"Our lady has chosen her favourite champ, going all out against such a nobody," the girl said in a tone that told Hao how little she and others thought of him.
"Of course she shows respect to anyone she fights against, she is our boss and ace," the guy said before pointing towards Hao, "as for our new face, I believe we didn't need to remember him as he'll leave us very, very soon."
'Pathetic!' he simply said that to himself while looking again at the roster he had.
He didn't search for long. He simply selected a champ with two curved swords and was famous for his high movement speed.
"Lukar?" Hil from the side was surprised by his choice, "won't go for a tank instead?"
"I'll go with him," Hao didn't even turn to her as he started to adjust the setting of his champ. Just from his comment, he realised she didn't even know the best counter for her champ.
Each champ in this game would have few options in the form of runes that could affect his performance in the game.
He went all out and put the best collection of runes to boost speed and damage. On the other side, Hil used her usual line up runes to increase her mana and magic damage. She also used a couple of runes to add more health to her champ.
After all this game was won by the last man standing in the battling arena.
"The two selected their champs, and from the look of it things seem bad to our amateurish boy," the guy said in mockery and the entire theatre roared with laughter.
Hao raised his head slightly and snorted when he saw such a reaction. 'Taking me as a loser? Won't be the first to be disappointed then,' he said to himself before turning to Hil, "let's go."
She nodded. Unlike the friendly attitude she showed him before this moment, she looked as aggressive and wild as a tigress about to get loose.
Hao also wasn't the same harmless guy he looked before. His eyes had a strange lustre while his smile carried a vicious impression.
From one look, Hil could feel how adapted and experienced he was with the game. She felt weird towards this unexplained sheer amount of confidence he emitted when the game screen lightened up and the two stood in front of each other.
The challenging jungle arena was one of the famous aspects of this game. It had one path that connected the two challengers together. On the side of it, there were two semi-circular areas that were filled with green bushes, twisted narrow paths, and few groups of monsters.
"Here we are," the girl said in excitement, "to those who don't know the rules, each player will start with five thousand gold and a level ten champ. Thirty seconds are given as a preparation period, no player can attack another during this."
"Hahaha, I bet even if our lady stood idle, that kid won't be able to even hurt her!" the guy said and the girl laughed with the entire theatre.
"Let's see their options in the items… Our lady chose the mana storm kit as usual. She will gain basic five percent mana in five seconds plus additional mana regeneration of five percent plus twenty-five percent boost in damage during each skill she uses during five seconds. Of course provided that her skills connect over any champ."
"It's a great choice for her champ. In addition to that, she also selects the regeneration potion. Even if that kid tried to harm her, she would instantly heal up to thirty percent of her health," the guy said before he exclaimed in surprise.
"Oh, that boy doesn't even know how to play against battle mages," he shook his head in disappointment while the girl next to him added:
"He selected a movement speed boosting kit. The boot, the diamond feather, and even that glove all boosted movement and attack speed."
"But that won't help to add any damage!" the guy shook his head, "he only selected the Rador blade, giving only fifteen points in damage as extra. He is done for. He should surrender now and keep what's left in his dignity."
"Well even if he did, we still have two more games," the girl said, "it's best out of three challenges. So he might have a chance to learn about the game here and do better next."
"I doubt that!"
The sound of the commentators was too loud and clear for Hao, yet he only ignored them. He was used to playing in a more bustling and much more annoying atmosphere when he was the living prince of this game.
In his mind he had it all mapped out. He knew what he was doing. Against such magic based champ, strength and health weren't that important; speed was.
After all, what was the benefit in having such high damage output if you couldn't hit your enemy even once?
Feeling content about his choice, he looked aside to be met with an astonished gaze from Hil.
"Ready?" he casually asked while she wanted to say something but refrained from doing so at the last second.
"Let's go," she returned to her screen, looking at it with much seriousness. Hao didn't return to his screen fast, as he looked deeply at her face, trying to see through her.
After all this little game here wasn't a challenge to determine his rank, but a test to evaluate her potential.
'She isn't that bad,' he thought to himself before returning to the game, 'but having a good mindset isn't that great alone. She has to show me her worth, her mechanics, macro and micro play shall be on par with her sharp mind.'
After all, he came all the way here to meet up with her. The first time he heard about her was a couple of years ago when a video went viral on the internet.
