Chapter 36: Public Opinion Boils Over!

Aside from the basics of lane management and roaming, the training that had always given the mid-laner Qiangzi the biggest headache was the various aspects of vision control.

For instance: maintaining over 80% coverage in the enemy’s F6 camp and river area during games where they held the advantage!

Wu Zhiqiang sighed, "I’m a mid-laner, but I’ve ended up doing the support’s job. Who can I even complain to?"

Ten minutes later, the tides turned.

The top-laner, who had been wailing in misery just a moment ago, now wore a mischievous, Tom-the-Cat grin. Song Yuan kicked his gaming chair, sparks flying: "Heh heh heh, little Xu, why are you running? I heard you like to help people with 1v2 training drills?"

"You had so much fun crashing into me earlier, now it’s my turn!"

"Cackle, cackle!"

The training roles had reversed—now they were simulating a support roaming to assist the AD carry in a 1v2 scenario.

Facing the simulated roaming support, Xu Jing, now left to guard the nest alone, watched with horror as Song Yuan’s expression distorted into something out of a Picasso painting.

"Stay back! Don't come any closer!"

...

"Record the opponents' warding habits!"

"Proactively build a heat map of the enemy jungler’s pathing, calculate and announce the cooldown windows of key enemy abilities in the public chat in real-time..."

"And finally, jungle-support synergy!"

Pang Ran braced himself as he took the jungle route plan from Stone. As a support, his training load was no less grueling than his teammates'.

Because of the fluctuating nature of the data, unlike other drills that focused on muscle memory, the memory-intensive tasks required of a support were the most agonizing.

Furthermore, the support often had to take on the role of shot-caller, especially when the mid-laner was unable to shoulder the pressure, causing Pang Ran’s workload to skyrocket.

From basic resource contention and avoidance, prioritizing targets during team fights, and gathering information on the state of all three lanes, to specialized positioning for lane control, setting up tiered vision during pushes and defenses, and creating emergency warding plans when the jungle was compromised or setting up vision traps for Baron contests—the list was endless.

It felt like he was memorizing something new every day, with no two days ever the same.

"I really don't know how Brother Ming’s brain is wired. How can he come up with so many training methods for a single game?"

Pang Ran, who sometimes felt a sense of mental overload, said with a look of genuine admiration. He couldn't imagine how advanced a normal human brain would have to be to organize and synthesize all of this information.

Shi Zhenyu shrugged: "That’s why Brother Ming is the boss, and we’re just ordinary members of NXG."

"Don't overthink it. Just like how you chose to be a support and I only focus on the jungle, everyone has their strengths and their own roles to play."

"Fair point!"

The training room fell back into silence, save for the relentless clatter of keyboards. The desk was covered in crumpled draft paper, and the "Death Training N.0" document on Jiang Ming’s computer, which was perpetually being updated, spoke volumes: this brutal pilgrimage toward "becoming stronger" was a path that never ended.

...

While the members of NXG were buried in their training, preparing for upcoming matches and their entry into the LPL, the impact of Jiang Ming’s live stream—where he had overcome a crowd of professional players to reach the top of the ladder and secured the rank of number one on the Chinese server despite the interference of "actors" and AFK teammates—continued to ferment and grow.

The game footage spread the fastest. Before Jiang Ming even uploaded his own content, fan-made highlight reels had already garnered hundreds of thousands of views.

When Jiang Ming finally finished editing his own video the next day and released the best parts, the pent-up traffic exploded in an instant.

#E-Flash Gragas#
#An Epoch-Making Play: The Connection Between Abilities and Flash!#
#A 'Trash' Champion According to Pros: An 87% Win-Rate Terror in JM's Hands!#
#Crushing Pros to Take the Top Spot in Challenger Ranked!#
#Are Pros Always Better Than Pub Stars? I Don't Think So!#
#Climbing Ranks with the Debuff of Actors and AFKers: Just How Strong is JM?#
#Mechanics and Game Sense Combined: This Man Truly Plays with His Brain.#

The LOL forums, the anti-WE forums, various esports boards, and even the trending topics on Weibo were pushed into the top ten by YY’s marketing efforts.

#LOL Season Update: YY Platform Streamer Becomes the First Challenger!!#

It was a double entendre—he was both the first player to reach Challenger and the number one Challenger on the Chinese server.

As the discussion intensified, Tencent, which was already heavily promoting the LOL season update, saw the buzz surrounding the Challenger race and decided to capitalize on Jiang Ming’s stream. They actively stepped in, pushing the topic to the trending list on their own QQ platform.

【Rational Discussion: Just how strong is this JM guy!】

【It feels like he’s in a league of his own. Damn, nine pros in one match, and he basically toyed with the other Challengers.】

【Don't overhype it. Being number one on the server is just ranked; the pace in pro play is completely different.】

【The guy above clearly didn't watch the stream. Anyone who saw that live broadcast wouldn't say that.】

【The Purple side had four WE players plus PDD, and yet JM and his team... wait, I think it was just him and the NXG jungler, and they completely crushed the opponents' tempo.】

【They couldn't win the lane, they couldn't keep up with the tempo, and they got steamrolled in team fights! I definitely wouldn't dare say pros are better than pub stars anymore.】

【It’s not just his mechanics that are strong; his game sense is terrifying. If he hadn't been streaming on YY the whole time, I would have sworn he was a former pro.】

【I feel like WE needs to pay attention this year. Didn't JM say the S3 patch is all about the mid-jungle duo? WE’s strength is their bot lane, but with all these assassins running around, I feel like the AD carry won't even get to play.】

【Whoa, it looks like the inaugural season of our LPL is going to be incredibly exciting. Didn't JM say his team had already qualified for the LPL?】

#Shocking: Riot Designers Respond to JM’s Callout!#

The online discussion was suddenly interrupted by a breaking update.

Yet, in the next second, not only the Chinese server players but also LOL enthusiasts from other regions joined the conversation.

#League of Legends: Riot Designer#

"Dear Summoners: Thank you very much for your love and attention to 'League of Legends.' We are also thrilled to see everyone actively exploring and discovering new mechanics within the game.

First, we want to clarify that there are many interesting playstyles in the game that our design team has spent a long time conceptualizing, testing, and adjusting.

We would like to thank this JM player from the LPL region for discovering the potential interaction between hero abilities and Flash.

As a top player on the ladder, we have actually been following JM for quite some time.

His tutorial videos have solved many problems for novice players, and it is fair to say he has made a huge contribution to the promotion of League of Legends. We hereby sincerely invite JM to become a player feedback representative for our game."