Chapter 251 – Map Scheme
One day of practice pa.s.sed in an orderly manner. The various tactical genres fought against each other and the performance was no less than the finals of the seventh season. Still, this was the internal training of the national team and needed absolute confidentiality. The team reporter Zhao Yue knew this rule and rushed to the training room for an interview.
After obtaining Li Cangyu"s consent, she took the time to do an interview with each player, asking them some questions and letting them express their feelings on joining the national team. Then she published a special feature on the Internet.
In less than a day, the number of hits for the special interview broke through seven figures!
It was clear that Miracle fans were very concerned about the training of the national team. Li Cangyu also made a statement as the captain of the national team. "Rest a.s.sured that we are training intensively. We are preparing for the world compet.i.tion and no one is being lazy."
The Weibo had many photos of players tapping the keyboard, showing that the environment of the training room wasn"t bad. Everyone sat side by side, their hands on the keyboard and their expressions serious.
Of course, the contents of the computer were blocked, showing how skilled the one taking the photo was.
Many of the netizens were clamouring to know the tactical arrangements and training methods of the national team but this was ignored by Li Cangyu. After all, before the official start of the game, these contents were tactical secrets!
***
After training for a few days, the national team"s training base had several guests visiting. Apart from Chairman Nan Jiangang, there were several strange faces.
Li Cangyu asked everyone in the team to continue training. He and Ling Xuefeng temporarily left the training room and headed to the room next door. They asked, "Chairman, you suddenly came to visit. Is it to inspect the training situation? Our players are particularly serious."
Nan Jiangang smiled, "I know, I saw the Weibo post."
Li Cangyu asked, "Are there other important arrangements?"
Nan Jiangang nodded. "The design of the map came out. I brought the designers over for you to confirm it yourself."
Li Cangyu and Ling Xuefeng glanced at each other and were very surprised. The efficiency of the league was too fast. It had only been a week and the maps were completed?
Chairman Nan saw their surprised expressions and couldn"t help smiling. "This time I called many masters in the league, even Wu Zewen of Dragon Song. Everyone worked overtime for a few days to finish it. I brought the first draft for you to look. If there isn"t a problem, I will put it into production. The artists will also work overtime and you should be able to see the finished product next week." He spoke while spreading out five plans on the table.
The first one was a garden style pattern proposed by Su Guangmo. There were many pavilions, trees and ponds, with roads criss-crossing between them. It seems simple but it was much more complicated than the current seven star maps, especially the second storey attic building suitable for ambushes.
Li Cangyu looked at the plan and nodded. "This design should be very interesting. It is just that the distance between the pond and the attic is too far. I think it should be closer so players can jump from the attic to the water to escape."
Chairman Nan"s eyes brightened. "Sure enough, your strategies are more professional!" He turned back to the designer and said, "Everyone, remember this and change it as soon as we go back."
This was followed by the second map. It was the five elements eight-trigram array that Chu Yan proposed. This image told… how great Chu Yan"s imagination was! He was good at illusionary arrays and the map he came up with was a large collection of them.
The effects of the five elements reflected their nature, giving buffs or debuffs. This design was very novel and the maze in the centre… it was estimated that foreigners would probably want to commit suicide when walking on this map?
Ling Xuefeng said, "This overall setting of this map is very reasonable. The entrance angle of the labyrinth should be slightly adjusted. The drop in blood should be switched with the drop in blue and the labyrinth entrance placed in the middle." He pointed to a position on the map while speaking.
Li Cangyu couldn"t help patting him on the shoulder. "You are more wicked than Chu Yan. Foreigners who don"t know the truth will walk into the labyrinth to avoid the drop in blue and then they will cry."
Ling Xuefeng smiled slightly. "The maps submitted by the other countries must have many unknown traps. We must take advantage of this rare opportunity."
Li Cangyu nodded in agreement. "It makes sense."
This was followed by Lou Wushuang"s proposal of a reality map. The chairman explained, "After we communicated with the designers, we felt that it was most appropriate to use the steep Mount Huangshan to make a death map."
