Chapter 48: Powerful Trump Card!

After the interview ended, as he walked back to the backstage area alone.

Ye Bo pulled up the notification box he hadn't had time to look at closely just moments ago.

【Hidden Challenge Completed: Scientific Researcher】

【Congratulations! You have obtained the reward: "Scientific Talent"】

【Note: Old Veteran's Diary—TheShy Edition (Unlocked)】

Ye Bo did not open the diary immediately.

Instead, he curiously examined this reward first.

【Scientific Talent】

【Summoner's Rift is filled with infinite possibilities, yet out of over 160 or 170 heroes, only a mere few are favored; how many pearls are left covered in dust, buried in corners, forever sticking to convention and rigid thinking, forever only following in others' footsteps, perhaps never touching the potential upper limit.】

【As a well-traveled veteran of the Rift, you know that many unpopular heroes possess special hero abilities, perhaps only hindered by a lack of proficiency; now, go and unleash all of this!】

【Talent Passive: When training unpopular heroes in reality, you are always more interested and motivated; comprehension speed *10.】

【Talent Active: {Choice} Select an unpopular hero that meets the criteria of a "lane counter" for the current match to gain temporary Level 6 proficiency (1,000 Counter-Attack Points/use).】

"Whoa, worthy of being a reward from TheShy, how fitting!"

TheShy's scientific talent was once dubbed "Edison of the Rift" during his peak.

But in his current slump, it has started to become "Intel Spokesperson."

According to incomplete statistics, his research projects include: Top Azir, Top Nidalee, Top Syndra, Top Caitlyn, Top Zoe, Top Ashe, Top Xayah, Top Anivia.

Whether he is the greatest top laner in history is indeed highly controversial.

But when it comes to whether he is the top laner with the greatest scientific creativity, one can only say: who else but him!

Of course, the public always judges solely by results.

If you achieve results, others will think you are developing and leading; if you don't, you will be considered a cancer.

Just like how right now, no one would ever imagine that one day marksman heroes could play support, support mages could become the tactical core, and even the obscure, extinct assassin support could become the key to victory.

Whether you are a pioneer or a clown depends entirely on whether you are the final winner, nothing more.

And through the supplementary description, Ye Bo quickly understood everything.

The {Active} trigger, besides requiring the consumption of Counter-Attack Points, is limited to being used at most once per series.

The system will provide several "unpopular" hero choices that meet the "lane counter" criteria; Ye Bo can freely choose one to gain temporary proficiency, or of course, choose not to.

At first glance, Ye Bo felt this talent didn't seem very useful, just an entertainment talent for messing around.

But after carefully re-reading the description, he discovered the true utility of this talent.

It could even be said that it was tailor-made for an "Old Veteran."

The Old Veteran's strength is experience; ten years of high-intensity tempering made him very clear about the hero matchups that exist between every hero, as well as the specialized traits of many unpopular heroes.

Over the absolute river of time, even for the most unpopular heroes, he surely has experience playing against many dedicated specialists.

So for the Old Veteran, he actually already understood the "unpopular counter" relationships between heroes; it was just that due to his level and age, he lacked the ability to execute them.

But for the current Ye Bo, his experience is clearly insufficient, and when he needs to make a "choice," he might not necessarily be able to pick the best answer.

Of course, even so.

Ye Bo understood that this could be a powerful trump card!

After all, no matter how hard he tries, time is ultimately limited; the expansion of his hero pool cannot exceed a certain limit, and his main energy must definitely be put into practicing the meta staples.

And this thing might very well display unexpected effects at critical moments.

As he thought about it.

Ye Bo had already returned to the backstage and closed the interface.

Pushing open the door, Jiejie was the first to greet him, throwing an arm around his shoulder and saying, "Damn, Master Ye, you're too good at talking. Tell me quietly, did you prepare that in advance!"

"Huh? Prepare what?" Ye Bo didn't react at first.

Flandre replied with a smile: "The interview, of course. The things you said in the interview were a bit offensive, even though what you said was completely correct."

