First Blood!

Welcome to Summoner's Rift!

A loud female voice rang out from the sky.

"Call..."

Bai Xiaowen took a deep breath of the air in Summoner's Rift; the slightly dry air carried a hint of the scorching atmosphere of war.

He first checked his own condition.

Strength 5, Agility 5, Constitution 12, Spirit 10... These are exactly the stats Bai Xiaowen has after Class Change and becoming a Level 1 Hero Class Awakener. Below his personal panel, there is a "Level 1" level marker and 500 initial gold coins.

Intimidation LV1, Summon Angerclaw LV1, Talisman Switching LV1, Heart of Sincerity LV1.

The others looked at Bai Xiaowen, awaiting his instructions. Apart from Liu Fei and Han Xu, who had experienced this special Crystal Destruction Mode, Li Shuyi, Feng Zi'ang, and even Bai Xiaowen himself had never experienced it before, so it felt very novel.

However, the information Bai Xiaowen had prepared beforehand came in handy, and he said in a calm voice:

"Summoner's Rift, the map from Season 7, is a classic map in League of Legends. Due to time constraints, I'll just give a brief overview."

"First of all, the rules here are independent of the Spirit Realm, but one general rule will never change: there are no main quest requirements. We can choose to leave the map at any time and return to the outside world. Our levels, equipment, items, and all other sealed strengths will be restored... However, please don't do this. Voluntarily leaving the map is equivalent to quitting the game, and the remaining players will only be able to fight 4 against 5."

"This map will be divided into three lanes, each with a barracks that can produce mindless AI soldiers. These soldiers are relatively weak, and their attacks will only cause single-digit damage to us."

"We must relentlessly kill enemy minions, jungle monsters, and seize opportunities to eliminate enemy Awakened Ones... Gaining temporary experience points will unlock our levels. Don't worry, the unlocking process will be quick, at most 20 minutes. With normal development, we will all recover to level 4 or higher."

Bai Xiaowen paused, then pointed to a bearded raccoon (or perhaps a raccoon dog?) standing next to the Fountain of Life: "This is the Purple Side's quartermaster. He has general-purpose white, blue, and Gold Equipment, but the general-purpose equipment won't have any skills attached. Also, we can have our sealed equipment and items unsealed by him—of course, this will cost gold coins."

"See the gold coin section on your character panel? Your gold coins will automatically and slowly increase after the battle officially begins. Of course, the fastest way to acquire gold coins is still by killing jungle monsters, enemy minions, and Awakened Ones."

"Now, let's go to the quartermaster and buy a basic weapon with our initial gold coins... A general-purpose basic weapon will cost 450 gold coins. With the remaining 50 gold coins, you can buy a Silverlight Potion to slowly restore your Life Value."

Bai Xiaowen walked towards the quartermaster and opened the sales list.

The sales list is divided into four main categories: equipment, items, supplies, and titles.

The "Items" category allows only a limited number of items owned by the Awakened to be unlocked. Unlocking items requires gold coins, with higher-level items being more expensive.

The "Supplies" category includes not only general potions but also food that the awakened individual possesses.

The "Titles" category offers relatively simple titles, some increasing attack speed, others Critical Hit rate, but the increases are all quite small. Awakened players can also unlock their own titles for use, ranging from D-Tier to A-Tier. The higher the rank of the title, the more gold coins are required to unlock it.

Bai Xiaowen's only title, "Ultimate Academic Ace," although not graded, costs a whopping 3,000 gold coins to unlock, leaving Bai Xiaowen with nothing but a wry smile.

Fortunately, the map rules do not restrict the Awakened's "Battle Specialty"! These are manifestations of an Awakened's combat awareness, positioning ability, and so on, just like a player's own awareness and skill in a game, which cannot be restricted.

Finally, there's the "Equipment" category, which is divided into three tiers: White (Common), Blue (Elite Tier), and Gold (Hero Tier). Each tier has its own set of universal equipment.

For example, the common white equipment includes firearms, bows and arrows, helmets, necklaces, bracers, upper garments, lower garments, shoes, and so on.

General blue equipment can be obtained by upgrading corresponding white equipment with gold coins, and will have a small amount of additional attributes. You can also buy it directly, since the cost of gold coins is the same, roughly between 800 and 1300 gold coins.

General-purpose gold equipment has higher additional attributes, but no additional skills, and its price is generally over 2000 gold coins.

Besides the general equipment, there are also the equipment that the Awakened One possesses but is temporarily sealed. Bai Xiaowen glanced at it and saw his Whispering Grimoire, the Warlock's Robe, the Arbiter's Resolve... many Gold Equipment were among them.

