CHAPTER 45: THE CLERIC PROBLEM
The PRD pulled An Wenyi's profile from meta-knowledge storage.
[PRD Profile: An Wenyi]
Class: Cleric (Healing/Support specialization)
Team: Tyrannical Ambition Junior Squad
Mechanical Rating: 79/100 (high for junior level)
Personality Assessment: Pragmatic, self-interested, results-oriented. Loyalty follows opportunity rather than conviction. Will join organizations that offer the best career advancement, leave when better options appear.
Team Happy Timeline (Source Material): Joins reluctantly during Challenger League preparation. Stays because leaving would damage reputation more than staying. Eventually develops genuine investment, but primary motivation remains self-interest.
Risk Assessment: High. Will not join out of conviction like Tang Rou or chaos like Steamed Bun. Requires competitive offer and credible organization.
I closed the profile and stared at the screen.
An Wenyi is essential.
Team Happy in the source material couldn't have competed without a top-tier Cleric.
His healing efficiency and tactical awareness were crucial during the Challenger League.
But his loyalty is transactional.
He joined because Team Happy was his best option at the time.
If Excellent Era offers him a better deal...
If they lock him into a contract before Guild Happy has the credibility to compete...
We lose our Cleric.
The timing was wrong.
In the source material, An Wenyi joined Team Happy when they were already establishing themselves as serious Challenger League contenders. The team had records, reputation, and the beginnings of a professional infrastructure. An Wenyi's pragmatism led him to bet on a rising organization.
Here, Guild Happy was thirty days old with twenty members and zero professional credentials. We had dungeon records and a wild boss kill, but no tournament results, no sponsor interest, no indication that we could compete at the level An Wenyi's ambition demanded.
Approaching him now would look desperate.
And desperate organizations don't attract pragmatic talent.
They repel it.
[Lord Grim (Encrypted) → Cleansing Mist: An Wenyi. How serious is Excellent Era's interest?]
The response came within minutes:
[Cleansing Mist (Encrypted): Preliminary. They've contacted his agent, asked about contract status. Standard scouting protocol—no formal offer yet.]
Preliminary.
They're testing the waters.
Which means we have time.
But not much.
[Lord Grim (Encrypted) → Cleansing Mist: What's his current contract situation?]
[Cleansing Mist (Encrypted): Junior squad contract expires in March. Tyrannical Ambition has first-refusal rights, but Han Wenqing's junior program doesn't retain players who want to leave. If An Wenyi signals interest in other offers, they'll let him go.]
March.
Two months.
That's the window.
If Excellent Era makes a serious offer before March, An Wenyi might sign with them.
If we can't present a competitive alternative by then, we lose him.
I pulled up the Challenger League registration timeline. Registration opened in February, with qualification tournaments running through March and the main competition starting in April. To compete, Guild Happy needed a minimum roster of five professional-grade players.
We had three: Tang Rou, Steamed Bun, and me.
Qiao Yifan was developing but not ready for professional competition. The defenders were solid guild members but lacked the mechanical ceiling for tournament play.
We need a Cleric.
An Wenyi is the best option.
But approaching him now is wrong.
Approaching him later might be too late.
What's the right move?
Chen Guo found me staring at the An Wenyi profile at midnight.
"You've been looking at that screen for three hours," she said. "What's wrong?"
"Recruitment problem."
She sat down in the adjacent chair—the position that had become her default during important conversations. "Tell me."
I explained the An Wenyi situation: the talent, the pragmatism, the timeline compression, the risk of losing him to Excellent Era before we could make a competitive offer. Chen Guo listened without interrupting, her expression shifting from curious to thoughtful to concerned.
"So we need to approach him before Excellent Era locks him down," she said when I finished. "But approaching him now makes us look desperate."
"Exactly."
"What would make us not look desperate?"
Good question.
The source material answer is: tournament results.
Professional credibility.
Evidence that Guild Happy is a rising organization worth betting on.
But we don't have tournament results yet.
We don't have professional credibility.
We have dungeon records and a wild boss kill.
"We need something that signals professional legitimacy. Tournament entry, sponsor interest, official registration—something that tells An Wenyi we're not just an internet café guild with delusions of grandeur."
Chen Guo was quiet for a moment. Then: "The Heavenly Domain qualification tournament."
"What about it?"
"Registration opens next week. If Lord Grim enters and places well, that's professional credibility. A 10th Server player qualifying for Heavenly Domain through tournament performance—that would get attention."
She's right.
The Heavenly Domain qualification tournament is a legitimate competitive event.
Top finishers earn the right to transfer their characters to the main servers.
Placing well wouldn't just advance Guild Happy's server progression—it would demonstrate professional-level capability.
An Wenyi would notice that.
Everyone would notice that.
"The tournament is individual entry. Team competition comes later."
"Then you enter individually. Show what Lord Grim can do. Let the results speak for themselves." Chen Guo's expression was firm. "You've been training for weeks. Han Wenqing's message pushed you harder. Maybe it's time to test what all that training accomplished."
Test what the training accomplished.
Against real competition.
With professional observers watching.
Including, potentially, An Wenyi's agent.
The timeline clicked into place.
Heavenly Domain qualification tournament: late January.
An Wenyi's contract window: March.
If we place well in the tournament, we have February to approach An Wenyi with credibility.
If we don't place well...
We're back to looking desperate.
"It's a risk," I said.
"Everything's a risk." Chen Guo stood and headed toward the door. "You took a risk walking into this café a month ago. You took a risk every time you set a record. You took a risk at the Frost Wyrm fight when the guilds adapted to your tactics and you had to improvise."
She paused at the doorway.
"The difference between successful people and unsuccessful people isn't avoiding risk. It's choosing the right risks to take."
Choosing the right risks.
Is this the right risk?
The Desync is at High, approaching Moderate but not there yet.
My execution metrics are improving but not optimal.
Entering a competitive tournament with known mechanical deficits...
Han Wenqing's message is still in my head.
"Fix the second or the first won't matter."
He's right.
But maybe the tournament is how I fix it.
Maybe competition pressure is what pushes the Desync over the threshold.
Or maybe it exposes everything I've been hiding.
I opened the tournament registration interface.
[10th Server — Heavenly Domain Qualification Tournament]
Registration Opens: January 15th
Tournament Dates: January 25th-27th
Format: Single elimination bracket, best-of-three matches
Qualification Spots: Top 4 finishers earn Heavenly Domain transfer rights
Entry Requirements: Level 35+, 10th Server account in good standing
Lord Grim was Level 34. A few days of focused grinding would push past the threshold.
The tournament was seventeen days away.
Seventeen days to decide.
Seventeen days to train.
Seventeen days to figure out whether this risk is the right one.
I wrote "patience" on a sticky note and placed it on my monitor—a reminder that some decisions shouldn't be rushed, that the best move wasn't always the fastest move.
But I also bookmarked the registration page.
Some decisions can't be delayed forever.
The board is moving.
An Wenyi, the Challenger League, the Heavenly Domain transition—all of it is happening whether I'm ready or not.
The question isn't whether to take risks.
It's which risks to take.
And when.
The 10th Server's first Heavenly Domain qualification tournament was seventeen days away. Guild Happy needed professional credibility. An Wenyi needed a reason to consider us.
Maybe the tournament was the answer.
Maybe it wasn't.
But standing still wasn't an option anymore.
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