Li Cangyu asked, "Isn"t that too thrilling?"
Nan Jiangang smiled. "It should be possible. The World League doesn"t limit the types of maps and a death map itself is within the scope of the league maps."
Ling Xuefeng questioned, "What else?"
"There is the trap map you suggested and we have prepared two types." Chairman Nan pointed to a map on the table and carefully introduced it. "This is the underground palace type trap map. It is similar to the tombs in tomb novels. Stepping on different machinery will have different effects. There is also a forest trap map. There are many traps on the ground covered in gra.s.s. After stepping on it, players will fall into the trap. Isn"t this more suitable for the trap flow tactic?"
Li Cangyu was surprised. "Chairman, you even thought about the trap flow tactic?"
“Of course, isn"t that why you chose two hunters for the national team?" Chairman Nan was also a Miracle enthusiast and had a good understanding of various tactics.
Li Cangyu glanced at Ling Xuefeng and asked, "Do you think these five maps are feasible?"
Ling Xuefeng thought about it before nodding. "Yes. The death map, status map, obstacle map, trap map and mechanical map are all suitable. I"m just worried that in the World Compet.i.tion, all opponents will ban the maps submitted by the Chinese team."
Li Cangyu laughed. "That is extremely likely! At the very least, once the five elements map appeared, it will definitely be the first one disabled by the commanders of other countries! This type of relationship between the five elements, can foreigners understand it?"
The surrounding map designers also laughed. "The Mount Huangshan map is also terrible. This thrilling map will absolutely kill all the current seven star death maps. I think once the World League sees this map, they will have to raise the rating to eight stars."
“Isn"t the underground palace map also very hard? The upper and lower levels creates a three dimensional design. The players who fall to the lower level must be dazed and can"t find their way back."
The more they talked, the more excited they became. It seemed everyone was looking forward to the "expressions" of the other countries when they faced the Chinese team"s maps.
***
The chairman confirmed the map modifications with the designers and then sent it back to headquarters to complete the production. Meanwhile, another designer took out the plans for the national team"s uniforms.
Li Cangyu suggested, "Everyone has different aesthetics. It isn"t good for us to privately decide the uniform so the players should vote."
The two men copied the designs provided onto a USB drive and showed in on the projection screen of the training room. Li Cangyu clapped and told the players, "We will pause for a moment. These are the designs for the uniform that the chairman just brought us. There are four styles, A, B, C and D. Took a close look and we will vote in 10 minutes."
Cheng Wei immediately said, "Design C looks good!"
C was the typical tomato scrambled egg, red with yellow. Everyone around Cheng Wei expressed condolences for his sense of aesthetics.
The rest of the designs were quite beautiful but everyone"s views were different. Some people thought that B looked good while others thought D showed more personality. In the end, Su Guangmo proposed, "I think that when it comes to choosing clothes… we should listen to the opinions of the players from Red Fox. The eyes of females are definitely better than the rest of us."
This sentence immediately got everyone"s approval.
After all, it was indeed worrying to choose clothes based on the aesthetics of the men here. Putting aside the incurable Cheng Wei, most of the male players present had no idea if the clothes looked good or not.
Liu Xiang smiled. "Since Captain Su trusts our eyes so much, let me first express what I think. The pattern for A is too complicated and will hurt the eyes after a while. The colour selection for B is a bit rustic. Once everyone gathers together to play games, we will look like a travel agency group. As for C… it is the tomato scrambled egg that Vice-Captain Bai mentioned previously."
Cheng Wei immediately turned red and lowered his head in an embarra.s.sed manner.
"D is really simply and good looking. White and red is a versatile colour combination, so I would recommend D." Yang Muzi immediately agreed. "I think that the uniform should be simple. If it is too complicated then it will feel messy! The white background is relatively safe and the red pattern includes representative elements of Miracle. The position of the flag is also conspicuous enough. We should use this one."
The group of big men listened and voted for D.
Li Cangyu gave the feedback to the chairman and the chairman asked the uniform designer to come and measure the players" sizes.
