ARML CH60

It was already November. When Ye Shaoyang woke up the next day and looked out the window, he found that all the leaves on the trees outside had turned yellow, forming a thick, golden carpet on the ground. The autumn sky had also become exceptionally azure and high.

In the blink of an eye, it had been a full month since he joined the Tianhuan team.

Today was Tianhuan’s first full-team training session. Ye Shaoyang wasn’t worried at all about the mid-jungle synergy coordination, but whether the top and bottom lanes could keep up with their tempo was also a very important question.

This was a 5v5 match, not 2v2. If the team coordination became disjointed and they lost in team fights, no matter how huge an advantage he and Chi Shuo built in the early game, the opponents could still turn the tables in a single wave.

At exactly 1 PM, after lunch, Ye Shaoyang arrived at the 2nd-floor training room. The other members also arrived one after another. Coach Lin had announced in the Tianhuan group chat before bedtime last night that today’s training would be in the large training room.

No one dared to be late for team training. When Coach Lin arrived and scanned the room, seeing everyone present, he stated directly, “Everyone, sit according to your match roles, in two rows on the left and right.”

Judging from today’s arrangement, Tianhuan’s training session was to have Team 1 and Team 2 play internal scrimmages first to identify coordination issues between the two squads. After finding the problems, they would practice targeting them. Once the main squad had synced up sufficiently, they would then schedule scrims with other teams.

This was a relatively reasonable arrangement. The 5 of them hadn’t played a single official match together. If they directly scheduled scrims with outside teams, they might get completely crushed, which would affect the players’ confidence.

Playing internally allowed for a more relaxed mindset and better identification of issues.

Everyone quickly sat down according to their match roles: top laner, jungler, mid-laner, marksman, and support. Across a glass partition, the Team 2 players sat in order at the opposite computers.

Mid-lane facing mid-lane, Ye Shaoyang’s opposite was Xie Xiaotian. Xie Xiaotian secretly glanced at Ye Shaoyang, accidentally meeting his gaze. The young teenager immediately looked away in embarrassment. Back when Ye Shaoyang joined the team, Xie Xiaotian had actively challenged him, only to be hammered by Ye Shaoyang. Today, with Team 1 and Team 2 scrimming, Xie Xiaotian actually felt a bit guilty. If he got crushed in the mid-lane, wouldn’t it be highly embarrassing?

Ye Shaoyang smiled at him, “Xiaotian, play well later.” Xie Xiaotian: “Cough, yeah…”

Coach Lin instructed, “Everyone put on your headsets, log into the training software, and use the accounts I sent you.”

The 10 players quickly opened their computers, put on their soundproof headsets, and connected to the team voice channels. Chi Shuo’s deep, pleasant voice sounded in Ye Shaoyang’s ear, “Can you hear me?” Qin Yizhu: “I hear you.” Qu Jiang and Cheng Xing’s voices also came through: “Hearing you loud and clear.”

Ye Shaoyang asked, “Captain Chi is shotcalling; is there anything I need to pay attention to?” Chi Shuo replied, “After the match starts, the support will be responsible for recording the enemy buff refresh times. Others should also note key enemy cooldowns in the team channel. For example, if the enemy mid-laner uses Flash, you can give me a heads-up.” Ye Shaoyang understood, “Got it.”

Ye Shaoyang stretched his fingers, opened his computer, and logged into the game. Coach Lin sent a list of account passwords in the group chat, and the 10 players logged in according to his instructions. Ye Shaoyang noticed that the account he logged into was exactly the smurf account he had used before: [Mid-laner No. 7].

Coach Lin ordered, “Chi Shuo, create a lobby and invite everyone.” Chi Shuo created a training camp lobby and pulled the other 9 players in.

Top Laner No. 5, Marksman No. 6, Mid-laner No. 7, Jungler No. 8, Support No. 9… Everyone’s ID followed this format. It seemed Tianhuan’s Coach Lin was also terrible at naming things. Nos. 5-9 were the main squad players, while Nos. 15-19 were Team 2, which made it easy to remember.

Chi Shuo quickly arranged everyone’s positions into two rows, and everyone pressed “Ready.” The match officially began.

The main squad was randomly assigned to the blue side and had priority in the BP (Ban/Pick) phase. Chi Shuo asked Coach Lin, “What are we banning?”

