Chapter 789 - An Opportunity Bestowed by the Heavens
“Kid, you’re still so spirited!” Cui Li greeted Qiu Fei warmly. He wasn’t like Chen Yehui who had so many private feelings held within him. From a manager’s perspective, a young player, who practiced hard and never demanded anything, was very good.
However, as a professional, he couldn’t do things just because he had a good impression of them. A manager had to think of the team as a whole. For example, the current Excellent Era had God Sun Xiang. It would be very difficult for Cui Li to promote Qiu Fei to the team. If he had to, he could only offer him a position as a substitute player. However, that would be too much of a waste for someone of his talent.
Although Ye Qiu was now their sworn enemy, no one would question Ye Qiu’s skill. Anyone Ye Qiu looked highly upon was someone worth considering. Team Excellent Era’s performance had been in shambles recently. The thoughts of everyone on the team had changed. Even the trainees in the training camp felt like their future was bleak.
When the team was relegated, no changes to the team had been made yet. However, many in the training camp left like rats abandoning a sinking ship. Even under this environment, Qiu Fei not only maintained a positive attitude, but he was still steadily improving. Cui Li wouldn’t follow his progress closely every day, but the training camp had its own supervisor who gave weekly reports on the training camp. Qiu Fei was always mentioned the most.
“I feel like Qiu Fei already possesses the skills to become a pro player.” The manager seized the opportunity to give a recommendation to Cui Li.
Cui Li felt a bit unhappy at this recommendation. You could have me this recommendation at any time, but you chose to do it in front of him? No matter how skilled Qiu Fei was, could he be any better than Sun Xiang? Did this supervisor not know the team’s current situation? Qiu Fei was talented, but with Sun Xiang on the team, there was no position for him. Was the Club supposed to create a new dual Battle Mage team composition just for this rookie?
In Cui Li’s eyes, the supervisor’s recommendation wasn’t at a suitable time. He didn’t have any complaints about Qiu Fei. It was just that Qiu Fei’s situation was too awkward with the team’s current composition. The supervisor should understand this, yet he insisted on raising the topic. Is he trying to give me a hard time?
Cui Li was simply thinking about things from a practical point of view. Chen Yehui carried resentment. When he heard the supervisor’s recommendation, he felt even more unhappy. He obviously couldn’t say any malicious words directly. With Qiu Fei’s conduct at Club Excellent Era, there were no unpleasant things that could be said about him. To oppose it, Chen Yehui shifted the topic from the supervisor’s recommendation to their reason for coming.
“Qiu Fei, do you know about the stuff going on with Ye Qiu right now?” Chen Yehui asked.
As soon as this name came out, Qiu Fei’s eyes jumped. His expression had never changed much, but at this instant, it became complicated.
How could he not be conscious of Ye Qiu’s name? Practically everything he knew about Battle Mages were taught to him personally by Ye Qiu. What type of special honor was that? The team captain and ace player spent the time to personally coach him.
Chen Yehui wasn’t the only one who was jealous of Qiu Fei. A child’s world wasn’t that pure or innocent. Making things difficult for Qiu Fei was a common occurrence.
It was easier to do so in other areas, but embarrassing Qiu Fei in Glory was too too difficult. He was, without a doubt, the most outstanding trainee in the camp.
That was up until Ye Qiu retired and quietly left the club. The trainees in the training camp only heard about this news, when the club officially announced it to the public. At the press conference, the club also announced the addition of Sun Xiang as the successor of One Autumn Leaf. The trainees in the training camp had a decent understanding of how pro teams operated. Let alone the fact that even an ordinary fan could figure out the implications.
At this moment, everyone turned to look at Qiu Fei, because the position of the training camp’s pet favorite instantly became extremely awkward. Some took joy at his misfortune. Some felt sympathy. Others pitied him. The ones who watched in schadenfreude looked forward to Qiu Fei’s downfall.
But who would have thought that not only was Qiu Fei not bothered by it, he worked even harder.
But no matter the case, his position had already changed. From here onwards, he would no longer have the team captain run over to coach him every day. A lot of groundless talk about Qiu Fei flew around. Some mocked him because, no matter how hard he worked, it would all be fruitless in the end. How could he hope to topple Sun Xiang? Some even said slanderous words, blaming Ye Qiu’s decline on him spending too much time on nurturing Qiu Fei.
Qiu Fei quietly endured everything. During this period of time, Excellent Era was under fire too. The team already had too much to handle. Who would care about what was going on with the training camp?
