“Solo.”
The day’s training finally came to an end. Yi Xingran was one of the last to leave, having stayed behind to help Su Letong climb another rank before leisurely getting ready to shut down his computer.
He had barely made it to the entrance of the training room when Park Seokho, who had been wearing a dark expression all day, blocked the doorway. The two of them couldn’t communicate in the same language, so Park Seokho kept it simple, concise, straightforward and completely to the point as he issued him a challenge.
Heh. Yi Xingran raised an eyebrow. Who was he supposed to be afraid of?
Seeing that Park Seokho was about to enter the room, the pink-haired youth lifted one long leg and planted his foot directly on the desk beside him. He turned his head lazily, casually blocking Park Seokho’s path.
His fingertips flew rapidly across the screen as Yi Xingran typed something in, then used the encyclopedia-like translation app to translate it. “What’s the bet if I win?”
Park Seokho looked as though he had just heard the funniest joke in the world. He exaggeratedly contorted his expression as he spoke in awkward, broken Chinese. “You, impossible.”
Yi Xingran narrowed his eyes slightly. He smoothly slipped his phone back into his pocket, then raised his index finger and smiled as he gestured toward him. No, no, no…
Park Seokho gritted his teeth and delivered his threat. “Know your place. If you lose, get the hell out of TheX yourself!”
That was exactly the sentence Yi Xingran had been waiting to hear.
The corners of his lips curved upward into a smile. “Okay, sure. You’re the one who said it.”
The long leg blocking the doorway immediately came down. Yi Xingran turned around with an easy, carefree flourish, one hand tucked into his pocket as he sauntered back toward his seat. As he walked, he deliberately emphasized the unwritten bet they had just made.
“Whoever loses has to leave TheX on their own.”
Damn it!
A solo was essentially a one-on-one duel, a 1v1 custom game mode. When the characters were being selected at the beginning of the match, Yi Xingran still had enough leisure to lean back against his chair, interlocking both hands behind his head. His posture practically screamed that he couldn’t care less, as though he could pick absolutely anyone and still win.
As for choosing champions for a 1v1 match, there was actually quite a lot to consider. On the Howling Abyss map, what mattered was the individual combat ability of a single champion. Other than the laning phase, there were no additional bonuses to take into consideration, nor did he need to think about any tactical coordination with teammates. It was a mode that relied purely on individual mechanics and personal skill.
Under normal circumstances, when many players entered a one-on-one duel, they tended to favor champions with high burst damage and strong sustain. Because of the special mechanics of the mode, where champions could not simply die and return to base for a full reset, even returning to the fountain did not provide any additional recovery. Champions that did not rely heavily on their mana pool and those capable of restoring their own health were therefore among the most popular choices.
Champions such as Fiora, Darius and K’Sante possessed extremely powerful laning pressure along with excellent room for error when it came to spacing and kiting. Then there were champions like Vladimir and Dr. Mundo, whose superior healing and regeneration allowed them, especially in the mid-to-late game, to slowly grind their opponents down until they could practically wear them to death.
Yi Xingran was currently considering whether he should end the match quickly within eight minutes, directly demonstrating his absolute dominance, or choose a champion with a comparatively more comprehensive kit and carry the fountain-camping all the way through, crushing the entire game from beginning to end. Just then, Park Seokho suddenly let out a cold laugh from behind him.
“Solo isn’t just a game about pushing towers.”
Yi Xingran slowly lifted his eyelids.
Was this guy planning to show off his individual mechanics?
He turned around. Park Seokho turned as well, staring at him with a sinister grin. The mouse cursor was hovering over the portrait of a veteran champion with a bald head. He raised his chin provocatively.
“Lee Sin. Dare to?”
Blind Monk Lee Sin was a jungle champion so familiar to the earliest generation of League of Legends players that his name needed practically no introduction. His strength depended heavily on the upper limit of the player’s mechanics. His highly flexible skill set allowed him to weave effortlessly through groups of enemies, accomplishing the spectacular effect of diving in three times and leaving three times without a trace.
He could precisely lock onto the enemy team’s damage dealers amid the chaos of a team fight, passing through a sea of flowers without allowing even a single petal to cling to him. After a dazzling sequence of mechanical outplays, all that remained would be the stylish sight of the Blind Monk walking away and the pitiful corpses left behind beneath the trampling hooves.
For a time, this made Lee Sin one of the favorite choices of countless players who wanted to show off their mechanical skill.
Of course, having such a high mechanical ceiling also meant that his floor could be low enough to fall straight through.
In lower-ranked games, Blind Monk was frequently a source of controversy as well. You either went godlike or went completely useless, becoming nothing more than an ATM for the opposing team.
