All-Round Mid Laner

The next day, Xu Zhuo, Fang Zhengqing, and the others suddenly arrived in Star City as per their previous plans to get together for a big reunion meal. Chi Shuo considered it carefully for a while, then decided not to bring Ye Shaoyang to meet his friends for the time being. Their relationship status was still a little murky, after all. It wouldn't be too late to arrange another group dinner with friends once they were properly engaged.

While the five old friends ate, Xu Zhuo detected that Chi Shuo was clearly in a pretty good mood. He couldn't help but tease, "Chi Shuo, did something good happen in your life lately?"

Chi Shuo gravely answered, "Nothing much."

Fang Zhengqing said, "That omega you guys signed. Is he your starting support next season, or a substitute?"

Chi Shuo lifted his brows and looked at him. "This is a personal dinner, and you're probing for enemy intel?"

Fang Zhengqing grinned and said, "I just knew you wouldn't answer."

Chen Qianhua changed the subject and said, "I heard that Gods War is going to have a 10th anniversary update. There's probably going to be an official announcement in the next few days. Besides a new hero, this update is going to come with some changes to the game."

Xie Yuan sighed. "Looks like we'll have to quickly get used to the new version once we get back from our vacation. I wonder what position the next new hero will be? Last season, we just got the Abyssal Lord, so the new hero definitely won't be a mid laner."

Xu Zhuo said, "It should be a jungler. It's been a while since we got a new assassin, hasn't it?"

He looked towards Chi Shuo, and Chi Shuo nodded.

"Based on the usual rotation of positions for new heroes, the next one should be a jungler," Chi Shuo said. "Don't know if it'll be a support jungler or a jungler core."

Fang Zhengqing pushed up his glasses and smiled with his eyes as he said, "If we get a new jungler core, you won't need to practice with that hero. It would be banned by your opponents anyway. You wouldn't get a chance to play it."

Chen Qianhua laughed lightly. "Captain Fang really strikes at the heart with these words."

Chi Shuo was silent for a moment. "…Fang Zhengqing will pick up the bill today."

"No problem," Fang Zhengqing said. "I'll use your cell phone to pay."

The five of them chatted while they ate, finally parting ways after nightfall to each return to their own home. Right before they all disbanded, Chi Shuo called Xu Zhuo back and asked, "Old Xu, how are things going with Xie Weiyu?"

Xu Zhuo grinned and decided to keep everyone in suspense. "You'll know when you see us on the battlefield."

Chi Shuo gave each of them a hug.

"See you next season."

This was the last moment of friendliness before the new season would begin.

Once the games began in earnest, these people would all chase and kill Chi Shuo like crazy. There was really no regard for their friendship at all during games. Of course, the number of times Chi Shuo assassinated them also wouldn't be small.

After going home, Chi Shuo sent Ye Shaoyang a message and explained: [I originally wanted to come spend time with you today, but something came up to delay me. Fang Zhengqing, Xu Zhuo, and the others came to Star City. I had a small dinner meeting with them.]

Any half-decent alpha had to report their daily activities to their omega.

Although the two of them had yet to confirm their relationship, Chi Shuo felt like it was better to tell Ye Shaoyang these things.

Ye Shaoyang was a bit baffled.

If you guys are having dinner, then have dinner. Why are you telling me?

He thought for a while, then very quickly thought he understood Chi Shuo's meaning. He answered: [Oh, it's pretty good for you to meet up with them, Captain Chi. Once the games begin, there won't be much time for personal meetings.]

Chi Shuo wrote: [Yes, that's right. What time will you be returning to the team?]

[I plan on going back the day after tomorrow, a bit early.]

[Okay, I'll go with you.]

Chi Shuo immediately booked the tickets to return to the capital.

On January 10th, before their break officially ended, he and Ye Shaoyang made an early return trip to the base.

While they were at the airport, Chi Shuo even took the initiative to help Ye Shaoyang get Xiao Bai checked in. He was extremely thoughtful about taking care of Ye Shaoyang.

Ye Shaoyang didn't think there was anything wrong with that. He also took good care of his teammates when he was a captain in his previous life.

