The others at Happy gave Chen Guo's complaints a dismissive smile.

Although winning an award was something to be happy about, it wasn't the time for Team Happy to be celebrating. They still had a lot to do to prepare for the playoffs, especially adapting to the new equipment.

Forty pieces of pseudo-silver equipment!

In the final week, Happy's technical department worked overtime, finishing the last four pieces of silver equipment just after the end of the 38th round of matches. This brought Happy's total number of pseudo-silver equipment to 40.

Compared to genuine silver equipment, pseudo-silver equipment was more like a disposable item, temporarily alleviating Happy's equipment deficiencies, but without any sustainable development potential. Chen Guo felt a pang of heartache at this expense. However, she also knew that given Happy's situation, it was impossible to improve their hardware level in a short period without using some extraordinary measures. Other teams had years of accumulation, and no matter how capable Happy was, they couldn't reach the level of a powerhouse in just a year or two. So, they could only use this seemingly shortsighted approach.

Fortunately, these expenses didn't involve too many of the most precious materials, so they didn't conflict with Happy's genuine silver equipment development.

And the only piece of equipment that was properly upgraded to Level 80 was the Myriad Manifestations Umbrella.

Equipment level requirement reduced by 5. This attribute was finally successfully created and distributed across every form of the Myriad Manifestations Umbrella. The basic attributes of each form were clearly a level above Level 75 silver equipment, and the additional attributes were also slightly improved. The Myriad Manifestations Umbrella, when it took shape at Level 50, had nine forms: shield, battle lance, rifle, katana, battle scythe, staff, ninja blade, Eastern stick, and knight's sword, and also possessed the Mechanic's mechanical box function.

The upgrades after that continued this characteristic of form change. Until this time, in the process of jumping directly from Level 70 to Level 80, Guan Rongfei successfully added a new transformation form to the Myriad Manifestations Umbrella.

Based on the dismantled form of the Eastern stick, the Myriad Manifestations Umbrella could transform into dark-attribute dual swords.

The umbrella ribs supporting the umbrella surface could be detached and equipped on the wrist, becoming a claw-type weapon for the Grappler class.

The umbrella surface could be retracted, cut horizontally into a fan shape, and arranged on the umbrella shaft, with a strange shape that looked like a giant axe, but was actually a greatsword of the Swordmaster class.

The above three forms, plus the nine existing forms of the Myriad Manifestations Umbrella, totaled twelve forms. Guan Rongfei was indeed a talented figure in equipment research. He didn't copy the developer's ideas for the Myriad Manifestations Umbrella without any changes, because he could see that the developer's ideas stopped at Level 50. What new materials were available after Level 50? What new attributes did the game have? The developer probably didn't know. And Guan Rongfei boldly added new things to the old ideas, raising the Myriad Manifestations Umbrella to a higher level.

For the purpose of using low-level skills, the Myriad Manifestations Umbrella only needed to have six weapon forms from six different classes. However, having more transformation forms would lead to more forms of expression, which could further enrich the varied combat style of the Unspecialized class. Moreover, with the current method of using different skills on different forms of the Myriad Manifestations Umbrella, three more forms meant three more non-awakening skills of that class.

In the end, there were twelve forms: two Swordmaster-class forms, one Gunner-class form, two Grappler-class forms, three Priest-class forms, two Magician-class forms, and two Assassin-class forms. The distribution was relatively even.

Everyone, including Ye Xiu, was seizing the time to adapt to these new equipment. Chang Xian, a reporter from *Electronic Sports Home*, would call occasionally these days, and sometimes even sneak into Happy Internet Cafe. After all, as a reporter, collecting information was his main job. Although he knew that no team liked to be disturbed at this time, Chang Xian had to bite the bullet and try to get something out of them.

However, after coming so many times, he had only seen the boss, Chen Guo, besides the team members.

Running into the boss directly when visiting a team immediately exposed Happy's status as a new team. No other team's boss was like Happy's Chen Guo, acting like a front desk receptionist, easier to meet than any of the team's players. Other reporters running around covering teams would probably be overjoyed to encounter such a situation.

But Happy was an exception. Chang Xian sneaked into Happy again this day, and as soon as he entered, he saw Chen Guo smiling at him. He could only give a helpless and bitter smile: "Sister Chen..."

"What, are you unhappy to see me!" Chen Guo said. She was also just learning how to deal with the media, but the reporter she interacted with most often, Chang Xian, happened to be a newbie who had just entered the industry. He was honest and kind, far less cunning than some older reporters, so Chen Guo had always been more than capable of dealing with him.

"No, no," Chang Xian replied quickly. How could he dare offend Chen Guo! Although she seemed like a front desk receptionist who could be met as soon as one came, she was truly the boss, and that was the real deal.

"Sister Chen, I've come so many times, can't you give me some inside information!" Chang Xian was practically pleading.

"There's really no inside information. We just don't want to be disturbed, so we're in closed-door training, striving for the championship!" Chen Guo said cheerfully.

