When Lin Fan returned to the training room from the cafeteria, JackeyLove and the others were still grinding ranked games with great enthusiasm.
The two of them kept discussing how they'd found an opening in the previous game and turned the tables from a losing position.
From the looks of it, Mark and JackeyLove were meshing quite well. After all, it was only their first day together—give it enough time and their synergy would naturally improve.
Since their little two-man world was going so smoothly, it was best not to disturb them.
Lin Fan quietly returned to his seat and glanced at his computer.
League of Legends had finished reinstalling.
Time to pull out the Grand Inventor.
The 5% boost to mechanics and awareness from the first day's task wasn't very noticeable.
It might simply be that his base level was too low—such a small percentage increase didn't show much effect yet.
Only once his base stats improved would percentage-based gains really start to matter.
But this max-proficiency Heimerdinger was something he could properly test right now.
He logged into his Korean server account and, with practiced ease, clicked Find Match.
Lin Fan's rank wasn't particularly high—Grandmaster at 50 LP.
Basically a gatekeeper.
At this elo, queue times weren't long.
In under three minutes, he entered champion select.
Fourth pick.
Role was correct—support.
"An ADC that works well with Heimer… poke-heavy ones aren't ideal. Someone who can go in and kill with me would be better."
Lin Fan's playstyle leaned aggressive.
Pure poke into fishing for kills wasn't that interesting—he preferred looking for real all-ins and lane kills.
"Kai'Sa, huh? That works."
Kai'Sa paired with Heimer was decent enough.
Whether it worked or not depended entirely on whether Heimer's E could land a stun.
…
"Brothers, everything's basically settled. I'll be heading to the club in the next few days, so while I still have some free time, I'll stream a bit more. Once I'm there, there probably won't be many chances."
On Huya, a chubby guy bobbed his head as he spoke to the camera.
It was Uzi.
The chat was flying by at full speed.
"The god was fake."
"One-season wonder Pig Letme, lane-busted Rat King."
"Trash Protobelt."
Uzi wasn't angry reading these messages.
He was just… sad.
After relentless effort, he'd finally broken free from his contract issues and made a comeback.
Even knowing that BLG wanted his traffic and streaming contract, he still stepped onto this path.
Because they were the only team willing to give him a chance—and promised he'd get stage time in the regular season.
After paying so much, not only did he fail to receive support, but someone had even written a whole song just to mock him.
The popularity of "The Lonely Swimmer" kept climbing…
Of course, that had a lot to do with his past stubbornness and his fanbase being too extreme.
What kind of cause, what kind of effect.
Now, as people put it, this was backlash.
So Uzi could only pretend not to see the chat.
The moderators, on the other hand, were working overtime.
People kept saying they were "on a killing spree."
"Haha, let's show everyone some Kai'Sa this game. I've been training hard lately—my form feels pretty good. I might be able to compete for a starting spot.
Of course, that all depends on the coach's arrangements. Compared to Doggo, I'm still a bit behind. After all, I've played scrims with the team."
"What the hell is this?!"
When he saw his support lock in Heimerdinger, Uzi's expression changed instantly.
His hand holding the mouse even trembled.
Eye contact?
Was there really eye contact this game?
"Heimer support? What kind of divine understanding is this?"
How could Heimerdinger be played as support?
Once you put down turrets, how is the ADC supposed to farm?
It felt like bot lane was about to be sent straight to prison.
A teammate also typed a question mark in all-chat.
At that moment, the fourth pick—the Heimer—replied:
"很牛逼(Awesome)."
Chinese?
Uzi froze for a moment.
There were plenty of Chinese players on the Korean server—this wasn't unusual.
After all, the competitive environment was better, and many pros came here to practice.
But that still didn't explain the Heimer pick.
"Wait… this guy's ID looks like TES's support."
Just as Uzi was about to dodge, he stopped.
TES's support?
Could support Heimer be some new method?
The internet was full of people flaming this support, but as a pro player, Uzi only trusted what he saw himself.
He'd even cast RNG vs TES matches before.
Honestly, Dine wasn't nearly as bad as people made him out to be.
A middle-of-the-road support.
He wouldn't add icing on the cake, but he also wouldn't sabotage the team.
He could engage when needed and protect when required.
But when paired with a top-tier ADC, he did look a bit clumsy.
Still, he was good enough to survive in the pro league.
Fine.
He'd try one game with him.
"Xiao Gou, run! This trash support is tilted now."
"He even uninstalled League before. Picking Heimer support now—he's definitely here to feed."
"He's not dodging?"
"I just checked JackeyLove's match history. He's on a seven-win streak duoing sweetly with Mark. Looks like his form is back."
"That's not form coming back—that's dropping dead weight. Before, even Baolan and JackeyLove would massacre people. Dine really is just bad."
End page.
"For real, stop forcing the narrative. We already said it before—what champion does Baolan have, and what champion does Dine have?"
Uzi ignored the instigating chat and focused on his runes.
For Kai'Sa, Lethal Tempo was clearly stronger—especially with the increased attack range.
Lin Fan was also setting his runes.
For support Heimer, Arcane Comet was mandatory, with Inspiration secondary for Stopwatch and Biscuit Delivery.
Soon, both team comps were locked in.
Blue side: Top Renekton, jungle Viego, mid Viktor, bot duo Kai'Sa and Heimerdinger.
Red side: Top Darius, jungle Jarvan IV, mid Azir, bot duo Jinx and Blitzcrank.
Seeing the Blitzcrank, Lin Fan actually smiled.
This robot's hook wouldn't land on anyone.
As long as his turrets were up.
Bot lane would be free.
Both mids were scaling picks, so jungle attention would likely go to the side lanes.
But he was Heimer support—what was there to be afraid of?
Entering the game, he bought his starting items and headed straight to bot lane.
First, set up positions.
Drop two turrets.
But as he walked into the river brush, he stayed cautious—if Blitzcrank was lurking, it could be dangerous.
Those worries turned out to be unnecessary.
After all, none of them had ever faced Heimer support before.
Two turrets went into the brush.
Then he turned to help the jungler leash red buff.
Uzi watched and nodded slightly.
Support Heimer…
Didn't look like random griefing after all.
TL: If you want to read ahead by at least ten chapters, patreon.com/EdibleMapleSyrup