Chapter 20 – The Time Team

At the same time, the Time team’s training room.

The normally sunny vice-captain, Cheng Wei’s face was very wrong today. He was staring at the computer and looking through Weibo, flames almost being fired from his eyes.

Cheng Wei was really angry when seeing the comments on Weibo!

What do you mean ‘What is your relationship with a Wulin team?’, ‘Canglan’s disbandment has nothing to do with you’, ‘Why are you posting about such an insignificant thing?’, ‘Concentrate on preparing for tomorrow’s game’, ‘I’ve never heard of Li Cangyu’…

His fingers pressed against the keyboard but he didn’t know how to reply. Cheng Wei angrily closed the Weibo page and suddenly felt sad.

Such a strong player, he was forgotten by everyone only three years after leaving Miracle?

But Cheng Wei couldn’t forget.

At that time, he was a newcomer who just debuted. A newborn calf wasn’t afraid of the tiger. Li Cangyu might have a very high solo win rate but Cheng Wei wasn’t afraid to challenge the elf summoner.

In the regular season’s match between the Time team and FTD team, Cheng Wei’s first appearance in the arena coincided with Li Cangyu’s and he lost to Cat God without any surprises. Cheng Wei wasn’t convinced and asked to fight in the online game. The result was Li Cangyu beating him five times.

Cheng Wei was flushed from the beating and couldn’t wait to dig a hole to bury himself in.

However, Li Cangyu didn’t say anything against him. Instead, he gently encouraged Cheng Wei. [You are only 16 years old. A newcomer who can push me to this level is truly very talented]

Cheng Wei was stunned and couldn’t say anything as he stared at the words on the computer screen.

Li Cangyu asked: [Do you know the reason for losing to me today?]

Cheng Wei replied with a red face: [Is it because I am inexperienced?]

[Experience is one of the reasons but it isn’t the key.] Li Cangyu smiled and typed: [The angel white magician, you haven’t grasped the essence of this gameplay yet.]

Cheng Wei’s eyes widened as he stared at the small words in this chat box.

[Angels are a race that favours peace. They have more control skills than attack skills. Your aggression is very high. When you encounter a melee class like a swordsman or berserker, you can take advantage of your remote position to quickly attack and win. But once you encounter an archer, black magician and summoner who are ranged like you are, you have to play a steady game and will lose.]

[A match between ranged classes isn’t about who attacks more but who is able to seize the opportunities. When you just fought with me, there were several control skills that were completely useless. I suggest you reset the location of the shortcut keys. When playing against a remote class, think about how to control the opponent to deal high damage instead of quickly attacking to suppress the opponent.]

[Magic type classes are very fragile and their consumption of blue is also very serious. Therefore, every attack is best used to decreased blood. Having fast hands is a good thing but being too fast can invalidate some attacks. You need to practice connecting your skills. You can use general attacks during the cooldown period of skills so that you can better grasp the button rhythms. Then slowly take advantage of your blood volume.]

Cheng Wei, “…”

No one had ever told him such things.

He thought that his talent was outstanding and in the Time team, he felt a high appreciation for Captain Xu Luo. However, Captain Xu was very busy dealing with many things inside and outside the team and didn’t have time to guide new people. Most of the time, Cheng Wei studied and explored by himself. He felt that the white magician’s fast style of attack was very cool. He might’ve failed in attacking sometimes but he thought it was just his own miss.

It wasn’t until today that he realized how superficial his understanding of Miracle was!

As Cat God said, he didn’t realize the essence of a white magician.

It was necessary to adjust the tactical strategy when facing different opponents. He had a high winning rate when playing against close combat classes but was simply looking for death when encountering black magicians and summoners.

Li Cangyu knew this game very thoroughly and his few words completely shifted Cheng Wei’s view of the white magician.

Cheng Wei felt ashamed and at the same time, particularly warm towards Li Cangyu in his head.

Cat God didn’t look down on him or laugh at his rashness. Instead, Cat God patiently explained his shortcomings.

They weren’t in the same time and would fight to the death in the game, but Li Cangyu generously shared his experience with the newcomer. This type of senior player really made Cheng Wei feel respectful and moved.

[Thank you for Cat God’s guidance!] Cheng Wei typed excitedly. [By the way, can I recognize you as my master?]