Coach Lin replied, “It’s internal training, just leave the bans open. For Team 1, pick [Black Dragon Knight], [Spirit Realm Snowbird], [Flying Mage], [Holy Spirit Archer], and [Light of Blessing].” He paused and added, “Team 2, replicate Huowen’s positional warfare system.”

Coach Lin Feng was full of ideas. The composition he put together would allow the Flying Duo to unleash its maximum power. The top laner, [Black Dragon Knight], had a skill called “Black Dragon Roar” that could forcefully pull enemies in, boasting excellent pressure resistance and the ability to proactively initiate team fights. The jungler and mid-laner formed the Flying Duo, using mid-jungle synergy to burst enemies and drive the tempo. The marksman, [Holy Spirit Archer], had a long attack range, allowing him to stay safe and deal damage from afar.

The key lay in the choice of support, [Light of Blessing]. This support could grant shields to the entire team and had an ultimate, “Holy Blessing,” which cleansed allies of all crowd control and granted immunity to CC for the next 2 seconds.

The Flying Duo’s greatest fear was crowd control. If Chi Shuo or Ye Shaoyang were CC’d upon entering a fight, their tempo would easily break. They wouldn’t be able to reset their ultimates, and instead of infinite flying, they’d both crash and burn, feeding kills.

This instability was the reason the Flying Duo rarely appeared in competitive play.

However, picking [Light of Blessing] as the support would greatly increase the team’s margin for error in team fights.

The 10 players quickly selected their heroes according to the coach’s arrangements. Team 2 directly replicated Huowen’s positional warfare system: top laner [Blade Will] was a fighter hero with strong backline-diving ability; mid-laner [Flame Goddess], jungler [Trap Hunter], and marksman [Turret Expert] formed the iron triangle of the positional warfare composition; support [Radiant Shield] was a meat shield for absorbing damage and initiating fights.

This way, the internal training match was effectively a simulation of Tianhuan vs. Huowen.

Could the Flying Duo crush the [Flame Goddess] system? Lin Feng was also highly anticipating the outcome. He opened his computer and entered the training lobby from an OB (Observer) perspective.

The match started, and under Captain Yan Bin’s command, Team 2 came over to invade the blue buff. Chi Shuo also pinged a rally marker at the blue buff. The allied top, mid, support, and jungle—all four players—gathered at the blue buff area, and 4 enemies arrived as well.

A 4v4 opening in the jungle wasn’t uncommon in competitive play. Team 2’s [Flame Goddess] system was relatively strong in the early game because the [Flame Goddess] could lay down fire rings everywhere, not only damaging opponents but also draining their mana!

During a skill exchange between the two sides, Ye Shaoyang’s positioning was very cautious, and he didn’t step on any of Xie Xiaotian’s fire rings. But Xie Xiaotian was quite clever, placing two fire rings on their retreat path to block them. Team 2’s jungler, Qin Sui, coordinated tacitly with Xie Xiaotian, laying traps all over the ground.

This was the disgusting aspect of the positional warfare system: the jungle became impossible to navigate, leaving no place to step.

Chi Shuo immediately pressed the retreat button, completely giving up the blue buff. Since they couldn’t defend their own blue, they would go steal the opponent’s.

Taking advantage of Team 2 taking the blue, Chi Shuo rapidly flanked around and swiftly cleared the enemy’s blue buff. When Chi Shuo returned to the red buff area, he found that Yan Bin had brought his 4 teammates to invade the red as well—they were targeting Chi Shuo, targeting him to the end!

It wasn’t that Yan Bin had anything against Captain Chi; it was just how other teams played against Tianhuan. Clear out your entire jungle to prevent Chi Shuo from farming.

Qu Jiang immediately hurried over to help. As the two sides were maneuvering around, Ye Shaoyang—who had already cleared the mid-lane wave, reached level 2, and returned—suddenly attacked from the flank. He precisely dropped several orbs of light in succession, instantly halving the health of the enemy jungler and mid-laner!

Ye Shaoyang’s message was clear—bullying our Captain Chi? Do you think I’m dead?

This sudden support from the mid-lane forced the opponents to retreat. Although they didn’t kill anyone, driving them back was enough to secure Chi Shuo’s red buff. Chi Shuo swiftly cleared the red and continued farming other jungle camps.

