After returning to the base that night, Lin Fan happily started practicing his blade techniques.
The teammates around him all watched with complicated expressions.
They had thought what he said in the lounge earlier was just a joke, but he actually started chopping away for real.
If you really counted it up, Fan-ge hadn't touched a game in more than half a month.
Was this really okay?
TES's situation was already looking very good. After a six‑game losing streak, they had successfully turned it into a three‑game win streak. If they could win five more matches, playoffs would be basically secured.
The future looked bright, but Fan-ge not training was still a hidden risk.
How long could this kind of match form really last?
JackeyLove quietly tugged on Luo Sheng.
"We haven't scrimmed in a long time either. I think we really should schedule some practice matches before playing LNG."
"Actually, I was thinking the same thing. Saturday's match is the real big one."
TES's three recent wins weren't that convincing in isolation. Yagao wasn't an aggressive mid laner to begin with, and Gori's level was barely good enough for secondary leagues—he simply couldn't stand in top‑tier competition.
FPX would definitely get rid of him by summer.
But LNG's mid laner, Doinb, was a completely different story.
A system‑defining mid laner—no matter who he faced, he could always stabilize his lane.
Without a doubt, this would be a real test for TES.
After LNG, there was still V5…
Doinb with his system playstyle, Rookie Song Eui‑jin—none of them were easy opponents.
Thinking about it made things even more frustrating. Just what kind of opponents had TES lost to during that six‑game losing streak?
RA, UP, EDG, AL, OMG, RNG.
Among them, only EDG and RNG could really be called strong teams.
So even if they couldn't win all six, they should've taken at least four wins.
After losing to the weaker teams, all that remained were hard fights—every match from here on out would be brutal.
To maintain their mid laner's form, scheduling scrims with other teams was absolutely necessary.
If he wouldn't train proactively, then he'd have to "enjoy" training passively.
"There are still five days until Saturday. I'll see which teams are suitable—if their schedule isn't too tight, I'll try to arrange scrims."
"Chop! Jump slash! Jump slash!"
"Greatsword—forever the GOAT!"
Hearing this, Luo Sheng felt even more urgency. He had to act fast and start making calls.
Still, he couldn't figure it out—a player who didn't train yet could massacre everyone this hard.
Could what Lin Fan said in interviews actually be true?
That pro players didn't need excessive training, and spending time on other games instead could help them perform better?
Bullshit.
He almost got twisted around by that logic.
Luo Sheng quickly shook his head and strode out of the training room.
If that were true, his team wouldn't have been relegated in the first place.
—
Douyu livestream — Doinb's stream.
The post‑game screen showed a glaring red "DEFEAT" in the center.
ID: midgapsorry
Champion: Ryze
KDA: 1 / 7 / 4
"Ah, shit—my form isn't great tonight. Got targeted hard. Mid gap, mid gap. I'll reset and start slaughtering again."
"Thanks to 'JinguGuBuXing' for the 100 planes—thanks boss!"
"It's fine, this one didn't work, next one will. Let's start killing—watch me delete health bars and lock in another plane."
…
"Ah, shit—damn brats! Does their jungler have nowhere else to go? Always mid!"
Seeing Doinb tilt like this, the chat burst into laughter.
Of course, no one thought it was because he was bad.
When Doinb streams, he's basically always in 'defensive mode'—loses more than he wins.
But in official matches, it's like he becomes a completely different person, slaughtering everyone.
Naturally, people joked about it:
'Streaming: Home‑defense Doinb.
Matches: Rampage Doinb.'
"My form's bad today—I went out to eat with Xiao You. Please understand, please understand. I'll rest a bit before queueing again. Wasn't there an FPX match today? Against TES, right?"
Ignoring chat, he opened a video site and searched.
"They lost? Xiang‑ge isn't cutting it—lost again."
"We're playing TES this week. Coach said their mid laner is really strong."
After opening the match replay, Doinb watched carefully.
Whenever he noticed something important, he paused, rewound, and watched it again.
His expression gradually turned serious.
"His Syndra is really strong."
"You think Gori getting solo‑killed at level one was just him being bad, but actually the wave had to be pushed. Azir needed to hit level two first and then use Graves' jungle pressure to suppress Syndra for a long time.
But the details weren't handled well. When he stepped forward, Syndra's auto pulled minion aggro from behind, they wrapped around him and body‑blocked Azir. That was unlucky."
He rewound the clip three times before reaching that conclusion.
It really was unlucky—but didn't that just mean the details weren't handled properly?
They were compatriots, both playing in the LPL. As an older brother figure, he couldn't publicly expose Gori's flaws.
But judging from the level‑one details alone, this Dine was terrifyingly strong.
He executed everything he was supposed to do—Q pull into autos, chasing all the way, forcing Azir under tower, and finishing the solo kill.
Ridiculous.
And he played with incredible confidence.
That kind of confidence was something Doinb had only seen in a few players:
ShowMaker, Rookie, young Faker, Uzi, TheShy, JackeyLove…
Every single one of them had achieved greatness in League of Legends and became world‑class players.
There were still plenty of viewers who hadn't watched the match. TES had high popularity, but not everyone was a fan.
Non‑fans wouldn't go out of their way to watch TES matches.
Those in Doinb's stream—aside from some trolls—were mostly his fans.
Naturally, they focused on LNG.
"Damn, he really is a monster—and he even got his own nickname, 'Rise of Kingdoms Bro.' Apparently he never trains."
"For real?A pro who doesn't train?"
"Ever since Mark transferred to TES, he started slacking. Then somehow they put him back mid, and with one Syndra game and one Varus game he led TES to their first win."
"Not training won't work—he might win now, but he won't last."
—
Doinb wasn't paying attention to chat. He squinted at the replay.
Then he pulled up TES vs TT.
Studying Lin Fan's Syndra.
"Shit—has pro play gotten this competitive? Where did this guy even come from? Why is he this strong?"
"No way. I have to tell the coach—this champion absolutely cannot be left open on Saturday. The pressure feels huge."
TL: If you want to read ahead by at least ten chapters, patreon.com/EdibleMapleSyrup