Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was Huang Shaotian who pitched the insane idea to Yu Wenzhou early into season 6. As part of the Golden Generation, Huang Shaotian, Yu Wenzhou, and Su Mucheng had all signed on in season 4. The customary 3-year contract for their generation was due to expire at the end of this season, so talk about transfers were especially rampant in the Golden Generation group chat.

“Su Mucheng! Let’s recruit Su Mucheng. Her contract will be up next season, won’t it? This dry monastery has no flowers! We're falling behind the other teams! Even her account name is perfect for our team. Dancing Rain, Blue Rain! It’s perfect!”

“Do you think it’s so easy?”

Every team would love to have a player like Su Mucheng who had both skill and commercial value. The reason they didn’t was because Su Mucheng was notoriously hard to sway. She couldn’t be moved by money nor position. What could Blue Rain offer her as a team?

He would put their chances for recruiting her at 5%, and that was being generous. Su Mucheng was loyal to Ye Qiu, and Ye Qiu was practically fused to Excellent Era.

 “No, of course not,” Huang Shaotian scoffed, because he was not stupid. He knew all this too. “But I smell an opportunity.”

“Oh?”

“The group chat! Have you checked the group chat? There’s definitely some discord going on between Su Mucheng and her team!”

The conversation Huang Shaotian pulled up was from a week ago after Excellent Era’s match with Misty Rain that ended in a huge upset with Misty Rain’s victory in the team arena.

Dancing Rain: Our new rookies can’t follow directions

Windy Rain: Haha, bitter?

It was only two lines, a brief exchange that occurred in the middle of the night that most of the chat had just scrolled over. Yet Huang Shaotian, a constant opportunist, had caught this momentary lapse in professionalism from Su Mucheng and saw it as a prime opening.

Yu Wenzhou found himself agreeing with Huang Shaotian’s assessment. He was a devout student of the Battle God’s tactics, so he would be blind to miss the growing lack of coordination among the players of Excellent Era. In seasons 4 and 5, the dazzling synergy between Ye Qiu and Su Mucheng had covered up the inevitable instability of Excellent Era’s massive roster change. Many people had forgotten that by season 6, Ye Qiu was the only team member who had remained from Excellent Era’s time as a reigning dynasty in the first three seasons. The rest were rookies who had been promoted up as the Battle God’s old comrades had retired.

An internal conflict was quite possible. The new rebelling against the old. But a part of Yu Wenzhou cringed at the idea. How could these players not realize that following the command of the three-time champion would be the best way to win. Did they not value victory?

“So? So? How’s the situation, master tactician? There’s a chance, don’t you think?”

“10 percent,” Yu Wenzhou concluded. A slim opportunity indeed, but it was a golden one. Because who didn’t know that wherever Su Mucheng went, Ye Qiu would follow? What could Blue Rain offer to Su Mucheng - he would give this answer to Huang Shaotian. “Your sincerity is your only weapon.”

“My sincerity is very strong!” Huang Shaotian quipped. “So captain, I’ll be consorting with the enemy now, don’t hold it against me!”

“Don’t go too overboard.”

As the champions of the 5^th season, Tiny Herb was chosen to host the All-Stars event in the 6^th season. With their popularity, Ye Qiu and Su Mucheng were inevitably amongst the voted 24 players invited to attend. Huang Shaotian, obviously, was also on the list. It was his perfect chance.

All-stars weekend was an amusing event for Su Mucheng. As Ye Qiu’s teammate, she got a first-row seat to watching Ye Qiu desperately avoid reporters and fans alike who were ravenous to get any information on Excellent Era’s mysterious captain. True to form, on the very first day, Ye Qiu had mysteriously disappeared after checking into the venue with the organizers. Really, Wang Jiexi should consider swapping titles with him.

With Ye Qiu gone, the seat next to her was empty. But to her surprise, someone else was bold enough to slip into that space as the cameras were turned away.

“Su Mucheng! Su Mucheng! Did Old Ye abandon you already?”

Huang Shaotian.

Su Mucheng only laughed, because for Ye Xiu, there was no “abandon,” only tactical retreat.

“Ah, forget it, forget it. I was looking for you, not Old Ye, anyways.”

“Me?”

Su Mucheng and Huang Shaotian were both part of the Golden Generation, but the status between the two of them were like heaven and earth. He was the legendary Sword Saint while her status came from standing on the shoulders of the Battle God. Number one launcher was a title that paled in comparison to Sword Saint.

“Yeah, yeah! Su Mucheng! Come join Blue Rain next season! We’ll treat you well!”

How direct! She thought. She gave a distant smile, appearing unmoved. “My team already treats me well.”

“Does Old Ye count as your entire team?” Huang Shaotian retorted, earning an actual, tiny flinch from the girl. He was definitely on to something, so he continued. “The rest of them I could PK with one eye closed! Not that I would close my eyes around them – your teammates have a bad look, you know? If you came to Blue Rain, you could feel much more secure!”

“More secure than with Ye Qiu? What’s your individual record against him again?”

“Unimportant! Completely unimportant! You can’t boil things down to simple numbers! Anyways, Old Ye could come too, we used to play together in the first server so we can already coordinate well!”

This time, Su Mucheng really could not stop her laugh. “Ye Qiu? Leave Excellent Era?”

However, Huang Shaotian was not laughing. He fixed her with a serious expression he rarely has outside of matches. “Ye Qiu would do it, if you left first.”

Before she could say anything back, the audience’s deafening cheer swept through the arena. The event had started.

Su Mucheng was on her way to the All-Stars event director’s office when she overheard the conversation. Tao Xuan’s voice was laced with frustration as he slammed a table with his fist. As for the other voice – she recognized it as Cui Li’s.

“That Ye Qiu, not showing up again. It’s an embarrassment. We really need to find a replacement soon.”

“It’s unfortunate, but there are no other Battle Mages in the league that would be suitable.”

“Maybe we should broaden our search. A class switch isn’t unheard of.”

Her fists clench and her jaws tighten. Ye Qiu has toiled so hard over the years for this team, and they were thinking of replacing him? Just like that? Did all of Ye Qiu’s hard work and loyalty mean nothing to them?

The kind brother Tao of the past…she couldn’t even recognize him anymore.

“You make a really poor stalker,” Ye Qiu called out to the other boy who was dressed with three more scarves than necessary. Huang Shaotian’s definition of low profile was gaudy at best and completely conspicuous at worst. He had been loitering around the restaurant for at least 10 minutes now, and Ye Qiu figured if he didn’t take pity on him, security would be called soon.

Huang Shaotian immediately brightened up at the familiar voice and quickly dashed to their table. “Old Ye! Su Mucheng! You really were here! Wow, the captain’s prediction skills are really scary outside of the game too…”

“Were you looking for us?” Su Mucheng asked, all while prying off one of the boy’s scarves and trading him her sunglasses. The scarf was three different colors and clashed horribly with the rest of his outfit – honestly, who even let Huang Shaotian dress himself? She would do him a favor by burning it.

“Yeah! Old Ye, want to do our usual agreement?”

“Usual agreement?” Su Mucheng echoed in confusion.

To her surprise, Ye Qiu actually laughed. He hadn’t expected Huang Shaotian to bring up something so old. “I thought your boss-stealing days were behind you?”

 “Everyone’s doing it now!” Huang Shaotian said defensively. “We all need the new materials from the level 70 update. If we work together, the other teams will definitely not have a chance.”

“Of course they won’t,” Ye Qiu agreed shamelessly. “But I’ll have to decline. Our team is working on building up Liu Hao’s Spellblade, we can’t split the materials like usual.”

“We can roll for them!”

“I’d rather just take all of it.”

“Fuck you! PK me and I’ll show you just who will take everything!”

“So eager to take losses?”

“Let’s try it!” Mucheng interrupted, silencing the other two with her unexpected outburst. “If Excellent Dynasty doesn’t want your help gathering bosses, why not sell it elsewhere?”

“Mucheng…” Ye Qiu sighed with reprimand, but it was already too late.

“Excellent Dynasty…doesn’t want your help?!” Huang Shaotian practically shouted in outrage.

“They said they want me to focus on improving our match performance instead.” As if he couldn’t do both at the same time as he had always done back in their early days. Well, their performance problems rested in much deeper issues, but it was obvious Ye Qiu had plenty of free time to spare if this food excursion wasn’t a dead giveaway.

“I want to upgrade my Devouring Sun faster too,” Su Mucheng continued. It was the truth, but not the complete one. She knew how much Ye Qiu enjoyed the chaos of boss battles. He and her brother used to spend hours crafting strategies to swindle bosses under the noses of the big guilds – before they became a part of a big guild themselves. She hadn’t realized Huang Shaotian had been a part of that history, but perhaps reviving it would cheer up Ye Qiu’s recent slump.

“Ha! See that, Old Ye? You’re outnumbered!”

Ye Qiu snubbed his cigarette a bit more aggressively than needed. “You prepare the accounts, and only for this weekend. How much do you know about the new bosses?”

“Wait wait! Let me call captain over!”

The small restaurant booth soon becomes a makeshift conference table as Yu Wenzhou brought over paper and several notebooks of data he had gathered from consulting with the Blue Brook guild. The younger captain seemed a bit hesitant at first, not quite believing in the truth of the situation, but the four quickly launched into a topic he couldn’t resist: tactics. The level 70 update brought 8 whole new bosses to scramble over, so there was no dearth of material to discuss.

The two master tacticians took the lead in directing the conversation. Everything from terrain to boss skills was taken apart under their detailed analysis. Few people were ever able to match Yu Wenzhou in his analysis, but Ye Qiu was not nicknamed the Glory Textbook for nothing.

“You’re very meticulous,” Ye Qiu said approvingly to the other captain.

“I have to be,” Yu Wenzhou naturally replied. He had such a severe disadvantage in his hand speed that he had to desperately grasp any other advantage he could get.

Ye Qiu’s gaze went to the other player’s hands, but he refrained from any of his usual taunts. “It makes you a troublesome opponent,” he said instead. “But for now, let’s work together.”

“We’ll drop by the account cards off tomorrow morning.”

Ye Qiu was absent again the second day of All-Stars. Meanwhile, in game, the Blue Brook guild was having an amazing harvest of wild bosses. Leading the charge was a knight account no one had ever heard of before – Sudden Flood. A suiting nickname, considering his origins.

“Brother Flood, you’re amazing! Are you part of the training camp?” 

“Not exactly,” Ye Qiu replied, but he doesn’t bother to explain himself to his increasingly curious “guild mates.” Everyone already realized he wasn’t an ordinary player – he had been thrust to the top of their guild hierarchy far too fast. At the same time, everyone knew all of Blue Rain’s resident professional players were currently at All-Stars, so their confusion was quite reasonable.

Having no reason to out himself, Ye Qiu continued to ignore most of his messages as he waited for a boss alert. Most players gave up talking to him, but there was one exception.

“What the fuck are you doing here?! You think I wouldn’t recognize your annoying voice just because you aren’t playing a Battle Mage? Get the fuck out of my guild!”

The message was sent to him in a private chat by a member of the Blue Brook guild – Windward Formation. Clicking on his profile, Ye Qiu noted that he was the warlock who had been in his last raiding party as an add-in when the elite team members fell short. Too many players were distracted by All-Stars.

“Who are you?” He replied back.

“Your father!”

Ah, such crudeness. Ye Qiu immediately knew who this player was. Coming out at All-Stars, when he had the least chance to encounter the other members of Blue Rain would make sense for this fellow.

“Funny, I never knew my father was the founder of Blue Rain. What an inheritance!”

“I don't know what you're talking about, are you ill?”

“Does Huang Shaotian know you’ve been keeping a smurf to spy on the guild, Old Wei? Can’t quite let go, huh?”

“Damn you! You don’t know me! You don’t know my life! You don’t fucking know anything!” Wei Chen rapidly replied. Then, both the guild and party chat indicated that Windward Formation had left.

“Real mature,” Ye Qiu commented, still having the private message window open. “Must come from your age. What are you now, 50?”

“I’m under fucking 30!”

“Oh? My father is so young!”

“You can’t have a father, you’re a complete bastard. I would have never raised a son as shameless as you.”

“Come help me with this next boss, dad. I’ll keep your secret. Let’s catch up on old times. If you play nice, I may even tell you why I’m here.”

“You think I’ll believe your lies?”

“Do you have anything better to do?”

“Fuck you!”

Wei Chen joined the party again despite his words.

“I knew you loved me.”

“I’m just waiting for a chance to kill you before I go.”

Neither bothered to comment on the empty bluff. It would be useless to kill a smurf account that neither truly cared about. So instead, Ye Qiu graciously changed the topic. “You know, you have some pretty capable successors. No wonder you got scared and ran.”

“Scared? Who the fuck are you calling scared?”

“Wu Xuefeng kept playing even at an older age than you. You still had years left. Maybe not in Blue Rain, but it would have been easy for you to get into another team if you still wanted to play. Where’d your fighting spirit go, Old Wei?”

“PVP me right now and I’ll fucking show you where it is, I’ll shove it right up your ass!”

“I’m just teasing. Here’s what I think: you’re like me. You just loved Blue Rain too much, you don’t want to betray the team even now after getting left behind. A real sentimental fool.”

“You know you’re insulting yourself too, right? What the fuck is going on with you and Excellent Era anyways. Your team matches are literally painful to watch these days.”

“Oh? You’ve been watching?”

“Don’t try to turn this back on me. Out with it.”

“It’s complicated.”

“Cop out.”

“The boss just spawned at Setting Sun Waterfall, let’s head out.”

