Drink AD Calcium Milk, Enjoy a Champion's Life, Spring Split Groups

AD God of War: When playing marksman champions, take a sip of AD Calcium Milk to increase all your abilities by 10%, improve AD kiting fundamentals by 20%, laning ability by 20%, and teamfight damage output by 30%. One sip lasts one game.

Description: Drink AD Calcium Milk, enjoy a champion's life.

"Huh?"

"What the hell am I supposed to do with that? I don't even play AD."

But on second thought, Chu Ran realized that AD champions could seemingly be played top lane.

Still, he quickly dismissed the idea for the time being. In the current version, unless the circumstances were exceptionally special, trying to play an AD champion top lane was extremely difficult.

First, the Three Divine Generals were wreaking havoc in the top lane. They were loaded with crowd control, and if you played an AD top laner, the enemy jungler could come over and kill you every time. You also had to pick after them; otherwise, if the opponent picked Pantheon, there was no way to play it, even if Chu Ran was cheating.

It was a pure suppression of stats and mechanics.

Second, this wasn't the Season 9 version. Even if an AD champion gained an advantage in the top lane, there were no turret plates to take like in Season 9. Before twenty minutes, the only resource on the entire top side was one Rift Herald. That was also why so many LPL teams didn't value the top lane.

Rather than having the jungler come up to dive a tank, it was better to make something happen bot lane and see if they could secure the dragon.

In this version without turret plates, Rift Herald was actually less important than the dragon. It couldn't just smash down an entire tower in one charge anyway.

So, playing AD top basically required you to build up an enormous advantage on your own.

"Forget it. I'll leave it for now. It should come in handy someday."

Chu Ran raised an eyebrow and looked at the terrifyingly trending topics across the internet, unable to stop the corners of his mouth from rising.

But he did not use the opportunity to keep stirring things up for more Red Temperature Value.

RNG fans were like chives. When harvesting chives, you had to give them time to grow first.

Farming Red Temperature Value worked the same way. Harvesting it once after a while produced the best results.

A moment later, Chu Ran started watching the All-Star Game livestream. Sure enough, during the following exhibition matches, that pilot Deft crashed his plane again and again. Ming Kai still hadn't listened to his advice and played Lee Sin in the clone match, getting kicked around like a football and sparking another wave of trending topics.

No, why didn't Waste Kai need to force jokes to be this funny?

He shouldn't be a LOL Professional Player. He should play football. I can't hold it in anymore—he got kicked around in turns by five Lee Sins.

Who let Ming Kai play Lee Sin in the clone match? Don't they know what level his Lee Sin is at?

Hahaha, 4396! Peanut taught him a lesson with both hands.

Factory Director had always missed the days when he had first gone pro, so his Lee Sin only had WE, no QR.

Nonsense. Fish die, net breaks—leaving tonight just like that?

To be fair, Team WE's incident can't entirely be blamed on Waste Kai, can it?

His Lee Sin was genuinely inhuman. If even his RQQ could miss, I'd eat shit.

Fun fact: Ming Kai's Lee Sin only lost one game throughout all of Season 6—the 4396 game.

Seeing those comments, Chu Ran laughed out loud as well. They were all fucking geniuses famous within a ten-mile radius of their hometowns.

As he scrolled through the comments, time continued to pass. Before he knew it, Chu Ran had not even noticed that Ming Kai and the others had returned to the hotel.

The moment Ming Kai returned to the training room, his face was dark. Seeing Chu Ran grinning from ear to ear, he quietly slipped behind him and saw that Chu Ran was intensely browsing Anti-Bar and Hupu, with almost every post being about him.

His already gloomy expression became even more overcast.

"Is it funny?"

"Uh..." Chu Ran turned around and found Ming Kai glaring straight at him. He immediately grinned. "Funny."

"You little brat, I'm definitely letting you taste my Muay Thai today!"

"Hold it right there!"

