A Soldier emerged from the black portal in the barracks and hurried toward the three lanes.
Li Moran, Zhong Yi, and Zhou Yue were intently studying their respective skills.
Mu Yawen cheerfully swung the axe in his hand, reveling in the strength of his muscles.
Meanwhile, Zhou Qiaoling kept summoning a spirit called Teemo, giggling and cackling mischievously at Zhou Yue.
"I'm a wind-element sword cultivator? Interesting, interesting..."
After reading Yasuo's skills, Zhong Yi's mind was already flooded with visions of flashy plays.
"Tsk, this 'Marksman' isn't great—just long-range attacks, no real thrill!"
Zhou Yue glanced at the floating artifact hovering near his wrist, feeling a bit unaccustomed.
The spirit of the Marksman was a humanoid artifact forged by an immortal artificer.
Its attack method involved channeling spiritual energy into ammunition and firing it through the artifact.
"Hey, Zhou, wanna make a bet? First blood—whoever gets it first, deal?"
Zhong Yi proposed with overflowing confidence.
"Sure! If you lose, buy me the most expensive mod pack in Minecraft!"
"Deal!"
No sooner had the words left their mouths—
[The Crimson Treant has slain "Exercise Brings Progress" (Berserker)!]
Zhong Yi: "???"
Zhou Yue: "???"
"Who the hell is the Crimson Treant?! …Dammit, Junior Mu got killed by a jungle creep!"
Zhou Yue glanced at the spot where Mu Yawen's corpse lay, torn between laughter and exasperation.
"Damn it, Senior Brother! That red tree monster is insane—I stood no chance!"
Mu Yawen whined with a crestfallen expression.
"Pfft… Junior Mu, you didn’t buy any gear! Get some items before fighting jungle creeps!"
Zhou Yue scanned Mu Yawen’s status and immediately spotted the problem, quickly warning him.
Mu Yawen stared at the dazzling array of equipment in the shop, then at his pitifully empty wallet.
"A sturdy body is the real deal!"
Muttering to himself, he bought a Vitality Crystal that boosted his health and marched back toward the Crimson Treant.
"Where’s Zhong Yi? Why’s he so quiet?"
Zhou Yue couldn’t help but wonder.
Usually, Zhong Yi would be lecturing them with theories at a time like this.
This time, however, he remained uncharacteristically silent.
"Shh, I’m focusing on my lane!"
Zhong Yi’s voice was unusually tense.
"This opponent…"
"Is strong!"
The one Zhong Yi was laning against was called [Annie].
She looked like an adorable, pink-haired girl, but in reality, she was a master of supreme fire-element cultivation!
Every time Zhong Yi tried to last-hit minions, she poked him relentlessly.
"So… that’s why you’ve got zero minion kills?"
Zhou Yue couldn’t resist teasing.
"Short range vs. long range—what can I do?! Shh! Quiet, I’m about to make a play!"
Seeing his experience bar hit Level 2, Zhong Yi’s voice rose with excitement.
He had already studied all three of his skills.
[Steel Tempest] was his core ability—stacking it three times unleashed a tornado-like sword slash!
Before, he had been helpless, forced to eat damage due to his short range.
But at Level 2, things changed.
[Sweeping Blade] was a dash that let him close the gap using enemy units as stepping stones!
Right now, the minions were his best tools.
Without hesitation, Zhong Yi used [Sweeping Blade] on a minion.
"Whoa, why does this feel so exhilarating…"
He muttered to himself as his body shot forward at blinding speed.
After dashing, he paused awkwardly for a split second—just long enough for [Annie] to smack him with another fireball.
"Again!"
Chuckling, Zhong Yi used [Sweeping Blade] once more, his movements stiff as he weaved through minions, arriving right in front of [Annie].
Another pause.
Lost in euphoria, Zhong Yi didn’t even notice anything amiss.
"Hah, finally in your face…"
He drew his rusty sword from his waist.
"Die already!"
He swung.
The moment his blade was about to strike [Annie], Zhong Yi frantically tried to use [Steel Tempest].
The attack animation canceled instantly, replaced by a thrust of [Steel Tempest]…
[-49!]
A red number popped up above a minion’s head.
"Damn, this opponent’s insane! Dodged all my damage!!!"
Zhong Yi gasped in shock.
After that entire combo, [Annie] hadn’t lost a single drop of health!
The AI was terrifyingly skilled!
His brain screamed at him—
Basic attacks and [Steel Tempest] had missed, and his cooldowns were punishingly long…
He needed to retreat.
But his hands refused to listen.
Because [Sweeping Blade] was still available.
With another dash, dopamine flooded his system, sending tingles down his spine.
Zhong Yi had been right on top of [Annie], but this [Sweeping Blade] sent him flying absurdly far—straight into the enemy tower’s range.
"Whoa! Why’d I dash into the tower?!"
"CRAP—I’M DEAD!!!"
[First Blood!]
[Annie (AI) has slain "Genius Cultivator" (Yasuo)!]
Zhou Yue witnessed Zhong Yi’s masterpiece of a play.
"HAHAHA!!! Zhong Yi, that was the most abstract thing I’ve ever seen!! I’m freaking starving from watching that!"
"Stop laughing, man! The AI’s gonna wreck me!!"
…
When Lu Ze designed the AI difficulty, he set it at a delicate balance.
