The King's Avatar

In the fifth and sixth rounds, Team Happy's opponents were Team Parade and Team Blue Rain.

Away game against Parade, home game against Blue Rain, but their scores were 3-7 and 1-9. After their win against Hundred Blossoms in the second round, Happy had now lost four matches in a row. Even though their losses to powerhouses like Tyranny and Blue Rain were expected, teams like Radiant and Parade were only mid-tier teams in the Alliance. Disregarding the championship, even if their goal was just to make it to playoffs, they needed to earn points against teams like these.

But facing Radiant and Parade, the final score was 3 to 7 for both matches. They won all three individual battles, but in the group arena and the team competition, they couldn't defeat their opponent.

The strongest new team in history?

After the sixth round, the issue of Esports Time that released once again used this title, the same title that had been brought up after the second round. That time, Happy was the headline on the front page, but this time, they were just in a casual spot in the issue, and the title now had a large question mark after it.

After 6 rounds, Happy had 19 points at 15th place, only 9 points away from the relegation zone of ten points. Maintain their current position? Everyone felt that this goal was realistic for them. As for championship or whatnot… That was such a joke, wasn't it?

This was Ruan Cheng's mockery in the latest issue of Esports Time. It seemed like he was no longer interested in Tang Rou's promise of 1v3, and he now focused his efforts on doubting the entirety of Happy. It had to be said that Ruan Cheng was an experienced reporter. After six rounds, he accurately pinpointed all of Happy's problems.

"The various teams all worried in the face of Lord Grim's new unspecialized class, but it now seems that this worry was unnecessary. Instead of saying that Lord Grim is their threat, it should be said that Lord Grim is their helper. I think that if Ye Xiu were not using this unspecialized right now, and was instead using a Battle Mage, Team Happy's scores would be slightly better than what they are right now. Though, if that were the case, would the self-declared 1v3 pretty female rookie still have a spot on the team?"

Ruan Cheng correctly identified Lord Grim as the culprit of the problems of coordination that Happy faced, his tone all sorts of mocking, and in the end he still remembered to single out Tang Rou and her bet.

Esports Time's articles could to some extent influence public opinion. In round 7, Happy played their away game at Heavenly Swords, and in the pre-match press conference, the reporters were already coming to attack.

"Losing four matches in a row, the unspecialized has a strong problem of compatibility with the rest of the team members. Happy's performance in this season so far is far from your target of the championship. What do you think about this problem?" one reporter asked Ye Xiu.

"Our team is improving every day, and every round could see a turning point," Ye Xiu answered.

"Really? Then could you give a prediction of how many more rounds that'd take?" someone asked, biting on that "more." Ye Xiu took a look, wasn't this that reporter from Esports Time, Ruan Cheng? Unlike Esports Home, Esports Time didn't have reporters stationed everywhere and reporters following teams. As a half-monthly magazine, they didn't need news as urgently as weekly publications did. They generally didn't report extensively on specific matches, and instead published more overview-type articles. So their reporters often wouldn't appear at every live match, and would instead hunt for material as needed for what they wanted to write.

It was clear that after Tang Rou, Ruan Cheng considered Happy as his material. After his article, he once again came to Happy's home game. This was the fourth round of the five-round promise. In two rounds, the bet would be decided, and it happened to fall on a week where Esports Time was set to release an issue. Ruan Cheng was calmly absent from the previous three rounds, but this round he finally couldn't restrain himself and came to Happy.

To emphasize that "more," he was clearly referencing the fact that Tang Rou's five-round promise was nearing its end. Ruan Cheng certainly had reasons for being unable to stay away from this match. Tang Rou's five-round promise happened to fall during a demonic match order. Tyranny, Blue Rain, Tiny Herb, who expected a rookie to accomplish a glorious 1v3 in the face of these powerhouses? Thus, the key was in the rounds against Parade and Heavenly Swords.

Tang Rou had failed in their match against Parade, so now, their match against Heavenly Swords was critical.

Plus, there was the fact that Heavenly Swords and Happy were on such good terms with each other. What if they had some prior arrangement? Everyone could see Tang Rou's importance to Happy. If she really ended up quitting, not only would it affect herself, it would be a huge blow to Happy as a whole. Under these conditions, whether or not she could complete a 1v3, Happy was probably even more nervous than Tang Rou.

At this time, they met Heavenly Swords. Heavenly Swords and Happy had a good relationship. And this team had a special characteristic. Their captain was the boss, the main players were just a group of the boss's friends. A team that played Glory so much that they invested money into a team to enter the Pro Alliance, one could imagine how unscrupulous these people were. Ruan Cheng truly worried that these guys would throw a match. So he wanted to come to this match in person. If Heavenly Swords did do this, then Ruan Cheng would be powerless to stop it, but he could at least carefully stare at everything that happened in this match. He wouldn't let these group of people carelessly discard the spirit of competition.

So in this pre-match press conference, he asked a question like "how many more rounds" because he wanted to see if Happy dared to confidently declare that today was the day.

Ye Xiu looked at this guy, laughed a little and asked, "What do you think?"

Ruan Cheng blinked, then chuckled. "I'm the one asking the questions here, how come you're asking me now?"

