ARML CH78

The next day, Xu Zhuo, Fang Zhengqing, and the others who had agreed to meet earlier suddenly arrived in Star City. They all had a meal together. After careful consideration, Chi Shuo decided not to take Ye Shaoyang to meet his friends for now. After all, their current status wasn’t exactly official. It wouldn’t be too late to arrange a gathering with a few friends after they were engaged in the future.

While the 5 of them were eating, Xu Zhuo clearly noticed that Chi Shuo was in a pretty good mood and couldn’t help but tease, “Chi Shuo, has anything good happened to you recently?”

Chi Shuo immediately turned serious: “Nothing.”

Fang Zhengqing asked, “That Omega player on your team, will he be a starting support or a substitute next season?”

Chi Shuo raised an eyebrow at him: “A private gathering, and you’re probing for enemy intel like this?”

Fang Zhengqing smiled, “I knew you wouldn’t answer.”

Chen Qianhua changed the subject: “I heard there will be a major version update for the Gods’ War tenth anniversary. The announcement should be out in the next day or two. The update will include some in-game changes in addition to the release of a new hero.”

Xie Yuan sighed: “Looks like we’ll have to adapt to the new version as soon as possible after our vacation ends. I wonder what position the new hero for this season will be? [Abyssal Lord] just came out last season, so it definitely won’t be another mid-laner back-to-back.”

Xu Zhuo said, “It should be a jungler. It’s been a while since an assassin was released, right?”

He looked at Chi Shuo, who nodded and said, “Judging by the position rotation, it should be a jungler this time. I don’t know if it’ll be a utility jungler or a jungle carry.”

Fang Zhengqing adjusted his glasses and smiled, narrowing his eyes: “If it’s a jungle carry, you don’t even need to practice it. It’ll just be banned by the coaches anyway, and you won’t get to play it.”

Chen Qianhua chuckled softly: “Captain Fang, those words are heart-piercing.”

Chi Shuo: “…Fang Zhengqing is paying the bill today.”

Fang Zhengqing: “No problem, I’ll pay with your phone.”

The 5 of them chatted while eating, and only drove back to their respective homes in the evening. Before parting ways, Chi Shuo stopped Xu Zhuo and asked, “Old Xu, how is your synergy with Xie Weiyu coming along?”

Xu Zhuo smiled and kept him in suspense: “You’ll see when we meet on the stage.”

Chi Shuo gave each of them a hug: “See you next season.”

This was the last warm moment before the new season started. Once they were truly on the battlefield, these people would hunt Chi Shuo down like maniacs, completely disregarding any friendship. Of course, the number of times Chi Shuo assassinated them wasn’t small either.

After returning home, Chi Shuo sent a message to Ye Shaoyang, explaining, “I originally wanted to go over and keep you company today, but something came up and delayed me. Fang Zhengqing, Xu Zhuo, and the others came to Star City, and I had a small gathering with them.”

A qualified Alpha should report his itinerary to his Omega. Although the two hadn’t officially established their relationship yet, Chi Shuo felt it was better to inform Shaoyang.

Ye Shaoyang was a bit confused. You guys had a gathering, so be it. Why tell me?

He thought for a moment and quickly understood Chi Shuo’s meaning: “Oh, it’s good for you to gather with them, Captain Chi. Once the matches really start, there won’t be time for private gatherings.”

“Yes.” Chi Shuo asked, “When are you returning to the team?”

“I plan to return early, the day after tomorrow.”

“Alright, then I’ll go back with you.”

Chi Shuo immediately booked plane tickets back to the imperial capital.

On January 10th, before the holiday had even ended, he and Ye Shaoyang returned to the base early.

At the airport, he even proactively helped Ye Shaoyang handle Xiao Bai’s pet transport, taking great care of Ye Shaoyang. Ye Shaoyang didn’t find this problematic; when he was a captain in his past life, he also took care of his team members like this.

Since the Tianhuan club was still on annual leave and the cafeteria was closed, Chi Shuo went to the nearby supermarket to buy groceries and cooked for Ye Shaoyang in the dorm every day.

The two cooked their own meals daily, teased Xiao Bai, and spent the rest of their time playing ranked matches. Life was relaxed and comfortable.

Soon, the other teammates successively ended their vacations and returned.

The official Gods’ War tenth-anniversary major version update was released. The biggest change this time was the timing: previously, the first wave of buffs spawned at 30 seconds, and minion waves also departed at 30 seconds. After the update, this was changed to 1 minute and 30 seconds.

Although it only added 1 minute, the things professional players could do multiplied.

For example, 5 players could group up to gank the opposing players in the top or bottom lane. After securing a kill, they could collectively recall and still have enough time to rush back to their lanes. Or, 5 players could group up to invade the jungle… In this way, strong early-game heroes would have a significant advantage, easily opening up the game right from the start, and there would be more tactical variations.

