Tutorial

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Complete tutorial?

[Accept/Deny]

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A little popup appeared without Yu Pengkai ever clicking "Play." Glancing at the time, he realized he would at least have another hour to kill before heading off to school. Sleeping now would be impossible, he decided, justifying his actions a bit guiltily with nostalgia.

I'll earn just enough Coins to buy a new username, he reasoned, clearing his throat weakly before clicking "Accept."

He popped in his old earbuds. They couldn't compare to the professional headsets he became accustomed to wearing. Still, they were admittedly a surprisingly resilient pair that he kept for a few years even after turning professional.

As soon as the familiar music sequence started playing, he immediately cringed and turned down the sound a bit, not quite telling if the static noise came from his earbuds or the game or both.

"Welcome to the Arena of Kings," the game boomed, the voice a pitch deeper than the one used in the 2020 version.

The black screen slowly faded into the background as a vined base with a towering blue castle took center stage. Its bare arches were dull in color, a soft sky blue, and the walls appeared to be papery. In short, in contrast to the modern rendition of it, this one looked 2D and frankly not as worth defending.

Five champions stood poised around it, and as if second nature, Yu Pengkai began analyzing the team composition on reflex.

Cleopatra. Average mid laner.

Genghis Khan. Common top laner.

Joan of Arc. Below average ADC.

Emperor Qin. Ok top laner.

Alexander the Great. Did people play him?

In short, their team composition was absolutely horrifying in terms of the 2020 meta. Not only were there no supports or junglers in sight, but there was also an utterly useless champion on the team.

This is a tutorial, Yu Pengkai had to remind himself forcibly, and you are no longer a professional player. You don't care about this game anymore.

"The goal of the game is to destroy the enemy Castle. You will assemble a team with four other players, each playing a unique champion with a different set of skills."

Please, Yu Pengkai found himself rolling his eyes. If there was anything he remembered clearly, it was that there was no team half the time. Especially when he was in low ELO, the number of tunnel-visioned teammates that cost him his life and the game were innumerable.

"There are three lanes to compete for and unmapped territory in between the lanes. You will fight against enemy champions for control of these lanes and try to destroy their towers."

Were junglers even a thing back then? Hanging his head in shame, Yu Pengkai realized that he didn't know the answer to his own question.

Realizing that he was now free to move his champion, Cleopatra, around, he began making his way towards the mid lane. After maining an ADC for ten years, he rarely came up here at the start of a game.

Wait, why was Emperor Qin and Joan of Arc also following him here? Mid was a solo lane, for goodness sake! They would take up his XP and split his gold! Before the game had started, Yu Pengkai was already on the verge of insanity.

"Allied soldiers will spawn every thirty seconds."

Somehow, the soldiers had already made it to lane, moving at a speedy pace he never saw them march at in a real game.

"Clicking on an enemy soldier damages it." A little arrow above the enemy melee soldier indicated for him to click. The screen froze as the game momentarily paused.

"Killing the enemy soldiers will grant you gold." The arrow indicated for him to click again.

"Clicking on an enemy champion damages them." The familiar arrow appeared above the enemy Mulan, and without being told, Yu Pengkai clicked in hopes to speed up the tutorial. A little golden orb flew towards her, hitting with a satisfying sizzle. The Mulan immediately retreated back to her tower, a sliver of her health forcibly gone.

It was so intuitive, he thought, momentarily forgetting that he was far from a first-time player. And for the first popular MOBA game, it wasn't like people in 2009 were familiar with the playstyle in Kings of Valor.

"Stay out of the enemy tower's hitbox unless there are allied soldiers in it," A little red circle around the tower marked the danger zone. "Attacking an enemy champion within the tower range would prompt it to attack you."

Yu Pengkai absolutely hated how the game paused for every line of instructions. Why else would there be towers if they didn't attack? For decoration purposes?

He wanted to scream at the stupidly slow tutorial that he had played for ten years, but it wasn't like the game would listen. Heck, even after he became one of the most popular eSports players, it still wasn't like the game developers listened to him and made a pretty Robin Hood skin.

"Leveling up unlocks new skills and gives better stats. You can return to the base to access the merchant's shop. Spend coins to buy items to make yourself even stronger."

Yada. Yada. Yada.

He wished just to play the damn game, he muttered as he spammed his mouse's left click. And randomly, it hit him as he realized what was off. Other than the dull clicking sound, there were no cracking noises from his wrist, and the needle-like pain was gone as well.

Before he could let his renewed youth soak in, the tutorial game finally allowed him to play.

These bots really didn't know how to dodge or attack. If only real-life games were this easy, he thought as his hands worked with agility.

His keyboard took a few moments too long to register the clicks, and his mouse also lagged like crazy. But it wasn't like it mattered here.

Q. W. Auto-attack. "An enemy has been slain."

Repeat. "Double kill."

By the time the game ended, he had the unimaginable KDA of 50-0-2, complete with four separate pentakills. And yes, the two stupid bots in his lane managed to swipe two kills while he was backing.

Seeing the giant blue-tinged "Victory" light up his entire screen, it was a lie to say nothing tugged at the strings of his heart, and he couldn't stop the small smile from creeping up the corner of his lips.

Without knowing, he missed playing the game just for the sake of playing. There was no one watching him, no one tracking all of the small mistakes he had made, much less a stats tracker analyzing how he could better manage his in-game economy.

And plus, this was what Pentakill should have been like every game, taking the entire enemy team by storm before they could even say his name.

After a moment of emptily gazing at the screen, he ultimately clicked "Continue."

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Tutorial Completion Award: 2000 Coins

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He checked again, making sure that it was enough to satisfy the 1500 Coins needed to change his username. And after that, it would be time to offload the game for good and start a new life.

But the game seemed to have other plans for him. Another screen immediately followed the tutorial.

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Please buy a new champion. Special new player discounts are applied:

Joan of Arc: 1000 Coins

Mulan: 1200 Coins

Galileo: 1300 Coins

Napoleon: 1400 Coins

Emperor Qin: 1500 Coins

Robin Hood: 2000 Coins

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Yu Pengkai froze, seeing the familiar Champion name on his computer screen.