Rise

Draven! The spectators stared at Tang Bingyao in shock. The Glorious Executioner was a frightening champion that relied on his two spinning axes to slaughter his enemies. Among all the ad-carries in League of Legends, he was the most aggressive and bloodthirsty.

The students from Class 8 also looked at Tang Bingyao like they’d seen a ghost. Did this girl have what it took to play such a domineering champion?

Lin Feng felt a deep admiration for Tang Bingyao. After all, Draven required a lot of skill to play. He wasn’t like an ordinary ad-carry where all you needed to do was auto attack. Most of his damage came from his first skill, Spinning Axe, which greatly empowered his auto attacks. The spinning axes would bounce off any enemies it hit before falling back to the ground. The player needed to catch the spinning axes to continue the activation of the skill.

A skilled Draven player could easily catch all their spinning axes, empowering their every auto attack. This meant his damage output could potentially be more than double that of any other ad-carry! In other words, by the time an enemy got you down to half health, you would’ve already killed them! However, those that could play Draven well were few and far between. Lin Feng curiously gazed at Tang Bingyao. He wanted to find out just how skilled this earnest-looking girl was at Draven.

The five players from Class 8 instantly stirred when they saw the Draven locked in. As they loaded into the game, one of them couldn’t help but sneer, “Draven? Is this a joke? Does she think she’s some kind of pro?”

The ad-carry from Class 8 confidently chuckled. “Well, I guess it’s up to me to put her in her place.” He had picked Caitlyn, who had one of the longest attack ranges among all the ad-carries. This allowed her to easily bully her opponents in the early laning phase.

The spectators from Class 8 started heckling.

“Maybe she meant to go support but forgot to trade? Go easy on her, haha!”

“Yeah. Don’t wanna make her cry.”

“Show her we’re true gentlemen, guys!”

Over on the side of Class 7, Ren Rou frowned. She glared at the guys from Class 8. “So what if she’s a girl? Are you saying that girls can’t play ad-carry? That all we’re good for is support? Who made that rule? Just watch! Tang Bingyao is going to wipe the floor with your bot lane!”

The guys from Class 8 erupted into boisterous laughter. No matter how they looked at it, they couldn’t take Ren Rou’s words seriously. As far as they knew, girls weren’t particularly good at League. Most stuck to the support role, and even then, they chose easy-to-play champions and relied on their ad-carries to win them the game. So how was this possibly a fair matchup? A random girl versus their class legend, a platinum 3 ad-carry on the Ionia server!

Infuriated, Ren Rou gnashed her teeth. She lowered her head next to Tang Bingyao’s ear and whispered, “You can do it! I believe in you! Make those boys from Class 8 eat their words!”

Tang Bingyao wasn’t even the least bit bothered. She looked at Ren Rou and gave her a nod, completely focused and serious. “Okay, I’ll do my best.”

✹

How formidable was a girl who approached everything she faced with such intensity? Tang Bingyao reminded Lin Feng of another female League of Legends player, someone he knew from way back in Season 1. Under today’s ranking system, she would’ve been at least Diamond 3.  

That girl, she was determined, always focused on the bigger goal, and a very tolerant personality. Whenever she ended up in a game with toxic teammates or people who tilted easily and then tried to tilt the others, she would always proactively mediate. She always managed to help turn her team back into a team, and then turned a losing game around.

There was only one instance that Lin Feng could remember where a teammate managed to push her over the edge. This particular teammate, they were feeding more than anyone else on the team but still blamed everyone else on the team for losing the game. This continued on and on. Then it finally got to the point where the girl had enough. This teammate was going off on another teammate yet again, and she decided it was time to tell him to shut up. “I know you think you’re helping. But if you really want to help us win this game, leave. Just leave. The four of us can win this without you.” The toxic player ended up leaving the game, which proved to be a blessing for the team. The girl’s intensity blazed as she shifted her focus to winning. That’s when she popped off with her LeBlanc, caught the enemy team’s backline off-guard multiple times and hard-carried her team to a victory. This girl taught Lin Feng a valuable lesson. He would never underestimate a female player again, nor would he look down on them. 

Single-minded intensity, that’s what made the girl special and more than just a skilled player. Everyone focused while playing the game, it was an essential part of playing. But most people, even skilled players, had bursts of focus. Not that girl, though. The same thing was true of Tang Bingyao, which is what reminded Lin Feng of the other girl. She gave every single action and minute of gameplay her full attention.

✹

Lin Feng watched Tang Bingyao with rapt attention as she bought her starting items and left the fountain. He rubbed his chin. Hmm. I kinda feel bad for Class 8’s bot lane.

His analysis soon proved correct. Before the game even reached the three-minute mark, the game announcer’s voice rang out.

《First blood!》

Tang Bingyao prepped two spinning axes on the first minion wave. Then, as soon as she hit Level 2, she activated Blood Rush[1] and went in on the Caitlyn. As soon as her first spinning axe hit the enemy and bounced into the air, she pressed down on her Q key, allowing her to briefly juggle three spinning axes at once as she melted away the Caitlyn’s health.

The students from Class 8 were stupefied.

Ren Rou was the first to break the silence as she erupted in cheers. “Oh my god! Tang Tang, that was amazing!”

Lin Feng nodded. Ah, I hate to admit it, but that is ¥80 well spent. He’d been paying close attention to Tang Bingyao’s gameplay. At Level 1, she didn’t bother trying to trade. However, as soon as she hit Level 2, she went in on the Caitlyn. From catching every single spinning axe to making full use of the movement speed and attack speed boost from Blood Rush, she played it perfectly. And she made short work of the Caitlyn.

While the students from Class 7 erupted into cheers, Tang Bingyao didn’t so much as smile. Her focus was wholly on the game.

The ad-carry from Class 8 gnashed his teeth. “I made a small misplay! It won’t happen again!” A promise he would break within minutes.

The game was barely five minutes old when Draven led her team to another kill on the enemy ad-carry as well as the support.

《An enemy has been slain!》

《Double kill!》

The guys from Class 8 shut their mouths. Their ad-carry’s face was flushed red with anger and embarrassment.

None of this affected Tang Bingyao as she was completely focused on the game. Her gaze remained unwavering, almost as if she’d completely tuned out everything going on around her. She continued controlling her Draven to carry out a slaughter in bot lane.

At the eight-minute mark, Draven’s KDA was 6/0/2! Even the students from Class 7 were dumbstruck, pinching their arms in doubt. Who could’ve thought the normally calm and quiet bookworm was such an amazing Draven!?

At the 12-minute mark, Draven picked up a quadra kill! None of the enemy champions could stand in his way. Even their tanky top lane Darius melted away in a few auto attacks.

At the 15-minute mark, Draven’s slaughter path still showed no signs of slowing down. Tang Bingyao had picked up 14 kills in total! The spectators were speechless, their mouths hanging down. Class 8’s bottom lane had completely collapsed.

The more Lin Feng watched, the more his expression lit up. Rubbing his chin, he made a decision, a wonderful and the only logical decision! Ah, I really want to play with you! Just this once, I’ll forgive you for snatching away my chance to play!

1. Draven gains increased Movement Speed and Attack Speed. The Movement Speed bonus decreases rapidly over its duration. Catching a Spinning Axe will refresh the cooldown of Blood Rush.