Chapter 282: Mind Games

Yu Luocheng wouldn’t allow Zhao Tinghua to escape. He gave chase, only three hundred units behind.

Both champions had the same movement speed. As long as he didn’t get thrown off again, there would be no getting away from him.

At this distance, the moment his Q-skill was ready again, he’d put an end to the Blood Eagle.

Tinghua kept running, all the way into the brush, causing Luocheng to lose sight of him.

Luocheng glanced at his own Q cooldown, and felt a tinge of anxiety. Hurriedly, he pulled his Lee Sin out of the way!

“Hah!” A Sonic Wave shot out abruptly from the tall grass, hitting him. Luocheng had seen it coming, but he’d failed to dodge it all the same.

The grass rustled, and the doppelganger Lee Sin came hurtling through the air towards him!

Luocheng was on his last legs, himself. This double-Q could very well be his curtain call!

“Hah!” Luocheng attacked the very instant his cooldown timer finished, and immediately followed with the kick!

Whap!

Whap!

Both champions collided into each other, the sounds of impact coming one after the other!

“First Blood!”

“You have been slain!”

These two system announcements came out virtually on top of each other. A pair of portraits appeared on the right side of the screen: Lee Sin had slain Lee Sin, one blue and the other red. The next row announced that Lee Sin had also slain Lee Sin, red against blue!

Both attacks had found their targets, and both champions had fallen!

It was an equal trade! They’d taken each other’s lives!

Supposedly, Luocheng’s Lee Sin had been a little bit ahead in health—but not by so much that he could survive a full double-Q from Tinghua.

Similarly, Tinghua’s Lee Sin had to fall after taking a flying kick from Luocheng.

When both Lee Sins took to the air to deliver that fatal strike to their foe, it had ended with both their deaths!

The question was: Who had claimed First Blood?

First Blood was worth 400 gold.

The next Champion Kill after that was worth 300.

That extra 100 gold meant one could buy not only a suit of Cloth Armor, but also several Health Potions. For two opponents who were otherwise evenly matched in terms of finances, levels, and equipment, this was a decisive difference.

“Blood Eagle got the First Blood!” Aijing declared in disbelief.

“But… this was obviously a case of simultaneous kills! Why should Blood Eagle alone be getting First Blood?” Qi Qiao asked in confusion.

Hearing this, the players of Team Skycrown became grim.

Luocheng had clearly gained the upper hand in that fight, yet Tinghua had been granted First Blood in the end. It was difficult to fathom how the system had made its judgement.

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“Maybe it applied the damage from the one who used the skill first, before acknowledging the attack from the other player,” Zhou Yan surmised.

***

“Since that ended in a draw, we’re gonna keep going! That last duel, all the way up to the final exchange, was really amazing stuff! I couldn’t even blink! To think that the Skycrown coach would use a difference in cooldown timing to win himself an advantage in health… that definitely convinced me of his skills!” This was from Qi Qiao.

A Jungler duel against Blood Eagle? There shouldn’t be a single person in the whole nation who would honestly dare.

No one in the audience had expected Team Skycrown’s coach to be a player of such formidable ability. He’d come within an inch of bringing Blood Eagle down. If not for this questionable judgement by the game system, Blood Eagle might not even be enjoying the lead from getting First Blood.

In any case, being able to hold his own against Blood Eagle, even forcing him to retreat… it was already phenomenal!

Both champions soon respawned at their respective Fountains: the respawn time for Level-1 champions was next to nothing.

Having three hundred gold now meant getting some Cloth Armor at best. That’s what Luocheng did. As well, with the gold he’d automatically earned over the passage of time, he also picked up a couple of Health Potions.

At the moment, Luocheng wouldn’t be picking any fights with Tinghua, for the simple reason that he was certain Tinghua would immediately use his four hundred gold to pick up a Long Sword—while he himself could only afford Cloth Armor.

Although there was no clear victor in comparing the Long Sword against the Cloth Armor, Tinghua could use the increased damage to swiftly clear out the Golems camp, bringing himself to Level 2. At that point, running into his Lee Sin would basically mean guaranteed defeat.

He had to be the first to reach Level 2.

With the XP gained from a Champion Kill, one batch of Golems should get him there, no problem.

If Luocheng held any sort of advantage, it was in that he was playing from the Blue side, meaning that his side of the jungle had more creeps than the other. Tinghua absolutely had to come over to his side.

***

Upon his revival, Luocheng raced for the Golems camp.

It took some doing to bring down the Golems at Level 1. Fortunately, he’d taken the Jungling Masteries. By the time the Golems were finished and he’d levelled up, he still had approximately half of his health remaining.

(Translator’s Note: I presume ‘Jungling Masteries’ refers to some combination of ‘Butcher’, ‘Durability’, and ‘Tough Skin’, going by the old Masteries system.)

Luocheng immediately put the skill point into his E-skill, and then used his Q to check the Red Buff.

Luocheng honestly had no clue whether Tinghua was going for the Blue Buff, or if he was already creeping this way. He couldn’t be too cautious!

Because he hadn’t brought Smite, Luocheng didn’t dare make any attempt on the Red Buff. Having made sure that Tinghua wasn’t lurking about, he made for the other section of jungle, across the river.

Although he himself didn’t presume to claim the Red Buff, neither could he allow Tinghua to take the Blue Buff. That would be another level gained, and both players understood that was a crucial early-game advantage.

Luocheng used another Sonic Wave to peer into the area: the Ancient Golem was still there.

Evidently, Tinghua had also been wary of Luocheng springing an ambush on him immediately after respawning, so he’d opted not to go for the Blue Buff straight away. Without the benefit of Smite, it was a pretty painful proposition for a Level-1 champion to go toe-to-toe with either of the Buff monsters. Getting ambushed in that situation would mean the end!

“I guess he’s cleaned off the Wolves. Should be Level 2 now.” Luocheng began making guesses as to where Tinghua had run off to.

Meanwhile, Tinghua hadn’t found Luocheng at the Red Buff, either. He fired a Sonic Wave into the Golems camp, and struck only empty air.

***

“These two are up to exactly the same scheme: Rush to Level 2, check the Buff on their side, and then the one across the river. It’s all mind games. I’d guess that they’re both trying to figure out their opponent’s current position and level.” Aijing watched the screen with rapt attention.

It felt as though two pinnacle-level masters were simultaneously delving through a pitch-black forest, knowing nothing about their opponent’s situation or location. Relying upon keen senses, investigating the state of the local wildlife, and speculating upon the likely tactics of their adversary… It was the first time Aijing had ever watched such an intense, elaborate competition between Junglers.

It should be the first time such a duel had ever been carried out in public. Judging by the atmosphere across the arena, it was clear that this face-off between Luocheng and Tinghua had everyone on the edge of their seats.

While both players were in the dark as to their opponent’s circumstances, the audience themselves could easily see everything that was happening. Whenever both champions drew close to one another, everyone’s hearts tensed. The suspense was mounting with each step taken!