Moreover, the new hero released for Season 10-1 was indeed a jungler, and an assassin-class jungle carry at that.

[Soul Chaser], a hero with very unique mechanics. When heroes on the field (including teammates and enemies) died, he could collect the souls of the deceased for his own use. A pure jungle carry hero—as long as someone died during a team fight, he could frantically harvest.

On January 12th, Coach Lin hurried back to the base and called everyone to the meeting room for an emergency meeting.

All members of the Tianhuan team arrived and sat in their respective positions according to their roles.

Chi Shuo quietly swapped seats with Qu Jiang, sitting next to Ye Shaoyang.

Coach Lin opened the PPT and said, “The holiday is over, everyone should rein in their minds and hurry to prepare for the new season. I assume you’ve all read the announcement regarding this major version update. The new hero [Soul Chaser] is a jungle carry; Chi Shuo will go practice him first. However, it will take over a month for the new hero to officially enter the tournament server, and there’s a high probability he’ll be banned. We’ll discuss composition systems centering around this hero later. The most urgent matter right now is the upcoming preseason.”

He opened a PPT slide showing the preseason groupings.

Coach Lin said, “This is the result of the random draw during the league meeting yesterday. Take a look.”

Everyone looked up at the big screen. Qu Jiang looked thoughtful: “We’re assigned to the upper bracket for the preseason. Our group includes Jingzhe, Binghun, and Yueying. Captain Chi’s old friends are all gathered here, aren’t they?”

Chi Shuo: “…En, the league’s computers sure know how to be random.”

Qin Yizhu said, “The lower bracket has Beimu, Yaoguang, and Huowen (Fire Rune). The pressure isn’t small there either.”

Chi Shuo said calmly, “Don’t worry, we’ll take our time during the regular season.”

Coach Lin said, “Captain Chi is right. The preseason only determines the groupings for the regular season; losing doesn’t matter. Furthermore, we don’t plan to aim for Group S this season.”

Ye Shaoyang had also thoroughly researched the official Gods’ War professional league format while on vacation at home recently.

The preseason is equivalent to a warm-up event before the season starts, similar to an “entrance exam” for middle school students to determine class placements. The league randomly draws lots to divide the 18 teams into two brackets: the upper bracket and the lower bracket, each with 9 teams. They play an intra-group round-robin, BO3, lasting only one week. The schedule is extremely tight.

After a week, all teams are officially grouped according to their preseason points. The 1st to 3rd place teams from both the upper and lower brackets are assigned to Group S, the “Top Scholars Group”; The 4th to 6th place teams are assigned to Group A, the “Average Group”; The 7th to 9th place underachievers are assigned to Group B, the “Underachievers Group”.

After the grouping is complete, the official regular season begins. The regular season consists of Group S, Group A, and Group B playing round-robin matches within their respective groups. After the first phase concludes, the bottom two teams in Group S are relegated to Group A, and the bottom two teams in Group A are relegated to Group B, while the top two teams in Group A and Group B are promoted.

Then, all teams’ points are reset, and the second phase begins. After the second phase concludes, the bottom two teams in Group S are relegated again, and the top two teams in Group A and Group B are promoted. The 6 teams in Group B will collectively be eliminated.

The third phase determines the spots for the playoffs. The 1st to 4th place teams in Group S enter the winner’s bracket of the playoffs, while the 5th and 6th place teams in Group S and the 1st and 2nd place teams in Group A enter the loser’s bracket of the playoffs.

This format is quite complex, but Ye Shaoyang quickly understood it. In essence, it’s a “last place elimination system,” similar to the rules of many talent shows. The worst students in the top scholars class get relegated to the average class, and the outstanding students in the average class get promoted to the top scholars class…

The pressure in every group would be immense. How would Tianhuan’s coaching staff arrange things? Ye Shaoyang looked expectantly at Coach Lin.

Coach Lin said, “Our coaching staff investigated the data of other teams, and after careful discussion, we decided to let Team 2 play the preseason. We’re not aiming for Group S; getting into Group A is fine. If it really comes down to it, we can also start from Group B and slowly climb our way up.”

Everyone looked at each other in surprise. Tianhuan had fought tooth and nail in Group S last season, getting relegated in the first round, and barely managing to keep their spot in Group A in the second and third rounds. This season, they actually weren’t going for Group S?

Coach Lin said, “Entering Group S only sounds good, but there’s also a huge problem—our Tianhuan main squad has undergone a massive roster overhaul. Coupled with the S10 major version update, if we can’t keep up with the fast tempo of Group S, we are very likely to become the team eliminated in the first round. This would be a very heavy blow to the players’ mentalities.”

He looked at Ye Shaoyang and Cheng Xing and said, “Especially since Shaoyang and Cheng Xing are both rookies with no major tournament experience. Going directly to Group S to fight strong teams—if they lose too many times, it will also have an adverse impact on the morale of the entire team.”