Chu Ran raised a hand to signal Ming Kai to stop. "Let me make a Weibo post first. The famous world's number-one jungler, the man with countless honors to his name, is bullying people at the club. I beg the fans to uphold justice. I beg the league officials to uphold justice."

"Hell is empty, and the devils walk among men. I came to EDG Club full of anticipation and reverence, believing it would be a new beginning and that I would have a wonderful future. But I never expected this to be the result."

"Even with the heater blowing, all I feel is icy cold from my hands to my feet. When will rookie Professional Players like us finally be able to stand up?"

Fuck!

Ming Kai's eyes nearly fell out of his head. With Chu Ran's ability to write melodramatic Weibo posts, if he actually sent that out, wouldn't he be flamed to death?

People online were currently only flaming him for playing badly. If that got sent out, it would become a matter of his character being flawed.

"Stop, Little Ran. Kai Ge was joking with you." Ming Kai was speechless.

He was furious, but there was nothing he could do.

Seeing Ming Kai back down, the training room immediately erupted with laughter.

Chu Ran blinked. "Kai Ge, you chickened out again."

"Ah—!"

"Hekui, Yuan Shuo, let go of me! If I don't teach him a lesson today, he won't know what it means to respect the elderly and care for the young."

Ming Kai was rather worked up. He felt like his Red Temperature Value was truly about to max out.

"We weren't holding you back." Deft and Pawn both spread their hands, quietly watching Ming Kai perform.

Abu shook his head helplessly. Setting everything else aside, ever since Chu Ran had joined EDG, there had never been a shortage of entertainment every day.

Seeing Ming Kai so furious yet too hesitant to actually lay a hand on Chu Ran made Abu want to laugh.

After being the club's big brother for so many years, he'd finally been put in his place, hadn't he?

Still, everyone knew Ming Kai and Chu Ran were only teasing each other, and they each went back to their own business.

"Kai Ge, apologize to me. You scared me just now."

Ming Kai was completely helpless against Chu Ran. Who told the guy he was talented and knew how to write little essays?

And honestly, he genuinely liked Chu Ran from the bottom of his heart.

Even though the guy often angered him half to death.

Could it be that Ming Kai had masochistic tendencies?

"You little brat, one day I'm really going to teach you a lesson. Log on, let's duo queue."

"I'm not queueing with someone who D-Flashes."

"I was wrong. Kai Ge was wrong. Hurry up, I'm going to slaughter the Korean server so I can vent this pent-up anger in my heart."

Being kicked around like a ball—if you said Ming Kai wasn't angry, that would be a lie.

"A verbal apology?"

"V me 50 yuan?"

Chu Ran looked at his teacup, his eyes immediately shifting as he picked it up. "Kai Ge, there's no water."

"If there's no water, go get some!"

"Do you think the water will fly into my cup by itself?"

Red Temperature Value +439

Red Temperature Value +396

Ming Kai's Muay Thai was itching to act again, and the training room immediately erupted in laughter.

Deft and Pawn both gave Chu Ran a thumbs up. Could Chu Ran have come out of an LCK youth academy or something?

Ming Kai's eyes suddenly widened, his nostrils flaring as he breathed heavily. He wanted nothing more than to punch Chu Ran to death.

Hoo...

Calm down.

Don't argue with an eighteen-year-old kid whose hair hadn't even grown in properly.

I'm the club's big brother. I need to act like one.

With a heart as clear as ice, even the sky collapsing would not shake me.

Ming Kai suddenly gasped in cold air, then endured it as he poured Chu Ran a cup of water. "If you don't carry me to a win, just wait and see."

"Don't worry, V me 50 yuan!"

Amid the noisy bickering, time slipped away like golden sand through one's fingers—impossible to grasp, impossible to hold, forever drifting on the wind. Time flew, and several days passed quietly. Chu Ran and the others returned to Lingshi Road.

The trending topics about Chu Ran winning the Solo Competition and calling out Uzi were also pushed aside by the approaching Spring Split.

By now, every team had completed its transfer period. Transfer news after transfer news was eagerly reported by various media outlets before shooting up the trending lists. It seemed that the LPL audience's enthusiasm had not been affected by the LPL's top-eight defeat in Season 6.

