You actually want me to...

With a team wipe, the score was tied 1-1, and TES successfully won their second game.

Integration: Chapter 45: Masters Clash

After winning the match 1-1, in the third game, EDG, having passed the "protection period" for Clearlove (the match started at 7 pm), could no longer withstand TES's attacks.

It's worth mentioning that in the final game, Roland still picked Karma, a champion he was familiar with.

Karma is arguably the most unique champion among enchanter supports.

First, she's the toughest of the enchanter supports. Second, she's very reliant on kiting; among the five positions, only the AD carry and top laner have the strongest kiting ability. Finally, even if she falls behind in the early game, you can still use her to annoy the enemy team in team fights.

Unlike single-target supports, Karma's support is team support.

With this item in hand, TES's bot lane can easily gain lane control, and at the same time, they can flexibly control whether to feed top or bot, which is extremely suitable for TES's tactical playstyle.

"This guy is a bit like a kid who's got a new gadget and wants to show it off everywhere." In the backstage dressing room, White Crescent pointed at Karma on the screen and said to team leader Lao Guo with a smile.

"Indeed, but is it alright? Why throw it out so early?"

"It's okay. Versions are constantly changing. It's not like it was a few years ago anymore. Every minor version update has a huge impact on the game. Maybe the next version won't have any more enchanter supports. Besides... he doesn't need another hero like that."

"That's true, at least we discovered some new things today."

For the coaching staff, the biggest surprise wasn't that Roland would buy support items, but that he actually knew how to use them. That makes a huge difference.

Many players know exactly what items to build when playing support.

For items with active skill effects, like Redemption, it's relatively easy to figure out and react to most of the time. However, for items like Knight's Vow, Zeke's Convergence, and Mikael's Crucible, many people subconsciously forget about them after acquiring them.

Or rather, even if they remember at the last minute, it's easy to miss the first wave of opportunities. This is because most players' first thought when their teammates are engaged is to run or fight back. Players who can instinctively react to the crucible immediately are, if not extremely rare, certainly not many.

This thing can be cultivated, but it takes time.

The reason TES spends so much money to buy players is because they don't have time to develop new talent. Seeing Roland with his own [skill] today is already a huge surprise, saving them the trouble of developing new players.

"However... logically speaking, his playing style shouldn't involve this."

"No, I think it's possible."

"uh-huh?"

"Didn't you notice that all the support heroes he practiced were preparations for JKL to counter-attack when he was caught out?"

I have to say, JKL was trained very well.

After securing a clean 2-1 victory, TES extended their winning streak in major matches by one game. Compared to their Spring Split performance, TES in the Summer Split is more than twice as competitive. Although they occasionally lose individual games, they have maintained a winning streak throughout the season.

At first, Roland was somewhat worried.

It's inflation, you know what I mean.

As a time traveler with a godlike perspective, and also a support character, he naturally wouldn't feel too arrogant, but he was afraid his teammates would.

When he returned to the backstage lounge after the match, he found that his teammates were not only not letting their guard down, but were even more vigilant and serious, which surprised him.

So... Roland raised his question at the opportune moment.

"Speaking of which, we've been on a winning streak, but it seems like none of you guys are reacting?"

"Huh? Reaction? What kind of reaction do you need?" Ah Shui frowned and looked at his support player with a strange expression.

"It's that feeling of arrogance after a winning streak, just like in TV dramas. You all get cocky, and then in crucial matches, your arrogance leads to a huge disadvantage. Then I use my persuasive skills—the art of awakening friendship—to snap you all out of it. Isn't that how the story always goes?"

Upon hearing this, the other four members of TES exchanged glances and then sighed in unison.

"Ah Ban, do you know me? I was the last one standing after eighteen consecutive victories."

"Oh, this..."

"Ah Ban, you know me. I won for a whole year in S8, but when I went to the World Championship, I made it to the quarterfinals."

"..."

"Ah Ban, you know me. Every year, the teams I'm with say they're going to take off, but every year they fall in the first round of the playoffs."

"And Knight, you haven't been with TES for very long either, have you?"

"I don't have much in terms of honors, but in terms of public opinion, although I've been hailed as the 'Golden Left Hand' for years, it's always followed by: 'He got utterly crushed by GodV.' You can relate, right?"

To be fair, Knight was somewhat wronged.

S10 was alright, but S9 was truly miserable.

Anyone who praises him gets labeled a "filial son of Zuo," and then they'll retort that Wei Shen used to utterly crush him. The reason this is brought up so often is because back then, Wei Shen was almost a bottom-tier mid-laner before playing against Zuo Shou, yet he still managed to beat Knight to a pulp.

While there may be differences in experience and mindset, being beaten up is being beaten up.

All four members of TES—top, mid, bot, and jungle—have encountered various issues, which has led to a situation where, instead of feeling happy, they feel a little nervous seeing their team on a winning streak.

"Good grief, so I'm the only one whose mindset might be the problem?"

"That's about right. Alright, hurry up and pack your things, we're working overtime today."

"Indeed, as the saying goes, going to work is bad for your physical and mental health, while slacking off heals your emotional wounds. Today is another perfect attendance day for me, I need to reflect on myself when I get back."

White crescent moon: ? ? ?

After the match against EDG, the online discussions about TES intensified. With improved performance and the addition of star players, controversies and controversies also increased.

God knows how many people envy TES right now.

With Flandre, Karsa, and JKL all spending a lot of money, plus the Golden Left Hand and the comedic genius Ban Huang, TES's current roster is making fans of other teams incredibly envious.

After attracting a lot of traffic, the number of cloud gamers has also begun to gradually increase.

