Chapter 57 Signing a Coach

It's not the transfer window yet, and most top coaches are working for established teams. If Fang Zhuo tries to poach someone, he'll have to pay the opposing team a breach of contract fee, which is about three times the coach's annual salary.

Coaches in mech competitions are different from those in traditional MOBA games. They don't need to ban heroes before the game. Their job mainly includes developing personalized training plans for the players, devising tactical strategies, and studying the opponents' playstyles.

Furthermore, because mech competitions rely heavily on the talent of the players, team coaches are often overlooked, and their industry salaries are far lower than those of professional players of similar renown, with annual salaries rarely exceeding seven million.

As for the coaches of smaller teams that can't compete in the main league, their salaries are even lower, with some earning less than 100,000 yuan a year. Some teams even choose not to hire coaches at all in order to save costs.

Coaches have to pay tens of thousands of yuan in salary, but for small business owners, they don't have to spend a penny to call their relatives over to manage the players.

Even if the penalty for breach of contract is sky-high, it will only be a little over ten million, which is a loss that Fang Zhuo can completely accept.

Just past noon, in the official competition venue of Star IIA, the two players had just finished a fierce match that lasted more than forty minutes.

When the tank player in the team emerged from the virtual pod, he was covered in sweat, his face was flushed, and the image of being blasted onto the tower by the enemy's energy cannon was still playing in his mind.

"Go back and add a set of upper body training."

"Okay, coach." The athlete tried to do a chest-expanding posture and found that his upper arms were already exhausted.

Tao Tao exchanged fist bumps with the contestant, then entered the data from the competition into the system, planning to analyze it for a while on the way back to the base.

He is only thirty years old this year. He is not only one of the top coaches in Star Alliance, but also one of the few coaches who has several years of player experience.

He has coached three teams in his career and once created the legend of leading a small team with poor performance to runner-up in the main league.

He was nicknamed "Midas Touch" in the industry because the young players he mentored for a period of time seemed to have an instant enlightenment, and their performance on the field completely changed.

But he knew that behind all of this was the result of extensive data analysis.

Since entering the industry, he has been either analyzing match data or studying the strategies of other teams. He is not limited to the main league; he will even take out many exciting matches from secondary leagues and ponder them for a long time to see if there is anything worth learning from them.

The van carrying the athletes and support staff had just arrived at the base when Tao Tao was greeted by someone as soon as he got out:

"Brother Tao, you have a friend who's come to the team to see you. They're waiting for you in the meeting room."

Friends? What kind of friends would come to the base looking for me?

Tao Tao pushed open the door to the reception room with suspicion, and sure enough, he didn't recognize the man in front of him.

He was about to ask if the other person had the wrong address when he saw the man calmly get up and close the door behind him, as if he were at home.

"Hello, I am the owner of the JR team. I don't know if you have seen the post on the player's internal forum yesterday. I want to find a suitable coach for that player."

This simple and concise opening statement immediately made Tao Tao understand the other party's thoughts. He couldn't help but smile, wondering how the other party could have such good mental fortitude, daring to go to another team's training base to poach people on the spot.

He had certainly seen the post that went viral on the forum yesterday, and he even spent more than half an hour studying the newcomer's movement techniques.

With such top-tier talent, as long as he doesn't insist on sticking to a small team, he'll definitely be able to make it to the main league within three years.

And now, the owner of this "small team" is standing right in front of him.

Tao Tao didn't know how to reply for a moment.

He was indeed quite interested in that newcomer; it's not uncommon for coaches in the industry to bring promising players along for transfers.

But how can he explain to the owner of the opposing team that he only favors the players and would never be so foolish as to switch teams for a promising newcomer?

The team he's currently with basically secured a spot in the main league back in the first season, while it's still uncertain whether the opposing team will be able to qualify for the secondary league this year.

In order not to offend the handsome young boss in front of him, Tao Tao decided to be tactful:

"I'm sorry, I signed a one-year contract with my current team. You might not be familiar with the contract terms. If I switch teams midway through the contract, I'll have to pay a penalty."

Upon hearing this, the other party not only did not back down at all, but instead followed up on what he said:

"It's okay, I'll pay the full penalty for breach of contract for you. I just transferred the contract to you. See if you can accept an annual salary of 13 million."

Tao Tao: ? ? ?

Is this even a question? This is thirteen million! He'd like to ask who would refuse. Even someone who's only studied elementary school math would nod and agree on the spot.

His eyes widened as he opened the terminal and glanced at the contract. Sure enough, the salary section clearly stated a staggering sum of thirteen million.

"Wait, boss, isn't this progress a bit too fast? My original contract was for one year and it was worth 6.5 million, and the penalty for breach of contract was over 19 million. Are you sure you can pay it all?"

...Aren't people online saying that the owner of this esports team is so poor that he even sold his virtual reality pod?

These two sums add up to over 30 million, enough to buy two brand-new racing-grade virtual reality pods, which clearly contradicts the rumors circulating online.

