The King’s Moment - Volume 1 Chapter 2

Autumn had come and gone, and in the blink of an eye, another year had passed.

Watching the fallen leaves outside the window, He Liang felt a pang of melancholy. Today was the start of the KPL Autumn season. For the past five years, this day marked the beginning of a new journey for him, filled with anticipation despite the busy schedule that would follow. But now…

“He Liang, have you finished the seating arrangement diagram for tomorrow’s opening ceremony?” A man burst into the office, calling out loudly.

He Liang’s thoughts were pulled back to the computer screen before him. Without turning his head, he responded, “I’m working on it.”

These days, He Liang is a graduate student working in the Student Affairs Office at Dongjiang University. Although he wasn’t much less busy than when he was a professional player, his life now lacked the passion and excitement of the past. What does the future hold? Even He Liang didn’t know; all he could do was focus on the task at hand.

“Hurry up! We need to mark the lines on the field before dark, and we’re just waiting on your diagram.” The urging continued from behind him.

“Don’t leave yet, I’m almost done,” He Liang said, his hands resuming their work as the sound of the keyboard and mouse filled the room. On the screen, the seating divisions for the various departments were quickly mapped out.

“Wow, you’re really fast! No wonder you used to be a pro!” The person behind him admired He Liang’s swift operation.

“That was in mobile games,” He Liang replied.

“Still, the same principle applies.”

As the other person marveled, He Liang quickly finished the seating diagram, sending the file directly to the person’s phone.

“Great, I’ll head out and be right back,” the man said.

“Why would you come back?” He Liang asked.

“To rank up in the game with your help!” The man, a robust fellow, even threw a playful wink at He Liang, making He Liang feel a bit nauseous.

“Not today,” He Liang said grumpily. Ranked play was one of the most important aspects of Honor of Kings, where players earn or lose points based on their performance, leading to ranks ranging from Bronze to Grandmaster (I’ve seen a few different ranking systems for the game, I’ll be translating as the one I’ve seen the most), which serve as a direct reflection of their skill. However, for professional players, ranked no longer measured their true abilities—they existed on an entirely different level.

He Liang, once a highly anticipated star jungler in the KPL, had now become just a tool for his colleagues to rank up in their eyes. This discrepancy still stung a bit. He had planned to give up the game entirely after retiring, but after meeting this colleague, Pan Ruiming, he couldn’t resist his relentless pestering and was forced back into the game. Every now and then, he had to help Pan Ruiming rank up. The ranked season had just started, and Pan Ruiming had been nagging He Liang about it for days. However, today, He Liang was unusually firm in his refusal, not giving Pan Ruiming any chance to wear him down. He grabbed his jacket and prepared to leave.

“Hey, where are you going?” Pan Ruiming, surprised by He Liang’s unusually resolute attitude, couldn’t help but ask.

“My brother is registering for school today. I’m going to pick him up,” He Liang replied without looking back as he walked out.

“Your brother? Is he a freshman? Which department? Hey! Can I use your computer?” Pan Ruiming called after him, but He Liang was already gone. Not minding, Pan Ruiming sat down at He Liang’s computer, forwarded the seating diagram to a few more people, made a quick phone call to give some instructions, and then leisurely opened Honor of Kings on his phone.

“Might as well get a head start,” he muttered, starting a solo ranked match.

When He Liang played with him, victory was almost guaranteed, but the problem was that Pan Ruiming played far more games on his own than with He Liang. Every time He Liang helped him reach King rank, Pan Ruiming would lose enough games to drop back down to Diamond within two days. Without He Liang to lead, Pan Ruiming’s ranked record was always full of double-digit losing streaks and countless penalty messages in his system inbox.

Last season was the worst. After He Liang boosted him to Grandmaster rank, he managed to drop back to Gold within a week. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that if there weren’t a point protection mechanism in Bronze rank, Pan Ruiming would have probably dropped all the way to Bronze 1 without much trouble. 

