“Without James Carter, Team Tianze is missing almost 10% of its stable output. I wonder how James Carter will perform this season—he’s not exactly young anymore.” Emily Carter sighed.

“If we keep chatting like this, we’ll end up talking about every single KPL player.” Ethan Harris said.

“Huh?” Emily Carter was momentarily stunned, then realized they had strayed far off topic, and couldn’t help but smile awkwardly. He was always like this—once he started talking about pro matches, he just couldn’t stop.

Emily Carter glanced back and saw Brian Bennett walking up to the teammate who had been with them earlier. It was obvious from their interaction that the two were very close.

“That freshman is…”

“He’s Brian Bennett’s younger brother,” Ethan Harris said.

“How do you know that?” Emily Carter was puzzled.

“I happened to run into him at the student affairs office when he was looking for Brian Bennett in Brian Bennett’s office.”

“No wonder.” Emily Carter had already noticed that Ethan Harris had been acting a bit differently ever since David Bolton picked that random player. Turns out, she already knew the guy’s background. In that case, David Bolton really was unlucky. The player he picked wasn’t particularly flashy in the match, but right from the start, he provided information about the jungle monster respawn times in the Changping Offense and Defense battle—a detail that neither Emily Carter nor David Bolton had any clue about. With that knowledge, they basically had match point from the very beginning.

“Looks like David Bolton was right—we really were pretty lucky.” Emily Carter remarked.

“I wouldn’t say that. Do you think I’m the kind of person who’d do something so underhanded?” Ethan Harris said.

“You know the jungle monster respawn times in the Changping Offense and Defense battle?” Emily Carter was skeptical. As gaming buddies in Honor of Kings, he knew Ethan Harris inside out and was sure she, like him, was experienced but had never really studied that particular mode.

“I don’t know, but Baidu does.” Ethan Harris said, showing Emily Carter her phone. The browser was open to a strategy guide for the Changping Offense and Defense battle.

“So you already knew the key to winning on this map?” Emily Carter asked.

“I only found out after searching, but that Adam Bennett—he really knew.” Ethan Harris said.

“If only he could be our teammate, that would be perfect.” Emily Carter said wistfully, both hopeful and regretful.

“Who wouldn’t want that?” Ethan Harris glanced back at the two brothers chatting as they walked, her expression thoughtful.

Chapter 8: Pro Gaming God

As the crowd dispersed, Adam Bennett immediately spotted Brian Bennett walking toward him, and he suddenly felt a bit flustered, like a kid caught doing something naughty. But when Brian Bennett reached him, he just smiled naturally and said, “Hungry? Let’s get you something to eat first.”

“Okay.” Adam Bennett nodded quickly, thinking Brian Bennett had just happened to pass by and hadn’t seen him playing Honor of Kings.

The two brothers walked together toward the school cafeteria, passing through the tree-lined path beside the sports field. From a distance, Adam Bennett saw Ethan Harris and Emily Carter packing up their little table at the Lang7 recruitment booth. After stacking the stools on the table, they got ready to carry it away. A girl doing this kind of work immediately attracted a bunch of guys offering to help, but Ethan Harris turned them all down. In the end, it was just her and Emily Carter carrying the table through the crowd.

In contrast, the Honor of Kings club’s recruitment booth not far away was bustling with activity. Suddenly, a bunch of students wearing Honor of Kings logo shirts appeared, busy with who knows what. The Honor of Kings club was one of the most popular at Dongjiang University, and their recruitment spot was big and eye-catching. Unlike other clubs with banners and signs, their approach was unique: besides two life-sized hero standees, they had hung three huge letters from the trees behind the table.

K-P-L!

What do these three letters mean? If you don’t know, you don’t know—but those who do are instantly drawn in.

KPL is the top-tier pro league for Honor of Kings, and today just happened to be the opening of the KPL autumn season. Anyone in the Honor of Kings community would get fired up at the sight of those three letters.

Adam Bennett saw David Bolton, and the group that had been clustered around him earlier. They were all busy now, but also seemed to be waiting for something.

“They’re here! They’re here!” someone suddenly shouted, and the students at the Honor of Kings club booth quickly gathered, all looking toward the front of the tree-lined path. Screams and cheers erupted, accompanied by applause, instantly overshadowing all the other clubs along the path. Everyone’s attention was drawn to this spot.

“What’s going on? What happened?” someone asked curiously.

“Looks like a pro player is coming.”

“They actually got a pro player to show up? The Honor of Kings club is impressive!”

“It’s probably thanks to their president, Scott Scott. With that kind of family background, it’s no big deal for him to know a few pro players.”

“If our club could get a big-name soccer star to come, what would that be like?” a member of the soccer club fantasized.

“Keep dreaming.” His friend mercilessly burst his bubble.