League of Legends: League of Unknowns

Inside a two-and-a-half-story condominium of Shengyuan Residence near Zijingang, Hangzhou, more than ten teenagers who appeared to be university students stood behind two computers that had been purposely placed in the center of the living room—the scene resembled a tutorial class.

There were males and females among the students. They were all peering at the computer screen half astonished, half restrained.

All fourteen of them were members of the Zhejiang University E-Sports Club.

Zhejiang E-Sports Club was established a long time ago. From the initial Red Alert, Ragnarok, Starcraft, 3C, to nowadays QQ Speed, DOTA, Dynasty Warrior, and LOL, this club had come a long way.

As LOL rose to fame, the E-Sports Club from Zhejiang University hitched a ride on the trend and made LOL their main focus. It had been quite a success as they had managed to secure third place in last year’s national university competition.

The main reason they were able to attain such a good result was owing to their close proximity to this apartment in the Zijingang area. This apartment was none other than the training base of the well-known Revelation Club.

Revelation Club was one of the E-Sports pioneers in this country and this club owned a well-organized E-Sports structure.

They had direct liaison with popular websites such as Sina, Tudou, and Youku. Their presence was also often seen in renowned internet game companies such as Duowan, 37games, and 17173 sites.

This club encompassed MMORPG, Flash games, MOBA, mobile games, and a few others. After Team Revelation obtained outstanding results in several national professional LOL competitions, the club’s influence had become even more widespread and they had now become one of the five most dominant E-Sports clubs in the country.

The president of Zhejiang University E-Sports Club was a Year 4 student named He Jianbang and he happened to be an official member of Revelation’s youth team. Given the chance to observe and learn from the pro, the LOL team from Zhejiang University barely faced any trouble in the national competition under He Jianbang’s lead. They had defeated numerous great rivals from other universities along the way and managed to finish in the top three.

To emerge as one of the top three teams among the whole nation was a great honor.

The university was neither encouraging nor repulsive toward E-Sports. They were ready to recognize and compliment any accomplishments as long as it boosted the university’s image—Attaining top three in a national competition happened to be such a feat.

“Pay close attention to how James and Bond tackle the bottom lane!” Ke Shaoying, the vice president of Zhejiang University E-Sports Club, turned around and told the club members who had come to watch and learn from the pros.

University students were usually good at MOBA as they had more free time to study the strategy and immerse themselves into the game. Certain university teams were even more powerful than a professional team. For instance, Fudan University, last year’s national champion, was given the wild card to join the LPL qualifier round.

Ke Shaoying was only a member of the university reserve team and his duty was mainly to manage the club.

Meanwhile, James and Bond were two very famous bottom lane players from Revelation’s youth team and their partnership was well known across the country. A lot of analysts had said the following, “With proper training and more experience, these two are going to be the future superstars in LOL!”

James was a chubby guy with curly hair. He turned his head and took the opportunity to scan a pair of fair legs that peeked out from under a lady’s short skirt. He then said pretentiously, “We usually practice in the American server. We didn’t play in the national server that much.”

Bond was a teenager in his twenties that looked a little slow-witted but his expression of eagerness had betrayed him. It was easy to tell that he was looking forward to talking to all the sexy girls around him.

“I will explain to you what to take note of at the bottom lane in a high-end game while playing.” James waved his audiences to come closer.

Five to six ladies immediately closed in,the scent of their perfume immediately wafting around the two computers. This swayed James and Bond’s minds and hearts as they had never really been this close to any female before.

‘These female university students smelled so good, how intoxicating!’

“The opponent is a Thresh-Caitlyn tag team. Their strength is on their longer attack range. Besides, never underestimate Thresh’s damage. You can totally regard him as an ADC in the early game. Some players in overseas go as far as to attach attack-type Runes or Masteries on Thresh. This champion is annoying as he will come forth constantly to disrupt your CS rhythm,” James said composedly.