Since Tianhuan was still officially on vacation, the cafeteria at the base wasn't open. Chi Shuo went to the nearby market to buy some groceries, and he cooked for Ye Shaoyang every day in their dorm room.

The two of them ate together every day and played with Xiao Bai. They spent the rest of their time playing ranked matches, and their days of relaxation and contentment passed breezily.

Very quickly, their other teammates returned from their vacations.

The huge Gods War 10th Anniversary game update was officially released. The biggest change in this update was to the starting buffs and minions. Previously, the first set of buffs and the first wave of minions would spawn at the thirty-second mark after the start of a game. Now, after the update, they spawned after ninety seconds.

This only seemed to be a one-minute increase in time, but it meant there was much more that professional players could do now.

For example, five players could group up and gank the enemy hero on the top or bottom lane at the very start of the game. After killing the enemy, they could return to their lanes to deal with the first wave of minions—with 1.5 minutes at the beginning of the game now, they would have plenty of time for that.

Another example would be five players grouping up to invade the enemy jungle… with this change, heroes who tended to be strong in early-game stood at a huge advantage. It would be easy for them to force an opening fight at the very start of the game. Many new tactics and strategies would be developed.

Furthermore, the new hero for the 10-1 season was indeed a jungler, and it was an assassin-type jungler core.

The Soul Reaper—a hero with very unique mechanics.

When heroes died on the battlefield, be they enemy heroes or friendly heroes, the Soul Reaper could harvest the souls of the deceased for his own use. This hero was a pure jungler core. As soon as someone, anyone, died in a team fight, he could start to reap lives like mad.

On January 12th, Coach Lin returned to the base, bursting with energy. He immediately called everyone into a conference room for an emergency meeting.

Tianhuan's players all assembled, sitting properly in their assigned orders.

Chi Shuo calmly switched places with Qu Jiang, in order to sit next to Ye Shaoyang.

Coach Lin pulled up a slideshow presentation and said, "Break's over. Everyone should focus up now and take advantage of this period of time to get ready for the next season. I'm sure you guys have already looked at the announcement for this latest update to the game. The new hero, the Soul Reaper, is a jungler core. Chi Shuo, practice with him for a while first. However, the new hero won't officially go live on the tournament servers for another month, and it's very likely that he'll be banned. So we'll work on team comps for this hero a little later on. Currently, the most important thing is that the preseason games are almost here."

He flipped over to the next slide, displaying the groups of the next season's preseason games.

Coach Lin said, "These are the matchups the official league randomly drew in yesterday's meeting. You guys can take a look."

Everyone lifted their heads to look at the big screen. Qu Jiang thoughtfully mused, "We've been assigned to the top half of the tournament bracket for our preseason games. Jingzhe, Binghun, and Yueying are all in our bracket. All of Captain Chi's old friends are here, huh?"

Chi Shuo was quiet for a moment. "…mm. The league's randomizer really knows what it's doing."

Qin Yizhu said, "The bottom bracket has Beimu, Yaoguang, and Huowen. The pressure's pretty hot down there too."

Chi Shuo mildly said, "No need to worry. We'll slowly make our way through them in the regular season."

Coach Lin said, "Captain Chi is absolutely right. The preseason games are just to decide groups for the regular season. There's nothing to worry about even if we lose. Furthermore, we don't plan on trying to charge into Group S this season."

Ye Shaoyang had spent his vacation carefully researching the tournament structure of Gods War at home.

Preseason games were like warm-up matches before the official start of the regular season. They were like the evaluations a student would take when starting high school, to determine which class they would be sorted into. The league randomly assigned the eighteen major league teams into two brackets—the top bracket and bottom bracket. Each bracket had nine teams which would play one another in best-of-three matches.

The preseason lasted for only one week, so the tournament schedule was packed very tightly.

After that one week, all teams would be sorted into groups based on their results in the preseason games.

The top three teams of the two brackets would be sorted into Group S, which was the equivalent of the 'smart kids' class at school.

Fourth to sixth place in each bracket would be assigned to Group A, the 'regular' class.

And seventh through ninth place would be assigned to Group B, the class for the 'dregs'.

