Very few players still remembered the early days of League of Legends. The days before it turned into a world-wide sensation. Even in those days though, there was a group of professional players who were better than anyone else; the Unrivalled Ten. But that title, that group, had long since lost all meaning. People that were into League today wouldn’t give a rat’s ass if someone talked about the Unrivalled Ten from back then. If anyone bothered to even engage with that now, they’d say that “Unrivalled Ten” didn’t mean anything since there were probably only ten professional players back then. There really weren’t many players back then, and being the best of that small group just didn’t mean much. The argument had an internally consistent logic to it, and common sense validated its truth. Then they’d go on to talk about how much the competitive scene had changed since the Season 1 days. If you happened to be having this debate with someone who was into both webnovels and League of Legends, then they might add some profoundly douche-adjacent flavor to the argument like, “Monkeys proclaiming themselves Kings on a mountain with no tiger.” Or even exclaim that, “those early pros were nothing more than big fish in a small pond!”

Lin Feng knew guys like that. Guys who thought they were 200IQ every time League was brought up, believing that they knew everything about the old days just from a few highlight clips and what they’d heard about the players back then. Lin Feng belonged to the small group of players who knew how wrong those guys were, who understood how misguided this belief was. It goes without saying that a lot of the professional players from Season 1 no longer played competitively or had quit League of Legends completely. But there were also a few who continued to play at the highest level. The most important thing to know, though, was that six players from the Unrivalled Ten still continued to play League of Legends. Four of them ranked among the Seven Kings and Four Emperors. The most famous ones were the midlaners Rake and Phoenix, who ranked first and third in the Unrivalled Ten. They still competed in every big event, and they were both in the Four Emperors. The other two were part of the Seven Kings, one being from Europe and the other one from North America. They weren’t just celebrities in the esports world, they were Gods. Everyone who knew even the tiniest bit about the competitive scene knew their names, and even people outside esports knew of them.

Thinking about the Unrivalled Ten reminded Lin Feng about his old team, and he thought about them while scratching the back of his head. His old team had some amazing players now that he thought about it. One of them was Fatty, who was given the loving nickname of “God Roundy” by his fans. He ranked 13th, just outside of the Unrivalled Ten. Then there was the support who made it onto the Unrivalled Ten list in tenth place. Finally there was Lin Feng himself. Until the finals of the Season 1 World Championships, he shared the number one position with SSK’s Rake.

✹

Now that the teams and groups for the Season 5 League of Legends World Championships were announced, people started counting down the days until it started. The excitement and competitive spirit of the event was infectious, and many Chinese players caught the bug. They tried climbing the ranked ladder to show their friends how high they could get before the season ended. Of course, there were also those who were more interested in the spectator side of esports. They didn’t really care all that much about playing ranked games or climbing. Instead, they spent every minute of their free time on Huya, memeing around in chat or getting into intense debates as they watched their favourite streamers climb up or down the ranked ladder.

This also led to a massive influx of new viewers on HuyaTV. Everyone wanted to get in on the fun. Su Xue was one of the many streamers whose viewer count skyrocketed as Worlds approached. It wasn’t all sunshine and roses though. Getting a bunch of new viewers during a temporary surge wasn’t worth much. Retaining them, converting them into permanent viewers required a lot of effort. Su Xue worked a lot harder than the majority of the other streamers. She was willing to grind, build up her viewership, instead of treating it as a casual hobby. But she was getting run down trying to entertain all of these new viewers while still keeping her old ones. Before the surge, she’d start her stream in the afternoon and end around 1 or 2 AM. But all the new people jumping on wanted more, they wanted her to stream more than the 10 hours she’d been doing. Every time she announced that the stream was going to end soon at 1 AM, they’d plead with her to stay longer. Some even started demanding that she continue longer.

「Nooooo! Don’t goooo!」
「One more game! Pplssssss pls pls pls one more game!!!!」
「how about an inhouse?」

Su Xue didn’t have the heart to refuse such passionate appeals from her viewers. But her eyes refused to stay open. She nodded off in the middle of a game. So she ordered delivery at a 24-hour shop and gobbled down the food for some extra energy. Then it was back to playing until the clock finally hit 3 AM. She could barely keep her eyes open. When the game ended, she stretched her back against the seat and yawned, “That’s it, guys. It’s 3 AM. Ima sleep.”

「sleep is for the weak!」
「you already up till 3, what’s another few hours! Come on, keep going!」
「The sun will rise soon, my beautiful Su Xue. Shall we watch it together?」
「The rays of dawn will make you radiant」
「Dawn is special…」
「Its the time when all that’s best of dark and bright」
「meet in your aspect, in your eyes」
「mellowed in that tender light」
「On that cheek…. Over that brow」
「….」
「that guy ^ … wtf?!?!?!?!?! Goin in too hard」
「HAHAHAHAAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH」
「This guy forreal?」
「two more games and i’ll send you a gift」

By the time 4 AM rolled around, Su Xue was teetering on the edge, on the verge of mental collapse. She flopped forward over her desk and begged her viewers, “AAHHHHH! Please guys, let me sleeeeep! I don’t care about the gifts anymore… stop sending them. I’m so tired! Wahhhhh!”

「no sleep, only leagueeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!」
「the true pros sleep in queue! Iv seen it!」
「Ye! DO THAT! WE’ll wake you when queue pops!!!」

Despite the lack of sleep, Su Xue couldn’t be any happier. It wasn’t too long ago that she quit her old job to become a League of Legends streamer. The first few weeks were the hardest. She didn’t really make any money and couldn’t even afford to pay her rent anymore. But the past few days had changed all of that. All her grinding was starting to pay off. After putting in many, many hours of work to bring her viewers entertainment, she consistently hit 800 viewers in every stream. There were even times when she peaked as high as 1,600 viewers!

✹

“Oh? Sho, ur shtream ish doin pre’ey goo—?” Lin Feng asked, shovelling the food from his bowl into his mouth.

“Yeaaahhh… But I’m dying!” Su Xue suddenly grabbed Lin Feng by his arms and forced him to look at her exhausted face. “Look at these bags under my eyes! The dark circles are getting so dark that makeup can’t hide them anymore! Lin Feng, you gotta help me! I’m going to start getting wrinkles! Listen… maybe five hours. I haven’t gotten more than five hours of sleep a night in the past few days… I can’t keep this up!”

“Eh? How am I supposed to help you?” Lin Feng asked.

“Take over the stream for a bit! Please?” Su Xue immediately replied. Then she stared at him with what she thought were sad puppy dog eyes. They looked more like sad raccoon eyes at this point though. “Don’t you have a bit of free time every night after you finish your homework? It’s just for a bit! I just want a small nap, and I’ll take back over at midnight!”

“Oh, Hm… I dunno… I don’t really think I want to be a streamer and… there’s nothing really in it for me.” Lin Feng looked troubled.

Su Xue bit her lips. She knew what had to be done. “I’ll make you one extra dish every night!”

Lin Feng stuck out two fingers. “Two!”

Su Xue glared at him. “One! Take it or leave it!”

“Done!” Lin Feng agreed and put his hand out to shake on the deal. After they shook hands, Lin Feng thought it over again. He was too hasty. He realized that he probably could’ve gotten more out of her if he’d haggled better. His negotiation skills needed improvement. Tang Bingyao does this all the time! He’d go to Tang Bingyao later and ask her to teach him. Also. Now that he was thinking about Tang Bingyao, there was something strange happening with their duo sessions at the NetCow Cafe these days. A few uninvited guests kept tagging along.

✹

“Come on, Lin Feng bro! Let’s do a 5-man!” Ouyang called out, sticking his head out from behind the computer the next row over. “We have exactly five people too! Think about it! Is there anything more awesome than playing a game with all your friends at an internet cafe?”

“I’m duoing with Tang Tang. She has to fulfill her orders,” Lin Feng replied.

Tang Bingyao nodded in affirmation.

“Orders? Hot diggity-dawg! Tang Tang, you boost people?!” Ouyang asked.

Yang Fan adjusted his glasses and sighed in admiration. “No wonder you’re so good. A professional ELO booster, hm…?”

Ren Rou glanced at Yang Fan. “Putting the chicken before the egg there, buddy. She’s a booster because she’s so good. That’s why she gets orders.”

Yang Fan shrugged. “Sure. But boosting accounts probably helps you get better.”

“That depends on what kind of accounts you’re boosting and to what rank.” Ren Rou looked over at Tang Bingyao and asked, “What are your orders usually like?”

“Platinum and Diamond for the most part,” Tang Bingyao replied. But her voice had a slight tinge of regret as she replied. The higher the rank, the more money she made. She really wanted to take orders to boost up to Diamond 1. Maybe even Master. But when she brought it up to Lin Feng, he refused to help. The conversation went something like this:
“Can we take Diamond 1 orders?”
“Mhm… huh? No!”
“Why not?”
“Because you’re not good enough.”
“But you are. Can’t you carry me?”
“You’re right. I am and I could. But I charge a fee for that.”

Just the thought of having to pay Lin Feng was enough for Tang Bingyao to drop the subject. She’d have to get better if she wanted to take on higher-paying orders. Then she wouldn’t have to rely on Lin Feng and she could keep all the money!

Tang Bingyao’s thoughts drifted back to the esports club tryouts. The team had gladly accepted her as their main ad-carry after her stellar performance against Luo Tianming. As for Lin Feng, he became the club’s secret weapon. After Ren Rou, Ouyang, and Yang Fan had recovered from the initial shock, they quickly came up with a plan. They decided to spread a rumour that Lin Feng had just gotten lucky during tryouts and that he was a LeBlanc one-trick pony. They also added that Luo Tianming wasn’t all that good. They said everything they could to convince the crowd of first years and anyone else who’d seen the game that Lin Feng wasn’t nearly as good as he looked during that game. For now, they wanted to keep his skills and identity under a tight heavy lid.

“We gotta keep this on the downlow! And we gotta make sure to keep telling people that Luo Tianming is a shithead, it’s for the sake of confidentiality!” Ouyang said.

Ren Rou and Yang Fan agreed with Ouyang. News of a Challenger appearing in their esports club would spread like wildfire without some damage control.

“In the last Shanghai 16 School Tournament, our strategies got leaked and our opponent crushed us. We were out before the first round even ended,” Yang Fan explained. “We later learned that one of our members had a big mouth and talked about what we were planning to his friend. That friend? He was a spy! Our first opponent sent him in to gather information!”

“Wow! So extreme! Sounds like something straight out of a spy movie!” Lin Feng exclaimed.

Tang Bingyao nodded in agreement.

“We might be going a bit overboard, but it doesn’t hurt to be careful, especially after last year,” Ren Rou said. She clenched her fists. “We’ll definitely get our revenge this year!”

News of the group stage draw took away all hunger from Lin Feng. He abandoned the rest of his meal and brought his chair to sit next to Su Xue. Then he tilted his head towards her shoulder to look at her phone’s screen. She had the official Riot Games website open.

“What are you doing? Don’t you have your own phone that you can look at this on?” Su Xue asked, annoyed.

“Nah, nah. That’s too much of a hassle for this,” Lin Feng said, waving her complaints away. Then he leaned over even more, basically leaning on Su Xue, and asked, “Hey, can you move your screen over a little? It’s a little hard to see right now.”

“Really! Are you really that lazy?” Su Xue exclaimed. But she still tilted her phone screen so that Lin Feng could see it better, and ruffled his messy hair.

Lin Feng reached over and tilted Su Xue’s phone a little more. Then he scrolled down a little until he got to the groups for the Season 5 World Championships of League of Legends. His eyes jumped across the groups, searching for the Chinese representatives. There were three of them. KG in Group A, Hand of God in Group B, and Dust in Group D.

KG, which was the only Chinese team composed exclusively of Chinese players, had gotten a little bit lucky with Group A. Their real opponents were Europe’s first seed–Legend and North America’s third seed–Flash. The final team in group A was a wildcard team, and that was the small bit of luck that KG received. Wildcard teams came from smaller regions with less competition, so they were considered weaker teams.

Things were a little bit more difficult for Hand of God in Group B. The other teams in Group B were their old Korean rival Fate, the second seed from North America–COG, and the second seed from Europe–Gold.

That said, both Group A and Group B were difficult groups to be in, and it was an uphill battle for the Chinese teams to make it through to the next round. But Group D, well, Group D was something else. If Groups A and B were considered ‘uphill battles’, winning in Group D could only rightfully be described as scaling a mountain. The Chinese team Dust had to face two of the best teams in the entire world. Both from Korea, Warrior and SSK. Between the two, SSK was the one to watch out for. They were the reigning world champions returning to defend their title.

“Oh my god. Dust! I feel so bad for those guys,” Su Xue sympathetically exclaimed. “Everyone online is talking about how the Korean teams are the strongest. How unlucky! How did Dust get so terribly unlucky that they got pulled into a group with both of them?”

