Legends Rise - Chapter 27 The Contract And Hunger

A thick pile of papers was presented to Li Ming. He felt as though the weight of the situation was in direct correlation to the thickness of the contract he was about to sign.

“Alrighty then~” Kimi started, ” Lets begin.”

Li Ming sat there and nodded his head. As it would turn out, that’s about as much as he would be doing for the next hour while he was walked through the contract. Surprisingly, Kimi was able to gently guide him through the plethora of papers with ease, while also speaking in layman’s terms to ensure the he would understand.

Despite all that, the only thing Li Ming could think about was the benefits that were listed out first.

First, they were matching the Los Angeles Emperor’s offer of one million dollars a year, for three years. Li Ming was quite glad that they didn’t go back on their word.

Secondly, the team would provide each member of the team a room in their multi-story dorm, and cover any and all amenities such as utilities, food, and most importantly, internet. This was a big plus, as that would mean that Li Ming would get to save the majority of his paychecks.

Thirdly, Li Ming was offered a fully comprehensive benefits plan, including healthcare, insurance, a personal driver and vehicle to any esports event that he would be participating in. This also included compensated flights to other countries and some of the best suites and hotels across the world.

Finally, if he played for the team for multiple years, he would be allowed to resign a contract as a franchise player. As a franchise player, he would hold company shares in the Osaka Phoenixes, meaning that his position in the team would be very secure.

With all these benefits, Li Ming would consider himself to be brainless if he didn’t sign this contract. This would be equivalent to living as a celebrity for the duration of his contract.

*Knock Knock*

Conflux reentered the room with some papers and began to spread them out on the table. On the first few papers, the Osaka Phoenix’s budget and budget plan was laid out. They had investors as only 20% of their actual equity, with Nuke, the ex-pro-player owning the majority of the company.

Most of the team’s income came from sponsors. From what Li Ming could understand from just glancing over it, the team had enough funding from sponsors to support the team for at least two decades.

“You might be surprised by how many sponsors we have right now. That’s actually last month’s report, we now have two more sponsors on board with us,” Conflux explained, “I guess all these companies were tired of dealing with the Tokyo Boar’s gluttonous demands.”

‘Ah, that makes sense,” Li Ming understood, ‘Before the emergence of the Osaka Phoenixes, the Tokyo Boars were the only team in all of Japan.’
for visiting.

“Currently, we’re sponsored 35% by Un*qlo, the fast fashion company you may have heard of. 11% comes from GutenTag Alcohol, the german company that makes beer and soju. 16% comes from , the regional government, which has been promoting esports recently.” Kimi continued on for Conflux, “9% comes from donations from our fans. The remaining 29% comes from the popular broadcasting platform Tuturu Douga.”

“On top of that, we will be holding viewing events for our major games to generate extra revenue. As you may have heard, any revenue generated through affiliate sales from working with our sponsors, both you and the team will earn a percentage as well.” Conflux went on, “And finally, the team will do it’s best to promote you and your live stream should you choose to live stream.”

“Now I understand that you wanted to extend your contract to five years,” Kimi remembered, “However, we feel that it is more appropriate that we assess your performance over the first half of your contract before we make such decisions. How does that sound?”

With no more problems with the contract and the mountain of benefits staring him down, Li Ming felt significantly better as he picked up the pen to sign the contract.

“And with that, welcome to the team!” Conflux celebrated, “Unfortunately, all our members are scattered right now, so we won’t be able to hold a welcome party for you, but for now, let’s get you your uniform and some of our team casual wear. After that, we’ll add the [Osaka Phoenix]’s tag to your online character.”

***

Li Ming laid down in his bed, clutching the large bag he was given. Inside the bag laid the proof that he had become a Professional Esports player. There was the team’s jersey with his character name, “The Dawn” printed on it. There was the team’s casual wear, which consisted of pajamas, a couple of sweaters, and a pair of shoes. Finally, there was a folder containing the a copy of the team’s contract that he signed.

He felt relief, anxiety, joy, and hunger, all at the same time.

Relief: He was no longer in immediate danger of not being able of achieving anything. Even if he couldn’t get into college, he would be stable as long as he did his best with the Osaka Phoenixes.

Anxiety: Li Ming was worried about his ability to perform on stage, as he had a history of stage fright, and was afraid of disappointing everyone.

Joy: Despite his many career choices and such that may imply that he wanted a normal salaryman job or a blue collar job, his desire to play Legends Rise professionally had always been locked in the corner of his heart. And now, he had finally achieved it.

Hunger: Li Ming felt a sudden hunger to improve. He understood the massive wall that lay between him and top players like Mato and Resonance. He felt that every second spent laying around was a second he didn’t spend improving.

With that though, Li Ming went ahead and booted up his PC and VR gear, and logged into his account.

Li Ming was greeted with the familiar blue window that popped up, prompting him to select a character.

On the left was “Yamikaze”, his very first character, which was a swordsman like character. Li Ming had spent most of his childhood and early teen years on this character. He had played this type of chuunibyou character to live out his fantasies of being a samurai like Ruro*ni Kensh*n.

In the center was his most played character, “K-Vector”, an aggressive mage that made good use of the current strength of magic spells in the current meta who fired off spells as if they were a gunner’s bullets. He created this character when he joined his high school’s esports club, as the club was dominated by a large amount of like minded adolescents that also wanted to be samurai as a child.

Finally, on the right, was his most recent creation that propelled him to his current situation. The swordmage character, The Dawn. Surprisingly, despite having the least amount of hours on this character, this character was Li Ming’s highest ranked account. With a long spear and a wide variety of trinkets, the character looked a little odd.

Li Ming unhesitatingly selected “The Dawn”. If there was anytime to improve, it was now.

Surprisingly, the game client prompted Li Ming to select a skin. This surprised him, as he had rarely ever spent money on Legends Rise, despite having played this game for his whole life as he rarely had disposable income. And he had most definitely not spent any money on “The Dawn” for cosmetics yet.

There appeared to be two options. The first option was Li Ming’s default costume. It was black dragonic armor decorated with trinkets and a silver cape, carrying a black spear with a silver tip.

Li Ming selected the second option, which blew him away. The second option was titled “Our Golden Hatchling -Conflux”. The dark and edgy character had been replaced with a bright and shining heroic figure.

The whites present in the armor’s plating and base gave off a clean sheen that felt as pure as the winter’s first snow.

The golden trimmings that circled the edges around each piece of the armor gave off a prestigious royal and holy feeling, like the armor of a paladin.

And the small red touches along the spear and the maroon under-armor clothes that peeked out in contrast to the gold and white armor had its own aggressive vibe to it.

Finally, the red phoenix emblem that was on the left chest piece of his armor showed his character’s current affiliation. This was a locked feature that was not present on any other character, as emblems were reserved for competitive teams and their players.

*ding!*

Li Ming received a message from Ken through the Legends Rise client: “Hey Li Ming, you’re finally online! What took so long, we’re all waiting for you!”

*ding!*

Another message from Ken: “Hurry up and join our party! There’s a new game mode out called BloodRage! It’s basically a battle royale arena, so we get to have even more battles!”

‘Battle Royale?’ Li Ming thought, “Isn’t that just a buffet of players for me to test against?”