Tao Tao was completely bewildered. Before he could figure out what was going on with the JR team, the dignified man had already helped him complete the handover procedures with the former team. Paying the nearly 20 million yuan penalty was easier than others spending 2,000 yuan.

He was starting to suspect that the source of the other party's money was suspicious.

Could this person have stumbled upon a talented newcomer, and in their joy, rushed to the bank to take out a huge loan?

In any case, at least the money in his own hands was real. Tao Tao's salary more than doubled instantly, which was more than any experienced coach in Star Alliance history.

Earning a high salary while nurturing a prodigy who's the talk of the town—there's no job more lucrative than this.

"Coach, I might have to trouble you to come to the base again tomorrow morning. JR's new base is currently under renovation."

"Okay, okay, I understand." Tao Tao gave an OK sign, thinking to himself, what's the point of decorating a base that doesn't even have a virtual reality pod? Should he just repaint the walls?

Before leaving the training base of another team, Fang Zhuo quietly glanced at the gate of this veteran team located on Star 2A.

This base was clearly converted from a factory building, covering an area of ​​more than 10,000 square meters and with a height of nearly 30 meters. Its surface was painted with orange and black stripes in the team's support colors, making it look like a large stadium from a distance.

The conditions for 6C satellites are relatively outdated, making it very difficult to find a factory of similar size.

However, he still has a set of blind boxes that he hasn't opened yet. According to the system's explanation of the high-difficulty world, the level of rewards he gets here will be upgraded by one level, including a guaranteed SSR in every ten pulls.

If we're lucky, we might be able to open a suitable training facility directly.

When shaking the boxes this time, Fang Zhuo's target was very clear: he quickly chose the box that felt the heaviest.

Ten pure white boxes appeared neatly on the table of the hotel suite. He first opened the lightest ones, and two orbs of light flew out of the blind boxes and landed on the table of the folding terminal in the form of documents.

Fang Zhuo glanced at them; they were a manual for the mecha pilot's intelligent escape system and a research report on a new type of mecha outer plate material.

The other, lighter box makes a clicking sound when shaken, and when opened, it turns out to be a useless stamina pill.

The remaining seven boxes have different weights, but they are all noticeably heavy when held in your hand.

He first opened the two boxes that weren't quite square when squeezed. Inside were two items: a strength bracer that could increase stamina by five points, and an SSR-level curved sword that could be stored inside the bracer.

Fang Zhuo tried the curved sword, and its weight was much greater than he expected; he could barely lift it with both hands.

He raised the knife with both hands and slammed it down on a pile of mecha exterior parts in the corner of the room. A tiny crack appeared on the surface of the exterior under his bare-handed attack. This material was specially supplied for the arena; even a long blade imbued with energy might not be able to penetrate it instantly.

The system's gifts were indeed all good. He put the wristband on his wrist and added all three personal attribute points given by the system when switching dimensions to his stamina.

With a total of eight points of stamina bonus, his stamina bar on his personal panel has risen to 71.

It was as if a familiar force was growing upwards from the extremities, binding every blood vessel in his body and washing over his entire bloodstream.

When Fang Zhuo opened his eyes again, he felt the same clarity as when he had replenished his stamina last time. It was as if all five senses had taken a step forward, and he felt an indescribable lightness throughout his body.

When he reached out to touch the curved knife on the table again, he found that he could easily lift the knife with both hands.

Aside from being a little clunky to use, it's already much better than the situation where I had to use all my strength to make a single cut.

This is not the end yet; his stamina still has a full thirty points of room for improvement.

When he reaches his peak physical strength, he might be able to use this incredibly heavy knife as a kitchen knife.

He sheathed the scimitar into his power bracers, which automatically became invisible after flashing for three seconds, essentially creating a hidden arsenal. If his stamina allowed him to freely use the sword later, he could pull a weapon out of thin air when his opponent wasn't looking.

There are five more boxes behind, four of which are relatively square. Based on Fang Zhuo's experience, they are most likely to contain building modules.

As he expected, after taking the four boxes out, the system immediately started broadcasting announcements—

[Congratulations on obtaining the Team Headquarters Building Module *1]

[Note: The team building is currently limited to six stories in height and a floor area of ​​no more than 2600 square meters.]

[Congratulations on obtaining the Factory Building Module *1]

[Note: Factory building height is limited to 25 meters, and the land area must be no more than 20,000 square meters.]

[Congratulations on obtaining Mech Training Base *1]

[Congratulations on obtaining 1 staff dormitory room]

[Inherited the company level from the higher plane; current company level is E; corresponding dormitory size has been detected for the host.]

[The staff dormitory has a maximum total capacity of 200 people, consisting of two buildings, each with a capacity of 100 people.]

[Basic Information: Two elevators serving four units per floor; net floor area per unit increased from 85 square meters to 95 square meters; unit type: two bedrooms, one living room, one bathroom]

The objects inside the remaining box were irregularly shaped and not as heavy as the building modules. Fang Zhuo casually opened it and found that there was actually an SSR-quality employee card inside.