Lin Feng nodded. “Hm… Yeah. Yeah, that’s uh… Yeah, that is a bit unlucky.”

Since the start of Season 4, Korea was recognized as the strongest region by fans, players, and analysts. To put it more bluntly, they had several teams who could challenge the best teams from around the world and win. The rules of the World Championships stipulated that only three teams from the four large regions [NA, EU, CN, KR] could enter. So the three Korean teams that were playing were the best in the region. The selection process in Korea to get one of those three spots was especially bloody. The three teams that made it through were all considered title contenders at Worlds.

What made the Korean teams so much better than the teams in the other regions? That was the natural question. The one that everyone who played, watched, and was involved in the competitive league scene constantly asked and considered. And it always came down to the same answer. The teams from Korea were good as a whole, but that wasn’t what put them over the edge. Of the 11 players in the Seven Kings and Four Emperors, each of the Korean teams had at least one. SSK even had an Emperor and a King. And their Emperor wasn’t just any Emperor. He was The Emperor. The one that sat on the throne as Sovereign. Rake.

Lin Feng read over the team names in Group D. When his eyes landed on the name SSK in the bracket, they paused. He clenched his fist. Rake! Just you wait. I’ll climb all the way back up to where you are now! And this time? This time I’ll win!

Su Xue ruffled Lin Feng’s hair again, making him snap back to reality, and said, “Look at Group B. HoG’s luck isn’t that great either. Fate has an Emperor on their team. I mean, HoG has Hermes, but he’s only a King. There’s a huge difference between a King and an Emperor.” Su Xue was a huge fan of the Four Emperors and Seven Kings. Their biggest fan, in her mind. From their strengths in-game to their favourite foods to their preferred keyboards, Su Xue knew it all. She watched every interview, read every article, followed their socials.

Lin Feng scratched the back of his head. “I dunno about all that. Maybe. Maybe not? I think it’ll be a close game.”

Individual talent was important. That was true of any competitive sport, and esports were no exception. But just because one team had an Emperor and the other team only had a King, that wasn’t particularly decisive. At this level of play, an Emperor could not hard-carry a team to victory. It wasn’t a matchup between an Emperor and a King. It was a match between two teams. If a team wanted to win on the world stage, at the highest level of competitive gaming, team synergy was far more important than individual skill or having one great player.

A similar matchup occurred during the Season 5 Mid-Season Invitational, and was the best example of this. It was Hand of God against Fate in a best of five series. The two teams played against each other in three games where Hand of God won two and lost once. The tense fourth game would decide if Fate would mount a comeback or if Hand of God would be the victor. Hand of God’s midlaner, Daybreak Hermes was one of the Seven Kings. Fate’s midlaner Moon was one of the Four Emperors. It was a head-to-head between an Emperor and a King in midlane! Hermes’ impressive performance with Orianna proved that he was worthy of his Crown. He kept Moon’s Viktor at bay long enough for the rest of his team to get to the mid-game phase relatively unobstructed. This allowed Hand of God an advantage, a small one, which they used and pushed into the late-game phase until they ultimately destroyed the enemy nexus.

The Chinese fans went wild over this victory. They spammed Hermes for days and talked about the series for weeks. The legendary match was known as the “Battle of the Star and Moon Emperor”. Star Emperor was the nickname Chinese fans had given Hermes. Winning the MSI series didn’t actually make him an Emperor. Fate’s Moon, on the other hand, was a real Emperor and ranked 3rd out of the 4. The Mid-Season Invitational where HoG had triumphed over Fate was the first time that a team with a King had beaten a team with an Emperor. It also shattered the myth that the 4 Emperors were undefeatable and gave all of the players in China hope.

Su Xue rubbed her chin. “Hmm, I guess you’re right.”

Lin Feng continued, “Besides, HoG is coming into Worlds after beating Fate in the MSI. That’s bound to put some pressure on Fate.”

Su Xue looked up at Lin Feng with a hint of surprise, “Oh, that actually sounds kinda logical. You know a lot about this stuff, huh?”

Lin Feng squared his shoulders, puffed up his chest and thumped it. “I’m really good at being an analyst too!”

Lin Feng’s nonchalant bragging washed away the surprise and admiration Su Xue had felt a moment ago. She pursed her lips for a second and then shoved her phone into Lin Feng’s face. “Alright then Mr. Smartypants Analyst! Take a look at Group A and analyze that for me!”

“Group A? Hmm… okay. Group A, huh?” Lin Feng looked at the teams in Group A. Then he took a quick look at the other groups and considered it for a second. “Alright. Hm… I’m going to say Group A and Group B are about the same.”

Su Xue looked at Lin Feng, perplexed. “No way, right? Look at Group A! Those are all second rate teams, and none of them have a single Korean! That North American team is basically the same as a wildcard team. And the wildcard team is a wildcard team! They’re both easy wins! The European team, that one isn’t bad. Actually, maybe they’re even a little good. But that doesn’t really matter. They don’t even have any Koreans either!”

Lin Feng shook his head. “Nah, nah. Don’t look at it like that. You can’t underestimate North America and Europe. They aren’t weak. And they’re really not all that far behind compared to Korea…” Lin Feng shook his head again. “Besides… you really shouldn’t look down on the wildcard teams either. They can be really strong! No one pays attention to them, right? So you never know when a dark horse will show up.”

Few players remembered this, especially in the current Korean-dominated scene, but way back in Season 1 neither China nor Korea were big names in the competitive circuit for League of Legends. The early days of competitive League of Legends were dominated by North America and Europe. In the Season 1 World Championships, both China and Korea received a single wildcard slot while North America and Europe got three tickets for a final roster of eight teams.

Reading the team names and recognizing some of them made Lin Feng reminisce on the past. On the Season 1 World Championship. Memories flooded his mind, flipping open like the pages of an old book. The good times. And the bad times. Memories of both joy and pain.

The Chinese League of Legends player base was still small back then. Lin Feng played for the best Chinese team in those days. They even qualified to represent China at the World Championships! The Chinese fans and players all supported them, cheered them on. There were even some who bought plane tickets and flew across the world to watch them play at Worlds!

The Season 1 World Championship was nothing like the grand events Riot held nowadays. Back then, the event took place in a small convention center in London. The stands weren’t packed full of cheering fans. The stage didn’t have fancy lights. There were no insane displays for the people watching or showmanship. There were only two rows of five computers set side by side. It looked exactly like the small local tournaments held in most internet cafes. The scale of the event was small. The rules weren’t all that strict either, nor were they heavily enforced. Lin Feng didn’t meet the minimum age requirement of 16, but the event organizers and officials compromised and allowed him to compete.

At the Season 1 World Championship, Lin Feng stood on the stage that nearly every person who played League of Legends dreamed of standing on. He got to play against the strongest teams in the entire world. Even now, years later, his memories of those European and North American teams remained crystal clear. One European team was particularly difficult to forget about. He played a best of 5 series against them that was etched into his mind. It was one of the hardest series he’d ever played. One he’d almost lost. But also the one that saw his team go through to the semifinals. The European team’s midlaner had left a deep impression on him!

Many people felt that League of Legends had changed significantly since those ancient times back in Season 1. They believed that the World Championships back then were an inconsequential event, and that the players who competed back in Season 1 were nothing compared to the professional competitive gamers of today.

But Lin Feng knew they were completely wrong. They had no idea how wrong they were. Not like him. Phoenix, the European midlaner, the one who’d given him some of the most trouble in all his time playing League, still played competitively to this day. And at the very highest level! Phoenix was one of the Four Emperors, and the only European in their ranks!

Luo Tianming was rendered speechless once the Tristana player pointed out his mistakes. All his rage turned impotent. Only 9 minutes into the game, and his Orianna was at a pitiful 0/2/0. He didn’t even have an assist! There was nothing he could say. No defense of his play. He wanted to blame someone else. His teammates, the LeBlanc, literally just anyone else. But those would all be hollow lies. The only one he could blame was himself.

Lin Feng’s LeBlanc completely dominated mid lane. She pushed every minion wave relentlessly forward, and Luo Tianming could only hunker down underneath his tower. If he went back to base, he’d lose out on gold and experience. And it would put his tower’s health into jeopardy. Then he decided to try roaming, going up to top or down to bot lane. That didn’t work out well for him either. Not to mention that every time he tried this, all of the enemy champions seemed to be aware of his incoming gank the second he left mid lane.

Lin Feng was to blame for all of this. Besides making life hell for Luo Tianming in lane, he also spent gold on vision wards and sight wards. They were placed all around mid lane, and everywhere else his teammates failed to ward. On top of that, whenever Orianna left the lane for even a few seconds, he would ping both bot and top lane that an enemy was missing. A flashing red exclamation point that served as a warning to be careful and retreat to tower safety.

Lin Feng kept the pings going for the entire time that the Orianna wasn’t in mid lane. It was an annoying thing to do. Lin Feng knew it was annoying. But this was honestly the best way to make sure that Silver-ranked players were aware of the incoming threat and constantly wary. One or two pings could be missed. Or just ignored. But a constant and steady stream of pings was enough to force even the worst League players to follow common sense and get to safety. Even the ones that decided to be stubborn.

In the end, it was only Luo Tianming who lost out. His time spent away from mid lane was wasted. He had quite literally nothing to show for it. Not only did he fail to find any opportunities to gank, but he also lost out on all the gold and experience from the minion waves in mid lane. The gap between his Orianna and the LeBlanc only continued to widen in every facet of the game.

✹

The first dragon went to the blue team. Luo Tianming could only watch it happen after retreating to a safe distance. The LeBlanc was still extremely dangerous. She could turn around at any moment and burst him down. He gritted his teeth, his pent up rage overwhelming him. He wanted to murder someone! Then the target of his hatred turned to himself. Inconsolable and indignant, this was the perfect way to describe his current mental state.

11 minutes into the game. Luo Tianming pushed the minion wave in mid lane. He wanted to snag some extra gold and experience, so he went to the Wraith Camp and started attacking the jungle monsters there. Little did he know that the LeBlanc was already there, invisible in the brush nearby, waiting for the right moment to ambush him. Luo Tianming scrolled across the map to check on the other lanes and keep an eye on the flow of the game while his Orianna attacked the wraiths. Then his screen turned grey with no warning.

Dead. Again. Luo Tianming had to look at that grey screen again and count down the seconds until his revival. He now had three deaths and still nothing to show for it. Metaphorical dark clouds gathered around his head and thunder and lightning came crashing down on him. His dream of making the esports club main team was crushed. He started muttering, “This can’t be possible. This can’t be. It wasn’t supposed to go like this…”

Luo Tianming wanted nothing more than for all of this to be a bad dream. A very, very bad dream. But it wasn’t. This was real life, and it was harsh. His Orianna kept dying over and over again. Soon, she would be worth no more than a cannon minion, while the LeBlanc was just a few kills away from becoming Legendary.

《Double kill!》
《Dominating!》

Every time the game announcer announced LeBlanc’s next kill, it would be accompanied by gasps of shock from the crowd of first years. Lin Feng’s LeBlanc was putting on a really good show for them!

LeBlanc snowballed so hard that a three-spell combo with her ultimate could kill just about anyone on the enemy team. Especially a squishy ad-carry like Tristana. Even a two-skill combo from the LeBlanc was enough to surgically cleave away half of Tristana’s health. But the Tristana refused to give up. She tried her best to turn the tide for her team. After all, the LeBlanc was only one champion in a team of five and League of Legends was a team game! She played well, she really did. And she continued doing well, but that just wasn’t enough. She couldn’t compete against the LeBlanc. This enemy was too fed and constantly popped out of nowhere to burst her down. It didn’t matter how careful she was, she would always end up being picked off right before a teamfight started. So as far as this game was concerned, there never were any teamfights. This game never entered the teamfight phase. There was no way to win based on teamwork.

《Legendary!》

When the game announcer’s voice rang out across the rift to announce Lin Feng’s Legendary status, the red team unanimously voted to surrender. The game lasted a little more than 20 minutes. In these 20 minutes, the blue team secured a one-sided victory. Lin Feng had made sure that not just his LeBlanc got fed, but that his entire team did. After helping the Darius in top lane, the player had pushed Rumble all the way back to his fountain, taking down three towers and an inhibitor in the process. All the while, Lin Feng himself was pushing hard in mid lane. He’d taken down three towers and was attacking the inhibitor when the surrender vote went through.

The red team never stood a chance to mount a comeback. The game was too far gone. After they surrendered, the chaotic energy in their nexus twisted and warped before exploding. The second game was over. The blue team had achieved victory.

Luo Tianming slumped back into his seat with a dazed look on his face. His eyes were locked on his stats in the post-game lobby. 0 kills. 5 deaths. 3 assists. He simply couldn’t believe this just happened.

