Two Rune Pages Are Enough To Make Him God

Naturally, Chen Mu headed to the cybercafe to assign his runes that night. For the sake of a higher win rate, Chen Mu had memorized the stats for every rune as well. Different types of runes provided different price-performance ratios.

The price-performance ratio of red runes was higher in terms of attack damage, AP, penetration, and anything attack-based. On the other hand, yellow runes were good for armor and health points—defense runes. Blue runes were good for magic resistance and CD reduction—special runes. 

For example, the amount of attack damage and AP gained from yellow and blue runes would always be lower than red runes. Similarly, the amount of armor and magic defense gained from red runes would always be lower than those from yellow and blue runes. 

It seemed like a system that had been intentionally made by the game developers to guide players. Chen Mu chose his runes very carefully because technically, he could only use two rune pages. They had to be runes that complemented most champions' attributes. 

Most ADCs required attack speed and life steal, while fighters normally needed attack damage. Meanwhile, assassins required armor penetration. Different champions had different combinations. Many people went through horrendous amounts of matches for the sake of earning enough IP 1to purchase runes. That was because one could not buy runes with cash and could only purchase them with IP.

Chen Mu skimmed a few videos that had been posted by professional players in their gaming streams as they described each rune in detail. Many of them had the maximum number of rune pages which was 20.

Since Chen Mu was allowed to use only two pages, he would be at the short end of the stick. If he were to match up against professional players or streamers, would it not be too embarrassing if he ended up being solo killed by them? 

After spending about twenty minutes, Chen Mu finally configured two rune pages for his use. One page was reserved for AD champions, while the other was reserved for AP champions. 

Chen Mu had looked through Zhuo Xiaobai's runes before. Zhuo Xiaobai had twenty rune pages too. Chen Mu wondered how much money Zhuo Xiaobai had put in the game to obtain that many rune pages. Lu Ren had eight pages too. Both of them were prodigal players. Perhaps, it was the only thing that affected a player's abilities in the entire game. 

However, the System mentioned that the feature would be removed in the future. Runes and masteries would be combined. Meanwhile, new Level 1 accounts would start at the same point as max level accounts—it rendered all excuses that a newbie could not compete with a pro player useless. 

Chen Mu liked to prioritize scaling, max health, magic resistance, and etcetera in his runes. He knew that the stronger his opponents were, the harder it would be for him to solo kill them. Getting fed for teamfights in the mid and late game was the key. 

Therefore, Chen Mu's attributes would be at a slight disadvantage in the early game. However, it was necessary since planning to reap the fruits of the far future mattered more. 

Now that Chen Mu had finally gotten himself some runes, he became more brutal in his blind pick games. Oftentimes, he solo killed his opponents at Level 1 or 2. After all, the effects of having fifteen extra points of attack damage was equal to having two Doran's Blades! 

"Eff me. He has a win rate of ninety percent! Damn, I've never seen such a thing before!" exclaimed one of Chen Mu's teammates in shock in one of the matches.

"OP. Must be a god bullying noobies to raise his win rate." 

"I'm riding tight on his tailcoat." 

"Great Lord from the opposite team, please be gentler. I'm a girl." The players on the enemy team were taken aback by Chen Mu as well. What a monstrous win rate! A monster like Chen Mu was a terrifying existence in blind pick games. Therefore, one of the enemy players had pretended to be a female player. If it could cushion the pain of him getting crushed, he was willing to do it. 

Using third-party software was the latest trend to play the game. With clients like LoLBox, TGP, and others, players could see a lot of their teammates' stats with the press of a button. The stats included their champion win rates, match win rates, and even their ranks. 

"How did they know my win rate? I want to see it too," asked Chen Mu. 

"Using newly developed third-party software. Their biggest function is to encourage players to play the game without using their brain cells to memorize the game buffs, as well as Baron and Dragon's respawn times. The Host may use the software but has to turn off all assistive functions. You can only use it to see other players' stats. In a professional tournament, no player is allowed to use external software. The Host must be strict with himself," said the System. 

"I see. It's not easy being a professional player. No one can imagine how much brainpower is used in a single game. The jungle camps respawn times, buff duration, summoner spells, and even the duration of wards and their field of vision. I'm guessing whoever has the impression that becoming a professional gamer is easy will regret it once they've jumped into the field," said Chen Mu. 

"It depends on the player's own expectation they place on themselves, and the team's management skills. At the very least, most professional gamers in Huaxia do not feel pressured while working in the field. That is why most of the world's top players are not found in Huaxia," continued the System. 

"I think you're obsessed with foreign countries," commented Chen Mu. 

"The System does not belong to any single country; I speak the truth from a neutral perspective. Anyone from any country could have been chosen by me. Huaxia is the most populated country in the world and thus, has the most number of players in the world. However, its population is not on par with the country's current performance," explained the System. 

Chen Mu pursed his lips. Undeniably, the System was a miraculous presence that nobody had any idea which dimension it originated from. Indeed, the System did not have any form of nationality—it was devastatingly neutral. 

