In 1 vs 1 game mode, there was only one lane, two outer turrets, an inhibitor, two nexus turrets, and a crystal.
The two of them agreed on two winning conditions. Firstly, destroy the enemy crystal. Secondly, the first to get three heads would be the victor by default.
To be fair, He Xing suggested playing the same champion against each other.
Fu Yue said nothing about this arrangement. He had a relaxed smile on his face and generously said, "You choose a hero."
He Xing briefly glanced at him and without saying anything he unceremoniously locked a hero that made Fu Yue raise an eyebrow.
"I heard that you are a number 1 Sen on the national server."
Fu Yue nodded his head as he gave a light chuckle, "I guess I should thank you for going easy on me."
To his response, He Xing replied with a cold face, "You are welcome."
Their exchange seemed to be rather friendly but everyone present in the training room could smell the gunpowder in the air.
You had to say that the person who was the most stressed in the situation was the second team's Captain, Shi Ji.
If He Xing were to lose, things would be embarrassing for their second team. However, if He Xing were to win, things would become even more awkward.
Either way, Shi Ji didn't know how he should deal with the aftermath as a leader...
Urgh... I feel like I am going to have indigestion...
Shi Ji was not the only one who felt uneasy. Even the cheerful Li Haoran couldn't goof around in this situation.
He felt even worse after hearing He Xing's suggestion of playing the same champ instead of a blind pick. He frustratingly stomped the floor, "This He Xing is out for blood. He even dares to taunt Si-ge with his main champion. This might look good on the surface but in fact, he wants to humiliate Si-ge in front of everyone by beating him in his main!"
His ranting made Zhao Fu increasingly nervous for Fu Yue. He didn't want to doubt his ability but fighting 1 vs 1 was not the same as playing 5 vs 5.
He Xing may have been in the second team but he has been receiving professional training so his ability as an individual player shouldn't be underestimated.
Unlike Zhao Fu's bad reaction upon hearing Li Haoran's words, Yang Yuxuan on the other hand smirked, "This kid has guts but he miscalculated."
Zhao Fu turned to look at him in surprise, "You trust Fu Yue that much?"
"His true strength lies in his performance on an individual scale."
These words were not spoken by Yang Yuxuan but they came from Wei Chen who hasn't said anything for all this time.
Hearing this rare praise coming out of their taciturn Captain, the trio glanced at each other in wonder.
Looks like their Captain is being charmed by their Mid-Laner. On a rare occasion, they all had the same thought.
In the meantime, Wei Chen's steady gaze remained fixed on Fu Yue's computer screen.
To be precise, he was not only impressed that Fu Yue was able to keep up with his fast tempo. He was intrigued by the fact that he was able to coordinate extremely well with his teammates and dominate his opponent in the lane regardless of the matchup.
He was a player who had a strong personal playstyle but at the same time was able to integrate with his teammates.
In his opinion, He Xing would have a better chance in 5 vs 5.
Going head-to-head against this Big Demon without getting any help was a bad idea.
At this point, the match had already started and two Sens were greeting each other in the lane.
Honestly speaking, Sen was not a good hero to be played in this game mode since there wouldn't be any actions until he hit level 6 and got his Shadow form.
It was clear as day to everyone that whoever hit level 6 first had a huge advantage. He Xing was very well aware of this point.
He first put a point to his W to clear the wave. Trading wouldn't happen unless they hit level 2, therefore, He Xing was not worried about being CC'ed by Fu Yue.
However, just as this thought passed he was immediately hit by a root followed by two basic attacks chunking off a considerable amount of health.
He Xing and the second team were equally confused, "He learned Q first?!"
On the contrary, the starting team's mood was calm without any waves.
Fu Yue and He Xing sat opposite each other with their respective teams standing behind them. As a result, TM's starting players witnessed earlier on that Fu Yue didn't put his point in W but instead leveled up his Q first.
To be exact, ever since they saw Fu Yue organize his runes, they could immediately understand Fu Yue's approach toward this match.
He Xing and Fu Yue brought different runes. In the former's case, he was intending to be a full glass cannon to one-shot the opposing crispy mage. His runes would deal a lot of damage to an enemy with health below 50% and based on how many stacks he could amass, his permanent bonus damage would increase accordingly. The ability cooldown at level 1 was 45 seconds.
Meanwhile, in the latter case, as long as he was able to get three separate attacks or abilities onto his target within 3 seconds, he would be able to deal bonus damage. Its cooldown at level 1 was 50 seconds.
Fu Yue had no intention of pushing his wave into the enemy turret to begin with so he put a point to his Q first and caught He Xing off guard.
It might have been a bit challenging had He Xing picked a hero that Fu Yue was unfamiliar with but unfortunately, he underestimated him and chose Sen.
Fu Yue could confidently say that he played Sen the most among the people in this room. Adding to his solid micro, he couldn't see the possibility of losing to this kid.
[A/N: Micro gameplay is the ability you have to use your individual champion and the extent to which you can use said ability to gain and press advantages in the game.]
On the other side, He Xing admitted that he was surprised by Fu Yue's bold move but that was it.
It was true that constantly poking your opponent was a good thing but by doing so, you would waste mana and delay your farming.
As a matter of fact, despite He Xing having a lower HP, thanks to his W, his CS was higher than Fu Yue and hit level 2 first.
