All-Round Mid Laner

Supports like Mumu, with top-tier game awareness, were extremely hard to find.

In high-ranked games, supports were very important. A support was like the eyes of a team. Without a good support, everyone would be blind. The enemy would invade their territory again and again, making it very easy for the team with a poor support to collapse.

If Mumu was offering to played ranked as Xiao Bai's support of her own volition, Ye Shaoyang would obviously be very happy. He instantly replied: [Mu-jie, what time do you usually play? I can line up my schedule with yours.]

Mumu: [I usually sleep at half past midnight. I play ranked in the mornings and afternoons, and I play in the summit tournament in the evenings.]

Young women typically cared more about getting their beauty sleep. She wouldn't be like most night owl streamers who stayed up until three or four in the morning. Her work and sleep schedule was fairly regular. This kind of schedule just so happened to fit perfectly with Ye Shaoyang's plans.

Ye Shaoyang hurriedly replied: [Then, Mu-jie, if you have time, you can help me in ranked tomorrow. I start at ten in the morning.]

Mumu: [Okay, see you tomorrow. I'll continue playing in the summit tournament for now.]

Ye Shaoyang responded with a waving emoji to say goodbye.

After closing their conversation window, Ye Shaoyang opened his streaming room and saw that Xiao Bai's room had yet again gained a bunch of new followers. Mumu was still streaming, so lots of her fans had seen her add Xiao Bai to her friends list. Many of those viewers followed the information in the comments section and made their way over to Xiao Bai's room, following the account while they were there.

In just a few short minutes, Xiao Bai's follower count grew by over 200,000. The influence of a top-tier streamer was evident.

Ye Shaoyang politely greeted the new viewers: [Welcome, friends from Mu-jie's streaming room. Thank you for following me. I'll continue playing the summit tournament now.]

Then, a message suddenly popped up on his screen—

[Xiao Rui] has sent you a present.

Ye Shaoyang turned to look at his didi, quietly asking, "What's this?"

Qin Rui earnestly answered, "Ge, I realized your Destiny Goddess doesn't have a skin yet. As a streamer, how could you use a hero without a special skin? That's too pedestrian."

Qin Rui paused for a moment, then continued, "These past few days, I took a look at other streamers' rooms. I found that they all have a full collection of skins for their signature heroes. Some of them even switch up their skins based on their viewers' requests. Playing with a hero without a special skin makes us look super cheap."

"Makes sense," Ye Shaoyang said. He opened the gift.

Congratulations, you have received the epic skin [Origin of Light, the Destiny Goddess].

Congratulations, you have received the legendary skin [Angelic Wings, the Destiny Goddess].

The Destiny Goddess only had these two skins with special effects. Xiao Rui had simply bought them both. Ye Shaoyang helplessly patted his didi on the head and said, "You don't have to send me all of them in one go."

Qin Rui smiled sweetly. "It's no problem, I have lots of unused credits in my account anyway."

The comments in the streaming room started to flood across the screen—

[Streamer Xiao Bai is being kept by his didi.]

[Xiao Rui is so cute, hahaha. Moderator Xiao Rui must be protected at all costs.]

[You guys can offend Xiao Bai-gege, but you absolutely cannot offend Xiao Rui-didi. He'll kick you out of the group chat!]

[If I diss people here, will Xiao Rui-didi mute me?]

Ye Shaoyang glanced at the comments and said, "If you diss me, that's fine. But don't say anything bad about other streamers in my room. Those who try to stir up a fight will immediately be muted."

As though on cue, Xiao Rui picked out a few IDs to ban. Right after that, Ye Shaoyang started another game.

No one was allowed to form teams in the summit tournament. What kind of teammates and opponents Ye Shaoyang would run into in his second match would be entirely up to chance. However, his position in the second match was pretty good—he got the first pick, and his name was anonymized as Player 1. He would have the privilege of choosing his hero first.

Only the Abyssal Lord was banned by the enemy team in this game. The Illusionist and the Frost Goddess were both left open. However, Ye Shaoyang didn't choose either of them. He continued to play the Destiny Goddess. He could boost her proficiency, and start to raise her battle power to climb the national leaderboards as well.

After choosing his hero, he put on the [Angelic Wings, the Destiny Goddess] skin that Xiao Rui had just sent him.

