Chapter 18

Jiang Ming’s eyes lit up; he quickly checked the hero’s stats and noticed the enemy hadn’t maxed out their armor.

It’s good they like damage output—if the enemy had properly maxed armor, with the barrel’s early sustain and W damage reduction, it’d be hard to find a chance to all-in, but now, whether they swapped armor for cooldown reduction or magic penetration, level three! Just level three, and Jie’s skills give him the opening to all-in.

As a streamer, climbing ranks is important, but entertainment value is a must.

And for a technical streamer, what better entertainment than a solo kill on lane?

…

Ming Kai, farming jungle, typed: “Play safe for now, I’m coming to gank—this new hero’s stats are insane.”

Cool: “No need!”

In front of the computer, a gloomy young man typed back.

We just traded skills—I took a bit of damage, but the barrel’s passive heals it back. Why call the jungler?

Cool ignored further thought and focused on trading with Jie.

“This barrel can turn into three hundred gold!”

“Guys, watch me—Shadow Step—SINGLE KILL—BOUNDARY!”

Under the camera, metallic clangs echoed through the rift as Jie’s shurikens scraped sparks off the barrel’s wooden cask.

Jiang Ming, previously expressionless and immersed in lane pressure, suddenly raised his left hand and performed a one-handed hand seal—sending the chat into a frenzy.

[???]

[WOW, NINJA HAND SEALS!]

[That guy just blindsided me with that show!]

[Dude, you scared the hell out of me!]

[Hey, normal, normal—guys upstairs, you’re new. If JM isn’t pulling stunts during stream, I’d feel weird.]

[Alright alright, so this is the legendary one-handed beatdown, right?]

[Who can even compete with you!]

On-screen, Jie, cornered by the river, feigned last-hitting to bait Cool’s barrel into throwing Q—then, the instant [Rolling Barrel] launched, he activated W: Shadow Step.

In an instant, as the barrel raised its arm, Jie swapped places with his shadow, unleashing a basic attack followed by four shurikens.

[Technique—Shadow Technique: All Blades!]

[Shadow Technique: Ghost Slash!]

After the shurikens came a ring of slashing blades.

Whoosh!

Red flames erupted above Gragas’s head; the barrel, still at three-quarters health, dropped instantly to one-third.

Click—another basic attack landed, triggering the Shadow Assassin’s passive: maximum health damage.

“Come on, learn the solo kill trick with me: A once, A again, then A a billion times!”

“Oh ho, you used Flash? Your jungler’s still farming F4—he can’t save you.”

“Solo kill—secured!”

Firstblood!

JM killed Cool!

[???]

[Bro, how are we supposed to learn this? A once, then A a billion times?]

[So you’re just ignoring the W-Q-A-E combo you used earlier?]

[How did the streamer hit level three?]

[666, damn, that burst!]

[After watching JM’s Jie, I realize it’s not the new hero that’s weak—it’s the rankers who practice it who are garbage.]

[Dealing a little early damage and killing at level three? That’s insane.]

Facing the flood of praise after his flashy solo kill, Jiang Ming remained calm—but remembering the need for entertainment, he took a tactical sip of water, then deliberately spoke in a humblebrag tone: “Thanks to the barrel for the solo kill tutorial!”

“Everyone learn? If not, no worries—today’s tuition is free!”

…

“Wait, how did mid get solo killed?” Ming Kai, still young, typed two question marks in mid-lane.

Dude, what’s wrong with you? If you’re bad, don’t pretend—you said you didn’t need the jungler.

You got crushed at level three—don’t turn into a boss later. ADC needs farm early; you still don’t know how long it’ll take to build Mercury’s Treads to counter Jie’s ultimate.

Facing the jungler’s question marks, Wu Ztai’s face turned ashen, but he had no reply—he’d just told the jungler not to come.

“Mistake—I got level-3ed.”

He’d planned to use Barrel Roll to dash into the low-health cannon minion, hitting AoE to level up instantly—but Jie’s speed was faster, executing W-Q-E in sync.

His real body’s Q passed through the barrel, while his shadow’s Q hit the side minion—the calculated damage killed the cannon minion exactly at the kill threshold.

Level three versus level two—by the time he reacted, Jie had already used second W to close in, added Ignite and passive auto-attacks, unleashing full burst… and in the end, it was just Flash vs Flash, ending with a final auto-attack under the tower.

He typed bravely in chat, but now respawned in base, Wu Ztai glanced at the shop.

His mouse hovered over the Amplifying Tome—but remembering the Shadow Assassin’s terrifying burst, he quickly dragged it to the Cloth Armor.

“Cough, cough—mages vs assassins, starting with a Guardian Angel is perfectly fine.”

…

Back in game, after securing first blood, Jiang Ming cleared his wave fast and returned, explaining to viewers: “We got first blood, our state is good—even if Lee Sin comes, we’re fine. Push the wave to their tower before backing, or we risk getting pinned.”

“The time it takes for the barrel to respawn and return isn’t enough to make it—we’ll lose a few minions, but by the time their tower eats most of the wave, the next wave just arrives mid—we lose nothing.”

“Remember: kills are tempting, but sometimes, minion gold is what truly creates the gap between teams.”

“Of course, to avoid losing experience, we can buy two boots now—no rush to upgrade to Brutalizer. We lost Flash; next time Lee Sin comes mid, it’ll be dangerous.”

The match continued.

As Jiang Ming predicted, Ming Kai’s Lee Sin visited mid multiple times in the next few minutes, but didn’t, as some WE fans expected, constantly gank down lane’s Smile.

Facing pressure from the enemy mid-jungler duo, Jiang Ming also refused the Prince’s protection.

“Bro, gank bottom—don’t let the ADC touch Ezreal’s tower.”

“Brothers and sisters in the stream, now Ah Ming teaches you how to handle jungler ganks.”

“Wards, wards—remember to buy wards!”

“Buying wards isn’t just the support’s job—how much does one ward cost? Compared to dying for three hundred gold, it’s always worth it.”

“But after buying wards, it’s not enough to just stick one in each bush—there’s real technique.”

“We have lane priority; the Soundwave from our F4 already exposed Lee Sin’s position—meaning the bottom jungle is cleared. So focus your wards on the top half.”

“Don’t place them in the river—move them forward, shove them right into the bush against the blue buff wall. Doesn’t a slight forward shift block the enemy’s gank path?”

“Blue buff gap?”

“Blue buff gap is top lane’s job—if you lose vision there, remember to roast the top laner—you’ll shut them up instantly.”

Any top laner who still needs help from the mid and jungle will obediently listen to you.

Jiang Ming, determined to raise the overall level of China’s server, controlled his hero while explaining.