The Choice

Next on Ma Qiao's priority list were late-game heroes with tremendous growth potential and special skills that granted unlimited scaling, such as Cho'Gath, the Terror of the Void, Nasus, the Curator of the Sands, Veigar, and Sion.

But after another careful analysis, Ma Qiao realized that this path was no good either.

Of those heroes, only Veigar had much hope of stacking ability power.

Veigar's passive, Phenomenal Evil Power, let him gain a point of ability power whenever one of his skills hit an enemy.

Nasus and Sion, on the other hand, had to kill units to gain their bonuses.

They were weak to begin with and would struggle to kill enemies early on. Besides, where would they find enough enemies to help them train...?

Cho'Gath was even more impractical. Not only did he have to reach level six before he could eat things and grow bigger, but he also had to eat enemy heroes or epic monsters...

Maqiao didn't even know whether those five-thousand-meter Sea Kings counted as epic monsters...

All in all, Ma Qiao clearly understood that although these late-game heroes had unlimited potential for growth, they weren't suited to his current situation.

As everyone knew, late-game heroes were generally very weak early on. Veigar and Nasus were among the weakest of the weak. Hunkering down under their towers was standard practice, and being ganked into misery by the enemy jungler was an everyday occurrence.

That was the awkward part for Ma Qiao: they couldn't help him early on, and he wouldn't need their help later.

By comparison, bolstering his immediate combat strength, preferably while improving his ability to make money, was the safest choice and offered the most room for growth.

Without the present, what future was there to speak of?

With that in mind, Ma Qiao had two heroes to choose from.

They were—

Gragas, the Rabble Rouser, and...

Teemo, the Swift Scout!

The reason for choosing Gragas was simple.

He was a powerful tank, as well as a master of wine tasting and brewing.

The Short-Lived Ghost Whiskey currently sold at the Big Bird Spin-Spin Tavern was, at its core, a shoddy product blended from inferior liquor.

Though Hunter's Potion had been added, its taste and quality were nothing special.

There was no problem selling that kind of liquor to low-level pirates or bounty hunters, but it would be almost impossible to raise its price and get rich people to pay for it.

But if he could recruit Gragas, the quality of Short-Lived Ghost Whiskey would instantly rise several grades, enough for it to enter respectable society as a high-end whiskey.

Without a doubt, sauce-aroma technology would bring Ma Qiao a steady stream of profits.

However, Gragas also had a very obvious shortcoming.

He was a tank, and the defining features of his skill set were the health regeneration from his passive, Happy Hour, and the damage reduction from his W skill, Drunken Rage.

[Happy Hour] Whenever Gragas used a skill, he took a small drink and immediately restored 8% of his maximum health. This effect could only trigger once every eight seconds.

[Drunken Rage] Gragas drank deeply from his cask, channeling for 2.5 seconds. While channeling, the damage he took was reduced by 10/12/14/16/18%.

Whether judged by their roles as tanks or their combinations of percentage-based healing and damage reduction, Gragas and Garen of Demacia overlapped considerably.

Of course, Ma Qiao could also learn another of Gragas's signature skills, [Body Slam], in the future.

It was a practical gap-closing skill, and combining it with the Mighty Vajra Fist might produce some remarkable results.

But however he looked at it, a skill that involved ramming people with his belly didn't fit Ma Qiao's refined and easygoing persona.

More importantly, as the commander, using his most vulnerable belly to ram someone seemed absurd however he looked at it.

All things considered, summoning Gragas would greatly benefit Ma Qiao's finances, but would contribute very little to his immediate combat strength.

The other hero Ma Qiao was considering was Teemo, the villain who, alongside Yasuo, was infamous as one of the two great throwers in League: you could lose a team fight, but Teemo had to die.

As a Yor

dle scout, Teemo undoubtedly had very practical skills.

His passive skill in particular, [Guerrilla Warfare]: if Teemo stood still for 1.5 seconds without taking any damage, he would enter stealth. Upon leaving stealth, Teemo would gain the "Move Quick" buff, increasing his attack speed by 20/40/60/80% for three seconds. If he entered stealth in brush, Teemo could move freely within it without breaking stealth.

Although the fact that he could only move in brush was a severe limitation in the yellow sands of Alabasta, [Guerrilla Warfare] was still a good choice for ambushes and hiding.

Moreover, as a passive skill, [Guerrilla Warfare] cost only 10 million Beli to purchase, making it relatively cheap.

So, as far as skills went, Ma Qiao was very fond of Teemo.

And when it came to the more important ability to generate income, Teemo had his own unique advantages as well.

Of course, that didn't mean having Teemo make money by acting cute, but a proper business.

Years ago, while capturing pirates, Ma Qiao had obtained a copy of the Den Den Mushi Rearing Guide.

Den Den Mushi were a rather inconspicuous yet exceptionally important kind of creature in the world of pirates.

Not only did Den Den Mushi come in various forms, but they also had various functions and a wide range of uses.

However, breeding Den Den Mushi was no easy task.

According to the Den Den Mushi Rearing Guide and the information Ma Qiao had gradually gathered from various sources over the years, the difficulty in breeding Den Den Mushi actually lay in their feed.

Although Den Den Mushi were used as communication devices, they were still fundamentally snails.

And a snail's favorite food was mushrooms.

Different Den Den Mushi liked to eat different kinds of mushrooms,

And during breeding season, Den Den Mushi even needed to consume certain special varieties to increase their chances of conception and the quality of their eggs.

Anyone who had studied agriculture knew there was a great deal to growing mushrooms.

Some special fungi had extremely strict requirements for humidity, temperature, and humus.

Even an experienced mushroom grower could very easily end up with no harvest because of a minor mistake.

Ma Qiao had tried growing mushrooms that Den Den Mushi liked to eat himself, but every attempt had ended in failure.

Teemo, the Swift Scout, was different.

Not only was he an avid fan of bunny costumes, but he was also a mushroom-growing master renowned throughout the Rift.

Every League of Legends player had a vivid impression of Teemo's mushrooms.

Of course, Ma Qiao didn't intend to have him grow the highly poisonous, explosive trap mushrooms. Teemo couldn't grow those until he reached level six.

Ma Qiao only wanted him to grow mushrooms that Den Den Mushi could eat.

Just like Gragas brewing liquor, it was practically an innate instinct for Teemo, with no level restriction whatsoever.

Thus, after weighing everything, Ma Qiao finally decided that the League hero he would spend 63 million Beli to summon was...

"Boar, dog, rooster, monkey, ram—summoning jutsu!"

After randomly forming hand seals to give the ritual its full effect, Ma Qiao slammed both hands onto the ground.

Immediately afterward, a cloud of white smoke rose.

Within the smoke, a furry figure was about to emerge.

It was...

"All pipes lead to my house—I got this! The end times, from the sewers!"

Plague Rat Twitch stepped out of the smoke and dropped to one knee before Ma Qiao. "Greetings, my master!"