This skin deserved its 'legendary' rank. It was expensive, and the special effects were truly very beautiful. Behind the Destiny Goddess's body, a pair of snow white wings spread out. Layer upon layer of pure white feathers formed those wings, and those feathers would flutter through the air whenever the Destiny Goddess flapped her wings. She now wore a pure, divine set of white mage's robes, and the staff she held in her hands was haloed by a golden glow, like she was truly an angel descended from the heavens.

Ye Shaoyang's teammates of the round seemed pretty introverted. While choosing heroes, no one spoke in the team chat.

Everyone silently selected their own heroes, and the team comps were quickly set.

The top laner was the Holy Knight again. This meaty tank was seen very, very often in the top lane during ranked matches. The jungler was the Stealthy Rogue, who could go invisible and sneak around to instakill enemies. The mid laner was Ye Shaoyang's Destiny Goddess, and the bottom lane marksman/support duo was composed of the classic pair of the Forest Envoy and the Divine Archer.

Their jungler was strong in early-game. They could try to invade the enemy's territory.

The game started to load. Ye Shaoyang's teammates saw that Player 1 had chosen the Destiny Goddess, who was wearing a flashy skin yet showing off a very low proficiency rating.

As soon as the match began, someone typed into the team chat—

[Player 2]: Here to show off your skin?

There really were players who joined matches just to 'show off' their skins. Even if they couldn't play a hero well, they would buy that hero's most dazzling skin and join a game to drag down their teammates.

Ye Shaoyang swiftly responded.

[Player 1]: No.

[Player 1]: I can C with or without a skin.

This 'C' was widely understood to mean 'carry'. Seeing that Player 1 was so confident, the other members of his team decided not to say much else.

At the 1,000 point startling line of the summit tournament, there really were crouching tigers and hidden dragons everywhere. Lots of experts had alts they played on, so low proficiency heroes didn't really mean much. And in the summit tournament, there was no need to waste time flaming other people.

Ye Shaoyang saw that their jungler had their mic on, so he asked in the voice chat, "Jungler, counter blue?"

From the jungler's mic, a clamor of noise came through, along with some mournful background music.

"No, you don't love me at all!"

"My beloved, I was wrong. Can't you forgive me just this once?"

All the viewers in Xiao Bai's streaming room were baffled.

Ye Shaoyang helplessly pressed a hand to his own forehead. "This guy is watching TV while he plays?"

The jungler's voice sounded out, mixed in with the cacophony of noise from the TV show. He sounded like a very brazen old uncle. "Counter, counter, yeah. Let's steal 'em both."

That bold jungler swiftly charged down the path by the river.

As a result, before his teammates could catch up to him, he was laid out flat on his back.

First Blood!

He'd traveled a long way just to give away his head.

The jungler uncle said, "Didn't we say we would counter the blue? Why didn't any of you follow along?"

The support's calm voice rang out. "Your Stealthy Rogue can get up there with just a few of your movement skills. I can't fly, how am I supposed to keep up?"

The jungler uncle said, "Oh. Then I'll slow it down next time?"

The already mentally exhausted support said, "…just be good and stay home for now. Finish farming in our own jungle first."

Some junglers really did play like wild, untamed stallions. There was nothing anyone could do to stop them. They played by their gut feelings and impulses, without a single care for where their teammates were. The sort of jungler to charge in blindly… there were quite a lot of people like this.

Ye Shaoyang didn't plan on pinning his hopes on their jungler in this round. He helplessly muted his own mic and said to the viewers in his streaming room, "Looks like the jungler in this round isn't like the one in the last game. I won't be able to help him level up."

[Hahaha, I believe in this old uncle's ability to lead you all to collapse on all three lanes.]

[Let him waste time in the jungle. This round, our Xiao Bai will C!]

[I bet this guy just made it to King rank, probably doesn't have many stars. He's probably just checking out the summit tournament to mess around a bit.]

[I'm more curious about what he's watching. Sounds like some serious dog blood!]

Ye Shaoyang ignored the jungle for the time being and swiftly started to farm creeps to level up.

As he played, he explained to his viewers, "The Destiny Goddess is a hero with two play styles. One, when your jungler is skilled enough, you can let them take the resources and experience. Give your jungler the minion kills in the mid lane, and just get some experience along with them. You can rely on your own hero's level to do greater magic damage, which will allow you to hit hard in fights."