At least, when Roland started streaming, his chat was filled with sarcastic remarks from all sorts of people, both genuine and fake casual viewers, which made everyone numb to it.

The streamer's skills were alright, but their awareness was lacking. Slow-motion replays showed the mouse was shaking, indicating a lot of pressure and tension. Their positioning was also flawed, and their skill combos were atrocious. They're miles behind me. By the way, what game is the streamer playing?

[This game is called My Brother is Shunliu: The Militia Ge Erdan's Final Battle. Remember to buy the DLC, otherwise you won't have the skins streamers use.]

Wow, just hearing the name is enough to bring tears to my eyes! I'm going to search for the game in the store right now.

[No, no, no, it looks a bit like CrossFire. Considering the two guys with knives in the top lane, this must be a practice room where someone's cheating with ranged weapons. Why isn't anyone reporting them?]

"Your live stream is pretty good." JKL, who was sitting next to her, rarely saw Roland's face looking as bad as if he had eaten Lao Ba's secret mini burger, so she took a look. When she saw the comments, she almost died laughing.

"You'll get used to it. I reckon the holidays will start in June, and everyone's bored out of their minds."

"Aren't you going to explain this to them?"

"An explanation? Fine." After glancing at the barrage of comments, Roland felt it was necessary for him to explain to the "armchair gamers" what game he was playing:

"Actually, you've probably already figured it out, but for the new players, let me explain again. The map I'm playing is the Dust Eclipse map from the True Three Kingdoms series, a fan-made Dota map. The hero I was controlling who can pick people up and smash them is called Tachibana Ukyo. His signature combo is the Infinite Moonlight Combo, which is a bit difficult because you need to trigger elemental reactions, otherwise the damage will be halved. Oh, right! This hero is also a bit pricey, costing 7500 sun. If you're interested, I suggest you subscribe to the battle pass. With the monthly and monthly cards, you should be able to buy it in about half a month."

Livestream host: ? ? ? ? ? ?

Integration: Chapter Forty-Six: Tradition Must Not Be Forgotten

After finishing their match against EDG, TES had a six-day break between matches. Faced with this long interval, they simply gave their players half a day off.

Of course, the so-called "half a day" refers to the four hours from 12 pm to 4 pm, and there was a training match scheduled with other teams at 4:30 pm.

Embracing the spirit of freedom for all, Roland, along with his teammates, led the charge out of the club, intending to give himself a busy afternoon.

Ten minutes later...

Inside a street-side bubble tea shop, a group of people, dressed as "hot dogs," sprawled on the sofa in a private room, their eyes simultaneously radiating a bewildered light. It was late June, the competition venue was in Shanghai, and this was the time when Shanghai had just finished its rainy season and the weather was starting to warm up.

For a group of guys who spend all their time sitting in their computers with the air conditioning on and playing games, the rising temperatures outside almost killed them.

"Good heavens, is this what you call freedom?" Roland looked at his teammates sprawled on the sofa with annoyance, his face full of disappointment.

"You're talking about us, but you're just sitting there doing nothing yourself."

"That's different. You guys are paralyzed by heat, while I'm simply lazy. If I can sit, I'll never stand; if I can lie down, I'll never sit. I'm lazy to the extreme, and that's my way of maintaining health."

"Come on, isn't it better to avoid being a mentor a few times than to do any health-preserving exercises?"

“This is different; we must not forget traditional crafts.”

"Fine, whatever you say." After complaining about Roland, Ah Shui didn't want to do anything anymore. After all, a profession is a profession. Unlike the games that everyone plays for fun on weekdays, their mechanical activities of more than ten hours a day are really no different from going to work.

This is a unique feeling that only office workers can have.

After working so hard for so many days, you finally have some time to rest. Your emotions tell you that you can go out and have fun during your rest time, but your rationality tells you not to think about it. You just want to go home and collapse on your sofa.

Even if I do nothing, even if I just sit there on the sofa like an idiot, it's a kind of enjoyment for me.

That's how everyone at TES feels right now.

If it weren't for the fact that their workplace and their usual place were the same, and the atmosphere there always felt off, they wouldn't even choose to leave the house.

They're professionals at staying at home.

During this leisurely break, everyone tacitly remained silent. Those who still had some energy took out their phones to watch videos or play mobile games, while those who weren't so energetic set an alarm, made a hand gesture, and then quietly drifted off to sleep.

There's no need to deliberately create topics or force yourself to deal with others.

In this fast-paced era, this kind of gathering where everyone is doing their own thing and busy with their own affairs may not necessarily be out of step with the mainstream. This way of gathering, which goes against the past, is indeed the rhythm that young people like the most today.

The wine cup doesn't need to be filled too full; just a little is enough.

You don't need too many people; it's best to have like-minded individuals.

In just one afternoon, at a milk tea shop only ten minutes away from the club, Roland and his companions experienced a relaxing and uplifting feeling, as if much of their physical and mental fatigue had disappeared.

"This place is nice, I'll come again next time."

"Indeed, it's not far, and importantly, there are private rooms available."

"Then let's make this our second base. I feel much more refreshed after a good night's sleep."

"Let's get ready to go back. We still have a practice match to play today."

After packing their things, the group checked the time and prepared to head back. Fortunately, the base wasn't far away, so they didn't have to worry about being late.

"Do you think this place will become another e-sports tourist attraction after the internet cafes in Pingxiang after we win the championship?"

"Stop kidding, it's not even a hint yet, and you're already watching the World Championship?"

"What's there to be afraid of? I've been playing professionally just to keep this championship here, so why should I hide it like this? If I don't even have the courage to say this, then what's the point of playing this game?" With that, Roland picked up his milk tea, poured some onto a tissue, and then put it on the table.

"What?"