The three lanes began their laning phases. There was nothing to worry about in the top lane. Qin Yizhu had three years of tournament experience and could easily suppress Team 2’s top laner, Feng He. In the mid-lane, Xie Xiaotian was worried about being solo-killed by Ye Shaoyang and played very cautiously. Ye Shaoyang’s positioning was agile. Although the entire mid-lane was covered in fire rings, he still managed to weave around and dodge many skills.

The key lay in the bottom lane. Coach Lin was worried Cheng Xing would make mistakes, so he kept his camera focused there to observe. Qu Jiang accompanied him to protect Cheng Xing. During the marksman-support laning phase, Cheng Xing’s mentality had matured considerably over the past month of practice—anyway, just listening to Qu Jiang was the right move. If Qu Jiang told him to retreat, he retreated decisively, never getting hot-headed.

Cheng Xing had learned to farm safely, and the bottom lane peacefully dragged on to the 4-minute mark.

Ye Shaoyang’s [Flying Mage] hit level 6. Xie Xiaotian’s heart tightened, and he quickly retreated under his tower. At this moment, there were no minion waves, and under the defense tower was considered a relatively safe spot. However, just as he reached the tower, he saw Ye Shaoyang suddenly take to the air and Flash over to attack him!

The [Flying Mage], dressed in a snow-white mage robe, looked like a gracefully dancing white crane. The staff in his hand glowed brilliantly, and a dense barrage of white light orbs pelted Xie Xiaotian like a torrential rain!

Xie Xiaotian decisively used Flash to escape. But he was still a step too late. Chi Shuo appeared out of nowhere; the snow-white spirit bird spread its wings, initiating a rapid dive from a super-long distance, instantly claiming the low-health [Flame Goddess]’s head!

—First Blood!

Coach Lin cheered inwardly, “Beautiful!” The slain Xie Xiaotian: “…”

After the kill, their flying skills refreshed. Ye Shaoyang and Chi Shuo were both within the defense tower’s range. The tower hit Ye Shaoyang once, and he quickly flew away. Chi Shuo tanked the second hit for him, and then also flew out of range.

A coordinated dive-kill, splitting the tower aggro. With such tacit understanding, let alone Xie Xiaotian, even Zhou Jiawen’s [Flame Goddess] would be just as dead.

Yan Bin couldn’t help but exclaim, “Fuck, Captain Chi is ganking the mid-lane at the start now, unlike how he used to gank the bottom lane!” Xie Xiaotian didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, “He and Brother Yang synced up so fast, I couldn’t even react!” Yan Bin hastily ordered, “Quick, quick, come to the dragon after respawning, they’re going to take the dragon!”

However, by the time Xie Xiaotian respawned and tried to rush over, it was already too late. Capitalizing on the few seconds the enemy mid-laner was dead, Chi Shuo rallied the two players from the bottom lane and rapidly cleared the dragon.

Team 1’s overall economy increased, which was definitely adding insult to injury for Team 2.

The laning phases continued. Worried that Xie Xiaotian would be ganked again, Yan Bin came to the mid-lane and placed some vision. Soon, Ye Shaoyang cleared the wave and disappeared again.

Realizing Ye Shaoyang was gone, Xie Xiaotian urgently called out in the voice channel, “Mid MIA, mid MIA!” The mid-laner’s disappearance is a moment requiring the utmost vigilance in a match—the mid-lane is a role very well-suited for roaming, let alone a fierce mid-laner like Ye Shaoyang. If he was gone, would he gank the top lane or the bottom lane?

At that moment, the Team 2 players felt like they were in a lottery, silently praying: Don’t come for me!

Ye Shaoyang chose the top lane. The bottom lane had the support [Radiant Shield], who could raise his shield to block damage, so his light orbs might not be effective. The top lane was different; the enemy picked [Blade Will], a relatively squishy fighter.

Qin Yizhu, who had been lonely laning the whole time, saw the mid-jungle duo approaching. His eyes lit up, and he decisively charged forward, using “Black Dragon Roar” to taunt and lock the enemy top laner beside him.

Ye Shaoyang and Chi Shuo took off simultaneously, instantly bursting down the enemy top laner— [Jungler No. 8] killed [Top Laner No. 15]!

