All-Round Mid Laner

More than one person could have the same name on the Gods War international server. The only unique identifier was each player's nine-digit player ID. To add someone as a friend, one would have to look them up with that ID number.

Chi Shuo added Ye Shaoyang to his friends list, then charged up their accounts with some credits to unlock all the junglers and mid lane heroes. He also picked up a few skins that felt nice. After making their preparations, the two of them grouped up and started to play ranked.

Chi Shuo asked Ye Shaoyang, "Which hero do you want to practice first?"

"I'll go with the Destruction Mage," Ye Shaoyang said.

"Then I'll accompany you with the Holy Knight," Chi Shuo said.

The Destruction Mage's ult released six arcing blades of black mist, which dealt stacks of magic damage. This mage tested a player's ability to maintain a high hit rate with their attacks, and he also required resources to flourish. If his gear wasn't good enough, those six blades of mist would only feel like they were scratching an itch even if they all struck the enemy. After the Destruction Mage was equipped with the proper gear, one ult could instantly kill an opponent.

When the Holy Knight was played as a jungler, he didn't need the blue buff. Chi Shuo could therefore give the buff to Ye Shaoyang, then use his taunt to cluster up all their enemies, letting Ye Shaoyang unleash his ult.

This was the classic strategy of a support jungler who could control the enemy and a mid laner who could deal huge amounts of damage.

In lower-ranked games, there was no need for Chi Shuo to pick on easy targets by playing a jungler as the core of their team. He could let Ye Shaoyang get used to these new heroes first, which was why he chose to play a support jungler in order to let Ye Shaoyang develop as quickly as possible and get a feel for his mid laners.

There were no placement matches on the international server. The two of them could only start to climb from Bronze.

With Chi Shuo's help, Ye Shaoyang's mid lane heroes didn't just get the resources from farming minions in the middle lane. He also got huge amounts of resources from the jungle. He developed very quickly, and he could often obtain his core equipment just ten minutes into a game.

The dazed and confused newbies in Bronze experienced the terror of facing off against the Destruction Mage's diabolical black magic.

Those six blades of black mist flew all over the place. Wherever the Destruction Mage appeared, the enemy players would be instantly obliterated by him!

The international players who were absolutely destroyed were all baffled beyond belief.

[This game is really hard!]

[Where did these big demon kings come from to pick on easy targets on the international server?]

Chi Shuo and Ye Shaoyang worked well together. They went on a neverending win streak, making it all the way to Platinum I that night.

Chi Shuo discovered that Ye Shaoyang didn't just play assassin mages well. He was also very good at getting used to new heroes. He had only practiced with the Destruction Mage for a day, and his hit rate with his skills was already quite outstanding. In Bronze-ranked games, he could take down one little newbie with one skill, often producing terrifying results like fifteen kills and zero deaths in one game.

The next night, the two of them continued to play ranked.

Countless confused newbies were destroyed by Ye Shaoyang's Destruction Mage on this journey of theirs. His victims could form a whole circle around the rift if they lined up. Many of these newbies were psychologically scarred by those six blades of black mist.

At one in the morning, the two Tianhuan players reached the rank of Master I. They were about to enter their King-rank promotion game.

Chi Shuo suggested, "Let's sleep first. We can play the promotion game tomorrow."

Ye Shaoyang rubbed his temples. "I was thinking that as well. My head feels like it's turned into a block of wood after staring at a computer screen for five hours in a row. Let's sleep."

The next morning, after getting up at seven and washing up, Ye Shaoyang and Chi Shuo went downstairs for breakfast together. The two of them ate their fill, then went into the training room to turn on their computers. They logged in on the international server and prepared to tackle their King-rank promotion match.

Their other teammates were still sleeping at this time. Chi Shuo had, however, adjusted his own work and sleep schedule to match Ye Shaoyang's.

While Chi Shuo logged into the game, he said, "King-rank promotion games on the international server are a bit difficult. We'll be matched up against five King-ranked players, while our teammates are typically at the level of Master II or so. There'll be a difference in skill. If we want to advance to King, our team will rely on our rhythm. We'll need to focus up in this round."

"Then let's run our mid/jungle duo as usual," Ye Shaoyang said plainly. "It'll make it easier to carry our teammates."

"Stealthy Rogue and Illusionist?" Chi Shuo asked.