Putting a point to his Q, He Xing was able to do a QW combo. Sen's W dealt more damage the lower his enemy's health was. Combined with his rune, as long as he was able to get Fu Yue to 50 % HP, getting his head would be as easy as killing a minion.
Seeing his opponent hit level 2, Fu Yue was unperturbed. Anyhow, he had already expected this development.
Regardless, this wouldn't change anything. Unless he was hit by his Q, He Xing wouldn't be able to W him afterward.
Fu Yue was more familiar with Sen than He Xing and one could see that he was playing on the edge of Sen's max range ability. He Xing was unable to land anything on him despite being at a higher level so Fu Yue caught up and they both tacitly farmed to level 4.
He Xing didn't hesitate to learn his E, and immediately initiated a fight the moment he spotted Fu Yue taking a step forward to kill the cannon minion.
His surprise attack was already considered fast enough but Fu Yue's reaction was quicker. He responded with a Q + Flash leaving no room for He Xing to react.
He Xing's eyes widened in disbelief upon seeing an unexpectedly huge drop in his health after being hit by the Q.
A level 2 Q shouldn't be dealing this much damage unless...
He put 3 points in Q?!
At level 2 Sen's Q had a reduced cooldown but after leveling up to 3 his Q would deal more damage. He Xing would never expect him not to learn E and added another point to Q instead!
Due to this miscalculation, even though He Xing could heal himself with his E, it was not enough to out-heal Fu Yue's rune damage coupled with a Burn spell.
"First Blood!"
He Xing took a deep breath to calm himself down. On the flip side, he still had both of his spells while Fu Yue used both of them so this match was not irrevocable.
Still, He Xing bitterly found that his situation was unable to improve after coming back to the lane.
His initial lead in CS was thrown out of the window with his first death. Meanwhile, Fu Yue, on the other hand, not only didn't miss a single minion during their last exchange, but he even gained gold from getting a kill and extra gold from first blood resulting in more items in his inventory.
The result of He Xing was imaginable. He couldn't contest in the lane despite having both spells. Had it not been for him holding onto that Flash previously, he would have died a second time not long after he came back to the lane.
Nevertheless, due to being low health, He Xing was pushed out of the lane denying a lot of gold and exp.
The frustrating thing was that he couldn't go back to the base or else he fell behind even further. Due to this decision to stay, Fu Yue dived him under his turret and collected another head easily.
He Xing's face became grim upon realizing that with his second death, he was an entire level behind Fu Yue.
Seeing a Shadow Sen unhurriedly approaching him who was sitting under the turret, He Xing's heart tightened.
Being beaten twice by a Light Sen, He Xing no longer dared to look down on this person. His face was all smiling and harmless but his playstyle spoke the opposite.
He was behaving like a normal human being in one moment when in the next second he abruptly flipped and became a madman...
This thought just resurfaced in his mind and Sen who was peacefully clearing minions suddenly flashed, and then EQ. He Xing's health was almost depleted entirely. Fortunately, before Fu Yue was able to hit a third attack, He Xing accurately rooted him under the turret.
This action caused Fu Yue to use Shadow W to reset the turret aggro instead of continuing his attack and failing to activate his rune ability.
He Xing hastily retreated to the second turret but Fu Yue quickly followed suit after he was no longer CC'ed.
Since his basic attack was no longer enough to kill He Xing, after his W went off Fu Yue went back to his Light form.
He Xing was hoping that Fu Yue's hand was not fast enough to use his ability before being killed by the turret. Unfortunately, Fu Yue's hand speed was too quick and he was able to press his Q before dying to the turret.
He Xing finally got a kill but it was meaningless since Fu Yue had already collected three heads.
He Xing blankly stared at the screen. The result was so miserable that not once did he get to activate his rune...
Don't even mention He Xing, everyone except for Wei Chen was surprised seeing this one-sided fight.
No one dared to speak until a gentle voice suddenly broke this silent atmosphere.
"You choose a hero."
He Xing involuntarily flinched at this soft-spoken voice. He slowly lifted his eyes to look at the handsome face in front of him.
His friendly expression remained unchanged and his violet eyes contained no malice or arrogance from winning.
But at this moment, He Xing couldn't help but shiver.
Still, He Xing was not one to back out easily. He bit the bullet and chose Shadow as his next hero.
He Xing thought that Fu Yue was not familiar with assassins but he never expected the other side to become even more crazier than the previous game!
Fu Yue hit him even before the minion wave arrived!
Due to Shadow's passive, even his basic attacks hurt like hell and He Xing was beaten almost half-death before he was able to farm a single minion!
He decisively flashed seeing that Fu Yue had no intention of letting him go. However, the latter followed with his flash and chased after him to his turret!
"First Blood!"
He Xing, "..."
In the previous game, He Xing had some room to breathe but this time, he couldn't even catch a breath...
Having gone off with such a bad start, He Xing was bullied into oblivion.
When Fu Yue was level 6, He Xing was still level 3. Despite being under his turret, the former could kill him easily due to the level advantage.
After respawning, He Xing had just reached the second turret when Fu Yue suddenly came out of his invisibility and one-shot him.
His life didn't even last for 1 second...
He Xing, "..."
Is it too late to apologize?