Rebirth is fine, but I get eight hundred dollars right from the start?

"Alright, viewers, you are now watching the live broadcast of the League of Legends All-Star Shanghai Tournament Day 1, Player Skills Competition!"

In the studio, Wawa's voice was full of warmth and energy, like someone who had just downed half a bottle of ice-cold cola, radiating excitement.

He sat in the middle of the commentary booth, his tie loosely tied and his sleeves rolled up to his forearms, looking ready to chat with the audience for three hours straight without stopping.

It's no wonder he did that. As a relatively inexperienced commentator, getting a chance to perform in such an important setting is practically like winning the lottery.

As his partner warmed up the atmosphere, Miller took over the conversation and explained the rules: "The skills competition is divided into three groups: top lane/mid lane/jungle 1v1, and bot lane is 2v2."

"On the map, the Lava Core map used in this skills competition is a single-lane exclusive 1v1 map created specifically for this All-Star Challenge. This map has no jungle monsters and only one defensive tower!"

After Miller finished speaking, the doll continued to describe the victory rules: "The victory conditions for a 1v1 duel are: first, getting first blood, but it must be done by killing the opponent's hero; tower kills and suicide do not count; second, destroying the enemy's only tower and finally getting a total of 100 minions. If any one of the above three conditions is met, the game ends immediately."

The 1v1 victory conditions are relatively simple. To summarize, it's first blood, first tower, and 100 kills. This is the basic rule that players are most familiar with after finishing a match and then challenging each other to a solo duel.

As for the requirements for 2v2, compared to 1v1, there is only one additional requirement: kills. A victory is achieved when two people are killed.

"This design is quite reasonable. After all, the bottom lane is a duo, and it is much more difficult to get a double kill on the opponent than a solo kill. Therefore, most 2v2 matches will still fall into pushing towers or fighting for last hits."

Wawa added from the side, "Of course, for an ADC of WeiXiao's caliber, it's not impossible for him to get a double kill with the support—we'll wait and see."

Miller nodded and steered the conversation back on track. "Next is the Ban/Pick process rules: 1. Both sides take turns banning 3 heroes each. 2. From the remaining hero pool, both sides simultaneously lock in their heroes and cannot see each other's picks."

"..."

After the rules were explained, the director cut to a live shot.

The lights on the competition seats on both sides of the stage were turned on, and the contestants were sitting in their seats, which were far apart, adjusting their equipment.

Miller cleared his throat and raised his voice slightly: "We can see that both teams are already in their positions at the competition area!"

"Today's first All-Star Skills Challenge match will feature our LPL top laner, Tele, against the formidable sOAZ from the European LCS region!"

The camera gave each of them a close-up shot.

sOAZ sat on the left side of the competition table, sporting his signature brown curly hair with a relaxed air typical of Western gamers. He was chewing gum and tilting his head to check the equipment with the referee.

On the right, Zhang Hai, whose equipment had already been adjusted, sat upright in front of the screen, his lips slightly pursed, his hands constantly rubbing together, adjusting his muscle condition as much as possible, just like he usually does during training at the club.

However, facing the camera that was already in front of him, Zhang Hai grinned and raised his right hand to wave to the audience both on-site and outside the live broadcast room.

Soon, BP began.

The ban phase moved quickly, with both sides banning three strong champions from the current patch or those that could easily dominate the lane: Annie, Nunu, Caitlyn... Six ban commands were issued in quick succession, and the live stream chat simultaneously began flooded with various speculations.

Looking at the champion selection screen, Wawa speculated with a hint of excitement: "SOAZ has already revealed Irelia. It looks like he's locked in. It fits his usual style perfectly—strong lane dominance, high skill ceiling, and a decent margin for error."

"So what will Tele use to counter this? What champions are best against Irelia... Renekton? Or Jayce?"

The doll tilted her head to look at Miller, and the two exchanged a glance.

"However, tale doesn't know SOAZ's selection criteria..."

Miller paused for a moment, then said with an analytical tone, "Actually, Tele has a very iconic hero in the LPL – Riven."

"Oh right, I almost forgot about our LPL's Exile Emperor."

"After Emperor demonstrated his lightning-fast QA technique in ranked games, Tale brought it to the top lane and popularized it. For example, in the Spring Split match against IG this year, Riven managed to take on three opponents and kill two of them in the top lane. That play is still being shown on various video websites."

"After all, he's a disciple of the number one player in our league!"

"Furthermore, in terms of counterplay, Irelia vs. Riven is actually a 50/50 matchup. In fact, in terms of skill ceiling, Riven has more room to perform."

"However," Miller changed his tone, becoming more cautious, "Riven is too sharp a blade; a sharp blade can easily cut you. If Irelia gets her cooldowns caught during the laning phase, Riven's margin for error is actually quite low. Will Tele choose his most signature, flashy sword, or will he opt for a more solid, less error-prone option to secure victory?"

【Riven!】

【Riven!】

【Riven!】

The cheers from the audience and the barrage of comments from fans in the live stream all expressed the desire to see Riven in her first All-Star match.

The countdown timer on the character selection screen ticked away second by second.

Zhang Hai hovered his mouse over the hero list, the cursor resting on Riven's portrait.

Wearing noise-canceling headphones, he was unaware of what was happening outside the stadium.

But there's no need to know.

Riven was a choice he made with confidence.

As long as the person sitting opposite him isn't a monster like his master, Zhang Hai is absolutely confident that he can control Rui Mengmeng to win this solo match.

However, at that moment, after SOAZ locked onto Irelia, as if to create suspense, the director briefly cut to a close-up shot of the audience.

The camera first pans across a group of young faces holding up support signs, then zooms out to focus on the VIP area in the middle.

In the video, Luo Yu is waving a support flag, while his parents sit side by side, their expressions focused.

Moving two seats to the side, a middle-aged couple sat upright; the short-haired woman held up a camera, while her bespectacled husband tilted his head slightly, looking towards the main stage.

The camera paused for two seconds here.

Just as Zhang Hai was about to confirm, he glanced at the position of his opponent to the side, trying to judge the opponent's general hero by their expression.

It was just a casual glance, but the moment his eyes fell on it, he felt like he had been put on pause.

He saw those two faces.

Two faces that shouldn't be here!