AP Rockman

It was Chen Mu's first tournament. However, he did not feel nervous at all. It could be explained by Chen Mu's strong mental state that was the foundation of his expertise when it came to sitting for exams in the examination hall. He would not have been able to become one of the top three students in the whole city for his Senior High School Entrance Examination if he failed to do his best in even one of his major examinations.

However, the difference between being in a tournament and sitting for an examination was that only one teacher supervised you in the former. On the other hand, thousands of pairs of eyes watched your every move in the latter.

Although it was not a big scale tournament, it attracted many students from various schools and the crowd was rather big. There were already more than twenty people from Chen Mu's Year 3 Senior classes alone.

It was as clear as day that Brother Shi was the team leader as he sat in the middle of the team and ordered everyone to test out their devices. Additionally, he reminded each of them to check their Runes and Masteries.

Chen Mu did not have to log into his account. The device he was using had already been prepared beforehand for him. The account Chen Mu was to use for the tournament had an infinite amount of Riot Points and every skin available in the game.　

The amount of IP it had was enough to purchase three rune pages. 　　

"Everyone, please purchase Summoner Name Changes and change your names to 'Petrification1' followed by your ID. Chen Mu, which position are you going for?" asked Shi Geng.　

"Uh, me? Which squad are we up against this round?" asked Chen Mu. 　　

"Based on the drawing of lots just now, we're up against InvisibleSquad2," answered Shi Geng.　

"Oh, I'll take whatever position Zhao Yin is playing." Chen Mu knew it was Zhao Yin's team the moment he heard the squad's name—nobody other than Zhao Yin could have come up with such a silly name like that. 　　

"Zhao Yin? He seems to be the mid laner of the other squad." Shi Geng was not that sure either. There were so many tiers in the game with tens of thousands of players scattered in between team at different ELO points. In addition to the fact that Zhao Yin and Shi Geng were three hundred ELO points apart, Shi Geng had never once paid attention to this person named Zhao Yin. 　

"Then, I'll take mid lane," Chen Mu said as he changed his ID.　

"Petrification ILookOrdinary!"　

"Alright, I'll leave mid lane to you. I'll jungle. Lil Xin, take top lane. Big Mao, Second Mao, take bot lane. Any problems?" asked Shi Geng. He himself was flexible and could play any position. Back when Dota was all the rage, he managed to become the champion in many cybercafe tournaments.

There was something unique about Dota—you received more gold playing a randomly selected champion rather than self-picking one. That was why Dota players did not prioritize playing a single position. You had to familiarize yourself with a variety of routes and play different champions.　　

After Shi Geng confirmed that he was jungling, Chen Mu felt the last of his stress slip away. Fighting Zhao Yin in mid lane? Could his opponent even cause him any fear?　　

Chen Mu started to think. If he were to play a lane farmer and defeat Zhao Yin in a team fight, it definitely would not have any effect on him. He had to use a champion that could kill Zhao Yin until the latter regretted ever being born.　　

The audience burst into a heated discussion. It was too much of a coincidence. The showdown between Zhao Yin and Chen Mu was going to take place in the first match? It felt like they had skipped all the build-up and jumped straight to the climax. 　　

"Do you think Chen Mu will defeat Zhao Yin?" asked Lu Ren.　

"It's okay even if Chen Mu doesn't defeat Zhao Yin as long as his squad wins. Winning despite being carried, is still winning, isn't it? These are the coattails you ride because you can. Don't like it? Suck on it," said Zhuo Xiaobai.　　

"That's right as well." Lu Ren was unsure that Chen Mu—who had started playing just not long ago—would be able to defeat a good player like Zhao Yin. Lu Ren had bumped into Zhao Yin in the cybercafe before and spontaneously played an in-house custom match. In the match, Lu Ren was mercilessly slaughtered by Zhao Yin.　　

Playing Annie in mid lane, Zhao Yin crushed Lu Ren's Volibear the moment they met. Lu Ren was killed so many times that he risked getting PTSD from that experience. 　

Even though Chen Mu's hooks were quite accurate, he had only participated in matches at low ELO points. He had never matched up with ranked players before. Lu Ren hoped that Chen Mu would not feed too much and instead get carried to victory.　

The tournament was mostly going to be played under the bo13 elimination system. A squad would be instantly eliminated the moment they lost. There was a total of eight squads participating in the competition. Since the tournament had to be completed within the day, there was not enough time for each team to play it out under the best-two-out-of-three elimination method. As such, only the finals of the tournament were going to be played under the bo34 elimination system.　　

The match began. Since it was an official tournament, it was wildly different compared to a normal blind pick game. Firstly, it required the first player from each team to ban three champions. Then, based on the sequence of 1221122112, each player got to choose their champions. In the sequence, 1 stood for the blue team while 2 represented the purple team. Based on the System's words, a total of ten champions would be banned instead of six in the future. Nevertheless, it was something that would only happen in a few more years.　　

The squad leaders of both teams began to ban champions. Normally, everyone would take the opportunity to ban SP champions, their opponents' main champions, or champions that could potentially wreck their own squad's strategy. However, seeing how none of them had fought each other before, they did not put much thought into it and banned the game's most OP champions at the time. Those champions included Ezreal, Jayce, Zither Lady, Treant5, and etcetera.　　

