17 Fixtures Ceremony Pt. 1

DEFEAT

GLORY

The two words appeared in simultaneously on Fang Rui's screen. He didn't have to look at Zhang Jiale's screen to know that he was seeing the same thing. They lost.

Once they arrived at the practice room, they had logged into their systems and began practicing. After solo practice for about one hour, Yu Wenzhou suggested that they practice in pairs. Somehow, the orderly paired practice had devolved into brawls and sparring.

The match that just ended was between the Ye Xiu-Su Mucheng pair and the Fang Rui-Zhang Jiale pair. Ye Xiu's Knight character had a full set of Orange equipment. But it still wasn't enough to contend with Boundless Sea and Dazzling Blossoms that had several pieces of Silver equipment on.

Therefore, the match was played in Fixed Field. The first match they played, they lost. The second and the third match, they also lost. At first, they were amazed at Ye Xiu. He didn't play a Knight at any professional level yet he was so skilled at using the Knight class. The shock didn't last long. Ye Xiu was known as the Glory Textbook for a reason.

Later though, they became amazed at something else. Su Mucheng's skill. In the three matches they had played, her coordination with Ye Xiu had been sublime. This was expected. Their coordination was always extraordinary. But something made it stand out this time around.

Ye Xiu wasn't playing Lord Grim or even One Autumn Leaf. He was playing a completely different character with completely different skills. Yet, she didn't miss a step. Her support fire was timely and spot-on. She knew precisely where he wanted to be and what he wanted to do. And she acted in accordance with knowledge. It produced a brilliant display.

While the wins were not easy, as Fang Rui and Zhang Jiale were also Gods, the coordination between them was a lesson for the rest of the team. If they could replicate this level of coordination in a match, precisely the match against Denmark, then they had a chance to win.

This match was a classic example of 1+1=3. Fang Rui and Zhang Jiale are very skilled. And the coordination between the two wasn't lacking at all. If Su Mucheng and Ye Xiu had fought man-to-man, they might have lost the match. They didn't. And it was their superior coordination that won them the match.

The match was evidence that to beat Denmark, the Best Partners had to be fielded.

Yu Wenzhou had been thinking about this ever since the issue had arisen in City B. He was certain everyone was too. Especially Sun Xiang. To ask him to give his account card back to the person he was to succeed, to the person he had lost several times to, to the person whose skill had humbled him time and time again....

It would be one of the cruelest things ever.

And so Yu Wenzhou, as well as the rest of the team, had avoided the topic as long as they could. Even now, they still avoided it. But time was running out. Tonight was the fixtures ceremony. They would finally know who their opponents would be. Once that was revealed, they would be out of time.

Even so, Yu Wenzhou was willing to postpone that discussion till then. Speaking of the fixtures ceremony...

"It's getting late. We should have lunch and prepare for the ceremony."

They all looked at the time and realized he was right. The ceremony was set for 5pm and it was past 2pm already. They had to end their practice session now. They weren't eager to stop playing but they were eager for the ceremony.

Lunch, surprisingly, was similar to breakfast in atmosphere. Players mingled, laughed and chatted. Even the light tension that had been present at breakfast had disappeared. Just excitement remained. And the Chinese team was not exempt. Ordering their food, eating and leaving the restaurant. They did all of this while discussing fervently.

Finally, the time came for the fixtures ceremony.