Ouyang was ready. There was no possible universe in which he’d miss this opportunity to rub salt all over Luo Tianming’s bleeding ego. He walked over to Luo Tianming and looked him right in the eyes while asking, “Ho? What’s this? No, this can’t be possible, right? Surely my eyes are telling me a lie. Didn’t you tell my Rou Rou not to worry? That you would carry? Show us all how good you are? What was the bullshit you were saying again?” Ouyang flashed a bright smile, “That you would hardcarry your team? Right? Actually. I understand now. I get it! I’m a dumbfuck! I completely misunderstood what you meant. That was my bad, I sincerely apologize. See, I was stupid and thought you meant that you’d be carrying your team to a win. I should have understood that you were saying that you were planning to HARDCARRY them to a loss. I’m so, so, so sorry about that misunderstanding. I should apologize to your teammates too. If I wasn’t so stupid, I would never have made them play with a loser like you. They might have actually had a shot at winning that game if you weren’t there. But you were right. You are a hard carrying loser.”

“Who the hell is your Rou Rou?” Ren Rou interrupted, shooting Ouyang a glare. Then she turned her attention to Luo Tianming. “We gave you your second chance. You failed again. You have no more complaints, correct?” Her impression of Luo Tianming was already pretty low in the first place. So she’d quite enjoyed watching him being put in his place.

Luo Tianming’s face alternated between various shades of red. He didn’t look up at Ren Rou or Ouyang. Rather, his eyes were still staring at his screen. He simply couldn’t believe it. It felt like his entire world came crumbling down around him. Finally, he pushed his chair back, knocking into several people behind him. But he didn’t care. He pushed harder, then got to his feet and forced himself through the crowd. The shouts of the angered first years didn’t even reach his ears.

“Hey hey! You’re gonna leave just like that? WAIT! WAIT! What if there’s another team that wants to be hard carried to victory? They might need you!” Ouyang reached out his hand.

“Enough!” Ren Rou smacked Ouyang’s hand down. “It’s over. Let’s move on to the next game.”

✹

The third tryout game for the esports club started. The 10 new players entered the game and were ready to show off their skills. But no one in the crowd was really looking. Instead, they kept shifting their gazes towards Lin Feng. His Legendary LeBlanc had stolen their hearts! She dealt an insane amount of damage, while also making all sorts of godly plays! It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that she could jump into the heart of the enemy team, kill any one of their champions, and jump back out unscathed! They couldn’t help but feel a sense of reverence towards this upperclassman of theirs!

Ouyang, Yang Fan, and Ren Rou promptly wrapped up their business and ran up to Lin Feng. They were completely amped up from his game! They crowded around him and bombarded him with questions.

“Bro, your LeBlanc was hella cool! Like damn! Even the Changbai Waterfall can’t rain down that much water on that guy! You gotta teach me how to play like that! You got any tips?” Ouyang exclaimed animatedly.

Ren Rou rolled her eyes and pushed Ouyang’s head aside. “Yeah, that’ll work out great Ouyang. But even if he gave you tips, you still wouldn’t be good.” She turned to Lin Feng, “Lin Feng, I never knew you were such a good mid! Why didn’t you tell us?”

Lin Feng scratched his head. “I did. Multiple times. But you guys wouldn’t believe me…”

Tang Bingyao came over and nodded in agreement.

Yang Fan adjusted his glasses with a wry smile. “You have to cut us some slack. How do you expect anyone to believe you’re a Challenger at face value?”

“So, you really are a Challenger? Damn! Really?” Ouyang gasped.

“Err, not exactly. But back when I played I pretty much had the same rank.”

“You stopped?”

“Mhm, I played a lot in season 1. Back then they used the elo-system[mfn]It is basically the same as the current ranked system. You won/lost x amount of points each game depending on whether you won or lost the match. But rather than giving certain point-ranges a rank, back then you just saw your points.[/mfn],” Lin Feng explained.

Ouyang sucked in a cold breath of air. “Holy crap! You already played back in season 1?”

Yang Fan stared at Lin Feng in shock. Not because Lin Feng played League of Legends in season 1, but because of the rank he reached back then. “So you really got to Challenger back then?”

Ren Rou’s eyes lit up. “If that’s true, then we actually have a chance of winning the 16-school tournament!”

✹

The tryouts for the esports club ended close to dinnertime. Lin Feng grabbed his bag and rushed home. When he opened the front door, the smell of dinner welcomed him. Su Xue was already putting the steaming dishes on the table. He sat down with her and started wolfing down the food, telling her about his day between bites.

“So what you’re saying is that you finally got to show off your skills, right?” Su Xue said.

Lin Feng was gobbling up the food like a whirlwind, not even emptying his mouth before replying, “Hyup! Hyup!”

Su Xue chuckled, “How does it feel? They underestimated you for so long, I’m sure it felt great to see their faces, right?”

“Eh, it’s okay. But Ouyang and the other guy said we’ll have to keep it a secret. They want to keep me as a trump card for the upcoming tournament,” Lin Feng said after swallowing his food.

Su Xue nodded, “Makes sense.” Then she paused for a moment before adding, “Though I suppose that with your skills it doesn’t really matter. You’re so good, winning first place in that little inter-school tournament should be easy.”

Lin Feng shifted his focus to a delicious piece of pork cutlet. He put some into his bowl before replying, “Oh, that’s not guaranteed. I heard the other schools taking part are really strong. Our team is a bit unbalanced, so it’ll be difficult.”

Su Xue shrugged, “Just try your best. I believe in you.”

“It’s still a while away though. The tournament starts in like the third week of October.”

“That far away? Group stages for Worlds should be almost done by then!” Su Xue exclaimed. Thinking of Worlds, she suddenly recalled an exciting piece of news. “Oh right! They just finished the group stage draw and announced the groups!”

Lin Feng stopped shovelling food into his mouth, his spoon pausing halfway to his lips. He raised his head with an excited look and said, “They announced the groups? Show me!”

The blue team’s bottom lane needed help. After the failed gank from Rek’Sai, the red team’s Tristana was pulling ahead, dangerously so. She now had two kills under her belt and also had a constantly growing CS lead over Kalista. Everyone watching the game figured that Lin Feng would use his advantage over the Orianna to go down to bot lane and help them out. Prevent them from losing the lane and shutting down the red team’s ad-carry. As far as they knew, an ad-carry with an advantage over the one on the opposing team would only continue to push that lead and widen the gap. That had to be stopped, and Lin Feng’s LeBlanc was the only champion on blue team that could stop that. But Lin Feng knew better, he wasn’t about to win a few skirmishes just to lose the game. Short term gains at the expense of long term losses was not a good strategy, or how games were won. Lin Feng had something completely different in mind.

About a minute earlier, red team’s Jarvan IV had ganked top lane and helped the Rumble kill the Darius. This wasn’t a huge issue for the Darius. He could afford to fall a little behind, especially in the early game. As long as he safely farmed under his tower and scaled into mid game, a single teamfight could see him jump back ahead. This was because of his ultimate skill—Noxian Guillotine. He could leap to an enemy champion and strike a lethal blow with his axe. If he got the kill, the cooldown on his ultimate would reset and he could go again. But the enemy champion he was up against, red team’s Rumble, could not be allowed to snowball. In the early-to-mid game, Rumble only needed a single completed item to decimate the opposing team in a teamfight using his ultimate skill—The Equalizer. He’d fire off a volley of rockets that exploded into a wall of flames, damaging and slowing enemy champions. Hell, even a pair of Sorcerer’s Boots was enough to turn Rumble into a pain for the team he was against.

There was another reason why it was vital not to let the Rumble pull ahead. That was because of the current state of League of Legends, the meta of the game. Some people referred to the current meta as “League of Toplane”. The top laners held so much weight over the direction of the game that they were an even greater threat than the ad-carry. Lin Feng knew that shutting down the Rumble in top lane early and preventing the snowball was an essential objective in winning the game.

At 5:50 minutes into the game, the Orianna was forced out of lane again and recalled back to base. Lin Feng used this opportunity to push out the minion wave, and then disappeared into the fog of war. He roamed through the red team’s top-side jungle and made his way top. Rumble still hadn’t reached level 6 and wasn’t much of a threat without his ultimate.

Lin Feng approached the tri-brush, and started pinging the Darius to engage. The Rumble hesitated for a second, and then started backing up. It looked like he knew something was about to happen, almost like he could sense it or hear Lin Feng’s pings. But he was too far out in the lane. He couldn’t make it back to the safety of his tower before Lin Feng engaged him. “Oh, looks like it’s warded,” Lin Feng mumbled. “Eh… doesn’t matter.”

LeBlanc swiftly passed through the tri-brush and flanked the retreating Rumble. Lin Feng’s pinky and index finger pushed down almost simultaneously, the former a fraction faster. Two malevolent balls of energy—The first a Sigil of Malice and the second a mimicked version—came flying out from LeBlanc’s staff. In the milliseconds before they connected, Lin Feng used Distortion to have his LeBlanc jump onto the Rumble. The two sigils exploded almost simultaneously, and the final crescendo in this orchestra was the splash damage from Distortion. The Rumble’s health dropped to somewhere south of 25%. Then came the Ethereal Chains, wrapping around the Rumble and rooting him in place after a brief delay.

The Darius arrived in the nick of time and hooked the rooted Rumble with his axe. Then he pulled the Rumble back, further from the safety of the red team’s tower, while also slowing him. This was the skill Apprehend. Darius used the time gained from the hook-and-pull with a slow to charge up and spin around, cutting into the Rumble with the sharp edge of his axe which had bonus armor penetration. But it wasn’t enough! The Rumble still had a sliver of health remaining, a brief glimmer of hope, and a chance to escape. But a well-timed auto attack from Lin Feng’s LeBlanc crushed that hope.

《You have slain an enemy!》

This was LeBlanc’s second kill of the game! Lin Feng looked up at his KDA in the top right corner of his screen–2/0/0. “Awesome! I got it!” he exclaimed happily. There was both joy and art in making sure you got the kill, even in team fights and ganks.

✹

Luo Tianming heard the announcement of the Rumble’s death. He glanced at the minimap and saw the LeBlanc’s icon sitting in top lane. He knew exactly what happened. Storm clouds rumbled on Luo Tianming’s forehead. It took every last drop of self-restraint that he possessed to prevent him from screaming at the rest of his teammates. Only bot lane was doing ok for themselves. But both jungle and top lane were screwing up left and right! Stupid fucking Rumble! Why did you have to throw away your advantage? How can you be so fucking stupid? ARE YOU BLIND? Luo Tianming couldn’t understand how this Rumble fell for the gank. It was so obvious she was coming for you! GOD FUCKING DAMNIT! You’re almost as fucking stupid as that Jarvan who fucking walked away from the real LeBlanc to go chase a clone. Fucking trash players. Both of you!

Luo Tianming wanted nothing more than to unleash his ire on his teammates. But all of Luo Tianming’s bottled up rage was about the mistakes his teammates had made. His arrogance prevented him from thinking about his own mistakes. Luo Tianming had been the one who gave LeBlanc her first kill and first blood. He was the reason why Lin Feng’s LeBlanc had started snowballing. But his inability to both perceive and accept his own shortcomings, that didn’t really matter. Not while Lin Feng was there and more than willing to point them out over and over again.

After picking up a kill in top lane, Lin Feng returned to mid lane. Luo Tianming was wary and playing far more cautiously, his Orianna retreated to the safety of the tower. Right now, his Orianna was a level behind the LeBlanc. And he was behind in terms of items too. But Luo Tianming wasn’t too worried. He believed that as long as he continued to play it safe, he could avoid dying at the hands of the LeBlanc. He’d eventually catch up and scale, and that’s when he’d turn things around. The sad part about this was that Luo Tianming genuinely believed this simple-minded strategy would work.

Luo Tianming persisted with his play-it-safe strategy for nearly a minute. His Orianna only needed a third of an experience bar to hit level 6. But she also only had a third of her health bar remaining. This was because a moment ago, Luo Tianming had moved just a step outside of tower safety to last hit a minion. Lin Feng punished him for that right away, chaining LeBlanc’s skills together into a combo that ate a chunk out of his Orianna’s health.

A big minion wave was now pushing towards the red team’s outer tower. Luo Tianming wanted to stay underneath the safety of the tower, soaking up experience. But he was also scared. He wasn’t particularly safe, even under the tower’s protection. The LeBlanc could still jump onto him with Distortion and kill him, then jump back out before the tower got too many hits in. But he’d calculated that her ultimate was still on cooldown, so there was no way for her to burst him down. It was risky to stay and soak up the experience from this minion wave before going back to base and healing. But it was an acceptable amount of risk to Luo Tianming. He was determined to stay, determined to seize every opportunity to turn things around on the LeBlanc!

Suddenly, a figure came burrowing out of the jungle wall behind the wraith camp—located in red team’s top side jungle, just behind the tower. It was Rek’Sai, the blue team’s jungler! He’d come in for a gank! Before Luo Tianming could even react to this act of aggression from a hostile party, the Rek’Sai flashed forward, dug into the ground, and popped up underneath the Orianna. Rek’Sai had knocked Orianna up into the air!