This clearly demonstrated Pan Ruiming’s gaming skill, or lack thereof. Yet, he never accepted this fact, insisting that his teammates were the problem. To make up for this perceived shortcoming, he confidently typed a message at the start of his Gold match, “Pro player, filling any role.”

In the game, different heroes excel in different roles, and choosing the right heroes and roles is crucial for team composition. Pan Ruiming’s message was responsible and trustworthy in intent—letting his teammates pick their preferred heroes and positions first, and then filling in the gaps.

Whether his four teammates noticed his message or not, they quickly chose their heroes. Pan Ruiming looked at the lineup: top lane, mid lane, marksman, and support were all covered, but the jungler role was missing. He immediately picked the assassin hero, Prince of Lanling.

“I’ll jungle and carry the game,” Pan Ruiming declared confidently.

The match began, and having reached Grandmaster with He Liang, Pan Ruiming didn’t take the Gold rank game seriously at all. Humming a tune, he headed straight for his team’s blue buff. The jungler role is typically the fastest to gain experience and gold by killing jungle monsters, leading the team’s momentum. 

Humming away, Pan Ruiming was already planning how to dominate the game, when suddenly, two enemy heroes appeared at the top lane entrance, charging directly at him.

Pan Ruiming hurriedly retreated, but the two enemy heroes easily killed the blue monster he was halfway through killing, stealing the blue buff, which is crucial for a jungler at the start of the game. Furious, Pan Ruiming immediately turned on his mic, “Top lane, why didn’t you keep an eye out?”

“I gave vision; their marksman and support didn’t show up, so they were either taking their red buff or coming to invade our blue,” came a voice from behind him, startling Pan Ruiming so much that he almost dropped his phone. Turning around, he saw a young student standing behind him, eyes fixed on his phone screen.

“But you had Smite and the enemy didn’t. You still had a good chance to take it. Why did you run?” the young man continued. Smite is a summoner spell that only junglers typically use, dealing high true damage to jungle monsters, giving a significant advantage in securing kills. However, Pan Ruiming hadn’t used this advantage to contest the blue buff and had simply backed off.

“Who are you?” Pan Ruiming asked, eyeing the young man who was now giving him game advice.

“Oh, I’m looking for He Liang. Isn’t this his office?” the young man finally took his eyes off Pan Ruiming’s phone.

“He’s out,” Pan Ruiming replied, turning back to his game. Having lost the blue buff, his jungle route was now delayed. Lanling limped through the remaining jungle monsters and leeched some minions from his teammates, finally reaching level 4. He immediately activated Lanling’s ultimate ability, Stealth Attack, entering stealth mode and stealthily moving toward the enemy’s blue buff area.

“The enemy jungler started at red. If you want to invade, you should go to their red buff instead,” came the voice from behind him again.

“You’re still here?” Pan Ruiming yelped in surprise but quickly refocused on his game. “How do you know they started at red?”

“When you checked mid lane vision earlier, their jungler passed by. Didn’t you notice the buff on them?” the young man said.

“Of course I noticed, but who said I’m going after them? I’m going to invade their blue buff. Didn’t you see I’m almost out of mana?” Pan Ruiming didn’t change Lanling’s course.

“If they started at red, their blue buff won’t respawn for another 60 seconds. You should take your own blue buff; it should be up soon,” the young man advised.

“What do you know? I’m setting up an ambush to take both their blue buff and their jungler’s life!” Pan Ruiming said confidently.

“An ambush for 60 seconds?” the young man was puzzled. In the fast-paced early game, even in the later stages, spending 60 seconds in the bushes to set up an ambush would be a huge waste. How could there be such a tactic?

But before he could finish, Pan Ruiming’s Lanling ran into the enemy jungler, Li Bai, in the river.

“See? Got him!” Pan Ruiming exclaimed triumphantly, moving Lanling to pressure Li Bai.

“Li Bai has his ultimate ready!” the young man warned, noticing the eerie glow around Li Bai’s sword. But Pan Ruiming’s Lanling had already started attacking, throwing his Shadow Blade at Li Bai, followed by his first skill, Shadow Clone, summoning a clone to slash at Li Bai with his blade.