The price for unlocking these Top-grade Gold Equipment ranges from 2,000 to 3,800 gold coins. Weapons are the most expensive, followed by clothing, while accessories, rings, bracers, and other similar items are cheaper.

Bai Xiaowen quickly glanced through the list and said with a smile, "Everyone's level and equipment are all sealed to their initial state, so we're all on the same starting line. However, looking at the equipment list, it's still advantageous for Awakened Ones who already possess Top-grade Gold Equipment."

For the same price, Awakened players who don't have Top-grade Gold Equipment can only buy general Gold Equipment (that is, equipment without skills, only attributes). In the mid-to-late game, they will definitely be at a disadvantage compared to Awakened players who have Top-grade Gold Equipment.

Moreover, the Top-grade Gold Equipment they possess has been enhanced and upgraded. For example, the difference between Li Shuyi's +7 [Redleaf Lord's Glory Sword] and a general, unenhanced Golden Tier longsword is simply too great.

In the last section, Bai Xiaowen also saw the "Exclusive Equipment" option. Obviously, this section was not available in the sales lists of the other four players besides Bai Xiaowen.

After he clicked on it, he indeed saw the familiar Black Soul Stone, priced at... 0.

[No gold coins needed? Is this an official cheat tool?] After a slight pause, Bai Xiaowen directly chose to purchase (unlock) Black Soul Stone.

After the seal was lifted, Bai Xiaowen discovered the problem: the Black Soul Stone was only in its initial 0/10 growth state, capable of summoning two Skeleton Soldier and one Shadow Assassin.

The growth of Black Soul Stone is accumulated by killing large monsters, siege minions, and enemy Awakeners. Upgraded Enhancement Blueprint require gold to light up.

[Looks like I can be a late-game Hero Tier in Crystal Destruction Mode? No, I'm not just a late-game Hero Tier anymore, I'm a powerhouse from start to finish!]

In the late game, everyone reaches the maximum level (unlocked to their actual level), is fully equipped with god-tier gear (unlocked all their equipment and items), and has so much gold they don't know what to do with it... At this point, Bai Xiaowen can leisurely farm money, leveling up his Black Soul Stone Enhancement Blueprint layer by layer, constantly becoming stronger... He absolutely fits the role of a late-game Hero Tier.

Moreover, Bai Xiaowen, at level 1, already possesses three Undead Species summoned creatures plus the Rageclaw, giving him considerable dominance even in the early stages of the match.

Bai Xiaowen couldn't help but want to shout, "I want to take on ten of them!"

While everyone else was looking at the quartermaster's sales list, Liu Fei, being more experienced, had already bought a pair of short swords and a bottle of "red potion": "Time to split up."

"Hmm, let me assign the roles," Bai Xiaowen thought for a moment. "According to the Crystal Destruction Mode tactics, there are four lanes in total: top, mid, bottom, and jungle. We have five people, so let's decide on the duo lane choices first... Support Feng Zi'ang will go to the bottom lane. Shu Yi, you go too, let Feng Zi'ang protect you while you farm."

Typically, a support will be assigned to the bottom lane to protect and support a DPS player as they farm.

Liu Fei opened his mouth, but didn't speak. He had originally wanted to go to the bottom lane with the support... but he couldn't say anything.

The reason is that Li Shuyi's output ability is superior to Liu Fei's.

Although Liu Fei's actual level is 5, being able to unlock level 5 is an advantage, but tragically, even at level 5, Liu Fei's output is not as good as Li Shuyi's at level 4. After these days of training and practice, Li Shuyi's output ability has been unanimously recognized by everyone.

"Han Xu, top lane; Liu Fei... you can go mid."

The top lane has the longest minion wave, and if danger arises, it takes the longest to retreat to the turret. Therefore, sending the tank Han Xu, who has the strongest survivability, to the top lane is the most suitable option.

Liu Fei's face fell. The mid lane is usually the domain of mages, and it's not a friendly position for a melee class like him who relies on auto-attacks for damage.

"Can I take another route?" Liu Fei asked hopefully.

"Are you going to jungle?" Bai Xiaowen asked curiously. With Liu Fei's small frame, he'd probably get killed by jungle monsters.

Although Liu Fei has the ability to stealth, which makes him advantageous for ganking lanes, he lacks crowd control abilities. In comparison, Bai Xiaowen has crowd control, damage output, and summoned creatures to tank, making him the most suitable jungler.

"I... I'll go mid lane." Liu Fei thought for a moment, but still felt too embarrassed to suggest switching lanes with Li Shuyi...