The time until the World Compet.i.tion was running out. The maps and uniforms would soon be finished products, making Li Cangyu feel a bit of pressure.
The training intensity increased and everyone worked very hard during this time. Still, it was rewarding. The newcomers made remarkable progress and the understanding between the old players was growing.
Now he had enough confidence to go with Ling Xuefeng and take this huge team to the stage of the world.
He also believed that the Chinese team"s players would definitely do their best in the future world compet.i.tion!
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Chapter 252 – End of Training
The half a month of training was coming to and end. Before leaving this peaceful place, Li Cangyu summoned the players to check the results. In addition of the sufficient understanding between the various partners, the tactical genres" performance also made Li Cangyu feel satisfied. The awareness of the great G.o.ds wasn"t bad and they adapted quickly.
On September 15th, Li Cangyu flew to Beijing with the national team.
Chairman Nan"s a.s.sistant sent a special car to the airport and it brought everyone to the league designated hotel. Chairman Nan personally attended the meeting and told everyone the good news. "The national team"s uniforms have been made according to everyone"s sizes. I will give it to you!"
Warm applause filled the meeting room at the chairman"s words.
A moment later, several people came in carrying large boxes. They opened them, revealing the neatly placed uniforms with the names of the players.
The staff handed the uniforms to everyone. Cheng Wei put on the long-sleeved jacket, his tone full of excitement. "There is a new team uniform to wear. Hahaha, wearing the national team"s uniform is definitely different! It seems that my standard has improved!"
Xiao Han and Qin Mo also put on the jackets to try. They glanced at each other in the same clothes, their moods somewhat subtle.
The team had short-sleeved shirts and matching long sleeved jackets. It was summer and the long sleeves basically weren"t needed, but there was a chance the air conditioning at the game venue would be too low. This jacket meant the players wouldn"t freeze or have stiff fingers.
Everyone carefully collected their uniforms and Chairman Nan told them, "I have more good news for everyone. The map designers and ill.u.s.trators have worked day and night and the maps submitted to the World Compet.i.tion have been completed. Once you go back, log into your league account and you can try out the maps!"
Compared to the uniforms, the news about the maps made the players very excited. They had previously discussed the map plans and everyone was looking forward to it. Now that the maps were finished, they couldn"t wait to open their computers and experience it.
***
After returning to his hotel room, Li Cangyu logged into his Q and told everyone to gather in the league server.
The league"s game server was generally closed during the offseason. This time, in preparation for the World Compet.i.tion, the operators extended the opening hours at Chairman Nan"s request. The professional players selected for the national team were free to log into it.
Li Cangyu @all members. In less than 10 minutes, the 22 members of the national team were gathered in the server.
[Let"s start with an observation trip.] Li Cangyu quickly typed. [There is no limit on the number of people in a map. Everyone is free to team up. I will take 11 on this side and Xuefeng will take 11 on the other side. Move from the two refresh points to the middle.]
The players quickly divided into teams and Li Cangyu chose the first map from the gallery, the five elements eight-trigram array.
The thumbnail for this map on the selection panel was very beautiful. There was an eight-trigram array in the middle surrounded by five coloured squares, representing the five elements of gold, wood, water, fire and earth.
The foreigners who didn"t know the truth were likely to be confused when seeing this thumbnail!
Cheng Wei couldn"t help typing on the public channel: [I think this map will kill players from other countries?]
Zhang Shaohui also said: [That is absolutely right!]
The group entered the map and in less than five minutes, the public channel was filled with ellipsis.
[Where is the exit?]
[Have you found the entrance yet?]
[I have. The red area is blood DOT, the blue area causes blue to drop and the middle is the entrance to the maze!]
Everyone, “…”
Don"t talk about foreigners, their own people were being pitted…
Li Cangyu was more sensitive to directions and after entering the eight-trigram array labyrinth, it wasn"t long before he arrived at the central area and saw Ling Xuefeng.
Both of them had red names and should"ve started fighting as they were enemies. Instead, they started chatting on the area channel.
[This eight trigrams maze is a bit complicated. There are too many roads and the surrounding walls are exactly the same. It is easy to get lost in the middle.] Ling Xuefeng said.
