Chapter Seven: The Beginning

Lin Ruo no longer wasted words and focused on the game.
He had cheats and could play as he pleased, but it wouldn’t be right to lead his teammates astray.
Ai Loli was already somewhat weak; if he got any worse, this season might be hard to carry.
“President Bu, are you really going to let him play like this?”
Outside the training room, Manager Xiao Tie frowned deeply.
The player lacked discipline like no other; they hadn’t even played a ranked match all afternoon. Nobody knew if he’d dare play like this once the spring split started.
Abu waved his hand confidently. “No rush. The new season hasn’t even begun, so there’s no need to put too much pressure on him. Let’s see how he does in future scrims. If he plays badly there, I’ll just scold him a bit — no matter how brave he is, he won’t dare play other games.”
“Xiao Tie, when dealing with players who think they’re naturally gifted but act recklessly, you have to let them experience how deep the LPL waters really are. Surely he doesn’t think beating a returning Crystal guy means he’s got it made.” Abu spoke earnestly.
In his eyes, Lin Ruo was undoubtedly a moldable player.
Originally, the plan was to rely on Zet to fill the spot in the spring split, but now that they had a usable player—especially after watching Lin Ruo’s past ranked games all afternoon—the expectations had grown.
Abu intended to use his tried-and-true method of teaching players: letting them face failure and recognize their shortcomings.
He simply didn’t believe that a green seventeen-year-old AD could sweep through the entire LPL undefeated and refuse to learn a lesson.

...

That night, after dinner, Lin Ruo boredly queued up a ranked game just for show.
Logging onto the Korean server, he first changed his ID to a trendy name: EDG Youth Academy Recruiting Big Tree.
After two swift, dominating matches, he logged off at lightning speed.
Ai Loli, sitting nearby, nearly popped his eyeballs out. “Bro, are you naturally a gaming prodigy or what?”
He played like a bot in ranked and was ridiculously strong in Overwatch too.
Nobody knew how much his mind had blown when he found out Lin Ruo was a new AD.
“Just okay, nothing special,” Lin Ruo said, furiously planting pea shooters in the camp, yet still powerless against the oncoming zombie horde. He sighed, “Damn, the zombies ate my brain again.”
After playing a bit longer, Lin Ruo stood up, stretched, glanced at the clock—it was nearly 10 PM—and prepared to wash up.
Ai Loli looked surprised. “Wait, it’s just this early and you’re logging off already?”

...

Lin Ruo turned back with righteous seriousness. “The season hasn’t even started yet. Why should I rush to climb ranks?”
“Besides, you’ve got to conserve your energy. Early to bed, early to rise, keeps your spirits high. Only then can you climb ranks like crazy.”
Ai Loli was slightly moved by this.
He had been grinding ranked games until three or four in the morning every day lately.
He was desperate to prove himself as the rightful heir to the world’s top jungler.
But it was all to no avail; his form was merely average.
He couldn’t even scrape into the top ten on the Korean server.
Lin Ruo patted his back, interrupting his unrealistic hopes. “But you’re different. You’re the spiritual leader and heir of the LPL factory. I suggest you double down on your efforts—expectations are just different.”
“As for me, I’m no heir to Zaozi.”
Ai Loli bore the weight of thousands of fans’ hopes. Of course, if he failed, there would be fierce backlash.
Words like: “Who do you think you are, to be Mingkai’s successor?”
“Thousands beg Ai Loli to step down so Mingkai can return.”
Thinking of possibly hearing such words, Ai Loli’s heart sank and he resolved to work twice as hard.
But soon he realized, “Wait, isn’t the pressure just as great for the heir to Deft?”
No one answered him because Lin Ruo had already packed up and left.
That night, Ai Loli tirelessly played until dawn.
Meanwhile, in a nearby newly occupied dorm room, Lin Ruo spent the entire night playing Chu-Han chess on his phone.
[Hero proficiency +10...]
[Abstract Kid’s performance qualified, match judgment +10]
...

The next morning, Lin Ruo found he was trending online.
The scope of the buzz wasn’t huge—just one League of Legends blogger’s transfer period scoop, with around 300 comments.
The blogger, known as Archive No. 66, was moderately famous among League marketing accounts.
The scoop: EDG had recruited a new AD, a former RNG Youth Academy substitute who was released this spring split due to lax training.
It was said EDG had declined to sign Korean midlaner Zet for this reason, intending to promote this player as the starting AD for the new season, succeeding Deft.
At the bottom was a screenshot of Lin Ruo’s newly changed Korean server ID: EDG Youth Academy Recruiting Big Tree. It was well-founded and hard not to believe.

Deft and Pawn’s departures were well-known among fans from the start of transfer season, but EDG had never made an official announcement.
LPL teams were used to entertainment-style marketing strategies and liked to tease fans during transfers, withholding official news until the last moment to boost hype.
The neighboring LCK did the opposite, announcing rosters accurately without hype.
Since Deft’s departure, EDG fans had been speculating about the new AD choice. With such a precedent, expectations were naturally high.
Initially, rumors spread about ROX’s substitute midlaner Zet switching to AD, but fans were not pleased.
Just when things seemed settled, news broke that morning that EDG had recruited a Youth Academy player from RNG who had a scandal.
EDG’s faithful fans could hardly accept it.
Deft had held Uzi at bay during his time; now that he was gone, management was signing his substitute—no one could accept that.
Moreover, this player had a real scandal involving unprofessional conduct.
In the comment section, the top comments were mostly from EDG fans trying to rally support.
There were self-deceiving ones and others openly launching attacks.
“Who are these trash fish even trying to join EDG? Never heard of them. Clearly just changed their ID to ride the hype.”
“Even if EDG signed him, he’d probably be stuck on the second team playing LDL. Why start him?”
“@EDG Esports Club, come out and explain why you’re recruiting a tarnished RNG player.”
“Every club has scandals. Recruiting a player with a stain isn’t unusual.”
“Haha, if EDG really signed this guy, us RNG fans will laugh forever. He barely played ranked on RNG streams.”
“A filthy club deserves players with filthy attitudes.”
Many RNG fans, hearing that a rejected player had gone to a rival team as starter, mocked loudly.
Before the World Championship, they had been crushed under EDG’s dominance, but after the event ended, EDG’s poor record attracted a wave of haters.
LPL fandom quickly split.
Now, RNG was fully capable of rivaling EDG, and a fierce clash between the two fanbases was imminent.