I had good luck; I got two SSRs this time.

According to the employee card description, the other party is an expert in mechanical structure research, which perfectly matches the needs of the mecha competition, so it can be considered a good match in terms of professional expertise.

The new coach is scheduled to report to the base at 10:30 tomorrow morning. After opening all the blind boxes, Fang Zhuo immediately set the destination of the business vehicle to the central city of Star 6C.

Unlike the top-ranked regions, the sixth region is shrouded in a gray fog.

It's only 11 p.m., and there are almost no lights in the entire city center. Apart from the streetlights on both sides of the street, only the upper floors of a few office buildings are still lit up.

Fang Zhuo brought up the online map and walked around the central city a few times.

If the training base is too large, it may have some impact on the daily lives of residents. The best location is not too close to the business district, but it also cannot be too far from the city center.

Fortunately, the development of Star 6C was relatively lagging behind, and Fang Zhuo quickly found a suitable location nine kilometers away from the largest business district.

This area is still within the city center, and its land value is far higher than that of industrial land in the suburbs.

The Star Alliance has excellent transportation. What takes more than 20 minutes to drive on Earth is only two or three minutes here. The team headquarters is very close to the core business district, and there is also a small shopping mall next door, making life relatively convenient for the employees.

After resolving all of this, he sent the location of the training base to Tao Tao.

Carrying two huge suitcases, this was Tao Tao's first time visiting the economically underdeveloped sixth competition zone.

But as soon as he got off the interstellar train, his first impression of the place wasn't as bad as he had imagined.

The team owner specially sent an assistant to pick him up at the train station, and even rented a luxury van, showing off his status to the fullest.

When Tao Tao brought up the navigation on the foldable terminal, he realized that it wasn't that Star 6C was developing so well, but rather that they were heading straight for the city center.

Physical mechs take up a lot of space, and various training facilities also require a certain amount of space. Even small teams would rent dilapidated factory buildings for training. So why are they moving closer and closer to the city center business district...?

Surely this team doesn't even have a dilapidated factory?

Could it be that the team owner used all the borrowed money to gamble on the performance of that rookie player?

Feeling increasingly uncertain, Tao Tao even began to fear that the boss would start selling off the factory after selling the virtual capsules.

However, as the van approached the city center, he suddenly noticed the JR esports team's logo prominently displayed on a residential building that was over twenty stories high.

Surprisingly, very few people live in this huge dormitory building, and its location is so good that you can see the shopping mall next door just by looking out the window.

Tao Tao nervously chose a room on the fourth floor, thinking it would take at least twenty minutes to get to the training base in the suburbs. But when he looked out the east window, he was surprised to find a huge base in front of him.

This pure white building is nearly 60 meters high and covers an area of ​​tens of thousands of square meters. Its surface is completely devoid of any color decoration or even a logo, giving it a minimalist and sophisticated feel.

It doesn't look like a converted old factory building at all; it looks more like a new, suitable building was constructed out of thin air.

After putting his luggage in the dormitory and entering the training base, his eyes were practically dazzled by the sights.

The training facilities here are complete, including various physical training equipment and a large screen more than ten meters high embedded in the wall, which is used to help athletes review the competition.

Ten brand-new, competition-grade virtual pods were placed against the west wall, while the east side was a physical mech training area covered with sound-absorbing cotton and force-relieving blankets. The size of this training area was definitely much larger than any other veteran team Tao Tao had ever seen.

He looked around and realized that the cost of the various indoor facilities alone must have been at least a billion yuan.

Tao Tao took a deep breath, somewhat doubting that the van that had just been sent to pick him up might not have been rented.

For a boss who can afford to spend over a billion yuan on a training base, buying a luxury private car worth several million yuan is nothing.

He even felt a little admiration for the boss.

With such enormous financial resources, why not just acquire a complete mech team from someone else, but instead assemble a lineup from scratch and recruit new players to compete?

Even after three defeats last season, they were not discouraged at all, and each time they spent money to strengthen their team, becoming more courageous with each setback.

Even when they were so frustrated that they sold a lot of virtual pods, they quickly adjusted their emotions, picked themselves up again in the new season, started to discover new talents, and spent a lot of money to build a training base for them.

This is what angel investing spirit is in the mecha era!

Having seen too many businessmen in this industry who treat mech competitions as a business, he hadn't met such a pure team owner in a long time.

Looking at the five contestants opposite him who were waiting patiently for him, Tao Tao felt a surge of work enthusiasm.

After quickly shaking hands with the team owner, Tao Tao pointed to the five people and asked, "Mr. Fang, I'd like to ask which one of you is the long and short blade player who's become famous online?"

Fang Zhuo gently raised her chin towards Cheng Che's position.

With only three days left until this newcomer's first match, Tao Tao has seen too many young players who, due to a poor performance in their first match, have been crushed by public opinion and never recovered.

Even considering Mr. Fang's awe and seriousness towards mecha competitions, he was determined to bring this kid along.