Chapter 273: The Path of Fists!

The day after the Mid-Season Invitational ended, 1 Santa Monica Beach, Los Angeles.

With a photographer following behind to film, Ye Bo walked into a long corridor with "glhf" (good luck and have fun) engraved on the wall, looking at everything before him with curiosity.

The iconic Riot mascot in the center of the lobby was a giant figurine—a little girl holding a flame, alongside a fierce, menacing giant bear.

Walking further in, there were a hooded ice archer drawing a bow, a yellow-skinned minotaur shackled in chains, a cowboy fiddling with playing cards, a female warrior holding a cross-shaped flying blade, and a giggling raccoon puffing its cheeks while playing a flute.

"These are the first six heroes in the League of Legends design drafts, and they are also the heroes we have been reluctant to perform major reworks on to this day~"

Riot CEO Tryndamere explained to the latter like a tour guide: "You'll find that they haven't actually changed much from thirteen years ago, right?"

Like a mouse that had fallen into a rice jar, Ye Bo looked around excitedly, only nodding in agreement.

He wore high-value smart glasses capable of real-time translation, so he could communicate without needing an interpreter.

Ct-ge enthusiastically added details about the Riot campus on the side; everything here seemed to make Ye Bo feel both fresh and intimate.

"Our headquarters has six zones: Q, W, E, R, D, and F. Even the outdoor courtyards connecting each zone have three paths—top, middle, and bottom—to walk. Like the D zone we are in now, it's the main office area."

Ye Bo jokingly teased: "No wonder such an important skill as Flash is set to the D key; D-Flash is the correct way!"

Ct-ge agreed with a straight face: "Yes! What's that saying? Great minds think alike!"

Ye Bo also saw a coffee bar called 【Bilgewater】, and its interior and exterior decorations were truly filled with distinct harbor characteristics; in a daze, one might think they had really arrived at the port of Bilgewater.

Even the office areas here were named after 【Freljord】 and 【Ionia】.

Ye Bo was pulled along by the enthusiastic Ct-ge to visit his 【Balance Order】 office, while Sanhuan-ge could only helplessly follow behind, tailing them until they finished the tour and headed to 【Bandle City】 to get to the main topic.

"Bandle City... is actually an internet cafe?"

"When the boss isn't around, we often run here to slack off, so later it was changed to this name~" Ct-ge explained proudly: "Usually, if we have a disagreement, we come here to 'have a fight'."

As he spoke, he turned his head and announced loudly: "By the way, I'm going to be on the same team as Ye today!"

This internet cafe area, which was a 1-to-1 replica of those back home and quite large for inside Riot, was indeed quite fitting.

After all, in the League universe, Bandle City is a "land of little people," a special realm exclusive to Yordles, and a paradise that no one other than Yordles can discover or enter.

Since they were playtesting a new hero, it naturally couldn't just be in training mode; it had to be in a real match to have reference value.

But the new hero was still a semi-finished product and hadn't been released to the test server yet, so they could only call up nine designers for an internal match, using Riot's internal network server to test it.

The Riot designers were naturally very happy to play games with a world champion, and a dozen or twenty people came running as soon as they were called.

Those who didn't get a spot could only stand behind and watch, and for a moment, it really did have the vibe of an internet cafe back home~

The accompanying photographer recorded the whole process on the side.

"Good luck, Master Ye, beat Sanhuan-ge to a pulp!" Ct-ge leaned in secretly at the loading screen to add his own agenda.

Opposite him, Sanhuan-ge also took a deep breath, looking quite serious.

As the designer, he was naturally personally wielding the new hero on the opposite side to lane against Ye Bo.

In his mind, he was a rare Master-tier player among the designers and knew this hero he had designed himself like the back of his hand—against Ye Bo, who hadn't even read the skill text, the advantage was his!

And Ye Bo quickly immersed himself in the game state: "This new hero's name is quite imposing, Hundred-Crushing Underworld Dog!"

"Throw daggers twice... dash and roll with the dog pack to displace... summon more dog companions..."

Ye Bo read the skill text, quickly exploring and understanding it.

At first, just as Sanhuan-ge had thought, because it was Ye Bo's very first time, he firmly held the upper hand in the early laning phase!

Because Ye Bo tested the mechanics of the skills a few times, he even nearly secured a solo kill at level six, though it was fortunately just a sliver of damage short.

Sanhuan-ge's confidence was already overflowing!

Nine minutes into the match, the opposing jungler, former lead designer Ezreal, didn't play by the rules; he operated the Master Yi he had created and ran to the mid lane to slash Ye Bo once.

After a wave of trading health, Sanhuan-ge suddenly erupted and launched an attack!

He pressed the ultimate 【Roar of Fury】, preparing to hunt, and leaped into the air from where he stood.

He summoned three dogs to enter a damage-buffed state!

Ye Bo had gained experience and responded very calmly this time, first turning to fiercely throw his Q skill, 【Darkin Dog Tooth】.

The Q skill was the Hundred-Crushing Underworld Dog's core damage skill.

If one could land two consecutive Qs, not only would there be a terrifying burst, but it would also restore a large amount of health to the user—therefore, in previous trades, when two dogs Q'd each other, they generally chose to use the E skill's small displacement to dodge.

But Ye Bo had just discovered something.

During the 1-second process of casting R, other small skills could not be used!

Just now, during that level-six wave, he had intended to R and then E to dodge, but he couldn't use E, which was why he was nearly solo-killed.

But Sanhuan-ge had already used W, 【Hound's Bloodlust】, to track and lock onto his target, and a blood-red line formed, becoming the direction of the guide!

W was the new hero's signature skill.

Simply put, it was a lock-on, similar to Vi's R.

