A Clever Apology

After Chen Mu had entered dreamland, a screen appeared directly in front of his eyes. The images that flashed across the screen were unbelievably realistic. Not even the legendary 4K resolution would have been able to beat its clarity there. Not to mention, everything looked like it belonged to a sci-fi scene—it was like a piece of transparent glass. 

Chen Mu felt unnaturally conscious. Images related to League of Legends appeared on the screen as a gentle female voice started talking. 

"Welcome to your in-sleep learning experience. The purpose of this session is to provide you with an explanation regarding basic in-game fundamentals. This is to provide the Host with a deeper understanding of the game." The female voice was melodious and sounded like music in Chen Mu's ears. 

Without waiting for Chen Mu's reply, the female voice started the lesson. She started explaining the three lanes in Summoner's Rift, the mechanics of the Jungle, and the basic concepts of the game. She used the simplest terms to explain complicated concepts; everything down to the nitty-gritty. 

She also mentioned all the names of the jungle camps, the definition of AD and AP, camping the bot lane, etcetera. 

After letting Chen Mu develop an intuitive understanding of the game, what came next was an introduction to each champion. She explained all the champions on the champion name list. 

Eventually, the female voice even tasked Chen Mu with some homework for the day—he was required to memorize all the champion names and their corresponding profile thumbnails in a day. He would be tested in his sleep the next day. 

Chen Mu felt like vomiting blood. 'How's this a game? You're obviously forcing me to take up another subject. With nearly a hundred subunits to study, this is abuse!' 

However, Chen Mu was well-aware that there was no way he could rebel against the System. The System's ability to make him utter words against his will only proved that the System really was able of curing his father's illness. Naturally, Chen Mu would study with all his might and diligently complete all of his missions. 

Chen Mu woke up feeling refreshed the next day and felt as if he had rested exceptionally well. Glancing at his clock, he realized it was only six o'clock.

"Sir, please reach level 3 in your game account and unlock matchmaking options before your parents wake up! Success will award you a hundred points and the same amount will be deducted if you fail," the System's voice rang in an out of place manner. 

"Got it!" Chen Mu switched on the computer hastily. While waiting for the computer to start, within the small window of time, Chen Mu went and returned from his morning ritual. 

He signed in as fast as he could. There was only one game server available. Chen Mu entered the game straight away and started playing a Co-op vs AI match. 

"As there is only one server in China in your world, sir. It's overloaded with professional players. You must work hard, sir," the System kept emphasizing how difficult Chen Mu's missions would be compared to his predecessor. 

Therefore, even though Chen Mu was only up against bots, he dared not loosen up as he continued his game with Ryze. 

A night's worth of lessons had taught Chen Mu that many champions' abilities were not unit-targeted. Some of them could be cast in a direction and some of them could be dodged. 

Therefore, Chen Mu persisted in using Ryze as the champion's abilities would never miss their target. He was perfect for a newbie like Chen Mu. 

Chen Mu had a natural aptitude for mathematics. When he realized that he could shorten each skill's animation by a second if he manually cast them, he started to figure out how to maximize his spell casts. 

Casting a QERQWQ-combo seemed to dish out the most damage, but his opponents would retreat the moment they were attacked. Therefore, Chen Mu still had to assess each situation accordingly. He immediately designed three or four sets of combos to deal with different situations and mentally prepared himself so that he would not lose his cool when the time arose. If he panicked and began casting his skills randomly, he would definitely miss out on casting a few of them. 

In his second game against bots, Chen Mu started the match by massacring them. Using the experience he had gained in the past from playing Warcraft and Dungeon Fighter Online, he picked up the game mechanics rather swiftly without stumbling about in panic. 

Chen Mu had claimed his newbie XP boost, so he managed to level up straight away to level-3 with fifteen kills and zero deaths.

[Mission accomplished. Received one hundred points. The Host's current total points: five hundred points. Please keep up the hard work.] 

Chen Mu turned off the computer hurriedly. As he did so, he put his hand on the CPU and felt its temperature. It felt slightly warm but since it was still early—and since his parents had placed all of their trust in him—they probably would not come around to check. 

When Chen Mu was young, his parents would not allow him to watch television even on weekends. The first thing they always did whenever they returned home was touch the back cover of the television. If they found out that he had been watching the television, they would give him a beating if. Recalling such memories sent fearful shudders through him. 

Nevertheless, after entering Year 3 Junior, Chen Mu managed to consistently place top in his year and proved himself to be self-disciplined. It reassured his parents so much that they agreed on relocating the computer to Chen Mu's room, trusting him completely that he was able to control himself. 

Chen Mu quickly fished out his books to study. Why did the blasphemous System have to appear when he was in Year 3 Senior? Could it not have appeared when Chen Mu enrolled at university? He would be less stressful then. 

"There wouldn't be enough time by then. Many geniuses and prodigies have already started to enter the gaming circle of the world you live in, sir. League of Legends is very popular in this world. It has taken about a dozen countries by storm. By the time you've enrolled at a university, it would be too difficult for you to catch up. Therefore, we need to start as soon as possible," the System gave Chen Mu the answer voluntarily.

"Alright, let me memorize some vocabulary first." Chen Mu started to brush up on his vocabulary. English and Mandarin were not his strong suits. However, as long as he managed to improve by around twenty marks in the two subjects, he would be eligible to enroll at all the universities in Huaxia. 