After the groups were formed, the regular season would formally begin.

In the regular season, the separate groups—S, A, and B—would play in a round-robin style tournament. After the first round was complete, the two teams ranked at the bottom of Group S would be demoted to Group A. The bottom two teams in Group A would be demoted to Group B. And the top two teams in Group A and Group B would be promoted.

Then, every team's season score would be set back to zero. The second round would begin. At the end of the second round, the bottom two teams in Group S would again be demoted. The top two teams in Groups A and B would be promoted.

As for the six teams remaining in Group B at the end of the second round—they would all be eliminated.

In the third round, the teams competing in the domestic playoffs would be determined. The top four teams in Group S would become the winners bracket of the playoffs, while the fifth and sixth team in Group S, along with the first and second team in Group A, would become the losers bracket.

This tournament structure was somewhat complex, but Ye Shaoyang understood it very quickly. It was essentially an elimination system in which the bottom of the pack would be cast out. Many competitive sports shared similar tournament structures. The weakest teams in the superior group would be demoted to the regular group, the strongest teams in the regular group would be promoted to the superior group, and so on…

Each group was under a great deal of pressure.

What plans did Tianhuan's coaching team have? Ye Shaoyang looked towards Coach Lin expectantly.

Lin Feng said, "Our coaching team has looked into the other teams. After a thorough discussion, we've decided to let our second-string team play in the preseason games. We aren't aiming for Group S. If we can get into Group A, that'll be good enough. If we really can't make it into Group A, then slowly climbing up from Group B will do."

Everyone exchanged a look of surprise with one another.

Tianhuan had been beaten bloody in Group S last season. They had been demoted in the first round, and they barely managed to cling onto their position in Group A in the second and third rounds. This season, they weren't even going to Group S?

Coach Lin continued, "Entering Group S is only an achievement that sounds nice, but it presents a big problem—our Team Tianhuan has just seen a huge change in our lineup. Plus, S10 has brought big changes to the game. If we can't keep up with the pace in Group S, it's very possible that we'll become one of the first teams to be demoted. This will be a huge hit to our players' morale."

He looked towards Ye Shaoyang and Cheng Xing, and added, "Especially for Shaoyang and Cheng Xing, who are newbies without any experience in major games, directly diving into matches with fierce opponents in Group S would be difficult. If we lose many games in a row, the whole team's fighting spirit will be negatively affected."

Ye Shaoyang was silent.

Alright, that made sense. From the perspective of the coaching team, it really was better for Tianhuan not to try to get into Group S that year.

Ye Shaoyang was a 'newbie', and Cheng Xing was also a newbie. Plus, Qu Jiang had just made an emergency switch from mid laner to support. How could Tianhuan, in its current state, face off against the fierce foes of Group S? If they went on a losing streak in their first round-robin tournament, if they were demoted to Group A from there, then the players' mental states would collapse. It would be difficult for them to regroup from there even if they tried.

Fighting spirit was also a huge factor in the outcome of a game.

When a new player lost, they would start to doubt themselves. They would lose their confidence and fall into a cycle of feeling weak and inferior, causing them to lose more in games down the line.

On the contrary, if they entered Group A or Group B, the pressure on them would be a little less at the start of the season. For one thing, this would give them time to swiftly improve their skills and team synchronicity. For another, winning many games would give the players more confidence. It was a much, much better outcome than going on a losing streak.

Ye Shaoyang could understand why the coaches made this decision.

Rising from Group B to Group S was much better than being eliminated entirely.

Lin Feng said, "The preseason games will take place over the course of one week. Starting players, take advantage of this time to work on your teamwork. I want the five of you to open up five alt accounts and play on the international server as a group of five. Get used to the new rhythm of the new update as soon as possible. You have to commit these timing changes to memory. Once the preseason games conclude and our regular season group is formally decided, you guys will emerge in a brand new formation for the regular season games."

Everyone nodded to express their understanding.

Coach Lin turned to Yan Bin and said, "As rookies from the second-string team, you guys rarely get chances to play against gods like Fang Zhengqing and Xu Zhuo. You'll run into many extremely fearsome foes in these preseason games. Regardless of the final results, play your best—exercise your personal play styles and skills. That'll be enough."