Chang Xian had heard these words many times, but he couldn't believe them. Although he was still a newbie in the industry, he had developed a lot of skill in observing people's expressions over the past few years. Plus, Chen Guo was simply not a person who liked to hide things. Just looking at the joyful look on her face when she said these words to Chang Xian, the connotation of "I have inside information but I won't tell you" was written all over her face.

"Ah, Sister Chen, can you let me meet Brother Ye and the others, and ask them for their views on the first round match!" Chang Xian was about to cry. Don't think that Chen Guo was writing "I have inside information" directly on her face, but she just wouldn't say it. Chang Xian had no way to make her talk. She was clearly enjoying the pleasure of "I have a secret but I won't tell you"!

"They're really busy. Wait a few days!" Chen Guo replied earnestly and seriously.

"Then, Sister Chen, what do you think of the first round?" Chang Xian had no choice but to settle for Chen Guo.

Yes, settle!

For other teams, it would be incredibly difficult to interview the team's real boss even once. But in Happy, this was settling, because it was too easy to meet Chen Guo. Chang Xian had encountered Chen Guo countless times when he was just eating fried noodles at a street food stall at the intersection. They were so familiar that they were like family, with no sense of mystery at all. So Chang Xian also knew that Chen Guo, this boss, was somewhat special. Sometimes it felt like she was simply a boss in name only. Many things in Team Happy were basically not decided by her, the boss. Of course, from Happy's registration information in the Alliance, as well as the business registration information under the name of Happy Club, Chen Guo was indeed the genuine owner of Happy, the biggest boss.

This boss was somewhat of a puppet, but she was happily and willingly acting as a puppet. If Chang Xian had to summarize it in one sentence, he could only say three words: true fan!

Yes, true fan!

Compared to Xia Zhongtian, the crown prince of Ming's Tea who jumped out to take over Excellent Era after its disbandment, Chen Guo seemed much more like a true fan. Xia Zhongtian had much more control over the new Excellent Era than Chen Guo did, and he also acted like a proper club owner. Chang Xian, as a reporter stationed in City H, had of course also covered the current Excellent Era.

Chang Xian really didn't know what to say about a boss like Chen Guo.

As a friend, she was of course very good, and also pleasing to the eye. But as an interview subject, this sharp individual's interview value was extremely limited. Chang Xian felt annoyed just thinking about it. He saw the boss of Happy all the time, but couldn't dig up any inside information about Happy's preparations. It would be a joke if he told anyone about this!

"The first round, defeat Blue Rain, what else is there to say?" Chen Guo said.

Chang Xian was in tears. It was really uninformative! He had expected this, so he didn't even bother to turn on the recorder.

"Are there any targeted tactical arrangements?" Chang Xian asked.

"That's a secret, can't say," Chen Guo smiled.

Secret, my foot, you just don't know, do you! Chang Xian continued to cry.

"Will Elder Wei play in the match against Blue Rain? He has a great relationship with Blue Rain!" Chang Xian asked again.

"This depends on the technical and tactical needs. We won't deliberately arrange any matchups just to create a spectacle," Chen Guo said seriously.

I'll go, you're talking like an expert. Who taught you that! Chang Xian subconsciously looked left and right, as if someone in this internet cafe would be transmitting a secret message to Chang Xian.

"Xiao Chang, sit down for a while, I'm going out to buy something," Chen Guo said at this moment.

Chang Xian nodded helplessly. See! This was the boss of Happy, so ordinary. Chang Xian watched Chen Guo leave the internet cafe, then casually enter a liquor and cigarette store on the side of the road, and come out with a carton of cigarettes after a while.

So she was buying cigarettes for Ye Xiu and Wei Chen! Chang Xian was too familiar with Happy, and immediately understood the cause and effect.

"Xiao Chang, sit for a while longer, I'll take these things upstairs!" Chen Guo came back, waved the cigarettes in her hand at Chang Xian, and went upstairs again.

Too familiar!

Chang Xian continued to cry, they were so familiar that he was no longer treated as an outsider. Chang Xian had thought that this kind of relationship was very good, being able to get so familiar with a team would definitely be very convenient for a team reporter! But now Chang Xian knew that he had become a little too familiar. He was so familiar that he was now a little embarrassed to ask about Happy's preparation details, feeling like he was letting down a friend.

He hadn't grasped the scale of professional interaction! Chang Xian understood this principle too late. After a long while, he saw Chen Guo come downstairs and, in front of Chang Xian, flipped through the internet cafe's recent financial records while chatting with Chang Xian casually.

The boss of Happy believes that all the awards in the regular season should belong to Happy...

This was the information that Chang Xian had gleaned from the chat. But... Could he write a manuscript about this? Could he, could he? People were treating him as a friend, giving him a private, joking complaint! Of course, he couldn't write this out.

What should he do?

*Electronic Sports Weekly* was about to publish a special issue on the Glory playoffs. This issue before the start of the competition was supposed to cover the preparations of the various teams. How was he going to submit a manuscript about Happy?