Chapter 1198: The Observation Period Ends
Translator: Nomyummi Editor: Nomyummi
The discussion about Tang Rou continued to be omnipresent, but in the end there was no mysterious power that intervened and stopped all of it. Her father gave her true non-interfering support and freedom. Even when something like this happened, he didn't instantly stand up to protect her.
Tang Rou, facing all of this expected criticism, didn't defend herself. She didn't expect or hope for any understanding. She withdrew and just dove even further into Glory.
Compared to Tang Rou, Happy's current situation didn't look too good,either. The criticism the team received was secondary; more important was Happy's score on the points ranking after eight rounds.
There were 38 rounds in a season, eight rounds meant that over one-fifth had passed. Happy currently had 31 points, ranked at 14th place.
For a new team that just joined the Alliance, a score like this perhaps wasn't bad. Team Miracle, who had also just joined this season, only had 21 points and was ranked 18th. Last year's new team Heavenly Swords only had 25 points, two places behind Happy.
But Happy wouldn't be satisfied with this kind of point score or ranking because only they knew that their goal to win the championships in their first year absolutely was not just a shameless piece of trash talk.
If they wanted to win the championships, they first had to ensure they made it to the playoffs.
And right now, Happy had 31 points after 8 rounds, average 3.875 points per round.
"Let's look at last season's final point rankings." During Happy's team meeting, Ye Xiu analyzed the current situation in the League for everyone.
"Last season, in eighth place was Hundred Blossoms, with a final score of 190 points, averaging 5 points per round. But last season, because of the game update, many teams' scores went down. If we look at Season 8, Team 301 Degrees in eighth place had 214 points, averaging 5.63 per round. And then looking at our season now, after eight rounds, the seventh and eighth place Tyranny and Hundred Blossoms each have 47 points, which is an average 5.875 points per match. Compared to previous seasons, the situation in the Alliance this season appears to be harsher.
"If we use the current scores after 8 rounds as the standard, a match average of 5.875 means 223 points after 38 rounds. This could very well be the threshold for entering playoffs this season. Right now, we only have 31 points. Subtracting 31 from 223, in the next 30 rounds, we'll need an average of 6.41 points per round to reach that threshold.
"The situation is grim! 6.41 points isn't very easy to get. As soon as we lose a team competition, that means there's no way to get 6.41 points for that round. What then? That means we'll have to make it up through other rounds. So, our goal for each round absolutely should not just be 6.41 points, we need 7, 8, or even more points, in order to guarantee that we raise our score.
"The end of eight rounds marks a line. From the statistics of previous seasons, we can see that in the beginning rounds of a season, most of the teams prioritize remaining cautious, observing each other, learning more about the situation, and testing each other. There aren't too many unexpected surprises in battle. But after around the eighth or tenth round, they're done sounding each other out, so the teams begin to individually target specific areas to work hard, and that's when the real chaotic fighting begins. The Rookie Block, powerhouse teams capsizing in the gutter, many players' conditions inexplicably decreasing, in reality, these aren't without cause. It's because after the early period of observation, all of the teams start putting real effort in. Whoever plays their moves better will have the last laugh. If competition only compared aces and God-level characters, then wouldn't the champions be decided as soon as the team rosters were revealed for the season?
"Let's work hard, and welcome the chaotic fighting to come! We will be the ones laughing until the end!"
After the situation was analyzed and understood, they began discussing their battle plans for their opponent in the next round.
In the ninth round, Happy would be playing an away game against the other team that had debuted this year, Team Miracle.
The end of eight rounds meant that Miracle had already played eight matches. And in these matches, what kind of of impression did they leave on their opponents? Ye Xiu began to take them apart in his analysis.
Glory Pro Alliance Season 10 Round 9 was on the evening of November 1st, and this day was also the release date of the new edition of the bimonthly Esports Time. Esports Time's position and opinions were expressed much more clearly than Esports Home's were. It was relying on this kind of style that they managed to claim their spot of territory in the area of esports media reporting. And Ruan Cheng, as a head writer for Esports Time, took thorough advantage of the resources at his disposal. The big topic for this edition of Esports Time was exposing Tang Rou's conduct.
Ruan Cheng named this incident the biggest scandal in Glory history and described it in all sorts of flamboyant, unrestrained language. Many of her performances in the eight rounds to date were carved as proof that she was human scum.
An angelic appearance, a dirty heart…
Ruan Cheng's words were extreme. After Chen Guo received this edition, she swiftly destroyed it. It brought down spirits too much, and besides, they still had a match tonight. And although Ruan Cheng thoroughly attacked Tang Rou, he didn't discover her family situation, which almost made Chen Guo anticipate the Tang family standing up and giving Ruan Cheng a scare. This guy was just too despicable.
