Legends Rise - Chapter 18 Hot Chocolate

“MeiChie here may be in trouble!” an caster announced.

“The Dawn goes in! MeiChie tries to kite backwards!” Exiged exclaimed, “Look at the trap set up! Look at the moves! The Dawn, what was that!?!?”

“The Dawn with a HUGE outplay!” his co-caster roared!

“The Dawn is truly a master of his class!” Exiged declared, “With this victory, he has officially broken MeiChie’s winning streak!”

***

Li Ming took off his gear, exhausted from the match that he had just played. This was the first time he was pushed this far by any player ever since he started playing this new class. Li Ming knew that this time, he had won because he had been lucky enough to hit MeiChie with his trinket’s barrage attack. Had that attack missed, he would have surely lost.

Unfortunately for Chie, they wouldn’t have the chance to have a rematch. In such an intensive skill matchup, Li Ming knew that he would only be able to win around 55% of them. That is to say, if they played 100 rounds, he would only be able to win 55 of them.

Chie also took off her gear. She wore an unsatisfied expression for a bit, before returning to her natural alluring smile. She walked up to Li Ming and held out her hand.

“Thank you for the match. It’s an honor!” She said.

“The pleasure is mine!” Li Ming replied, “To be honest, it was really close. I thin-”

“Hold that thought. We should escape while we can.” Chie interrupted him.

“Eh?”

“I’m sure you hate interviews just as much as the next guy. C’mon, let’s go!” Chie said as she grabbed his hand and dragged him away.

“Well that was a great match!” Exiged concluded, “Let’s send it over to Lannex to get an interview with these stellar players!”

“Well Exiged, I’m sorry to disappoint,” Lannex said while standing next on the stage, “but it appears that the players have already left.”

“What!?!” Exiged exclaimed! This was unprecedented! Both of the players that had put up such an amazing performance had escaped, preventing them from getting an interview!

Frustrated, Exiged could only compromise.

“Well, in the light of this unfortunate event,” Exiged said, “let’s send it over to our analysts so we can break down exactly ‘How’ The Dawn was able to dominate this match!”

***

*Pant* *Pant* *Pant*

Li Ming was out of breath. Chie had dragged him all the way from the convention center to a St*rb*cks that was 5 blocks away.

Li Ming had taken a seat while Chie went to get herself a coffee. His mind was a mess right now. If she hated interviews, then why did she have the one that made him reveal himself? Why had she dragged him here? Why did they have to run all the way here when there was clearly no one following them?

“Here you go!” Chie held out a paper cup containing what appeared to be hot chocolate.

“Uhh… Thank you, I guess?” Li Ming said in confusion.

“It’s a prize for beating me.” Chie explained, “You actually taught me quite a lot in that match, actually.”

“You know, if we played it out a couple more times, I’m pretty sure you would end up with the advantage.” Li Ming admitted, “I still have lots more to work on, it seems…”

“Hey! I’m quite proud of my character and gunner build, you know?” she pouted, “If you have lots more to work on, aren’t you saying that my character isn’t up to par?”

“What? No, that’s not wh-”

“Yes, I know, I know, I’m just teasing you~” She giggled.

Li Ming found it quite difficult to keep up with her. Similar to Mato, she was a little pushy, but she wasn’t too bad. At least she wasn’t as narcissistic as Mato to force an autograph onto him.

“So, what do you plan on doing from now on?” she asked, “Are you going to wait until our season starts before you move in? Or will you move in early so we can start having practice matches against other teams earlier?”

“Wait, hold up.” Li Ming stopped her. “I haven’t confirmed that I’ll join the Phoenixes yet! I was going to decide tomorrow!”

“Huh? But Conflux said that you’d be joining our team!”

“But I told him that I’d decide after watching the finals match!”

“Whats the finals match got to do with anything?”

“The finals match isn’t the main point! I need to talk to my counselor about this before I make this decision!”

“Counselor? Why don’t you just tell her now?

“I have a vacation right now! I won’t be able to contact her!”

“That’s such a pain! Why don’t you just join the team?” she pouted.

Li Ming was frustrated now. Oh how wrong he had been earlier. She was DEFINITELY more assertive than Mato.

“I just want to have a clear mind before I make any rash decisions!” Li Ming said in frustration, “Anyways, I have a ton of questions for you!”

“Well then, ask away~!” she answered in a straight face.

“Why did we escape the convention center?”

“Because interviews are troublesome.”

“If interviews are troublesome, then why did you have one before our match?”

“To bait you out, obviously!” she remarked.

Li Ming facepalmed internally. She had actually been able to bait him out quite easily. He slowed down his questioning.

“There wasn’t anyone chasing after us, so why did we have to run here?”

“Hmm? It’s because running is fun of course.” she answered matter-of-factly, “It’s a good way to use up all that pent up adrenaline after a game!”

Li Ming facepalmed internally yet again. Not only was she assertive, she was also quite unreasonable.

“Why did we come here?”

“Because hot chocolate after an intense game is always super comforting!”

“Why would I need to get comforted?”

“Didn’t I put you in quite a tough spot back there?” she smirked smugly, “I’m sure that you know that if we played that out a hundred times, you would lose at least half of them!”

Li Ming nearly spat out his mouthful of hot chocolate hearing this.

“Me? Lose half the matches? No, if we play a hundred matches, you would lose at least fifty five of them!”

“Doesn’t change the fact that you can’t win most of them! So much for the famed ‘Dawn’” she teased.

“Oi! I’m new to this class, okay?! If I master this class, no one will be able to touch me!”

“Hmmm? ‘No one’ will be able to touch you?”

“Uhhh….” Li Ming thought about it a bit more. He had realized that he had been too cocky right there. He didn’t want to be incapable of reaching the expectations that he himself set out.

“It’s okay~!” she smiled. Li Ming felt his mental state being soothed by her warm and comforting smile. “Until you reach that point, I’ll do my best job as my teammate to help you!”

Li Ming stared at her.

‘Already declaring yourself as my teammate… What if I don’t end up joining your team?’

“That includes getting you hot chocolate to comfort you whenever you’re troubled~!” She sent over a smug smile.

Li Ming facepalmed internally for a third time.

“I’m not troubled!”

Li Ming felt slightly exhausted from just having this conversation with her. She was assertive, eccentric, and a quite the skilled teaser. Unfortunately for Li Ming, was wasn’t good with these types of people.

He watched her happily drink her hot chocolate. She looked so aloof and amusing, similar to a pet cat taking sips of milk. A new thought had slowly surfaced for him as he slowly took a sip of his hot chocolate again.

‘Maybe joining the team won’t be so bad after all…’