Windward Formation was offline again by the time Huang Shaotian entered the fray at night. Su Mucheng and Yu Wenzhou logged in soon after. They were all in dummy accounts, but it was easy to tell who was who by their class.

The boss battles at night were a whole different creature than the easy pickings from the morning. Finally free from All-Stars, all of the pro players came out in force. Even though the update had already been out for a month, all the clubs were still hungry for materials. They had waited two years for this update, and the amount of content in it did not disappoint.

Every boss had at least 4 club guilds contesting it. By the end of the night, Ye Qiu had even lost track of how many pro players he had spotted. It was just unfortunate for them that they were much less prepared for the resistance they would meet that night.

Ye Qiu’s taunts were disastrously effective in catching the other pros off guard. No one expected a good knight player in Blue Rain, and Huang Shaotian ruthlessly punished them for this mistake. Ye Qiu made openings, and Huang Shaotian grasped them. It was a simplistic synergy, but the two of them executed it with an ease that could only come from years of understanding each other as both friends and enemies.

And while the two troublemakers drew everyone’s attention, Yu Wenzhou’s warlock maneuvered to a superior position overlooking the field so that he could efficiently lead the rest of the Blue Brook guild to steal the boss’s aggro. Once in a while, a variety of bullets and missiles would hail down from that same area, swinging key points of the battle in Blue Brook’s favor with their deadly accuracy.

Against two master tacticians, the other teams really didn’t even stand a chance from the beginning.

On the third day of All-Stars, Ye Qiu was finally forced to make an appearance. The 24 players were split into two teams and barely informed of the arrangements before being tossed on stage. In the player arena, some of the newer All-Stars were staring at Ye Qiu with curiosity. It wasn’t like they hadn’t seen him before, but he was such a rare cryptid that each appearance still drew attention.

“Old Ye! Old Ye! Looks like it’s us again!” Huang Shaotian shouted, throwing an arm around the older player. The Blade Master was one of the few players who ever dared to treat the resident Battle God in such a forward manner. Most players were too nervous to even talk to him.

“Again?” Zhang Xinjie noted. He was always a sharp one. The two additional helpers to the Blue Brook guild hadn’t gone unnoticed last night. Even if he wasn’t playing with his main class, Ye Qiu was still a suspect.

Ye Qiu elbowed his enthusiastic friend in warning. “Must be a curse, having to team with you two years in a row. My ears are already crying. Yu Wenzhou! Take responsibility for this curse!”

“Shouldn’t you ask an exorcist for that?” Yu Wenzhou replied without missing a beat.

“Peaceful Hermit’s on the other team, you’ll have to step up!”

On the other corner of the room, Chu Yunxiu was much more direct toward her friend.

“Ok, spill girl. I know it was you last night with Blue Brook. What the heck is going on?”

“Just a bit of fun,” Mucheng smiled. And it really was fun. Maybe the most fun she’s had in the game in a while.

“You killed me!” She accused.

“Technically, the boss killed you. I just happened to trigger the red blood.”

“Same thing, my blood is on your hands! So you have to tell me the truth.” Chu Yuxiu didn’t really care about her death, but her pursuit of good gossip was merciless. “Why were you with Blue Brook over Excellent Dynasty? Was Ye Qiu also there?”

“He was.”

Chu Yuxiu paused at that. Then, a little softer, she asked, “Are you two having trouble with your club?”

Su Mucheng sighed. Everyone has been asking that question lately. Was it so obvious?

“They didn’t want us to help with the wild bosses. They’ll probably change their mind about that after tonight.”

Excellent Dynasty’s harvest this weekend was abysmal. She couldn’t wait to see the look on Chen Yehui’s face when he had to report his failure to management.

Ye Qiu had forged Excellent Era from its humble roots as an internet café team to the proud dynasty that it was now. To deny the help of its key architect – what was Chen Yehui even thinking? What was Tao Xuan and Cui Li playing at? The management may not like Ye Qiu right now, but hopefully this weekend would open their eyes to how necessary he was to their development.

Ye Qiu smugly accepted the offered account card from Chen Yehui.

“Don’t worry, Little Chen, I’ll help you out.”

Su Mucheng could imagine hearing the gnashing of his teeth. The look of anger and indignation were apparent on his face, but she couldn’t bring herself to care for this sorry man.

Chen Yehui was the type of person who thought he could shine if he pushed down others to give himself the chance. What he didn’t realize was that he never had the skill to seize the crudely made opportunities he engineered. Instead of wasting so much time making opportunities he couldn’t seize, he should have focused on improving himself. This was why Ye Qiu had rejected him from the team again and again.

An opportunist who failed to seize any openings didn’t deserve to be called an opportunist at all. She stifled a laugh as her brain summoned the image of Huang Shaotian. It wasn’t fair to compare an ant to a god.

Unfortunately, things did not change much after All-Stars weekend.

Their team continued to fall apart. Liu Hao’s bad attitude was contagious, and his poisonous words slandered Ye Qiu at every opportunity. Ye Qiu was far too tolerant. The manager should be the one to step in – to put him in his place, but Cui Li stood back in blatant agreement with their behavior.

Su Mucheng seethed.

Excellent Era didn’t deserve Ye Qiu. Huang Shaotian’s words rung in her ears.

“Ye Qiu would do it, if you left first.”

She stood in front of her brother’s grave at Nanshing Public Cemetery, her face downcast. Ye Qiu is at her side, but his eyes were unfocused into the distance. Smoke trailed from the cigarette that Ye Qiu absentmindedly raised to his lips. This was the quietest their visits had been for years.

Excellent Era has not been performing well. They would make it to the playoffs, but neither of them was optimistic about their team’s chances of the championship. The other teams were growing, while theirs…

“Brother…what should I do?” Su Mucheng thought desperately.

Her brother would have known what to do. He would have never let Ye Qiu be pushed into this situation. As a support, she was still so lacking in comparison. She was too passive, deferring to Ye Qiu’s truly horrible life decisions. At this rate, Ye Qiu would be replaced.

The familiar weight of a hand rested on top of her head. Su Mucheng looked up at Ye Qiu’s forced smile. “Mucheng, he wouldn’t want us to be this gloomy.”

Her mind flashed back to another time, when it was a different hand comforting her. “Mucheng, have courage.” Her brother would say. The memory of his smile filled her with warmth.

“Yes,” she agreed, trying to mirror that strong smile.

Later that night, she made a new group chat between her, Huang Shaotian, and Yu Wenzhou. Her hands wavered on the title, but eventually she typed the words: Transfer Discussion.

Chapter Text

“Success! Mission Success!” Huang Shaotian gloated as he invaded his captain’s room without warning.

Yu Wenzhou didn’t even flinch at the intrusion – he had already expected it the moment he checked his phone. Compared to the shock of seeing Su Mucheng agreeing to transfer, this was nothing. He had given the possibility of 10%, but in his heart he had never truly believed in this chance. A miscalculation, but one in Blue Rain’s favor.

However, the implications of his miscalculation were…concerning. Su Mucheng’s relationship with Excellent Era must have been worse than they initially imagined for her to consider transferring so soon before Excellent Era even had their first match in the playoffs. He doubted Excellent Era would mistreat Su Mucheng, who’s face and popularity were a major pillar of their revenues. This only left one other possibility: Excellent Era was wronging Ye Qiu, thus indirectly inciting Su Mucheng’s ire on his behalf.

Ye Qiu had always been such a looming and dominant figure in the Glory scene since its very founding. Even more than his former captain, Ye Qiu had been the player Yu Wenzhou had looked up to the most. So it was hard to reconcile the image of the strongest Glory player with someone who would be subject to mistreatment, much less endure it passively.

“Don’t celebrate so soon,” He said to his teammate. “The next part is the most delicate.”

“Negotiating her transfer? The management team would definitely agree.”

Yu Wenzhou shook his head. He would not let them make the same mistake Excellent Era made. They couldn’t ignore either side of the pair.

“No, we have to see if we can negotiate Ye Qiu’s transfer.”

It would be difficult, to say the least. A God-level character had never been transferred between clubs before. One Autumn Leaf was the defining character of Excellent Era. Moreover, it had been Ye Qiu’s account for over 9 years – he had been building that account since the day Glory launched. No other player in the league, except Han Wenqing, had such a long and intimate association with their account. With Ye Qiu’s lack of public appearances, fans and promotions alike had practically overlapped the two entities, always depicting Ye Qiu as his avatar.

If Blue Rain couldn’t negotiate a transfer for One Autumn Leaf…

Could these two really be separated?

It was even harder to imagine than Ye Qiu being separated from Excellent Era.

“I don’t think we can get One Autumn Leaf,” Huang Shaotian agreed, already catching up to Yu Wenzhou’s train of thought.

Buying Dancing Rain, an all-star level account, was going to be expensive enough. There was no way the club would also buy One Autumn Leaf. It would drive their club bankrupt.

Yu Wenzhou gave a wry smile as he picked up his phone to reply to the chat. “Well, we’ll have to take it a step at a time. We don’t even know if Ye Qiu would even be interested in following Su Mucheng.”

“Don’t underestimate Su Mucheng,” Huang Shaotian shot back.

No one understood Ye Qiu more than his two-time “best partner.” If anyone could convince that old dragon to change his ways, he would place his bets on Su Mucheng.

Many pros and fans alike underestimated Su Mucheng, calling her a glass vase who only looked pretty while her skills were attributed to standing on the mighty pedestal that was the Battle God. But anyone who actually bothered to get to know the player would know this was false. Su Mucheng’s technical skills were better than a majority of the league, and she was raised by the most dirty-hearted tactician the league had ever seen – anyone who dared to sleep on her were doomed for a rude awakening.

Perhaps her biggest flaw was how little ambition she had, satisfied with playing support to Ye Qiu rather than standing out herself.  But this could also work in their favor, because nothing would motivate Su Mucheng more than her partner’s well being.

A Su Mucheng who doggedly pursued her own agenda – how frightening would that be?

Huang Shaotian had a feeling Excellent Era would regret having to find out.

Excellent Era was knocked out in the first round of playoffs. It was a miracle they even dragged it out to game three.

Ye Qiu was still in his player booth, staring at the loss screen with a small bit of remorse. He had expected this before they even went into the match, but the result was still bitter. No matter how well he played, he could not bridge the gaping holes his team’s poor coordination created. He felt isolated, despite Mucheng’s best attempts at support.

This…was not the Glory he wanted to play.

Suddenly, a pair of arms embraced his back. He blinked and straightened a little in surprise.

“Mucheng?”

“…I’m about to do something selfish, so I hope you’ll be able to forgive me,” Mucheng confessed in a quiet whisper. Ye Qiu was at a complete loss. This was an unusual streak of boldness he rarely saw from his partner. He wasn’t sure how to handle it.

“What are you going to do?”

Su Mucheng pulled back, a frighteningly serene smile on her face. It was the same smile she had when she was ruthlessly blasting her opponents with a hail of artillery. It was her deceptively black-hearted side.

“I’m going to make a press announcement.”

And then, she skipped right out of the room, leaving behind a very, very confused Battle God.

Su Mucheng was a regular in Excellent Era’s post-match press conferences as both a core member and a pretty face to represent the team. Usually, she deferred to being the mouthpiece of Excellent Era’s PR department, but today, in the wake of Excellent Era’s last game in the playoffs, she had a different goal.

She had been so well behaved for so long that no one suspected her intentions when she stepped out in place of the vice-captain after he had spouted his sorry excuses and misplaced blame.

“Before we end today, I would like to make an announcement,” She said, drawing the crowd’s interest immediately.  Dramatic announcements were often made by players at the end of their season, making for great news. Su Mucheng did not disappoint.

“This will be my last game with Excellent Era. I will not be renewing my contract with Excellent Era at the end of this season. Also...Ye Qiu will not be either.”

This was when the true pandemonium started. Whispers grew like wildfire. Any news about the illusive Ye Qiu was big news. Easily headline worthy. The management team was frozen in place by the sudden turn of cameras onto them. They were stuck between wanting to pull Su Mucheng off stage, but not wanting to reveal such a conflict between management and player.

The girl in question gave them a brief glance, her lips twisting up with just the slightest sign of smugness that the cameras view could not capture. Then, she continued.

“Ye Qiu has been shouldering Excellent Era for six years now.  Even though he is unable to make many public appearances, you only need to look at his actions to understand how much he loves this team. Ye Qiu…even on his breaks, he is in game gathering materials for the club or training. No one else in our club practices with our juniors as much as Ye Qiu. I’ve learned everything I know about Glory from him. Excellent Era has been blessed to have such a dedicated God.”

With each sentence, Mucheng found herself more and more emotional. Her eyes were burning with the starting signs of tears. It just wasn't fair, how much Ye Qiu gave to the club for so little in return.

“Please understand…ending this relationship wasn't an easy decision. Times have changed. For both of us, Excellent Era was our starting point. But it won’t be the end point. Our Glory will not end here.”

I absolutely will not let it end here.

“Su Mucheng! What do you mean by times have changed?”

“God Ye…is actually leaving Excellent Era? Is this real?”

“Please explain!!”

Su Mucheng did not explain. Instead, she turned heel and made a quick exit using all the proficiency that came with studying Ye Qiu’s press-avoiding maneuvers. She left a gob smacked Tao Xuan to handle the press. In the end, he could only stave off the hungry reporters with a promise of a future press conference before beating a hasty exit himself. 

Ye Qiu took a long, long drag of his cigarette.

The two other people in the room could only sit by, nervously waiting for him to speak. Tao Xuan particularly looked strained.

