801 A New Season

As for Happy, they had no idea what drama was happening at Excellent Era. However, after identifying Qiu Fei, Ye Qiu was certain he knew where today’s opponents were from. And in these matches facing almost pro-level trainees, neither side had a particular disadvantage.

Nothing needed to be said about Wei Chen, of course. Even though he was older, his experience was enough to let him easily deal with some trainees.

As for Tang Rou and Steamed Bun, having only started playing Glory upon the launch of the tenth server, being at this level now was a terrifying improvement.

Beating back Excellent Era’s training camp was news that could definitely boost their morale, so of course Ye Qiu wouldn’t keep it to himself. Though Happy’s undefeatable gold wall was finally shattered, their victories still exceeded their losses, so no one could really use their two losses to prove anything.

Instead, through these matches, those with some degree of skill or judgement, finally had a clearer understanding of Team Happy’s abilities. With those who had come only to be crushed, they really estimate Happy’s skill. They could only tell how utterly useless their opponents were.

And now, having gone up against Excellent Era’s training camp members who were close to being pro level, Team Happy had to perform at their best. The true depth of their ability had finally been revealed to players.

There were still many who said that even with such a skill level, wanting to best Excellent Era was a fantasy, but their momentum was greatly reduced.

Compared to Excellent Era, they still fell behind, but they could challenge them. Against normal players, they wouldn’t be met with any resistance whatsoever, so why wouldn’t aim for the Pro League?

More and more people rallied behind Happy. Although, among them, the vast majority just supported Happy to see Excellent Era fall, what with the enemy of my enemy being a friend and all. But, those who truly believed in the team weren’t nonexistent.

On the last day of the free internet event, when Chen Guo came to the Internet cafe to oversee the cleanup, one of the customers suddenly wished them "good luck."

Just one phrase of encouragement.

Whether it was truly from the heart, or if it was because of the free internet, Chen Guo wasn’t sure, but this was enough to warm her heart.

Two weeks! At first, they were besieged with accusations. Ye Qiu’s identity had been exposed, and when the Internet cafe was surrounded by angry fans, Chen Guo had been terrified 

Yet today, their efforts had finally earned them a phrase of encouragement. Even though they couldn’t make out this person’s true thoughts, this was the first praise they had gained from normal players. This was something they had obtained through these two weeks of fighting against the overwhelming pressure put on them.

Facing continuous mockery, they struck back fiercely with each victory.

Although the taunting and mocking would continue, these simple words of support gave Chen Guo the courage to charge on.

August 31st. Happy’s free Internet event came to a stop and the new season of the Glory Pro League was eminent. The actual matches themselves wouldn’t kick-off until Saturday on September 6th, but the transfer period would be over at exactly 0:00 on the first of September.

The titans of the league that remained under the scrutiny of players surprisingly didn’t make any moves as the transfer period came to a close. Not Team Blue Rain, which had lost Yu Feng, nor Tiny Herb which had lost two All-Star level players. After Tiny Herb bought 301 Degrees’ Xu Bin, everyone was waiting for these two teams to replenish their strength with new blood. Who would’ve thought that upon the close of the transfer period, neither team made any sort of announcement about transferring players. For both teams, they only made minimal adjustments to their line-up, but what everyone wanted to see was the transfer of a God!

Among everything that had happened during the summer transfer period, the one team that gained the most attention was Tyranny. Ling Jinyan’s transfer, and Zhang Jiale’s return in addition to Han Wenqing and Zhang Xinjie who were already present, Tyranny’s line-up was beyond striking. Tacky titles like the Elite Four were thrown about, and the voices of support for Tyranny to win the championships were the loudest.

As for the reigning champions, Samsara, they held the tradition of the champion team, not making any major adjustments to their line-up and keeping their main roster the same. But the purchase of Flying Drops from Tiny Herb would definitely strengthen them.

Even with this, not many people believed in the abilities of the defending champions. Especially for those older players with experience, they knew what would happen if the ace made a mistake in these types of teams. Although Zhou Zekai’s flawless performance gave many people confidence about the coming season, on the official poll for who people thought the next champion would be, Samsara was second to Tyranny.

