All-Round Mid Laner

The next morning, Ye Shaoyang still woke up at his usual time. He turned on his computer and started to train with his heroes. At ten in the morning, he opened his Whale Streaming room right on time.

He'd bought a bean bag chair online for his little cat, which had a pattern that was very similar to that of his couch from home. As a result, when the camera was turned on to the cat on the bean bag chair, viewers didn't notice right away that Ye Shaoyang had moved.

Lots of people in the streaming room started to greet him.

[Good morning, Xiao Bai. Why weren't you here yesterday?]

[You didn't stream at all yesterday. I missed the kitty for a whole day.]

[Host, did something happen? Did you suddenly disappear because you were kidnapped by aliens~?]

"I've been a bit busy lately, so I'll be cutting down on streaming hours," Ye Shaoyang explained. "In the future, I'll play ranked from ten to noon every day. I have other plans for the rest of the day. Apologies, everyone."

Most esports teams arranged practices in the afternoons and evenings, so Ye Shaoyang would only be able to stream for these two hours each day. Some of his viewers had been watching him ever since he was a complete noob; he felt it was only right to let everyone know. While they were on the subject, Ye Shaoyang changed the official channel notice to 'Streaming From 10-12 Every Morning'. He didn't add anything about charging the national leaderboards.

[Xiao Bai, are you high? You're satisfied with just eight national rankings?]

[You're not sprinting for those national titles with any other heroes?]

[I thought our host was going to collect national titles for all the mid lane heroes!]

Ye Shaoyang had originally started amassing these national titles for the purpose of attracting attention from major professional teams.

And now, he had already achieved that goal. National titles weren't actually all that important to him. He would obviously have to focus on working with the team's training schedule.

"No more national titles, I'll just play for fun."

Ye Shaoyang played two hours of ranked, then found an excuse to go offline.

At half past noon, he went down to the cafeteria on the ground floor.

Team Tianhuan's other players were just waking up. Cheng Xing and Xie Xiaotian both had dark panda bags under their eyes. It was obvious that neither of them had slept well after being obliterated yesterday.

Ye Shaoyang silently thought to himself that this was pretty funny. He waved the two of them over and said, "Come sit."

Cheng Xing carried a tray over and sat down next to him, bowing his head like a little chicken pecking at rice.

Xie Xiaotian approached as well, looking at Ye Shaoyang with a complex expression on his face. He seemed to want to say something, but didn't.

Ye Shaoyang curiously asked, "What is it? If you have something to say, say it."

Xie Xiaotian quietly asked, "You… you're the streamer Xiao Bai?"

He even used the more respectful form of 'you' to address Ye Shaoyang. It seemed like Cheng Xing had gone back last night and given Xie Xiaotian a rundown of Xiao Bai's origins as a streamer. Ye Shaoyang smiled faintly, in a way that wasn't quite a smile, as he faced the youth in front of him.

"What, did you learn your Abyssal Lord tactics from the teaching videos of the streamer Xiao Bai?"

Xie Xiaotian blushed to the tips of his ears. "Ahem… yeah."

He really was the biggest idiot alive! He hadn't known that this gaming god in front of him was the streamer Xiao Bai, the National #1 Abyssal Lord. Yesterday, he'd even used the Abyssal Lord to 1v1 him… being obliterated was just what he deserved, wasn't it?

Ye Shaoyang reassured, "Your foundations are actually very solid, and your reaction speed is quick. It's just that your mind isn't nimble enough. The Abyssal Lord allows you to move in a triangular formation by swapping places with his shadows, but the way you moved isn't right. Every time, you moved in a counterclockwise direction. It was very easy for me to guess where you would appear next. When you move in that triangular shape, you have to be prepared to change things up on a dime. You can't let your opponent find a pattern in your movements."

Xie Xiaotian stared blankly at him. Was he receiving face-to-face guidance?

Seeing that Xie Xiaotian was listening intently, Ye Shaoyang continued, "The key to playing assassin mages is to strike when the enemy least expects it. I saw you hiding yourself in the woods, so your ambush was guaranteed to fail. You have to be careful to restrict your enemy's field of vision. Usually, when no minions are present, how many paces away can you see?"

"Around five or so," Xie Xiaotian answered instinctively.

