League of Legends: League of Unknowns

The empty seats inside the event hall were occupied by audience members in no time. Even before the opening ceremony, the venue was already bustling with noise. Inside the hall, a lot of cosplayers were dressed up as LOL characters, allowing the attendees to immerse themselves into the Demacia culture.

Yu Luocheng led his team backstage through the players’ entrance. Their surroundings were bustling with activity as numerous workers were seen patrolling in and out of the stage area.

The players were in their uniforms so they were easily distinguishable from the event staff. As soon as they stepped inside the room, a few teams purposely glanced at Team Skycrown.

The green uniform they wore was sponsored by a small university business recruited by Li Meiqi. The cost was inexpensive and the name of the sponsor was printed on the shirt. From the large team logo printed on their backs, the other teams could easily tell who they were.

Wu Sen looked around and noticed that the members of Team Stardust were chatting in a corner. “Team Stardust is in black. The one with the spiky hair is Earth.”

Immediately after that, Xi Xi approached them and said, “Your rest area is placed right next to Team Stardust over there. Your match will begin this afternoon.”

The first LPL match was scheduled right after the opening ceremony—Skycrown vs. Stardust.

If the live audience of the opening ceremony could reach five thousand people, then there must be at least twenty to thirty thousand viewers online. Although this number might drop by more than half after the Daemons vs. FAN game, it was still a good opportunity for Skycrown to exhibit their capability.

***

“Hi, Wu Sen!” Wind from Team Stardust smiled and greeted Wu Sen as Team Skycrown walked towards them.

Wind was wearing a jacket and looked stylish with his undercut mohawk hairstyle.

Sitting beside Wind were the other Stardust players nicknamed Earth, Fire, Thunder, and Water. They were about the same height so they appeared almost identical from afar, especially since they were all wearing the same uniform.

Nonetheless, one could easily tell them apart based on the logos on their chest.

The bearded guy with a fire logo walked up and patted Wu Sen’s shoulder. “You’re back in business!”

“Well, I have no other expertise.” Wu Sen smiled awkwardly.

“I’m baffled. Why don’t you retire? Why return and hold back another team?” Earth glanced at Wu Sen and sneered.

Wu Sen’s face turned gloomy and he looked at Earth bitterly.

Wind intervened before things could escalate further. “Earth, let bygones be bygones.”

“I’m just stating facts.” Earth shrugged and returned to his seat.

“Please don’t mind him,” said Wind, trying to ease the tension between them.

They briefly chatted for a little while longer before Wu Sen returned to his seat, clearly unhappy.

Yu Luocheng, who had sensed the strain in the conversation earlier, asked, “What’s wrong? Do they hold a grudge against you?”

Wu Sen shook his head. “It’s just me and Earth. We weren’t pals even when I was on the team. If it wasn’t for Wind, one of us would have left earlier.”

“Why did he say that you should retire?” asked Xiao Bei. Wu Sen chose not to respond to that question.

“Why is Team Daemons not around?” questioned Da Luo as he looked around the room.

“Team Daemons is going to play against a foreign team later. That match will be broadcasted live on TV as well as on the Internet. They’re in the makeup room ready to be dressed and set up by professional designers. They are VIPs unlike us, who can only sit and wait,” said one of the members of Team Meteor from the other side of the room.

“Incorrect. They have a game in the afternoon. We are the ones sitting and waiting,” replied another one of his team members, pointedly eyeing Team Skycrown as he spoke.

“Hard to say. Maybe they will lose the match entirely and get zero points,” said the first guy.

They spoke softly as if they didn’t want Skycrown to hear their conversation. But the guys were bad at controlling their volume. Team Skycrown roughly caught what they were saying judging by the big grin on their faces.

Yu Luocheng glanced at Team Meteor and frowned.

‘That’s odd. Why are these teams so hostile towards us with no apparent reason?’

They were all adults and equal participants in the LPL. By right, they should be polite and courteous to each other. Yet, Yu Luocheng felt that they were being heavily discriminated against by the other teams the moment they arrived backstage.

Another voice was heard coming from Team Meteor. “They won’t lose. This is a team that aims for the world championships. LOL teams in this country are nothing to them.”

A round of jeering laughs quickly followed.

Yu Luocheng was stunned. ‘Since when did we claim that?’

Team Skycrown’s ultimate aim was indeed the international stage. But having a dream is like wearing underwear—something you need but would never expose publicly. The members of Team Skycrown were all E-sports veterans. They would not make such a rookie mistake of broadcasting their goals to everyone.

