Chapter 37

Aside from basic lane control and roaming timing, the most frustrating training for the mid-laner had always been vision placement.

For example: in advantageous games, control enemy F6 and river vision with over 80% coverage!

Wu Zhiqiang: “I’m doing the support’s job as mid-laner—where do I go to complain?”

More than ten minutes later, the tide turned.

The top-laner who had been screaming moments ago now wore a mischievous grin as Song Yuan kicked his esports chair, sparks flying: “Gagaga, Xiao Xu, why are you running? Heard you like helping people with 1v2 extra training?”

“You had your fun ganking me—now it’s my turn!”

“Gagaga!”

Training positions swapped—now simulating support roaming AD 1v2 timing.

Facing the simulated roaming support, Xu Tao, alone in his lane, stared in horror as Song Yuan’s movements twisted into a Picasso-style distortion.

“Don’t come any closer!”

…

“Record enemy vision placement habits!”

“Actively build heatmaps of enemy jungler routes, calculate and feed back enemy key ability cooldown windows in real time on the public chat…”

“Finally, jungle-support coordination!”

Pang Ran swallowed hard and took the jungle pathing plan Shi Zhenyu handed him; as a support, his training load was no less than any teammate’s.

In fact, due to constant data fluctuations, memory-based training was far more grueling for a support than muscle-memory drills for others.

Beyond that, supports often had to act as commanders, especially when the team’s mid-lane couldn’t share pressure—Pang Ran’s workload skyrocketed.

From basic resource contest and avoidance, to prioritizing teamfight target selection, collecting information on all three lanes’ minion waves, to specialized positioning and blocking in teamfights, setting vision tiers for pushing or defending at different stages, and finally, safe vision placements when the jungle fell and vision traps for forcing Baron—

You memorized something new every day, never repeating.

“I can’t imagine how Ming’s brain is wired—how did he come up with so many training methods for one game?”

Pang Ran, sometimes suffering memory confusion, said with genuine admiration.

He couldn’t fathom how advanced a normal human brain had to be to organize all this.

Shi Zhenyu shrugged: “That’s why Ming is the boss—we’re just ordinary NXG players.”

“Why think so much? Just like you chose support and I focus on jungle—everyone has their strengths and duties.”

“True!”

The training room fell silent again, save for the unceasing clatter of keyboards, the countless crumpled draft papers on desks, and Jiang Ming’s ever-updating “Death Training N.0” document—silently testifying that this brutal cultivation named “Growing Strong” was forever ongoing.

…

While NXG buried themselves in training, preparing for the upcoming matches and the imminent LPL season—

Outside, public opinion fermenting over Jiang Ming’s rise to top player by overpowering pro players, and his livestreamed climb to #1 on the national server despite actor AFKs and other obstacles, grew ever larger.

The fastest-spreading content was the match footage itself; before Jiang Ming even uploaded it, fan-edited clips from his livestream had already garnered hundreds of thousands of views.

Then, when Jiang Ming released his own polished video the next day, the accumulated traffic exploded.

#E-Flash Barrel#

#A groundbreaking play: linking skill with Flash!#

#A hero labeled trash by pro players—JM’s terrifying 87% win rate!#

#Rank 1 Master game: crushing pro players to reach #1!#

#Are pros really better than solo queue? I doubt it!#

#Climbing with actor AFK debuffs—how strong is JM really?#

#Both mechanical skill and game sense—this man truly plays with his brain.#

LOL Forum!

Hate WE!

From esports forums to portal sites, even Weibo’s trending list—thanks to YY’s promotion—had pushed these topics into the top ten.

#LOL Season Update: YY Streamer Achieves #1 Top Master!#

A double meaning: both the first-ever #1 Top Master, and the #1 Top Master on the national server.

As discussions intensified, Tencent—already heavily promoting LOL—seeing the season update’s Master battle topic climb, seized the opportunity. They actively pushed Jiang Ming’s livestream as a trending keyword on their QQ platform.

【Rational Discussion: Just how strong is JM?】

【He’s in a league of his own—damn, one match with nine pros? He was literally beating them all.】

【Don’t hype him—#1 on rank doesn’t mean anything in pro matches.】

【You clearly didn’t watch the livestream—if you had, you wouldn’t say that.】

【Purple side: WE’s four players plus PDD—JM and his NXG team, just the jungler and one other, crushed their rhythm.】

【Can’t outplay in lane, can’t control the pace, get stomped in teamfights—I’ll never say pros are better than solo queue again.】

【He’s not just mechanically skilled—his game sense is terrifying. If he weren’t always streaming on YY, I’d swear he’s a former pro.】

【WE’s gonna have a rough year—JM said S3 is a mid-jungle meta, but WE’s strongest is bottom lane. Their AD’s got no chance against a team full of assassins.】

【Wuhu—this year’s LPL season looks set to be epic. Didn’t JM say his team already qualified for LPL?】

#SHOCKING: Riot Designers Respond to JM!#

Online discussion was suddenly interrupted by an unexpected post.

Yet the next second, not just Chinese players but international LOL fans alike joined the conversation.

#League of Legends: Riot Designers#

“Dear Summoners: Thank you for your love and attention to League of Legends—we’re thrilled to see you actively exploring and discovering new mechanics.

First, we must emphasize that our design team has spent long hours developing, testing, and refining countless interesting gameplay elements.

We thank JM, a player from the LPL region, for discovering the interaction potential between champion abilities and Flash.

As a top-ranked player on the ladder, we’ve been closely monitoring JM for a long time.

His tutorial videos have solved countless problems for new players and made tremendous contributions to League’s promotion—we sincerely invite Player JM to become our official player feedback representative.”