"You were in too much of a rush yesterday," Ye Shaoyang said. "When you hid in the woods, you were only 4.5 paces away from me. A flap of your clothes passed through my field of vision. A player with a good enough dynamic vision would instantly determine your position. These details can cost you your life in an official game. Playing assassin mages requires even more coolheadedness than playing control-type mages. Got it?"

"…I, I'll be careful in the future," Xie Xiaotian said.

When Chi Shuo carried a plate over, he was just in time to hear Ye Shaoyang tutoring the kids.

It was strange. Ye Shaoyang was clearly a newcomer in the team. However, when he talked tactics and game strategy with these kids from the second-string team—he seemed more like Team Tianhuan's captain, one who had helped these didi grow up. He didn't seem to feel the slightest bit out of place.

A thread of confusion rose in Chi Shuo's heart. He always got the sense that Ye Shaoyang wasn't like a newbie, but rather was more like a veteran of the game who'd already experienced all sorts of tumultuous storms. Chi Shuo had gone back to his room last night and reviewed the recordings of the 1v1 games Ye Shaoyang played against Xie Xiaotian and Cheng Xing. It wasn't that Ye Shaoyang was so powerful that he could easily crush these two in 3-0 wins. The two younger players were extremely outstanding players from Tianhuan's rookie training camp, after all.

It was just that Ye Shaoyang was much calmer about seizing every opportunity.

In high-level standoffs, victory or defeat could be decided in an instant. If you lost in terms of mental fortitude, then naturally there would be no way for you to win the game. And so, Ye Shaoyang had ultimately pointed out the problem with the kids—they were pretty talented, but their mental states tended to collapse too easily. They needed to endure more hardships.

Chi Shuo felt a bit complicated. He hadn't imagined that Ye Shaoyang would take the initiative to help out Tianhuan's younger players.

Upon realizing Chi Shuo had approached, Ye Shaoyang instantly stopped their conversation.

Ahem. His old professional habits had cropped up again. He had gotten used to being the captain in his previous life. Whenever he saw these little friends having problems, he couldn't resist pointing them out. But he was overstepping by doing this. At Tianhuan, Chi Shuo was the captain.

At first, Ye Shaoyang assumed Chi Shuo wouldn't be happy. But then, when Chi Shuo sat down, he only mildly said, "Xiaotian, make sure you learn a lot from Shaoyang in the future. The coach hasn't added you to the starting lineup—that isn't because your skills aren't good enough, but because your mental fortitude isn't strong enough. In professional games, you tend to lead your whole team to collapse."

Xie Xiaotian nodded frantically. "I got it, Captain Chi. I'll learn well from Yang-ge."

Chi Shuo looked towards Cheng Xing next. "And you."

"Yes, Master!" Cheng Xing blurted out. "I'll learn from Yang-ge too!"

Before, Tianhuan's only boss had been Chi Shuo. Now there was a big boss named Ye Shaoyang as well?

No one could afford to anger either of them, in any case. Everyone just had to be good and behave.

Xie Xiaotian and Cheng Xing swiftly scarfed down their lunches, then picked up their trays and ran away. It was only then that Ye Shaoyang looked towards Chi Shuo, coughing lightly. "Captain Chi, did I overstep just now? I shouldn't have lectured them."

"It's fine," Chi Shuo said with warmth in his gaze. "These rookies do in fact have a lot of problems. Don't hesitate to point them out. You're Tianhuan's starting mid laner. You have every right to be respected in the team."

Ye Shaoyang laughed. "As long as Captain Chi doesn't mind, that's good. I wouldn't dare say too much to other players, but I do at least have some thoughts when it comes to playing mid laner. I can share that advice with Xiaotian. This kid's innate talent really is pretty good. In the future, when I'm no longer with Tianhuan, he'll have to be the one to carry on Tianhuan's banner."

Chi Shuo was silent.

Thinking about raising up the next generation of players was something only the most responsible captains would consider.

Ye Shaoyang was willing to impart his own knowledge to Xie Xiaotian, which proved he already felt a sense of belonging here at Team Tianhuan. That was why he cared about cultivating Tianhuan's next generation of mid laner.

Could this be called… buy one, get one free?

They'd bought a new mid laner, and that new mid laner would personally coach his own successor to become Tianhuan's next mid laner?

Chi Shuo looked towards Ye Shaoyang. An unbidden wave of warmth rose in his chest.

The best decision he'd made in recent years was acting swiftly to bring Ye Shaoyang to Team Tianhuan.

Shaoyang really was the most brilliant treasure he'd ever discovered.