As the versions of the game continued to change one after another, more and more jungle champions capable of completely taking over a game with flashy mechanics began to appear. Blind Monk Lee Sin gradually started to fade from the historical stage, becoming increasingly quiet and obscure. It became rare to see the figure of this old-school, once top-tier champion on the Rift anymore.
Park Seokho grinned, showing a full row of teeth. Blind Monk was his signature champion. He had once relied on a spectacular “Ma-style triangular kill” play to lead his team to an unbelievable comeback, becoming famous in a single battle and completely proving his worth in the league. As for the new player standing before him, who looked barely eighteen, there was a good chance that Lee Sin wasn’t even properly mastered anywhere in his champion pool.
“Tch, scared? Yo, yo, yo, what a coward!”
Kids who had only just debuted were always at their most hot-blooded and full of youthful pride. Taking advantage of this opportunity, he was determined to thoroughly crush that arrogance out of him!
Seeing that Yi Xingran indeed didn’t fall for the usual provocation tactics, Park Seokho watched as the young man made a heat-of-the-moment decision and locked in Lee Sin. His smile immediately became even more unrestrained, as though the victory had already been secured before the game had even begun.
Just wait until you roll yourself out of the team!
That was what Park Seokho thought.
Out of the corner of his eye, Yi Xingran caught sight of the other man’s confident, victorious expression and really couldn’t hold back a soft laugh.
His old habit had flared up again. It was truly consistent with Yi Xingran’s stereotypical impression of this man, he always loved opening the champagne halfway through the game.
Yi Xingran ignored Park Seokho, who was still basking in his smug satisfaction. He simply relaxed his shoulders, then casually rotated and loosened his wrists from side to side.
The game began.
Last-hitting, laning, trading, leveling up.
After several rounds of exchanging blows and pulling back, Yi Xingran consistently maintained a health bar just slightly lower than Park Seokho’s. From the outside, it genuinely looked as though his mechanics were rusty and his familiarity with the champion was insufficient, as if he had finally revealed his true level the moment the match became a 1v1 and simply couldn’t keep up.
It wasn’t until he reached level five that Park Seokho drank the last health potion he had. His half-empty health bar slowly began climbing back upward. He aggressively pushed toward the edge of the lane, using Q and W to tag Yi Xingran with a quick combo before immediately retreating, reducing Yi Xingran’s health bar to roughly one-third.
Judging by the experience he had accumulated, after one more wave of minions, he would be able to reach level six and unlock his ultimate!
Park Seokho calculated the damage.
With the additional power provided by his ultimate, he could completely burst Yi Xingran down in a single combo and successfully secure First Blood! With the gold advantage from the kill combined with his level advantage, once Yi Xingran respawned and returned to lane, a level-five Lee Sin fighting a level-seven Lee Sin would be as easy as beating a blind man who had his eyes wide open.
Hahaha! Watch me use Dragon’s Rage, eat this Dragon’s Rage Flying Death Kick!
Lee Sin’s ultimate!
Park Seokho pushed the minion wave deeper into the lane. He watched as the little pink-haired rookie stood nervously and helplessly in front of his own tower, repeatedly hesitating, so frightened that he didn’t even dare step out from beneath the tower.
He waited for the perfect moment.
He planned to use Q to poke him, then, the instant he reached level six, follow up with the second stage of the ability to dash straight into Yi Xingran’s face and immediately chain it into his ultimate, killing him in an instant!
Q!
Miss!
He dodged it!
Park Seokho’s brows furrowed.
No rush, no rush.
Q’s cooldown wasn’t particularly long. Once he finished off these two minions and reached level six, he could deal with him then!
He calmly retreated.
Immediately afterward, another streak of white light flashed.
Yi Xingran’s Q followed close behind, landing precisely on Park Seokho’s head and leaving its mark.
No rush, no rush. He’s at low health and doesn’t dare come out from under the tower! Just wait until I reach six,
Yi Xingran didn’t use the second part of Q to close the distance.
Instead, he immediately used W to ward-hop behind him. The area damage from E instantly finished off several of the backline minions. In such a low-health state, he even activated Safeguard, attempting to use the shield to withstand Park Seokho’s damage.
Die!
What a complete trash player…
Park Seokho sneered coldly.
No one could calculate Lee Sin’s damage more precisely than he could. This sudden dash into his face was practically,
Park Seokho was just about to turn around.
But in the instant he turned, he stared in disbelief as a golden light flashed around Yi Xingran’s Lee Sin.
In the extreme fraction of a second, barely 0.0-something seconds, Yi Xingran had reached level six before him!