Li Cangyu laughed. [Forget about recognizing me as you master. If you have anything you don’t understand then you can ask me at any time.]

Cheng Wei reflected on himself and realized he was too rash. After all, they weren’t in the same team. If he recognized the captain of another team as his master, it would definitely be irresponsible to the Time team and Li Cangyu would be very embarrassed when facing Captain Xu.

Cheng Wei dismissed the idea of having Li Cangyu as his master and asked excitedly: [When Cat God is free, can you PK with me?]

Li Cangyu smiled. [No problem.]

***

Cheng Wei’s character was lively and he wasn’t afraid of death. He soon became familiar with Li Cangyu.

Since then, every night Cheng Wei would log onto the game with a separate account to learn from Li Cangyu. Li Cangyu would accept Cheng Wei’s invitation whenever he was free and Li Cangyu beat Cheng Wei up. This could also be considered relaxing after a match.

In the third season, Cheng Wei’s level soared by leaps and bounds, making everyone stunned.

Among the numerous rookies that appeared that year, the 16 year old Cheng Wei won the Rookie of the Year award.

In fact, Cheng Wei appreciated Captain Xu but he was very clear that he could only win this award due to the guidance of Cat God behind the scenes. He PKed with the league’s strongest elf summoner every day and his technical skills progressed quickly!

Unfortunately, due to being on different teams, he could only be grateful to Li Cangyu in his heart.

After the awards ceremony that year, the FTD team disbanded and Li Cangyu left Miracle behind with his few teammates.

The young Cheng Wei was sad for a long time.

Cat God’s personal ability was so strong and he could obviously have a better development. But God seemed to be unfair to him, letting him assume the responsibility of captain of a weak team, not allowing him to win the trophy so he could only leave Miracle with regret…

Cheng Wei might not be a formal apprentice but in his heart, Li Cangyu’s existence was always as a ‘teacher and friend.’ He was even more important than Time’s captain, Xu Luo.

Once Li Cangyu led his team to Wulin, Cheng Wei silently watched the events there and hoped that Cat God could achieve good results. Unfortunately, Cat God also suffered setbacks in Wulin. It took a year for Cat God to reorganize the Canglan team and join Wulin. In the two professional leagues that followed, the Canglan team scored in the top eight in the playoffs and failed to get better results.

Now the Canglan team was once again disbanded and Cheng Wei was really sad. He felt that Cat God really suffered too much!

A young player like Cheng Wei followed the Time team and won many trophies. Cat God was clearly much stronger than him so why couldn’t he win a prize?

***

Cheng Wei was feeling depressed when a bright voice was heard next to him. “Xiao Wei, what are you thinking about? It is time to prepare for tomorrow’s game.”

It was the captain of the Time team, Tan Shitian. As he spoke, he stretched out a hand and rubbed Cheng Wei’s head.

Cheng Wei really hated this guy!

Was his head a fur ball? Why did this person keep rubbing it? Every time he talked, he had to rub it. Wasn’t this annoying?

Captain Xu retired and handed over the captain’s position to the team’s main elf archer, Tan Shitian. He was also an apprentice personally brought on by Captain Xu.

Tan Shitian wasn’t as steady as Captain Xu. He always liked to make funny little jokes and often practiced hand writing lyrics on Weibo. His lyrics weren’t bad so he attracted a group of people who didn’t understand e-sports. Passersby who liked music followed him.

He graduated from the Chinese department of a prestigious university and due to his frequent Weibo jokes, he had the nickname of ‘Storytelling God’ in the Miracle League.

A mature and stable person like Captain Xu was more suitable to be captain. Tan Shitian smiled all day and seemed to have no serious thoughts. In addition, this person debuted in the fourth season which was even later then Cheng Wei’s debut. He lacked experience in the competition and was directly led by Captain Xu. Now that he was appointed as captain, Cheng Wei always felt that Tan Shitian wasn’t reliable and didn’t agree with him. Tan Shitian was currently 19 years old, half a year older than Cheng Wei, and he was the youngest captain in the Miracle League.

Now that Tan Shitian was once again rubbing his head, Cheng Wei couldn’t help staring at him before directly standing up.