“Oh nice!” Lin Feng exclaimed. His hands blurred into action as he immediately followed up. He jumped on the Orianna with Distortion and then cast both Sigil of Malice and Ethereal Chains on her.

《Killing Spree!》

Lin Feng’s LeBlanc was now up three kills without a single death! But another announcement sounded before Lin Feng could bask in the glory of his third kill.

《Killing Spree!》

The red team’s Tristana in bot lane got another kill. Blue team’s Kalista. The Tristana’s KDA was now equal to Lin Feng’s LeBlanc.

“Oh, not bad!” Lin Feng remarked. He didn’t appear the slightest bit worried. In fact, he even had a smile on his face. Perfect! The stronger she is, the more I can show everyone how good my LeBlanc is! There was a more practical reason for why Lin Feng wasn’t worried, too. They were still in the early-game phase right now, and a LeBlanc with 3 kills could do a lot more right now than a Tristana with 3 kills.

✹

9 minutes into the game. Both teams converged at the dragon pit. This was the first team fight objective. Players on both teams arrived at different times from different parts of the map. The ones that got to the dragon pit first poked at each other, waiting for the rest of their teammates to arrive. Or for one of the opposing players to make a mistake and go in too deep. Whichever happened first.

Tristana had just finished buying items. She passed through her own jungle and was making her way towards the dragon pit. As she passed by the Blue Buff camp, a ghostly silhouette brimming with menace dashed out from behind the wall.

Two malevolent balls of energy came flying out from LeBlanc’s staff, dealing magic damage and marking Tristana. Then the Ethereal Chains hit. The two marks from Sigil of Malice and Mimic—her ultimate skill that mimicked the last skill she cast—detonated. Lin Feng cast Ignite on the Tristana before jumping away with the second part of Distortion.

《Rampage!》

The crowd of first year students gasped, yet again. That sharp collective intake of air was becoming a very frequent sound in the classroom. They were awestruck! The play wasn’t just fantastic, the execution of it was a work of art!

With their ad-carry now dead, the red team had lost the ability to contest the first dragon. After watching his jungler and top laner screw up earlier in the game, Luo Tianming was already close to snapping. And now the only player on his team he thought was decent ended up dying to the LeBlanc! He couldn’t take it anymore! “FUCK ME! Do you even know how to play? I swear you’re griefing! Learn to fucking ward! Retard.”

The Tristana player shot Luo Tianming an angry glare and retorted, “Griefing? You think I’m the one on the team that’s been feeding? Do you even know what you’re talking about? Look at your own damn score before yelling at everyone else!”

“T-that…” Luo Tianming choked on his words. His face turned red from embarrassment.

The second game of the esports club tryouts had started. Ren Rou, Ouyang, and Yang Fan huddled together around a screen to watch. Though there were 10 players, 5 on each team, they weren’t really interested in watching all of them. Their eyes were locked on mid lane, taking in everything that was going down there.

“Oh damn! You guys seeing this? It’s starting to feel like Lin Feng is beating Luo Tianming…?” Ouyang half-muttered.

Ren Rou nodded. “You’re right. If Orianna keeps taking hits like that, she’ll have to go back to base or give LeBlanc the kill. Was Lin Feng always this good in mid?”

“I figured it out! Whole thing finally came together. Listen, that fucker Luo Tianming probably got his account boosted! I’ll even bet on it. I mean, sure, Tang Tang is really good. I can see how he’d lose to her. But this… what is this? The fucker’s playing like a Silver! If that’s a Diamond 3, then I could be one too!” Ouyang exclaimed.

Yang Fan adjusted his glasses and looked at the screen again. He shook his head, disagreeing with Ouyang’s analysis. “Sorry man. But if you were in his shoes, you would probably look like the worst League player in all of history. Watch the game more closely. There! See how Orianna is going for CS? And right there! Look at how she’s trying to get some poke in. You see that? Luo Tianming isn’t playing poorly at all…it’s just that Lin Feng is playing really, really well. Absurdly well.”

It took quite a bit of experience and understanding of the game to fully understand what was happening in mid lane during this game. Yang Fan was Platinum ranked, he could see beyond the hype and spectacle. He could see that Luo Tianming wasn’t making too many mistakes. Every last hit was well-timed and solid. Every poke was planned out and designed to deal maximum damage while taking very little back in return. Luo Tianming was not bad at the game at all. He was better than most people.

The reality of the game was that Lin Feng played better. Not a little bit better. Significantly better. In every aspect and facet of the game, Lin Feng outplayed Luo Tianming by a considerable margin. From the moment the game started, the Orianna never stood a chance. Lin Feng used his LeBlanc to clear minion waves with the splash damage from Distortion, while also positioning to let the splash damage deal poke to the Orianna. Once Lin Feng hit Level 2 and learned Sigil of Malice, the situation went from bad to worse for the Orianna. Yang Fan’s eyes had a peculiar gleam to them as he stared at Lin Feng’s back. Was he telling us the truth this whole time? Is he really a Challenger…?

✹

Luo Tianming knew he had to do something. This LeBlanc was far better than he expected. She was quickly taking control of the lane. He could feel his scalp tingling from apprehension. SHIT! I can’t lose another one! But there wasn’t anything he could do. Every time he tried to last hit a minion for the gold and experience, the LeBlanc would already be there, lying in wait. The second his Orianna walked into the LeBlanc’s attack radius, she would jump out and hit him with her entire combo for a ton of damage before jumping back out. He tried to counter using Orianna’s Ball, but the LeBlanc was just too damn fast. And LeBlanc’s skills could chain together faster than Orianna’s Ball could move. If the game kept going this way and at this rate, his Orianna’s health would continue to plunge until he was forced out of lane and back to base.

Luo Tianming was thinking, searching for a way to turn things around on the LeBlanc. That was when the Jarvan IV, the jungler on his team, sent a ping on midlane to announce that he was coming up for a gank. This was exactly what Luo Tianming needed, and he felt the pressure around his forehead loosen. The Jarvan IV was walking up to mid lane from the Red Buff jungle camp, which meant that the jungler had both Red and Blue Buff up. Luo Tianming used a health potion to recover some health and let the minion wave push back towards his tower. He was getting ready to bait the LeBlanc into a position that would end her reign of terror over him.

The Blue team’s minions started pushing toward the red team’s outer tower, just as Luo Tianming and his jungler had planned. Lin Feng followed after them, focusing on last hitting the minions. The Jarvan IV hid in the river brush right above the mid lane. Three and a half minutes into the game, the ambush was ready. All that was left to do was to throw out the bait. Luo Tianming had his Orianna walk out of from the safety of Red team’s outer tower under the pretense of last hitting a minion. The deception was flawless, and the LeBlanc took the bait.

Jarvan IV ran out of the brush and straight towards the LeBlanc. He threw his Demacian Standard down on top of her. Then he thrust out with his lance towards the flag. When they connected, Jarvan IV was pulled to the flag! The Jungler could see the entire animation play out in his mind before it happened in the game. The LeBlanc that stood between him and the flag would be knocked up. Then he and the Orianna would gang up and remove whatever remained of the LeBlanc’s health. That would be the end of LeBlanc. There was no way to avoid the might of Jarvan IV’s Dragon Strike!

… Except that’s not what actually happened. Lin Feng’s reaction time was simply too fast for the plan to work. While the Jarvan IV was still mid-dash, the LeBlanc had safely jumped away using Distortion. It turned out that there was indeed a way to avoid the might of Jarvan IV’s Dragon Strike.

YOU IDIOT! Luo Tianming screamed in his mind. Great fucking job, you NOOB! Why would you waste your combo like that? Look what you did! Now she got away… Luo Tianming shook his head in frustration. Every fucking game. These goddamn noobs! Why me? Why is it always me? He took a deep breath and tried to focus back on the game. Shit! His Orianna was still in danger. Shit! Shit! She stood outside of her tower’s range with relatively low health. Shit! Shit! SHIT! He clicked towar—

Lin Feng had that look on his face. The one he always got when there was an opportunity for a kill. The Jungler had burned his combo and Luo Tianming’s guard was down while his Orianna was outside the safety of the tower. Lin Feng quickly recast Distortion, activating the second half of the skill. His LeBlanc jumped back to the place she had initially jumped from. This is it! The Orianna was exposed, there were no minions in the way. LeBlanc branded the Orianna with a Sigil of Malice, then shot out Ethereal Chains. The chains wrapped around Orianna while also triggering the Sigil and dealing additional magic damage! Then Lin Feng used his Ignite on the Orianna.

“Oh my god!”

“The turn around!”

“What a sick play!”

The crowd of first years that had gathered in the esports clubroom let out a collective gasp. The play was electrifying, phenomenal, amazing!

The alarm bells, missile attack sirens, and nuclear bomb warnings in Luo Tianming’s head all went off at the same time! He didn’t expect the LeBlanc to turn his gank back around on him, never even thought about the possibility! T-this… did he already calculate all this…!? But there was no time to think of all that. He needed to escape before the Ethereal Chains managed to snare him! His finger smashed down onto the keyboard trying to send his Orianna panic-flashing towards the tower. But he wasn’t fast enough, the Ethereal Chains had already rooted him down. Crap! Fuck! SHIT! I’m dead! Despair, regret, and irritation started washing over Luo Tianming. But before he succumbed to the emotions and started wallowing, he smashed his teeth together. I’m going to take that fucking LeBlanc down with me! Or force him to use his flash! I’m going to get something out of this! He sent Orianna’s Ball towards the LeBlanc, then slowed and damaged her with Command: Dissonance. But before he could pull off the rest of what he was planning, his screen turned grey. The final tick of Ignite had burned up the last of his Orianna’s health.

《First blood!》

The Jarvan IV was still standing there. He watched the LeBlanc jump away from his flag toss combo and just stood there confused. Then he watched the LeBlanc jump back and seamlessly flow into a combo that led to the death of the Orianna. He didn’t really know what happened, the entire exchange was too fast for him to follow. But he did notice that the Orianna had gotten some damage in before she died. This was his chance! The LeBlanc had less than half her health left and she was standing right next to him! He hit her with an auto attack that was empowered from the Red Buff.

LeBlanc’s health dropped below 30% which triggered her passive skill–Mirror Image. Two LeBlancs materialized out of thin air. One stood idly by in the middle of the minion wave, right next to Jarvan IV. The other LeBlanc ran down, towards the bottom side of the river and bot lane. The Jarvan IV was too clever for something like this. He’d never be fooled by lies and deceit. Without stopping to consider things for a second, the Jarvan IV decided that the LeBlanc standing right next to him was a fake and pursued the one that was running away.

A long second later, Lin Feng had the real LeBlanc, the one that had stood idly next to the Jarvan IV in the middle of the lane, move up towards the top part of the river and top lane. When Luo Tianming saw this, he finally lost it. For the first time this game, he opened his mouth and loudly cursed, “You dumbass! Are you fucking blind or something? The real one is heading top. Fucking hell…” How can someone be this bad? Why do I always have to play with these idiots? It’s so easy to tell which one is the real one…

Lin Feng took a detour around his jungle, enjoying the scenery, and returned back to the safety of his outer tower. He’d picked up first blood and kept his Flash. This was a huge win! “Man, my LeBlanc is really good!” he happily muttered to himself. His voice was barely audible. Quiet enough that aside from himself, no one heard it. That was probably for the best. If Luo Tianming had heard him, he would’ve probably passed out from anger.

Ouyang, Ren Rou, and Yang Fan all stared at their screen slack-jawed.

“What the fucking fiddlesticks was that? This is still Lin Feng playing, right? He’s that good? That play was so fucking sick that even Lux’s panties would be soaked! Lin Feng is slick!” Ouyang stammered.

Ren Rou was so shocked that she didn’t even bother smacking Ouyang for saying something like that. Instead, she exclaimed, “Oh my god! That was amazing!”

Yang Fan was so taken aback he forgot to adjust his crooked glasses. He couldn’t help but mutter, “When Lin Feng told us he was a Challenger… are we sure that wasn’t true?”

✹

With First Blood and a kill in hand, Lin Feng’s LeBlanc was now in a position to completely dictate the pace of mid lane. A LeBlanc needed to get that early advantage and snowball from it. If she could, she’d become an unstoppable force. Then it didn’t matter anymore what anyone else on the opposing team did, she would just rip through them and hard-carry her team to an easy win. Luo Tianming’s primary job in the early game was to make sure this didn’t happen, which he had failed at. He not only handed Lin Feng a kill, he also gave away an entire minion wave’s worth of experience and gold. Luo Tianming had gotten himself into a terrible predicament. Now his purpose in the game had changed. What he needed to do was distract and restrain Lin Feng’s LeBlanc as much as possible so the rest of his team could salvage the situation. So after reviving in the fountain, he quickly teleported back to lane using the summoner spell Teleport.

