Chapter 16

【Damn!】

【Already Diamond 2?】

【Fuck, no wonder he’s top three on the ladder—after this ranked match, he’ll probably jump straight to Challenger.】

【I don’t get why you’re surprised—the Challenger rank is only for the top fifty players in each server. JM was ranked second before, so giving him Challenger outright makes perfect sense.】

Go, Ming-ge, knock Clearlove off! The first Challenger in China must come from our Ming family army!

A streamer taking down a pro player? Just thinking about it is thrilling.

After Jiang Ming went live, the YY team immediately knew. Seeing his rank after the reset, the senior staff instantly understood his plan.

“Old Xu, send him the terms right away.”

“Give him traffic!”

“First, push his livestream to the homepage. Tell the PR team—I want announcements across all platforms tomorrow showing China’s first Challenger on our YY platform.”

“Right, now’s not the time to nitpick. Even if JM doesn’t change his ID, just streaming his climb to the top will generate insane attention. Minor details aren’t worth fighting over.”

“…”

As the platform pushed hard, more and more people entered Jiang Ming’s livestream.

Thanks to several editions of the City Rivalry Tournament, Tencent’s core QQ social network, and League of Legends’ own quality, the game had already become a nationwide phenomenon.

In every internet cafe, lights blazed bright—even if only one-tenth of players clicked into YY’s livestream pop-up, the number would be terrifying.

…

“Let me explain the rank point calculation formula: in the new season, all players’ ELO scores are compressed and mapped to the new rank system. The formula is roughly: new hidden score = (old ladder score + 1200) / 2. So the new season still has a hidden score, which affects the actual skill level of your opponents.”

“Above 2200 points, your opponents are roughly Diamond 2 to Challenger level.”

“Then 2000 to 2200 is roughly Diamond V to Diamond II.”

“1800 to 2000 is Platinum V to Platinum I.”

Jiang Ming entered ranked, waited for the match to start, and explained to his viewers.

Unlike in the future, when high-rank players flocked to Korea’s servers, LPL hadn’t yet suffered the 2013 All-Star humiliation, and China’s high-rank environment was still healthy—with plenty of players on the domestic server.

【That’s right—I had 2120 old ladder points, got assigned Diamond 4, and after my placement matches, I might even push for Challenger.】

【Envious of the guy above. Fuck, why doesn’t Riot give more slots? Only fifty Challenger spots per server—way too few.】

【That’s what makes it valuable, though. I heard the game company sends exclusive gifts to Challenger players at season end.】

【If you think you’re not good enough, go play on other servers. Server 1 is definitely god-tier battles.】

Ming-ge, why don’t you ever talk about the Gold and Silver tiers? Are we not worthy? (Angry)

Seeing this comment, a player in the livestream joked: 【Sorry, below 1800 points, you don’t get to speak loudly!】

【Oh? You don’t get to speak loudly? What’s your rank?】

【(Screenshot) Brother of the Balanced Sect, Diamond 1.】

【Hmph, suburban Diamond. Prove your skill first—get to Gold in Server 1.】

【Please take me along, sister’s pretty and sweet-voiced, don’t expect Challenger—just Diamond is fine.】

Seeing the chat go off-track, Jiang Ming quickly steered it back: “Cough, no need to argue—focus on climbing. Today, I’ll compile a list of the best champions for climbing each role.”

As soon as he spoke, and just as the match loaded, the chat fell silent.

In the new season, players had been eager to play placement matches. Now, with Jiang Ming’s promise, no one had any other thoughts.

Instantly, gifts flooded the livestream.

【Responding to me gifted the streamer one excavator】

【Jiangsu-Zhejiang-Shanghai free shipping gifted the streamer two excavators】

【Fat Boy’s Happy Water gifted the streamer one hundred health potions】

“Thank you, Brother Responding to me, for the excavator! Thank you, Jiangsu-Zhejiang-Shanghai free shipping… and thank you all, big brothers, for the gifts!”

As the earth-yellow tractor animation rolled across the screen, accompanied by a “putt-putt” diesel engine sound, filling the entire room, Jiang Ming was taken aback.

This wasn’t the future, where fake high-value gifts flew everywhere. On YY, the excavator was worth a hundred yuan each—rarely seen even once every few days. Most gifts were scattered flowers, applause, or one-yuan health potions.

…

“Oh, got JM in this match?”

Inside the WE base, a curly-haired player quickly glanced at the chat while playing ranked, spotting a familiar ID.

His duo partner frowned. “Our ranks are all similar—how’d we get matched with this freak?”

The matchmaking system usually kept both sides balanced. Why were three top-ranked players suddenly grouped together?

“Because I’m on the other side…” Suddenly, Ming Kai, seated across from them, spoke softly.

He had been ranked #1 in China’s ladder after the season ended!

“That makes sense.”

If the #1 was on the enemy side, and a few other high-rank players were on their team, having a top-three mid laner on their side was perfectly normal.

“Perfect chance to test how well JM adapts to the new season. Ming Kai, focus on ganking mid—don’t come down to our bot lane.”

“Got it!”

Ming Kai checked his team’s composition. Their mid laner was Cool from OMG—roughly equal skill level. This game would give him plenty of room to shine.

“Blue side didn’t ban Ahri?”

The purple side players were puzzled—did they not know JM was on the enemy team? Otherwise, why didn’t they ban the Shadow Assassin?

The Shadow Assassin had been out for nearly a week. Among high-rank players, a common opinion had formed: “The Shadow Assassin is an extreme assassin. If he doesn’t gain early advantage, he’s easily countered, and his weakness in teamfights is heavily exploited.”

But that applied only to players with low mastery. JM was a freak who mastered a new hero the very next day and went wild in 2300-point games. Letting an unnerfed new hero out like this—wasn’t that overconfident?

“Hey Ming Kai, you guys aren’t banning Ahri?” the curly-haired player leaned over to ask.

Due to tutorial videos, players across China—both casual and high-rank—were quietly starting to call JM “China’s #1 Ahri.”

“Cool thinks he can handle it…”

…

In ranked, champion bans flew fast.

Blue side bans: Cassiopeia, Shen, Jayce!

Purple side bans: Malzahar, Thresh, Twisted Fate!

In the pick phase, blue side’s first pick gave Ming Kai the Blind Monk.

“Ming Kai picked the Blind Monk!”