He opened his equipment tab and continued, "With this play style, you can build her like this, using the first set I've saved. Focus on equipment that enhances your skills, and stack those cooldown reduction bonuses as much as possible.

"The other play style is for when your jungler isn't very good, or when your jungler is a control-type hero who's willing to funnel resources to the mid laner. Under those circumstances, we can became a very powerful burst mage, so you want your equipment to maximize your burst potential. Once you're all set, you can instakill your enemies. That's when you would use the second set of equipment I've saved here.

"You guys can all take a screenshot of these two builds now."

[Professor Xiao Bai is back!]

[Every time Xiao Bai streams, I always take notes~]

[Yeah, but… I still don't understand how to play the Destiny Goddess.]

In early-game, Ye Shaoyang could continuously farm minions by staying in motion and moving in an S-shape in his lane. The mid laner facing off against him was the Frost Goddess, and there was no way she would be able to freeze him in place. Therefore, Ye Shaoyang wasn't at all worried about being solo killed by the enemy mid laner.

This was the perfect time to give everyone an explanation of this hero.

"Most heroes only have four skills—their Q, W, E, and R. However, the Destiny Goddess's skillset is pretty unique. Her E skill allows her to shift between her Light state and her Shadow state. When you switch states, your Q, W, and R skills all change as well.

"For example, your Light-state Q skill releases white talismans, which can immobilize an enemy. Your Shadow-state Q skill, on the other hand, releases black talismans, which shoot out in a straight line and deal magic damage along that line.

"Your Light-state W is a slowing spell with a small area of effect. Your Shadow-state W releases a small cyclone of red talismans, which can deal AoE damage in a small range. This one is great for clearing minions. In team fights, you can find a good target and concentrate your W skill on one person.

"Your R skill, in Light-state, has a 0.5 second cast time, and you can be interrupted. This one will summon gold talismans from the sky, which attack and stun your enemy for one second. In Shadow-state, your R skill can be cast instantly. Huge amounts of black talismans will be summoned, dealing a ton of damage.

"When you use your E skill to switch states, all your other skills will come off cooldown. If you hit E again within three seconds, the skills of your other state will come off cooldown as well. So, this hero has a lot of potential skill combos. I've summarized it in a chart here, everyone can take a look."

The camera in the streaming room was originally fixed on a little kitty who was focused on playing with its little ball. In the next instant, Ye Shaoyang turned the camera onto a chart which listed out all the skill combos of the Destiny Goddess and the conditions under which they could be used. For example, there was a skill combo that would allow you to escape when an assassin targeted you from nearby, a combo that would best enable you to stage an ambush from the woods and get a solo kill, a combo for team fights, and so on and so forth.

The Destiny Goddess had over fifteen skill combos.

The viewers of Xiao Bai's stream felt dizzy just looking at the densely packed notes on that chart.

[Who am I? Where am I? Are we really playing the same game?]

[Why did they have to make such a complicated hero? Is this reasonable?]

[I feel like my IQ has been crushed under a steamroller.]

[I used to think it was just my hand that was handicapped. Now I'm realizing… it seems my brain is handicapped too?]

[You'd better bring back the cat. Don't show us this stuff we can't understand!]

Ye Shaoyang waited until everyone who wanted to take a screenshot got a chance to take one, then turned the camera back on the cat.

Then he said, "My Destiny Goddess has already reached Level 6 and learned her ult. I'll demonstrate how we solo kill the opposing mid laner now."

Saying that, he immediately hid away in the woods by the river that ran along the middle lane.

The player operating the Frost Goddess was also very alert. They'd sensed that their opponent was an expert, so they instantly retreated to their own tower.

However, in the next instant, the Destiny Goddess suddenly flashed into the range of the enemy tower. Multicolored talismans rained down from above. The Frost Goddess found herself locked in place by the white talismans, then immediately afterwards—her HP plummeted to zero!

After getting a solo kill on the enemy mid laner, Ye Shaoyang swiftly left the attack range of the enemy tower. He'd only taken two hits from the defensive tower, so his HP was still at a pretty healthy level. This act of flashing into the enemy tower's range to kill an enemy hero left the viewers in the streaming room collectively dumbfounded.