There he saw a collection of games played by aspiring talents. She caught his eyes by her performance like she did with many other top players at that time.
She was fearless, and also had a good grasp over tactics. She wasn't half bad as a rising talent.
But the hype she created soon died out. After all, talent wasn't everything in the world, especially the world of games.
After what happened to him, he started thinking about his options. Establishing a new team that could compete on a world class level wasn't an easy feat at all.
All the talents worthy to play on such a stage were already taken. So he had no other choice but to think outside the box, go all the way to the dirt and try to find buried gems there.
Seeing many videos he saved about aspiring players, he found her old video. After inquiring about her, he knew she failed to get any support from any famous team in the states.
In the end she ended up here. Her background was still a mystery to him. But she seemed to come from a common family, as she couldn't even join any prestigious university.
Falling from one peak to another and ending up to such a deep pit here, her fame was long forgotten.
But the talent she showed wasn't something that could be lost. So he decided to come here and start with recruiting her.
This game wasn't the challenge to prove himself to these kids here, but the game she had to play well and show her worth to him.
It was her challenging game, not his.
"Let's remind everyone with both champs skills," the girl said, "our lady is playing with magic based champ. Her Q will cast a charm that will stun the opponent for two seconds with cooldown five seconds. W will cause a storm of magic that deals twenty damage per second for five seconds. It has a ten second cooldown."
"But her E is the best after her ultimatum R," the guy added, "E will give five bolts of magic thunder that will deal fifty damage per attack and slows the movement speed by half. It has a cooldown for twenty seconds. As for R… It's one of the biggest magic damage in the entire game, causing a stun effect for three seconds plus changing the direction of the champ if he has a skill or item to break the stun towards her for two seconds. Damage dealt will be a mix of two hundred damage plus twenty-five percent health percentage of the enemy total health as true damage."
"Her champ has one thousand and eighty-five hundred health points, almost three hundred extra health points than Hao's champ. So her true damage will be three hundred and twenty-five true points of damage," the girl added and the guy laughed.
"She only needs two to three rounds of her attacks to kill him. Three minutes are more than enough, believe me."
"Don't forget her R cooldown is one minute and half," the girl said.
"She doesn't need more than one R and a barrage of Q, E, and W to bring his health to the rock bottom. Now she adds her special skill, a blink... Good choice."
"As each champ starts with ten skill points, she already distributed hers. Let's see…" the girl paused for a second, "she added two skill points to her R, maxing her W with five skill points, and adding one to her Q and two to her E."
"She is ready for a bloodbath, hahaha," the guy laughed, "and now let's check out our poor challenger. His Q gives him two fast attacks towards three enemies with twenty damage each strike deals. Its cooldown is five seconds. As for his main attack, W, it gives him a short distance dash towards the target, jumping up and landing with a thrice attack over the enemy, dealing thirty damage per attack. The attack can attack three enemies as well. Its cooldown is seven seconds."
"He has a champ with short cooldowns and fast movement speed. Yet against our lady, he won't be enough to cut down half of her health even if she didn't stun him. Not to mention he is better against multiple targets and not a single one," the girl said.
"Indeed, especially when his E has a cooldown of just ten seconds. It will give him a strong single attack that will push back the enemy, slow his movement speed for three seconds, plus deal one hundred points of damage."
"His R has a short cooldown as well, only fifty seconds," the girl said.
"But it will only deal two hundred damage with forced changing direction of his enemy to one direction he'll select for four seconds."
"He isn't the best champ in the roster he had considering damage output and defence," the girl sighed, "and against such a magic based champ of our lady, he selected one of the worst! Anyway he selects the special skill... A blink... Just copying our lady after all."
"He just thinks about how to run away, hahaha," the guy laughed before stopping midway as he hurriedly added, "And here it starts… I bet he won't last for three minutes," the guy said while the girl chuckled and responded:
"Three minutes? Come on, give him five!"
"You should have selected magic resist items," Hil from the side said in advice, as if she was teaching a newbie or something, while her champ and Hao drew closer to each other.
This game was played using mouse and keyboard where right clicks were used to guide the champ through the map and keys like Q, W, E, and R were used to control the skills of each champ.
"Here it goes… Our lady starts with her usual charm. If it links, he will be stunned for two seconds… Ouch! He is lucky to evade it!" the girl said but the guy's loud shout came next:
"Look! He is dashing forward using his W… Is he mad?"