The difference was that while Vi could use Flash to adjust her direction during her R, the dog could not use any skills, including Flash, during the {casting} and {process} of its W, and it could not {self-interrupt} either!

And just as Ye Bo saw him cast Q, he also countered with R to speed up and started running in the opposite direction.

He flashed directly into the tower!

{Although E cannot be used during the casting process of R, Flash can be used.

More importantly, the dash of W could not be self-interrupted, but Ye Bo had already rushed into his own tower under the dual impact of R's speed boost and Flash!

Because the distance was increased, the W flight time was extended, allowing Ye Bo to land first and counter with a second Q2—successfully forcing a hit by utilizing the mechanic that the dog's W cannot be operated during the dash!

With both Qs hitting, the health bars instantly reversed.

Sanhuan-ge was even dragged into the tower and took a tower shot!

"Holy..."

Sanhuan-ge's eyes widened in shock, and he hurriedly flashed away in a panic as soon as he landed.

However, Ye Bo hadn't used his W lock-on yet.

Although Sanhuan-ge followed suit and hit a Q during the opponent's W dash, the internal short cooldown made it impossible to land two Qs instantly.

And after Ye Bo landed, he used the E skill's displacement to close the distance, dodged the second Q, and successfully chased him down for a solo kill!

"Yooooooooh!" Ct-ge immediately started heckling, looking up and shouting at the opposite side, as if he had transformed into a roaring deity: "Are you even capable, Sanhuan-ge?"

"How come after practicing for three months, you don't seem as good as someone who's played for nine minutes~~~"

Sanhuan-ge on the opposite side ignored this cheeky buddy and just typed {socool} in the chat box as a compliment.

He naturally didn't mind; after all, Ye Bo was the newly crowned MSI FMVP, and losing to him was not shameful at all.

It was just that he soon realized... something was wrong!

This version of the dog was definitely one of the most brainless heroes for snowballing.

W lock-on, as a short-cooldown small skill, meant that once you got an advantage, you could basically brainlessly W into their face to get a kill, just as Sanhuan-ge had thought himself earlier.

It was just that he hadn't had any obvious advantage earlier.

But Ye Bo had a solo kill plus turret plating and a level advantage this time!

Coupled with the fact that this hero was suitable for roaming, it was clearly Ye Bo's specialty, and the side lanes were quickly torn apart under the breach in the mid lane.

Riot designers were mostly casual players after all, and Sanhuan-ge, a Master-tier player, was already a super expert, so the match soon began to tilt.

It was just that in team fights, it wasn't as destructive as imagined.

Logically speaking.

For any assassin-type mid laner starting 10-0, they should be slaughtering pigs with their eyes closed, entering and exiting team fights at will.

But the dog's only way to enter a fight was W—yet W could not only be interrupted by all hard crowd control, but it could even be "blocked" by enemy teammates standing in front with their own bodies!

More crucially, the Hundred-Crushing Underworld Dog had no survival skills, and it was positioned as an assassin with a pure damage build.

As fed as he was in this game, Ye Bo almost locked onto the AD with W, only to be blocked by the opposing K'Sante designer, nearly showing off the charm of K'Sante and being countered and killed!

Of course.

If Ye Bo, with such a fed development, would face this situation, Sanhuan-ge on the opposite side was naturally even more miserable.

He found that he couldn't burst anyone down, nor did he dare to enter the fight, as if he could only turn into a "throw-throw monster" tossing Qs from a short distance.

In the end, Ye Bo, who had a massive 25-1-10 score, actually spent a full 35 minutes, with the blessing of both dragons, to force a tower dive and push through the game.

"Oh! Awesome!" Ct-ge was completely unsatisfied.

"So this is what it feels like to be teammates with Ye!"

Several designers on Ye Bo's side also shouted and urged: "Go go go, again again!"

But the few people on the opposite side were clearly a bit uninterested; having been beaten into a daze, they protested loudly: "No no no! Switch sides, switch sides!"

Having no choice, everyone except Sanhuan-ge had to swap teammates.

And coming to the second game, Ye Bo was clearly already very proficient—mainly because this hero was designed to be just too "simple."

To put it bluntly.

During the laning phase, it purely depended on the hit rate of the Q skill alone.

If you hit, you can't be beaten by anyone; if you miss, you can't beat anyone.

And once you get an advantage, you can brainlessly W into their face; since the opponent was the same hero and lacked interruption capabilities, a slight disadvantage would lead to losing the qualification to lane.

"Sanhuan-ge, you're too much of a burden!"

"You have the nerve to say that? Why didn't you gank mid! You said this game was no-holds-barred!"

"How could I go! The enemy mid has been invading my jungle! I think it's time for Graves to get a buff!"

"Ct, facts have proven that my Master Yi is the strongest!"

Ye Bo looked at the real-time translation on his smart glasses and grinned.

Who would have thought that designers in their daily lives were actually the same as all players, and even the things they said were almost exactly the same...

Two playtest games were about enough.

After all, the gap in strength was too large; it was mainly about the feeling of playtesting the hero.

Brother Sanhuan led Ye Bo to the side and took a cup of Water Ghost Coffee brought from the Bilgewater bar.

He took out a notebook and began to record his work earnestly.

"How is it? What do you think of this new hero?" Brother Sanhuan stared at Ye Bo.

"Or rather, if it were you, would you consider using it in a tournament?"

Determining whether a new hero is successful or not is nothing more than looking at their pick rate in ranked games and their pick rate in tournaments.

Brother Sanhuan firmly believed that his Hundred-Rending Underworld Hound, created with the design philosophy of "simple and brutal," would surely be popular in ranked games, but he could not grasp the expectations for the tournament scene.

He worried whether the strength would be too high, just like Zeri, whom he designed last year.

But who would have thought that Ye Bo would shake his head and honestly confess: "Not at all."