Lin Feng, on the other hand, had gone back to base to spend the gold he’d gotten from killing the Orianna on items. He then closed the shop and had his LeBlanc walk back to mid lane. He was in a great mood and started planning out how he would play the lane next. Hmm. What to do, what to do? Should I kill Orianna two more times? 

Unfortunately, a good mood wasn’t exactly deadly. And kills didn’t come just because you wanted them. Luo Tianming was still a Diamond 3 player with excellent instincts, deep game knowledge, and map awareness. Despite the pressure that Lin Feng put on him, Luo Tianming managed to avoid dying again.

“Ah, if I had ignite, it would’ve been another kill…” Lin Feng said regretfully after forcing the Orianna back to base for a second time in just as many minutes. But although he didn’t pick up the kill, he did continue to increase his advantage over the Orianna. She could barely step into lane, and the two times she tried to last hit a minion, he’d forced her back to base. Luo Tianming could do nothing but try and soak up experience from underneath the safety of his tower. But he had fallen too far behind in both experience and gold and was no longer a match for Lin Feng’s LeBlanc. Luo Tianming had lost the lane.

As bad as the game was going for Luo Tianming, it could’ve been much worse. If the Blue team’s jungler, Rek’Sai, had come to gank mid then his Orianna would have died again. But the Rek’Sai was busy helping another lane, though not necessarily his own team. Five minutes and forty seconds into the game, the game announcer’s voice rang out from bottom lane.

《An ally has been slain!》 

《Double kill!》

Rek’Sai had roamed to bot and failed the gank. The Tristana and Leona duo had somehow managed to turn the gank around, killing both Rek’Sai and Kalista. Red bottom lane’s duo was doing great for themselves!

Lin Feng’s eyes lit up. Bot lane’s losing? That’s great!

“… moment!”

Everyone in the room paused for a second, waiting to see what would happen next. They saw no reason to stop the next game in the tryouts. Unless there was something important that was about to be brought to light…

“Just… wait… for… a… bit!”

The person yelling had to push through the crowd to get to the front. No one wanted to give up their spot by moving after they’d seen Tang Bingyao’s spectacular Draven plays. They didn’t want to risk missing out on more amazing plays or the chance to watch another fantastic player.

“Wait a moment!”

The person yelling and forcing his way through the crowd all the way to where Ouyang was standing, it was Luo Tianming! He had vanished after being disgraced in his game, and no one had noticed because all of the attention was on Tang Bingyao. Luo Tianming had slunk off into the shadows, but decided now was the moment to make a truly dramatic reappearance.

Ouyang turned to Luo Tianming. What does this fucker want now? The interruption annoyed him. The unnecessary drama annoyed him. More than that though, Luo Tianming irritated the shit out of him. It didn’t start out that way, his first impression of this first year was pretty good. This guy was a real Diamond 3 player! That was impressive. All of that changed after the last game. This asshole spent so much time showing off before the game started, flexing his rank on everyone. But he spent more time at the fountain respawning than actually playing once the game started! The esports club team only needed one ad-carry, and Tang Bingyao locked in on that position with her kickass Draven in the previous game.

It wasn’t just the showing off and poor gameplay that made Ouyang want to gag every time he saw Luo Tianming. Fucker also keeps hitting on every single girl here! He even tried walking over to Ren Rou, smiling like his shit don’t stink. What a jackass! Yes, it was true. Luo Tianming hadn’t just been trying to impress Tang Bingyao. He’d also been trying to approach Ren Rou. This especially was unforgivable to Ouyang. You walk around thinking you’re good looking? Well, I have news for you. Those looks don’t mean anything here! You should be looking at how you got your ass handed to you by Tang Tang instead of looking at yourself in the mirror. Also, you’re not that good looking! Ouyang wanted nothing more than for Luo Tianming to vanish and never be seen again. And yet, he was here! Yelling and interrupting the tryouts.

“What do you want now?”

“I want another chance! Let me play again!” Luo Tianming demanded.

Ouyang stared at him, unblinking.

“Look. Listen. I just got unlucky last game, okay? I wasn’t even playing seriously! Just give me one more chance. Please?” Luo Tianming begged.

“Unlucky? Didn’t play seriously?” Ouyang snorted. “Aren’t you embarrassed to be saying shit like that? Don’t you have any shame? Do you really believe those flimsy excuses are why you lost the game? You want to tell me that it had nothing to do with Tang Bingyao just being way better than you?”

Everyone had seen what happened last game. Tang Bingyao had completely outclassed Luo Tianming in every facet of the game. The crowd could see how deeply each death cut into Luo Tianming’s ego. His reactions spoke volumes. That frustration and anger wasn’t something a person who wasn’t playing seriously would feel. Luo Tianming clearly had trouble accepting reality.

Luo Tianming’s face flushed red, but he kept pushing. “I deserve a second chance! My support was bad last game. It was his fault that we lost! Now that I think of it, the Jungler wasn’t great either. Zero map awareness!”

Luo Tianming paused, gathering his thoughts again. He could see this line of protest wasn’t working and he needed to pivot to something else, “I know! How about I play a solo lane like mid this time? Then I can show you how good I really am!” A peculiar glint appeared in Luo Tianming’s eyes as he turned to Lin Feng. “You’re going to play mid, right?” He then turned back to Ouyang and flashed a bright smile. “He’s a Challenger! I saw it myself on the sign-up sheet. When I beat him, that should qualify me for the club’s mid position, right?”

When Luo Tianming mentioned playing Mid and Lin Feng, the whole thing became blindingly clear to Ouyang. It was too obvious to miss. The only reason Luo Tianming wanted to join the esports club was for the prestige of being on an official team. Initially, he figured that he was a shoe-in for a spot as a Diamond 3 ad-carry main. But in a twist that he did not expect or predict, there was someone else who was just as good as he was. Maybe even a little better. Luo Tianming would never admit it out loud, but he knew that Tang Bingyao had beaten him fair and square. If he tried to push for a rematch against her for the ad-carry spot, it probably wouldn’t happen. And even if it did, he didn’t know if he could actually win. So instead of trying to get a rematch for the ad-carry position, he chose to try for his second best position. The mid lane.

Most of the time, Luo Tianming played ad-carry. But he also spent enough time developing his skills as a mid laner. He wasn’t as good at it as he was at ad-carry, but he could play at the level of a Diamond 5 mid laner. And, more importantly, he would be up against Lin Feng. The “Challenger” who didn’t even know his own summoner name! He’d noticed that Lin Feng was on good terms with several members of the board of the esports club. This made him the perfect target. All Luo Tianming had to do was make his request loud enough so that everyone in the classroom could hear him. That would put Ren Rou, Ouyang, and the other members of the board in position without a leg to stand on. They couldn’t take Lin Feng’s side in this, because why would they need to protect a Challenger from someone who was clearly not as good at the game? If they refused to let him play, he could complain that the club board was being unfair and trying to force their friend into a spot he did not deserve.

Luo Tianming’s cunning play had worked, the dart had landed where it was meant to. Once the topic shifted to Lin Feng, Ouyang frowned. “That was a typo. We were going to correct it later.”

“It wasn’t a typo…” Lin Feng muttered.

Ouyang shot Lin Feng a glare. “Goddamn! Can you please shut up for once?”

Luo Tianming immediately latched onto this opportunity. “See! He even says so himself. Tell me, what’s the harm in letting me play against him?”

This had blown up and gone beyond reasonable proportions. It got to the point where even Yang Fan felt that he needed to get involved. He was responsible for the technical aspects of the tryouts and providing technical support. He was the man behind the scenes keeping the whole show running, keeping the train running on the tracks. And right now, it was off the rails. He had plenty of other things to take care, a never-ending list of things that required his attention. But the commotion was loud enough that he could no longer ignore it. He walked over and adjusted his glasses, annoyed. “So what? That still isn’t an excuse to let you play twice. That wouldn’t be fair to everyone else.”

Luo Tianming confidently smiled. “Of course, of course, you’re right. I agree. Everything should be fair. It’s just that when I looked at the sign-up sheet earlier, I saw that only three students were Diamond or higher. Since I’m a Diamond 3 and I didn’t get to show off my skills in the first match, I think it’s only fair I get another chance.”

Luo Tianming did bring up a valid point. Plenty of low rank players were looking to join the esports club, but only a few high rank players had signed up. So, the several board members of the esports club, including Ouyang, Yang Fan, and Ren Rou exchanged glances. “Alright, give us a minute. We’re going to put tryouts on hold while we have an emergency meeting.” Ren Rou said, finally caving. Then she and the other members of the club board walked out.

Meanwhile, Lin Feng and Tang Bingyao stood at the side like none of this had anything to do with them. Tang Bingyao tossed a glance at Luo Tianming, then turned to Lin Feng and said, “That guy is really annoying.” It was strange to hear her say these words. She was usually more reserved but Luo Tianming had really rubbed her the wrong way.

“Eh? Really? I don’t think he’s that bad…” Lin Feng scratched his head.

Tang Bingyao shot Lin Feng a doubtful gaze. “You’re not mad?”

“Of course not. Why would I be mad?” Lin Feng shook his head. He then paused and smiled, his eyes lighting up. “The stronger the opponent, the more I’ll get to test my skills and show off as I beat them! What could be better than that?”

Tang Bingyao’s jaw dropped. She was speechless. She’d finally understood. The only thing on Lin Feng’s mind was to find a better sandbag to beat down! Once she figured out what Lin Feng was thinking, a spark of sympathy bloomed in her heart for Luo Tianming. It was in his best interest if the club board rejected his request to play against Lin Feng. He had no idea what was coming for him.

✹

Ren Rou led the several board members of the esports club back into the classroom where Lin Feng and the others were waiting for them. Luo Tianming immediately looked over, hopeful. Ren Rou nodded at him and said, “Fine, we’ll give you your second chance.”

Luo Tianming flashed what he believed to be a dashing smile. “Thanks! I just knew a pretty club president like yourself would come to a fair decision!”

Ren Rou shot Luo Tianming a cold glare. “Don’t thank me just yet. If you don’t win, you’re done here. You’re never going to be allowed anywhere near the esports club.”

Luo Tianming barely even heard the warning at the end. His face lit up with joy. He gave Ren Rou a wink and said, “Don’t worry, prez! I’ll show you how good I really am. Just watch me!”

While Ren Rou talked to Luo Tianming, Yang Fan and Ouyang walked over to Lin Feng with worried looks on their faces. “Hey bro, you sure you’ll be ok? That guy is Diamond 3…” Ouyang asked.

“Hehe! Don’t worry! He’s going to get rekt! Just watch the fun!” Lin Feng laughed.

Ouyang patted Lin Feng on the shoulder. “I’m liking the confidence, bro. Just play it safe, though. Wait for the jungler to come in for the gank. You’ll be fine. Oh! Go for a farm and scale champion. Someone like Ziggs. Even a Diamond 3 can’t do shit back!”

Lin Feng scratched his head. “Uh, I have my own plan.” He’d already decided what champion he was going to play. Since he was going to go all out, he’d play his best champion! Her skills and his playstyle made for a perfect match to pick off enemies and carry!

✹

After the slight delay caused by Luo Tianming, both teams found their seats behind their monitors and joined the blind pick lobby. Everyone locked in their champion of choice and picked their Summoner Spells. Then, the lobby timer hit zero and the client opened up. Finally, with the loading screen open, everyone could see the lineup for both teams.

On the blue team, led by the self-proclaimed Challenger Lin Feng playing LeBlanc in mid lane, Darius in the top lane, Rek’Sai prowling through the jungle, and the deadly combo of Kalista and Braum in bottom lane!

On the red team, led by Diamond 3 Luo Tianming playing Orianna in the mid lane, Rumble would be up in top lane, Jarvan IV shredding through the jungle with his lance, and last but not least down in bottom lane were Tristana and Leona ready to show true teamplay!

Luo Tianming had picked Orianna, an overall balanced champion in every stage of the game. Her auto attacks were empowered with magic damage, making it relatively easy compared to other common mid lane champions to farm minions. But the bulk of her damage, and all of her crowd control, came from her ball—aptly called the Ball.

This was the complete opposite of the champion Lin Feng chose. When Luo Tianming noticed the champion icon above Lin Feng’s summoner’s name, his lips curved into a sneer. LeBlanc? You idiot… You wanna show off with her? You think it’s that easy? You think I’ll give you some kills so you can snowball? Ha! Idiot. I’ll make sure you won’t get your early game lead. LeBlanc is useless once she gets behind in early game. You’re not going to be able to use LeBlanc to pop off and blow people up mid game! I’ll show everyone how useless you are! The scene of his grand victory already played through his mind. He wouldn’t just settle for beating Lin Feng. No, he would completely crush him! I’ll make them all see how good I really am! Hehe. He was filled with anticipation.

If only Luo Tianming knew what happened the last time Lin Feng played LeBlanc. If only he’d known that Lin Feng had completely destroyed a Diamond 1 mid-main while playing LeBlanc.

