14 Phoenixes Never Die! (1/2)

The entire crowd was confused. The Phoenixes were a formidable team at the inception of Legends Rise. They were also famed to raise the most skillful players across multiple eSports, and they also had the some of the best player reviews for how they took care of their players.

However, for some unknown reason, they were rejected when they applied to become a franchise owner of Legends Rise when the game's competitive scene had turned to franchising. Franchising brought in a lot of sponsors and money to their competitive scene, and made it possible for players to start getting paid more and more.

It also provided Job Security for professional players as they now signed legitimate legally binding contracts with their employer instead of the old system that was full of loopholes waiting to be exploited. The whole Franchising System was set to promote eSports, but after it was implemented, it saw many teams who were previous powerhouses leave as they were unable to secure a spot in the new system.

One of those teams was the Phoenixes, and now, it seems like they were finally able to rise from the ashes and join the eSport once again!

...

”We recently got a new team owner from an ex-pro player from another sport. You might know him as 'Nuke'. Under his management, we were able to secure a spot in the franchise system!” the man explained.

”I see... I'd like to know more!” Li Ming replied!

The other recruiters could only start bidding more and more aggressively at Li Ming's quickly disappearing back. Somewhere in the back of the crowd, Celeste could be heard collapsing from stress.

...

Li Ming entered a room with the recruiter. The man had lead him to one of the discussion rooms that were reserved for recruiters to discuss contracts with players that they were interested in.

”Please, have a seat”, the man gestured towards an empty seat in the front of his desk. ”My name is Conflux, and I'm the current team captain of the Osaka Phoenixes!”

The man poured out a cup of tea for the two of them.

”I'm glad that you picked our team to join,” Conflux started, ”we were in a serious need of young talent to add to our roster!”

Conflux pulled out a 4 neatly stapled piles of paper from his desk. These pieces of paper had the information of all the team's members. To Li Ming's surprise, there was 1 veteran players, as well as 2 players that he had occasionally met during his ranked games. The final member was someone that he had neither seen nor heard of before.