Chapter 5 The Fifth and Sixth Rounds

In the fifth and sixth rounds of the league, Team Excellent Era's opponents were Team Heroic Clash and Team Blue Rain, respectively.

Away against Heroic Clash, home against Blue Rain, the results left behind were only scores of 3-7 and 1-9. After a wave of glory in the second round with a great victory over Hundred Blossoms, Excellent Era had suffered four consecutive defeats. Among them were powerhouses like Tyranny and Blue Rain, but Radiant and Heroic Clash were representatives of the league's mid-level strength. Setting aside thoughts of winning a championship, even aiming for the playoffs, Excellent Era should have been targeting these teams as their primary point-grabbing opportunities.

As a result, against Radiant and Heroic Clash, the final scores were both 3-7. They won all the individual matches, but then lost the subsequent stage battles and team competitions to their opponents.

The strongest new team in history?

The Electronic Sports Weekly, released after the sixth round, once again used the same headline for its coverage of Excellent Era that it had used after the second round. That time, Excellent Era was on the front page, but this time, it was just in a random spot in the magazine, and the title was marked with a big question mark.

After six rounds, Excellent Era, with 19 points, ranked 15th in the standings, only 9 points away from the relegation zone of 10th place. Securing their position? Everyone felt that this goal was still realistic, as for the championship...

That was really a joke, wasn't it?

Ruan Cheng of Electronic Sports Times mocked them in his new manuscript for the publication. He seemed to have lost interest in questioning Tang Rou's one-versus-three challenge, and questioning the entire Excellent Era team had become his new perspective. It must be said that Ruan Cheng was indeed a seasoned professional, and after six rounds, he pinpointed the problems of Excellent Era with a single word.

"All the major teams seem to be worried about the new unspecialized class, Lord Grim, but now it seems they don't need to be. Lord Grim, the unspecialized, is more of an assistant to them than a threat. I think, if Ye Xiu was using a Battle Mage instead of this unspecialized class, Excellent Era's results might be a little better than they are now. But if that were the case, I wonder if the beautiful rookie who claims to take on three opponents would still have a place?"

While the commentary pointed out that Lord Grim was the culprit for Excellent Era's difficult integration, Ruan Cheng mocked them in every way possible, never forgetting to drag out Tang Rou, who had a bet, for a stroll.

The reports and comments in Electronic Sports Times could lead public opinion in the circle to a certain extent. In the seventh round, Excellent Era played as a guest against Team Zeal. At the pre-match press conference, reporters had already surged in.

"After four consecutive rounds without a win, there are serious integration problems between the unspecialized class and the teammates. Excellent Era's start seems to be far from your goal of winning the championship. What do you think of this situation?" a reporter asked Ye Xiu.

"Our team is improving every day, and every round of the competition could be a turning point," Ye Xiu replied.

"Is that so? Then can you predict how many more games there will be?" Someone asked, deliberately emphasizing the word "how many." Ye Xiu recognized that this was Ruan Cheng, a reporter from Electronic Sports Times. Unlike Electronic Sports Home, which had reporter stations everywhere and dispatched reporters to follow teams, Electronic Sports Times, as a bi-monthly magazine, did not need the timeliness of events like the Electronic Sports Weekly. They did not report or comment on the process of a particular match, but usually wrote more comprehensive articles. Therefore, their reporters would not follow every scene, but would collect material for what they wanted to write.

Ruan Cheng, apparently, had taken Excellent Era as his subject after Tang Rou. After writing a commentary, he arrived at the scene of Excellent Era's match again this round. This was the fourth round of the five-round agreement. After this round, the bet would be settled, and it would also be the release of the new issue of Electronic Sports Times. Ruan Cheng, who had been calm and hadn't shown up for the first three rounds, finally couldn't help but follow Excellent Era's scene this round.

Emphasizing the word "how many" so heavily was naturally to imply that Tang Rou's five-match agreement was almost over. Ruan Cheng's appearance at this match was also for a reason. Tang Rou's five-match agreement was happening during a devilish schedule. Tyranny, Blue Rain, Tiny Herb, who would think that a rookie would achieve the glory of taking on three opponents in front of these giants? Therefore, the key was in the two rounds against Radiant and Zeal.

Tang Rou ultimately failed to achieve it in the match against Radiant, so now, the match against Zeal had become the most important.

In addition, Team Zeal and Excellent Era had such a good relationship. What if there was some private communication? Everyone could see the importance of Tang Rou to Excellent Era. If she really quit, it would be a great loss not only to her personally, but also to Excellent Era. In this case, Excellent Era was probably more nervous than Tang Rou about completing the one-versus-three challenge.

It just so happened that they encountered Team Zeal at this time, and it just so happened that Team Zeal had a good relationship with Excellent Era, and it just so happened that this team had some special characteristics. Their captain was the boss, and the main players were the boss's friends. Playing Glory to the point of investing money to form a team to play in the professional league, one could imagine how willful and reckless these people were. Ruan Cheng was really worried that these guys would do something like throwing the game if they were happy. So he had to come to this match. Even if Zeal really did that, he couldn't stop them, but he would keep his eyes open and watch every detail, and he would never let these guys disregard the spirit of competition.

So at the pre-match reception, he asked the question "how many more games?" He wanted to see if Excellent Era dared to confidently say that it would be today.

Ye Xiu looked at this guy, smiled, and asked in return, "What do you think?"

