The King's Moment

He Yu was drinking soda as he waited outside the student mart for He Liang. Suddenly, he saw a group of people coming towards him from the crowded and shaded pathway. He thought they were going to mart behind him and did not think much about it. But the group of people stopped right in front of him and looked at him.

"What"s the matter?" He Yu stood up in doubt and glanced around him. He had a familiar feeling with the smiling girl, but before he could think too hard about it, the boy beside her had already started talking.

"Cla.s.smate, could you help us?" The one speaking was Zhang Cheng Hao. He was the one who took the initiative to negotiate.

"What"s the matter?" He Yu asked. He was a new student who had not even met his cla.s.smates or roommates yet. He had no idea what he could possibly help with.

"Do you know the game The King"s Glory?" asked Zhang Cheng Hao.

He Yu froze. Not only did he know the game, but he also had almost never missed a compet.i.tion or team practice during the 5 years when his brother was a professional player. The King"s Glory was familiar but also unfamiliar to him. It was familiar because he watched many professional matches, but it was unfamiliar as well because he never played the game. 

It was not because of the lack of curiosity, but because his parents were already worried about He Liang devoting himself to gaming. He could not imagine how his parents would feel if they found out that their other son was also keen on this game. He did not want to make his parents feel even more anxious. So that"s why for five whole years, he had only paid attention to He Liang and the KPL, but had never tried to play this game.

Being asked so suddenly, He Yu did not know how to respond. After a moment of silence, he nodded.

"It"s like this, we"re preparing to play a 3V3 match, but we"re one person short. Wanna join?" Zhang Cheng Hao said.

"One person short?" He Yu looked around in confusion. There were so many people around them that he could not even count them. Do not even talk about a 3V3, they could find enough people to play even a 5V5 match.

"The truth is, we"re one person short. These are their people, so we could only ask a bystander to help." said the familiar-looking girl. The boy nodded as He Yu looked over at him.

Zhang Cheng Hao thought this was a great chance to humiliate Gao Ge and to let out a breath. He did not want to lose this chance, so he tried hard at persuading him, "Please help! One round only takes a few minutes. It won"t take up too much of your time unless you have anything urgent."

"I… don"t have anything important to do." He Yu felt excited. How could he not be curious and excited about something he had followed so closely for 5 years? He had thought about trying it countless times, yet he held himself back. But right now, he was not the one who wanted to play, it was them asking for help...

Let"s try!

The voice he had suppressed for so long was crying out. This was a chance to make his long-lasting wish come true. He Yu nodded.

"Thank you." Gao Ge said as she smiled at Zhang Cheng Hao, "Then let"s begin."

Gao Ge"s actions made Zhang Cheng Hao"s heart pound. Then, he heard He Yu say, "Let me download this game first."

This time, it was Zhang Cheng Hao"s turn to laugh. Someone who does not even have the game installed on the phone would obviously not know how to play it. And he felt superior. All of a sudden, his voice turned much softer, "It"s okay, we"ll wait. Or we could just lend you a phone."

He Yu thought it was a good idea. I"ll just have fun with one game and then I could let it go and mind my own business. That"s so much better than downloading it on my phone and not bringing myself to delete it.

So he nodded at Zhang Cheng Hao and said, "Lend me a phone then."

"Xiao Ji, lend your account to this cla.s.smate. Your phone is good, Plus you have almost all the heroes as well as their emblems." Zhang Cheng Hao turned his head, and talked generously to his companion. 

"Oh." The guy called Xiao Ji immediately gave his phone to He Yu. After saying thanks, He Yu logged in to the game and looked at Gao Ge and Zhou Mo.

After hearing that He Yu did not even have the game, Zhou Mo"s expression turned solemn. Gao Ge, on the other hand, felt puzzled, and thought she got the wrong person.

She was one who concerned herself with people who were enthusiastic about the game. And she clearly remembered that this guy in front of her was the one who taught the rookie Pan Rui Ming at the student union office. Even though she only heard a few sentences, it showed how familiar he was with the game. 

His brother was even the former KPL professional player He Liang.

So, for him not to have the game on his phone, he either just changed his phone or something else happened.

Gao Ge refused to believe that He Yu could teach Pan Rui Ming but still not know how to play. She nodded towards He Yu. On the other side, Zhang Cheng Hao had already set up the 3V3 battle room and sent them an invitation.

They went into the room one after the other. He Yu noticed that his three opponents were from the same team, Huang Chao: ChengHao,  MuTong, and  KaiHuai. 

As for his two teammates, their team name was Lang Qi, and the two IDs were GaoGe and Zhou Mo. As for He Yu, because he borrowed an opponent"s account, the ID also belonged to the other member of Huang Chao, named XiaoJi. 