This person was taller than Cheng Wei, meaning he couldn’t do anything. Cheng Wei had to suppress his anger as he said, “I have something to talk to you about alone. Let’s go back to the dormitory.”

Tan Shitian came up to him and whispered in his ear, “Asking me to go back to the dormitory alone. Are you confessing to me? I’m not prepared yet.”

Cheng Wei was stunned. “…Get lost!”

This person was completely unreliable! He was so angry that he didn’t want to say a single word.

Tan Shitian looked at the angry man in front of him and couldn’t help smiling as he endured the urge to continue rubbing his head. “Okay, I will go back to the dorms with you.”

***

The two people returned to the dormitory. Cheng Wei closed the door and turned around. “The Canglan team has announced that it is disbanding.”

“Yes, I saw you forward the message on Weibo.” Tan Shitian was puzzled. “You are looking for me because of this?”

Cheng Wei said seriously, “I want to find the manager and ask him to invite Cat God to our Time team. Since Canglan has disbanded, he can come back and play Miracle.”

Tan Shitian, “…”

Cheng Wei continued, “Cat God had already left when you debuted so you might not be familiar with him. In fact, Cat God’s level isn’t lacking compared to Ling Xuefeng. He is a very strong elf summoner but his teammates weren’t strong enough and he couldn’t win a trophy. Now that he has regained his freedom, it is better for us to win him over.” He suddenly added, “I will give him the vice-captain’s position when he arrives.”

In fact, Cheng Wei wanted to tell Tan Shitian to make Li Cangyu captain. However, this person’s expression didn’t seem very good so Cheng Wei resisted.

Once Tan Shitian heard these words, the smile on his face faded away and his expression became serious. “I don’t agree on this matter.”

“Why don’t you agree?” Cheng Wei was surprised. “I have said that his personal level is very strong. If he joins the Time team, won’t it increase our team’s strength to a higher level?”

Tan Shitian patiently explained, “I don’t know Cat God but I have seen a lot of videos. His style is particularly distinctive and it will be difficult to integrate him into our Time team. Our team doesn’t need a summoner.”

Cheng Wei bluntly asked, “Aren’t you afraid that he will take away your captain’s position?’

“…” Tan Shitian frowned. “Cheng Wei, is this how you see me?”

“Am I wrong?” Cheng Wei was so angry that he couldn’t help speaking quickly, “Do you think you can beat Cat God in a solo match? I’m afraid he will be able to control you to death with just a few pets! You are afraid that you will lost your captain’s position when he comes right? Don’t use the team as an excuse. You can’t tolerate another master in the team. You really are unworthy of Captain Xu’s trust!”

Cheng Wei loved to laugh but once he was angry, he was very tough. His way of speaking would become fast like a machine gun and it was really a mystery how his tongue didn’t twist up.

Tan Shitian waited for him to finished before smiling. “Have you finished? Or is this a half-time break and you will continue to the second part?”

“…” Cheng Wei stared without speaking. His eyes were also burning and his cheeks were flushed with rage.

What was a second part? Did he think this was a comic dialogue? Scolding this cheeky person was like throwing pearls before a swine!

Tan Shitian thought that Xiao Cheng’s cheeks were particularly cute when angry and couldn’t help pinching Cheng Wei’s face. “I won’t agree to let Cat God come to the Time team. You aren’t young so think about the problem and don’t be so willful.”

Cheng Wei, “…”

Cheng Wei was furious as he watched Tan Shitian turn away from him. He wanted to rush over and bite him to death.

Tan Shitian must be jealous of Cat God, absolutely!

Cheng Wei was busy sulking and didn’t see Tan Shitian’s helpless expression.

Cheng Wei had a blind worship towards Cat God and wouldn’t be calm when hearing news about Cat God. But as the captain of the Time team, Tan Shitian must consider the style and configuration of the whole team when introducing a new player. Cat God’s style of play with the elf summoner was difficult to match with the elf archers of Time. The summoner’s participation would just make the Time team nondescript.

Therefore, even if Cat God was very strong, Tan Shitian never thought about pulling him into the group.

After a moment of silence, Tan Shitian took out his phone and called a number. “Call everyone to the conference room. Tomorrow’s game needs to be redeployed.”