Whichever champion that scaled well or had a high win rate during the recent S2 World Championship Series was banned first as a safety precaution.　　

After that, it was time for the players on both teams to lock in their champions. The top laner instantly locked in Dr. Mundo. This was because the top laner was Shi Xin, whose skill level was not considered too high. Selecting Dr. Mundo who was hard to kill would come in handy in the future. 　

Their opponents chose Shen and Lady Wind6, forming a protective duo. It seemed like they were going to employ a strategy that was aimed at protecting their ADC. It was nothing unexpected. After all, ADCs had the most potential to carry in the late game phase in the current patch.　　

Shi Geng, who was jungling, locked in Blind Monk without hesitation. He seemed very confident playing the champion.　　

"Hmph, it's surprising that nobody banned Bladesman on the opposite team. Don't they know that it's the most OP champion recently? When it comes to AP champions, Bladesman is the champion to use," said Zhao Yin excitedly.　　

The moment someone discovered AP Bladesman, its build became an instant hit. Rumors had it that AP Bladesman had to be banned even in high ELO matches above two thousand and four hundred ELO points. Zhao Yin had tried it around a dozen times. Each time, as long as he managed to secure kills late game, everything would be a piece of cake—triple kills and quadra kills would rain down from the sky.　

'It's time for you to suffer the wrath of a master, Chen Mu!'　

"It's very likely that there will be an AP Bladesman on the opposite team. Let's employ a counter-pick strategy. Pick a meat7 champion."　

It was Chen Mu's turn to pick a champion. Although the tournament allowed players to swap champions, Chen Mu was unaware of this and was too used to choosing his own.　

When Chen Mu locked in his champion, everyone was dazed by his decision. Was his team trying to play the game with two top laners?　

Shard of the Monolith, Malphite! 　　

None of his team members understood his champion pick. They frantically asked Chen Mu if he had made a mistake. If he had, he could say so and repick a champion. 　　

Chen Mu shook his head. "Nope, I locked it in on purpose. Rockman8 is super strong, y'know?"　

Everyone was speechless. However, since their squad leader had claimed that Chen Mu was a god and that might even be more powerful than Shi Geng, nobody said anything. 　

"What's with Rockman on the other side? Is he the top laner? A support? Don't they have Mundo already?" asked Zhao Yin.　　

"I don't know. From the looks of it, it seems like a mid lane Rockman," answered Zhao Yin's teammate.　

"What kind of trashy Rockman is that? Everyone is trashier than trash before my AP Yi!" said Zhao Yin confidently. 　　

"That's true. Many game gods are screaming for that champion to be nerfed. Whenever a champion's health gets low, my big brother, Zhao, will Q him until kingdom come," his teammate added on respectfully. 　　

AP Bladesman could instantly refresh his spells after landing a kill. Additionally, the AP scaling of his spells was insanely high. Therefore, in a typical match where one matched up with strangers, AP Bladesman was easily an unfathomable existence. Meanwhile, Chen Mu was well aware of Bladesman's stats. To defeat Bladesman, Chen Mu decided that Rockman was the perfect choice. 　　

Coincidentally, the mid laners from both teams chose not to buy boots when leaving the base. Instead, they bought a Doran's Ring each as they were playing champions that consumed a lot of mana. It would not be too late to increase their movement speed later. 　　

Chen Mu was the only one who did not have a skin on in the entire match. Rockman's default skin looked clunky yet unique in its own way. 　　

Bladesman, who was on the opposite team, was clad in the Ionian skin set. His mask was completely covered with eyes. 　　

The first wave of minions crashed into each other. Chen Mu controlled his Rockman to move forward to farm CS. With his current CSing skills, he could not miss any CS even if he wanted to. The System had forced out Chen Mu's obsessive-compulsion disorder with all the training, and Chen Mu was now helplessly addicted to farming CS.　　

Meanwhile, Bladesman waited for the health of the three melee minions to go down before he reaped all of them with a single Q cast, conveniently poking Rockman at the same time!　　

Chen Mu smiled. The Bladesman might have had the impression that it was a good idea, but he actually made a stupid mistake. 　　

'Rockman has a passive skill too. If you've used your Q—a critical combat spell—to CS three melee minions while Rockman is still at full health. Isn't it obvious that Rockman, who still has his spells up, would have the upper hand in combat strength compared to your Bladesman who only has basic attacks left? How are you going to farm your three ranged minions?'　　

Chen Mu positioned himself once more and continued to farm. Bladesman saw the enemy ranged minions approaching him and attempted to get close to farm. At this time, without a second of hesitation, Chen Mu's slammed the ground and hit Bladesman. Additionally, as Bladesman tried to retreat in response, Chen Mu chased him from behind and sneaked in a few auto attacks.　　

With his speed reduced and without any spells, Bladesman did not have the guts to retaliate. Hence, he chose to retreat sulkily as he watched his minions get killed. Zhao Yin's heart began to ache as he watched Rockman eat up all six of his minions without missing a single one.　　

Zhao Yin began to feel a little panicky. Could it be that Chen Mu actually knew how to play?