But Ye Qiu continued to remain silent. Really, Mucheng hadn’t held back at all in her recent scheme. It was…elementary, but undeniably efficient.

She had risked her entire reputation to make those statements. Due to her close relationship with Ye Qiu, many would believe her announcement to be valid. If Ye Qiu or the club contradicted her now, she would not only be known as a liar, but also as a schemer who had tried to drive Ye Qiu away from Excellent Era. Her career would be ruined.

“Muqiu, she’s truly your sister,” Ye Qiu thought to himself. She had precisely hit his weakness mercilessly by putting herself on the line. Ye Qiu was loyal to Excellent Era, but he had made a dying promise to take care of Su Mucheng.

If Muqiu were here, there was no doubt which side he would choose.

“Well,” he finally spoke, “You’ve been wanting to get rid of me for a while anyways. Perhaps it’s better if we part ways here.”

At this, Tao Xuan actually showed a bit of shame. “I didn’t…It’s not like that.”

At least, it wasn’t at the beginning. Deep down, he didn’t want to betray the boy who had walked by his side for so long.

Ye Qiu laughed. “Brother Tao, don’t lie. Times have changed, but I haven’t been able to go along with the commercialization of the league. It must have been hard on you.”

“You never told me why,” he said, a trace of bitterness in his voice. “You didn’t even want to try to work things out.”

“Maybe I’ve been too cowardly,” Ye Qiu admitted. He’s been living a lie so long, sorting any of it out had grown more and more daunting over the years. But it wouldn’t have been impossible. After nearly 10 years of absence, even his parents had cooled their tempers about his decision to run. “Still, it’s too late now to change anything. We’ll have to announce my departure.”

“Where will you go?” Tao Xuan asked.

For this, Ye Qiu turned to his friend with a knowing look. “Mucheng, I’m sure you had a place in mind?”

“Blue Rain,” She answered immediately. “I’ve already started talking to their management. They’re willing to buy Dancing Rain. But…”

“I’ll leave One Autumn Leaf here,” Ye Qiu declared, turning to Tao Xuan. “For all the trouble I’ve caused you, I hope you’ll forgive me with this. Find a good successor who will treasure it.”

Su Mucheng bit her lip. Ye Qiu had sounded magnanimous, but everyone in the room already knew the truth. There was no way Excellent Era would have sold One Autumn Leaf anyways. If Ye Qiu had made a fuss about the account, it would have just been mutually destructive. 

“Let’s go, Mucheng,” he called as he snubbed his cigarette and picked up his jacket to leave.

Reluctantly, she followed. But as soon as they had left the hall, she impulsively reached out to grasp her wrist.

"I’m sorry,” she blurted out.

The older boy sighed and reached out to pat her head. “You’re really taking after him. Act now, apologize later, that was just his style,” He reminisced with an exasperated fondness. In the end, he had always forgiven Su Muqiu. It was the same in this case. He was really too forgiving of a person. “It would have happened sooner or later.”

“But now…you don’t have an account.”

“I’ll figure something out,” he said airily.

It was like Su Mucheng had said. As long as his fingers could still move, he would still play. His Glory would not end here.

The news cycle this June was the craziest it had ever been. Before playoffs had even concluded, the two players awarded as this year’s “Best Partners” had declared that they would be leaving their team. Moreover, one of those players was Ye Qiu who had been Excellent Era’s captain for 6 years. No one had expected this. A whole core of a team leaving? The news easily became the most trending topic in the Glory community, and the clip of Su Mucheng’s declaration had already gained half a million views within a day of the announcement.

Fans were torn.

Some were still in denial, even after Excellent Era’s press department confirmed the news, with talks of the player's future placement still “in private negotiation.”

Some were angry, seeing the action as pure betrayal. Their abrupt absence would crush Excellent Era – how could they do this to their team?

But surprisingly, a significant portion of the fanbase was also supportive, moved by Su Mucheng’s passionate speech. This side grew as more and more fans became curious of the simple plea of “please understand”

Understand what?

What were they missing?

There was no shortage of analysis for these words. The first wave of posts speculated that Ye Qiu’s condition had declined to the point that the pro no longer wanted to be a burden to his team. However, this was soon shut down by a second wave of much more analytic posts that found the statistics simply disagreed with these facts. One Autumn Leaf consistently ranked in the top 5 damage dealers in the group arena, and it was only in the sixth season that his damage output in team arena had been dropping. Many ex-pros obviously pointed out this so called “decline” was caused more from Ye Qiu’s teammates than the man himself. If Ye Qiu was considered a burden, then half the pro-league should be called absolute dead-weight rocks!

In the end, it wasn’t any fancy statistical article or even any professional article that got the most attention. Instead, it was a simple forum post by the user [ChasingHaze] titled “I’m happy for Mumu and Ye Qiu leaving Excellent Era! I am no longer a fan, Excellent Era is trash!”

The user writing it claimed to be a simple internet café owner who lived near where Excellent Era was based. She was a relatively new fan, having only followed Glory since season 4, but she expressed great admiration as a fellow female player for her idol, Su Mucheng. And, of course, she had felt her heart moved by the great partnership between Dancing Rain and One Autumn Leaf. She declared her support of them would never waver.

As to their departure from Excellent Era, she had a unique insight into this as someone who lived so close to their headquarters. In her post, she included a single video of evidence.

The lighting was bad, and the angle obviously indicated it had been taken discreetly, but the faces of several of Excellent Era’s players were clearly captured as they walked down a near empty street. From their slurred voices and stumbling gait, it was easy to tell they were drunk.

Out of the group, the most talkative one was Excellent Era’s Spellblade player, Liu Hao. He led the group to making several unprofessional comments about Ye Qiu’s departure.

“Good riddance!” He had said, “He was always scolding us, but now we don’t have to listen to him anymore!”

“Not that we ever did, ha! Who would want to listen to a wash out like him?”

“Maybe you’ll be promoted as captain now, Brother Hao!”

“Hehe, maybe I’ll promote you to the team when I am, Little Chen! Ye Qiu was blind to reject you so many times!”

The video only grew more cringeworthy as it continued. At some point, one member had called the darling duo of Excellent Era “an old man and his bitch.”

Excellent Era fans and non-fans alike were outraged. No one deserved this level of disrespect, let alone the man who had been carrying Excellent Era on his back for six years. The evidence was damning. Surrounded by such a toxic environment, wasn’t it completely reasonable for Ye Qiu and Su Mucheng to leave?

The public backlash towards Excellent Era was immense. All sorts of wishful petitions were started – petitions to kick out Liu Hao and the other members of the video. Petitions to bring back Su Mucheng and Ye Qiu. Petitions to put the entire club under investigation for negligence.

Even the pros were moved to speak about it.

“No one imagined that the situation was so bad,” Wang Jiexi said calmly, “I fully support Su Mucheng and Ye Qiu.”

“Those players are a disgrace to this profession,” Han Wenqing had scoffed, “Ye Qiu, I’ll be waiting for your return.”

“How dare they call Mumu that! And Ye Qiu, washed out? Are they blind?” Chu Yunxiu raged. The normally aloof girl rose to the defense of her friend without regard to her own professionalism, completely unafraid to make the incendiary comments news outlets loved. “Excellent Era doesn’t deserve them at all! Mumu, why don't you come to Misty Rain?”

In the midst of it all, Blue Rain seized the championship title and dropped another news bomb.

They declared Su Mucheng would be joining their roster for the next season, with Dancing Rain’s purchase finally resolved at 3 million yuan. It was a complete steal for how famous the account was, but Excellent Era had their hands tied. They had to show good will toward the wishes of the departing player they had "wronged." It was a complete victory for Su Mucheng.

“How foolish, they chose to shelter a viper when they should have been protecting their golden goose,” Yu Wenzhou mused out loud after reading of Liu Hao’s scandal. Excellent Era was now paying the price for turning a blind eye to Liu Hao’s record of unprofessional behavior. They would either have to completely rework their first-string roster during the off-season, or else bear public criticism for the entire new season.

“That trash sure had some guts, saying all those things! I’m glad we got Su Mucheng to transfer!” Huang Shaotian said, biting into his toast with extra aggression. The other players of Blue Rain were gathered around the two, watching in a mix of fascination and disbelief that their two star players had had a hand in starting this mess.

“Captain…is it really true? Are they really transferring here? Ye Qiu too?” Song Xiao asked.

“Yes. They’ll actually arrive next week,” Yu Wenzhou replied.

“What account would Ye Qiu use?”

The Best Rookie of the season, Yu Feng, was the next to ask a question. Everyone knew that Blue Rain had no Battlemage account. Yu Feng was the most worried of all the players about the transfer. He was already struggling to shine from under the shadows of Yu Wenzhou and Huang Shaotian – to add Ye Qiu and Su Mucheng to the mix? He was doomed to play second fiddle at this rate.

However, Yu Wenzhou’s reply shocked all of them.

“He won’t be using any, he’ll be joining our guild division for now.”

Chapter Text

It was 9 PM. The usual training session for the training camp members had long since ended, but there was still a light in the practice room. A lone computer screen persisted without rest, its sharp light illuminating the curve of a frown on the face of its user. The boy was one of the temporary members of the training camp who came and went during his school breaks, but despite his temporary status, he did not lose out to anyone in his dedication to the game.

However, his late-night stay today was more to vent his frustration than anything else.

The recent scandal had made the situation in the club very awkward. Excellent Era’s PR department tried to claim that they had no idea such behavior was going on inside their team, but anonymous testimonies started to appear from witnesses – small time staff within Excellent Era - who observed the frosty relationship between management and Ye Qiu. No one had video evidence this time, but public faith in Excellent Era was at an all time low so even these posts were willingly accepted as truth.

Ye Qiu’s usual silence on the matter did not help. Despite a public apology from Excellent Era’s boss and all the players involved, the public was still out for blood. Qiu Fei could empathize. He was no stranger to the trash talk and insults thrown around in the gaming scene, but what he had seen in the video was a brand of viciousness that spoke of blind hatred. It disgusted him that these supposed professionals were so obsessed with tearing someone down rather than properly building themselves up.

No wonder Excellent Era had fallen so much this season.

While most of the training camp was excited at the prospect of being chosen for the new, open roster slots, Qiu Fei was more hesitant. Initially, he had planned to join the training camp full time starting this summer, but now he found himself questioning whether he wanted to stay at all.

“Here again, Little Qiu?”

The encounter mirrored their first: the aloof God strolled into the deserted practice room with little care for decorum or status. No one had seen Ye Qiu around the building for days, and yet here he was. Without his jersey, it was easy to mistake the Battle God for just another staff member or trainee. Qiu Fei had made that very mistake on their first meeting over a year ago.

((“Oh! I didn’t think someone else would be here. Are you from the training camp?”

“Yes! I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to stay so late… I just wanted to keep playing for a little longer…”

“Haha, then why don’t you play a round with me?”

Ye Qiu’s lazy slouch and disheveled appearance did not befit his status as a God among players. It wasn’t until he had completely led Qiu Fei around by the nose in what turned out to be a teaching match that Ye Qiu’s true aura as the Battle God made itself known. Ye Qiu moved his avatar like it was an extension of his body, every movement made with casual grace and calculated efficiency. Amazing reaction speed, frightening awareness, unparalleled experience – Qiu Fei had no doubt that Ye Qiu was indeed the pinnacle of professional players. It was equal parts daunting and inspiring.))

Qiu Fei never expected to keep having matches with the Great God, to the point where it almost became a comfortable routine for him. Despite their gap in ability, Ye Qiu didn’t mind playing with him again and again. He learned it was quite common for the Excellent Era’s top god to sneak into the training camp disguised as a normal player, leaving dazed trainees in his wake. It was just that no one actually believed those rumors were true, that Ye Qiu would spend so much time just playing with mere trainees. And yet, here he was.

“Senior! Why are you here?“

“I’m actually on my way out,” Ye Qiu confessed. The club was planning to hold a farewell party for him and Su Mucheng in a few days, but he was never one for such formalities. A quiet departure in the middle of the night suited him better. It was just the lingering light in the practice room that had delayed him, bringing to mind the memory of the promising trainee he often found during these late hours. “Have you still been practicing hard?”

“Y…yes!”

“Good! Keep working hard. Are you here full-time yet?”

Qiu Fei hesitated. “I…was thinking about it. But with the recent news…”

“Too many people are getting worked up on my behalf,” Ye Qiu said wryly. “Why does everyone think I have the heart of a frail maiden? Their words never bothered me.”

He had even considered making a statement about this, because it would be a pity to see his former teammates’ careers ruined so prematurely no matter what bad blood they had against him. But then they had chosen to go after Su Mucheng as well, and that, Ye Qiu could not let go so easily.

“Little Qiu, if you’re offended at their behavior, then be the change you want to see in the club. Excellent Era will need someone as dedicated as you in the future.”

The hand that Ye Qiu placed on his shoulder filled Qiu Fei with a new determination. Even now, despite everything that had happened, Ye Qiu was still thinking of the future of Excellent Era. This was still the team Ye Qiu loved deeply, the team that had nurtured his own love for Glory, and Qiu Fei wanted to protect it with whatever limited strength he had.

“Senior! I will definitely see you again someday on stage.”

Ye Qiu smiled.

“I’m looking forward to it.”

Xia Zhongtian stood for a long moment at the same spot that the taxi had left him. He was across the street from Excellent Era’s club building, frowning at the red leaf logo that rose overhead. The logo had obviously been designed as a nod to the character who had stood at the core of Excellent Era since its very beginning, the same figure who was causing it such chaos now. Su Mucheng’s departure was unfortunate, but the confirmation of Ye Qiu’s exit was what really stirred the fans.