Yan Bin instantly nodded. "Understood!"

Coach Lin continued, "Okay. Dismissed. All of you, go practice."

The five members of the starting lineup got on the international server and created new alt accounts with randomized letters and numbers as their IDs. Then they grouped up for ranked games. When a group of five queued together, it was very easy for them to run into other groups of five—which meant other professional teams. A new season was beginning, so it was no surprise that there were many other professional teams sharpening their edges on the international server.

Ye Shaoyang discovered that the changes to the game after the recent update made the rhythm of each round closer to that of LoL from his previous world. There was a lot that a team could do in the 1.5 minutes of time before the first buffs and minions spawned. They could establish visibility across the map, or they could explore the jungle, or they could target one of the three lanes. Even if all they managed to do was make the enemy mid laner waste a flash, it would make their match-ups much more relaxed down the line.

During this time, everyone familiarized themselves with the new rhythm of the game. If Captain Chi was willing to place his faith in him…

Ye Shaoyang would also be fit to lead.

Time passed very quickly. On January 15th, Season 10 of the official Gods War professional league formally began.

All major teams started to post the official announcements and photos of the players on their roster.

In these official photos, every player glowed with determination and energy. They were full of confidence as they looked forward to the new season.

Among these announcements, Team Tianhuan's S10 photo drew a huge amount of attention—

On the list of ten players registered by Tianhuan to play in the next season, there was one unfamiliar ID: Tianhuan-Lieyang.

And this new player was actually standing front and center, with the starting lineup!

The vast majority of teams had their star player or their captain take the center position. Having a brand new player take the center spot was really unprecedented!

The five players on Tianhuan's starting lineup also seemed to be standing in a completely mixed up order.

The top laner, Tianhuan-Zhuhuo, and the jungler, Tianhuan-Shuoyue, were on one side. Standing in the middle was the new player, Tianhuan-Lieyang. To his side was Tianhuan-Fanxing, and off to the very edge was Qu Jiang—Tianhuan-Jiangshui.

Netizens were all mystified and confused by the order of this lineup.

[What's going on here? Who is Lieyang? He's standing in the center!]

Someone reminded the crowd—

[He's the omega newbie that Tianhuan spent five million yuan to sign. Ye Shaoyang, ah~]

Everyone took a look at that new team promo photo, then went to look at the trade site again—the image really was a match for that handsome little omega ge.

Fans excitedly started to screech and shout.

[An omega! No wonder he's in the center!]

[This is the face of our handsome little omega ge? I'm in love, I'm in love.]

[Shuoyue, Lieyang, Fanxing? What kind of family-themed names are these? The sun, the moon, and the stars are all here.]

[Is Tianhuan playing some sort of joke on us this season?]

[And on the left and right, we have Zhuhuo and Jiangshui. Fire and water. So to put it simply… the sun, moon, and stars have to stand between the opposing forces of fire and water?]

[They really know how to name themselves. Doge.jpg]

Among the players in the professional league, the team photo from Tianhuan also stirred up quite a lot of new questions and doubts.

Why was Ye Shaoyang standing in the center? This was probably special treatment for an omega player, right?

Everyone assumed that Tianhuan was operating under the premise that omegas deserved to be treated specially, and that was why they'd let the omega Ye Shaoyang stand front and center. He was also ten centimeters shorter than Chi Shuo, so he was indeed very suitable for that center position.

Many professional teams would adjust the positions of their players in official team photos in order to make the photo look nicer.

No one could have imagined that this little omega gege with the dazzling, radiant smile had actually taken Qu Jiang's place as mid laner.

Author's Notes:

1. Team promo photos don't have positions like mid laner and jungler written on them. Anyone who doesn't believe me can look at team photos on Baidu, they only list player IDs in group photos. Star players take the center position, there's no rule that says players have to stand in order of their positions. Arranging players by height is also fine, as long as it looks nice.

2. The preseason and regular season tournament structure here is based on the structure of the KPL (King Pro League) of the game Honor of Kings.