[Yes, there are too many escape routes. I think this map is suitable for the death racing mode. It definitely won"t work in an economic battle since the wild areas can"t be divided.] Li Cangyu typed.
It didn"t take long for everyone else to find the entrance and gathered in the central area.
The centre of the array was a wide ground, suitable for large group battles. A beautiful image of the light G.o.ddess was drawn on the ground, which was consistent with the Miracle game style. This was obviously to make it easier for the World League to review.
The players who reached the centre of the maze couldn"t help saying: [The outside is full of negative states and the inside is a major maze. The foreigners who walk into this place will probably show no love on their face?]
[Haha, they will definitely be like "What?"]
[I estimate that at the beginning of the World Compet.i.tion, the first report from the media will be: What is the Chinese team"s maps?]
The people talked like they were sightseeing. They rapidly moved through the five maps and Li Cangyu asked: [Did you find any bugs on the map? For example, a dead corner where skills can"t be used?]
The attentive Tan s.h.i.tian replied: [The lower left fork of the eight-trigram array, the arrow will directly penetrate through the wall after being shot. It should be a bug in the terrain setting.]
Lou Wushuang wondered: [Is Mount Huangshan a death map? You will die if you fall off.]
Zhang Shaohui asked curiously: [Brother, did you jump down to see?]
Lou Wushuang: [Yes.]
Everyone, “…”
If Cheng Wei said this then everyone would laugh at him. However, the one who said it was Lou Wushuang. Everyone felt that Captain Lou was really serious and careful!
Cheng Wei"s heart was hurt by the crit attack.
***
That evening, all players actively spent time in the five maps, testing each step and using skills to see if there were any bugs.
The test lasted a few hours until the players had found all dead corners of the five maps. Li Cangyu submitted the bugs found by the players to Chairman Nan.
At the same time, the chairman sent a detailed three-dimensional diagram of the maps to let everyone study.
The three dimensional maps should be done by the Dragon Song master, Wu Zewen because every coordinate was precisely marked. Thanks to this three dimensional perspective, they could find the positions of opponents and arrange some clever ambush tactics according to the map.
***
The next day, Li Cangyu and Ling Xuefeng met with the five mobile commanders to make some preliminary tactical plans. Then they convened the players to start training.
The previous training at the secret base meant the team members had enough understanding. The tactical training at this time was for the maps and the effect was very obvious.
After practicing on these five maps, everyone couldn"t help looking forward to the next World Compet.i.tion. They wanted to immediately jump to October to go to the United States and challenge the world"s masters.
Within a few days, the national team"s visas were successfully completed. Chairman Nan personally acted as team leader and book tickets to New York for everyone.
Before their departure, Li Cangyu and Ling Xuefeng once again accepted an interview on behalf of the national team.
A reporter asked, "I heard that the national team has set up several tactical commanders? Is this Cat G.o.d"s idea?"
"Yes." Li Cangyu nodded. "The three games in the World Compet.i.tion might have different commanders. We have many tactical plans and you can look forward to the performance of the national team."
"What about the maps submitted by the national team? Can you tell us anything about them?"
"I can only say that the maps submitted have obvious Chinese elements. The designers have worked hard and made the maps very beautiful. Please wait for the World Compet.i.tion where they will certainly be announced."
"What about the training rules? Can Cat G.o.d give us a brief description? Everyone is very concerned about the status of the national team."
"Please rest a.s.sured that after more than half a month of training, the expected results have been achieved and everyone is very stable."
"For the World Compet.i.tion, are the two of you confident as the captain and vice-captain?" A reporter stood up and asked.
Li Cangyu and Ling Xuefeng glanced at each other. "Of course, there is confidence."
"How far can the Chinese team go?"
"It is hard to say at the moment but I can guarantee that we will definitely try and compete for the championship trophy!" Li Cangyu"s words were very powerful and many reporters clapped.
A team who didn"t want to win the championship wasn"t a good team. With the strength of the Chinese team, they truly had a chance of competing for the championship!
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