After lunch, everyone gathered in the training room and started their daily practice.

Coach Lin led the five members of the starting lineup to a smaller training room. It was quieter in there, and better-suited for concentrating on training. The five players sat down in the order they would take in official games, then turned on their computers.

Coach Lin brought a printout of a chart over to Ye Shaoyang. He placed it on the desk and said, "Shaoyang, we coaches have devised a training plan just for you. It's currently the middle of October, and the next season will officially start in January of next year. We still have two and a half months. I believe you'll get used to the rhythm of our team very quickly."

Ye Shaoyang picked up the papers and flipped through—

It was currently October 15th, and January 15th of next year would be the official start of Season 10. After cutting out the New Year's break in January, Ye Shaoyang would be left with only two and a half months of training. The coaches had split his training up into three segments.

In the first month, he would have to deepen his hero pool.

Ye Shaoyang's hero pool was truly his greatest weakness. He could only play eight mid lane heroes at the moment, which was far from enough. He had to learn others as quickly as possible and gain an understanding of how all mid lane heroes worked in various team comps.

For that first month, the coaches had decided that Chi Shuo would train with Ye Shaoyang, accompanying him in getting used to more heroes.

Every afternoon from two to six, for four whole hours, Ye Shaoyang was to undergo independent training. He was to practice all of the heroes he didn't know how to play in 'Nightmare Mode' of the game's training mode.

From six to seven, dinner would be served. There would be a one-hour break.

Starting at eight in the evening, Ye Shaoyang was to start double queueing with Chi Shuo to practice their teamwork. The mid laner would get used to working with the jungler first, before properly integrating into the team of five.

"This month, you focus on practicing new heroes first. Practice the basic skills like farming minions in training mode as well." Coach Lin opened up a program on the computer. "This is a program we developed in the team, for individual training. The data and stats are all the same as what you'll find in the official game. It'll automatically record your per minute stats of creeps farmed and gold gained. You can review your progress every day, and we coaches can take a look whenever we need to as well."

With this, players couldn't slack off even if they wanted to. The coaches would always have the stats on every player's training sessions.

Professional training software tracked many more stats than the stat trackers that came with the game. The most notable one was the gold gained per minute statistic. This was an important stat by which professional players were evaluated. In tournaments, if you gained gold and experience at a slower rate than the enemy mid laner, then it was very possible that the enemy's gear would completely suppress you in a fight.

Gaining the most resources in the shortest span of time was also an important skill.

Coach Lin continued, "When you queue with Chi Shuo at night, refer to this chart I made. It had common synergies for mid lane heroes and junglers. For example, the Bloodstained Assassin and the Abyssal Lord, the King of Fighters and the Destiny Goddess, the Stealthy Rogue and the Illusionist, the Trapper and the Flame Goddess, and so on… these are all combinations we might use in future games, so you two get used to them now."

Ye Shaoyang nodded his understanding. "Mm, I got it. I'll follow these training plans to the letter."

There were many different ways in which a mid/jungle duo could work together. For example, they could run a double assassin burst comp. Or one of them could choose a hero with crowd control skills while the other focused on remaining aggressive and mobile. Or a support mid laner could work with a jungler core, or a support jungler could work with a mid laner core… and so on and so forth.

Tianhuan couldn't become masters of just one battle strategy. They wanted to be a team with a comprehensive set of skills, which meant Ye Shaoyang and Chi Shuo had to learn many different ways in which mid laners and junglers could work together. In the future, when they had to adjust their entire team comp, they would have a lot more options.

Tianhuan's coaches were extremely professional.

So for the next month, they would have Ye Shaoyang practice new heroes while getting used to working together with Chi Shuo. At the same time, their new support Qu Jiang would also work on his teamwork with the new marksman Cheng Xing. Every night, Chi Shuo would double queue with Ye Shaoyang, and Qu Jiang would double queue with Cheng Xing. Qin Yizhu would play by himself; top laners spent most of their time playing on their own, anyway.

During the second phase of the training plan, the mid/jungle duo and the marksman/support duo would group up for team training after getting used to playing with their partners. This second month would be wholly dedicated to the whole team practicing various team comps and learning to tacitly understand each other's orders. They would also schedule some practice games in order to identify issues in their own team.

The third phase would be dedicated to getting used to the tournament structure and schedules. This time would completely be devoted to training according to the official game structures.

