ANNOUNCEMENT:

Yesterday on the Rise Discord Server, several readers decided to overthrow us. I, Devshard, decided it was best to surrender instead of subjecting everyone to a bloody coup. We passed the torch of Rise to them and allowed them to translate and edit chapter 115. Which led to what you will read below!

Two teams, one secret ingredient of the Rise Chinese Raws. You, the Readers, will decide who wins on this poorly thrown together episode of Master Chefs: Translation Wars!

Team Uprising was led by Lead Translator & Overseer of the Democratic Republic of the Rise Discord Server Piggy#8092. He was aided by several volunteer editors. Some of whom took this joke far too seriously. (At one point, they started talking about how bad Dev's edits were)

Team Rise was, as always, led by LittleShanks.

(Our version of the chapter will be posted two hours later - Shanks, Sietse, and Devshard)

ENJOY!

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After the six games of day 2 had been completed, the final matches for Groups C and D were finally over, and the rankings were set in stone.

Today, the majority of the Chinese fans had received terrible news: Team Dust from the Chinese LPL had been eliminated from Group D.

In the group stage, Dust not only lost two games to SSK, the reigning champions from last year’s Worlds, they also failed to score a single win against Korea's Warriors.

The only teams to make it out of Group D were the two teams from Korea’s LCK. Dust was unfortunately the first Chinese team to be eliminated.

Although this was not an unexpected outcome, a foul mood settled over the Chinese fans. It had seemed like a hopeless situation from the beginning. Dust was simply too unlucky this year; after being thrown into Group D with all of the powerhouse teams, their chances were too slim. As a result, the Chinese fans had already mentally prepared themselves to lose, making the experience less bitter. At least there was some comfort in the success of the other Chinese teams.

After the second round matches of Groups C and D, the group stage had come to an end and the eight best teams would advance to the quarterfinals!

First place in Group A was Europe’s Legend!

First place in Group B was Korea’s Fate!

First place in Group C was North America’s Season!

First place in Group D was Korea’s SSK!

Second place in Group A was China’s KG!

Second place in Group B was China’s HoG!

Second place in Group C was Taiwan’s Assassins!

Second place in Group D was Korea’s Warriors!

All the Chinese fans could see just how skewed the top eight were. Taiwan, North America and Europe each had only one team that qualified. China had two, and Korea had three teams making it out of groups, to the surprise of no one.

In reality, the performance of the Chinese teams could be considered very good so far for this year’s championship. Of course, this was still only the quarterfinals. Everyone understood that the toughest battles started in the matches after the quarterfinals, where only the best of the best played against each other. No team could get this far relying on sheer luck.

On the third day, the teams eliminated in the group stage would return home, while those who advanced would fly to the next stop of Worlds, Paris!

✹

At the same time, for those in the High School 13, the second round of the Shanghai 16 School Tournament had arrived. This was where things would start to get tougher for Lin Feng and his team. By passing the final elimination round, High School 13 would qualify to be part of the top 16! The location of the final round of the preliminaries was already set. It would take place in the NetCow Internet Cafe located in downtown Shanghai.

Since the Shanghai 16 School Tournament was a high school competition, the organizers had to take the student’s studies into consideration and end the first two rounds as quickly as possible. The 32 teams would be split into four groups of eight teams each, who would then play each other. At the end of the day, the top four teams from each group would advance to the final 16.

High School 13 stood together in the internet cafe, preparing themselves for the game.

“They say that after entering the final stretch, the venue will become more professional,” said Yang Fan, adjusting his glasses.

Ren Rou stood to the side nodding and added, “Starting from the first matches for the final 16, there will be special guest commentators who will be responsible for the interpretation and analysis of the games.”

Liu Yue’s eyes lit up, “That’s so cool! Do you think any famous League of Legends commentators will be there? Do you think I can get an autograph? Ouyang, what do you think?”

As he spoke, Liu Yue turned towards Ouyang, but was shocked to find that his face had gone blue and his lips were even trembling a little. He couldn’t help but be surprised, “Ouyang, are you ok?”

Ouyang was wavering just like a wavin’ flag, and then he shot back, still shaking, “I-i-it’s nothing, leave me alone.”