He had been a fan of Excellent Era since the second season, so inevitably he was also a fan of Ye Qiu, the man who had brought Excellent Era to its height. Excellent Era had really messed up, and he couldn’t understand how its management had let things develop this far. Many of Excellent Era’s sponsors had already pulled out in light of their truly spectacular public relations disaster. He had no intention of joining them, but he had come to gain a better understanding of Excellent Era’s current state of affairs.

“Mr. Xia?”

Ah, speak of the devil and he would appear. Xia Zhongtian had never met the mysterious Ye Qiu before, but he had played with Excellent Era’s captain before and recognized that voice. Ye Qiu did not usually meet with sponsors, but he was a special case. He didn’t request Ye Qiu to directly advertise any product, but instead had simply asked to play a game with him in the arena. Every year, during the off-season, they would play a game or two. If Ye Qiu had stayed in Excellent Era, they would have probably been playing right now.

He had engraved that voice into his head. There was no way he would mistake it.

“Ye Qiu?! You’re still here?”

“Please don’t say it so loud!” The man winced, knowing he had accidentally given himself away but unwilling to attract further attention. Nowadays, his name drew aggro more rapidly than his words ever had. Riots had even started in front of the club building in the past few days. Whether it was in support or in hatred, the passion of fans was truly frightening.

Xia Zhongtian just found himself staring at the figure behind the Battle God. He wasn’t exactly sure what he was expecting, but it certainly wasn’t this pale, scrawny, and completely average looking man who could easily be mistaken for any other black-haired youth off the street. Years upon years of accolades had built a legend around the name “Ye Qiu” to the point that it was easy to forget that Ye Qiu was also just another 24-year-old with a life and motivations outside of Glory.

“Play a game with me,” he impulsively demanded.

Perhaps it wasn’t the best idea, trying to understand the Ye Qiu outside of Glory by playing him in Glory, but it was how the two had communicated for years.

“Where? I don’t have access to the club rooms anymore, you know. I’ve been living at the hotel down the block; I was just here to get McDonalds and happened to notice you,” Ye Qiu said with a touch of exasperation in his voice, casually shattering Xia Zhongtian’s image of him more and more. Here was Excellent Era’s former God, not a proud, untouchable paragon of strength, but rather a slovenly-dressed man living in a second-rate hotel, on a quest for junk food of all things.

Still, he was not going to let such an opportunity go so easily.

“Come to my office, I have a set-up there. I’ll treat you to lunch.”

“Okay," Ye Qiu agreed. "I still want McDonalds though.”

Xia Zhongtian found that all it took to lure Ye Qiu somewhere was indeed as simple as waffle fries, a burger, and a game of Glory. He didn’t need to pay thousands in sponsorship, just 20 yuan in food was enough to buy an arena match against Ye Qiu. The only difference being, this time Ye Qiu mercilessly crushed him in under a minute.

“Is my skill level that bad?” he asked incredulously. Ye Qiu hadn’t even used One Autumn Leaf. He wasn’t even playing a Battle Mage . He had used the random sharpshooter account his secretary had developed to follow and nag him in-game. Xia Zhongtian knew that Ye Qiu had always held back in their matches, but had he held back to that extent? It felt that even with one hand tied behind his back, Ye Qiu could still beat him. That was how wide their gap was.

“It’s not bad.” Ye Qiu smirked, knowing exactly what he was implying. “I’m leave for my flight tomorrow, so this is the last time you’ll get to see it personally. How is it, the strength of a three-time MVP?”

Arrogant! But as the loser, what could he say? Ye Qiu’s strength was real. If he said anything less of it, it would be an insult to the rest of the professional league. He had no response to such a shameless comment, so he could only change the topic.

“Do you hate Excellent Era now?”

Ye Qiu’s expression turned complicated. The earlier look of smug confidence had been replaced by something more wistful. “How could I hate something I’ve raised? You could say the problem was I loved Excellent Era more than anyone else in the club. I never wanted to leave in the first place.”

Xia Zhongtian mulled over those words. Ye Qiu did sound genuinely regretful about leaving. It was not hard to imagine that the core and captain of the team loved it more than anyone else. But thinking of it in a different angle, was it that everyone else in the club loved it too little? Players like Liu Hao obviously held little respect for their club if they were willing to spit on their captain so openly and carelessly. But how deep-rooted was the issue?

“Did you have a problem with the management?”

“Tao Xuan…is focused on a different vision of the club right now. One that I can’t agree with. I’ve never cared for financial success; the only kind of success I’m interested in is in Glory.”

Those words were spoken with such conviction that it was impossible not to be moved. Underneath it all, this was it – this was the essence of the Battle God he had admired for so many years: this simple but unyielding desire for victory. It was what had drawn him to Excellent Era from the start, because his feelings were the same. Xia Zhongtian had never cared about how profitable his sponsorship with Excellent Era turned out to be. All he wanted was to throw his support behind the team so that they could take just even the smallest step closer to victory.

“ I love Excellent Era,” he declared suddenly. Ye Qiu’s earlier statement was something he would prove wrong. Maybe the club no longer love Excellent Era the way it deserved, but the fans have never lost sight of their love. “It’s not just you who loves the club. Excellent Era will always have me.”

“Not bad!” Ye Qiu repeated, this time his words much more genuine. “In this time of crisis, Excellent Era really needs help. Perhaps you could find a chance.”

“A chance? What do you mean?”

“Nearly all of Excellent Era’s sponsors have pulled out. On top of that, Liu Hao has already been dropped as a scapegoat for that incident. Excellent Era is going into the new season with almost no money, at least three players missing from the roster, and no tactical core. If this isn’t resolved, Excellent Era might even be relegated next season.”

Ye Qiu’s analysis of the club’s situation was very blunt, not hesitating at all to predict the worst outcome. Xia Zhongtian’s heart clenched at the thought of Excellent Era relegated. If anyone had said this to an Excellent Era fan three years ago, they would have laughed in their face. But now, he wholeheartedly believed in Ye Qiu’s prediction.

“So, you’re saying I should help Excellent Era with more funding?”

“Don’t be so generous,” Ye Qiu scolded, “You have the upper hand here in negotiations. Have you ever considered purchasing a share of Excellent Era?”

Becoming a shareholder of Excellent Era. He truthfully had never imagined having a bigger role than simple sponsorship. He would never have dared to be so bold. But now, he didn’t dare to stay idle either. He would do whatever he could for the team. And to start off, he would do what Excellent Era had failed to do for so many years – listen to the words of the greatest tactician in the Alliance.

---

The first week of July was a busy one for Blue Rain. Earlier in the week, they held a farewell party for the three seniors who had chosen to retire gracefully after fulfilling their championship dreams. They knew Blue Rain would have capable people to rise to their empty positions. To be able to retire without regrets or worries – it was the best ending a pro player could have.

Later in the week, there was a second party for Yu Feng’s promotion to the main roster and for the contract signing of Blue Rain’s newest batch of players. In addition to Su Mucheng’s arrival, two other talents were promoted from the training camp. Lin Feng and Xu Jingxi would both be inheriting accounts from their seniors – thief and paladin, two familiar classes for Blue Rain’s rhythm. Yu Feng had been the odd exception; his talent had been so extraordinary that Blue Rain had taken the risk of adding a new class to their lineup.  

Even though their promotion was eclipsed by the anticipation of the arrival of Su Mucheng and Ye Qiu, everyone on the team warmly welcomed them. The first half of the party was actually completely dedicated to them, reminding them that they were not any less a part of the team than any of the “big name” players.

“The first thing you’ll have to get used to is Huang Shaotian’s chattering,” Yu Feng took on a teaching air toward his new juniors.

“Oi, oi! This chattering won us a championship, okay? Don’t look down on it!”

At first, they were shocked at how casually Yu Feng dared to talk to the “Gods” of their team. Yu Feng had only debuted a year ahead of them and he was so daring already. But they soon realized, this was just the way Blue Rain’s team flowed.

“You really start to tune it out pretty fast,” Song Xiao joined in.

“What’s really stressful is Captain’s training regimen,” Zheng Xuan said.

“Right, exactly right! Don’t be fooled by his appearance, he’s the cruelest taskmaster!”  Huang Shaotian took to the change in conversation topic with enthusiasm. “He may have slow hands but his eyes are sharp! He’ll know if you’re slacking even if his back is turned to you.”

“These hands won us a championship, okay? Don’t look down on them!” Yu Wenzhou repeated Huang Shaotian’s earlier words, earning laughter from the whole group.

If the captain and vice-captain could talk so comfortably about their own faults, it was no wonder that everyone else on the team acted so casually toward the subject. This was the type of team Blue Rain was: full of imperfections, but completely accepting of them.

Lin Feng and Xu Jingxi joined in the laughter.

When Ye Qiu and Su Mucheng arrived, there was no shortage of inquiries toward the two. Su Mucheng’s future position was obvious, but Ye Qiu was still a mystery. It was a testament to his status that Blue Rain had invited him over even before fully negotiating his future within the club.

“I want to make a new account, a true unspecialized,” Ye Qiu explained to the gathered party of players and upper management alike. “But the amount of materials it’ll require is pretty steep, which is why I’ll join the guild division to ease the burden. If it works out, I’ll re-enter the scene with this new character.”

He knows that most clubs would be hesitant to invest in such an untested character, so this is his compromise. A true unspecialized had never been seen before. Some in the room probably don’t even have a clue what his words are referring to, so he isn’t surprised to hear some push-back.

“Ye Qiu…we are willing to buy a Battle Mage account from another club and build upon it. We can certainly afford it after winning the championship. Wouldn’t that be easier for you?”

“I’m not interested in any other account,” Ye Qiu replied with arrogance befitting a three-time champion. Then, he fished into his pocket. Everyone expected him to pull out his usual box of cigarettes, but instead, he produced a Glory account card. “If you see it, I think you’ll understand.”

On a training computer, Ye Qiu did not open up the usual gameplay server. It wouldn’t serve a purpose; Su Muqiu had not bothered to touch Lord Grim other than to deposit materials. He chose to open the equipment editor linked to the account.

Despite steeling himself, he still felt a strong pang of bittersweet nostalgia at the sight of the Myriad Manifestations Umbrella. It was just as intricate as he remembered. Each piece had been meticulously and painstakingly carved to fit perfectly with each other into a greater whole. The culmination of Muqiu’s genius talent in weapon design.

“It’s…an umbrella?”

Ye Qiu chuckled at their ignorance and began to flip through some of its initial forms. Spear, Sword, Gun. Each form was only level 5, but their stats easily surpassed any orange weapon of equal level. It had the fundamental makings of a strong silver weapon worthy of professional play.

“How long do the transformations take?” Yu Wenzhou asked. As expected, he immediately picked up on the value of this weapon.

“Under a second, with no cooldown,” Ye Qiu replied with a hint of pride.

“That’s-“

“Amazing, absolutely amazing! God Ye, did you make this? Do you have plans for upgrades?” The weapon development team could no longer hold back their excitement. They were nearly salivating at the thought of such a complex weapon – a pinnacle of design, one that made them completely reconsider the basic principles they had thought were absolute. A weapon that changed into three forms. It had never been done before.

“I have the plans up until level 50, but I wasn’t the one who made them. The one who made this weapon was my friend. He was also the one behind Evil Annihilation, but he’s gone now.”

Everyone stayed quiet, at a loss for what to say. Nearly a whole minute passed in which everyone could only stare as Ye Qiu raised an unlit cigarette to his lip. Even if he had lit it then and there in the no-smoking room, no one would have dared to say anything. This was the most backstory they had ever gotten on Ye Qiu.

Yu Wenzhou noticed that Su Mucheng was smiling despite the atmosphere, but her eyes were distant. It was easy to guess that this was a story shared between the two of them. The card was first-edition, and the plans only went up to level 50. Before the level 55 update, a true unspecialized would have been a BUG-like existence. But it had never appeared back then, indicating that it had been created a step too late before Glory’s first major update restricted leveling of characters who had not chosen a class awakening.

But the account still had not appeared after the introduction of Heavenly Domain which would have allowed an unspecialized account to continue leveling. Most likely, the friend died before seeing this day otherwise he would have insisted on continuing his work. For at least three years, Ye Qiu must have dwelled on his late friend’s regrets, holding onto the last remnants of his brilliance residing in that well-treasured relic of a card.

A weapon that would make the unspecialized class viable.

Yu Wenzhou's heart pounded the more he thought about it. An absurdly unique weapon paired with an equally ridiculously talented player playing a class thought to be impossible… If Blue Rain had such a trump card, establishing a new dynasty would be within their reach. Perhaps it wasn’t the best long-term investment, because it was inevitable that the innate power gap in class skills would one day be too overwhelming. But if it was in Ye Qiu’s hands, such an account could persist for as high as a level 80 cap, maybe even beyond.

There was also no team more suited to developing this weapon than Blue Rain. Their team had over 15 classes in their original first-season line-up due to the presence of the all-class expert, Fang Shijing. During this early period, “free players” who didn’t stick to a single class were common, and Fang Shijing had been the most versatile of them all. He could play any class their strategy required or substitute in for the class of a sick teammate when necessary. This strategy had fallen out of favor once it became unsustainable to develop the equipment for so many accounts, but its mark on Blue Rain’s history had remained. Their R&D department had a wide range of experience in all weapon types from this early era, and now it would finally be time for that experience to shine. It was no wonder that the chief of the department was practically salivating at the sight of the weapon.

