League of Legends: League of Unknowns

There was still a quarter of an hour until the morning reading session, so Luocheng laid back in his seat and closed his eyes for a therapeutic nap. He was feeling a little drowsy.

There was no helping it. He had to work hard at both his studies and his in-game ranking. Who could find the time to get enough sleep?

“For crying out loud, last night we lost to those idiots from Class 3!” A loud, brusque voice rang out from behind Luocheng.

It was the familiar voice of Wang Qin, who sat next to him in class, and called himself ‘Beast’ in-game. Hopelessly devoted to LOL (League of Legends), he proclaimed himself to be the premier Mid-lane player in Cerulean High, the other LOL gamers in class looked up to him.

“Zhao Kesong, what were you doing up Top? Attack their rear line! Playing like that, you might as well be named Kestoned!” Wang Qin hollered in fury.

MOBA ¹ teams, just like basketball teams, comprised of five players—one of which would be a useless loser whose only talent was finding defeat.

“Hey man, the enemy Top was Level 27—I just got to Level 20 recently. How was I expected to fight against him?” Kesong whined . ²

“Then why were you in such a hurry to let him have First Blood? Couldn’t you tell someone was waiting in the brush to ambush you?” Wang Qin raged on.

Kesong was cowardly by nature, and whenever he played, he’d usually ask to be a Tank in the Top lane—a role poorly suited for him.

“And as for the Bottom lane: What the hell were you guys doing? Three deaths in ten minutes!” Now Wang Qin’s sharp tongue had turned to two boys nearby.

“Blame Sun Yang, not me,” a slender boy named Zhong Xiaoyun replied. “Every time Blitzcrank grabs somebody, I die.”

“I don’t know what was going on last night,” Sun Yang declared indignantly. “Even though I’d managed to pull an enemy over to us, in the end it was the two of us who died.”

Sun Yang seemed to have a strong preference for using Blitzcrank, a champion which could often carry the whole game.

But they’d met with misfortune yesterday.

Luocheng was flopped down against his desk, eavesdropping on the boys behind him as they discussed last night’s defeat.

He himself also enjoyed using Blitzcrank, the ‘Great Steam Golem’. He was certain that last night Sun Yang had pulled over an enemy Taric, Alistar, Leona, or some other tanky, hard-to-kill Support champion.

Snagging someone with Blitzcrank’s Rocket Grab was great, but pulling over one of those champions was like throwing your teammate to the wolves. Whereas at first the danger was still a safe distance away, yanking them over to you with Rocket Grab would likely result in the death of a more fragile teammate standing near you.

This was something you had to learn about by Level 30, if you were playing Blitzcrank in the Support role. Sun Yang still had some ways to go with that champion.

Of course, there were times when it was fine to pull over enemy Tanks, as you developed a more advanced grasp of game tactics.

Luocheng didn’t instruct Sun Yang on how his Bottom lane had been lost. The struggles of noobs like them did not concern an expert of his caliber.

“I’ve challenged the gentlemen from Class 3 to a rematch next Saturday. I’ve bet my entire allowance for this month on that game,” Wang Qin announced.

“My lord, don’t be so reckless! We’re no match for them,” Kesong spluttered.

“Says who?” Wang Qin whirled on Kesong, who fell silent.

At this, Luocheng finally opened his eyes to cast a solemn look at Wang Qin. “I guess you’ll be broke this month, wagering all your allowance like that.”

Betting money. Now that was serious business.

Seeing his lifeless partner joining the conversation at last, he hurried over to whisper, “Yang Qianqian is in the game too, and she’s looking for someone to play with. Lin Xu from Class 3 challenged me for this honor, and to my dismay, we lost to them last night, with Yang Qianqian watching.

“The shame is unbearable! I have to reclaim my pride, don’t you see? Ah, it’s all because I’m stuck with these hopeless noobs.”

“Yang Qianqian? The beauty of Class 4, with legs for days?” This was a name Luocheng recognized, because whenever she passed by, she’d leave a trail of slavering fools in her wake.

Certainly, she was a feast for the eyes—especially with those long, voluptuous legs, swaying as she walked, her tight little butt bouncing this way and that… Not even her loose-fitting uniform could conceal her ravishing sex appeal!

“Luocheng, don’t you play, too? It’s alright if you’re not much good at it, since you’re not playing for us anyway. Maybe next Saturday, you’d like to come and help host the game?” Wang Qin said.

“Nah, I’ll be busy.” Luocheng shook his head. “You guys go ahead.”

What a joke. A player with a score of 1,900, swinging by to watch some kids’ 5v5 match? He’d rather be rushing for 2,000 with his own team. Now that they were in their third year of high school, weekends were a precious resource!

Didn’t they know what a 1,900 score meant?

It meant that if Yu Luocheng was Legolas, then Wang Qin and his motley crew were just a bunch of wretched orcs. They were far more than a few tiers of play apart!

***

Do you have a passion for learning?

Dare you proclaim any love for classical Chinese literature? The wending ways of English? The mystifying madness of Mathematics?

Should you dare to make such a preposterous declaration in my presence, I won’t hesitate to disprove your inane prevarications.

Luocheng loathed it all, but he was without a choice in the matter. For the sake of his parents, not to mention his nebulous future, he had to sit through every class, keeping meticulous notes, six days every week.

In this hazy way, an entire week would pass, and after the final class on Saturday, the class monitor never failed to stand before the classroom and point at the words on the blackboard, written in a vivid array of colors:

‘120 DAYS UNTIL FINALS’

It was a grave warning which shrouded the room in a dark pall, like a funeral parlor.

However, the moment the last bell rang, the gleam in the students’ eyes betrayed their true feelings.

“Let’s go grab something to eat, and then tonight we’ll get some practice at the cyber café. We’ve got to figure out our strategy!” Wang Qin harried his teammates in a bright, singsong voice.

“Wang Qin, did you really bet money with those guys from Class 3?” Luocheng asked as he put his things away.

“Why would I lie about that? Money can be recovered, but pride must never be abandoned. That’s what I told Yang Qianqian.” Wang Qin spoke with righteous conviction.

“Alright. All the best.” Luocheng could tell that right now Wang Qin was like a bull who’d seen red—there’d be no holding him back anymore.

“Are you really not gonna come and cheer for us?” Wang Qin asked.

“I’ve got stuff to do on Saturday nights,” Luocheng replied. “Maybe I’ll pop by if I get a moment. Rising Dragon Cyber Café, right?”

“Hey, it’d be great if you could make it. You’ll get to bear witness to the massacre I shall unleash!” Wang Qin was grinning from ear to ear.

He was already gathering Kesong, Xiaoyun, and Sun Yang to eat out together, after which they would presumably assemble in the formation spoken of in legends: five seats in a row at the cyber café, the forbidden ritual which tempts disaster!