Chapter 30: Coach Is Waiting for Us. Although I Don’t Know Why He Has to Wait, Any…
In the first ten seconds after the dragon respawns, its defense is halved.
VEX’s dragon-clearing speed was four or five seconds faster than normal. By the time LTY’s members reached the dragon pit, Land had already used Smite to firmly secure the small dragon.
The notification for the dragon kill sounded, and the aura providing attack and movement speed buffs for VEX lit up. LTY immediately braked and turned to retreat, wanting to run back to the second tower to defend, but it was too late—Wall and Fugui directly used all their skills to charge forward and pin them down.
Under the movement speed buff from the small dragon, LTY simply couldn’t outrun them and could only hastily engage.
It was a one-sided slaughter.
Beyond was in the backline with no one to threaten him. A few basic attacks caused the LTY frontline’s health to drop by two-thirds.
Land and Wu Yang chased all the way from the dragon pit to the opponent’s second tower. The health bars of LTY’s mid and marksman carries were emptied in an instant, leaving only the jungler to run back to the fountain with low health.
At sixteen minutes, VEX pushed down the crystal with two waves of minions.
“Let us congratulate, VEX!!! Congratulations to VEX for taking the victory in the first game!!!”
The few VEX fans in the spectator stands erupted in a burst of cheers. Zuo Chi even saw a middle-aged man holding a three-or-four-year-old child. The moment the LTY crystal exploded, he stood up directly from his seat and kissed his child wildly.
The post-match data for both teams was displayed on the big screen.
Land took the MVP with a score of 5-0-2 and a 25% damage share.
The ghostly blue flames of the Abyssal Fire surrounded him. In the picture, the youth’s cold phoenix eyes contained a sharpness that could burn through all thorns.
The MVP screen for the group stage only featured the player’s static photo and an image of the hero used. By the time it reached the knockout stages, a short clip of the player’s appearance would be used for the MVP screen.
At the match venue, the five cubs also took off their headsets, stood up, and left their gaming chairs to walk toward the coach’s seats.
After every game, there was a ten-minute break to let the players relax and give the coach enough time to arrange the draft and strategy for the next game.
Once the cubs returned, every single one of them had an expectant “praise me” look on their faces.
Fugui was the first to run to his side and sit down, grabbing mineral water and chugging two gulps: “Coach Zuo, didn’t we play that game pretty well just now? That flank I did in the Red area—was it good?!”
“It was very good. Maintain your state.”
Fugui’s eyes curved into slits from smiling.
Wu Yang followed closely. Zuo Chi said: “National-tier Moon Phase. The crowd control was very timely.”
Wu Yang scratched his head somewhat bashfully.
Fugui: “What are you holding back your laughter for, Wu Yang? I saw your mouth twitching the whole time!”
“Beyond’s early-game anti-pressure was very good. You didn’t give the opponent an opportunity at all.”
“Wall was very stable. His protection and initiations are both reassuring.”
“Land…” Zuo Chi praised the cubs one by one. After a pause, his gaze suddenly moved to the big screen, and he chuckled, “This MVP photo was taken quite handsomely.”
They say people look a bit wider on camera, and often people on screen look uglier than they do in person. It seemed Ning Luzhao had no such troubles at all.
His bold features were eye-catching to begin with, and combined with his good head-to-shoulder ratio, with this condition, as long as his match results improved a bit more, he could surely become a star player.
Ning Luzhao’s expression blanked for a moment, and his brow suddenly smoothed out: “This photo was taken by Coach for me.”
Zuo Chi recalled and remembered. It was roughly the day they officially announced the cubs joining VEX.
Before the Spring Split started, the league officials had asked every club for photos of the starting players to make their respective MVP images. At that time, Zuo Chi had let the players pick their own handsome photos to submit. He hadn’t expected Ning Luzhao to choose this one.
Fugui: “Speaking of this MVP image! I’m really going to throw a fit. Back then, everyone clearly said we’d pick some ‘abstract’ funny photos to upload for entertainment! I really picked a photo of me making a face, but after I uploaded it, they told me they were just messing with me! They all sent handsome photos! Coach Zuo, you have to stand up for me—”
Wu Yang mocked him mercilessly: “Then I’ll l-l-ook f-f-orward t-t-o y-y-our M-V-P p-p-hoto!”
Fugui wasn’t to be outdone: “M~V~P~”
“Fugui!”
“Bleh-bleh-bleh~”
“Alright, alright, stop messing around. Being a bit abstract is fine. Putting it out there makes a deep impression; maybe it’ll even draw in more fans for you.”
Zuo Chi signaled the cubs to sit down and stuffed the fruits and drinks he’d prepared in advance into their hands.
“The break between games isn’t long, so I won’t say much more. Eat more, everyone. Let’s strive to finish work 2-0 today and pull off a huge upset for the league.”
The cubs couldn’t help but laugh. Huddled together, they fell into a dispute over who would eat the last piece of watermelon.
[The atmosphere on VEX’s side seems pretty good. The coach and players are all smiling.]