Blue Rain and Tiny Herb were expected to be third and fourth, respectively. Both teams had lost all-star level players and did not do much to strengthen their line-up. Their projected strength had fallen. Their placing on the poll revealed how much everyone expected of these two teams.

Yet the two teams that couldn’t be ignored were Wind Howl and Hundred Blossoms.

Both the transfers in and out for these teams stood out during the summer transfer period. If they stood out, then they would naturally gain much attention. Looking at their resulting line-ups, they seemed very solid. Wind Howl had the impeccable combination of new generation’s number one brawler, Tang Hao and the top brawler account, Three Hits. In addition, there was also Best Rookie Zhao Yuzhe, who would definitely be useful for the new season. And last up not least was the All Star Fang Rui, who was very familiar with this team. The new season was something to look forward to.

Although Hundred Blossoms let go of both Tang Hao and Dazzling Hundred Blossoms, they obtained Yu Feng, allowing for the return of the former number one Berserker account, Falling Scattered Flowers, and provoking nostalgia in those who still recalled the scenes of the old times. Because of this topic, Hundred Blossoms managed to attain a good projected placing. But if one thought about it, they only had one All Star, Yu Feng. Team Void’s Ghostblade duo, and Misty Rain’s Chu Yunxiu and Li Hua, somehow both lost to Hundred Blossoms in the projected placings. It could be seen from this that these projection polls were a bit like the All Star votings, lacking in professionalism and authority. These places weren’t reflective of ability, but rather the attention and hopes players had in them.

On September 1st, team rosters were set. Whether it was the transfer of a bigshot, the switching or replacing of average pro players or rookies from the training camp coming in, they all had to be registered by the first of September. On this day, the team line-up was officially set.

In the last week, Loulan Slash and the others from Heavenly Swords had become much less active on the game.

They were finally members of a pro team, so they had to do some special preparations. And all their effort made in gaining the attention of the masses for the first half of the season bore fruit. Their team, despite being completely new to the league, had a protected ranking of 10. This was the highest any new team had ever gotten.

Along with Heavenly Swords, the other team to enter the league was Team Time, not an unfamiliar face. Team Time was eliminated in the seventh season, but managed to fight their way back into the Pro League through beating their fellow eliminated team, Team Wind Sweep, in season eight’s Challenger League.

With all the rosters set, the Pro League soon announced the match schedule for the new season. From now, the teams would begin discussing tactics. At the same time, the Challenger League for the new season wasn’t any slower. On September 1st, the applications for the Challenger League were officially over. The number of teams competing totalled 14218, over 1000 more than last year. Naturally, this was used by the league as a sign of growth to help advertise themselves.

These 14218 teams would come head to head after being randomly assigned opponents, and after all sorts of different adjustments, there would only be 40 left. These 40 would be the participants of the offline matches and upon making it here, there would be an adjustment to the tournament rules away from single elimination. To make certain that only the best teams would be left, the teams would be split into groups for the next round of eliminations.

In the past, the Challenger League wouldn’t get much attention. Though the teams eliminated from the Pro League would have some fans, they were, in the end, weak teams wouldn’t get that much notice.

Yet this year was a little different. First of all, Excellent Era with three All Stars had somehow became a part of it, and then there was the recently infamous Team Happy.

The first opponents of these teams got some attention, especially Team Happy’s opponent. Since Excellent Era was more or less the most terrifying team in this time’s Challenger League.No matter who the opponent was, looking into them was just a tradition, who would need to care about the opposing side for Excellent Era?

But people did very much care about Happy’s opponent. It was just that most people hoped they would very strong.

With Happy managing to make anyone who doubted or mocked them eat their own words, these people would obviously want Happy to meet their match in the challenger’s league and get eliminated quickly. This way they could have some cathartic relief.

But there were really too many teams called Happy, just trying to find them was a task that would make you cry. But they were persistent to the end, managing to find the Team Happy they were looking for. A glance at Happy’s opponent, Team Global Insomnia.

The world hadn’t gotten insomnia, but those who were hoping for Happy to fall did. What a flippant name, not at all serious. Just by this you could tell that they weren’t anything impressive. Never mind then, let’s just see how the next round goes!