Ye Shaoyang scrolled through his own heroes, then eagerly suggested, "How about… we try a double flight comp?"

A double flight comp was a mid/jungle duo strategy which was extremely powerful yet extremely difficult to run.

The jungler would run the Spirit Snowbird, an emissary from the spirit world, with the ability to fly.

The mid laner would run the Sky Mage, which was the only mage capable of flight.

The main strength of this duo was that they could completely disregard the state of the terrain.

The Spirit Snowbird had a pair of snowy white wings, which allowed this hero to easily vault over walls and barriers. The Sky Mage could also pass through barriers by taking to the skies. If the two of them carried out a joint invasion, they would give their enemies a big headache.

Even if their invasion was a failure, they would be able to quickly pass through any obstacles and escape.

The game began.

During the picks and bans phase, their side banned the new Abyssal Lord and two annoying supports. The other side banned the Stealthy Rogue and two relatively difficult to kill long-range marksmen.

The picks and bans on the international server were quite casual. Everyone tended to ban the heroes they personally hated playing against. They didn't give much thought to team compositions. The players didn't know one another, after all. It was also relatively rare for people to communicate by typing, and most people didn't join the voice chat. A lot of players only knew a bit of English, which often resulted in conversations that were like a chicken talking to a duck.

The time to pick heroes came around.

The first player immediately locked in the Flame Goddess, stealing away the mid laner position.

The second player chose the Black Dragon Knight for the top lane, and the third chose the Divine Archer as a marksman.

That left Chi Shuo and Ye Shaoyang with the positions of support and jungler.

Chi Shuo's deep voice came through Ye Shaoyang's headset. "Stick to the double flight comp and leave the marksman on their own?"

Ye Shaoyang thought for a while, then said, "What if we tried out a double jungler comp? Let the marksman take care of the bottom lane. Before our marksman can be killed, we can take down the enemy marksman first."

Chi Shuo nodded. "Sure."

The fourth player, Moonlight, chose the Spirit Snowbird and took smite as his basic skill.

The fifth player, Sunshine, chose the Sky Mage and took smite as his basic skill as well.

Their teammates were baffled.

Two junglers?! Was this some sort of joke?!

[Mr.Fujita]: なぜsupportがないですか？

This was a player from Japan. Ye Shaoyang could sort of understand; he was demanding why they didn't choose a support.

[Bear]: Deux idiots.

Ye Shaoyang couldn't tell what that said, but it was probably calling them idiots or morons or something. It looked like French.

[Kevin737]: ……

This one was very easy to understand! Everyone knew these ellipses represented total speechlessness.

At that moment, Panda Streaming's host [Kai Wen] was laughing in front of his camera. While this handsome redheaded streamer typed those ellipses, he said into the stream, "Everyone come look at these sweethearts, they're pretty interesting! One Sunshine, one Moonlight. They picked a double flight comp. Looks like these birds of a feather want to flock together… and crash and burn together?"

Laughter filled up the comments section.

[A double flight comp came out? The international server is so funny after all, haha~]

[Not even professional teams in the league can necessarily play this comp well. It's way too hard to work with this, isn't it?]

[Let's watch them fly into a wall and crash and burn together.]

[Would these be people from North America? At this time, it would be around eight in the evening for them.]

Kai Wen said, "That's right. It's eight where I am. I've got a time difference here."

Kai Wen, known as Kevin, was called Master Kai by his fans. He was a very famous streamer on Panda Streaming. Although he wasn't as popular as Whale Streaming's Yao Mu or Xiao Wei, the uniqueness of his stream was very obvious—he was Chinese-American, and he only played on the international server. His streaming times made him a good fit for Chinese fans who tended to rise with the sun.

Because of the difference in time zones, his stream was live every morning from seven to noon. During the high traffic times at night, he was asleep. His schedule was the exact opposite of that of most popular domestic streamers. He'd grown up overseas ever since he was little, and rumor had it he knew quite a few professional players from North America. Sometimes, he would even play ranked with some pros.

As soon as he saw this 'Kevin' username, Chi Shuo could guess that it was very likely they'd run into some streamer from the international server. He quietly reminded Ye Shaoyang, "When we win, don't use your smiley face. It's easy for you to be recognized."

Ye Shaoyang nodded earnestly. "Okay, captain. I won't type anything."

