"Gained: 80% proficiency — Vladimir; 80% proficiency — Blitzcrank.
Operation +5%. Game sense +5%."
"Not bad. Vladimir and Blitzcrank aren't at full proficiency, but judging from how I played Heimerdinger in scrims, pulling these two out should still reach a pro level.
How strong they really are… I'll have to test them in official matches later.
It's just that they aren't maxed out. Does that mean I can train these two heroes up myself?
If I can, great. If I can't, getting stuck at 80% proficiency would be disgusting."
"Attribute panel loaded. Please review."
Host: Lin Fan
ID: dine
Champion pool:
Heimerdinger (100%)
Vladimir (80%)
Blitzcrank (80%)
Passive buffs:
Game sense +10%
Operation +10%
Still—he was a support. Why the hell did a Vladimir get mixed in?
Why didn't the system just give him a full‑proficiency Blitzcrank?
Even thinking that, Lin Fan was still very satisfied.
He'd only been "slacking" for three days and already had three champions he could bring out.
If it was thirty days… three hundred days… wouldn't that be an absolute massacre? Brutal as hell.
But before that, keep your head down and get rich quietly.
He greeted his teammates and left the training room.
"Fan-ge went back to the dorm early again today."
"He's probably given up. Feels like he's just clocking in and clocking out. That said, his Heimerdinger is insane—but I don't think I can learn that champ," Mark said, fair and square despite them being competitors.
That's how pro play works: the strong start, get stage time, and make a name for themselves.
If you're not good enough and you're stuck on the bench, you can't blame anyone else—you have to have that mentality as a pro.
If you don't want to be a sub, then work hard—don't think about shady shortcuts or crooked schemes.
Even if you get stage time that way, it's meaningless. Sooner or later you'll be swept out.
"Fan-ge really is a talented player…"
"Maybe," JackeyLove said, not entirely sure.
He was thinking back to Lin Fan's plays in actual pro matches. He wasn't terrible, but he wasn't amazing either.
At least in game sense, he didn't keep up with JackeyLove, and his coordination didn't feel as smooth as Mark's.
But with Heimerdinger support, it was different.
That proved Lin Fan did have skill—maybe his other support champs just weren't practiced enough to produce the same effect.
"I knew Fan-ge used to be a mid laner. The team didn't have a support, so the club made him role‑swap.
If his Heimerdinger proficiency is high, that's pretty normal, right?"
"That's true. Enough—let's queue a few more. There were still some things we didn't coordinate well in scrims."
"Sure. I was thinking the same. Want me to try a game of Heimer support?"
"Don't. Honestly, Heimer support was kind of miserable for me too. The turrets steal CS like crazy—if you don't watch it, a turret just eats the minion."
Especially you—if you're just starting to learn Heimer, your turret placement won't have Fan-ge's finesse.
No need to say it—you'll steal even more of my CS.
After the scrims ended, Luo Sheng started keeping an eye on Lin Fan, intentionally or not.
He could tell: when everyone was training, Lin Fan was "slacking," but every day he still played one or two routine ranked games.
And the picks were pretty weird.
Blitzcrank support was normal in solo queue, but in pro play his pick rate was basically zero.
Hardly any supports practiced Blitzcrank on purpose—there were higher‑priority champs like Thresh and Nautilus.
He'd even seen Lin Fan play mid Vladimir.
His rhythm seemed stable: one or two games a day, never more.
Completely addicted to other games.
At minimum, during this period Luo Sheng had seen Lin Fan play four different games.
Rise of Kingdoms aside, there was QQ Speed, PUBG… and the most outrageous one: Heroes Evolved.
You're a League of Legends pro player—what are you doing playing Heroes Evolved?
Cross‑game training or what?
But strangely, Luo Sheng didn't get as much of a headache about it anymore.
He didn't even notice he'd lowered his expectations for Lin Fan.
As long as Lin Fan played one or two games a day, it meant he hadn't quit and was still maintaining feel and form.
The worst was someone who didn't play at all—your state would drop fast.
Looks like putting him into scrims rebuilt his confidence. The manager really was the manager.
Maybe give him a game in the next scrim vs WE—if he performs okay…
Luo Sheng shook his head, abandoning that bold idea.
He still couldn't let Lin Fan play in Saturday's match vs RNG.
TES couldn't afford to lose again. JackeyLove and Mark's synergy was pretty good—if they played normally, they had a real shot.
Beat RNG and you can breathe.
Then next Wednesday, in the match vs TT, let Lin Fan rotate with Mark.
So before Week 3, Day 6 began, TES scheduled a scrim against WE—who were also on a five‑loss streak.
Unlike JDG, they didn't schedule a BO7.
Seven games is mainly for drilling early‑game tempo.
If you want to practice full games, three or five is more common.
Making players grind out seven full games is too mentally taxing—most can't handle it.
Naturally, they put Lin Fan in.
In that scrim, Lin Fan pulled out Blitzcrank.
Forget everything else—pairing Blitzcrank with Draven felt amazing.
Hook them in, uppercut with Power Fist, and JackeyLove follows up—easy kills.
Even playing it out to the end, they only needed twenty minutes to push into WE's base.
Luo Sheng was very satisfied. He drew a huge check mark in his notebook.
This team should be hitting rock bottom and bouncing back!
Unfortunately, things weren't that simple.
February 12—two days before "Cannon Fire Everywhere"—Week 3 of the LPL was nearing its end.
And at the prime‑time 7 p.m. slot—the week's headliner:
RNG vs TES.
Fanbase‑wise, they were evenly matched.
On paper, the teams were also fifty‑fifty.
Plus, TES were on a five‑loss streak—they were definitely going to do everything possible to win today.
No doubt it would be exciting.
And it was also the debut of TES's new bot‑lane duo—everyone was looking forward to it.
But the expected clash of titans never happened.
TES got swept 2–0 by RNG!
Knight was in terrible form, and Xiaohu pinned him under tower and slaughtered him.
Across the two games, Xiaohu posted 12–1–21—and solo‑killed Knight twice in lane!
TES's bot lane synergy really was good, but against GALA—who gave them absolutely zero openings—that tiny advantage couldn't affect the game's trajectory at all.
Since the season started, TES had now recorded six straight losses.
They needed someone to stand up and change the situation.
They needed a hero.
TL: If you want to read ahead by at least ten chapters, patreon.com/EdibleMapleSyrup