Under normal circumstances, Thresh would hide behind the minion wave and harass the opponent with basic attacks. The opponent would not dare to come close as long as he did not yield his control skill first.

“This Thresh is clever for not hitting my champion,” James grinned lightly and said while controlling his champion, Draven.

Draven, the Glorious Executioner, was an unconventional ADC. However, players who excelled in using Draven were always able to produce astounding damage.

Draven ranked first among champions which Thresh dared not disturb recklessly.

“When using Draven, it’s not necessary to turtle when facing harassment from the opponent’s SP. You can exchange hits and empty his health potion. After that, the SP would be tamed. I have to hand it to this Thresh for not provoking me,” James played confidently. He maintained his CS while repositioning his champion constantly to catch the returning ax.

Draven’s Q-skill was Spinning Axe. He could catch it again after throwing it out and reapply the skill for no cost in his next attack.

Spinning Axe’s damage was sufficiently high in the early game and was very useful in oppressing the opponent’s ADC.

“Caitlyn has a very long range, which makes it very difficult to reach her. How are you supposed to counter her in this situation? You can’t allow her to free hit you and do nothing, right? This Caitlyn seems strong. Could you match her?” A girl at Gold rank asked.

“James was recognized as the number one Draven player in the national server last season. There was no ADC that he couldn’t overcome. The current top Draven of the China Server might also not be as good as him,” Ke Shaoying explained.

“He is… the number one Draven in the national server?!” A fashionable girl with long and curly dark blonde hair exclaimed in astonishment.

The guys at the back were equally surprised. ‘So HE is the best Draven in the national server!’

The commotion and soft cheer from the ladies had further brightened up James’s proud and joyful expression!

“Caitlyn is not that scary, to be honest,” James continued to narrate as he controlled Draven to receive the returning axes leisurely, “She will definitely draw near to harass when you try to last hit creeps. This is when you should pretend to retreat. When Caitlyn charges forward to get another hit, you can abruptly shorten the distance. The Caitlyn will lose out once Draven is close enough. Let me show you…”

As he spoke, the opponent’s Caitlyn did exactly as James had just said. She drew nearer to hit James’s Draven as the latter tried to CS a dying minion.

James smiled victoriously. The superior one during the laning phase was definitely not Caitlyn, but the champion he was controlling—Draven.

A juke and Caitlyn was lured in! James was indeed adept at controlling Draven.

Out of nowhere, Draven turned back and retaliated. The Glorious Executioner raised his arm, ready to throw the Spinning Axe at Caitlyn!

To his surprise, Caitlyn moved dexterously and retreated almost at the same time as Draven turned around.

Pew!

A bullet hit Draven’s head accurately. Not only had Draven missed his target but was instead attacked.

Draven did not give up and took another step forward. He wanted to land a hit on Caitlyn at all costs, however, Caitlyn had retreated wisely.

When Draven finally gave up on pursuing her, Caitlyn once again turned around and fired another shot!

Two shots in quick succession!

James was enraged. He couldn’t believe his Draven was hit twice by Caitlyn for free.

‘I am not tolerating this!’

Immediately, Draven turned back once again and executed W-Blood Rush!

Pew!

Caitlyn had fired the third shot!

As if she knew Draven was going to charge in beforehand, Caitlyn released Caliber Net and Peacemaker as soon as Draven got near. This was Caitlyn’s famous EQ-combo!

Both skills hit Draven and heavily decelerated his rush. A large amount of his life points was reduced too and he was now only left with half of his HP.

“Urgh…”

Ke Shaoying was stunned as he looked at the screen.

The eagerness on the students’ faces had also changed drastically.

Suddenly, the entire living room had turned quiet.

‘I thought we were going to see how you counter Caitlyn? Why is your HP halved instead before you even touched her?’

The expression on James’s face was beyond embarrassed.

What a crisp slap on his arrogant face!

“This… This Caitlyn… Well-played… Haha…” James smiled awkwardly trying to cover his own error.

Under his smile, there were numerous ‘what the f*ck”s going through his mind.