[VEX must be happy winning the first game. Look at LTY; the coach’s face is all red. Although we can’t hear the coach’s voice… seeing the LTY players all dejected, you know they must be getting scolded.]
[A Top-8 team can’t beat a third-rate team. If it were you, could you hold back from scolding?]
[Go look at LTY’s Weibo Super Topic. The fans inside are already cursing up a storm, all bashing LTY for not training properly during the off-season, saying their state has declined seriously and that the game just now was played too ugly.]
[It was indeed ugly, making VEX look like gods descending to earth. I originally thought in this grouping, LTY would surely advance as first in the group. I didn’t expect them to be this ‘noob.’]
[Do you think there’s a possibility that LTY didn’t get ‘noob,’ but VEX evolved at light speed after the new coach took over and the roster was rebuilt?]
[???]
[I can’t tell for a second if you’re joking or serious.]
[You’re saying this green-as-grass coach leading a bunch of unknown rookies and veterans past their peak evolved at light speed?]
At 8:00 PM, the score of 2-0 appeared on the stadium’s electronic big screen.
The two games only took 38 minutes. In a league where the average match length was over thirty minutes per game, it was exceptionally glaring.
The second game almost replicated the first. Although LTY was prepared at the start and arranged for the mid and support to help guard the jungle, this time Land chose a side-lane start and directly got First Blood on the opponent’s solo-laner.
The five cubs packed up their peripheral bags, stood up, and walked over to shake hands with the LTY players. Zuo Chi stood outside the match venue, gazing at the bright red “2-0” beside the VEX team flag, and heard the system’s announcement.
[Congratulations to Host for completing Main Quest 2: Secure the first win in the Spring Split Group Stage.]
[The quest reward ‘Mysterious Great Spinner x1’ has been issued. Would you like to start the draw?]
A simple spinner appeared in his mind, with ten slots in total. Each slot had a different reward written on it, most of which were increases to coach attribute points. Only one slot was unique, shimmering with a blinding golden light.
[Special Reward: Rejuvenation Potion x5 (Please throw away all the dirty thoughts in your mind first. As an esports coach, do you often think how great it would be if the players could train 24 hours a day? This potion can fulfill your wish! Using this potion instantly clears a player’s fatigue value, making them feel as if they just woke up from a good sleep, full of energy and ready to return to the computer!)]
[Note: This potion has no side effects.]
Perhaps because Zuo Chi took too long to choose whether to spin, the system prompted him again.
[Dear Host, stop staring at the special reward. It’s not guaranteed you’ll draw it.]
Zuo Chi: “…”
“Spin.”
The spinner began to rotate. A few seconds later, the pointer slowly stopped on the edge of one of the slots.
[Congratulations to Host for obtaining ‘Rejuvenation Potion x5.’ Rewards have been issued.]
Zuo Chi: “!”
“Did I draw it or not?! You tell me, did I draw it or not?!”
The system went silent.
He closed the system panel.
This Rejuvenation Potion wasn’t very useful normally. After all, one bottle at most let the players train for one more day. But once the knockout stages were reached, the schedule would get tighter and tighter. If they could have one more day for match reviews, it would be extremely critical for them.
Even if it was just used to let the players “get a good sleep” before a key match to maintain their best mental state, it was very worth it.
[Main Quest 3: Advance to the Spring Split Knockout Stages (Advancing to the knockout stages is the basic requirement for becoming a strong team).]
[Quest Reward: If advancing as first in the group, reward: Mysterious Endorsement Opportunity x1.]
[If advancing as second in the group, reward: 100,000 Yuan cash.]
[Please Host coach seriously and strive to achieve the good result of being first in the group.]
“Coach Zuo? Coach Zuo?”
Zuo Chi snapped out of it: “Hmm?”
Wall explained: “The commentator just asked us who would go for the post-match interview later—we were thinking, how about you go, Coach Zuo?”
“Me? The interview?” Zuo Chi pointed at himself and then shook his head repeatedly. “Having me stand before the camera without saying a word and acting cool is fine, or saying a few random words is fine. But having me go for an interview—that won’t do!”
A post-match interview had at least three or four questions and required facing the camera directly. He was afraid he would just freeze there awkwardly.
“Then how about having Land and Beyond go together?” Manager Li suggested. “It just so happens they both got MVP for the two games today. Going to the post-match interview might even give our team more hype.”
Beyond almost jumped in fright: “I, I, I, I won’t do…”
“You can do it. You’ve played a match in front of so many spectators; are you still afraid of a tiny interview?” Zuo Chi was very persuasive when encouraging others. “And Land will be there too. Don’t be afraid. Just leave the questions you can’t answer to him—right, Land?”
Ning Luzhao gave an “Mm”: “If Coach isn’t going for the interview, can you wait for us in the backstage?”
The interview was arranged in the backstage in a specialized room.
“Alright, I’ll go over with you.” Although he didn’t know why he had to wait in the backstage, he’d go wait first and talk later.
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