"The mid lane has the shortest minion wave and is closest to the turret. You stay under the turret and farm, last-hit minions if you can, but it's okay if you can't, just get experience and level up," Bai Xiaowen said, waving his hand. "Okay, let's split the lanes like this. Everyone buy your starting items and health potions, let's go."

Bai Xiaowen reopened the quartermaster's sales list and bought a basic firearm for 450 gold coins and a bottle of Silverlight Potion for 50 gold coins. The basic firearm only had an additional attack power of 1-3, which was the lowest among basic weapons.

Only one type of weapon can be purchased at a time; once selected, other types cannot be chosen. Each Awakened individual will choose the weapon type they are accustomed to using, ensuring that there are no situations where a gunslinger uses a sword and a swordsman uses a spear, as this is linked to their individual Battle Specialty.

Bai Xiaowen is highly skilled with one-handed swords, and the attack speed and attack power of a basic longsword are superior to those of a basic firearm, but he did not choose the basic longsword.

Bai Xiaowen considered two factors: firstly, he wanted to upgrade his equipment later and eventually unlock the +4 Desert Eagle; secondly, ranged weapons also had their advantages, such as higher safety.

A loud female voice rang out again over the canyon. "The enemy will arrive on the battlefield in thirty seconds. Crush them!"

Han Xu went up the main road, Liu Fei the middle road.

Li Shuyi bought the same pair of short swords and health potions as Liu Fei, and together with Feng Zi'ang, followed Bai Xiaowen to the jungle.

At 1 minute and 30 seconds, the signal for the entire army to attack rang out, and the monsters spawned. In the valley in front of Bai Xiaowen and the others, a large golem with a blue halo under its feet appeared.

[Ancient Golem: 500 Life Value, 30 Attack, Slow Attack Speed.]

Bai Xiaowen summoned his Rageclaw and thrust out a spear. The Ancient Golem slowly approached, swinging its arms to smash down.

The Shadow Assassin and two Skeleton Soldier appeared and began attacking from behind the Ancient Golem. At the same time, Li Shuyi's twin swords and Feng Zi'ang's magic wand also began to attack, reducing the Ancient Golem's health.

With the Ancient Golem's Life Value at its lowest point, Li Shuyi and Feng Zi'ang left the jungle and returned to the bottom lane, just in time for the first wave of minions to engage the enemy. Meanwhile, the enemy's bottom lane duo had just emerged from the bottom jungle.

Feng Zi'ang (Team Channel): "Captain, be careful, the enemy jungler is starting from the bottom half of the jungle."

It seems that Feng Zi'ang did some research.

Bai Xiaowen dismissed the Ancient Golem, and a light blue aura, the Blue Buff aura, rose beneath his feet. His skill cooldowns were reduced by another 10%, and he gained a buff that restored Divine Might per second for 120 seconds.

It should be noted that in this Summoner's Rift's Rift map space, everyone's skill cooldown time has been greatly reduced to 1/10 of the original, and the Divine Might recovery speed has also been increased by three times (30% of Divine Might is restored per minute).

For example, Bai Xiaowen's Intimidation skill, which originally had a 5-minute cooldown, now has a 30-second cooldown, and the Talisman Switching skill has also changed from a 10-minute cooldown to a 60-second cooldown. The Blue Buff aura further reduces the cooldown time by 10% on top of this.

This greatly increases the frequency of skill usage, which not only rapidly increases the skill proficiency of the participating awakened players but also significantly enhances the entertainment value of the match.

If the skill cooldown time is the original, Bai Xiaowen can only use the Talisman Switching two or three times in a match. The battle between awakened beings can only rely on basic attacks, which is too dull and boring.

Bai Xiaowen's Black Soul Stone growth rate increased to 1/10, and he earned 100 gold coins.

However, just as the Ancient Golem was destroyed, a clear female voice announced the battlefield situation:

First Blood!

"Our Hero Tier has been killed!"

Bai Xiaowen raised his Tactical Wristwatch and glanced at the miniature map.

The deceased was... Liu Fei. Killer: Jiang Yi, mid laner from Jinling University Team!

The atmosphere in the Team Channel was a bit somber. Han Xu and the others hesitated to ask Liu Fei about his situation, while Bai Xiaowen didn't intend to blame Liu Fei either, simply saying, "Stay under the tower and wait for reinforcements."

On the miniature map, the bottom lane duo of the Jinling University Team had already pushed to the Purple Side's turret, trapping Li Shuyi and her companion inside.

Bai Xiaowen (Team Channel): "Bottom lane, get ready, I'm coming to gank."

Li Shuyi (Team Channel): "Okay, my passive is fully stacked. As long as I apply some crowd control, killing the enemy DPS will be a breeze."