Truthfully, after Cui Li saw Qiu Fei again, his good impression of Qiu Fei popped up again in his mind. During the greater part of the year, he had already forgotten about him. It was only until he met him again did he think about Qiu Fei’s problematic position.
Cui Li was thinking about the situation as a whole. Chen Yehui had already started talking business though: “You probably know about everything that’s happened recently, right?”
Qiu Fei nodded his head. Even though he didn’t usually pay attention to gossip, it had become an extremely hot topic. It was related to Excellent Era too. Even if he didn’t follow it closely, others would talk about it constantly. He knew more about it than what he didn’t.
“We’re not really here for much.” Chen Yehui was quite evil. His words would strike down any of Qiu Fei’s hopes, telling him not to be mistaken: we aren’t here to ask you to join the team. Unfortunately, Qiu Fei didn’t look as disappointed as Chen Yehui had expected. Helpless, Chen Yehui paused for another three seconds before continuing: “Many players have organized teams to challenge Team Happy, but all of them have failed. So we’re planning on having our trainees take up the challenge. Will that be a problem, Qiu Fei?”
Qiu Fei shook his head. He didn’t say anything more.
“Okay, that’s one then. Is there anyone else you want to recommend?” Chen Yehui asked the supervisor.
The supervisor’s recommendation for Qiu Fei was brought down just like this by Chen Yehui. He could only sigh to himself. It’s not like he didn’t know his place. He knew that his recommendation made Cui Li extremely uncomfortable. He wouldn’t pursue it endlessly.
“There are a few other pretty good ones.” The supervisor led Cui Li, Chen Yehui, Qiu Fei around, and called out a few names.
The ones who were called out revealed expressions of joy and rushed over expectantly.
After hearing the reason, they were sorely disappointed.
Along with Qiu Fei, the supervisor recommended six people to the two seniors. Two of them were a bit older, while the other three were around Qiu Fei’s age.
Afterwards, they left the training camp. Cui Li and the six trainees talked for a bit and went to his office. Chen Yehui then took the six trainees to his game studio.
Chen Yehui wasn’t planning on personally going over to take up the challenge. Even if he went, he wouldn’t be able to see them in real life, so what was the point? After returning to the studio, he gave each of the six trainees account cards according to their respective classes and provided them strong equipment from the guild’s storage.
“Is there a need for this?” The oldest of the six called Li Rui spoke. He would turn 20 years old in September. If he started his career at this age, it would be later than when most pro players started. Even worse, it still didn’t seem like there was hope for him to get promoted. Excellent Era being relegated only made him lose more hope. The Challenger League was too easy. Even if he was promoted as a regular to the team, he might not be able to prove his own strength.
Li Rui had a strong imagination. He often dreamed of being the hero of a team. In the practice room, he often prattled on about being born at the wrong time. He just happened to be there when Excellent Era was in a mess. If not, he claimed that he would have been promoted to the pro team a long time ago and became an official pro player.
Li Rui’s words weren’t completely without reason. His skill level was quite high. For many people, he was skilled enough, but he just lacked the opportunity to do so. Li Rui had the same thoughts. He felt like he just lacked the opportunity, and the current Excellent Era couldn’t provide him this opportunity. He already had thoughts of looking for other teams to try to join, but now, Cui Li and Chen Yehui suddenly showed up at the training camp looking for people to play a match. The others seemed disappointed, but Li Rui was excited.
Recently, nothing attracted more attention than this event. Did these guys fail to see that if they could beat Happy right now, they would have a chance to shine?
Especially since Happy wasn’t some sort of powerhouse. They were just an Internet cafe team. Of course they could bully some regular players, but they were up and coming pro players trained by a club. Wouldn’t dealing with these guys be like taking candy from a baby? It was perfect that their opponents were weak and the interest was high. Wasn’t this an opportunity bestowed by the heavens?
Li Rui didn’t want those guys to notice this opportunity, but he was also afraid that they wouldn’t take this seriously and hold him back. In the end, he tugged at their ears and analyzed it for them.
When those guys listened, their spirits also rose. Getting attention from the public was exactly what these trainees wanted the most. Quite a few had extraordinary skill, but their team had no place for them. If they tried looking for other teams to go to, they were completely unknown. It was hard to be accepted by them. After all, despite being unordinary, if they couldn’t get a spot, they weren’t future Gods. If not, their club would have put them out onto the market if there was no spot for them in their team.
“Play well!” Li Rui told everyone, except for Qiu Fei.