He knew the management still had their doubts on this plan, but he had already made up his mind. Blue Rain would ultimately benefit if they supported Ye Qiu’s plan. They already had a solid championship line-up that management was reluctant to change, even for the popular Su Mucheng, but this kind of thinking was what led to complacency and stagnation. Teams had to constantly innovate and evolve their playstyle if they wanted to stay at the top, and Ye Qiu’s Lord Grim would undoubtedly be a driving force that would push their team to do exactly this.

Luckily, Blue Rain’s management had always valued the opinion of their players in matters regarding the roster.

By the end of the day, for the first time in the history of the Glory Professional Alliance, a level 1 account had quietly been purchased under Blue Rain for an amount that would make most normal players cry in disbelief.

Lord Grim started anew on the first server. The beginner’s village on such an old server was relatively empty and Ye Qiu mechanically went through the beginner quests with the ghosts of his memories haunting every action.

“It’s been so long since you and brother began here,” Su Mucheng commented softly. The two of them had chosen to privately witness the rebirth of Lord Grim together after the rest of their teammates had gone to bed.

“Mm. It was so crowded on the first day.”

“I didn’t know how you two could be so excited. I nearly fell asleep watching!”

“Muqiu was the one who was so obsessive at first. He talked my ear off about it for weeks before the release. Remember, I actually stopped playing on the first day to walk you back home.”

“Yeah. Now it’s a rarity to be able to separate you from Glory so easily,” she teased.

The two were not afraid to evoke memories of Su Muqiu. As painful as they were, they were also deeply treasured and never meant to be forgotten. So the two chatted and reminisced throughout the hour that it took to reach level 5 and retrieve the Myriad Manifestation Umbrella from the equipment editor.

“Start again from the beginning…” Ye Qiu repeated the words that Su Muqiu said to him the day he had entrusted him with Lord Grim’s account card. This time, it would be him carrying out these brave words.

It was frankly uneconomical for Ye Qiu to be the one to level up the Lord Grim account. After Ye Qiu had chosen the first 20 skills for Lord Grim with the meager amount of skill points he earned from that first night of playing, then handed the Myriad Manifestation Umbrella to a separate account for the R&D division and dropped off Lord Grim’s account to Blue Rain’s guild division to be power-leveled. He still planned on experimenting with Lord Grim for a few hours daily, but he also had a much bigger task at hand.

Yu Wenzhou introduced him to Liang Yichun, Blue Rain’s current guild leader. He had already met the man in-game during the All-Stars weekend, and Liang Yichun was smart enough to put two and two together quickly. Still, the shock of having the Ye Qiu working under him had left him silent for a good minute.

“I’ll be in your care,” Ye Qiu said the same words he had said to the man during that weekend.

“Work him to the bone,” Yu Wenzhou ordered jokingly.

“Yu Wenzhou, don’t forget to help your elders.”

“Of course, you should also rope in our newer players. They could benefit from the experience.”

“Alright. Let me know when it’s convenient.”

This side conversation finally gave Liang Yichun enough time to recover his wits. Matters proceeded smoothly from there. He set Ye Qiu up with the spare open accounts in their possession and gathered the Five Great Experts to introduce them.

“This is Ye Qiu. He’ll be working for Blue Rain’s guild division from now on.”

“Guild leader…are you pulling our leg?”

Having Ye Qiu work in their guild…it felt like the equivalent of using a 10-foot sledgehammer to crack a tiny nut. It didn’t help that the account Ye Qiu had chosen ended up being a female account with ridiculous pink hair and the username [FairyCatPrincess]. Even if the account was Ye Qiu’s signature class of a Battle Mage, no one could accept it in their heart.

“He’s really Ye Qiu!” Liang Yichun said as Changing Spring. He shot a pleading look to Ye Qiu who was playing beside him.

“I’ll be in your care,” Ye Qiu repeated, completely unhelpful in convincing anyone.

In the end, Changing Spring proposed that the four of them run a dungeon with Ye Qiu. They would have to work together in Wild Boss battles frequently in the future, so it would be good to become more familiar with each other now. Everyone had readily agreed to this proposal and chose one of the new level 70 five-player dungeons, a dungeon with a high skill requirement to better show off everyone’s capabilities.

At the entrance of the dungeon, the group stopped in an awkward standstill.

“…aren’t you going to lead?” Ye Qiu finally asked to Blue Bridge Spring Snow, who had been made the party leader out of habit.

Everyone else stared at Ye Qiu – they wanted to ask him this same question!

“Er…God Ye, it wouldn’t feel right to give orders to a pro…shouldn’t you lead?” Blue Bridge explained.

“Even a pro-player has to obey orders and try his hardest to work with everyone,” Ye Qiu pointed out. Then, he added, “I also never played this dungeon before. Wouldn’t it make sense for the more experienced player to lead?”

It was logic that couldn’t be beaten. Everyone was both surprised and moved by Ye Qiu’s modesty. It was true that in this aspect of the game, they were more experienced than a pro-player who did not have the time nor motivation to run dungeons. Furthermore, their team composition was greatly unbalanced – a Battle Mage, a Blade Master, a Summoner, an Elementalist, and a Spitfire. They had no healers and no true MT. Any small mistake would be fatal.

It felt a little ridiculous in hindsight, expecting Ye Qiu to miraculously lead this composition through a completely unfamiliar dungeon. Ye Qiu’s reputation was so dazzling that they had even forgotten the simple fact that a pro would obviously never have run such a new dungeon before. They had chosen this dungeon because of their deep familiarity with it, but they now also remembered how frequently they’d wiped out here in the early days.

“I’ll lead, then,” Blue Bridge said sheepishly.

The 5-player dungeon was a fairly simple one with four stages. The key gimmick of the dungeon was the swarms of tiny flying insects in the early stages that had the probability of inflicting an instant death status with their sting. With their small hitbox and large numbers, they were a complete pain to deal with.

From the first stage alone, everyone could immediately tell that Ye Qiu was unbelievably skilled. His primary role was to clear out these annoying swarms while the others focused on the boss. Normally, there would at least be two people assigned to this role, but Ye Qiu had assured them that it wouldn’t be a problem. The real problem ended up being how distracted they were watching the God’s beautiful movements.

In just a single swipe of his lance, Ye Qiu had managed to hit 4 insects at once. The guild had not been stingy in equipping his character with a full set of orange equipment, allowing him to easily kill the insects in one hit. Quickly, the Battle Mage’s signature Battle Aura skill began to build from his repeated combos.

For any normal player, it would be common to lose control of their character due to failing to adapt to the staggered increase in movement and attack speed that the Battle Aura provided. But this was Ye Qiu, a peak existence among Battle Mage players. He wouldn’t make such a common mistake. His attacking pace only grew fiercer without diminishing in accuracy at all. Every swing of his lance never failed to find a target.

After he finished with one swarm, he seamlessly moved to the spawn point of the next one. In such a short period, he had already grasped the timing of the spawns. Ye Qiu made [FairyCatPrincess] look extremely domineering despite the ridiculous bubble-gum-pink hair and heeled boots.

“Shit, he really is God Ye!”

“…do you think we can get his autograph?”

“Focus on the Boss!” Blue Bridge reminded them, hiding the fact that he too had joined in on the staring.

The team progressed to the third stage in high spirits. The skill level of their group made running through this dungeon a breeze, and having God Ye Qiu with them was practically a cheat.

And then the final stage started.

“…God Ye…aren’t you pulling too many monsters?”

“Mm, this dungeon would be too easy otherwise. Weren’t we doing this to assess each other’s capabilities? There needs to be more challenge!”

“What happened to obeying orders?” Blue Bridge couldn’t help but cry out. His reservations against talking back to such a great figure had completely been erased in the face of the 8 monsters that were bearing down on their group.

“I’m pulling rank!” Ye Qiu replied cheerfully, and with a Falling Flower Palm, knocked back half of those monsters at once. “Don’t worry, I have an idea of your capabilities now. Follow my lead!”

“Didn’t you say you were unfamiliar with this dungeon?!”

“I skimmed a guide before we entered!”

What modesty? What obedience? They had been bamboozled. This God was as willful as they came! At such a crucial stage in the dungeon, he was willing to risk a team wipe. Nevertheless, they scrambled to follow his new directions. Suddenly, the dungeon required their complete attention. To avoid a wipeout, each of their skills had to be timed precisely in succession to each other to keep the waves of monsters at bay. Ye Qiu called out a steady stream of orders, never faltering even if a mistake was made. He would simply swoop in to adjust the gap in their formation himself.

However, no one wanted to be the one to make a mistake in front of this God, so they pushed themselves to their limit.

Miraculously, the dungeon was cleared in record time. From Ye Qiu’s efficiency in handling the early swarms to their maddening pace in the later stages, they had saved enough time to actually break the record, but the usual excitement of such an event was muted by their exhaustion.

“Good work, everyone!” Ye Qiu complimented. “Your skill levels are quite good.”

“God Ye…please give us more of a warning next time,” Chilling Nightfall whined. As a fragile summoner class, he had especially been hard-pressed to maintain both his HP and mana the whole dungeon. He had finished with just a sliver of health left.

“In Wild Boss battles, there will be even less of a warning. This was also a test of your adaptability. Anyways, we made it out alive, didn’t we?”

It dawned on everyone that this kind of insane pace was going to be commonplace when playing with this God.

Blue Bridge was the first to recover. Wasn’t what they had done amazing? Wasn’t Ye Qiu amazing? Ye Qiu had come up with a new strategy for the last part of the dungeon, specially catered to their class composition, completely on the fly and led them through executing it with a steadiness that he could not dream of matching. Even though the whole affair had driven up his blood pressure, it had also excited him in a way nothing in Glory had during the months since the update.

Ultimately, Ye Qiu would be a force that would shake up their guild, of this Blue Bridge was sure. Even the Wild Boss battles, which were usually taxing affairs of subterfuge and intrigue, were sure to change.

He wanted to witness more of it – what Glory looked like on the shoulders of such a Great God.

It had been over 4 years since he had stepped foot in Blue Rain’s club building. Fang Shijing could barely recognize the interior anymore. He had been with the team since its inception, when the club had only been able to rent a single floor and they had squeezed players three to a room to save on costs. The status of the Glory Professional Alliance and the conditions of professional players had improved by leaps and bounds since he had left.

“Captain, welcome back.”

Yu Wenzhou had been waiting for him. His successor was quick, coming over the second he stepped foot in the building as if to secure him before he had any second thoughts. Fang Shijing snorted.

“No need to call me that, you’ve done a much better job of being captain than me. Champions, huh?”

He had never wanted the captaincy that befell him in the third season. Neither had he wanted the heavy burden of controlling Swoksaar. But for the sake of the team, he had put aside his favored “free player” role to take up the mantle left to him. At the end of the season, he had been relieved to shift the burden onto someone else.

“It was all thanks to the foundation you seniors left for us,” Yu Wenzhou replied, as infuriatingly modest as ever.

“Enough, enough, let’s just cut to the point. What could you guys possibly want to consult an old man like me about?”

He had not fully cut all contact after his retirement like Wei Chen, but he hadn’t expected management to reach out to him again after all these years. He had debated not coming, but in the end, curiosity had gotten the better of him.

“A true unspecialized.”

Fang Shijing’s traitorous heart raced at just those three words. He had been part of the early circle of players who speculated on such a concept. If the 120 low-level skills could be chained together, it would undoubtedly open an amazing well of new possibilities. Some early players had even pooled together to make a simulation program that eliminated the weapon change cooldown to demonstrate how interesting it would be to combo with an unspecialized. Ultimately though, all talk had quickly died down once the level 55 awakening update arrived.

“How did this come up?” he had to ask.

“Ye Qiu.”

Another two words that made Fang Shijing’s blood pressure rise. Ye Qiu had been an absolute nightmare to the players of the early seasons.

“Shit, so he’s really here?”

Everyone had been waiting to see if Blue Rain would announce signing on Ye Qiu in addition to Su Mucheng. It turned out they had indeed managed to pull in the Great God.

“Yes. He’s building a true unspecialized account with a silver weapon that can rapidly switch between forms. We were thinking that as you were another player who was proficient all 24-classes, you could be of help in its development.”

A silver weapon that could switch forms had also been an idea thrown around in the forums when speculating about a true unspecialized. There had been precedents of minor weapon form modifications, such as adding a mechanical box onto a weapon, but no one had been able to work out the concept to the extent needed for a viable unspecialized. It had been dismissed as another impossible dream.

Apparently, it was not impossible, and Ye Qiu had already had the solution sitting around for over six years .

Lord Grim and the Myriad Manifestation Umbrella had already reached level 25 on the first server after two weeks, and the Umbrella had gained a sword form in addition to its base three forms. Fang Shijing was absolutely smitten, eagerly taking Lord Grim on dungeon run after dungeon run to experiment.

“I can’t believe you’ve kept this from the world for six years,” he accused to Ye Qiu.

“I was too preoccupied winning championships,” Ye Qiu quipped back.

“Fuck your championships! This weapon was the weapon of my dreams!”

If playing a true unspecialized had been an option, he would have never quit. By the second season, the club no longer wanted to develop the multiple accounts needed to maintain a “free player." His main talent in being a jack of all trades no longer had a place to shine except as a substitute. When even that became difficult, he decided to quit rather than force himself to continue with a single, limited class.

Back then, if he could have had the Myriad Manifestation Umbrella, how far could his skills have taken him?

But now, he was far too out of practice and far too old to dare to return. Furthermore, Ye Qiu, the Glory Textbook , was here. Fang Shijing could not compete in technical skill nor knowledge against this legendary player. He could only hope to stay close and live vicariously through Ye Qiu.

