Legends Rise - Chapter 13 Osaka Phoenixes

“Woah there! Let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves” an analyst interjected, “We haven’t started the bidding phase yet!”

“That’s right! We still need to know more about him.” argued a recruiter.

“Don’t you go and poach the fresh fish before we all get the chance to bid!” another recruiter chimed in.

The team owner of the Los Angeles Emperor’s attempt to snatch Li Ming away from the hands of the other owners sparked outrage among all the recruiters and analysts present. This wasn’t the first time that Recna211 had tried to steal a player. His first attempt had landed him with a legendary player that had brought his low tier team to the peak of middle tier teams. His second attempt had failed and that player was now a well renowned player by the name of Resonance of the Seoul Gladiators.

Now that he wanted to try it again, the other recruiters obviously wouldn’t let that slide! It seemed as if the owner of the Los Angeles Emperors had an eye for finding diamonds in the rough, despite being incapable of refining them.

Meanwhile, Li Ming was in shock that he had just received such a large offer despite being only a top 2% player. He had also only exploited the try out’s faulty AI systems. He had not yet proven how much he knew at all!

“So, Mr. Dawn, you said that you play on the Japanese server,” a recruiter asked, “your English is pretty decent and your play style doesn’t seem all that similar to most of the players from that region. Why is that?”

“Well, I live in Osaka, so naturally I play on the Japanese server.” Li Ming answered, “My English is only at this level because of my foreign friends. As you know, when the Japanese server first opened up, a lot of Americans had migrated over to our servers. I became friends with some of them, and as time went on, I learned more and more English.”

“You said that you played on a Mage character with a ranking of top 2%, but today you showed more game knowledge than most top 0.1% players!” an analyst exclaimed, “As this type of game knowledge and skill is quite rare, I was wondering why you aren’t at a higher rank yet?”

“Well, to be honest, I don’t get to play the game very much. I’ve been caught up with school and career prospects recently, you see.” Li Ming mused, “So when I play, I don’t really play the Ranked Game Mode, I just play the casual game mode with my friends to mess around and have fun. I play on average one to two ranked games a day.”

“Only one to two ranked games a day and you’re still top 2%?” another analyst asked, “What might your win rate be?”

“Um… about 60% in normal games, and 85-90% in ranked games.”

The entire hall was silenced once again.

“W-what might your character name be on the Japanese server?” an analyst stammered.

“Its ‘TangChie’, named after a cat that I had hung out with when I was young as well as my own surname.”

“Give us one moment!”

The analysts hurriedly typed on their computers.

Suddenly, Li Ming’s mage character was shown on the large screen of the stage. It was a stats website run by a third party known as “Players.gg”. This website would collect information on players such as their win rate, the types of characters they like to play, what maps they generally prefer, and more.

Just as Li Ming had said, his win rate for ranked was a solid 89%! That meant that if he were to play a hundred games, he would only lose 11 of them! Never in history was there ever a casual player to achieve such heights in their game play. Just by playing one to two games a day, even skipping a day at times, Li Ming had still been able to reach the top 2% of the server. This feat was only accomplished by at least mid tier pro players!

Immediately, the recruiters sprung into action.

“We, the New York Arrows, are willing to buy out your current contract and pay a salary of 800,000 US Dollars a year, with a bonus every victory. We’ll also give you paid vacation leave as well as cover all expenses of your vacations!”

“Listen here kiddo, we’re willing to buy out your current contract AND match the offer of 1,000,000 US Dollars and the bonuses that the Los Angeles Emperors had offered. We’ll also pay for your immigration fees for you and your family! You won’t have to worry about anything at all, as we’ll even cover your retirement plan! Come join the Berlin Bulls!”

“Hey how about joining the Paris Ravens? We’ll match any offer you get, as well as provide any amenities that you need during your stay! We’re also situated near a nice farmers market, so you’ll never run out of fresh food!”

…

Li Ming was at a loss. He didn’t expect to be so highly sought after. People were even offering to buy out a contract that he hadn’t even been offered yet.

They all wanted him!

The ‘him’ that was supposed to be such a failure that he couldn’t even qualify for community colleges in the United States!

The ‘him’ that wasn’t able to find a future career because none of them fit him!

The ‘him’ that was called a failure by his very own mother figure!

He couldn’t believe this at all.

…

Celeste was listening to a man berate him on his phone. He wore an ashen face while he cowered at the back of the crowd.

“How could you be so FOOLISH to not sign a contract with him immediately? Can’t you see that he’s going to become such a star player?” the man yelled, “This could very well be the deciding factor that decides the outcome of the entire season next year!”

“How am I supposed to know that he would be able to play the Swordmage style so well? Isn’t that a style that’s normally looked down upon?”

“Well hurry up and make an offer! We need to buy this player, even if it means breaking the previous record of the most highly payed player! We MUST acquire and polish him!”

At this time, another offer was made:

“Um… We’d like to buy out your contract and match any previous offer that you had received. We’re also located in Osaka so you won’t have to move very far. We’re a recently franchised team, and we’re looking for young talents just like you! We’ll provide any amenities you may need too! Please join the Osaka Phoenixes!”