The game began.

The top and middle laners were quite aggressive, and their team comp was quite strange in this game—two junglers, no support. The top and middle laners' mental states were starting to crack already.

Kai Wen rushed down to the bottom lane with his marksman. He sighed ruefully while farming minions and said, "Marksmen have it really hard this season. When I run into someone who doesn't know how to play support, I become an orphan. And now there's this match, where I don't have a support at all! I'm really an orphan among orphans. The enemy jungler and mid laner can just have their way with me. Ai, you guys take a guess. How many times am I going to die in this game?"

He was already prepared to lose. He didn't think very highly of these obvious sweethearts who'd come to their game to flaunt their affection with their double flight comp. These two would die together way too easily.

The Spirit Snowbird was the most beautiful hero among all the jungler-type heroes. Moonlight was also using a special skin, which enveloped the character in a resplendent display of dazzling feathers. The Sky Mage was also one of the most handsome heroes among the male mages. Sunshine was using a special skin as well, which made him look so agile and elegant, like an immortal deity descended from the heavens.

Unfortunately, if these two took flight together and failed to get a kill, their romance was doomed to crash to a fiery death.

Because the double flight comp had another name: the crash and burn comp.

As soon as the game began, Ye Shaoyang swiftly moved to the river to establish visibility there. He would be playing half as a support and half as a jungler in this game, so he'd equipped some visibility gear before leaving the base. He and Chi Shuo grouped up and set out to steal the enemy's blue buff.

The enemy jungler was currently in the process of attacking the blue buff, only to see two people fly over the wall and approach.

Chi Shuo used a smite.

And Ye Shaoyang immediately followed that up with another smite.

Using a double smite to steal the buff… this just wasn't reasonable.

The enemy jungler was completely speechless, practically choking on his words as he watched their blue buff disappear.

Seeing Ye Shaoyang take the blue buff, Chi Shuo asked, "I'll guard you until you reach Level 6?"

"That's okay," Ye Shaoyang said. "You can reach Level 6 first."

Chi Shuo didn't bother to be too polite. He went back to their own jungle and collected their blue buff. Ye Shaoyang had equipped himself with a jungler's weapon, so he very thoughtfully helped Chi Shuo get their red buff down to the last sliver of HP. Chi Shuo claimed the red buff as soon as he arrived, which saved him a great deal of time.

When the enemy jungler reached Level 4, Ye Shaoyang's Sky Mage was at Level 4 as well. Chi Shuo's Spirit Snowbird, however, was already at Level 6. Ye Shaoyang went over to the middle lane to kill off a few minions, then moved to the river with Chi Shuo to take down the river crab. Soon enough, Ye Shaoyang also swiftly reached Level 6 and learned his ult.

"Bottom lane?" Chi Shuo asked.

Ye Shaoyang smiled and said, "Okay. Let's take some pressure off our poor marksman."

Their marksman was facing off against two of the enemy players all on his own. He had already been pressured back to the bottom of his defensive tower. Kai Wen was in the middle of moping around about being abandoned to fend for himself. At just that moment, two markers popped up on the screen at almost the exact same time—

[Spirit Snowbird] is on the way.

[Sky Mage] is on the way.

Kai Wen lit up with delight. He grinned and said, "Oh! The sweethearts are coming to help me!"

He instantly put on an act of not being able to handle his enemies, and he took a few steps closer to his tower in retreat. The enemy support and marksman took the bait, pushing forward to continue their attack. But then, in the next instant—all they saw was a bird with snow white feathers and a handsome mage in pristine white robes, suddenly shooting up from behind the wall at the exact same time!

The Snowbird used a crowd control skill from midair, instantly freezing the enemy support and marksman in place.

The Sky Mage instantly flew towards the enemy and started to deal his damage. Countless white, glowing balls of light rained down from above, like a burst of brilliant fireworks. The two enemy heroes saw their HP plummet until they were in critically low health, with only 30% of their HP remaining. As soon as they were unfrozen, the two of them instantly retreated!

At just that moment, the Snowbird that had been soaring overhead, waiting for the perfect opportunity, struck with an ult—aimed at those two fleeing heroes.

First Blood!

Double Kill!

After taking those two kills, the Snowbird joined up with the mage and cleared a wave of minions.

