Chapter 8

Liang Yan sat in the first team's training room.

The esports chair beneath him was originally Trick's.

Trick and Emperor had already left the G2 base; Emperor, though bewildered as to why he too was being cut, after confirming it was indeed the team boss's decision, left cleanly.

Soon after they left, Ka Lao Si chatted a few words with support Hybrid, and Hybrid then left as well.

That afternoon, G2 fell into disarray.

At that moment, a training match was about to start.

Everyone had already entered the room.

The two sides were as follows:

Left, blue side: G2.

Right, red side: S04.

S04 is a EU nouveau riche, renamed after acquiring EL's summer league slot; backed by the European traditional powerhouse Schalke 04 Football Club, it is enormously wealthy.

On G2's side, the original starting lineup only has top laner Kikis and mid laner Perkz left; the rest: jungler is Liang Yan, AD is the second team's starting player, support is the original first team's substitute.

Ka Lao Si stands behind everyone.

Although he likes Liang Yan's confidence, Ka Lao Si is not optimistic about the outcome.

Such a rag-tag team, its combat strength is easy to imagine.

The opposing S04 is indeed a new team, but the players forming it are not newcomers, because after S04 acquired EL they did not undertake sweeping reforms; they have only officially announced a change to one mid laner, so their roster framework is far more stable than G2's major overhaul, although there are certainly integration issues, it is still stronger than G2, which has fallen apart like scattered sand.

So Ka Lao Si only agreed to three matches with S04.

He thinks it's not necessary to play that many; three matches are enough for Liang Yan to see reality.

Not losing anything in a match, you can only say the newcomer is too naive.

Although Ka Lao Si doesn't know exactly how strong Liang Yan is, professional matches—even practice matches—are no joke.

A layperson with no formal professional training, coming up and wanting to crush a professional team, Kai Rui all over?

Purely overthinking.

Laypeople are always overconfident, stemming from having no understanding of real professional matches.

Of course, Ka Lao Si likes such people; earlier he scouted out AP (Perkz), also because he valued AP's confidence, even to the point of arrogance.

In this regard, Liang Yan is very similar to AP.

So Ka Lao Si is willing to give Liang Yan a chance to perform, merely hoping to help this newcomer see reality, but hopes the newcomer won't be hit too hard.

Everyone is present in the room.

Top laner Kikis clicked to start the game.

The 'each harboring ulterior motives' G2 Zhong Ren entered the BP interface.

Ka Lao Si merely stood in the back watching silently, not directing.

Then everyone discussed BP among themselves.

G2 just underwent a major overhaul; besides top and mid being original teammates, the rest can be said to have no understanding of each other, so there's actually nothing much to discuss.

AP didn't know what he was thinking, also remained silent; Kikis, responsible for banning, decided to just ban three currently strong heroes.

This version's match only has three ban slots, and all are executed by the first pick.

When G2 only had one ban left, Ka Lao Si finally asked:

"Liang, what hero do you want to ban?"

"None."

Liang Yan directly denied it.

Ka Lao Si remained silent for two seconds, then reminded again:

"Well, Liang, I know you're very confident."

"But if your hero pool isn't deep enough—I mean, for the current version, having enough games played and high proficiency, at least three—then I suggest you first decide on the two heroes you want to pick, then ban one that most counters them."

"Believe me, you should do this."

Basically, he's afraid this hot-headed newcomer will be crushed too badly, and if the tryout turns into retirement, that would be bad; Ka Lao Si patiently persuaded.

Liang Yan, however, turned back and smiled slightly, saying:

"Thank you, but please also believe me, my hero pool is completely fine."

Liang Yan played against bots for half a year, almost maxing out the system attributes.

This is called debuting at the peak.

Although the four attributes that can be brushed do not include 'hero pool', the strong overall ability brings comprehensive improvement, including but not limited to: the speed of practicing heroes is extremely fast.

In the current version, there is no jungler hero that Liang Yan is not proficient with.

And this 'proficiency' means being able to use it in high-intensity professional matches.

Liang Yan said his hero pool has no problem, without any exaggeration.

But hearing this, others don't find it quite right.

Mid laner AP turned to glance at Liang Yan, giving a cold smile—how long has the 6.9 version been online? This is a version that completely changed the valley environment; even a genius like me, AP, wouldn't dare say my hero pool is completely problem-free, how dare you, a newcomer?!

The others had similar thoughts.

Ka Lao Si didn't speak either.

Kikis glanced at Ka Lao Si; Ka Lao Si crossed his arms and shrugged; Kikis then casually picked a hero and threw it onto their side's final ban slot.

The red side followed suit and banned the last one.

Afterwards, both sides began picking.

During the picking phase, there wasn't much communication either; basically each picked their own.

Watching their own heroes being selected one by one, Ka Lao Si repeatedly rubbed his forehead.

The final lineup is as follows.

G2, Blue side

Top lane: Kikis, Nuo Shou

Jungle: Liang Yan (team-shared match uniform account), Mang Seng

Mid lane: Perkz, Xiao Yu Ren

Bottom lane: Begta (second team AD), Lu Xi An

Support: Yudie (substitute support), Lak Si

S04, Red side

Top lane: Steve, Kui Yin

Jungle: Gilius, Long Gui

Mid lane: Fox, Zed

Bottom lane: MrRalleZ, Ezreal

Support: sprattel, Bo Bi

Both lineups are pretty outrageous, but this is EU, so it's normal.

Liang Yan thought to play it safe this game, picking a Mang Seng that can't go wrong no matter how you choose.

He had his own idea.

Ka Lao Si, who was watching from behind the crowd, already felt his heart turn to ashes.

How do you play a short-handed lineup against Long Gui, Bo Bi, and EZ birdman?

Ka Lao Si really wanted to crack open these guys' skulls to see whether inside was tofu or shit.

Speaking of which, the enemy's pick of Bo Bi is truly the essence……

Sigh.

Ka Lao Si had already foreseen the outcome of this game, didn't even want to watch, silently patted Perkz's shoulder, turned and walked away.

Plans have changed; he must speed up the recruitment process, and meanwhile contact those few jungle candidates to preliminarily sound out their intentions and psychological price.

But actually, there aren't even many days left before the summer season starts.

Sigh.

Headache!

Ka Lao Si rubbed his forehead and left the training room.

The draft ended, the battle began.