Chapter 56: LPL Kicks Off!

After handling the miscellaneous matters of moving the team, signing new player contracts, and taking official photos.

Jiang Ming and his NXG threw themselves wholeheartedly into the LPL preparations.

Starting every day at 1 PM, from individual Fundamentals practice, expanding hero pools, tactical lectures, vision and team coordination, to arranging practice matches against other teams for hands-on training, with the buff of a promotion and raise, every player was like a wind-up robot, tirelessly improving themselves day after day.

Of course, as the current source of the team's funds, Jiang Ming was also simultaneously working on the YY platform livestreaming and video production.

During the day, he led the players in intensive training; after arranging tasks for the evening, he went alone to the third floor of the base to work his bricks and support the family.

After the online store's topping event ended, daily sales dropped significantly, urgently needing to maintain a certain level of exposure.

Livestreaming was fine; every day was just playing ranked matches on the national server to stabilize his number one position.

However, with the support of an extremely high win rate, Jiang Ming had already surpassed the second place by nearly two hundred victory points, and there was no possibility of being overtaken in the short term.

Therefore, he could focus more on entertainment effects during livestreams, finding ways to pull off various god-tier plays to further drive up the livestream room's popularity.

Video editing, however, was starting to show signs of having the will but lacking the strength; as a time-consuming task, with various matters stacking up, Jiang Ming had to proactively slow down the update frequency for each video episode.

Fortunately, the two video editing talents recruited by Lin Jie were quite capable.

With the two joining, for the coming period, he only needed to write the scripts well, and a large part of the video work could be left to them.

After training them a couple more times, as their experience grew, the two could gradually become independent and start creating on their own.

There were interesting things these past two days; when the person in charge of the Penguin Sports LPL league came to the base for funding, player contracts, and team base filing, the NXG's sharply decorated three-story detached house gave the visitor a shock.

"Even WE isn't as nicely decorated as you guys!"

For NXG, the decoration was secondary; the players had a clean and bright living environment, home-style but absolutely healthy and delicious meals, and even extra equipment like air conditioners and freezers were added to the training room for the players.

Regarding everything he saw, especially the tangible standardized management rules in the NXG training room, to be honest, among so many domestic esports clubs, NXG was truly among the very first to walk this path.

Yet such a club was actually created by a university student.

One has to admit, knowledge, when you have the ability, can give you many unexpected helps.

"General Manager Jiang, if we need to seek your opinions on the league's development later, we hope you won't hesitate to offer your guidance."

Using a respectful title, the person in charge of the filing left with many emotions, saying this sentence as he departed.

Jiang Ming saw the LPL staff off outside the base and replied with a smile: "Definitely. As participants in the LPL, we also hope its development continues to improve."

Time passed day by day.

After becoming famous online, NXG no longer lacked opponents wanting to arrange practice matches with them; furthermore, because NXG's very standard "disciplined" playstyle brought quite a shock to the outside world, teams both domestic and foreign were happy to come knocking from time to time.

Facing the massive schedule of practice matches, Jiang Ming began to intentionally suppress his team's win rate, prioritizing training and cohesion over pursuing victory; besides constantly experimenting with new systems, he also added various weighted training modules for the players, after all, the outcomes of practice matches would not affect the official games.

Yes, specifically calling out a certain undefeated esports cult in practice matches.

Riot owes them a championship trophy for a practice match cup.

With the focus shifting to the team and starting to look at the next part of the development plan, Jiang Ming also welcomed the LPL opening day in this fulfilling life.

January 29, 2013!

At 8 AM, the alarm clock had only rung its first chime; before it could sing its second song of destruction, a slender arm firmly pressed down on its forehead.

Get up!

Jiang Ming first tidied his bed, then walked into the washroom, filled a glass with water, squeezed out a small half-segment of paste, and gulped it down into his mouth.

After brushing his teeth, he started washing his hair under the half-height faucet.

This was a small habit of his that differed from others; he didn't like washing his hair during his shower the night before, because doing it the next morning and blow-drying it would make him feel significantly more energetic.

After blow-drying his hair, he came to the wardrobe.

To welcome the upcoming LPL matches, he had specially asked the online store's clothing supplier to custom-make two suits.

Yesterday, Lin Jie took them to the dry cleaner together for a wash.

Leisurely starting with the shirt, he admired the effect in the mirror from left to right.

Not bad.

With the suit's support, the whole person appeared a bit more mature.

Hmm, no need to comb the hair into a my lord look.

"Why is everyone up so early today?"

After finishing everything, which took about an hour, Jiang Ming strolled down from the third floor, only to see the players already gathered together in the dining hall.

Pang Ran was a bit embarrassed, "Too excited, couldn't sleep."

"Little Pang Pang, it's just an official match, let alone it's only a pre-season match; being so excited you can't sleep is too exaggerated." Song Yuan patted the former's shoulder and complained.

"But Old Song, you seemed to be rolling in bed around 12 AM last night, and you got up at 7 AM today; you didn't seem to sleep well either." The honest Stone mercilessly added a strike.

"What do you know? I've been quitting smoking recently; do you understand smoking withdrawal symptoms?"

"Don't understand!!"

"Someone previously solemnly declared that the Tobacco Leaf God is the soul of gamers..."

"Ahem, you heard wrong."

"Haha, alright, stop bickering."

Jiang Ming interrupted the few people who were attacking each other, "Eat breakfast first; we'll spend quite a bit of time on the road, and we'll have lunch in Shanghai."

Lin Jingyi was checking the players' luggage with Aunt Deng, "Did you bring the player badges and team jackets?"

"Ah, I forgot mine under the pillow!" Xu Jing suddenly slapped his thigh, "Lin Jie, wait for me, I'll go up and get it right now."

Wu Zhiqiang: "I damn it, why did you slap my thigh, you dog."

"Protect the keyboard and mouse sets with their packaging boxes; don't let them get bumped on the road." Jiang Ming reminded them about the peripherals.

The LPL officials naturally had prepared corresponding keyboard and mouse equipment, but compared to their own combat partners that had accompanied them for months, the players naturally preferred to use their own brought weapons.

"Let's go!"

Outside the base gate, Zhou Shu had already driven the car out early to warm up the engine and wait.

A team-exclusive vehicle modified from a nine-seater Wuling mid-sized van.

Its main selling point is being cheap, tough, and durable!