With the jungler going AFK, the red side had no way to keep playing. Being down a player instantly caused the situation to collapse.
After all, having one extra person makes a huge difference. In teamfights, that extra body can eat a skill or share some damage. As long as everyone doesn't give up, even a disadvantage can sometimes still be played. But once someone gives up, it's over. What was originally a five-percent chance to win instantly drops to zero.
In the end, the game timer stopped at sixteen minutes as the red side's Nexus exploded.
"Holy shit, this Heimer is actually insane. This was definitely the most comfortable game I've played in a while. The only downside is that this Heimer steals my minions."
Uzi stretched his neck. After finishing the game, he unexpectedly felt reluctant for it to end.
Maybe it was because he'd recently been driven crazy by all kinds of weird supports.
No matter how he played, nothing worked. His LP had dropped from over two hundred Master points down to just over fifty. The moment he opened his match history, it was nothing but red losses.
On top of that were the sarcastic comments in chat—claims that the "god was fake"—leaving his head spinning.
Then he suddenly played one insanely smooth game, and his mental state visibly improved.
Almost on impulse, he sent a friend request. No matter what, this was still a league support—building a good relationship couldn't hurt.
After retiring, Uzi often duoed with Xiao5 for exactly that reason: they got along well.
"Dine? Is it really him? This Heimer feels like a boosting god—highest damage in the game."
"I came here just to watch the show, but reality slapped me in the face. Bot lane straight-up slaughtered them. Is this even real?"
Bot lane completely crushing the game—almost surreal.
The main reason was that Uzi hadn't played professionally for over two years, and his form had clearly declined.
When he announced his comeback, most people were just there to watch the spectacle. Very few actually believed in him.
As long as he played, it was supposed to be entertainment. Everyone had turned into spectators looking for laughs.
And then there was this support—the supposed main culprit behind TES's losses. Put the two together and they were supposed to be a disaster duo.
Yet this so-called trash combo directly destroyed the enemy team.
It could only mean one thing: pro players are still pro players. Ordinary solo-queue players really aren't on the same level.
Master tier is a mixed bag—some players really are just bad. That saying wasn't wrong.
Lin Fan looked at the results screen. His Heimer had the highest damage in the entire game. Combined with how smooth the match had been, he couldn't help but marvel at how real the rewards from the slacking system were.
Max-proficiency Heimer wasn't a joke. One word: strong. It felt like he could win ranked games even if he was dragging a dog along.
Ding.
A friend request popped up on the client.
Looking at the ID—it was the Kai'Sa from earlier.
They'd chatted a bit during the game, and he was Chinese.
Given how outrageous Lin Fan's performance had been, the guy probably wanted to latch on and climb. That was understandable.
Lin Fan accepted the request. Honestly, he mainly wanted to see how the Kai'Sa would praise him.
"Why hasn't he accepted yet? Did he not want to add me? Or did he not realize it was me?" Uzi felt a bit puzzled.
But that was also normal. Even in Master tier, Uzi constantly changed his ID. Without the pro-player account marker—and without people actively checking—most wouldn't know who he was.
No matter how often he changed names, people could still eventually figure it out and start making bets.
But pro players didn't usually think that way.
If you didn't add someone, you genuinely might not know who they were.
All kinds of random thoughts flashed through his head.
Then he saw that his friend request had been accepted.
"Hello."
"Hello."
"Man, your Heimer is way too strong. Earlier I really thought you were just trolling."
"It's alright. This is actually the first time I've played Heimer support this season."
"Really? Your skill accuracy feels crazy."
"Really is my first time."
With max proficiency, playing Heimer had already become muscle memory. How to pressure lane, how to create advantages—everything was calculated with machine-like precision.
"That's seriously impressive. Want to keep playing? We can duo."
After high-ranked duo queue was restored, it actually became much friendlier for pro-player training.
Mid and jungle could solo queue to find form, but bot lane was a package deal. If high LP prevented duo queue, the training quality dropped sharply.
TL: LP is League Points. Like, what they get from wins and how they rank up from Bronze to Masters etc.
Playing matches would feel like random solo queue, and winning became much harder.
Riot clearly noticed this problem and later made adjustments.
When Uzi sent the invite, his stream chat instantly filled with question marks.
"No way. Has Uzi fallen this far? Duoing with a trash support?"
"Is he starting to cling to others now?"
"Uzi needs to cling to someone? He just wants a stable support."
"Is Dine stable?"
"Is JackeyLove just bad or what? Uzi's been retired for over two years and can still win easily. That already says a lot."
"Lmao, didn't you hear what 'Low-IQ' said? Heimer was his first time. He clearly picked it to slack off—just didn't expect the enemy to be this bad."
"Honestly, I think so too."
…
"This Kai'Sa is pretty smart. Knows I'm strong and wants to ride the wave."
But this game was really just about testing max-proficiency Heimer.
Lin Fan's heart was still on his Rise of Kingdoms opening.
He'd already calculated it—after one match, he could pull reserves once more and then head out to keep farming level-five land.
He wanted to max out level five first and see if he could catch up to the top players.
First and second place were insane. They were already approaching three thousand power. At this rate, they'd easily surpass fifty-five hundred in twenty-four hours—more like heading straight for six thousand.
So Lin Fan typed in chat:
"Playing League was just to test Heimer's strength."
"My Rise of Kingdoms server just opened today. I'm only third place—I need to grind."
Then Lin Fan logged off at lightning speed.
Uzi stared at the newly added friend going offline, completely stunned.
"Huh?"
What the hell is Rise of Kingdoms?
From chat, he'd learned this guy was TES's support. Shouldn't a pro player prioritize League of Legends?
It wasn't sleep time. It was still training hours. How could he drop League and go play Rise of Kingdoms instead?
Is this really TES's support?
Or was everyone right—did he just play one game and then go straight into slacking mode, winning only because the opponents were bad?
But thinking back on how that game actually played out…
That didn't seem likely.
TL: If you want to read ahead by at least ten chapters, patreon.com/EdibleMapleSyrup