The King's Avatar

After seeing the crux of the situation, Team Everlasting’s negotiations went smoothly. Wu Chen immediately changed the cold attitude he had been using to communicate with Team Happy and started to actively ask what Happy’s needed.

What did Happy need?

No matter if it were equipment or materials, Ye Xiu had taken care to consider them. Every RMB they spent had to be done cautiously. That was the style Ye Xiu had taken to ever since his return. The two million RMB worth of materials they had gotten from Samsara had been a nightmare to take inventory of, but Ye Xiu had still personally typed out that list after carefully considering all the information and stock they had.

Team Happy was stronger than most other grassroots teams. A profit of 20 million would shock a street of people to death. However, they couldn’t compare to a pro team. Actually, there was a very interesting situation in Happy, and that was that none of the team members had asked for any payment.

That’s right, payment.

Pro gamers weren’t volunteers. As the Alliance thrived, the paychecks of pro players swelled. A yearly income of several million was just the income of first-string players. The income of those gods at the top had to be judged by their respective clubs. Though there were pro players who didn’t make a fuss about how much they made, those who seemed to have forgotten about it entirely like the members of Team Happy were nonexistent.

The members of Happy might not have mentioned it, but their boss, Chen Guo, hadn’t forgotten at all. It was just that, as a Glory fan, she had a vague idea of how much the pro circle made. She hadn’t purposefully forgotten, she was just a little afraid of trying to bring it up. If she really ran Happy like a pro team, there was no way she could afford to pay a God like Ye Qiu with just her internet cafe to support her.

This problem, Chen Guo even went to discuss with Ye Xiu. And then Ye Xiu discussed it with everyone else. It was more or less just since their team was just starting out, they didn’t have much, they had to work together as a team, and not fuss over individual losses and gains, but there would be bread to eat and eventually a championship.

In the end, everyone even looked at these words with contempt, especially Wei Chen, who put up both middle fingers at Ye Xiu, saying, ”You think I care about what little money you have with my 1.8 million?”

As for the others, Tang Rou smiled, saying that she had an income. Steamed Bun casually asked her how much and Chen Guo hastily covered Tang Rou’s mouth. The income Tang Rou got was the income of an Internet cafe counter receptionist, saying it out loud would be an insult to pro players.

No one really seemed to care, not even Little Cold Hands An Wenyi, who had asked about it in the beginning. Now that he understood Team Happy’s situation, he didn’t worry about it. For entrepreneurship, in the beginning, it was formed of ideals and aspirations; it was a little inappropriate to talk of money in front of these beautiful hopes.　

”Very good, continue to work hard. If everyone can maintain this attitude, our boss will definitely be very happy,” seeing how there was no chance of them being serious anymore, Ye Xiu started to mess around as well. The problem of everyone’s payment was somehow resolved just like that.

In the end, this was their own problem, so if they didn’t care about it, then let them! However, buying equipment and materials were transactions between them and outsiders. They might be willing to carelessly go over it, but their transaction partners weren’t. So, Ye Xiu always took care to consider every detail. Every RMB had to be spent in a meaningful way.

Ye Xiu had never planned on buying much from Team Everlasting when he contacted them; he was just after what he needed. The Warlock’s equipment was his primary target, but any sort of materials they might need, they could also check if Everlasting had them or not.

Everlasting started to warm up to Happy, thanks to their powerful supporter, Heavenly Swords. Ye Xiu didn’t reject their enthusiasm either, responding with even more enthusiasm in getting a gauge of Everlasting’s current assets.

Wu Chen was, after all, the commander-in-chief of the team, the captain, so, everyday, he had monotonously been forced on looking over all the team assets. He had thought he was clear on what they had, but when Ye Xiu started asking for so many details, Wu Chen’s most common reply was, ”One second, let me check….”　After struggling for a while, Ye Xiu eventually decided on three of the seven pieces of Silver equipment Leopold had: cloak, belt and shoes.

Of course, it might be Ye Xiu saying this, but the one who made the decision was Wei Chen. Wei Chen was an experienced veteran, so he knew what he was doing and didn’t need Ye Xiu’s advice. Wu Chen had thought there was only Ye Xiu on the other side, and would’ve never thought that old sly fox, Wei Chen, was also there. Facing the two of them alone, it was impressive that these few days of negotiations hadn’t given him white hair yet.

”How come you only want these three pieces, the other four are rather impressive as well! In fact, Leopold is a very good character too; he had 4840 skill points, which is already very good in the pro circle!” Wu Chen earnestly advertised. He had submerged himself into his assigned role completely. Since they had realized that Heavenly Swords was the big fish hiding behind Happy, Team Everlasting’s recent efforts had been focused on researching Team Heavenly Swords and keeping an eye on their characters in order to estimate their needs and better understand the bargaining chips they held. This was understanding your opponent to better understand yourself.

