Chapter 1: The Unusual Mid Laner

SKT Base.

The bespectacled man stared blankly at the screen, his fingers flying over the keyboard so fast they left afterimages.

His name was Faker, currently in the midst of a ranked match.

He had thought it would be just an ordinary game, but after being solo-killed twice in lane, Faker realized the gravity of the situation.

Although Ryze is a tough counter to Cassiopeia, who was he? A three-time world champion! Ryze was his signature champion, yet here he was being suppressed by an unknown player.

What made it worse was that Bang was sitting right beside him...

Being dominated in ranked was bad enough, but having someone else witness it was even more disheartening.

Even a three-time world champion could have a moment of lapse.

And it was precisely in that fleeting moment that the opposing Cassiopeia seized the opportunity, landing her Q to accelerate and close the gap. At the instant Ryze raised his hand to cast a crowd control spell, she flashed her ultimate to petrify him, then followed up with her ultimate's ground slam...

“That's it,” Bang murmured beside him, unable to hide his astonishment. “That Cassiopeia really knows how to play.”

Bang had a clear view from the side.

Cassiopeia's flash ultimate timed perfectly with Ryze’s W casting animation; both were caught by crowd control simultaneously, but Ryze was at a disadvantage.

After all, Ryze’s crowd control was a snare that still allowed the opponent to cast spells, while Ryze could only endure the incoming damage.

Moreover, after being hit by Cassiopeia’s ground slam, Ryze couldn’t flash away and had no chance to escape.

No sooner had Bang spoken than Faker’s screen turned black and white.

Simultaneously, his face darkened as well.

Bang remained oblivious and continued chatting casually, “Feels like you’re overconfident. Carrying a Cleanse against Cassiopeia might have been better.”

“Why don’t you try?” Faker’s voice abruptly cut off, and Bang fell silent.

Faker, having been solo-killed three times in lane, was slightly rattled, but he was no ordinary player. After exhaling deeply, he calmly said, “First ranked match, just getting a feel for it.”

“Yeah, yeah, I often mess up my first game too,” Bang replied with a knowing look that nearly made Faker lose his temper.

After that, Faker fell silent.

The teasing expression on Bang’s face gradually faded, and his eyes narrowed slightly.

Faker had gotten serious.

Such a focused state usually appeared only in official competitions; it was rare to see it in ranked.

What piqued his curiosity was who on the opposing side could push Faker to such a limit.

...

Meanwhile, on the Douya streaming platform.

Chen Yan’s live stream.

Title: The Strange Mid Laner.

On the surface, this stream seemed ordinary, but its popularity was surprisingly high—nearly a million.

Although popularity didn’t directly equate to viewer count, it was a good indicator of the channel’s buzz.

Among the Douya League of Legends section, streamers with a million popularity were few and far between.

It was obvious that Chen Yan was a major gaming streamer.

Countless viewers entered his stream, many not even watching the screen but immediately sending messages.

“Just arrived. Has the streamer lost his mind today?”

“Going through the motions or just flaming outright?”

“Just flame away. Does flaming the streamer need a reason?”

“Yan said it himself, we’re all bros here—no harm in a little trash talk.”

“Calling him ‘Brother Yan’ online, but I don’t even dare imagine what they call him offline.”

“Today’s no joke—Yan solo killed Faker three times in lane.”

“Whoa, my boy’s coming up, even starting to grief Faker now.”

The chat room was filled with wild banter.

Chen Yan glanced at the chat and immediately joined in the “flaming.”

Of course, he wasn’t genuinely angry; it was just the style of his stream.

The streaming environment during Season 7 was very different from his original world, placing more emphasis on entertainment value than pure skill.

That’s right—he wasn’t from this world at all, but a time traveler from Season 14.

At that time, T1 was competing in the Vanguard Tournament.

He had thought T1 was a solid team, but to his surprise, they were surrounded and pummeled by other teams, becoming the public punching bag.

Out of frustration, Chen Yan knocked over a water glass, spilling it into his computer, causing a short circuit, and then everything went black.

When he woke up, he was Chen Yan in this parallel world.

Speaking of this version of Chen Yan, there was some background—he was the substitute mid laner for EDG’s SCOUt.

At the Season 6 World Championship, EDG lost, PaWn left, and Chen Yan competed with SCOUt for the starting spot.

He lost the competition and, after relentless training, died suddenly and quietly in the training room—making it easier for the time-traveling Chen Yan to take over.

After crossing over, Chen Yan had no intention of competing with SCOUt for the starting position.

Firstly, his skill wasn’t on par with SCOUt’s; secondly, he had become disillusioned with the LPL.

After more than ten seasons, they still couldn’t produce a championship team.

Even this iron-willed wolf had been thoroughly worn down.

Despite knowing he had arrived at this critical Season 7 juncture and even possessing a time traveler’s cheat system, he had no intention of altering history.

His cheat system was called the “Task to Ascend System.”

As the name suggests, starting a match gave a chance to trigger a task.

The rewards were incredibly generous, including but not limited to Chinese currency, enhanced competitive skills, improved physical fitness, life skills, artistic talents, and more—everything one could wish for.

So Chen Yan resolutely chose to start streaming.

A professional career? Not interested!

After starting the stream, Chen Yan found that the higher the match quality, the greater the chance of triggering system tasks.

Therefore, he often found himself playing at ranks filled with professionals and various specialists.

Normally, such high-rank streams wouldn’t fit the current streaming environment.

...

But Chen Yan had something special.

Or rather, sometimes the system’s tasks were downright bizarre.

Some tasks required him to rack up steps in Summoner’s Rift; some forbade him from securing kills; others mandated dealing damage within a certain range; some even forced him to play support champions mid lane...

In short, the tasks were very abstract.

They weren’t too difficult, but they weren’t easy either.

However, as Chen Yan’s skill improved, these tasks ceased to challenge him, and he often created plenty of entertainment value.

Only his teammates suffered, frequently losing games due to his bizarre antics.

This earned him a less-than-stellar reputation, dubbed “The Summoner’s Rift Menace.”

So he often changed accounts to avoid being recognized...

Gradually, a large audience gathered in his stream.

Returning to the game, the laning phase had ended.

After getting serious, Faker had not been solo-killed again.

But Chen Yan wasn’t aiming for solo kills this game; his task was to petrify Faker five times with Cassiopeia’s ultimate.

He had succeeded twice so far, needing three more.

“Three times? Easy.”

Whenever his ultimate was ready, Chen Yan sought out Faker for a fight.

After multiple attempts, he finally completed the task.

However, later he was caught out due to disconnection from the fight, which made his stats look less impressive.

“????”

“The Poet’s grip!”

“Familiar!”

“Right on! The streamer’s aggression just now almost made me think I’d entered the wrong stream.”

The chat exploded with insults, accusing Chen Yan of being inhuman.

Chen Yan rolled his eyes.

Sure, he got caught a few times, but in the end, they still won.

...

On the other side, Faker stared at the post-game screen.

More precisely, he focused on the opposing Cassiopeia’s ID.

“The Strange Mid Laner?”

Faker silently noted down the ID and proactively sent a friend request.