Chapter 198 - The Glorious Era of E-Sports
Chapter 198: The Glorious Era of E-Sports
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
At last, it was Wednesday. After afternoon class had ended, Luocheng saw Feifei walking toward him as he was leaving to get his lunch.
Feifei was as cold as always, you could literally feel the temperature around you plummet whenever she approached.
“These are my notes, make a copy and return it to me later.” Feifei handed an elegant notebook over to Luocheng.
To be frank, Luocheng had never made any notes during the lecture, merely listening closely. As for spending time after class to do revisions and reviews, he could only apologize, as the Summoner’s Rift called for him all the time…
Nevertheless, Luocheng could not reject her kindness blatantly, so he took the notebook and thanked her.
“By the way, the Students’ Union is going to your E-Sports Club today,” Feifei informed him.
“Students’ Union?” Luocheng asked, puzzled.
Jingtai who was beside Luocheng chipped in and snorted. “Idiot! Students’ Union is the organization that manages the administrative and members of other clubs in the university. Feifei is now one of the Union members. You being a committee member in the E-Sports Club is nothing compared to her. Simply put, she is now your direct superior!”
Students’ Union was right under the Student Representative Council(SRC) and all other clubs were classified under the Union. Administrators from clubs were usually not members of the SRC.
“I see. But why? Does the Students’ Union have an interest in video games?” Luocheng asked.
It seemed that Feifei was only tasked to deliver the notice, not bothering to provide any further explanation.
Luocheng was still baffled after seeing Feifei leave in all her frostiness. ‘What’s with the eye roll and look of disdain on her face before she left? Pfft…’
“Hey, how is it going for the two of you?” Jingtai raised his eyebrow, his expression enough to show his yearning for any sort of new development.
“I’m not sure myself. Perhaps other than class notes, there are numerous lines of love poems expressing her affection toward me in this notebook,” Luocheng said emotionlessly.
‘Are you insane? What do I have to do with Feifei? We are from two completely different dimensions. As for this elegant notebook… I am not going to be bound by such trivial matters when there are still lots of enemies left in the Summoner’s Rift waiting to be exterminated…’
***
Luocheng arrived at the club room after he had had his meal.
Today was the day the main team of the E-Sports Club would go against Team Skycrown.
This was going to be the first official game ever since Team Skycrown had been established, and Luocheng prayed hard that the five people who watched porno in broad daylight would at least put up a proper fight.
‘Wait, why is the room so well-decorated today? Are we going to collaborate with another club that has a lot of female members? Good… Good… It would definitely be more satisfying if there was a large group of female audiences chanting behind me when I get a triple kill or quadruple kill later.’
Zheng Xia was continuously commanding the members to put up the adornments, and a few girls that Luocheng was close with had even dressed up in cosplay costumes.
Could you imagine that pair of fair legs of Caitlyn, strutting right before your very eyes?
A senior in a super short skirt was sitting on the table, holding a cowboy gun and blinking her attractive eyes.
“Luocheng, come over, am I good looking?” The senior called out to Luocheng.
Ever since Meiqi had publicly flirted with Luocheng, other female members in the club had picked up the same habit and this deeply troubled Luocheng.
Of course, he did not deny that those long pair of legs were quite soothing to the eye at most times.
“Arh-woo~~~” Suddenly, the club room was filled with a series of howling!
Luocheng turned around and immediately saw Katarina walking through the door—A sexy black top that exposed her cleavage, tight leather pants, and a head of long, scarlet hair.
She was cruel and seductive at the same time, her fierceness deterring, but her sexiness appealing.
Toying with the two blades in her hands, Katarina walked into the room in style. The pretentious coldness on her face immediately morphed into embarrassment amidst the endless whistling and commotion in the room.
Luocheng was stunned as well, Lee Meiqi was indeed born for cosplay. The moment she had walked in, it was as if Katarina had materialized out from the monitor screen.
The seductive outfit alone was enough to turn those otakus especially fond of cosplay into starving beasts.
As usual, after saying hi to everyone else, Meiqi air-kissed Luocheng. This signified that she had teased him today.
Meiqi flirting with Luocheng was basically her daily task now. Even when Luocheng was not attending club activities, she would still send over a message of temptation. For instance, last Sunday, she had messaged Luocheng the following: I am waiting for you in room 304, Hotel XX outside the campus.
Luocheng had initially planned to rush over, seeing that his senior was in dire need of help. Turned out such a hotel had never existed around the campus.
***
“Xiao Jia and Yang Ying have already gone out to pick up our guests, get ready,” Zheng Xia told the club members.