That night, the match was held at Team Miracle's home stadium in City M. This team that purchased its players for only 5000 yuan didn't appear to be a particularly wealthy team. Like Happy's, they rented their home stadium. City M wasn't home to any other Glory teams, so this stadium naturally didn't originally have the specialized holographic Glory projection technology. However, the amount of resources a team possessed was an important criterion considered by the Alliance when approving a new team to join. Teams that applied didn't get the same financial support from the Alliance that teams like Happy that won the Challenger League did. But Miracle was able to successfully pass the checks and enter the Alliance, which then led people to believe that this team wasn't particularly short on money.
The projection technology in Miracle's home stadium was impressive. At this time, before the match began, the host was accompanying the projection to introduce the players and characters of two teams.
After eight rounds, many teams found a strong sense of deja vu in Miracle's roster: Excellent Era!
Of course, this wasn't just because they had three players from Excellent Era, but also because of the class composition of this team.
Aside from the Elementalist, the Striker, and the Sharpshooter, who were the former Excellent Era players, the first-string players of this team were a Battle Mage, a Launcher, a Spellblade, and a Cleric.
This was entirely the same as the roster of the old Excellent Era. What was different was that old Excellent Era had Battle Mage, Launcher, and Spellblade as their core, while the current Miracle had these three classes as the orbiting moons, and the transferred players from Excellent Era, He Ming, Shen Jian, and Wang Ze became the central axes.
Among them, He Ming became Miracle's captain. This former sixth player in Excellent Era probably never would have thought that he'd have the chance to lead a team himself. But Team Miracle? To be honest, leading a team like this, He Ming didn't feel particularly well-off. Meeting Shen Jian and Wang Ze here was a sort of consolation, a reassurance that at least he wasn't the only person to be met with such misfortune.
At Excellent Era, these three had just been teammates, but after they all fell and landed here, their relationship became much closer. These three would group together to wallow in their misfortune together, sometimes talking about the good old days they spent in the powerhouse that was Excellent Era. As of now, their other former teammates had all scattered. These three admired Liu Hao and Guo Yang, who had managed to enter Wind Howl and now had a certain position in that team. Especially Liu Hao, who had now become part of their main roster, and had performed quite well in the past eight rounds. Wind Howl, who had managed to obtain him through a free transfer, all felt that they got a great deal from this.
Aside from this, the Cleric player Zhang Jiaxing had gone with Xiao Shiqin to Thunderclap and was also doing very well there. This season, Thunderclap was playing more and more smoothly. They were actually ranked second on the current leaderboard with 61 points, losing only to Samsara and were earning lots of attention.
As for Sun Xiang, that genius-level being, He Ming and the others didn't bother to envy his fortune at Team Samsara. Looking around, it seems that the three of them had drawn the shortest straw.
The three were all depressed about landing in Miracle, but they didn't dare neglect this team. In this weak team, if they were careless and became relegated, then their futures would become even more awkward and uncertain. And so, these three players worked quite hard in Miracle. Right now, they were in 18th place with 21 points, with a solid lead above Bright Green and Seaside. They even beat Void in an away game 7 to 3, one of the rare upsets in the first eight rounds.
And this round, their opponent, Happy…
He Ming, Shen Jian, and Wang Ze had complicated mixed feelings toward Happy. Things were a bit simpler for He Ming, as he had already left Excellent Era during the season that the team was relegated, and he hadn't experienced the sweeping pain when Excellent Era fell to Happy in the Challenger League. Looking at Happy, the only complicated feelings were toward his former captain Ye Xiu and former teammate Su Mucheng. As for Shen Jian and Wang Ze, who had experienced the Challenger League, Happy could be said to be the chief culprit of their current miserable situation. If there had been no Happy, then perhaps Excellent Era would currently be a big player, lifting high its three All-Stars and shining brightly in the playoff tier.
"We cannot lose this match!" October 27th, during a small meeting between the three of them five days before their match, Shen Jian declared.
But He Ming and Wang Ze didn't say anything. That person in Happy's roster was a shadow upon them.
"That… won't be too easy…" Wang Ze hesitated for a moment, but said it. In the current leaderboard, Happy had a lead of ten points above them. Pro players wouldn't feel that a match outcome was decided because of a point difference. For Wang Ze, the scary thing was still that person. In front of that person, he felt that he had no way of relaxing his hands and feet, that any of his movements would be thoroughly scrutinized and seen through.
"Right now, they're bruised and battered. It's a perfect chance for us to earn points," Shen Jian said.
He Ming and Wang Ze froze, and then suddenly understood.
That's right! That Tang Rou in Happy had really stirred up a lot of trouble this time. If she'd been in the old Excellent Era, she probably would have already been kicked out, and even if not, she'd be buried and hidden. Happy was currently in a rough time, and these waves wouldn't calm down again so quickly. November 1st was the ninth round and also the release date of the new edition of Esports Time. There would definitely be articles about this.
Let them see the articles during the day, then battle them at night. This rhythm was quite excellent!