After reaching a strategic consensus with Qin Feng, Lin Haoming, as if he had obtained a precise roadmap, quickly devoted all his energy to the formation of the Star Sea Team. He deeply understood that this was not just about creating a content benchmark for Star Sea Live, but also a crucial part of Qin Feng's grand professionalization blueprint, and he had to set an example and establish standards.
Lin Haoming did not ostentatiously wave his checkbook to poach famous professional players. Instead, he fully adopted Qin Feng's suggestion and turned his attention to the "uncut gems" in the high-ranking segments of the national server who had not yet been fully polished by the professional system. He assembled a team of senior game understanding analysts and scouts, who continuously observed (OB) high-ranking matches day and night, analyzed data, and searched for those "rank kings" with sharp operations, outstanding awareness, and potential for team collaboration.
The process was not smooth sailing. Some high-ranking players were content with the generous income brought by live streaming and were resistant to the tedious and strict professional training; others were introverted and found it difficult to integrate into a team. But Lin Haoming's team showed great patience and professional judgment.
Eventually, they successfully signed five young players:
Top laner: ID "Dawnbreaker," known for his deep champion pool and stable anti-pressure ability, he is the team's solid shield.
Jungler: ID "Shadowstrike," with tricky Ideas and strong aggressiveness, he excels at driving the early game rhythm.
Mid laner: ID "Star Orbit," extremely delicate in operations, strong lane pressure, he is one of the team's core carry points.
ADC: ID "Firefly," with astonishing reaction speed and excellent ability to find output positions in team fights.
Support: ID "Bulwark" (coincidentally sharing an ID with a player from a previous team, but not the same person), with an excellent overall view, seasoned in vision control and initiation timing.
The players being in place was just the first step. Lin Haoming knew that a true professional team was far more than just five people playing games together. He invested heavily to build what was then considered the top-tier team infrastructure in the country:
He rented a secluded detached villa in the suburbs as the team's training and living base. It was equipped with a dedicated training room, top-tier esports peripherals, and high-speed internet; there were independent review meeting rooms, a fitness area, and comfortable single dormitories.
He hired a head coach with many years of MOBA game coaching experience, known for his rigorous tactics and detailed data analysis, and also assigned a dedicated data analyst responsible for studying patches, analyzing opponents, and formulating strategies.
He provided a dedicated team leader responsible for managing player schedules and communication coordination; hired a nutritionist to customize scientific diets for players to ensure their physical condition; and even established a partnership with a physiotherapy center to regularly provide players with physical conditioning and injury prevention.
Most importantly, Lin Haoming, referencing preliminary professional standards, provided clear, reasonable, and secure compensation contracts for all players and staff. Base salary, prize money sharing, live streaming contracts (tied to Star Sea Live), and other terms were clearly stated, far exceeding their previous income as rank kings or participants in semi-professional competitions. This not only alleviated the players' worries but also sent a clear signal: playing professionally is a legitimate and promising career.
Once the team was assembled, they did not undergo long periods of closed training. Lin Haoming kept Qin Feng's advice in mind and quickly began to register the team for various online and offline amateur competitions.
Initially, they participated in some smaller online platform cup tournaments. Due to insufficient team cohesion and poor communication among team members, their performance fluctuated. Sometimes they could overwhelm opponents with individual skill, and sometimes they would suffer upset losses to unknown teams due to unfamiliar coordination.
Some voices of doubt also appeared online:
"Star Sea Team? Just rich kids playing around, right?"
"Individual abilities are good, but they play like a disorganized mess."
"Their coordination is worse than my diamond rank team."
Facing these voices, Lin Haoming showed his composure as a manager. He did not interfere with the coaching staff's training, nor did he put extra pressure on the players. Instead, he demanded that the team treat every match, regardless of win or loss, as valuable experience and a source of data.
The coaching staff led the players to repeatedly review each game, analyze every mistake, refine communication signals, and practice various tactical combinations. Gradually, the team's synergy began to improve.
Subsequently, Lin Haoming had the team start participating in some smaller offline internet cafe tournaments and city challenge cups. The atmosphere of offline competitions was completely different from online, posing a great test to the players' psychological resilience and on-the-spot performance.
In their first offline competition, facing the gaze of the live audience and the shouts of their opponents, several young players were visibly nervous, their operations faltered, and they ultimately lost regrettably. Back at the base, the coach and team leader did not reprimand them but instead helped them with psychological counseling and analyzed the characteristics of offline competitions.
Second time, third time... As they accumulated more competition experience, the players of the Star Sea Team gradually adapted to the rhythm of offline competitions. They began to achieve placements in some local competitions and even won a city internet cafe championship.
Although the prize money and influence of these competitions were limited, their significance was great. Every time they appeared, the team strictly adhered to the requirements, presenting themselves as the complete image of the Star Sea Team, with the prominent platform logo printed on their uniforms. And Star Sea Live, as Qin Feng suggested, naturally became the exclusive online live streaming platform for these events.
Thus, when audiences watched local competitions on Star Sea Live, they repeatedly saw this well-equipped, professionally presented, and steadily improving Star Sea Team. The platform's exposure and the team's popularity formed a virtuous cycle of mutual promotion.
Lin Haoming's move was quietly taking effect. The existence of the Star Sea Team, like a stone dropped into a lake, began to create ripples in the domestic esports scene, showcasing a new, formalized club operation model to other observing capital. And all this data and effect were also compiled and sent to Qin Feng's desk through internal channels.
Qin Feng's professionalization puzzle, thanks to Lin Haoming's solid practice, had another crucial piece filled in. The grassroots soil was being quietly cultivated, just waiting for the moment when the seed named "Professional League" would break through the ground.