There were four cosplay characters—Katarina, Caitlyn, Miss Fortune, and LeBlanc—All cosplayed by the prettiest members in the club.
The entire club room was also full of Demacia-themed decorations. It was quite inspirational especially to a LOL enthusiast.
Seeing the efforts they had poured in, Luocheng mumbled, ‘Do we seriously need to be this grand? I thought we were only receiving members from the SRC?’
‘Could it be that Feifei is holding an extremely influential position in the SRC or Students’ Union?’
While he was pondering, someone rushed in and reported, “They are downstairs now, everyone, be prepared!”
Luocheng still did not understand who they were trying to impress. As the others got into their positions, Luocheng could only stand aside and watch on.
All of a sudden, the light was dimmed.
The entire room was unusually quiet and they could hear the footsteps pacing toward them and Xiao Jia’s voice.
“Why isn’t there any light?” The voice of a young man was heard.
“I guess the fuse has tripped.”
With the illumination from another building, the people inside the room saw Yang Ying, Xiao Jia, and a handsome man walk through the door.
Clank! Clank! Clank! Clank!
A series of metallic sounds suddenly rang inside the room, its rhythm was somehow synchronized with the frequency of their heartbeats.
The rhythm sped up and a familiar sound was immediately heard. The blitz was exactly like the notification heard after one had selected the server in LOL. This always excited the player.
Suddenly, a metal song filled the entire room, instantly igniting the brewing emotions brought about by the earlier rhythm.
A spotlight lit the dark room up and revealed a lady in the middle of the stage. Her low neckline leather clothes and pants perfectly revealed her sexy curves, and the long red hair made her all the more attractive to look at.
“Long live Noxus!!” Her voice was cruel and authoritative!
The metal song immediately surged to its climax and Katarina spun under the spotlight, turning into a gorgeous yet deadly lotus!
***
Asmodai stood in front of the door and was stunned looking at the captivating scene.
Every individual who loved MOBA was definitely secretly passionate about an in-game champion, just like how young kids idolized Superman and Spiderman.
When the virtual character that he was in contact with every day suddenly transformed into a reality, his heart thumped along with the girl who danced wildly as the rock song played on.
He was not fascinated by the good figure of the girl who cosplayed Katarina, but rather, he was amazed by the overall decorations made by the club members.
In their hands, the small room had turned into an enchanting stage. They had merged the in-game setting, which was once thought to be just a fake reality, into the real world. To him, this was comparable to a magnificent stage-play in Europe, luring people to immerse themselves involuntarily into the half-real, half-imaginary fantasy.
Asmodai just stood there and watched their performance in awe. He initially thought this would merely be a simple exchange with university students, little did he expect that they were going to bring him such a touching surprise.
He remembered that just a few years ago, the E-Sports culture had been limited only to the virtual world. It was once a deserted place, embraced only by lonely losers who wanted to escape the harsh reality.
Ironically, people were now trying to bring that fantasy into reality.
***
Asmodai was not the only one touched by the display. In a corner where the light did not reach, Luocheng was leaning against the wall, his eyes never straying away from the mini stage…
The stage occupied by the deadly lotus was blazing, blinding, devilish, and captivating.
The choreography made Katarina’s presence and imposing aura very, very real.
Suddenly, Luocheng felt like all this was a joke to him.
A few years ago, he had been constantly told to differentiate the real world from the game world. He had to understand what it meant by living a life…
Yet now, people were attempting to emulate the game world into the real world, and the blazing scene pricked his eyes.
‘What in the world?’
He couldn’t remember how many times in the past the game scene had been projected subconsciously by his brain onto the walls, other people’s faces, glass windows… He had only been thinking about MOBA then, regardless if he was walking, sleeping, or eating.
All of that had vanished ever since he began to lead his current “normal” life. Just when he thought that he had shaken them off for good, these scenes suddenly took form in front of him once again, thus, he was as mournful as he was amazed.
‘Did I leave the pro scene too early?’
When nobody had cared about E-Sports, Luocheng had given up everything he had had for the sake of a self-consoling honor.
However, when E-Sports began to storm the world, his heart was as dead as a pool of still water. He could only laugh in irony while watching the era that he had chosen to abandon take the main stage.
***
Asmodai did not notice Luocheng who had hid in the dark corner, and Luocheng himself did not know that the man who stood at the entrance was none other than Asmodai.
They had come through the same era of E-Sports, nobody else on the scene could have felt what they were going through at that very moment.
Yet, while Asmodai was feeling fortunate that the E-Sports culture had finally found its place in the society, Luocheng could only feel sorry for himself for missing out on the late-arriving glorious era of E-Sports.