“That combo was sloppy,” Ye Qiu commented, completely ignoring Fang Shijing’s inner lamentations.

“What would you have done instead?”

“Sweep for the shorter knock-up, then Dragon Tooth into Stun Bullet to extend.”

“What do you think of Lunge into Slide Kick for this situation? “

“Mm, it’s too easy for an opponent to influence the knockback direction for Lunge, Slide Kick wouldn’t be guaranteed. ”

When Yu Wenzhou came back to check on the two older players, they were completely engrossed in their theoretical discussion, all past grudges put aside.

Fang Shijing ended up agreeing to return to specifically contribute to leveling and developing Lord Grim. No matter how talented Ye Qiu was, there would be ideas he would miss. He was already stretched splitting his attention between Lord Grim and gathering materials in the Heavenly Domain. Fang Shijing was not as experienced or talented as Ye Qiu, but he was still a veteran with a fresh set of eyes.

Developing a whole new class was best done with multiple minds looking over all the possibilities – Glory was never meant to be played alone, after all.

“We want to transfer you.”

Lin Jingyan had known these words were coming, but he still could not steel his heart from the pain of the abandonment. A week ago, Wind Howl had invited a player from Hundred Blossom’s training camp to train with them. Tang Hao, who also played the Brawler class, had challenged him and won.

It was close, but even a 2% HP victory was still a victory. He hadn’t been prepared for such a vicious assault from a player who had not even entered the professional league yet. Tang Hao had obviously been prepared to fight him, but his greatest strengths in experience and planning were greatly undermined by the sudden challenge against an unfamiliar opponent.

Not only was the match a painful reminder of his declining condition, but Tang Hao’s words afterward had also been painfully humiliating. The junior succeeds the senior. Everyone knew what Tang Hao was implying by those words.

There had been increasing whispers of criticism about him over the last season, especially at the end when he had failed to bring Wind Howl to the playoffs. Old. Outdated. Unworthy of his position. No one had dared to say these things to his face, considering how harshly the public had recently condemned such unprofessionalism from Excellent Era, but it was impossible to uproot the criticism that lay in everyone’s heart when his performance validated everyone’s doubts.

Tang Hao’s five words could definitely be considered disrespectful, but he could do nothing about it. He was not like Ye Qiu, whose strength and history always spoke for itself.

All he could do is bow his head and persist until he had an opportunity.   

“Where?”

“Excellent Era made a very generous offer, but it’ll just be a player transfer. We’ve worked out an additional transfer between Hundred Blossoms. They’ll be selling the Brawler account Delilo to Excellent Era, and we plan to sign on Tang Hao to take over the Demon Subduer account.”

It made sense now, why Wind Howl had gone to the trouble of inviting a training camp member from a different club. This transfer offer must have tempted them to start looking for his replacement sooner rather than later, and unfortunately for him, they had found a capable player.

However, it shocked him that it was Excellent Era who wanted him. Excellent Era had never used a Brawler before. While it was true that their roster was in an incredibly unstable transitionary period, he would have never thought they would try to dig him of all players, especially considering their desperate situation and the rumors of his own decline.

“Do…you know what their intentions are for me?”

"They've invited you to visit their club to discuss it, if you are willing. Apparently, before he left, Ye Qiu recommended you. Maybe you could also contact him."

Ye Qiu! Another unexpected twist. Lin Jingyan had joined the Professional Alliance in the second season, when Ye Qiu had been at his peak, so he understood well how deep Ye Qiu’s insights ran. Had the master tactician of master tacticians seen through Lin Jingyan’s declining situation in his own club so early on? More importantly, what kind of future did Ye Qiu see in him?

The first thing he did after the meeting was open his QQ to send a message.

Demon Subduer: Old Ye, you recommended me to Excellent Era?

As Ye Qiu was notorious for his sparse presence in all of their shared group chats, he hadn’t expected a response so quick.

One Autumn Leaf: Oh, Wind Howl is actually planning on letting you go?

Demon Subduer: I lost to a training camp member

One Autumn Leaf: History repeats itself!😂😂😂

 

One Autumn Leaf: You and Old Wei should make a support group

One Autumn Leaf: Just don’t follow his example. He got traumatized all the way into premature hermithood

Demon Subduer: I…don’t want to quit yet. I still want to play, but I’d be lying if I said I don’t feel shaken

Demon Subduer: I never expected to leave the team so soon

One Autumn Leaf: If Wind Howl is getting rid of you for the result of just a single 1v1 match, they truly don’t understand your strengths

Demon Subduer: And what do you think my strengths are?

One Autumn Leaf: Fishing for praise, are you?

One Autumn Leaf: Well, lucky for you, I’m feeling quite generous today

One Autumn Leaf: Old Lin, the years are not kind to players like us. It is true that your mechanical skill has started to decline, but that’s never been your strong point.

One Autumn Leaf:  I remember when you were a wee rookie in season 2 who dropped easy combo chains all the time! Truly pitiful! 😂

Demon Subduer: Praise? What praise? This is abuse, bringing up the ancient past!

One Autumn Leaf: But even back then, the fact that you were able to start all those combos in the first place was the scary part about you!

One Autumn Leaf: You had a great innate understanding of positioning and prediction that’s only grown with experience

One Autumn Leaf: It’s just unfortunate that Wind Howl wanted you to take up more of a lead attacker role when you became captain

One Autumn Leaf: Your brawler was never suited to be so direct

One Autumn Leaf: Your rhythm has felt awkward in the recent years. The burden on your shoulders must have been heavy

As expected, Ye Qiu’s analysis was startlingly on point. He had initially been honored when Demon Subduer became Wind Howl’s most famous character, but then the expectations that came with such a position had put a new pressure on his playstyle. He had never completely adapted to it.

One Autumn Leaf: So, it wouldn’t be bad for you to transfer to Excellent Era

One Autumn Leaf: You’re already familiar with working with an Elementalist and Qi Master on your team

One Autumn Leaf: And they’ll never have the same expectation of you there, even if they want you to be the leading general

The reason for this did not need to be said – Excellent Era’s key figure would always be One Autumn Leaf.

Demon Subduer: Do you know who is taking over your account?

One Autumn Leaf: Go find out for me!

One Autumn Leaf: But I hope you’ll sincerely consider Excellent Era, Old Lin

One Autumn Leaf: If you’re there, I’ll be able to rest easy

Demon Subduer: Hey, where are you going next season anyways??

Demon Subduer: Blue Rain hasn’t made any further announcements

One Autumn Leaf: I’m on vacation! 😎🌴☀️

 

Vacation for Ye Qiu meant a nightmare for the other club guilds. And for his own guild mates.

“Little Blue, I’ll leave it up to you then! Squad 2 and 4, follow my lead!”

With just a sentence, Ye Qiu left Blue Bridge Spring Snow’s group to handle the ire of the two other guilds he had pissed off. He had not even left him with any of the three pro-players he had brought along. Blue Bridge had certainly pulled the short end of the stick in today’s battle.

Gritting his teeth, he called out to his squad. “Hold your ground with everything you’ve got!”

Although they had ultimately been overwhelmed, the seconds they bought had been precious for Ye Qiu’s group to secure the Boss. Ye Qiu had been pleased by the results. So pleased that he was merciless in making the same decision the next battle in a twisted form of trust. From that day forth, the Blue Brook guild jokingly gave his group a new moniker – the Blue Bridge Suicide Squad.

When the summer break’s new batch of transfers were announced, Ye Qiu found himself forcibly dragged to hotpot by the combined enthusiasm of Huang Shaotian and Su Mucheng. Blue Rain’s entire team had come to gossip over food – the most tried and true form of team bonding. Even Fang Shijing had been dragged along.

“I can’t believe Excellent Era actually decided to replace their entire roster! Did they finally go crazy? Everyone wanted them to do it but no one actually expected it to happen! Yet it actually happened!”

The one leading the conversation was, of course, Huang Shaotian.

“It’s the sincerest way they can show that they are changing,” Yu Wenzhou said. “If they had kept the old roster, the gossip would have followed them endlessly. At least this way, they can have a fresh start and a clean state to attract back both fans and sponsors.”

“Old Ye, worried about your old team?” Huang Shaotian asked, noticing the other’s silence.

“They’ll have to work hard in the next season,” was all Ye Qiu said on the matter, choosing instead to focus on soaking a generous portion of noodles into the pot.

Excellent Era had undergone a radical change in just this first round of transfers. Liu Hao was dropped from the team, with no announcement of where he would go. It was obvious that no team wanted to invite such a hated player even if his skill was not bad. The remaining three members had also been let go, but at least one of them had already managed to find a transfer onto one of the desperate teams facing relegation. Their reputations had been sullied, but not nearly as badly as Liu Hao’s.

In exchange, Excellent Era had brought in Lin Jingyan from Wind Howl for the high price of 5 million RMB, and that was for the player alone. They had also bought the account Delilo from Hundred Blossoms for an additional 1.5 million RMB. No one had expected Excellent Era to be able to make such pricey purchases, but it soon came to light that Excellent Era’s core management had also undergone a change and gained a new COO.

Xia Zhongtian’s press conference and the changes he brought had been a welcome relief to fans of Excellent Era. He was linked to the wealthy Ch’ien Tea Green corporation, which had no reason to be interested in Glory, but he had joined Excellent Era’s management out of personal love for the team and proved his commitment by using his own money to fund the new transfers.

“Excellent Era will not fall” became the new tag line for the team’s revival.

But even more attention-grabbing was Wind Howl’s decision to promote a rookie stolen away from Hundred Blossom’s training camp as their new captain and owner of their All-Star Brawler account – Demon Subduer. The rookies who had succeeded into a captain position in their first year had a history of becoming legends in the pro-scene, such as Wang Jiexi and Yu Wenzhou. So everyone was naturally interested in how the young Tang Hao would fare in the upcoming season.

In Wind Howl’s press conference, Tang Hao had boldly declared that he would take his team to the championship in the next season.

“The youth of today are sure optimistic,” Fang Shijing said while eyeing Huang Shaotian knowingly. If it weren’t for Yu Wenzhou leading that first conference, the young Huang Shaotian would have definitely shouted something similar.

“We’ll have to study him cautiously.” As an underdog himself, Yu Wenzhou was never the type to underestimate any opponent. If Tang Hao had the talent to overthrow Lin Jingyan, he certainly wasn’t an opponent they should overlook.

“We’ll crush him and get our second championship!” Huang Shaotian declared.

“How stressful…”

“Zheng Xuan!” The vice-captain turned his attention to the Spitfire player, holding out an accusatory finger. “If you don’t work harder this upcoming season, Su Mucheng may take your place!”

“How stressful!” Su Mucheng interrupted with a grin.

“Look! Look! She’s stealing your catchphrase already,” Song Xiao joked.

“She already has you beaten in looks,” Xu Jingxi joined in. Although he was new, it was easy to fall into the teasing rhythm of his teammates.

“Being a substitute wouldn’t be bad…”

“Everyone needs to work their hardest,” Yu Wenzhou said with a tone of finality.

Ye Qiu sat back, mouth stuffed with noodles and heart full of nostalgia. Once upon a time, Excellent Era had been a team like this: a group of close friends who bantered without fear of stepping on any egos. This kind of atmosphere was something to be treasured. He looked to Su Mucheng and smiled. She had made a good choice.

Chapter Text

Normally, Blue Rain’s cafeteria only served free food to team members and substitutes. All other staff were given discounted meals, but they were still expected to pay. Ye Qiu’s position was technically that of an ordinary staff member, but he shamelessly arranged to eat with the team members and leveraged free food using their status.

Usually, he would eat with the other “older” players, so it was a surprise to Lin Feng when Ye Qiu suggested they grab a late meal together after completing a successful wild boss kill. The junior had accepted - it would be inappropriate not to since Ye Qiu was technically their senior, but it was Ye Qiu’s casual attitude that threw him off.

It wasn’t as if Ye Qiu never ate with his juniors. Technically, everyone in Blue Rain was his junior except Fang Shijian. But Ye Qiu had been playing with Su Mucheng, Yu Wenzhou, and Huang Shaotian for years, and each of them had distinguished themselves in the professional scene. It was different .

Lin Feng was just a newly promoted member whom most people wouldn’t give a second glance. Lin Feng wasn’t even on the main roster. Meanwhile, Ye Qiu was the most decorated player in Glory’s history, an indisputable legend. The gap in their status was even harder to get over than when he had first met Huang Shaotian and Yu Wenzhou. 

“Your style of Thief is very aggressive,” Ye Qiu started, but paused when he noticed the other player stiffen.

“It’s not a bad thing!” He quickly clarified, remembering his previous team situation. Ye Qiu had already learned that, despite all the praise reporters heaped onto him for his ability to read opponents, even he could underestimate how badly players would take criticism. “This type of style was actually quite popular when I first started playing. Back then, Ambush was one of the best offensive skills in the game and skill points were much more limited, so some players would forgo most trap options and focus on a combo-oriented build to fully capitalize on the stun time.”

Lin Feng nodded warily. He was already knowledgeable about the origins of his class. “I watched a lot of videos from Hundred Blossom’s thief in season 2 when I first started.”

“Oh, Old Bo? I can see the similarities,” said Ye Qiu. “Hundred Blossoms was a much more aggressive team back then with Sun Zheping. Are you a Hundred Blossoms fan?”

A shrug, but not a denial. “Blue Rain was closer to my home.”

“Do you think Blue Rain doesn’t suit you?”

“Isn’t it up to the player to adapt to the team?” said Lin Feng.