An unexpected attack from stealth mode is indeed difficult to guard against, but Li Bai immediately activated his second skill, A Stroke of Genius, upon being hit by the Shadow Blade, transforming his sword into a Lotus Sword Array, shielding him from Lanling and his clone’s attack. Then, Li Bai unleashed his ultimate, Dance of the Azure Lotus, transforming into sword energy and striking Lanling with a rapid barrage of slashes.

“Damn!” Having taken two skills in a row and failed to deal damage with his clone, Pan Ruiming panicked. He activated Lanling’s ultimate, Stealth Attack, once again, leaving the young man behind him speechless.

When first activated, Stealth Attack allows Lanling to enter a 1.5-second stealth mode that lasts for 30 seconds. During this time, activating it again makes him charge in the designated direction. But the problem was that Li Bai was still in the middle of his Dance of the Azure Lotus, just like during A Stroke of Genius, he was untargetable and invulnerable. Activating Stealth Attack again at this moment was as good as missing.

Out of his three attack skills, Lanling missed two, only managing to slow down Li Bai with his Shadow Blade. However, Li Bai’s first skill, Drunken Sword, has a built-in dash effect, and he quickly closed the gap on the fleeing Lanling, slicing him down with ease.

“Damn it!” Pan Ruiming cursed in frustration. But this time, the fault was entirely his own, so he couldn’t blame his teammates. He turned an angry glare towards the young man behind him.

“What’s your problem? Just watch!” Pan Ruiming snapped.

“You should have waited until Li Bai’s ultimate was on cooldown before engaging,” the young man said. Li Bai’s ultimate, Dance of the Azure Lotus, is usually on cooldown, only becoming available after landing three basic attacks within 3 seconds, triggering the passive ability Wandering Swordsman. The ultimate then becomes available for a brief 5 seconds before going back on cooldown.

“How was I supposed to know if his ultimate was on cooldown?” Pan Ruiming retorted.

“When it’s active, his sword glows!” The young man was surprised that Pan Ruiming didn’t know this.

“Who pays attention to such details? And who the hell are you, anyway?” Pan Ruiming was taken aback. He had played nearly a thousand games but had never noticed such a detail about Li Bai’s ultimate. While he silently made a mental note of it, he still stubbornly defended himself. However, he finally began to show some curiosity about the young man.

“My name is He Yu. I’m here to see my brother, He Liang,” the young man replied.

“Oh? You’re He Liang’s brother! That explains it!” Upon hearing He Yu’s introduction, Pan Ruiming immediately understood. No wonder the kid knew so much about the game. Being the brother of a former professional player, it made sense that he’d be knowledgeable.

“He Liang said he was coming to pick you up. Didn’t you run into him?” Pan Ruiming asked.

“Did he?” He Yu pulled out his phone and saw an unread WeChat message from He Liang.

“Sorry to bother you!” He Yu quickly turned to leave but almost bumped into a girl outside the door.

“My apologies,” He Yu hastily apologized.

“It’s fine.” The girl looked at him with a smile, but there was something odd about her expression that made He Yu pause for a moment. However, he had no time to think about it, so he nodded and hurried off. Pan Ruiming wanted to chat more with He Yu, but his game wasn’t over yet. He operated his phone while standing up and only caught a glimpse of He Yu’s back disappearing down the stairs. The girl at the door, however, was still watching He Yu’s departing figure, seemingly deep in thought.

“Are you looking for someone?” Pan Ruiming asked, noticing that the girl was quite pretty and becoming a bit more enthusiastic.

“No, just hurry up and take your blue buff. It’s about to respawn,” the girl replied.

“What?” Pan Ruiming was puzzled. He looked down and saw that the blue monster in his jungle was indeed respawning.

“How did you know?” Pan Ruiming asked in surprise, but when he looked up again, the girl was already leaving.

“Because I pay attention in the game,” she said without turning back before disappearing down the stairs.