Somewhere off in the distance, Aqua Wraith felt a chill down his spine the minute that Lin Feng locked in on LeBlanc. Aqua Wraith was still one of Su Xue’s most loyal viewers. But he was confused as to why he suddenly felt like someone had walked over his grave.

《Welcome to Summoner’s Rift!》

Two minutes into the game and the first minion wave from both teams had arrived at the middle of all the lanes and clashed. Over in mid lane, Luo Tianming discovered that Lin Feng was much better than he expected in their first exchange of pokes. Every time he tried to attack the LeBlanc with Orianna’s Ball using the skill Command: Attack, she easily sidestepped it. What made laning even more difficult for Luo Tianming was that Lin Feng played his LeBlanc hyper-aggressively. At Level 1 he’d learned the skill Distortion, which he used to jump onto Orianna and deal splash damage. Lin Feng did this every single time the skill went off cooldown. After a single minute of this intense laning phase against Lin Feng, Luo Tianming wiped the sweat from his forehead. Wasn’t this guy supposed to be all talk?

Lin Feng’s playstyle with LeBlanc only got more aggressive after reaching level 2. He used the level to learn the skill Sigil of Malice. This skill allowed LeBlanc to mark enemy champions, minions and jungle monsters. If LeBlanc managed to hit a marked target with another one of her spells, the mark was consumed and dealt additional damage. He kept marking the Orianna with a Sigil of Malice and jumping on her with Distortion, piling the damage on. If Luo Tianming didn’t watch out, he’d soon find all of his health whittled away.

Dammit! Isn’t he supposed to be bad at the game? I thought he only knew how to brag! Why is he so good! Luo Tianming cursed. This was starting to look like it would be a difficult game. Another one… But just then, a chance presented itself. A ping from his jungler, Jarvan IV, in the mid lane. He was coming for a gank! Luo Tianming’s eyes lit up. There’s my chance!

Tang Bingyao wasn’t the kind of girl to turn a guy down with harsh words. Unlike Ren Rou who would tell them to “get lost!”, she was more reserved. So when Luo Tianming came over to flirt with her, she’d done her best to let him off easy. To drop a few hints that she simply wasn’t interested in him. But that didn’t mean she would let him trample all over her. She had a bottom line, and her own ways of showing her displeasure. For example, by kicking his ass and wiping Summoner’s Rift clean with him using her main champion in a friendly game of League of Legends!

Luo Tianming picked Caitlyn as his champion and locked her in. Once the loading screen popped up to get all of them into Summoner’s Rift, his eyes popped open in shock. Draven. The champion that Tang Bingyao had decided to play. The number of girls who played ad-carry wasn’t particularly large to begin with, and there were fewer still within that small group who played Draven as a main.

Draven was a very mechanical champion to play, and most of this was due to his first skill, the one activated with Q–Spinning Axes. One could theoretically keep Spinning Axes up through every fight, poke, and kill, constantly dealing double bonus damage with every auto attack. But it wasn’t just that simple. Draven’s auto attack was a thrown axe. But unlike other champions in the game, the axe would not disappear once it hit an enemy champion, minion or jungle monster. The thrown axe would bounce off and fly through the air, eventually falling to the ground. Unless Draven caught the axe. If Draven caught the axe, it refreshed the cooldown on Spinning Axes. Essentially, everything about Draven involved mechanical skill and positioning. Not the easiest champion to play. Locking in on Draven meant that Tang Bingyao didn’t just understand how to play the champion, she also had the confidence that she could play him well. That’s what flustered Luo Tianming.

But he quickly regained his composure, and an easy, relaxed smile settled into place on his face. He was Diamond 3, and had the skills reflected by his rank. He was confident he could beat everyone in this classroom today. Now that he was thinking about it calmly, Luo Tianming wasn’t even sure he was flustered when he saw that Tang Bingyao picked Draven. He was surprised. Yes. Surprised. But he wasn’t scared. Or worried. He had full confidence in his Caitlyn. He even started wondering if he should hold back a little once he had a lead. Hopefully, she’ll notice how much of a gentleman I am and agree to go out on a date with me! Or at least play a few games with me in duo queue. He never even considered the possibility that he could lose this game. Or that he was in way over his head.

✹

Three minutes into the game, Tang Bingyao’s Draven hit level 2. The Janna support buffed her with Eye of the Storm, giving her extra attack damage and a shield. She activated Spinning Axes, and her Draven started juggling his two spinning axes. Then she hit W to activate Blood Rush. Her Draven dashed towards the Caitlyn with the movement speed buff and threw the first of his spinning axes once in range. The first axe cut into the Caitlyn’s flesh, bounced off and spun up into the air. While this was happening with the first axe, her Draven smoothly moved forward and threw his second axe. Then he caught the first axe before it hit the ground. Blood Rush’s cooldown was reset!

The Caitlyn fired out her 90 Caliber Net and flew back. But Tang Bingyao was ready, her finger was already hovering over the D key. She pressed down on D the second the Caitlyn fired and flashed over the net that could’ve slowed her. Then she activated Blood Rush again and chased the Caitlyn down, who flashed away in a panic. But Draven, the Glorious Executioner, quickly caught up to her and threw another spinning axe.

《First blood!》

The crowd of first years gasped. They couldn’t believe what they were seeing! That was basically a solo kill in bot lane! The only support offered by the Janna was a shield. This was the Draven show! The sheer amount of damage that Tang Bingyao could output from a Level 2 Draven was nothing short of terrifying.

“Damn! Tang Bingyao’s Draven is getting better and better! So aggressive!” Ouyang gasped in amazement next to Lin Feng.

“It’s all thanks to my training!” Lin Feng proudly stated. But Ouyang had already stopped listening. His focus was on the game.

Luo Tianming stared dumbly at the death screen on his monitor. This didn’t play out like how he imagined it would at all! If he wanted to win, he had to start playing seriously. Although Tang Bingyao was far better than he expected, he was still confident in his own skills. The game was barely three minutes in, and his Caitlyn had the range advantage over Draven. As long as he played it safely, he could easily keep Draven at bay.

For the next five minutes, Luo Tianming managed to do just that. He kept the minion wave close to his outer tower and patiently farmed, trying to catch back up to the Draven. It even started to look like he might. But then Tang Bingyao decided to engage. The minion wave had just pushed out a little and the Caitlyn and her support Nami had left the safety of their tower.

Tang Bingyao activated Blood Rush and had Draven rush forward, with two axes spinning in his hands. The Nami tried to lock Draven down with an Aqua Prison. But Tang Bingyao easily sidestepped the large bubble of water. Luo Tianming’s face turned pale with fright. He knew what was coming next, he felt the deja vu wash over him. His Caitlyn shot out a 90-Caliber Net and flew back. Draven flashed over it, this time throwing out both of his spinning axes with Stand Aside. They knocked the Caitlyn out of the air mid-animation. Then a spinning axe arced through the air, followed by a second and then a third. The sound of metal digging into flesh rang out as blood sprayed the ground red.

《You have been slain!》

Luo Tianming’s jaw dropped. He couldn’t wrap his head around it. It was right there on the sign up sheet! Diamond 5! She’s only supposed to be Diamond 5! How is she so good? He shook his head weakly, his eyes wide in shock and horror. How the hell did she do that last move! Her mechanics and reflexes are insane! This shouldn’t be possible! No Diamond player can do that! That’s something only Master and Challenger tier players can pull off! This can’t be! This can’t be!

From the sidelines, Lin Feng calmly watched. He wasn’t surprised at all by Tang Bingyao’s display of skill. This was because he knew that the only reason her account sat on Diamond 5 was because she was too busy boosting other accounts. With her skill, reaching Diamond 2 would be easy, and when talking purely in terms of mechanics, her Draven was already on the level of a Diamond 1.

Over the course of the next 12 minutes, the game announcer’s voice continuously rang out to announce Caitlyn’s next death. It started to look as if Luo Tianming believed he would get some kind of trophy for collecting deaths. His score dropped to a pitiful 0/6/2. All the while Tang Bingyao wreaked havoc on the enemy team. Especially after she finished her first item, nobody could stop her. She picked up double kills and triple kills left and right.

At the 20-minute mark, the much expected surrender vote started and was unanimously accepted seconds later. This game was lost. Luo Tianming and his team members wore dejected expressions on their faces. So much for showing off their skills in front of the esports club. But anything was better than this game lasting even another minute. Because that would be another minute for Tang Bingyao to kill them again. Monster… A monster! That was too scary… None of them expected for this pretty and quiet female upperclassman to play such a domineering Draven.

“I told you I wouldn’t hold back,” Tang Bingyao reminded Luo Tianming. The words cut deep into his ego, causing his face to warp into a marvelous shade of red. His expression alternated between anger and humiliation.

✹

“Alright. It’s time for the next matchup,” Ren Rou declared. She held her sign-up sheet and started listing out the names for the next match.

Lin Feng was called up to be the mid laner for the blue team. As he walked over to the computer, Tang Bingyao approached him and said, “You can do it.”

“Don’t worry. It’s finally my time to shine!” Lin Feng said in high spirits.

Ouyang patted Lin Feng on the shoulder. “Give us your best performance. If you do well, we might even pick you as a substitute for the team!”

“Okay! I’ll give it my all!” Lin Feng pumped his fist in the air. He was completely hyped up. He would pull out all the stops and play his best champion! All for the sake of getting into the club’s team!

If Lin Feng’s old teammates could see him now, they’d drag him to a neurologist and have him tested. Their old teammate had surely lost it! The former best mid laner in China, and contender for best in the world, was planning to go all out in a small school club match? This was like a professional football player joining a Sunday league game. Ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous. It wasn’t a question of who would win this game. It was a question of how badly the enemy team would lose. A tragic fate awaited anyone unlucky enough to face Lin Feng in lane.

“Hold on a moment!” A voice abruptly cut through the room. Lin Feng turned around in confusion.

Right after Ren Rou had called out to them, 50 pairs of eyes turned around to scrutinize Lin Feng and Tang Bingyao. A pregnant silence blanketed the room for a brief moment, and then all of the first years erupted into hushed whispers.

“Who are those two?”

“Do they know that scary girl at the front?”

“That one with the ponytail is really pretty!”

The crowd was completely focused on the dazzling Tang Bingyao. They noticed Lin Feng was there for a second, and then they forgot he was even standing beside Tang Bingyao. He faded into the background as most of their attention gravitated towards Tang Bingyao. Lin Feng, completely oblivious to the fact that he was essentially invisible, grabbed Tang Bingyao’s hand and squeezed through the crowd to meet up with Ren Rou. “Excuse me! Sorry! Coming through!”

The first years hurriedly stepped aside, letting Lin Feng and Tang Bingyao through and letting Ouyang see the two new arrivals. His eyes immediately lit up. “Lin Feng, you’re finally here! Damn, you actually convinced Tang Tang to come! You’re something else!”

“I’m really good at convincing people!” Lin Feng patted his chest.

Ren Rou looked impressed, but there was a smirk on her face that grew as she said, “Ain’t that the truth? I tried getting her to join before, asked her a couple of times. But she always said she wasn’t interested. So… How’d you do it, Lin Feng? Come on! Spill!” Then she circled around the pair, considering them from all angles high and low. “Hehehe! I allllreeadddyyyyy knooowww! I know what’s happening here! I smelled the smoke and now I’m feeelin’ the heat from the fire!”

“You do?” Lin Feng asked, surprised. He was, true to form, completely oblivious to what Ren Rou was implying.

Tang Bingyao sighed and started to reply. Then she closed her mouth, sighed again, and explained what was going on to Lin Feng, “She thinks we’re dating.”

“We are?” Lin Feng asked.

“Of course not.” Tang Bingyao patiently explained. Then she shook her head.

Lin Feng nodded. Everything was clear to him now. He turned to Ren Rou and told her, “You’re wrong. We are not dating.” The confidence in his reply was one that could only come from a state of profound and absolutely cluelessness.

“Correct.” Tang Bingyao nodded.

Ouyang watched the entire exchange without blinking, his mouth open the whole time. “Damn! You two play off each other so goddamn well! What! How? You guys a comedy duo or something?”

Ren Rou put her hand up to her face and giggled, “Right! I totally believe you guys! As if. You guys even talk the same now. Been spending that much time together, huh?” Then she giggled one more time before composing herself a bit. There’s a lot of people here that need to get signed up. Gotta get things moving. I’ll investigate this FengYao thing after. FengYao? TangLin? BingFen? STOP, STOP, LATER! Ren Rou shook herself out of that and assumed a more business-like demeanor and continued, “Alright, alright. I won’t say anything more about that. For now. Let’s get you two signed up.” She grabbed the sign-up sheet from Ouyang’s hands and showed it to them, “Put down your name and rank on here.”

Lin Feng glanced at the list, which already had many names on it. There were a lot of Silvers, a bunch of Golds, and more Bronzies than he’d expected. Very few people ranked Platinum or higher. He grabbed a pen and without batting an eye he wrote down his name, class, and rank.
“Done!”