Chi Shuo secured two kills, had the highest economy in the match, and completed his core item. Next, it was time for the Flying Duo to put on a show.

Xie Xiaotian said nervously, “Mid MIA! Mid MIA!” Top laner Feng He thought, They should go to the bottom lane this time, right? They wouldn’t come gank me again, would they? Xie Xiaotian thought: These two demon kings should be going to gank the bottom lane, right?

As a result, Ye Shaoyang faked going to the bottom lane, then turned back to kill the top lane. Feng He was once again bursted by Chi Shuo!

Feng He was about to cry, “…Why are you only picking on me?” Weren’t top laners supposed to be lonely laners? Why do you mid-jungle guys keep coming to the top lane to join the fun?

Chi Shuo and Ye Shaoyang’s logic was simple—the [Flame Goddess] system’s greatest strength was team fighting. During team fights, the [Flame Goddess] lays fire rings everywhere, [Trap Hunter]‘s scattered traps can stun enemies, and [Turret Expert] sets up a cannon to one-shot squishies.

There was only one way to break this system…

Crush them before they could group up!

Being killed twice in a row, the top lane was already half-collapsed. Next, Ye Shaoyang solo-killed Xie Xiaotian again, and the mid-lane was also half-collapsed. The result of the top and mid lanes collapsing was that the top jungle was completely cleared out by Chi Shuo.

Chi Shuo pinged “Attack the mid-lane defense tower.” After clearing his wave, Qin Yizhu immediately came over, grouped up with Chi Shuo and Ye Shaoyang, and pushed down the mid tower.

What followed was nightmare time for Team 2. With the outer mid tower down, Ye Shaoyang, no longer worried about minion waves, was completely unleashed and began roaming the entire map with Chi Shuo—

During a critical Baron team fight, Qu Jiang activated the “Holy Blessing” CC-immunity ultimate. [Trap Hunter]‘s traps couldn’t root them, [Flame Goddess]‘s fire rings couldn’t stun them. Ye Shaoyang and Chi Shuo took off right where they stood, rapidly slaughtering the three squishies: mid, jungle, and marksman.

Double Kill!

Triple Kill!

Ye Shaoyang’s triple kill heralded the end of the match.

Xie Xiaotian looked bewildered—Who am I, where am I? Getting forcefully killed even while hiding under the tower, how is this playable! Top laner Feng He also looked depressed—Weren’t top laners supposed to be orphans? The top lane in this game was too lively, with two demon kings flying over to combo me out of nowhere. It turns out being lonely was a good thing!

The bottom lane players were also confused. Cheng Xing: “I got carried just like that?” Team 2’s marksman: “We just lost while playing?”

A bizarre silence fell over the training room. Finally, Team 2’s captain Yan Bin took the initiative to type in all-chat: “Flying Duo, 666.” The others immediately followed: “Captain Chi 666.” Xie Xiaotian: “Brother Yang is super 6.”

Coach Lin smiled and said, “It seems bringing this duo out in actual combat has pretty good results.” The Flying Duo’s strength lay in their “rapid reinforcement.” Both heroes could bypass obstacles, reach the battlefield at maximum speed, first crush a side lane, rapidly push mid, and then roam the entire map driving the tempo. If opponents couldn’t react in time, they would easily collapse.

If they really faced the Huowen team, it wouldn’t be this easy. Because Zhou Jiawen’s reinforcement ability was very strong, and his self-preservation capability far exceeded Xie Xiaotian’s. This small test today was primarily to see if the Flying Duo could integrate into Tianhuan’s team system.

Top laner Qin Yizhu could keep up with Chi Shuo and Ye Shaoyang’s tempo. The bottom lane didn’t participate much in this game and needed further testing. Qu Jiang’s ultimate was activated very timely, providing Ye Shaoyang and Chi Shuo with the opportunity to harvest.

Coach Lin looked thoughtful. A moment later, he smiled and said, “For the next game, let’s try playing a disadvantageous match.”

Ye Shaoyang looked up at Lin Feng: “A disadvantageous match?” Coach Lin smiled: “Chi Shuo, adjust the lobby settings. Give the red side a 1000-gold lead at the start.” He paused and added, “1000 might not be enough, make it 2000.”

Ye Shaoyang: “…”

Forced to play a disadvantageous match? You can even do that?!