By killing once or twice more than usual compared to his previous games, Chen Mu's win rate increased a lot as he had expected. His ninety percent win rate instilled fear in every solo queue player he crossed each time they noticed it. Chen Mu was swarmed with friend requests the moment each match ended. 

At last, the time taken for him to find a game became longer. Now, he had to wait two minutes for each match he played. If he persisted for half an hour, the legendary ranked games would finally be within his reach. 

The only times Chen Mu played ranked games was during the few tournament matches he played over the weekends; the matches where he got to ban certain champions. He heard that there was a chance he would bump into professional players if he played ranked games. It was something that Chen Mu always looked forward to. 

Perhaps the System was right about Chen Mu's prodigious talent in gaming. Up until now, every opponent that Chen Mu met overlooked many details and had horrible acting skills. They were so bad at pretending that Chen Mu could tell whether someone was camping nearby based on their movements. 

Most people played games without putting too much thought into them. Whenever they had someone come over to help gank their lane, they would start moving unnaturally. Therefore, even if Chen Mu was dealing with a jungling Widow 2or Jester3, he rarely got taken out. 

Perhaps only a true high ranked player or professional player could give Chen Mu the pressure he was looking for. He did not feel quite satisfied by constantly playing blind pick games. 

"The Host should not get too full of himself. Some people have been able to reach Diamond I with a win rate of 100%. Having merely a ninety percent win rate in blind pick games is not something worth being proud of." The System cut Chen Mu down. 

"What is Diamond I?" Chen Mu asked. 

"It will come out in next season's ranking distribution. It is the equivalent of about two thousand and two hundred ELO points now," explained the System. 

Chen Mu pursed his mouth again. 'Can't you give me some confidence? Stupid System, do you only know how to attack your Host?' 

After wreaking havoc in two matches, Chen Mu was ready to go home. He found a night stall and bought a bowl of rice noodles. 

Chuzhou's rice noodles were considered a local delicacy. Immersed in bone broth and cooked for an entire night, its broth complemented the taste of the rice noodles that were made with locally grown rice wonderfully. Additionally, an added layer of mushrooms and shredded meat added flavor to the food. 

Most importantly, a single portion cost only three bucks—its price would rise slowly later on. 

After reaching home, Chen Mu knocked on the door that led to Chen Yifei's room and announced that supper was there. The moment Chen Yifei stepped out of her room, she started smacking her lips together at the fragrant smell. 

She sat at the table without any reservation and was about to enjoy her meal when she suddenly stopped and asked, "Big Brother, why aren't you eating?" 

"Oh, I ate on the way back. Since I was there, I got some for you too," Chen Mu explained. "Hurry up and eat. It's going to go cold." 

Chen Yifei cocked her petite head to the side and scrutinized Chen Mu's face for a while before picking up her chopsticks again. As usual, Chen Mu was bad at telling lies. His lips were so dry that they were cracked. There was no sign that he had drank any soup. 

Chen Yifei stirred the noodles slowly with her chopsticks. While doing that, she asked, "Big Brother, if there's a way for me to earn money, would you support me?" 

"Of course, not. You're only in Year 2 Senior. What's the rush? There will be plenty of chances once you graduate from college," Chen Mu sat down next to her and gave her a straightforward answer. 

"I'm not talking to you anymore. I'm eating in my room." Chen Yifei had expected to receive such an answer and refused to keep dragging on the conversation. She walked to her room and shut the door behind her. 

"A chance to earn money? What could it be?" Chen Mu asked himself out loud as he used the bathroom. 

He glanced at the unwashed laundry in the pail and noticed a pink lacey edge sticking out. A horrifying thought popped up in Chen Mu's head. 

Recently, there had been rumors of beautiful women selling their used undergarments on the internet. They sold them at quite a high price too. Was Chen Yifei thinking of doing something that she should not do? If she attached a portrait of herself, how much money would she earn? Chen Mu did not dare think further. 'That won't do. I must watch over her carefully now. She mustn't go down such a slippery slope,' Chen Mu thought. 

With those thoughts in his head, Chen Mu was rather distracted during his nightly training. That night, his training focused on champion combos. The technique used to cast Prince's EQ at the fastest speed possible was rather simple. One only had to press EQ simultaneously. However, the prerequisite for it was that one had to ensure that he cast his E first before Q. Chen Mu was required to achieve a success rate of a hundred percent. A single mistake would cause Prince to lose his knock up. 

Chen Mu was forced by the System to successfully cast the combo five times consecutively. In the visual sense of things, it meant that the moment Chen Mu's flag landed on the ground, Prince himself would have had to start dashing toward it. Chen Mu trained for three whole hours before he managed to complete the mission. It was harder than it seemed.

Just by watching professional matches in which Prince was played, Chen Mu knew that players who chose to play Prince in the World Championship could not cast his combo at the same speed the System had required him to do it at.