Which was to say, Ye Shaoyang was going to take the stage at an official game just two and a half months after joining the team. Time was extremely precious. A lot of teams had to play together for at least half a year before establishing any sort of tacit understanding. It wasn't enough for Ye Shaoyang to have that tacit understanding with Chi Shuo only. If he fell out of sync with players like Qin Yizhu and Cheng Xing, it would still be very easy for Tianhuan to fall apart in team fights.

Since time was of the essence, Ye Shaoyang would give his all to improving himself and getting used to this team.

Ye Shaoyang started up the training software and started to practice in earnest.

Chi Shuo occasionally looked over at him. Every time, he saw that Ye Shaoyang was completely focused. As soon as a game began, Ye Shaoyang would become fully focused on the computer. His gaze would be glued to the monitor, and his pale, slender fingers would swiftly operate his keyboard and mouse.

He was naturally gifted, and he was willing to work hard. Chi Shuo had faith that Ye Shaoyang would very quickly catch up to Tianhuan and mesh well with the team.

According to the training schedule, Ye Shaoyang had to learn to play the six Mage series heroes—

The Destruction Mage, Rhodes. The Holy Mage, Austin. The Sun Mage, Holman. The Moon Mage, Lin. The Sky Mage, Moore. And the Earth Mage, Bruno.

These six male mages were all fairly complex. The Destruction Mage needed a high hit rate to blow up his enemies. The Holy Mage was a support mid laner. The Sun and Moon mages did damage through normal magic attacks and had to be operated with the utmost precision. The Sky Mage was the only mid lane assassin mage who could fly. And the Earth Mage was the most difficult terrain control hero to play.

Learning how to play so many heroes in such a short span of time was a big challenge even to Ye Shaoyang.

But he loved this sort of challenge.

In one afternoon, he familiarized himself with pretty much all of the basic skill combos and moves that these six mages had.

To continue improving to the next level, he would have to start getting some real combat experience with them.

At eight in the evening, the 'doubles teamwork training period' the coaches had ordered was about to begin.

Qu Jiang and Cheng Xing got on their alt accounts and started to queue as a marksman/support combo. Ye Shaoyang was just about to log in with the alt account Chi Shuo had given him, when he heard Chi Shuo calmly say, "We're going to the international server."

Ye Shaoyang paused for a moment, turning to him. "International server?"

"The players on the national server only have a few sets of strategies," Chi Shuo said. "Grinding up from low stars in King rank doesn't help us much, at our skill level. King-ranked games in the international server are a bit more difficult. Lots of professional players from various regions are mixed in. The strategies and tactics are a mess, but it's a better way to figure out new comps and plays."

He paused, then earnestly said, "Years ago, Zhou Jiawen made a name for himself on the international server. He brought many new and unconventional tactics to Team Huowen."

Ye Shaoyang happily agreed, "No problem. Let's go to the international server, then."

The Gods War international server could be accessed by anyone, all over the world. That meant it was very likely that they would run into pro players from other regions, and it was also very likely that they would run into new and refreshing team comps.

"I don't have an international server alt, so let's make new ones and start climbing as quickly as possible from Bronze," Chi Shuo said.

Ye Shaoyang nodded. "Alright."

The international server loaded up, and the two of them started to make their new accounts.

Ye Shaoyang randomly chose an English ID for himself: Sunshine.

Then, when he turned to take a look, he saw that Chi Shuo had chosen an English ID as well: Moonlight.

The two of them were silent for a moment.

Ahem. Why did these seem like sweetheart names again?

Ye Shaoyang joked, "We'll represent the sun and the moon as we exterminate our international friends?"

Chi Shuo remained silent.

That day, a pair of strange IDs suddenly popped up in the Bronze rank of the international server.

One sunshine, one moonlight.

Everyone who ran into this pair couldn't help but wonder—

Which country's pros have run over to the international server to shoot fish in a barrel?

Author's Notes:

There will be a few chapters of training, won't be too long. Everyone, don't rush. The pace in this book is already quick enough.

Ye Shaoyang only knows how to play eight heroes right now, and he really doesn't have any tacit understanding with Cheng Xing and the others. It's impossible to jump into the tournament right away.

Two international server demon kings have been born~

Translator's Notes:

你/您 (nǐ/nín): Both 你 and 您 mean 'you'; 你 is more casual while 您 is more respectful. Xie Xiaotian uses the more respectful form to address Ye Shaoyang here.