Rise

“I gotta say, Four Emperors and Seven Kings really does have a nice ring to it,” Ouyang excitedly droned on. “It’s perfect too since the guys in the Seven Kings are actually noticeably worse than the Four Emperors.” 

“Just the name Four Emperors screams hella cool!” Ouyang clicked his tongue. “If I could become one of them, then I’d be drowning in female fans. Haha! How awesome would that be!?”

“That’s right!” Lin Feng sat up straight, his face lighting up with a brilliant smile. “If you want to achieve your dreams, you have to keep working hard for it! So what if you fail? You just have to keep getting back up! Even if it’s something as crazy as becoming the best in the world, you won’t know unless you try!”

Ouyang was caught off-guard by Lin Feng’s outburst, but his words struck a chord. “Damn, bro! Are you reading my mind? I was thinking the exact same thing!”

Lin Feng shook his fist, trembling with excitement. “Life without a dream is no better than not living at all!”

Startled, Ouyang shot Lin Feng a meaningful look and reminded him, “Hey hey hey! Keep it down! We’re still in class!”

“O-oh, right! My bad, my bad…”

The two sneakily looked over at the front of the classroom. The teacher’s back was still facing them as he wrote on the blackboard. He didn’t appear to take notice of their little outburst. Only then did they continue quietly chatting.

Ouyang said with a hint of disappointment, “Out of the Four Emperors and Seven Kings, only one of them is Chinese. That really is a bit of a letdown.” But excitement quickly returned to his face a moment later. “But it’s fine! Worlds is only a few weeks away, and the three Chinese teams are all super strong! We’ll definitely get another king! Or emperor!”

Lin Feng clenched his fist. “Right! Go China!”

“Go China!” Ouyang shook his fist.

The two idiots looked like they were about to swear an oath.

A male student a row in front of them had caught a few of their words. He turned around and asked, “Are you two talking about Worlds?”

Lin Feng stared at the male student. He had a fairly handsome face with frameless glasses that hung over the ridge of his sharp nose. He gave off a gentle and refined air that left a good impression.

“Hehe, yeah. Were we that loud?” Ouyang chuckled. He turned to Lin Feng and introduced, “This is Yang Fan. He also plays league.”

“Nice to meet you,” Lin Feng greeted.

“Lin Feng, right? Nice to meet you too.” Yang Fan politely nodded before turning his attention back to Ouyang. He pushed his glasses up with a frown and said, “Ouyang, you know, I don’t agree with what you said just now. I read a post on Tieba of people giving their analysis. Our LPL teams are too focused on the domestic scene. Simply speaking, their vision is too narrow. They’re not bothering to research the metas and tactics of the top teams in other regions. If they don’t prepare better, our chances at winning Worlds aren’t going to look so good.”

“Hey, why do you have to be so negative? Worlds hasn’t even started yet, but you’re already being pessimistic.” Ouyang knitted his brows.

Yang Fan habitually adjusted his glasses, then shook his head and explained, “I’m just giving my objective analysis.”

“Fine, whatever. You’re the most rational, most objective.” Ouyang rolled his eyes. “In any case, I have full faith that we’ll take the cup home this year! Right, Lin Feng?”

“Exactly!” Lin Feng passionately exclaimed.

Yang Fan helplessly shook his head. “You two are really like peas in a pod.”

✹

The period bell rang, signalling the end of math class. The stern-faced math teacher concluded the lesson as he picked up his textbook and teaching materials before leaving the classroom. From the start of class until the end, the three students in the back had missed everything. While the teacher was busy explaining formulas on the blackboard, they were busy discussing Worlds and their shared love for League of Legends. Both Ouyang and Yang Fan played on the Ionia server, where the former was a Gold 3 jungle main and the latter a Platinum 5 mid main. After 45 minutes of non-stop chatter, Lin Feng had struck up a friendship with both of them. They were his first friends at his new school.

“Wow, you’re pretty good,” Lin Feng sighed in admiration.

Ouyang shot Yang Fan an envious look, then exclaimed in an angry tone, “Hmph, what’s so amazing about Platinum? If it weren’t for the fact I’ve been getting crappy teammates lately, I’d be Platinum too!”

Yang Fan gave Ouyang the side eye. “But excuses don’t change anything, right? You’re still Gold 3.”

“You smug son of a bitch!”

Just as the two were about to go at it, a pleasant voice rang out, “Ouyang Decai!”

Ouyang jolted up from his seat in surprise. He raised his head in a flurry to a cute female student aggressively walking up to his desk with her hands on her hips. He immediately put on a flattering smile. “U-uhh… Rou Rou, w-what’s up? Hahaha…”

“Hmph! Who said you can call me that? You think we’re that close?” The girl swept her gaze over to Lin Feng. Her face lit up and she greeted with a smile, “Oh, if it isn’t the new transfer student! Lin Feng, right? I’m Ren Rou, the class president. Welcome to Class 7.”

Lin Feng nodded repeatedly. “Nice to meet you, Ren Rou.”

Yang Fan adjusted his glasses, then quietly whispered, “Her name really doesn’t fit her temper…”

Indeed. Though her name contained “Soft (柔)”, her chilli-pepper like personality was anything but soft.

“Dare to say that again!” Ren Rou shot a death glare at Yang Fan.

“Hehehe… N-nothing. You’re the prettiest and most gentle.” Yang Fan raised his hands in surrender.

“Hmph! That’s more like it!” Ren Rou recalled her original reason for coming here and shifted her attention back to Ouyang. “We’re facing off against Class 8 tonight. Did you do what I asked you to? Do we have a team?”

“Ehh…?” Ouyang blanked.

“You’re our jungler, Yang Fan is our top laner, Wu Hai is our mid, and Sun Ming is our support. We’re missing an ad-carry. I told you a few days ago to help me find one! Did you forget?” Ren Rou reminded, looking like she was about to eat Ouyang alive.

“No no no. Rou Rou, you’re wrong… Don’t worry, I’ve already found the perfect person!”

Ren Rou withdrew her anger, but continued gazing at Ouyang with a wooden expression. “So, who is it?”

Ouyang cleared his throat, mustering up his courage, and declared, “It’s Tang Bingyao!”

Tang Bingyao? Ren Rou was stunned. Yang Fan also put on a puzzled expression. Lin Feng, who was the most lost in this conversation, scratched his head in bewilderment. Who’s that…? It sounds like a girl’s name. Also, what’s this about facing off against Class 8 tonight?