You actually want me to...

Syndra: ? ? ?

Enchantress: ? ? ?

At this moment, the enchantress could no longer hold back.

Integration: Chapter Seventeen: I'll give you this one, I've already placed it.

Holy crap, that's some awesome Ryze play.

[666, that moment was like opening the door to a whole new world.]

[Hilarious, they immediately moved to another house.]

[This is probably what high-level gameplay is like.]

After witnessing this move, everyone in the live stream was completely dumbfounded.

Ryze is a hero that many people know how to play, but many also don't know how to play him well. This is because Ryze is extremely strategic. Unlike the traditional face-to-face combo, he requires a very high level of skill in the order in which you roll the keys.

As one of the three free generals who joined the LPL in the early days, Ryze undoubtedly has the highest potential, but precisely because his potential is so high, he has also been nerfed a lot.

From the initial tanky mage capable of 1v5, to the parkour build that refreshed shields after the S5 rework, and now to the ultimate-based base-stealing build that has been nerfed to the point of being useless, Ryze's growth path has been almost entirely marked by nerfs.

In competitive matches, Ryze is a traditional carry, dominating the battlefield and capable of crippling three or four opponents with a single combo. However, in ranked games, the Ryze you see is the complete opposite.

His tragedy in the mid lane can be summed up in one sentence: two EQ combos couldn't clear a wave of minions.

Yes, when a mage can't even guarantee the most basic lane clearing, that hero is already half-useless. But as traditional old-school mages, their loyal fans are unwilling to give up on this hero easily.

So they developed a variant of the gameplay to compensate: the "Canyon Train Conductor" playstyle.

The core idea is to play it safe in the early game. Whether you can survive until the mid-to-late game depends entirely on your teammates. If your teammates have an advantage, take advantage of it and go for it. If your teammates don't have an advantage, just remake it. But once you get stuck in a stalemate in the mid-game and can't break through, that's where your role comes in.

Whether it's using the ultimate ability to teleport minions or the Rift Herald, it can quickly divide the minion wave into different areas to achieve the goal of pushing towers. Similarly, it can also be used to take map resources such as Baron and Dragon. This move, where minions are teleported directly, is a small variation of this strategy.

The enchantress was completely numb.

Since it was a high-level game, LeBlanc knew the enemy support had missed. Even if she desperately wanted to kill Ryze, she could only grit her teeth and give up, then go back to her tower to clear the enemy wave.

Ryze secured safety, LeBlanc lost an opportunity, while Roland successfully counter-ganked and gained some experience in the process.

This move was incredibly successful for them.

"Damn, guys, this thing is really weird to operate, but it's actually quite useful. You guys can definitely learn from it."

"Why do you keep using so much 'OMG' in your stream? Can't you use some more elegant language? It makes you seem uncultured." JKL, who was waiting for the minions to arrive under the tower, was bored and overheard Roland's words, so he casually mentioned it, though only as a casual remark.

"You don't understand. It's not that I'm uncultured or have a low vocabulary, but when joy, excitement, helplessness, disappointment, satisfaction, agitation, pain, comfort, relief, warmth, coldness, fear, frustration, misery, sorrow, pity, loneliness, anger, despair, depression, calmness, melancholy, embarrassment, confusion, fatigue, enthusiasm, indifference, negativity, world-weariness, longing, support, and resistance—all these emotions can be expressed with a single 'f***'—why should I say so much?"

"..."

The bottom lane has a significant advantage, the mid lane is stable, and as for the top lane, there's even less to worry about.

This game's crocodile was practically a carbon copy of Roland's usual ranked games. Not only was his individual skill high, but once he got an early advantage, his item build was absolutely insane.

Get two Doran's Cloth Boots, then immediately upgrade to a small Thornmail.

If Roland were playing Sett, he probably would have slammed the keyboard on the table and yelled, "Double Doran's Blade and Boots of Speed! This Renekton is a complete freeloader! I'll take the points from you this game!" and then stormed off.

However, the thought that such a scoundrel as a crocodile was his teammate immediately changed everyone's expressions, and they shouted, "Well done, Crocodile Bro! I'm trash."

See, the true colors of those who crave points are so real, even Roland is no exception.

The rest of the game was a complete free-for-all for Roland A-Shui, who used the "Let the Bullets Fly" strategy, and with the female gunner getting armor penetration, he gradually rose to godlike status around the 20-30 minute mark.

If in the past, when Q-soldiers dealt with enemies, they would only lose a third of their health and it was all about participation, now it's a matter of once they get hit by their tactics and Miss Fortune's damage comes out, the next thing they do is unleash a full combo on the enemy ADC.

Even passersby gradually began to find it hard to bear.

"Let's speed things up a bit. I feel like the game is basically decided after the next wave." Roland glanced at the situation on the field, marked the mid lane, and said to the AD carry.

By the time you reach this rank, the players on the field are generally those who can understand the overall situation.

In League of Legends, high-ranking players may not have the strongest skills (for example, a certain YouTuber who plays Galio and Ekko), but their awareness and strategy are far superior to those of lower-ranked players. As long as they are in the right place at the right time, the outcome of the game is quite obvious.

"Indeed, but your idea is pretty useful. Do you have any other tricks like this? Give me three or five more. This time I'll be the one to throw the skill."

"Three or five? You're dreaming. There's only one tactic: the water-selling tactic, do you want it?"

"Excuse me, farewell."

After securing the victory with his teammates, JKL casually made an excuse and left. To be honest, most of the TES players' streams are just for show. They're all incredibly lazy on weekdays, and when they do stream, they're just trying to fulfill their assigned tasks. Except for Roland, none of them genuinely enjoy streaming.

Seeing that Roland was still planning to continue the live stream, JKL came over with an apple in his mouth and asked, "Why are you working so hard? The live stream boom is over, and you don't make much money anymore."