"Three-time Champion Bengi joins forces with championship mid laner Easyhoon, determined to win the Bird's Nest for VG this year."

"Zz1tai joins Snake Esports, the LPL's number one circus team. Are they going to DJ while competing?"

"Shockwave creator Wu Zai returns from the dead and joins Newbee."

"IG brings in championship top laner Duke. Rookie's status as the orphanage director is about to be rewritten."

"Newly rising powerhouse top laner Letme joins RNG. He says his dream is to write an autobiography about winning a championship."

One transfer-period announcement after another sparked heated discussion and attention from countless people.

As this storm of public opinion raged on, time continued to pass.

In the blink of an eye, it was the end of December, and the 2017 Spring Split draw ceremony quietly arrived.

A total of twelve teams were participating in the LPL this year, divided into Groups A and B.

The results were announced quickly.

The six teams in Group A were RNG, OMG, GT, Newbee, QG, and IG.

Group B consisted of EDG, Team WE, VG, Incredible Miracle, Snake Esports, and LGD.

When Abu and the others saw this grouping, their expressions all turned serious.

As far as Group B was concerned, it was packed with experts.

Team WE was an old LPL powerhouse and one of The Big Three. In Chu Ran's memories, after 957 began to make a name for himself last year, the Season 7 Spring Split champion was Team WE.

VG had the backing of two Two-time Champions, while Incredible Miracle, as EDG's second team, had also performed quite well last year.

As for Snake Esports, the team that had fought through a bloody BO10 last year might be reborn this year. Holy Spear Brother and the Vietnamese Jungle King Sofm were far from weak.

LGD went without saying. Though they had been half-crippled ever since Brand's ironmaking disaster in Season 5, their foundation remained—especially with champion AD Imp still there to hold the line.

When the groups were announced, many RNG fans were deeply disappointed.

They had wanted to see RNG grouped with EDG, so they could watch their Little Dog brutally crush Chu Ran.

Though they would still face each other even in different groups, it would take a while.

That was rather painful for the RNG fans. They were eagerly waiting for their idol to completely pin Chu Ran, the player abandoned by RNG, into a trash can, avenging Little Dog for having his Solo Competition championship taken away by Chu Ran.

Sure enough, as soon as the groups were announced, RNG fans started popping up again in the comments under Chu Ran's Weibo post.

What a shame. Otherwise, I could've watched Little Dog stomp on your beast head already.

Ran Chu, don't lose your nerve when the time comes and let that useless Mouse play in your place the whole time.

I'm really looking forward to Ran Chu's first competitive match. He won't get slaughtered into a 0-8 scoreline, will he?

That would truly be cause for nationwide celebration. If Ran Chu performs badly on stage, would EDG even keep him? They'd kick him out with one boot.

Chu Ran said nothing when he saw those comments, merely keeping them quietly in mind.

Write them down first. Settle the score all at once later.

He had not caused much trouble these past few days. He simply chatted and trained with his teammates, then played on the Korean server by himself. A few days earlier, he had already climbed to rank one on the Korean server. Though he soon fell back down, it still stirred up quite a commotion.

In any case, he had received the reward the club had promised him.

"Little Ran, come Duo queue."

Hearing Deft call for him, Chu Ran quickly replied, "Wait a second, I'll be right there. Abu wants me to start streaming here. My streaming contract's been signed, and today's my official debut stream."

"Then hurry up."

He had signed with Huya. The annual salary was not particularly high, just over a hundred thousand, since Chu Ran had neither Results nor many fans, and he also had to split the revenue fifty-fifty with the club.

Of course, if Chu Ran's streams did well, he could make a fortune just from gift revenue alone.

With that in mind, after setting up his streaming equipment, Chu Ran immediately pulled out his long-neglected Weibo and began typing.

"Tonight at eight, I'll be making my streaming debut in Huya livestream room 439600. Everyone's welcome to come show your support!"