Ren Rou couldn’t help but laugh, “What is this guy doing? Knowing he’s going to play a game today and he’s so nervous... how lame!”

Ouyang strongly objected, “I am not!”

Ren Rou curled her lips, “You think I can’t tell what you’re thinking? Aren’t you just afraid that you’re going to feed later?”

After being exposed, Ouyang flushed and hesitated for a long time before finally answering, “Damn it, I’m playing in a competition like this for the first time. It’s normal to be a little nervous.”

He couldn’t help but look at Lin Feng, and ask in a rare weak tone, “Lin Feng, do you really want me to play today?”

Lin Feng was in high spirits, so when he heard Ouyang, he simply waved him off and answered with a grin, “Of course! Ouyang, you trained so much with the team just for this opportunity. If you don’t get on the Rift, then what’s the point of all that training?”

Ouyang replied, still hesitant, “But…”

Ren Rou interrupted suddenly, “What buts? What good are they? You’re a big boy now, don’t make excuses. If Lin Feng tells you to play, then play! I can’t stand someone who has no confidence!”

Liu Yue, who was standing next to him, gave him a punch and said, “Fight on, Ouyang! Don’t believe in yourself, believe in the me who believes in you! You can do it!”

Wei Dong smiled and said, “Right, right. Ouyang has to work hard, today it’s up to you.”

Listening to the excitement and encouragement from his friends, Ouyang gritted his teeth and shouted:

“I CAN DO IT! Isn’t it just playing a game? What’s the big deal? You guys should just sit back and watch me carry!”

✹

Since High School 13 had advanced to the top 32, they would be playing their first match today. They had arrived early at the venue at 1:00. It was now 1:20 and the game would be starting in 10 minutes.

Looking around, Tang Bingyao narrowed her eyes. “It looks like there’s a lot of people watching us.”

Hearing Tang Bingyao, Yang Fan looked around, eyes wide open, “Wow, it’s really true.”

Everyone subconsciously turned their heads after hearing that and noticed that many of the other players were looking at their team. After being discovered, most of them hurriedly withdrew their gazes, but there were still many people pointing at them and whispering to each other.

“Why are they looking at us?” asked Lin Feng curiously.

Yang Fan adjusted his glasses again and laughed. “Probably because of how good our record was in the last round of elimination.”

The team’s top laner, Chen Ze, nodded. “Of course, we defeated High School 7 and Tonji Affiliated High after all. The more the other teams find out about our performance, the more they’ll pay attention to our team.”

Chen Ze was right. After entering the top 32 matches, the teams participating in the Shanghai 16 School Tournament had begun to gather information on their competitors. However, of the various teams, the most eye-catching was High School 13.

A noob team full of trash that had lost in the first round of knockouts last time… Had not only managed to go beyond the first round, but they had even managed to win all three games? And against schools like High School 7 and Tonji Affiliated High?

Other achievements notwithstanding, just beating Tonji Affiliated High was already an amazing accomplishment. By defeating them, the virtually unknown High School 13 had beaten a previous semifinalist team! It was a major upset!

It was precisely because of their sudden success that the other top 32 teams were casting strange glances at the members of High School 13. They had already begun to reevaluate this new contender as a threat they had to take seriously.

“Oh, so that’s why?” Lin Feng realized.

Suddenly, he laughed boisterously and turned to his teammates. “Hahaha, this is great. We can win this tournament easily! The trophy is ours!”

His teammates jumped on him in an attempt to muzzle him. They had to! This dunce would make them the target of every other team otherwise!

“Oy dipshit, don’t you know how to whisper? Don't be so loud!”

“Yeah, are you trying to make them hate us?”

“It’ll be over if the other teams hear you!”

Unfortunately, his bold statement had already reached the nearby teams.

As players of another team were discussing something in low voices nearby, a boy with a plain face and calm expression frowned upon hearing laughter, tilting his head to look where it had come from.

After looking around, his gaze landed on Lin Feng, whose mouth was covered by his teammates around him. Furrowing his brows, an incredulous expression came over the face of Zeng Rui, the team captain and support for Shanghai High School.

“Who is that idiot?”