And just as Park Seokho was only a tiny sliver of experience away from reaching level six himself, Yi Xingran had actually jumped outside the range of the minion experience!
H-How was that possible?!
Yi Xingran’s Lee Sin unleashed Dragon’s Rage.
Park Seokho was launched into the air on the spot, kicked flying straight beneath the enemy’s defensive tower.
Park Seokho reacted quickly, still attempting to ward-hop his way out of the defensive tower’s attack range but at that very moment, Yi Xingran immediately followed up with the second cast of his Q, the second-stage damage carrying him across the distance in an instant and bringing him directly in front of Park Seokho!
It was an unbelievably precise use of the ability. The second dash of Q gave the player only an extremely brief window in which to make the move. If Yi Xingran hadn’t deliberately timed it by riding the cooldown right up to its absolute final moment, there was no way he could have pulled off this sequence!
Ward-hop… Flash!
Park Seokho fled in a sorry, desperate retreat but Yi Xingran didn’t leave him even the slightest room to catch his breath! Just as Park Seokho was about to escape the terrifying damage with only a sliver of health remaining, Yi Xingran followed immediately behind him and cast Ignite.
Roaring flames erupted around Park Seokho’s body.
Yi Xingran simply chased him down and burned him to death with Ignite!!
Pursuit, escape, then pursuit once more.
The same champion’s abilities had carved two triangular paths across the map,
The Ma-style Triangular Kill!
Yi Xingran stood beside the minion wave, looking down lightly at the corpse lying beneath his feet. Until the very end, Park Seokho had failed to absorb that final bit of experience from the minions.
He had still been level five when he died.
Was it that precise… or was he simply lucky?
Park Seokho slammed his mouse down in fury, completely unwilling to believe how the overwhelmingly favorable situation he had held just moments ago had been reversed in an instant!
A faint curve appeared at the corners of Yi Xingran’s lips.
With First Blood secured and the additional experience from the minion wave, by the time he stood before Park Seokho’s defensive tower, he had already reached level seven.
N-No… impossible…
This absolutely couldn’t be happening!
Park Seokho’s game screen had gone gray. He stared at the monitor in utter disbelief, his eyes wide as he desperately tried to reconstruct what had just happened yet even he couldn’t completely replay the sequence in his mind, unable to determine exactly what kind of terrifying hand speed Yi Xingran had displayed in that exchange.
“Being smug after getting a little success” sounded like something that should make a person look unbearably arrogant but Yi Xingran was curled up cross-legged in his gaming chair, looking like a cat that had just completed a successful hunt and was now thoroughly pleased with itself, leisurely savoring the pleasure of its victory.
He raised his brows, lightly lifted his chin and narrowed his eyes with delight as he watched Park Seokho, who had only just walked out of his base without even having his ultimate available yet.
Yi Xingran casually controlled his champion to lie down right in front of the tower and take a nap.
He had the exact arrogant, smug demeanor of a cat that had just gotten its way.
Somehow, it didn’t look bad at all. ^^
Park Seokho’s brows were tightly furrowed and a fine layer of cold sweat had already gathered across his forehead.
Yi Xingran’s eyelids were half-lowered.
First Blood was secured.
The level advantage was overwhelming.
The outcome of the match had already been decided.
The true moment of the hunt had begun..
✦ ✧ ✦
Fleurveil
[Translator]
☕ A LITTLE SOMETHING FOR THE TRANSLATOR
A mysterious coffee offering may increase translator happiness by 37%. Probably.
☕ BUY THEM A COFFEE →
✧ (づ｡•ㅅ•｡)づ ☕ ✧
✦ thank you for reading ✦
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ChaptersChapter 1 · Fire the hole!Chapter 2 · Dude, I’m here to save youChapter 3 · Plaster HeadChapter 4 · I’m well behaved, I don’t talk muchChapter 5 · It’s what Cross needsChapter 6 · What are you barking like a dog?Chapter 7 · “Ah! It’s so… so damn cold~”Chapter 8 · What are you looking at, you pervert!Chapter 9 · The cat I bought for free got dirty.Chapter 10 · Oh no! I forgot to switch to a smaller account!Chapter 11 · It’s my turn to performChapter 12 · Insults? That’s slander! This is slander!Chapter 13 · He’s a very nice personChapter 14 · Hunting TimeChapter 15 · A straight man sells himselfChapter 16 · The number one person who doesn’t eat stressChapter 17 · He is so vividChapter 18 · War! War! War! Kill! Kill!Chapter 19 Part 1 · What’s wrong with guys rubbing against each other?Chapter 19 Part 2 · What’s wrong with guys rubbing against each other?