Zhao Mingwei logged in very early today, just an hour after receiving Jiang Qiao's message.
If Zhao Mingwei had been an hour later, Jiang Qiao probably would have joined a random team or gone solo.
"No training today?"
As usual, Jiang Qiao was doing some stretching exercises before entering an instance, while Zhao Mingwei, after receiving the coordinates, ran all the way to Lionheart City's port.
"The team has the afternoon off today. All the club members went out for team-building activities, so I'm using this time to level up," Zhao Mingwei said, glancing at the level ranking along the way. He was only level 27, already outside the top 100 in the rankings.
"Even e-sports clubs have team-building activities?"
"Not just team-building, we also have physical training sessions. There's a lot of hassle," Zhao Mingwei said.
"All right, join the team. I've invited you. Ahead is the new team instance for today, let's give it a try," Jiang Qiao said.
Jiang Qiao didn't bother talking about real-life issues with Zhao Mingwei. E-sports players on Blue Star were truly considered athletes, as VR games extended beyond just keyboards and mice.
Zhao Mingwei directly joined Jiang Qiao's team. His friend Lin Xi wasn't online yet, so Jiang Qiao and Zhao Mingwei entered the Tower of Trial's map first.
The records on the first monument at the front of the Tower of Trial's map were gradually being occupied by players with strange IDs.
The most eye-catching record was the fourth-ranked team. The fourth team's record had a prefix, the prefix was Dancing Nuclear Guild, followed by the players' IDs: Rain Song, Ionic Spark, Excessive Reaction, Tablecloth, Ten Cats for Nine Dollars, and Mo Shigui.
Their completion time was 43 minutes and 21 seconds, just under a minute behind the old Mage's youthful team.
Jiang Qiao added this prefix feature, which would show the guild name if the entire team belonged to the same guild when an instance record was completed.
Dancing Nuclear Guild was considered the largest guild in Holy Spirit, with a total of... 13 members.
Jiang Qiao guessed that this instance record definitely wasn't the guild's limit. Thinking about how the old Mage spent his entire life challenging the Tower of Trial record, only to be surpassed by a group of 'babies' less than a month old, felt… amusing.
"Dreaming in Daylight just came online. Should I invite another person?" Zhao Mingwei said as he arrived at the instance entrance of the Tower of Trial, noticing that the maximum team size was six players.
"You invite from your side, I'll ask around from my side too." Jiang Qiao also opened his friends list to see if anyone wanted to join the instance.
Jiang Qiao didn't have many people on his friends list. He mainly asked a healer named "No Extra Charge for Healing" and an unfamiliar Swordsman he had met before.
"My friend is here," Zhao Mingwei said. Lin Xi, controlling Dreaming in Daylight, arrived at the instance entrance via the portal, along with a heavily armored Knight.
The Knight's ID was Mo Shigui, one of the members of the third-ranked team on the leaderboard.
"Haha, happy gaming… um… you're finally online," the Gun Knight player named Mo Shigui said, unsure how to address Zhao Mingwei when he saw Jiang Qiao nearby.
After calling Zhao Mingwei by his ID, he pointed to the Dancing Nuclear line above his head.
"This game just started, we'll definitely do more instances in the future, so have your friends join my guild," Mo Shigui said.
"I've already joined a guild," Zhao Mingwei said.
"Huh?" Mo Shigui was momentarily stunned. There was no guild mark under Zhao Mingwei's name. He thought there might be a way to hide guild names in this game, so he quickly asked, "What's your guild's name?"
Zhao Mingwei didn't answer, just looked at Jiang Qiao. At that moment, Mo Shigui, Dreaming in Daylight, and the other Dancing Nuclear players all turned their gaze to Jiang Qiao.
"Uh, I haven't thought of one yet," Jiang Qiao admitted honestly. He had spent the entire morning working on the Tower of Trial instance, and now, all he could think about was starting a guild. He hadn't even considered a name.
"He hasn't thought of one yet," Zhao Mingwei replied earnestly to Mo Shigui.
"My headset's fine, I can hear… so I'm still late?" Mo Shigui wasn't angry at missing out on a great player by a bit.
He and Zhao Mingwei were old friends of seven or eight years, so he knew Zhao Mingwei's personality well: he always kept his word.
There was a saying in the competitive circle: you could always trust Zhao Mingwei.
This saying wasn't just because of Zhao Mingwei's impressively consistent performance but also his straightforward personality.
"Your message came half an hour late; I'd already agreed to join him when you sent it," Zhao Mingwei said.
"Well, let's change the topic. Are we doing the instance? You said your team still needs people," Mo Shigui glanced at Jiang Qiao and didn't say much. They shared an unspoken understanding that Jiang Qiao found hard to describe.
Jiang Qiao was puzzled; the crowd of Dancing Nuclear Guild members, including Mo Shigui and the Mind Energy Master, were equally at a loss.
They all knew Jiang Qiao's guild hadn't even been established. Dancing Nuclear Guild was the largest guild in Holy Spirit, and his old friend was part of it. You'd expect any reasonably thinking player to join Dancing Nuclear Guild.
Lin Xi was the clearest observer, quickly private messaging Zhao Mingwei.
"Xiao Ye! The right move now is to bring the pro into old Song's guild!"
"You, a Junlin Club player, defecting to Uptown Nuclear Guild? Coach Su would make you do a hundred sets of physical training if he found out!"
Zhao Mingwei was blunt with Lin Xi.
"We're playing Holy Spirit now, it has nothing to do with the competitive scene, right?"
"It really has nothing to do with the competitive scene, so I can't join old Song's guild." This statement gave Lin Xi pause. He soon understood what old Song, or rather, Mo Shigui and Zhao Mingwei were thinking.
Mo Shigui was now Uptown Nuclear Club's coach and a shareholder… the club's business wasn't limited to just one game.
Zhao Mingwei had a binding contract with Junlin Club, meaning if he left two years early, he wouldn't be able to engage in any competitive activities related to that particular game for two years…
Even streaming was forbidden. On top of that, Zhao Mingwei had little savings, so to Mo Shigui, the great player in the competitive circle was tightly bound to Junlin Club.
But with the emergence of Holy Spirit, things were different. Lin Xi anticipated that Holy Spirit's future popularity would rival the existing game and potentially surpass it within a year.
By then, Zhao Mingwei's contract with Junlin Club wouldn't be as significant if he debuted as a professional player in Holy Spirit.
However, Lin Xi guessed Zhao Mingwei just wanted to enjoy the game.
"Fine, I'll join the pro's guild too. What's it called?"
"Don't know," Zhao Mingwei replied.
"Pro! What's the name of the guild you formed?" Lin Xi, seeing Zhao Mingwei being uncooperative, directly asked Jiang Qiao.
"I haven't formed it yet, don't rush... let me think. After this instance," Jiang Qiao said.
Jiang Qiao only wanted to dive into the instance, as his Water Spirit and Fire Spirit were already eagerly preparing for action.