"Can we start?" He Yu asked, he sounded urgent, and there was even a shake in his voice. He finally got the chance after five years of close attention and patience. Even if they were not battling in the Valley of Kings for 5V5 battles but rather the less popular Battle Plains meant for 3V3 battles. Summoning his own hero, standing under the defense towers, walking through the jungle, on the army lines… all these only appeared in He Yu"s dreams, and they were all going to come true. Regardless of if it was Valley of Kings or the Battle Plains. These were not important.

"Don"t rush, let us discuss first." Gao Ge said as he looked towards Zhang Cheng Hao and his companions, "Shouldn"t we have some s.p.a.ce for privacy?"

"Sure." Zhang Cheng Hao nodded. He did not want the other team to hear his orders and discussion either. He walked away with his two companions.

"What hero are you using?" Gao Ge asked He Yu.

Li Bai!

HeYu was about to say it subconsciously. That hero was his brother He Liang"s best , the figure that He Yu had always been looking forward to playing even once. But he held back his words. Li Bai was what he wanted to use, but he needed to see what his teammates and opponents were using first. He had to choose a hero to win, and not just because of his personal preference.

"What do you want me to use?" He Yu asked back as he depressed his will to use Li Bai.

"I"m using Zhu Ge and he"s using Su Lie, what do you think you should use?" Gao Ge asked.

"We have an AOE and CC hero... If it"s Battle Plains, I"ll use Huang Zhong. How"s that?" He Yu says.

"Oh? You"ve studied the map?" Gao Ge felt surprised. Being familiar or not with this map had nothing to do with the gaming level. Because it was not that popular, not that many people would study it deeply.

"That would be stretching it, I only know a bit." He Yu said. During KPLs, they did not battle on that particular map, but he learned about it a little.

"So what"s important in this map?" Gao Ge asked. Zhou Mo had already looked surprised. 

He knew of the heroes" compatibility and even the Battle Plains. This random person is not the type that doesn"t know how to play. He doesn"t have the game installed on his phone? There must be some other reasons. Zhou Mo thought. 

"So what is important in this map?" Zhou Mo paid close intention. The Battle Plains was a map even he was not familiar with. 

"Jungle control," He Yu said.

"This… is important in every match right?" Zhou Mo could not help saying.  He thought there is something special he does not know.  But jungle control??? Even in 5V5 the Valley of Kings, how can it not be important?

"Be more specific." Gao Ge seemed to be very patient and asked one step closer. This made Zhou Mo surprised. He knew Gao Ge, and he felt Gao Ge"s special att.i.tude towards this random person.

"This is different from the Valley of Kings. In Battle Plains, there"s only one lane and the jungle is split into the top and the bottom half. There are a lot of monsters, 9 in the top and 15 and the bottom, including the Pharaoh, which resp.a.w.ns at about 1 to 2 minutes. However, the other monsters will resp.a.w.n in 35 seconds. That"s half of the resp.a.w.n time in Valley of the Kings." He Yu said.

"Oh, so it"s like that." Gao Ge and Zhou Mo were ranked players. But only after hearing such a clear explanation, they suddenly realized how much more important this "jungle control" would be, and they did not need further explanations. The three nodded to each other right after they finished their preparation. 

Zhang Cheng Hao"s side could not wait, and started the game. The three quickly chose their heroes and logged into the match. 

They chose Luna, Yang Jian, and Lady Sun.

"Oh, Luna…" He Yu exclaimed after he saw his opponent"s team.

"Any problems?" Ask Gao Ge.

"This map doesn"t have any blue buffs." He Yu felt sorry for his opponents. [TL: Blue Buffs are buffs related to mana usage and spell castings.]

"It seems like Team Huang Chao isn"t familiar with Battle Plains!" Gao Ge said. The blue buff"s real name in the game was called the Azure Stone Statue. It was able to cut down a hero"s skill cooldown time by 20%, and also increases mana restore by 2% per second, which lasts for 70 seconds. In the game, a lot of heroes depended on it, and Luna was definitely one of them. 

Luna would be very limited without the blue buff. When facing this type of hero in the Valley of Kings, one would try to take the blue buffs to stop Luna from getting them. But this map did not have any blue buffs, as if it was not designed for this map in the beginning.

The match finished loading, and the heroes of both groups refreshed in the base. Despite his first time playing this game, his heart that was full of excitement suddenly calmed.

"Leave the lane to us, you go and clear the top jungle." Gao Ge said.

"Understood." He Yu nodded, controlling his Huang Zhong rather clumsily, and took his first step into The King"s Glory.

Not gonna say much in this atmosphere, but if you do like it, please give it a 5-star rating!