‘Alright then. It must be Sky Club’s doing again.’

***

The mixtape kicked in, filled with the sounds of magnetic gun, electric guitar, drum…

When the curtain was raised, a popular band was revealed to be standing in the center of the stage, dancing wildly while dropping a thrilling rhythm.

“Welcome to the League of Legends!”

“Thirty seconds until minion spawn. Crush them!”

“First Blood!!”

“Double Kill!!”

“Triple Kill!!”

“Quadra Kill!!”

“Penta Kill!!”

The unexpected inclusion of in-game announcements into the rock song pumped up the hearts of the audience! When the song ended with “Ace!!”, the venue reached its boiling point!

A commanding voice was heard the moment the music came to a halt. “Portray your Noxus pride, raise the Demacia flag in your hand, and howl with a voice great enough to tremble the Valoran to cheer for your heroes!”

A sexy lady in cowboy attire appeared abruptly on the giant screen. Her wild laugh and the stunning ammo was seductive. She looked unbelievably real despite being just a virtual image on the screen.

Recoil, Peacemaker, Ace in the Hole! After her elegant EQR combo took down the fleeing enemy, the slim Sheriff rested her rifle on her shoulder and gorgeously walked away into the desert…

As her figure faded from view, the radiance from the sunset suddenly turned into glaring punches! The Piltover Enforcer, Vi’s gauntlets were seen before she arrived. Her blast of punches filled the entire screen!

Simultaneously, Jayce, the Defender of Tomorrow took the stage. The Mercury Hammer in his hand emitted light and thunder, which crisscrossed with Vi’s punches to form a dazzling pattern.

“Chosen of the sun.” The golden Leona descended from Heaven, leaving a gold trail streaking across the beaming sky.

On the desert, Leona kneeled on the path and pierced her Zenith Blade into the land. A flare was seen gradually emanating from her fiery blade. On the other end of the path, Pantheon stood proudly holding his spear, Skyfall of Areion and his shield, Aegis of Zeonia.

A gust of wind kicked up the sands while Pantheon and Leona looked into each other’s eyes. All of a sudden, the glimmering sky was shrouded by a giant cloud… only it wasn’t a cloud but a large flock of crows!

The Noxian Grand General took center stage and stood firm on the rotten land.

In a barren field behind him, a large group of scarecrows were chasing away the beast. One of them, the Fiddlestick, flashed its deadly blades under the flock of crows. After death and calamities ravaged the land, dead bodies were seen all over the place.

A brutal warlord with his chopper surrounded by numerous dead souls came into view. He stood undeterred on top of a mountain.

At the base of the mountain, a dead figure wiggled and began to assemble parts that did not belong to it onto its destroyed body. It was the Dreadnought, Urgot.

The camera then zoomed into the distance and stopped short at the boundary river between Demacia and Noxus. Minions, sieges, and super minions were all caught up in a ferocious war. Demacia was seen in blue while Noxus was in red.

The Sword of Justice broke through the enemy defense line as a giant swordsman swung his weapon fearlessly in the middle of the warzone.

Milky spells and blinding flashes flew in and out of the battlefield at an insane speed.

Flying Daggers and Death Lotus spilled the blood of one enemy after another in quick succession.

Long spears charged into the battling crowd and left no living soul behind.

The tip of the knife aimed only to cut the enemy’s throat.

Under the dancing knives, the Blind Monk Lee Sin deflected all attacks that came his way with only his palms. None of the minions were able to close in.

Nearby, a slithering creature observed Lee Sin with great interest. “You are the only man that I have failed to petrify. Do you dare to remove your blindfold and look into my beautiful eyes?” After she finished speaking, all the creatures in front of her suddenly turned to stone!

The super minions became rock statues, metallic weapons became stoneware, while the soil land turned rock hard.

Something was moving inside the layered rock. A face appeared mythically on the stone wall. A body detached from the wall and smashed like a burning meteor against those ignorant troops that dared to wake him from his sleep.

***

The war being portrayed on the screen was full of killing and chanting that made everyone inside the hall tremble. Every time a champion appeared on-screen in between the animation, it sent a chill down their spines.

These were the champions that they had been picking in the game all this while. Never would have they thought that those virtual characters could be displayed in such a lively and animated manner.

The crowd was pumped!

The CGI movie that depicted LOL champions in various settings had ultimately intensified the arena’s atmosphere. The cheering inside the hall had undoubtedly exploded following the introduction of the champions!