Ouyang grabbed the sheet from Lin Feng and started reading. Once he got to the last line, he frowned and his expression darkened.

Name: Lin Feng
Class: Senior Class 7
Rank: Challenger, can play any role!

“Hey, Lin Feng! Stop messing around! This is an official record!”

Ren Rou interjected before Lin Feng could reply, “Hurry up! Let’s get everyone signed up. We’ll change his rank later.” She obviously didn’t believe that Lin Feng’s rank was Challenger either.

Tang Bingyao received the sign-up sheet from Ouyang. She grabbed a pen from the table and quickly scribbled her information down before handing it back to Ouyang.

“Hot damn, Diamond 5! Weren’t you at Platinum 1 before? Did you just get promoted?” Ouyang gasped.

“Mhm.” Tang Bingyao nodded.

“It was all thanks to my training!” Lin Feng bragged. But his words fell on deaf ears. Ouyang had already turned to the people next in line. Ren Rou shooed him and Tang Bingyao away to make room at the table. They found a corner of the room to sit down and wait until the next phase of the esports club signup. Once everyone finished signing up, the club leadership would organize them into 5-man teams and let them play against each other. This was the tryouts phase, where everyone would have a chance to show off their skills and demonstrate that they deserved to be a part of the esports club.

✹

Lin Feng and Tang Bingyao leaned back against the wall in the corner of the classroom. They watched the crowd of students sign up for the esports club. The line gradually shortened, and most people formed their own little cliques to talk in hushed whispers. Most. Not all. A young man walked up to them, forcing himself through the crowd, and announced his arrival, “Excuse me, I couldn’t help but overhear. You’re a third year?”

Lin Feng and Tang Bingyao looked over and up to the source of the voice and saw a first year. He approached Tang Bingyao, sporting what could only be described as a teenager attempting to pull off an easy, nonchalant, confident smile and extended his hand. “Hello. I’m Luo Tianming from first year Class 3. What’s your name?”

It appeared this young man had come to pitch woo at Tang Bingyao. This wasn’t a particularly strange or uncommon occurrence. He was the latest in a long line of suitors who had summoned the courage to talk to her, and he certainly would not be the last. Even as Luo Tianming attempted to shoot his shot, there were multiple pairs of eyes watching, some concerned that they had waited too long and others more calculating. Tang Bingyao, who didn’t care for any of this and instead mostly kept to herself, drew all this male attention for one simple reason. She was the prettiest girl in class. By a long shot. Even Ren Rou, despite being beautiful in her own fiery way, couldn’t compare. For these first years, seeing an angel who attended their school, who played the same game as them, and had also come to sign up for the same esports, it was too much for them to handle. For those in the crowd with a little bit more courage, this was an opportunity that was too good to pass up.

Luo Tianming had walked over at the first opportunity he saw, well before anyone else could. He wanted to be the first to eat crab at the buffet.[mfn]The whole “first to eat crab at the buffet” is a bit of a joke at a stereotype about how Chinese people go insane for crab at buffets/seafood spreads. We did some research, and this seems to be a Chinese stereotype about Chinese people that just isn’t well known out of China.[/mfn] The first to talk to this beautiful girl. Maybe even get her to go out on a date with him. And he was confident she would. In his opinion, no one could resist his charm. He wasn’t just good-looking or handsome. He had a magnetic quality about him and a smile that could make any girl in the first year swoon. Some people even believed that he was good looking enough to become a Kpop idol.[mfn] Another very China specific stereotype about how the best looking Chinese people go to Korea to become Kpop idols. Doesn’t appear to be well known outside China, but we didn’t really do a significant amount of research on that so we could be wrong.[/mfn]

Unfortunately for him, Tang Bingyao wasn’t smitten by his looks, nor impressed with his pick-up game. She didn’t even notice his smile. She gave him a simple nod in acknowledgement and then looked away, letting his hand hang in the air awkwardly.

Luo Tianming wasn’t discouraged though. He smoothly withdrew his hand and flashed an even more dazzling smile. “I happened to see your name on the sign-up sheet. It’s Tang Bingyao, right? That’s a really pretty name. And you’re Diamond 5? That’s amazing! I almost never see girls climb that high on the ranked ladder! You must be one of those special kinda women.” He paused for a moment to let his compliments sink in, and then asked, “So, you’re an ad-carry main?”

Tang Bingyao glanced at Luo Tianming for the second time and nodded.

This small gesture gave Luo Tianming the impression he had an in. He latched onto it with a bright smile. “What a coincidence! I’m an ad-carry main too! I’m Diamond 3 on the Ionia server, but I’m pretty close to promoting to Diamond 2! We should play together sometime, yeah? Maybe I can even teach you a thing or two?”

“Oh wow! Diamond 3!” Lin Feng gasped. This was a genuinely high rank for ordinary players. Less than one per cent of all League of Legends players would ever reach it. Not to mention Luo Tianming achieved this feat on the Ionia server, which was the most competitive of all the servers in China. There probably weren’t many here today who were better than this guy. Lin Feng didn’t remember seeing any other Diamond-ranked players on the sign up sheet.

“You’re Lin Feng?” Luo Tianming finally took notice of Lin Feng. He raised an eyebrow. “I saw your name on the list too…” Disdain slipped from his tongue as he added the last three words, “A Challenger, huh?”

Lin Feng completely missed the tone shift in Luo Tianming’s words. He nodded and replied with a bright smile, “Yep! I’m a Challenger!”

Luo Tianming’s lips twitched upwards, fighting back a bellyful of laughter. But he managed to hold himself back. The disdain in his words spread to his face. He pressed a little further. “I didn’t expect to meet an actual Challenger in a small high school esports club. It’s truly an honour to meet you.”

“Don’t put yourself down. You’re also pretty good. So young and already a Diamond 3,” Lin Feng said.

Luo Tianming smirked, “Oh, then can you tell me what your summoner name is? I might have heard of it. After all, the Challengers on the Ionia server are all pretty famous, right?”

“Oh, my summoner name, huh… I guess it’s gone.” Lin Feng scratched his head. “But my old account was equal to a Challenger now!”

Luo Tianming’s smirk grew wider. He really was on the verge of bursting out into laughter. Haha! He’s such a terrible liar! I can’t believe it was this easy! He didn’t believe one word coming from Lin Feng’s mouth, he never even believed Lin Feng was a Challenger when he saw it on the sign-up sheet. The only reason he was even talking to Lin Feng was to embarrass him in front of Tang Bingyao. But he’d had enough fun. He was here for Tang Bingyao. So he turned back to her, conveniently ignoring Lin Feng, and asked, “So, what do you say? Let’s add each other as friends and duo together. I can support you, maybe give you a few pointers. It’ll be fun!”

“No, thank you. I already have a duo partner,” Tang Bingyao flatly refused, shaking her head.

“Right! We duo together!” Lin Feng butted in.

Tang Bingyao nodded.

The smallest change of Luo Tianming’s expression gave his feelings away. Annoyed. Unhappy. But before he could say anything more, Ren Rou called all attention to her and started calling out names for the first match of the try-outs. As luck would have it, Tang Bingyao and Luo Tianming were both called up for the ad-carry position. They’d be facing each other in a deadly dance for victory. He’d have the chance to impress her with his skill, win her over!

“What a coincidence. Almost like fate, huh?” Luo Tianming said smiling. The universe was on his side! He gave Tang Bingyao a wink and roguishly stated, “Don’t worry. I’ll hold back.”

Tang Bingyao stared at Luo Tianmin. “Alright, but I won’t.” And she wouldn’t. The moment they entered champion select, she instantly locked in her champion—Draven, the Glorious Executioner.

“Oh wow! Seems like that guy really rubbed Tang Tang the wrong way!” Lin Feng quipped.

Early on Monday morning. The bell rang, announcing the end of the first period. While the teacher grabbed his stuff and the other students started whispering amongst themselves, Ouyang couldn’t contain his excitement any longer. “YES!” he shouted at the top of his lungs from the back of the classroom where he sat, “One more week until Worlds! Only one more week!”

Every student had turned around. They were all looking at him. They turned back around a few seconds later, shaking their heads. They were all thinking the same thing. He’s hopeless. To the majority of the class, Ouyang was just another League obsessed idiot going crazy about Worlds.

“You’re right, Worlds really is only a week away,” Yang Fan said while adjusting his glasses. Then he let out a melancholic sigh and continued, “Time really does fly. It feels like it was only yesterday that we were talking about it being a month away…”

Yang Fan probably had more to say. The dramatic trail-off and pause had all the makings of a prelude to an epic monologue about the vicissitudes and vagrancies of time, living in the moment, and celebrating their youth. But before he could continue, Lin Feng misunderstood the dramatic pause as a moment to interject.

“It’s also almost National Day[mfn]This is a public holiday in China to celebrate the establishment of the People’s Republic of China that is held on the 1st of October.[/mfn]! We get a week-long break!”

Ouyang rolled his eyes. “Pfft! You’re still such a kid! The break isn’t what’s important. What’s important is that Worlds is starting at the same time! We can chill all day at the internet cafe and watch the games together!”

Yang Fan raised an eyebrow and asked, “You’re going to watch Worlds at an internet cafe?”

“Duh!” Ouyang blurted out, incredulous. He couldn’t quite understand why Yang Fan would ask this. Then he raised his finger and wagged it back and forth. “It’s Worlds, guys! Worlds! Are you telling me you were planning to watch it at home? Alone in your room? Fuck that! How can anyone possibly enjoy such a big event by themselves? This is an experience you have to share with others! With your friends! Imagine it! The three of us, and plenty of others, all having drinks and cheering our team on! Is there anything more exciting than that?”

“Having drinks and cheering our team on?” Yang Fan adjusted his glasses again. “I thought those kinds of bar events were reserved for real sports. You know, like football. Or basketball.”

“PFFFT! Says who?” Ouyang moved his arms around wildly, showing the anger that already sounded in his voice. Then he passionately declared, “Who cares about those “real” sports? Get with the times, old man! Now is the era of esports! We’re just as big, if not bigger than the “real” sports. We are a real sport!”

“Yeah! What Ouyang says!” Lin Feng agreed, riled up by Ouyang’s little speech.

Ouyang quickly pivoted the topic. “Hey, how about we get together next week and watch Worlds together at the NetCow Cafe? We’ll grab a few beers. It’ll be fun!”

Yang Fan shrugged. “I’m up for whatever.”

Lin Feng shook his head and said. “Nah guys. I think I’ll stay home and watch it with my roommate. She’s really into League too.”

“What? Come on, man!” Ouyang yelled while punching Lin Feng in the arm. “Why watch with her? She’s a girl! You don’t watch sports with a girl! You watch sports with your bros! And everyone knows it’s ‘bros before hoes’. You know, we go to the internet cafe, get some beers, shoot the shit. Watch the epic gameplay moments live and tell good stories in betw…”

Ouyang trailed off mid-sentence and paused. He’d completely forgotten what he was talking about once he processed what Lin Feng had just said. Lin Feng lives with a girl? And she’s into League?

Then he continued on a very different train of thought, “Wait, your roommate’s a girl? She cute? What does she look like? Is she hot? She must be hot, right? That’s why you never mentioned her before. You interested in her? If you’re not, how about you introduce me to her? That’s just what a good bro does, right? Lemme play a game of League with her. She’s into the game, right? I can show her how good I am! Only-if-she’s-cute-though!”

“She definitely wouldn’t go out with you,” Lin Feng said bluntly.

Ouyang’s expression twisted in faked pain. “Damn, that cut deep bro. You know I like to play Ezreal, right? Well. Someone said I’m just as handsome as him the other day!”

Yang Fan rolled his eyes and snorted. “Ezreal? Hah, you look more like Trundle[mfn]Trundle is a troll.[/mfn].”

You’re right! He really looks a little like a troll! But I still think he’s more of a Kassadin,” Lin Feng added in high spirits.

“Kassadin?” Ouyang asked in a daze. Then, he quickly regained his sense and erupted, “Screw you! I’m not a dickface! What part of my face looks like a penis to you?”[mfn]In the Chinese League scene, there’s an ongoing meme that Kassidin’s face looks like a penis so they refer to him as ‘dickface’. It’s just one of those things. There are a bunch of other champions that fall into the meme category of ‘dickface champions’.[/mfn] Ignoring the laughter coming from Lin Feng and Yang Fan, he quickly changed the subject again, his train of thought hyperactive as always. “Right! The club fair is tomorrow! Our esports club is recruiting new members!

Yang Fan nodded. “Yes. The club fair is tomorrow after school. That gives us plenty of time, since school ends early on Tuesday.”

Lin Feng’s eyes lit up. He raised his hand and shouted, “I want to join! I want to join!”

Ouyang turned to Lin Feng. “Oh, sure. But first, did you do that thing I asked you to do?”

“Huh? What did you ask me to do?” Lin Feng asked, bewildered.