Ye Shaoyang said, "The combo we used just then was E-R, flash, then Q-E-Q-W-R. Everyone got it?"

Viewers: [Goodbye.jpg]

In just 1.5 seconds, Xiao Bai had slammed down on a whole bunch of keys. Everyone saw that flurry of talismans swirling around the Frost Goddess's body, and then a second later the Frost Goddess was dead on the ground.

Who the hell could 'get' that?

[I keep saying, our host isn't human. Tentacle monster, right?]

[Being able to execute such a complicated skill combo in such a short span of time… just how fast is your hand speed?]

[Host, be good and tell us. Are you an alien kitty who came to earth and learned our language?]

[The host we're following is actually a cat! Cats are way better at playing games than humans.]

[Meow meow, if it's you playing the game, give us a meow.]

At that exact moment, Xiao Bai lifted its head and obligingly mewled into the camera.

Everyone in the streaming room went wild with laughter.

In the game, the jungler uncle's mic was still taking in the sounds of the dog blood romance drama he was watching.

He'd probably forgotten to mute his mic. With the sounds of bitter sobbing from that nasty breakup playing out in the background, Ye Shaoyang used the Destiny Goddess to lead his whole team to victory.

Unsurprisingly, he was named the MVP.

Eight kills, zero deaths, five assists. In the summit tournament, where everyone tended to play more cautiously, this kind of result was downright awesome. The Destiny Goddess also gained a lot more battle power than she would have in an ordinary ranked match.

Ye Shaoyang smiled and said, "If you guys run into the Destiny Goddess on the other team, be sure to take 'cleanse' as your basic skill. You have to avoid being stunned by her ult before you can run away."

[I'm still just… Goodbye.jpg]

[You can stop talking now. If I run into a demon like you in ranked, I wouldn't even be able to use my cleanse before you killed me dead.]

[Destiny Goddess? I've been playing ranked for ages, and I really haven't seen much of her before.]

[Xiao Bai, you're overestimating your fans' skills. We only know how to play this as a game. We don't know how to play professionally!]

Among all heroes in the game, the Destiny Goddess was in the Top 3 in terms of how difficult she was to operate.

It was indeed very rare to see her in online matches, though she regularly took the field in professional games.

Ye Shaoyang continued to play in the summit tournament.

The summit tournament was only available every day from eight in the evening to midnight. Ye Shaoyang didn't want to waste this time. In four hours, he played a total of seven games. He used the Destiny Goddess in all seven rounds, and he scored seven consecutive wins.

His summit tournament points shot from 1,000 to 1,140.

At midnight, the summit tournament closed down for the night. Ye Shaoyang stretched and said, "Tonight's results were pretty good. I'll get some sleep first. Everyone, don't stay up too late. Good night, see you tomorrow!"

He shut off his livestream and exited out of the game. Just as he was about to turn away to get some sleep, he saw a WeChat notification pop up.

Jungler Boss: [Your Destiny Goddess is pretty good.]

Ye Shaoyang froze for a second, then typed back: [Captain Chi? You were watching my livestream?]

He'd forgotten to change Chi Shuo's nickname earlier, so he changed it now to 'Chi Shuo'.

Chi Shuo: [Mm, just watched a couple rounds after washing up.]

Ye Shaoyang curiously asked: [Don't you have a game on Thursday with Tianhuan?]

Chi Shuo: [That's right, so we aren't allowed to play practice games tonight. Afraid it'll mess with everyone's mental states.]

Chi Shuo: [Our game will be tomorrow night at seven. Do you have time to come watch at the venue?]

Ye Shaoyang smiled and answered: [If you have extra tickets, I definitely want to go see.]

Chi Shuo sent him a QR code for the tickets, then wrote: [You're welcome to come watch. It'll be a good chance for you to get a better understanding of our team's players.]

Ye Shaoyang: [Sounds good. Thank you, Captain Chi. Good luck tomorrow.]

Author's Notes:

The Destiny Goddess's dual states is a reference to Hua Mulan from Honor of Kings. She's a little more difficult to play than Hua Mulan, because she has more than two skills. She's the type of hero who lets you show off your operation skills~

It's okay if you don't understand everything, the important thing is that the main character is awesome.