A youth in blue roamed the world, living out his wildest dream!

Over on IG's side, the atmosphere could not have been more relaxed.

"Hehe." Ning Wang grinned so broadly that his mouth nearly stretched to his ears. "Looks like those Super Rockets I gifted weren't wasted after all."

TheShy bared his teeth in a delighted grin too, speaking in his strange, Google Translate-style Chinese. "Lu Shen, nice! Well played!"

Rookie chuckled and teased, "So you really are a professional smurf, huh?"

Lu Chen sat in his chair and slowly rolled his wrists, smiling as he joked back, "How can an AD not carry? Why else would they call it ADC?"

Ning Wang licked his lips. "After these games, I feel like we can just slaughter WE tomorrow. Haha."

Behind them, in the spectator seats.

Su Xiaoluo sighed helplessly. "I don't even know whether this is a good thing or a bad thing."

He had arranged these scrims for more than just helping the players get back into competitive form.

He had also wanted to give them a stern talking-to after they lost, to put them on their guard.

After all, they had spent over a month in the offseason without any pressure. Now that the Summer Split had begun, they needed to tighten up again.

Being too relaxed was not a good thing.

But now, looking at these six crushing scrim victories, he could not find a single reason to lecture them!

Just as Su Xiaoluo was thinking about this...

Mafa suddenly spoke beside him. "Of course it's a good thing."

Su Xiaoluo turned toward him in surprise.

An unusual light shone in Mafa's eyes. "All they have to do is keep winning and sweep every team! Isn't there a Chinese saying about riding your momentum? I believe that if they keep up this winning spirit, no one will be able to stop them!"

As he spoke, he looked toward the IG players ahead. "I believe they have what it takes."

Mafa would never have been this confident in the old IG.

But ever since Lu Chen arrived, this IG had truly become a completely different team.

The change was plain to see. Under Lu Chen's repeated shot-calling, even Baolan had improved unbelievably in areas like vision and positioning!

Even as their coach, he could not find a weakness in this team!

That was undoubtedly a frightening prospect.

Perhaps TheShy would get carried away, perhaps Rookie would go missing, perhaps Ning Wang would make a mistake.

But a mistake from one player could not affect the overall outcome!

More importantly, there was Lu Chen. His terrifying ability to farm meant he could always step up at crucial moments, reliably dish out enormous damage, and take over the game!

How could a team like this lose?

"Let's hope so." Su Xiaoluo gave Mafa a thoughtful look, then nodded. "Let's see whether they can maintain today's form against WE tomorrow."

To be precise...

It was Lu Chen's form they needed to watch.

No matter how well he had played before, none of those games had been an official match.

The next day.

Early that morning, after breakfast, the IG players boarded the club's bus and headed to the venue.

"WE! WE!"

"Girls, WE's bus is here!"

As soon as they arrived, they saw another bus surrounded by a huge crowd of fans.

Some wore custom WE jerseys, some held up WE's team logo, and others carried signs bearing individual players' IDs.

There were clearly plenty of female fans among them.

After all, Mystic was undeniably good-looking.

Around IG's bus, however, there was only a sparse ring of fans, almost all men. Female fans were few and far between.

"Tch." Ning Wang felt a pang of envy. "How can the popularity gap be this huge?"

"That's normal." Rookie shrugged. "They're the Red Miracle, the Spring Split champions, one of the Three Royal Houses."

Although his tone was casual, a hint of envy still seeped through his words.

There was no helping it. By comparison, their side looked downright pathetic.

Lu Chen flashed a confident grin, showing his white teeth. "Don't worry. Once we're done with the Summer Split, we'll have more people cheering for us than they do."

Ning Wang sounded a little wistful. "Can we really do it?"

"Of course." Lu Chen's eyes were filled with confidence, almost seeming to shine. "We won't lose."

Soon, they entered the venue.

Backstage, their first order of business was not a last-minute warm-up to keep their hands sharp, listening to the coach and analysts explain tactics, or even hearing an inspirational speech from their manager, Su Xiaoluo.

It was makeup!

Yes, makeup.

To make the league's events more professional, TJ Sports required all players to have their makeup done before going onstage.

It had already become a mandatory procedure.

After all, the scruffy, unkempt appearance of these young esports players really did make it easy for people to look down on them.

By the time everyone had finished their makeup and the match was about to begin...

Large numbers of spectators had begun filing in with their support signs, making even the vast venue feel crowded.

Of course, most of them were WE fans.

Meanwhile.

At the commentary desk, Miller, Wawa, and Rita were warming up the crowd.

"Welcome to day two of week one of the 2017 League of Legends LPL Summer Split regular season!"

"Hello, everyone! I'm Miller!"

"I'm Wawa."

"Hello, everyone! I'm Rita. It's a great honor to be here casting the Summer Split."

"All right!" Miller said with a smile. "Please look at the big screen. Both teams' starting lineups are out."

"For WE, it's the usual lineup: 957 in top, Xiye in mid, Condi in jungle, Mystic at AD, and Ben at support!"

"And for IG, we have TheShy in top, Rookie in mid, Ning Wang in jungle, Chen Yu at AD, and Baolan at support!"

"As we can see, IG is fielding quite a few newcomers."

"TheShy, Chen Yu, and Ning Wang. It looks like IG made some major roster changes during the summer transfer window."

"Anyway, we look forward to seeing both teams put on a great performance!"

While the commentators warmed up the crowd, the ten players from the two teams

also began making their entrances one after another. When they reached the center of the stage, they bowed in thanks before heading to their seats.

Then, at the referee's reminder, they began checking their equipment and testing their peripherals.

Meanwhile.

More and more viewers poured into the official stream, and the chat gradually grew livelier.

"WE! Go, Red Miracle!"

"C God! He's actually playing!"

"IG's got guts. Starting off with a bunch of rookies, huh?"

"Rita's my wife! Slurp, slurp, slurp~"

"Get lost! She's my wife!"

"I finally get to see C God in person. Holy shit, isn't he way too handsome?!"

"I thought Mystic was already the peak of esports player looks. Where did this guy come from?!"

"In this instant, every esports male lead I've ever read about finally has a face."

"So C God's name is Lu Chen. That's a pretty nice name."

"Chen Yu, Mommy loves you!"

"No male mommies! No male mommies!"

"This is a match, you know. Aren't you guys focusing on the wrong things?"

"Anyway, C God, slaughter them for me! Just like you do in ranked!"

At his station, Lu Chen slowly exhaled. His aura changed abruptly, and fighting spirit seemed to flare deep within his eyes.

A youth in blue roamed the world, living out his wildest dream!

His true LPL debut had arrived!

(End of chapter)