No...you don't understand.

"Why don't I understand? You've been streaming for so long just to make money, haven't you?"

“Remember this, I will only say it once: I, Luo, do not like money, do not know what money is, and do not know whether it is useful or not. I just want to give money a home, that’s all.”

JKL: ......

Live stream viewers: ......

Good grief, so after all that rambling, you still just like money, don't you?

Excuse me, goodbye!

He immediately logged off and turned off the live stream. With this rare free time, JKL wanted to use it to do something more meaningful, such as checking on his funds and stocks, which had already turned a deep purple from losses.

All I can say is that God gave him a talent for esports.

However, this also destined him to enter the market at a high position, which was truly tragic.

Without JKL, Roland naturally had to find someone else with a topic of conversation to fill the vacancy. After much deliberation, he finally found a new target.

A target that has been hiding for a long time.

. . . . . .

. . . . . .

. . . . . .

P.S.: Due to work, holidays are actually my overtime days, so updates will be late these two days. Please forgive me.

Integration: Chapter 18: On How to Become a Social Butterfly

Roland spent the rest of the evening duo-queuing with Knight. Why not the Prophet? Because the Prophet was still practicing new heroes.

The professional esports arena is truly brutal.

Taking the LPL as an example, the substitute for the S8 world champion IG was Duke, who at least played a few games. But when it came to the S9 world champion FPX, the substitute, XinYi, was on the bench for a whole year and didn't get a single chance to play.

Yes, not even a single chance.

Is it that they don't want to play? That's obviously impossible. The main reason is that when the player in that position is still in good form, the club's management will not bring on a substitute.

The ceiling of a lineup needs to be gradually developed through practice. If the substitute plays one more game, the starter plays one less. Of course, it is not impossible for both the starter and the substitute to perform well, but it requires extremely high talent and champion pool from both players, such as SKT's Houye and Faker in S5.

The current meta has forced prophet players to hone their skills in traditional support champions and wait for the right patch. They only have a chance to shine if the bot lane meta shifts to something like Season 8; otherwise, it's game over.

As for Knight, he is the main focus of TES's attention.

Since Ah Shui arrived, Knight's voice has become much quieter than before. This doesn't mean his talent has declined, but rather that he has finally begun to return to his normal rhythm.

What is Knight's true rhythm?

The strategy is to develop early and then take over the game in the mid-to-late game. This is the rhythm of most LPL mid laners. However, TES used to require him to step up and carry, so we often saw Knight choose to switch to the "Scholar" role early on and then frantically look for opportunities to kill throughout the game.

But it's different now.

If he helps the top laner, he can carry; if he helps the bottom lane, he can carry; and he can then settle down and focus on keeping the enemy mid laner occupied.

Don't underestimate this point; take FPX as an example.

If Doinb's early game rhythm is not good and he is suppressed in lane, FPX will mostly lack rhythm in the early and mid-game. Sometimes this doesn't happen, just because their work is not noticeable.

As the stream was about to end, Roland looked at his and Knight's entire page of wins in duo queue and felt incredibly moved. Although these victories didn't really have much to do with him, playing so many ranked games had truly been hard work.

Roland thought so.

"Wow, Knight, you seem to have improved again." As the biggest contributor to his ranking, Roland didn't hold back his praise.

"No, you were a great help too," Knight replied somewhat embarrassedly. However, this conversation caused a huge uproar in Roland's live stream chat.

[Oh, indeed, without the presence of the Plate Emperor, Knight probably wouldn't even be able to feel the strength of the Rank.]

[Don't be so harsh. Although my "Board King" (a nickname for a player) gets carried away, at least he managed to bait out the opponent's skills.]

[You only saw the first layer, but you didn't see the second layer of Banhuang. Banhuang single-handedly figured out the enemy jungler's position completely.]

[This is the first time I've seen someone describe getting lost in the jungle and being ganked in such a refreshing way. The person upstairs is truly talented.]

There's not much to say; this guy's performance is already an open secret.

Streaming his base and randomly starting matches has become the standard for Banhuang's personal image. Winning or losing depends entirely on whether he can get matched with a top player. The only time you can see his true skill is when his account is on the verge of dropping a rank.

According to Roland himself, he was feigning weakness to conceal his true strength.

"Alright, I'm done chatting with you guys. That's all for today's live stream. Bye-bye." Roland decisively ended his live stream. Remembering his mission, he immediately got up and slipped to Knight's seat, wrapping his arms around his neck. "You're great, you helped me climb the ranks today. This month's goal is much easier now."

"Hehe, it's alright."

"Don't mention it. There's no game tomorrow. I've already asked the coach, and we're going to make up for your missed birthday with a big surprise. Get ready."

"what!?"

Seeing Knight's bewildered expression, Roland left with a mischievous grin. Unbeknownst to Knight, a plan called "Social Awesomeness Training Program" had already appeared on the white crescent-shaped workbench.

Yes, to overcome Knight's lack of international experience and his inability to communicate effectively, a serious approach is needed. On one hand, a spoken English teacher should be brought in to correct his accent; on the other hand, various methods should be used to correct his mindset.

So, the next day.

When Knight appeared at the entrance of Haidilao with a bewildered look on his face, carrying a box that looked like a cake box, Roland and his entourage could clearly sense that the waiter's eyes had changed.

"There's a murderous aura." JKL took a step back uncertainly and whispered in Roland's ear with a frown.

"Calm down, this is just an appetizer. Remember to go live, if you're going to use drugs, use strong drugs."

"Live streaming? Is this thing really that ruthless?"

“Nonsense, this is a social butterfly training center, don’t underestimate it.” Roland patted JKL on the shoulder, paused to adjust his expression, and then grinned as he moved closer.