Ye Qiu smiled as he leaned back and took out a lollipop from his jacket pocket. “The relationship between a team and its players is always a two-way street. The team should help the player so that the player can help the team.” said Ye Qiu as he deftly unwrapped the treat and brought it to his mouth. The sweet taste was not nearly as satisfying as his usual hit of nicotine, but it served as a reminder of how he too had begun to change in his new life at Blue Rain. 

Seeing Lin Feng only nodding noncommittally, Ye Qiu continued. “Don’t misunderstand, the reason why the captain sent you to hunt bosses with me during team practice for this month isn’t because he doesn’t think you are unsuitable for Blue Rain’s team strategy with your playstyle. Your offense lies in grasping opportunities, and that is what Blue Rain is best at.”

“Then...why?”

“What you lack most right now is experience. If you repeatedly throw yourself against the same teammates or play in practice matches where everyone avoids showing their full hand, you’ll quickly find yourself hitting a wall. You need a situation with much more desperation!”

“And that situation is...boss battles?” He asked.

“Of course!” Ye Qiu said. “Boss materials are one of the foundations of a club’s power. Without materials, a team can’t improve their equipment, and a team who can’t improve their equipment will surely stagnate. Everyone is letting me run loose right now, but it won’t remain that way for much longer. It’ll be much more lively soon.”

Lin Feng had admittedly looked down on his work at the guild. Having pros use their precious time to fight over material was considered something more suited for a Relegation team than a powerhouse like Blue Rain with a whole department dedicated to it. It also didn’t help that Ye Qiu’s maneuvering made taking bosses appear so easy .

Materials were needed to make equipment - this was a fundamental fact that all Glory players understood, but there was a gap in how intimately the older and newer generation understood it. The older generation had personally led the struggle to obtain most of the material for their own equipment, whereas now with the expansion of club guilds, most of the younger generation tended to leave the struggle to others. And very few of the younger generation ever had as intimate of a hand in designing their equipment as in the past. At most, they would give their input about preferences to the R+D department and let someone else figure out the logistics. 

It wasn’t surprising that newer pros had begun to look down upon the in-game battlefield that had once forged their predecessors. There was a tenuous peace among the clubs because they all left their guild departments to handle the matter of material. When a club needed more than usual, it was easily solved by sending a pro to sway a battlefield of less dedicated players. But inevitably, the balance would be restored when the season called for practice and forced the pro back offline. 

But now an anomaly had appeared.

Ye Qiu had the frightening combination of time, manpower, and skill to overturn this long-held balance. 

Over the past month, a majority of the wild bosses had fallen to the Blue Brook Guild and Ye Qiu had essentially put a dagger to the throat of every guild’s supply line. The clubs couldn’t afford to let this situation continue. 

They would have to send in their own pros to turn around the situation.

“Please guide me then, Senior Ye,” Lin Feng said, eyes brightening with renewed interest.

Windy Rain: @OneAutumnLeaf You haven’t even announced that you’re playing this season but you’re still stealing so many wild bosses? How much more shameless could you be! Boss drop rates have already increased for the summer event, you don’t have to be so greedy! Ganliya doesn’t even drop any materials used in mage equipment!

 

Windy Rain: Explain yourself!

 

Windy Rain: @Swoksaar @Swoksaar @Swoksaar

 

Anyone who actually knew anything about Ye Qiu knew that the only way to summon the cryptid on chat was to get someone else to force him on in person. Normally, that someone would be Su Mucheng, but because Chu Yunxiu was bringing Ye Qiu to trial in the much more private group chat for team captains, she settled for the next best thing.

This all but confirmed to everyone Ye Qiu’s association with Blue Rain. Not that it wasn’t obvious already with Blue Brook Guild’s newest addition of a Battlemage who led their boss raids.

It didn’t take long for others to chime in their own accusations. The chain of “Explain Yourself!” had easily broken through 11 repeats within just 5 minutes, making this the most active the chat had been in months.

One Autumn Leaf: …why am I in this chat? I’m not a captain anymore

 

One Autumn Leaf has left the chat.

 

Cloud Piercer: …

 

Life Extinguisher: He isn’t wrong…

 

Windy Rain: Bullshit!

 

Windy Rain: We all know no one really cares about current captaincy! We haven’t even added that new Tang Hao kid yet. We’ve only enforced that rule when we actually don’t like someone.

 

Windy Rain has added One Autumn Leaf.

 

Dazzling Hundred Blossoms: Oh, in that case…

 

Dazzling Hundred Blossoms has removed One Autumn Leaf.

 

Windy Rain has added One Autumn Leaf.

 

Scene Killer has removed One Autumn Leaf.

 

Windy Rain has added One Autumn Leaf .

 

Crying Devil has removed One Autumn Leaf.

 

Windy Rain has added One Autumn Leaf.

 

Windy Rain: Stop stop stop! Next person who removes him, I’ll remove myself! Explanations first, then I’ll personally kick him out!

 

Swoksaar has removed One Autumn Leaf.

 

Cloud Piercer: …

 

Windy Rain: …

 

The whole chat: …

 

Swoksaar: Oops, looks like my hands were slow.

 

Life Extinguisher: Now I’m sure of it. Has another boss spawned? The only reason he would accept the invitation to this chat again so many times is to distract us. 

 

 

The chat instantly grew silent while everyone scrambled to check their other contacts. And then, the first to respond was surprisingly Lin Jingyan.

Delilo: Fuck, Ye Qiu! Not even sparing your old team? 

 

Delilo: He just stole Swamp Hunter Leipu.

 

One Autumn Leaf: Thanks for your support everyone 😎

 

Desert Dust: Leipu also isn’t a mage class. Are you planning to class switch?

 

One Autumn Leaf: Who says I’m not just gathering materials for my team?

 

More materials for Blue Rain meant less materials for everyone else. Less materials meant less flexibility in equipment changes throughout the season. Logically, it was a perfectly good explanation. But for those who had dug just a bit deeper, there was still a glaring question to be asked.

Life Extinguisher: You’ve been gathering materials much more than normal, even for the off season. According to our guild division, you’re on for at least 12 hours a day. That wouldn’t leave you with enough time to practice, at least not while maintaining a good condition for the upcoming season. Yu Wenzhou would never let you do that. Are you really not planning to play next season?

 

One Autumn Leaf: Xiao Shiqin! Are you a stalker?

 

Life Extinguisher: If you weren’t tormenting our guilds so much, they wouldn’t have a reason to stalk you

 

Vaccaria: It’s common knowledge

 

Windy Rain: Well put everyone! Ye Qiu! You’re not getting out of this without a better explanation!

 

One Autumn Leaf: Can’t you just wait patiently for the news like everyone else? The new season is in a month, what’s the hurry? No matter what explanation I give, we’ll all still need to compete for the bosses.

 

Windy Rain: Why wait when we have the source right here?!

 

One Autumn Leaf has left the chat.

 

Dazzling Hundred Blossoms: Old Lin, do you know what his coordinates are in game? Last season ended too soon, I really want to beat that bastard up again

 

Windy Rain: You’ll have to beat me to it

 

 “I’m sorry sir, we can’t let in anyone without a proper card key.”

“I...lost it.”

“You lost it?” The security guard repeated skeptically. This wasn’t the first time he had heard of such an excuse made by a desperate fan trying to sneak a peek into Blue Rain’s facilities, but there were procedures in place for these kinds of situations. “What is your name? Can you show any different form of identification?”

“I’m Ye Qiu.”

The name and proffered identification card finally forced the security guard to give the guest a closer look. The young man in front of him was dressed in a pristine suit, complete with an immaculately smooth tie and sleek dress shoes. He radiated an aura of importance that was not typical of the regular riffraff of fans who tried to make their way in on a daily basis.

And who hadn’t heard of the rumors that Ye Qiu had joined Blue Rain? The guard was quite curious about the rumors too, and now was a perfect chance to find out while still remaining within protocol.

“I’ll check the list,” he said gruffly, pulling out his phone. A full minute later, he looked back up and said with some annoyance, “There is no Ye Qiu on the staff list.”

“ What? ” The guest’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion briefly, composure lost for a split second before a cool facade returned. “Could you check if there is a Ye Xiu on the list?”

“...but you told me that you’re Ye Qiu?”

“Let him in,” someone interrupted, coming from behind.

“Captain Yu! ...are you sure?”

It only took a smile and a wave of his arm to dismiss all complaints. Ye Qiu would have found the captain’s authority impressive if he wasn’t still reeling from the fact that his crooked brother wasn’t actively stealing his identity anymore.

“You must be Ye Xiu’s mysterious twin brother, it’s nice to meet you,” Yu Wenzhou said as he offered a handshake.

Years of training kicked in and Ye Qiu shook the hand automatically. “It’s nice to meet you,” he replied, and then in a smaller voice asked, “...He told you about me?”

Yu Wenzhou laughed.

Ye Qiu learned that his brother had come clean about the whole identity affair from the moment of his signing, but it was largely being kept private until Blue Rain finished negotiating the ramifications of six years of identity fraud with the Alliance. Their PR department was still debating on how to best break the news and until then, only a handful of people knew the truth. 

“It’s convenient that you came so that we can get your opinion on this,” Yu Wenzhou explained. Meanwhile, his brother slid into the private conference room and put down a can of his favorite grape juice on the discussion table. 

Ye Qiu wanted to turn his nose at the paltry peace offering, but he was thirsty.

“...so you’re telling me you weren’t the one who stole my ID recently?”

Ye Xiu looked at him incredulously. “I’ve only ever stolen your ID once. Are you going to blame me every time you lose your ID now?”

Ye Qiu had to fight down the immediate urge to scream yes. “But you were home! Mother told me you came by earlier last month when I was gone and then my ID disappears! Why else would you have gone home?”

“Filial piety?”

Ye Qiu nearly threw his soda in outrage. “You expect me to believe that? Where has this filial piety been the last 10 years?!” 

Ye Xiu smiled, pleased with how easy it still was to rile up his brother. “Actually, I came back for my own identification papers.”

“And they just...gave them to you?” Ye Qiu asked.

“We came to an agreement,” Ye Xiu replied ambiguously. 

“So in light of your...newly found filial piety, does this mean you’ll be coming home for New Years?”

“Of course not,” Ye Xiu scoffed. “I don’t want to be an accomplice for your next escape attempt.”

While listening, Yu Wenzhou thought that Ye Xiu was just spouting his usual brand of trash talk. He hadn’t expected the ridiculous comment to hit home, but Ye Qiu unexpectedly reacted by reaching out to grab his own brother by the collar.

“Shameless brother! I-”

Thud!

The door to the room slammed open and Huang Shaotian rushed in. “Old Ye! Are you okay?”

Su Mucheng followed behind sheepishly and waved to the other occupants of the room. She didn’t even bother pretending that she wasn’t just as eagerly eavesdropping on the whole conversation. 

“Tsk tsk, look at the scene you’ve made little brother,” Ye Xiu admonished, pushing away the offending hand without much effort. Ye Qiu never had any true intention of hurting him. “Your temper still hasn’t improved over the years.”

‘ No, you’ve just gotten too good at provoking people ,’ Ye Qiu thought sourly. He took a look at the other two guests and asked, “Do they also know?” 

Su Mucheng nodded. “You two really look alike! When Ye Xiu first told me, I was 13 and thought he was playing a prank on me for watching too many dramas.”

“It’s like someone cloned Old Ye and put him in a suit . A suit !” Huang Shaotian repeated, as if that was the most ridiculous aspect of this whole situation. “Wait wait, let me take a picture, no one would believe me-”

“ Shaotian ,” Yu Wenzhou warned sharply. Apologizing for his entire team, the captain valiantly steered the conversation back to the proper topic at hand. 

“As I was saying, it would be more convenient for our management to let Ye Xiu use Ye Qiu as a stage name while fixing any other private documentation, but we don’t want to cause you further trouble-”

“Just keep the name but change your appearance,” Ye Qiu bluntly suggested. “To be honest, the whole mysterious image you’re pulling causes me more trouble than anything else. No one knows what ‘ Ye Qiu ’ looks like, so no matter what I say, it’s hard for me to disprove that I’m secretly the gaming celebrity Ye Qiu, especially when we share the same birthday that your team publicly listed .”

Ye Xiu looked genuinely surprised. Changing his appearance was a solution he had considered early on but abandoned out of financial constraints and never brought up again.

“So go dye your hair blond or something you imposter!” Ye Qiu concluded snappishly. “And come home for New Years, you owe me that much at least for letting you use my name.”

Looking between Su Mucheng’s eyes that glittered in poorly restrained excitement over the prospect of participating in a makeover and Yu Wenzhou’s clear approval of the suggestion, Ye Xiu felt an impending dread rising up. 

“You know, Ye Xiu isn’t a bad name to use…It’s much more elegant and suitable for a player like me...”

He was overruled.

“I’ve written up a guide from the information we gathered last run,” Blue Bridge Spring Snow messaged with an attached file. “You were right about being able to skip the second phase of the final boss, we’ve managed to do it consistently now and it’s a big time save!”

“Oh, good work Little Blue!” Ye Xiu replied absentmindedly as he continued to touch his new, shorter hairstyle. 

He had narrowly convinced Su Mucheng that two blonds in the team was a poor aesthetic choice, but to his dismay, they had settled on dying his hair blue instead for the sake of team spirit . Blue Rain’s stylist took care of the dye and layered his hair into what he was assured was very fashionable. Then they dressed him up for a photoshoot . 

He had to double check if his profession and contract hadn’t suddenly changed over night.