Ouyang stared at him, speechless. “I asked you to help us convince Tang Bingyao to join our esports club! We’re having a tournament on the 16th next month, and we’re still missing a good ad-carry!”

“I can play ad-carry. I’m better than her!” Lin Feng volunteered.

Ouyang rolled his eyes. “Sure buddy, you keep saying that. Whatever, just convince her to join us, and we’ll help you get in the club!”

“Oh, okay!” Lin Feng happily replied, dense as ever. Wait. He looked at Ouyang, suspicious. Hold on. Then it hit him. “Hey! I don’t need any help! I’m a Challenger! I can get in with my own skills!”

Ouyang and Yang Fan either pretended not to hear him or just tuned him out.

✹

Lin Feng met up with Tang Bingyao at the NetCow Cafe after school, like they did almost every day. From the moment they walked in together, he had a stream of complaints about Ouyang and Yang Fan as large and fast flowing as the Yangtze River. Tang Bingyao patiently listened to him until they sat down behind their computers. “Don’t they watch league livestreams?” she finally asked. “You showed yourself on the webcam the other day. They would’ve recognized you.”

“They do… but not on Huya. Probably some other streaming site. I don’t think they watch anything on Huya,” Lin Feng replied.

“I see.” Tang Bingyao nodded. She looked up at Lin Feng and consoled him, “It’s fine. Don’t worry about it. You just have to show them a bit of your skill tomorrow. They’ll be shocked, for sure.”

“Yeah! I’ll show them how good I am tomorrow!” Lin Feng pumped his fist in the air.

“Good luck,” said Tang Bingyao, while she clapped her hands softly and daintily. She was playing the proper role of a supporter.

“Uhh, you’re coming with me, right?” Lin Feng asked, recalling the task Ouyang had given him.

“No, not interested.” Tang Bingyao shook her head. She didn’t see any point in wasting her time attending this event if she wasn’t getting paid for it. She might as well spend that time knocking out a few orders. Time was money, after all.

Lin Feng frantically shook his head. “No no no, you have to come!”

“Huh, why?” Tang Bingyao asked, puzzled.

“Cause Ouyang said that if I don’t bring you I probably won’t be accepted…” Lin Feng explained with a pitiful expression.

“Sorry, I’m just really not interested.” Tang Bingyao frowned.

“It’s because there’s nothing in it for you, right?” Lin Feng asked.

Tang Bingyao nodded.

Lin Feng rubbed his chin for a little before offering, “How about this? If you come, I’ll teach you how to play Rengar!”

“You’re bribing me?” Tang Bingyao asked, knitting her brows.

“Bingo!” Lin Feng replied without any shame.

Tang Bingyao thought about it for a couple of seconds. Then she nodded. “Alright, deal.”

✹

The second the final bell started ringing on Tuesday, Lin Feng rushed to the front of the classroom where Tang Bingyao sat. He got there before the bell had even finished ringing. He impatiently waited for her to put her books away and then rushed to the esports club meeting, dragging her along. The door was open when they arrived at the packed classroom. They stepped inside and found 50 students who had all arrived before them cramped into the classroom.

The classroom had two rows of computers in the middle, and everyone gathered in the space around that island. Ouyang was behind a desk at the front of the classroom, struggling to maintain order. Everyone in the room was jostling and rushing to get to the desk, and the individuals had merged into a crowd that continued to grow at an alarming rate.

“Everyone, there’s no need to rush! Form a line!”
“Come up to the desk one at a time! Sign in on the sheet here with me! Don’t forget to write down your rank!”
“One at a time! Don’t crowd the desk!”
“No! Don’t take the sheet and pass it around! Give that back to me!”

The crowd that had laid siege to the desk at the front where Ouyang was attempting to get everyone to sign up was noisy, excited, and in the highest spirits possible. A few people had even found their way around the desk and were quickly boxing Ouyang in. Most of the students in that crowd were first years. This was their first time joining a club. This particular club was for their favorite game, which only served to amp them up further. They were rowdy, nearly giddy from all the excitement. None of them paid any attention to what Ouyang was saying or that he was even there. Most of what he was saying was drowned out from the din of the crowd.

It was then that a booming voice brimming with menace rang out, accompanied by the loud bang of a palm slamming down on the podium. “SETTLE DOWN!”

The room went silent. No one dared to do so much as breathe. The previously excited first years stood paralyzed in fear, slowly turning their heads to look at the podium in the front. There she stood. A tall and pretty girl with an almost palpable rage bubbling around her. Her icy cold gaze locked onto them, all of them, and sent shivers down their spines. This fiery beauty was Ren Rou, the class president of Senior Class 7!

Lin Feng’s eyes went wide. “Class pres is also part of the esports club?”

“Rou Rou is the club’s President of Logistics and Communication. She’s basically in charge of everything,” Tang Bingyao replied.

“Wow. She’s really talented!” Lin Feng remarked.

At this moment, Ren Rou spotted Lin Feng and Tang Bingyao in the crowd. Her eyes lit up. “Lin Feng! Tang Tang! What are you two waiting back there for? Get over here!”

Two Games. Two losses. After the first game, Qi Ming truly believed that it was purely dumb luck that had done him in. And it was that reasoning that made this second loss sting that much more. Lin Feng hadn’t just beaten him. Lin Feng had taken his champion from the first game and shown him how it would’ve looked had he played it better. When Qi Ming played Fizz in the previous game, he failed to predict where Lin Feng’s Lux would Flash. In this game, where Lin Feng was playing Fizz, he accurately predicted which way Qi Ming’s Syndra would Flash and splashed down on her with Trickster. The exact same situation in both games, and Qi Ming had made the wrong decision twice.

“You know, if you’d flashed like I did last game, you would’ve lived too,” Lin Feng remarked.

Qi Ming alternated between anger and humiliation, but he had nothing to say. Everything Lin Feng said was right. He could’ve flashed forward, and he would’ve escaped with his life. But in that critical moment, his gut reaction was to flash away. How could he possibly have the time to think of anything else? This was the crux of the problem. When there was no time to react, when the moment was most crucial, most players acted on instinct or habit. Only someone truly extraordinary could stay calm in a crucial moment like that one and ignore their instinctive reaction! Although he was a Master, achieving this Zen mindset was extraordinarily difficult. From his point of view, even professional players couldn’t necessarily pull this off consistently! So there should’ve been no reason for him to feel ashamed of himself. Except that this piddly high schooler had somehow pulled it off!

Lin Feng could do it. Easily. So why couldn’t I? Qi Ming couldn’t come to terms with his loss to Lin Feng, and a string of excuses, justifications and rationalizations ran through his mind. It was luck. No, lag! My keyboard wasn’t working… But all of those were worthless, he knew they were hollow. The reality of the situation was that the answer was simple. There’s no excuse! You were just bad! There was no excuse, no circumstance that had negatively influenced his gameplay. This absolute truth was what made his face flash between red and purple, between anger and embarrassment. Qi Ming shot up from his chair, toppling it over, and stomped out of the internet cafe. He didn’t even bother saying goodbye.

“Huh?” Lin Feng started after Qi Ming. “Where is he going?”

Zuo You burst out laughing. “Hahahaha! That was great! Oh my god! Let’s see him brag and try to show off in front of me at work again! Hahaha!” She wiped the tears from her eyes.

Lin Feng scratched his head. “I mean, he played pretty well.”

Zuo You rolled her eyes. “But not as good as you. Am I right?”

“Exactly!” Lin Feng balled his fist and struck a victory pose, a triumphant smile on his face.

“Can I ask you something?” Zuo You curiously looked at Lin Feng. “Why did it look so easy? You made him look like a silver noob… Are you really that good?” She went and picked up the chair Qi Ming knocked down, then glanced over the computer at Lin Feng and said, “I want to give it a try, let’s do a 1v1!”

✹

The game barely lasted three minutes. Zuo You stared at the grey screen in front of her, confused and surprised. Then she chucked her mouse away. “Fuck this! I’m not playing anymore!” She couldn’t believe what had just happened. There wasn’t a single game she could remember where she’d felt as powerless as in this 1v1 against Lin Feng. She decided to go with Orianna, a ranged AP champion. Lin Feng picked Yasuo, a melee champion. Most of the time, ranged champions acted as a counter to melee champions, especially in the early game. Not this game though. Lin Feng’s Yasuo completely shut her down. She could barely last hit a minion. Nor could she manage to poke or do any damage to the Yasuo. Whatever she was going to do, Lin Feng was already there throwing up a Wind Wall or dashing around her or constantly poking at her. She was completely and utterly powerless against Lin Feng’s Yasuo. Her confidence as a Platinum player was shattered.

“Oh oh! Looks like my Yasuo is pretty good too!” Lin Feng said.

“Yes yes yes. You’re the best. You’re the strongest,” Zuo You said. She kinda understood how Qi Ming felt right now. But it did look like that fight was more evenly-matched than the one she just had with Lin Feng. Thinking of him, and that unsightly look on his face as he fled the scene, her anger left her body and a smile replaced her frown. “Alright, how about we leave? Let’s go get some KFC.”

✹

At the KFC, Lin Feng sat down in a booth next to the window. A minute later, Zuo You arrived with a family bucket of chicken. He grabbed it from her and dug in. Zuo You sat down across from Lin Feng and started talking about Qi Ming again. “You don’t know, but man is he a show off! It’s like all he ever does! You know, he’s already 27 and still only a low level employee at the company! All he can do is look good and brag about his Master-rank to the girls. He’s the worst! Tsk, guys like him never get their act together.” She paused and watched Lin Feng wolf down a drumstick. “Hey kid. What do you think of Su Xue becoming a streamer? You think she’s making the right choice?”

Lin Feng was duking it out with a piece of New Orleans-style chicken[mfn]This is an actual menu item that is unique to KFC China. It’s a type of oven baked, though it can be pan-fried or grilled, chicken marinated in a mixture of Asian spices and coated in a honey-glaze sauce. It’s super popular in China. Many people have created homemade variations and recipes of it, which you guys can find on Google if you want to give it a try yourselves.[/mfn]. He stopped chewing for a moment before vigorously nodding. “Of course I do!”

Zuo You frowned. She looked both worried and angry and vehemently disagreed with Lin Feng, “But she can’t do this long term! You know how these things go. For the next few years, sure, she’ll have a fun job. She might even make a bit of money. But then what? How will she pay rent? Definitely won’t be able to buy a house. Will she even have money for groceries? She won’t have enough savings to retire.”

With a mouthful of chicken, Lin Feng waved the drumstick in his hand. “Yrou schuld do icht exachry becush ou’re yung!” He chewed and swallowed the food before adding, “What’s the point of being young if you’re not chasing after your dreams?”

Zuo You rolled her eyes. “So you’re one of those who doesn’t think about the consequences, huh? Hey, what’s your dream? I remember Su Xue telling me you wanted to become a pro?”

“Yeah! I want to become the best player in the world!”

Zuo You gasped. “Oh my god! Aiming a little high, are we? That’s even less realistic than Su Xue’s dream of becoming a big streamer!”

The best player in the world? Number 1? Zuo You had played League of Legends long enough to have some understanding of the scene. For the average player, like herself, there was the ranked ladder. You could play casually, or until 2 in the morning on a weekday, and climb the ranks from Bronze all the way up to Challenger. A lucky few at the top of the ladder became ordinary pros. They joined professional League of Legends teams but would never truly compete for any silverware. Next came the members of the top teams in the LPL or similar competitive circuits in other regions. Above them were the individual players who consistently performed well on the world stage. And finally, at the very top, stood the illustrious Seven Kings and Four Emperors.

“You want to become even better than the Seven Kings and Four Emperors?” Zuo You looked flustered. “Don’t forget. There’s that one emperor everyone says is better than the other three!”

Lin Feng sipped on his coke. He looked up at Zuo You and nodded. “I know.” Of course he knew. That emperor, the best player in the world, that was exactly who he had his sights set on. That guy was something else. He was genuinely, truly amazing at the game! He was a god. An unrivalled God. Thinking about that guy sent Lin Feng back into memories of his own past.

People always tell you not to dream too big. They tell you that some dreams are unrealistic, just a little too big. They tell you not to dream that big because big dreams never come true. But if a dream isn’t big, if you’re not chasing after the heavens, does it really count as a dream? Lin Feng knew how difficult it was to accomplish his dream. He knew it better than anyone else could. He’d fought against that guy before. And he lost. Lin Feng was the last stepping stone that guy used to ascend to the throne of Sovereign. That guy had stood at the apex of the Four Emperor since then. No one could take the throne from that guy in the last four years. Lin Feng also nursed some regret, since he’d decided to stop playing and leave the scene after losing to that guy. But that was in the past. He was back now!

Lost in his reveries, Lin Feng absentmindedly took another big gulp of his coke. The ice-cold carbonated drink tickled and fizzed in the back of his throat, snapping him back to the present. “Man, that was good!”