"Oh, that."

"I don't feel like I said much, actually. I really did think that way, so I just said it like that~"

Clearly, the "Meaningless Hardship Theory" from earlier was no different from calling people out and stripping them bare for those who love to exaggerate their own efforts.

Fortunately, the members of EDG basically didn't have such thoughts.

Especially someone like Flandre, who came from the ancient era of truly harsh conditions; he knew very well what hardship was and was already very satisfied with the current environment.

Of course, it might also be because there is an "inspirational old child" in the team who set a good example...

Anyway, Mr. Clearlove suddenly said his stomach hurt while watching the interview and vanished in a flash~

"Let's talk business first, what are we eating tonight?" Meiko looked at the MVP.

"We aren't going to eat *that* again, are we..." Viper murmured.

"Master Ye, I'm begging you, can we eat something good today? I've been eating at the cafeteria for two weeks straight, QAQ!" Jiejie clasped his hands together, putting on a pitiful expression.

"Yeah, Bo, let's eat something good. I'm happy today, my treat!" Flandre, having successfully taken his revenge, was visibly joyful.

Ye Bo didn't want to dampen everyone's spirits and checked the time: "Alright, then let's go to that hotpot place Jiejie mentioned last time, what was it called..."

"But today, it's my treat!"

"Consider it a thank you for everyone looking after me."

Ye Bo heard from Jiejie that every time they had a team dinner after a match, the MVP would pick the place and pay the bill.

It was just that last time, everyone was so insistent that Ye Bo, who they perhaps knew was just starting his professional career, felt Shaxian was fine too, so he didn't push it.

So after last time, Ye Bo thought that when he won MVP again, he would treat everyone to a good meal.

Although he knew that everyone at EDG definitely didn't care about this bit of money and wouldn't mind paying for a meal.

But Ye Bo didn't like taking "advantage" of others.

He didn't like that feeling; he felt that give-and-take was the way friends should interact. Freeloading just because his teammates' salaries were higher than his made him feel uncomfortable.

On the way to the dinner.

Ye Bo didn't forget to open Bilibili and edit/post a status update:

"Brothers! Is my Akshan cool or what! #SaltyZongzi#"

And this time, the comment section was clearly expanding faster than ever before.

Every time he refreshed, he could see the visible growth in the number of comments.

【Pure performance, pure show! The number one Indian in the Chinese server! Cool!】

【Master Ye is amazing!!!】

【Too immersive! As a player with a thousand games on Akshan, watching this match was so satisfying that I'll be hiding under my covers tonight watching the replay and humming!】

【+1 to the guy above! This Akshan is exactly the me I imagine!】

【Based on this match alone, I, an Akshan player, declare that I swear to join the Ye faction; I will forever be a loyal Calabash Brother!】

In the comment section, many of the fanatical comments were from Akshan players who are rarely seen on ordinary days.

Dedicated players of unpopular heroes don't care as much about who wins or loses; they care more about whether the hero they love can shine in the hands of a professional player, letting the whole world know the charm of that hero.

And clearly, Ye Bo's Akshan today was more in line with these players' imaginations than the Top Akshans used as Top Vayne in the past.

This is what the Akshan in their minds should look like!

Looking at these comments, Ye Bo first let the corners of his mouth lift by a pixel, then it became harder and harder to suppress, and finally, he couldn't help but laugh out loud.

The feeling of having a request for praise answered is so good.

Checking his homepage again, his Bilibili follower count had unknowingly climbed to 70,000; he didn't know when it had gone up.

Due to the platform's unique account mechanism, Bilibili's follower count has much higher gold content compared to Weibo or Douyin, where numbers can easily be inflated by millions.

Ye Bo could now understand the joy recorded by the Old Veteran Bo in his diary.

It had nothing to do with the quantity; it was just a sense of extra harvest.

He now felt this joy as well.

However, when the dinner ended and it came time to pay the bill.

As soon as Ye Bo saw the bill, he was instantly not so happy anymore.

(End of chapter)