Chapter 32: Chapter 32 Team
Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Zhao Mingwei logged in very early today, just an hour after receiving Jiang Qiaoâs message.
If Zhao Mingwei had been an hour later, Jiang Qiao probably would have joined a random team or gone solo.
âNo training today?â
As usual, Jiang Qiao was doing some stretching exercises before entering an instance, while Zhao Mingwei, after receiving the coordinates, ran all the way to Lionheart Cityâs port.
âThe team has the afternoon off today. All the club members went out for team-building activities, so Iâm using this time to level up,â Zhao Mingwei said, glancing at the level ranking along the way. He was only level 27, already outside the top 100 in the rankings.
âEven e-sports clubs have team-building activities?â
âNot just team-building, we also have physical training sessions. Thereâs a lot of hassle,â Zhao Mingwei said.
âAll right, join the team. Iâve invited you. Ahead is the new team instance for today, letâs give it a try,â Jiang Qiao said.
Jiang Qiao didnât bother talking about real-life issues with Zhao Mingwei. E-sports players on Blue Star were truly considered athletes, as VR games extended beyond just keyboards and mice.
Zhao Mingwei directly joined Jiang Qiaoâs team. His friend Lin Xi wasnât online yet, so Jiang Qiao and Zhao Mingwei entered the Tower of Trialâs map first.
The records on the first monument at the front of the Tower of Trialâs map were gradually being occupied by players with strange IDs.
The most eye-catching record was the fourth-ranked team. The fourth teamâs record had a prefix, the prefix was Dancing Nuclear Guild, followed by the playersâ IDs: Rain Song, Ionic Spark, Excessive Reaction, Tablecloth, Ten Cats for Nine Dollars, and Mo Shigui.
Their completion time was 43 minutes and 21 seconds, just under a minute behind the old Mageâs youthful team.
Jiang Qiao added this prefix feature, which would show the guild name if the entire team belonged to the same guild when an instance record was completed.
Dancing Nuclear Guild was considered the largest guild in Holy Spirit, with a total of⦠13 members.
Jiang Qiao guessed that this instance record definitely wasnât the guildâs limit. Thinking about how the old Mage spent his entire life challenging the Tower of Trial record, only to be surpassed by a group of âbabiesâ less than a month old, felt⦠amusing.
âDreaming in Daylight just came online. Should I invite another person?â Zhao Mingwei said as he arrived at the instance entrance of the Tower of Trial, noticing that the maximum team size was six players.
âYou invite from your side, Iâll ask around from my side too.â Jiang Qiao also opened his friends list to see if anyone wanted to join the instance.
Jiang Qiao didnât have many people on his friends list. He mainly asked a healer named âNo Extra Charge for Healingâ and an unfamiliar Swordsman he had met before.
âMy friend is here,â Zhao Mingwei said. Lin Xi, controlling Dreaming in Daylight, arrived at the instance entrance via the portal, along with a heavily armored Knight.
The Knightâs ID was Mo Shigui, one of the members of the third-ranked team on the leaderboard.
âHaha, happy gaming⦠um⦠youâre finally online,â the Gun Knight player named Mo Shigui said, unsure how to address Zhao Mingwei when he saw Jiang Qiao nearby.
After calling Zhao Mingwei by his ID, he pointed to the Dancing Nuclear line above his head.
âThis game just started, weâll definitely do more instances in the future, so have your friends join my guild,â Mo Shigui said.
âIâve already joined a guild,â Zhao Mingwei said.
âHuh?â Mo Shigui was momentarily stunned. There was no guild mark under Zhao Mingweiâs name. He thought there might be a way to hide guild names in this game, so he quickly asked, âWhatâs your guildâs name?â
Zhao Mingwei didnât answer, just looked at Jiang Qiao. At that moment, Mo Shigui, Dreaming in Daylight, and the other Dancing Nuclear players all turned their gaze to Jiang Qiao.
âUh, I havenât thought of one yet,â Jiang Qiao admitted honestly. He had spent the entire morning working on the Tower of Trial instance, and now, all he could think about was starting a guild. He hadnât even considered a name.
âHe hasnât thought of one yet,â Zhao Mingwei replied earnestly to Mo Shigui.
âMy headsetâs fine, I can hear⦠so Iâm still late?â Mo Shigui wasnât angry at missing out on a great player by a bit.
He and Zhao Mingwei were old friends of seven or eight years, so he knew Zhao Mingweiâs personality well: he always kept his word.
There was a saying in the competitive circle: you could always trust Zhao Mingwei.
This saying wasnât just because of Zhao Mingweiâs impressively consistent performance but also his straightforward personality.
âYour message came half an hour late; Iâd already agreed to join him when you sent it,â Zhao Mingwei said.
âWell, letâs change the topic. Are we doing the instance? You said your team still needs people,â Mo Shigui glanced at Jiang Qiao and didnât say much. They shared an unspoken understanding that Jiang Qiao found hard to describe.
Jiang Qiao was puzzled; the crowd of Dancing Nuclear Guild members, including Mo Shigui and the Mind Energy Master, were equally at a loss.
They all knew Jiang Qiaoâs guild hadnât even been established. Dancing Nuclear Guild was the largest guild in Holy Spirit, and his old friend was part of it. Youâd expect any reasonably thinking player to join Dancing Nuclear Guild.
Lin Xi was the clearest observer, quickly private messaging Zhao Mingwei.
âXiao Ye! The right move now is to bring the pro into old Songâs guild!â
âYou, a Junlin Club player, defecting to Uptown Nuclear Guild? Coach Su would make you do a hundred sets of physical training if he found out!â
Zhao Mingwei was blunt with Lin Xi.
âWeâre playing Holy Spirit now, it has nothing to do with the competitive scene, right?â
âIt really has nothing to do with the competitive scene, so I canât join old Songâs guild.â This statement gave Lin Xi pause. He soon understood what old Song, or rather, Mo Shigui and Zhao Mingwei were thinking.
Mo Shigui was now Uptown Nuclear Clubâs coach and a shareholder⦠the clubâs business wasnât limited to just one game.
Zhao Mingwei had a binding contract with Junlin Club, meaning if he left two years early, he wouldnât be able to engage in any competitive activities related to that particular game for two yearsâ¦
Even streaming was forbidden. On top of that, Zhao Mingwei had little savings, so to Mo Shigui, the great player in the competitive circle was tightly bound to Junlin Club.
But with the emergence of Holy Spirit, things were different. Lin Xi anticipated that Holy Spiritâs future popularity would rival the existing game and potentially surpass it within a year.
By then, Zhao Mingweiâs contract with Junlin Club wouldnât be as significant if he debuted as a professional player in Holy Spirit.
However, Lin Xi guessed Zhao Mingwei just wanted to enjoy the game.
âFine, Iâll join the proâs guild too. Whatâs it called?â
âDonât know,â Zhao Mingwei replied.
âPro! Whatâs the name of the guild you formed?â Lin Xi, seeing Zhao Mingwei being uncooperative, directly asked Jiang Qiao.
âI havenât formed it yet, donât rush⦠let me think. After this instance,â Jiang Qiao said.
Jiang Qiao only wanted to dive into the instance, as his Water Spirit and Fire Spirit were already eagerly preparing for action.