Once their flight skills came off cooldown, the two of them took to the skies again in tacit agreement. They flipped over the wall and cut straight through to the enemy jungle, where the enemy's blue buff had respawned.

The enemy jungler was completely speechless, and aggravated beyond belief.

Kai Wen was quite surprised. "These lovebirds are pretty good! They actually work together well with their double flight comp."

Their movements just now had been incomparably beautiful. It had actually been a nuanced performance.

First, the Snowbird froze their enemies from midair. This technique required a rather strong level of judgment. It was very easy for that freezing skill to miss, which would have resulted in a lonely snowball falling down from above and striking absolutely nothing.

Moonlight had used his snowball to hit two people. His targeting was extremely precise. Then Sunshine had instantly followed up with a powerful attack.

The Sky Mage's attacks relied on a player's hand speed to summon huge amounts of those glowing balls of light. The player had to achieve an extremely high hit rate while attacking very quickly. Kai Wen had watched closely. Just now, Sunshine had fired ten balls of light at the enemy, and not a single one had missed. This kind of hand speed and this degree of accuracy were both astounding!

However, the Sky Mage's early-game damage was relatively low. Even ten hits with those glowing balls of light couldn't kill an enemy. So, after the Sky Mage got their enemies to critical health and forced them to retreat, the Snowbird had picked the perfect opportunity to swoop down from above, using an ult to clean up their foes.

This play, from the moment the two heroes took flight, seemed to have been perfectly planned from beginning to end.

The Snowbird opened with a crowd control skill, the Sky Mage followed up with attacks to cripple the enemy, and then the Snowbird came back to collect their enemies' heads. The two players unleashed their skills methodically, working together in perfect sync. Their plays were incredibly detailed and precise. It was like the two of them shared the exact same thoughts, like they knew what their partner was going to do next.

Kai Wen couldn't help but say, "This doesn't seem like a normal couple here to flaunt their affection? These two are really powerful!"

The viewers in his streaming room had also realized that something was up.

[Are these fucking experts here to shoot fish in a barrel?]

[When I play the Sky Mage, I just crash. This mage can't do anything with his skills if he can't get a kill.]

[I'm the same when I play the Snowbird. I fall and break my legs every day.]

[Only being able to refresh your flight skill after getting a kill is too brutal!]

[Those two are crossing walls and barriers and flying all over the rift. The other side has already lost control of their jungle.]

Double Kill!

This time, the Sky Mage was the one who'd gotten the kills. The two players had visited the bottom lane again. The Snowbird had gotten the enemy marksman and support down to low health, at which point the Sky Mage swiftly swooped in for the kills.

They calculated their enemies' health with perfect accuracy. After getting their kills, they immediately left to take down minor dragons, counter-jungle, or steal buffs.

The rhythm of the game swiftly fell under their complete control.

Because both of these heroes could fly, and because their flight skills refreshed after they got a kill or assist, they could continuously take flight again every time they successfully ganked the enemy.

They would always take flight in unison and cross any barriers in their way, freely roaming wherever they pleased.

Chi Shuo and Ye Shaoyang were able to realize this duo's full potential for mobility.

They won the game.

The Spirit Snowbird took a kill-death-assist score of 8-0-7.

For the Sky Mage, it was 7-0-8.

The two of them had constantly stayed in motion, killing enemies wherever they went. When Chi Shuo got a kill, Ye Shaoyang got the assist. When Ye Shaoyang took a kill, Chi Shuo would be the one to get an assist. Together, the two of them took fifteen heads and sent the enemy team straight to a total collapse.

Kai Wen stared at the post-game stats. He couldn't help but wonder, "I've never seen these names before. Where did these experts pop up from?"

He'd spent a long time playing on the international server, and he had a ton of alt accounts. He'd heard of nearly all the outstanding players on the international server.

But Sunshine and Moonlight, these experts who seemed like sweethearts… this was really his first time seeing them.

Running a double flight comp with such a high degree of tacit understanding meant they were definitely queueing together.

…they couldn't be pros from some division, training up their alt accounts, right?

At this rate, the international server was going to see the rise of two new demon kings!

Author's Notes:

I've created a lot of mid/jungle pairs, and the double flight comp is one of the more romantic ones, haha~

I'll introduce some of these combinations and let everyone get used to them. It'll make the games easier to understand.