From the rapidly rising number of notifications he was receiving, he was sure his teammates had already begun to leak pictures onto the group chat. Ye Qiu had sent him a line of laughing emojis a mile long. 

“God Ye? God Ye, are you there?”

Amidst all the messages, he almost forgot he was still in the middle of a conversation.

“Oh, sorry, I was distracted,” he said.

“It’s good to know that you’re still human,” Blue Bridge replied with a chain of emotes to show he was joking.

Ye Qiu smiled. He had grown quite fond of his guildmates who latched onto his every word, sometimes more seriously than he ever intended. (When he had joked about jumping off the cliff to escape, he hadn’t actually meant it. Their trust in him was almost concerning. )

It was a pleasant change from his interactions in Excellent Era where everyone tried to undermine his orders in any way possible.

Good subordinates were truly an underappreciated treasure.

“I just remembered, Little Blue, you live in City G right?”

Most of Blue Rain’s guild managers were hired locally, and Blue Bridge Spring Snow confirmed this. 

“Are you busy on September 3rd?”

Lin Feng stared .

The change in appearance was too drastic. Had his senior been replaced? Was this a prank?

“Pay attention to the screen, you’re dying,” Ye Xiu said while his own character performed a grab and tossed Lin Feng’s avatar toward the incoming Striker whom he suspected was Han Wenqing’s alt.

The staring stopped immediately.

Glory was truly a beautiful game. Ye Xiu regretted that things weren’t this easy to settle in real life.

The summer period’s transfer window would officially close on September 1st. The news near the end of the period was relatively quiet compared to the start.

Excellent Era had grabbed the most headlines. Their second significant transfer was Jia Shiming, a striker from Tyranny who had originally been intended as Han Wenqing’s successor but rarely even appeared on their roster in the regular season as Tyranny’s captain held his position with unwavering performance. 

Perhaps it spoke to how unimpressive Jia Shiming was to Tyranny that there was not as much outrage as expected from the transfer. Or perhaps, with Ye Qiu gone, Tyranny no longer even considered Excellent Era a rival, especially if it had to resort to what was seen as picking up their scraps.

A bigger news piece quickly engulfed the transfer: Excellent Era was promoting a rookie fresh out of training camp to take over One Autumn Leaf. It seemed almost an insult to the account to choose a rookie, even if no one could confidently name a Battle Mage player in the scene who was decisively a better choice than the rest.

One reporter had harshly called the former championship team a disappointing hodgepodge of rejects and rookies.

In their pre-season press interview, Excellent Era’s new captain took the comments in stride with a friendly smile and a new pair of glasses that gave an air of maturity to the older player. 

“Is there anyone who hasn’t started as a rookie before? Is there anyone who hasn’t failed in life before? Excellent Era isn’t a team concerned with those kinds of labels. In the end, a winner will be a winner and a loser will be a loser, those are the only titles we’re concerned with.”

Although a single interview was not enough to convince the doubters of Excellent Era, many followers became intrigued at Excellent Era’s new image as a champion turned relatable underdog. It was a narrative that had appeal.

And when Excellent Era was brought up, so too was the topic of Ye Qiu. As September 1st approached, the view counts on every Glory news site rapidly rose with everyone anxiously anticipating the announcement of Ye Qiu’s new team.

But in the end, September 1st passed without a single word from Ye Qiu or Blue Rain.

Then on September 2nd, God Ye, the elusive God Ye who never showed his face in public or used social media, posted a video on his Weibo .

“We’re recording,” a voice recognized to be Su Mucheng hissed in a whisper. It had obviously been left in post production to capture a more authentic feel to the video.

The figure in the center of the video straightened up a little, then self consciously reached to touch the nape of his neck where his newly dyed hair rested. He quickly caught himself in the act and aborted the motion, changing it to a balled fist which he used to hide the half of his lower face as he coughed to clear his throat. It presented a ridiculous picture, because there was no need for his fist to cover his mouth - he was already wearing a mask .

“Hi, I’m Ye Qiu.”

An awkward silence followed, as if giving the entire world a moment to process this unbelievable turn of events. 

“The rumors are true, I am working with Blue Rain. I don’t plan on playing this season. I still plan on playing again soon.”

“Thanks for your understanding.” 

Without further warning, the video cut off, not even passing the 30 second mark. It left nearly the entire Glory community more confused than ever, and the comment section on God Ye’s first ever weibo post grew at an astonishing speed.

“Oh my god, was that really God Ye or was this a paid actor? Quick, someone compare it with the hand shots they have on match stream!”

“God Ye is...surprisingly cute?? I-is this gap moe? #myGodcantbethiscute”

“I can’t believe God Ye is actually an anime protagonist”

“GOD YE, YOU’VE BEEN STEALING OUR MATERIALS AND YOU AREN’T EVEN PLAYING THIS SEASON?? GIVE ME BACK OUR MATERIALS”

“God Ye, give me back my weapon”

“God Ye, give me back my pride”

“God Ye, give me back my girlfriend”

“God Ye, give me back my heart"

“God Ye, you can have my heart”

On the day the video was released, Ye Xiu was blissfully unaware of the storm he had created on social media. He had a more important matter at hand: Lord Grim’s Heavenly Domain challenge.

Everything had finally fallen into place for this historic event.

Lord Grim had reached level 50. The Myriad Manifestation Umbrella had been upgraded to level 50 on all its forms. Blue Rain’s administration had given the go-ahead to begin the operation, and Fang Shijing had already done the legwork on the solo part of the challenge.

All that was left were the arena challenges. 

Ye Xiu did one final check over all his stats and skills and immediately noticed something odd. He turned around to meet Fang Shijing’s waiting grin.

“How did you get 50 additional skill points within the last week ?”

September 3rd was the last day before the start of the regular season. Blue Rain traditionally held a staff party on this day, and this year was no different. What was different was that it was much more crowded than usual. 

And wandering through this crowd was a particularly anxious looking man who was desperately pretending not to check his phone every 5 seconds. He nearly jumped when he felt a hand on his shoulder with a familiar voice asking, “Little Blue?”

“G-God Ye! How did you recognize me?”

“Random guess,” He replied with an amused grin. “Thanks for coming, was the trip long?”

“No no, not at all! Thank you for inviting us!” 

Through Blue Bridge Spring Snow (who unsuccessfully offered to be called by his real name, Xu Boyuan) , Ye Qiu managed to meet the rest of Blue Brook Guild’s off site managers, finally able to put faces to the usernames he had been greeting daily for the past two months. 

In turn, he introduced them to the rest of the team. 

“Thank you for your hard work!” Yu Wenzhou was the first to greet them. The group barely managed to nod dumbly, star-struck by the proximity of all their idols lined up so conveniently in front of them. 

Huang Shaotian took one look at their wide eyes and stiff posture and grinned knowingly. “Right right! Yu Wenzhou, we still have those leftover posters from before, don’t we? We should do a group signing for them!”

“No need, no need!” The group tried to refuse, but Song Xiao had already left to grab the materials.

“We’ll sign it as Season 7 Champions!” Huang Shaotian added cheekily.

“Our Blade Master is trying to play Warlock and cursing us before the season even starts,” Zheng Xuan sighed despairingly.

“It’s not a curse, it’s confidence . Try it! I’ll be generous and lend you some!”

“If we win, it’ll be a good memory. And if we lose, it’ll be even better blackmail!” Su Mucheng laughed. “Let’s do it, everyone sign a copy for me to keep too!”

“I knew I made a good choice recruiting you!” Huang Shaotian said approvingly. He looked over at the rest of the team in challenge. “The rest of you cowards, line up if you dare!”

To some, the declaration would definitely be seen as arrogant or even disrespectful to the other teams who were competing. But every pro knew better than to count a championship victory as assured. Anything could happen, that was the beauty of Glory. But if they hesitated to even declare their intent for victory, did they really have any place to be on a championship team?

Every player signed, 9 names surrounding the words: Blue Rain, Season 7 champions!

At the conclusion of the party was a scheduled exhibition match.

“Finally, finally, finally -”

The lights dimmed to allow for better illumination of the large projector screen that displayed two avatars. On the left was the familiar Sword Saint, and on the right was...an unfamiliar abomination. Mismatched armor and an umbrella in hand, the avatar Lord Grim seemed more like a great joke than the secret project God Ye and the R+D department had been raising.

“I was banned for a whole two months from challenging you! Don’t bother Ye Qiu , they said! He’s still raising his character, they said! But you’ve been cheating on me and PKing other people left and right! Does it make you feel good, bullying people on arena? I hope you’re ready to get a taste of your own medicine!”

Ye Xiu didn’t even bother to address the absurd accusations.  

Lord Grim was still only level 50, so the arena was set to fixed field. They used a completely flat and empty battleground, a neutral selection. By using this field and loading both characters within close distance of each other, the battle was immediately forced into a direct confrontation.

Although avatars never changed facial expression, Ye Xiu could sense Huang Shaotian’s maniacally grin through the screen as Troubling Rain launched the first flurry of attacks. The voice chat, regrettably left on, was just as flooded with typical Huang Shaotian brand nonsense as the screen was with sword slashes. 

Troubling Rain was often seen as a pinnacle of speed in the professional circle. Equipped with a lightsaber that had the highest attack speed in the game, it would be hard for anyone to keep up with the rate of his attacks if he went all out.

But Lord Grim didn’t have to match his attacks. He only needed to flee until cooldowns relieved the pressure of Troubling Rain’s higher priority moves, and an Unspecialized was unparalleled in the options it had to shamelessly escape such assaults.

“I can’t believe you made such a shameless account! Ye of no shame! Come here and fight me directly!”

“Coming.”

Huang Shaotian had seen Ye Xiu practice with his Unspecialized before. He had even wheedled Fang Shijing into practicing with him to get a leg up. But even all that was not enough to break away from Lord Grim’s blitz of attacks quickly enough. 

In just one exchange, he had been forced to already sacrifice half his health just to escape. For once, Huang Shaotian was speechless.

‘ Scary ,’ was all he could think.

It didn’t matter if he knew some of Ye Xiu’s favored combos, Ye Xiu could adapt them at the drop of a hat. It didn’t matter if he had the fastest weapon in the game, the Myriad Manifestation Umbrella turned everything on its head with its dizzying transformations, changing again and again - as many times as it took to relentlessly break through with dominating technical skill. 

The Unspecialized allowed Ye Xiu to display all his strengths to the fullest, and not even the Sword Saint stood a chance against such an unprecedented monster.

The fall of the Sword Saint should have been an ominous start to Blue Rain’s season, but no one in the room felt that way. For the end of every era, there followed the beginning of another.

Lord Grim was like a ferocious beast standing threateningly at the back of Blue Rain. What better motivator could there be to scare away the complacency of their victory last season and force everyone to chase after improvement lest they get eclipsed?

Ye Xiu was unsurprised to find the light on in the common area of the player dorms at midnight. The night before a new season always kept up someone, whether in anticipation or anxiety.

What was surprising was for that ‘someone’ to be Yu Wenzhou.

“Captain,” He greeted, casually slipping into a seat adjacent.

Yu Wenzhou stared for a moment, and said, “I still can’t get used to you calling me that.”

Ye Xiu laughed. “The junior succeeds the senior.”

“Have I really?” Yu Wenzhou asked wryly.

Despite grasping a championship last season, Yu Wenzhou knew he still fell short of the level of fame “Ye Qiu” possessed. He was considered one of the four Master Tacticians, but the title did not have an equal weight among its recipients. After all, “Ye Qiu” was the first and most honored among them. 

It was common for the commentators to temper their praises of Blue Rain’s captain with their lamentations of his most glaring shortcoming: his hand speed. “A less technically-skilled Ye Qiu” - this secondary title he carried was both a compliment and an insult that struck his heart now more than ever.

He had helped pull Ye Xiu into the team, a decision he didn’t regret. Ye Xiu was both a friend and a powerful ally. But by doing so, he had also cast an even more difficult shadow to break away from.

“Well, it’d be pretty difficult for you if we battled one on one,” Ye Xiu said shamelessly. “But Glory isn’t a single-player game. And there’s no single battle that decides everything forever.”

Yu Wenzhou played along. “Not even the Championship match?” 

“There’s always another Championship! You can be remembered as a winner one day and a wash-up the next.” There was no trace of bitterness in his voice, Ye Xiu just spoke in cold, hard facts. “You’re a steady player with steady hands, you’ll far outlast me and I’ll be happy to have just been a part of your history.”

“If you’ll be history, you’ll be the brightest spot in Glory’s history,” Yu Wenzhou threw right back. He didn't enjoy the thought of Ye Xiu's retirement. In their profession, retirement was unavoidable but the terms on which a player retired made all the difference. Yu Wenzhou had seen enough sad exits, and he refused to let Ye Xiu become another number in that statistic.

Then, remembering the conversation he had witnessed earlier with the twins, he asked, “Your agreement with your parents...how long do you have?”

“Three years, hopefully. If my body doesn’t give out on me sooner.”

Ye Xiu had stopped smoking. On most days, the team was able to corral him into properly sleeping and eating. He had all the support of a fully established club to rely on. Maintaining his condition for three years shouldn’t be a problem.

So three years. Yu Wenzhou had three years left to absorb the last of what Ye Xiu had to offer to Glory and then, maybe, find a way to surpass it in his own way. 

Ye Xiu was a frightening shadow. But Ye Xiu was right when he said Yu Wenzhou was a steady player. He wasn’t one to be paralyzed by a daunting challenge. If anything, it motivated him to struggle even harder. 

“Sounds like just enough time for us to break your record and take four consecutive Championships,” Yu Wenzhou concluded cheerfully.