"Yes, I'm asking you, how about you help give us a prediction?" Ye Xiu said.

"I hope that Happy will obtain satisfactory results today." Although Ruan Cheng hoped that Happy would fall over and die in the street forever, in public he still got by with some righteous words.

When the other reporters asked questions, they were all about Happy's difficulties and Tang Rou's 1v3.

After six rounds, the standings were becoming clearer and clearer. Right now, they were separated into three tiers.

The first seven teams all had scores above 40 points. Samsara, with 49 points, was once again in the lead. Wind Howl was second with 47. Blue Rain and Misty Rain with 46 points each were third and fourth. Because Tiny Herb lost consecutively to Samsara and Tyranny, they had 44 points and were in fifth. Thunderclap, the team regarded as changing the most this season, were in sixth also with 44 points. Void had 42 points, seventh place.

After these seven teams, the 40+ point top tier ended. Tyranny at eighth place was still in range for playoffs, but they only had 35 points right now. Although this score was a distance away from the first seven, it was about the same distance from the teams in ninth through twelfth. All five of these teams were in the 30-point mid-tier. Judging by the current point standings, they all had a chance of earning the eighth spot in the playoffs. Hundred Blossoms hadn't encountered a strong team in rounds 5 and 6, so they finally performed rather well and earned the ninth place spot with 32 points. Afterwards, Parade, 301 Degrees, and Royal Style were tenth through twelfth place.

After them were Radiant and Heavenly Swords with 22 points each, and after that were the bottom tier teams with below 20 points. Happy, at 19, was first among these teams.

There weren't too many surprises in the sixth round. The strong teams continued to be strong, the weak teams lost in all sorts of ways. The final point counts were about as expected, comparing the teams' strengths on paper. Tyranny was the biggest disappointment. Last season they had swept countless forces, challenging records, yet this season they were at the doorway to the playoffs, a distance away from the first seven.

Thunderclap was the biggest excitement. Even though they frequently made it to playoffs, it was normally by a small margin, squeezed in like Tyranny was now. But now, their point score was good, only five points away from first place. Aside from points, what was also important was their change in matches. Their current confidence and resolve was a rare sight in the past.

Last season, Hundred Blossoms had gotten off to a weak start before ending strong. Their playoff fight against the strongest team at the time, Tyranny, made them optimistic about their future. But this season, in the very second round they were powerfully defeated by Happy, then drifted along in a dreamlike state for a few rounds. These past two rounds though, they finally seemed to wake up, but on the whole, their performance was rather disappointing.

These three teams, as well as Team Happy, were currently the subjects of the most discussion. Clearly, there wasn't much good to say. People generally enjoyed seeing other people's suffering.

At this time, the round 7 matches were finally about to begin. Like the previous rounds, this round didn't lack exciting matchups. Samsara, with their demonic match order, after fighting four powerhouses would be facing Misty Rain this round. In addition, the four powerhouses were all fighting each other this round: Tyranny at Wind Howl, Blue Rain at Tiny Herb.

The television broadcast team was in a dilemma! It was too hard to reconcile all of these conflicting important matches. Happy, Hundred Blossoms, Thunderclap? No matter how much discussion they generated, they couldn't compare in such a situation. In the end, they chose to broadcast Wind Howl versus Tyranny. Tiny Herb and Blue Rain had their old rivalry, but Wind Howl versus Tyranny represented a confrontation between the new and the old. Ever since Tyranny gathered its three old veterans, this sort of conflict noticeably became much more intense.

At the same time, the players of the various teams appeared onstage.

"God, hello! Everyone, long time no see!" Lou Guanning pulled out the attitude of a host at this home game, giving Happy's members a grand and warm welcome.

"Long time no see, long time no see." Upon investigation, Happy's closest friendships were really just with these few from Heavenly Swords. Compared to the previous rounds, where the pre-match player greetings were just formalities, this time they truly expressed their feelings of having not met in a while, shaking hands, and even chatting a bit.

"How are you? Going onstage today?" Ye Xiu asked as he shook Sun Zheping's hand.

"Of course," Sun Zheping said.

"Oh really? I really want to just crush your hand right now!" Ye Xiu laughed.

"Just try it." As Sun Zheping spoke, he tightened his grip. His hand was injured, but not to the extent where he couldn't feel anything. He just couldn't endure the rapid, long-term, high-intensity controls required in playing Glory competitively, that was all.

"Haha, see you onstage." Ye Xiu shook his hand free and went to the next player. In Heavenly Swords, it was still just the same five plus Sun Zheping who had the professional attitude. The other filler members just skillfully walked by with no fighting spirit, as though they just wanted to hurry up and sit back down.

"God, have some mercy on us!" Lou Guanning cracked a joke when he shook hands with Ye Xiu.

"Not good, the judge is listening!" said Ye Xiu.

"Kidding, kidding!" Lou Guanning quickly said. Glancing to the side, he saw the judge really was aiming his ears toward them. Because of Tang Rou's promise, the relationship between these two teams had been brought up again and again, and Lou Guanning was well aware of this. But in the middle of this turmoil, Ye Xiu still said this sort of thing.

"God, you're just too good at making small talk!" Lou Guanning said, wiping away sweat.