After about twenty minutes, the Chen siblings' mother had finished preparing breakfast. Hence, she asked Chen Yifei to get Chen Mu. 

"Chen Mu, time to eat!" Chen Yifei shouted at the top of her lungs and gave the door a knock before returning to the dining table. 

Their mother scolded her, "What happened to calling him 'Big Brother'? Don't be so impolite."

"A big brother who has no sense of shame!" Chen Yifei huffed softly with a dissatisfied frown on her face. 

"What did you say?" Their mother did not hear what Chen Yifei had said clearly. 

"Nothing. Nothing." Chen Yifei changed the topic. 

By the time Chen Mu had exited his room, his father was already walking toward the dining table. He sat in the seat reserved for the head of the family. 

Chen Xuebing had celebrated his forty-first birthday that year. He was a man who possessed the aura of a scholar. While he used to be a strong spirited man in the prime of his life, he looked very feeble at the moment. Since he was unable to carry out work, he could only submit articles to different magazines with the hope of earning some form of remuneration from them. 

However, it was like attempting to extinguish a cartload of burning firewood with water as his pay never exceeded three or five thousand each month. It has to be said that four thousand yuan was needed each month to cover his medical bills alone. 

Most of the medicine he had been prescribed was not covered under his health insurance. Therefore, their family was dealing with a lot of stress. 

Moreover, Chen Xuebing had to pay close attention to his food intake. He could only have watered down porridge for his meals. Nevertheless, Chen Mu and Chen Yifei could still have porridge with some salted vegetables or dried radish. 

"Chen Mu, where's your most recent exam slip?" asked Chen Xuebing. 

"Oh, it's here." Chen Mu retrieved it and handed it over to his father. 

"Hmm, your progress is steady. You just have to improve your Mandarin and English. Fight to enter the Royal Capital University. It used to be my dream school in the past," Chen Mu's father said solemnly.

"Alright, I'll work hard." Chen Mu promised. 

"Yifei, what about you?" asked their father again. 

"Uh, here." Chen Yifei was ready to receive the question. It had always been a norm in their family.

"Your results deteriorated again. Oh, Yifei, where have you been putting all your effort in recently? Your results are getting worse each year. With your current grades, you might not even cut it for Tier 2 institutions," their father started telling her off. 

"I… I know I'm wrong. I'll be sure to improve next time." Chen Yifei looked down at her wrists, not daring to raise her head. 

"If there's anything you don't understand, you should ask your elder brother. You can ask me too. You better improve in your next exam, or else," said their father. 

"Okay, I've finished eating. I'm going to head to school now." Chen Yifei felt depressed and wanted to run away as soon as possible. 

"I'm done eating too. Let's go," said Chen Mu. 

With some distance between both of them, they left the house with Chen Yifei leading the way. Chen Mu had to chase after her for a while before managing to catch up. 

"Wait for me. Won't you listen to my explanation? I was just joking yesterday," said Chen Mu after he had caught up with her. 

"Hmph, I don't believe you," replied Chen Yifei. 

"I have something important to tell you, please stop," Chen Mu continued. 

Chen Yifei halted on the spot and stared at Chen Mu as she waited for him to start talking. 

Chen Mu took out a bill of fifty bucks and solemnly placed it in Chen Yifei's hand. 

"Don't let others pay for you at the cybercafe. We shouldn't owe anyone favors. So, if you have to play games, use our own money," said Chen Mu in a sad tone. 

"Big Brother, where did you get so much money? Don't you only get five bucks each week?" said Chen Yifei in shock, knowing very well that their parents allocated five bucks for each of them weekly to buy the things they needed.

"I've been saving up for three months. Now, I've given all of my savings to you. Remember what I said, alright?" Chen Mu asked in the same severity. 

"Alright, thank you, Big Brother. But this is too much, why don't you keep thirty for yourself? the concerned look within Chen Yifei's eyes on her face was eminent as she asked.

"No, it's fine as long as it makes you happy. I don't mind working hard for you." Chen Yifei was so touched by Chen Mu's words that redness started to blossom around her eyes. They only ever received five bucks each week. How thrifty had her elder brother have to be this whole time? 

'Phew, it has finally been dealt with, I almost burned down this bridge,' said Chen Mu internally. He was thankful that he was able to think it through. The emphasis was never on the money—it was the hardship and diligence behind the sum of money. Was there a girl who would not have felt touched by that?

"I understand, Big Brother. After all, you haven't been in any romantic relationship in the past eighteen years. Your perspectives are distorted." The few lines that came from Chen Yifei was all it took to jab straight at Chen Mu's heart. 

Despite feeling that he had gotten trashed, Chen Mu knew that the storm had passed. Chen Yifei had recovered her poison-tongued self.

At the same time, Chen Yifei was pretending to be difficult too. They were siblings after all, was there anything that they had not told each other? They had even pretended to be king and queen when they were young. After seeing how her elder brother had saved up three months' worth of pocket money for her, how could she remain angry at him? 

After ten minutes, both of them arrived at Chuzhou City's No.10 High School. It was a key high school in Chuzhou City even though it was ranked last among the key high schools. If the school had not offered more money and because of its short distance to their home, Chen Mu's parents would have wanted Chen Mu to study at the No.1 High School.

However, the school turned out to be great. Due to the lack of competition from other extreme high-flyers, Chen Mu was able to retain his position as the top student each year. All in all, the school was better than average.