Ye Shaoyang: “…”

Alright, from the coaching staff’s perspective, it indeed wasn’t ideal for Tianhuan to push for Group S this season.

Ye Shaoyang was a rookie, Cheng Xing was also a rookie, and Qu Jiang had temporarily switched to support. How could such a Tianhuan compete with those strong teams in Group S? If they suffered a losing streak in the intra-group round-robin and got relegated, once the players’ mentalities collapsed, it would be very difficult to readjust.

Morale is also a crucial factor influencing match outcomes.

If rookies lose continuously, they will doubt themselves, lose confidence, fall into a vicious cycle, and lose even more.

Conversely, if they went to Group A or Group B, the initial pressure would be lower. On one hand, they could practice and hone their synergy as quickly as possible. On the other hand, winning a few more games would be vastly better for cultivating the players’ confidence than suffering a continuous losing streak.

Ye Shaoyang could understand the coaching staff’s decision. Making a comeback from Class B to Class S was always better than being eliminated.

Coach Lin said, “During this week of the preseason, the main squad must hurry and build synergy. The 5 of you, use smurf accounts to play 5-man ranked on the international server to adapt to the new version and new tempo as fast as possible. Keep the timing changes firmly in mind. Once the preseason is over and the groupings are officially determined, you will play the regular season with a brand new look.”

Everyone nodded in understanding.

Coach Lin looked at Yan Bin: “Rookies of Team 2, you rarely have the opportunity to play against top-tier gods like Fang Zhengqing and Xu Zhuo. In this preseason, you will face many powerful enemies. Regardless of the final outcome, it’s enough to just play out your own style and level.”

Yan Bin immediately nodded: “Understood!”

Coach Lin: “Alright, meeting adjourned. Everyone, go train.”

The 5 members of Team 1 logged onto the international server with their smurf accounts, changed all their names to gibberish, and teamed up to play ranked matches. A 5-man ranked team easily bumps into professional teams. In the new season, sure enough, many professional teams were practicing on the international server.

Ye Shaoyang found that after this version update, the tempo was actually more akin to LOL from his past life. The 1 minute and 30 seconds of downtime at the start allowed for many things to be done—whether it was setting up vision or doing something in the jungle or a specific lane. Even just forcing an enemy mid-laner’s Flash would make the subsequent laning phase much easier.

After a while, once everyone was familiar with the match tempo, if Captain Chi was willing to trust him…

He could also shotcall.

Time flew by. On January 15th, the tenth season of the Gods’ War professional league finally officially commenced.

Major teams successively began releasing their S10 player promotional photos.

In the promotional photos, every player looked radiant and full of vitality, brimming with confidence for the new season.

Among them, the release of Tianhuan’s S10 promotional photo instantly sparked heated discussion—

In Tianhuan’s 10-player roster for this season, there was an unfamiliar ID: Tianhuan-Lieyang. Moreover, this rookie was surprisingly standing right in the C position (center) of the first row!

Most teams placed their star players or captains in the C position. Having a rookie stand in the C position was truly unheard of!

The positioning of the five people in Tianhuan’s first row was also very chaotic. Top laner “Tianhuan-Zhuhuo,” jungler “Tianhuan-Shuoyue,” and standing right in the middle was the rookie “Tianhuan-Lieyang.” Next to him was “Tianhuan-Fanxing,” and only then was Qu Jiang’s “Tianhuan-Jiangshui.”

Netizens were a bit confused looking at this perplexing positioning.

[What’s going on? Who is Lieyang, to actually stand in the C position!] Someone reminded: [He’s that Omega rookie Tianhuan spent 5 million to sign, Ye Shaoyang.]

Everyone compared the promotional photo with the transfer window news—it was indeed this handsome little Omega guy.

Fans screamed excitedly.

[Omega, no wonder he gets to stand in the C position!]

[Is this the prestige of our handsome little Omega guy? Love it, love it.]

[Shuoyue, Lieyang (Blazing Sun), Fanxing (Starry Sky)? Where did this family name come from? We’ve got the sun, moon, and stars all together.]

[Is Tianhuan here to be a joke this season?]

[On the left and right are Zhuhuo (Candle Fire) and Jiangshui (River Water). A simple summary is: Water and Fire are incompatible with the Sun, Moon, and Stars.]

[You guys sure know how to name things [Doge.jpg]]

In the professional league group chat, many people also grew doubtful after seeing Tianhuan’s promotional photo. Why was Ye Shaoyang standing in the C position? Probably the special treatment of an Omega player?

Everyone assumed that Tianhuan placed the Omega player Ye Shaoyang right in the middle based on the etiquette of “Omega First.” Being 10 cm shorter than Chi Shuo, he indeed suited the C position perfectly. Many teams would adjust their players’ positioning to make the promotional photos look good.

No one expected that the brightly smiling little Omega brother standing in the middle had actually replaced Qu Jiang in the mid-lane position.

【End of Volume 1】

Volume 2: The New Season