It wouldn’t let players mindlessly stomp it, nor would it overwhelm them with unfair advantages.
The core of MOBA was player-versus-player combat.
If the AI were too oppressive, new players might get discouraged and quit—a net loss.
Of course, fresh beginners would still get bullied by the AI for a while.
Like Zhong Yi right now.
At Level 4, he had already died twice to [Annie].
The pink-haired loli stood atop his corpse, sticking out her tongue and taunting:
"You’re so fierce, yet lost to a little girl~ Shame, shame!"
The humiliation was unbearable.
The other lanes weren’t faring much better.
Zhou Qiaoling sat invisibly in a bush the whole time.
Zhou Yue was stuck in a 1v2, and for some reason, the enemy AI played like hyper-aggressive psychopaths, focusing him ruthlessly.
Mu Yawen had it the worst.
His score was 0-3, and he was still Level 1.
He had developed a vendetta against the Crimson Treant, dying to it over and over.
ing gift was a patch of barren land, and disciples were all picked up along the way. He spent fifty years diligently building three "ramshackle little sects," thinking he could finally live a carefree life relying on his disciples. But right at the fifty-year mark, he was suddenly swept away by a spatial rift and exiled to the Chaos Desolation, the Disorderly Ruins. There was no spiritual energy there, only slaughter. Relying on the cultivation feedback from his disciples, Gu Changyuan hacked his way through a sea of blood for eleven hundred years. When the system finally fished him back out, he discovered the ramshackle little sects he'd built back then had developed a rather... unusual style. Hold on... I vanished for a thousand years, so how did my ramshackle little sects become holy lands?!
] [Lone Wolf, No Male Gaze] [Protagonist is pursued early on; extreme protagonist-stans, stay away!] The "Carnival Paradise" descends and slowly devours the real world in the form of a game. By chance, Zhu Yan awakens the talent [Roleplay], becoming one of the first beta players. He thought he could develop safely, but after clearing the first instance, he is branded by humanity as the chief culprit behind the game's spread—a traitorous villain. A villain? Who would ever... become one! He'll be the villain! From then on, Zhu Yan is not only a player but also a lackey for the Carnival Paradise. Between the straight path and the crooked path, he chooses the con. With his left hand, he dons the villain's mantle, staging scenes within instances, infuriating players who decry him as a despicable traitor, all while the game happily promotes him. With his right hand, he joins the non-human organization "Fangcun Mountain," which opposes the Carnival Paradise, transforming into a mysterious player who slaughters game bosses, earning cheers of "Long live the expert!" from fellow players. Gradually, Zhu Yan rises to become an S-rank human player in Fangcun Mountain's archives, while also being the Carnival Paradise's certified top game Boss. But when the final war erupts and both major factions place their hopes in him— Players tag his various aliases: "Experts, this offensive depends on you." The Carnival Paradise's supreme Boss throws an arm around his neck: "Bro, you're the iron, I'm the steel; you can't let me down again!"
s the Eldest Princess, renowned for her cold and aloof detachment, became the most docile of lambs, obeying his every command without question. But when the final move was played on the chessboard, as Gu Chenghan seized everything and ascended on the verge of apotheosis, that very Princess suddenly embraced him from behind, her tone carrying a dependence never heard before: "Wait... you haven't yet... commanded me to love you forever." Gu Chenghan froze abruptly. She... hadn't been hypnotized?! ... [The Eldest Princess's Diary] [When my soul was extracted, becoming the sole spectator outside my own shell] [At first, there was overwhelming fury, until I saw] [How he used my sword to effortlessly shatter my inescapable doom] [How he wielded my authority to eradicate fatal conspiracies I had never even detected] [Like a deity, he rescued me from the deep mire I was trapped in] [If not for those annoying vixens, he and I would be a match made in heaven] [I think I am ill, gravely ill] [My deity should belong to me alone] ... "Hypnosis? Oh, it succeeded, my dear Master." "Only this time, it's my turn to hypnotize you."
nd fell into a coma while saving his younger sister from an out-of-control car. He became a vegetable. No one knew that his consciousness had crossed into a world of cultivation. Over the course of sixty years, he began as the lowest kind of mine slave, struggling to survive amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood. By sheer chance, he eventually obtained the complete memories of a fallen Immortal King. Alchemy, medicine, formations, feng shui, physiognomy, artifact forging… Every great inheritance of the cultivation world was now his. But when he opened his eyes again, he discovered that ten full years had passed in the modern world. To pay for his treatment, his father had sold the family’s shop and house, leaving himself covered in lasting injuries and illness. His mother had cared for him day and night, and more than half of her hair had already turned white. His younger sister, who had been only fifteen back then, was now twenty-five. To help repay the family’s debts, she had been forced to lower her head and put on a smiling face in places of glittering lights and endless revelry. Only then did Chen Xuan understand that what he had lost was not merely ten years. He had lost the life his entire family was meant to have. The good news was that he had brought back the memories of an Immortal King’s entire lifetime. The bad news was that his soul had returned alone—his cultivation had not come with him. Spiritual energy was scarce, resources were depleted, and the modern world still had firearms, surveillance, capital, and laws. If he wanted to protect his family, break free from everyone’s control, and become truly invincible beneath the heavens, he would have to start all over again.