Heavenly Swords didn’t have a Warlock, so they probably didn’t want Leopold’s Silver equipment. That was why Wu Chen hoped that he could sell all of it to Happy. It would be best if they bought the character as well.

”Eheheh, 4840? Our Windward Formation has 4920 skill points, do you think we would go around telling people about that?” Ye Xiu asked.

”4920!!!” Wu Chen was struck dumb by this information. 4900 had long since been thought of as the unbreakable limit for skill points that no character had managed to rise above. However, in last season’s playoffs, Samsara’s impressive performance made people realize their character’s had improved. Then, Samsara had personally admitted that all their characters had over 4900 skill points.

The limits had been broken, but that was by last year’s champions. For a grassroots team like Happy to have a character with 4920 skill points, there had to be something wrong with this team!

”That’s right, 4920, so you see, your character is useless to us. Could you please stop hoping that we’ll buy your characters? We just want the cloak, belt, and shoes, the three of them,” Ye Xiu said.

”Ok… I’ll take a note of that; let’s move on!” Wu Chen was already feeling a bit helpless. They had been going back and forth for three whole days just about the Warlock equipment, but this wasn’t Happy’s only intended purchase; there were others!

”The list of materials you gave me, we had a look over it and think there are some problems….” The whole fuss over negotiating always started from ”there are some problems”.

After an entire week, Everlasting finally came to an agreement with Happy. Three pieces of Silver equipment on Warlock Leopold: the Hood of Sins, the cloak Endless Sorrows, Soulful Short Boots, were all sold to Team Happy for a final price of 500 thousand.

Apart from that, there was also the list of materials that Ye Xiu had given them. In the end, Everlasting didn’t have everything that Ye Xiu asked for, so after several adjustments, they completely a transaction of 200 thousand in value. That finished Happy’s round of benefitting from Everlasting’s misfortune, spending a total of 700 thousand and gaining a satisfying prize. The three pieces of Silver equipment could be used immediately, and the 200 thousand RMB worth of materials were many pieces of gear in the making.

”It’s unfortunate that what you have is too different from what we need,” Ye Xiu told Wu Chen regretfully after they came to an agreement.

Wu Chen, having gone against two ancients of Glory, was utterly exhausted and sent a random emoji in reply.

”What now; what plans do you have?” Ye Xiu sent.

”I think it’s time for lunch?” Wu Chen glanced at the clock in the bottom right corner of his screen.

”I’m talking about your future in Glory; what plans do you have?” Ye Xiu explained.

Wu Chen startled. The sudden and very personal question from Ye Xiu made him uncertain of what to do for a moment.

All of Team Everlasting’s members seemed to already have plans for the future. Especially He An. Wu Chen had heard that some pro teams were interested in him!

But as for himself? Wu Chen really had no idea. His entire career in Glory had been alongside Everlasting. Where Everlasting went, that’s where you’d find him. He had never thought there would be a day where Everlasting was no more, and what he would do then. Until now, when it actually happened, Wu Chen realized that he had been avoiding this problem the entire time. His enthusiasm to keep himself busy was also an attempt to distract himself from these thoughts.

What was he to do without Team Everlasting? As he thought, his gaze wandered around the familiar room. It wouldn’t be long before he had to leave this place and, possibly, never return.

”Are you going to continue being a pro player?”

Such a message appeared on the screen.

A pro player, huh? Wu Chen suddenly remembered, he had never had plans for his own future. When Everlasting was relegated, he didn’t leave, he just wanted to return to the Pro League with his team and happily play for another season before retiring.

He was already 25 years old by now, considered quite old by eSports standards. The longevity of pro gaming careers in the Glory were increasing, and at 25, he could still continue, but Wu Chen wasn’t some big shot; he knew his worth. Originally, his ability wasn’t anything impressive, so now that he was older, his reactions were getting slower, and his hand speed fell. He probably couldn’t rely on pro gaming to put bread on the table anymore.

It was unfortunate that he simply wasn’t any sort of famous character. Many of those retired All Stars had found a home in the Glory circle, but for him, his interaction with Glory would be nothing more than a way of relaxing after a long day of work while recalling those good memories he had made back in the Pro League.

That sort of life sounded really monotonous...

Wu Chen was lost in thoughts, so it took him a while to notice that there was another message in the chat window: ”If you don’t want to leave Glory, you don’t have to walk the path of a pro player!”

”What else can I do?” Wu Chen couldn’t help but respond.

”Our guild is currently quite lacking in manpower,” Ye Xiu replied.

Guild? The online guild?