few seconds, Lao Miao spoke up, “Do you have any suggestions?”

Lu Chang Kong was about to mention Pan Shi’s preferred heroes, but before he could speak, Huang Mao, for some reason, suddenly said.

“Ban Flower God Bow, Brother Pei’s Flower God Bow is super strong.”

Lu Chang Kong: …

Dude, you really don’t care about everyone’s survival, do you?

As expected, the mic went silent again.

Lu Chang Kong chuckled bitterly, suddenly missing Pan Shi, Bian Yan, and Pei Yun Chang immensely.

The ban time was running out, and they hadn’t agreed on anything, so they ended up banning two of Self’s preferred junglers and a support just before the time ran out.

The ban phase ended, and it was time to pick heroes.

Pei Yun Chang was unfortunately placed in the first pick position, having to choose a hero first.

Lan Mao opened the mic, “Brother Pei, want to switch positions?”

Pan Shi glanced at the screen, “You’re the mid laner and the team’s C position. You already can’t beat Lao Miao, so you’re even less suitable to pick first.”

Bian Yan, sitting behind them, heard their conversation clearly.

Pan Shi’s analysis was correct. Marksmen and mages are the team’s dual C positions and shouldn’t pick first, as it makes them extremely easy to target by the opposing team.

Moreover, Lan Mao was laning against Lao Miao, and Pei Yun Chang had already drawn aggro during the self-introduction earlier.

Although Pan Shi played the side lane, not the team’s squishy role, the side lane is often called the orphan lane, where no one comes to support, making it the most challenging lane for solo kills.

Pan Shi already couldn’t beat the opposing starting player Qian Chi, and picking first would make him an easy target, creating a natural disadvantage.

He wasn’t suitable to switch positions with Pei Yun Chang either.

Time was running out, but no one switched with Pei Yun Chang.

Pan Shi was most annoyed by this nonsense courtesy and human sentiment when seniors and juniors gathered, winning the game was most important, so he took the lead in arranging.

“Support brother, can you pick first?”

The mic was silent for a few seconds, and no one responded.

Cloud pretended to be dead.