Ruan Cheng was stunned for a moment, and then laughed, "I'm asking the question, why are you asking me instead?"

"Yes, I'm asking you. Why don't you help us Excellent Era make a prediction?" Ye Xiu said.

"I wish Team Excellent Era a satisfactory result today." Although Ruan Cheng hoped that Excellent Era would be a complete failure forever, he still said some idealistic words to get through the situation.

After that, other reporters asked questions, nothing more than the current predicament of Excellent Era and the issue of Tang Rou's one-versus-three challenge.

After six rounds, the situation in the standings became increasingly clear, and they were currently divided into three zones.

The top seven teams all had more than 40 points. Samsara, with 49 points, started leading again. Howling, with 47 points, was second. Blue Rain and Misty Rain both had 46 points, ranking third and fourth. Tiny Herb, because they lost to Samsara and Tyranny, suffered two consecutive defeats and ranked fifth with 44 points. Thunderclap, which was considered the biggest change this season so far, also had 44 points, ranking sixth. Void, with 42 points, was seventh.

After the seventh team, the zone of 40 points or more ended. The eighth team was still in the playoff zone, but at this time, they only had 35 points, which was Team Tyranny. This score was slightly far from seventh place, but similar to the next nine to twelve places. They belonged to the 30-point range. According to the current point difference situation, they all had a chance to fight for the eighth playoff spot. Among them, Hundred Blossoms had not encountered strong opponents in the fifth and sixth rounds, and finally showed some improvement. Now they had 32 points and had climbed to ninth. After that, Heroic Clash, 301, and Wind Howl were ranked tenth to twelfth.

After them, Radiant and Zeal both had 22 points. After that, there were teams with less than 20 points. Excellent Era was ranked first in this group with 19 points.

Looking at the first six rounds, there were not many upsets. The strong teams were strong, and the weak teams lost in various ways. The final scores were basically not far from their paper strength. Team Tyranny was the biggest disappointment. Last season, they swept all before them and became challengers to the record. This season, they were clinging to the threshold of the playoffs, with a certain gap from the top seven.

Team Thunderclap was the biggest surprise. Although they were frequent visitors to the playoffs before, they were generally like Team Tyranny at this time, clinging to the threshold, struggling to get in. But now, relatively speaking, their points were good, only 5 points behind the top. But in addition to the points, what was even more important was the change in their competition content, their confidence, their determination, which was rarely seen in the past.

Team Hundred Blossoms had a weak start last season, but they exerted their strength in the second half. The playoff battle against Tyranny, the strongest team last season, made people more optimistic about their future. As a result, they were stunned by Excellent Era in the second round of this season, and then sleepwalked for a few rounds. These two rounds finally showed some improvement, but overall, they were also a bit disappointing.

These three teams, plus Excellent Era, were the teams that had generated the most discussion so far. Obviously, most of it was not good. People seemed to be more happy to see others in a mess.

At this time, the seventh round of the competition was finally about to begin. This round still had no shortage of gorgeous duels. Samsara, in the devilish season, finished playing against the four powerhouses, and would play against Misty Rain this round. And the four powerhouses would fight each other this round. Howling would play against Tyranny at home, and Blue Rain would challenge Tiny Herb as a guest.

The TV broadcaster was very tangled! It was really too difficult to choose from so many important matches in this round. Excellent Era, Hundred Blossoms, Thunderclap? No matter how much discussion they generated, they were not enough to watch at this time. In the end, the broadcaster chose the match between Howling and Tyranny. Compared to Tiny Herb and Blue Rain, who were enemies with a grudge, Howling and Tyranny symbolized the distinct confrontation between the new and old forces. Since Tyranny gathered three veterans, this confrontation had become obviously sharp and naked.

At the same time, the players of each team all appeared on the field.

"Great God, hello! Everyone, long time no see!" The host, Lou Guanning, put on the air of a host and welcomed the arrival of the Excellent Era players in a grand manner.

"Long time no see, long time no see." Among the members of Team Excellent Era, the only ones who had some personal friendship were these guys from Zeal. Compared to the previous rounds, where the greetings between the players of the season were just going through the motions, this time, there was really a sense of reunion after a long time. They shook hands and could chat for a few words.

"How is it? Are you going to play?" Ye Xiu asked, holding Sun Zheping's hand.

"Of course," Sun Zheping said.

"Is that so? I really want to crush your hand right now!" Ye Xiu laughed.

"Try it," Sun Zheping said, adding a bit of force to his hand. His hand was injured, but it wasn't so crippled that he couldn't touch it. It just couldn't bear the burden of the high-rhythm, detailed operating movements of a Glory professional player.

"Haha, see you on the field." Ye Xiu shook off his hand and shook the next one. Zeal really had the demeanor of a team with those five players and now Sun Zheping. The remaining soy sauce players skillfully walked through the motions, with no struggle, just wanting to go down and sit down quickly.

"Great God, have mercy!" Lou Guanning joked when he shook hands with Lou Guanning.

"That's not good, the referee is listening!" Ye Xiu said.

"Just kidding, just kidding!" Lou Guanning said quickly, and when he looked to the side, the referee was really sticking his ears out and coming over. Because of Tang Rou's oath, the sensitive relationship between the two sides had been mentioned many times, and Lou Guanning was not unaware of it. But Ye Xiu, had to say that at such a sensitive time.

"Great God, you're too good at chatting!" Lou Guanning said, wiping his sweat.