It was a friend request from his teammate Dolia.
That was Huahai, [Homebody Moe Meow], who had spent the early game pretending to be a girl.
"[Huahai] is pretty good at the game, and his temperament and personality are all right. But his liking for pretending to be a girl is hard to judge."
Su Hang thought it over for a moment, then added him as a friend.
He had not made friends in Honor of Kings for a long time, but in the game's inaugural competitive year, he had been eager to make friends everywhere, getting to know all kinds of one-trick experts, masters, and even professional players.
But as time passed, the gaming friends he had been close to, whether because of school or life, had either quit or disappeared.
Once he understood that gaming friends only accompanied him for part of the journey, he focused on the game itself and stopped socializing to make friends.
[Homebody Moe Meow]: I saw the comments in your livestream. Your fans said you just turned eighteen. Tsk, tsk, tsk, you're so young, and you're damn good at jungling too. Interested in joining our eStar Team as a pro?
Su Hang replied without hesitation: Not interested.
Ever since the game's inaugural season, people had kept inviting him to play professionally, but he had turned them all down flat.
His reason was simple. In his previous life, "special circumstances" had left him no choice but to enter the professional scene and shine there, and he had long since grown tired of it.
He valued freedom and disliked being bound by the professional league's rules and restrictions, so he would never enter the professional league, no matter what.
The livestream chat exploded.
"Holy crap! The great Exalted Emperor turned down Huahai's invitation!"
"Shocking! Huahai, a seven-time KPL League champion once known as the King of Junglers, invited a top solo queue player from the streaming scene to go pro, only to be ruthlessly rejected. Is this the distortion of human nature, or the decline of morality?"
"What's all the fuss about? I think the great Exalted Emperor was right to refuse. Sure, going pro is a shortcut to proving your skills in Honor of Kings, but a streamer can also prove himself by climbing to the top of the various leaderboards."
[Homebody Moe Meow]: That's such a shame. Your skills are already far beyond those of an Overlord-level player without any polishing. If you gave the KPL League a try, you might even become a king.
[Exalted Emperor]: Oh.
[Homebody Moe Meow]: You agreed to a 1v1 duel with a grandmaster this time and gave me plenty of face in the match. I owe you a favor. If we ever meet in person, I, Hua, will definitely pay you back.
[Exalted Emperor]: Mm.
[Homebody Moe Meow]: I've got something important to deal with, so I'm logging off. Let's play together when we have time, yeah?
[Exalted Emperor]: Sure.
"Brother Hai, I don't understand. Why would you lower yourself to invite this Exalted Emperor to play professionally for our team?"
At the eStar training base in Wuhan City, [Wanmo], who had just been promoted to the team's starting mid-lane position, was full of confusion. He might as well have had "I don't understand" written on his forehead.
Huahai put down his phone and said meaningfully, "Isn't a player who could potentially earn a [King Title] in the future worth inviting?"
"Uh-"
Wanmo scratched the back of his head. "But Exalted Emperor isn't even an Overlord yet. Isn't it a bit rash to say he has King Title potential just because he casually pulled off that sorcery with Jing, defeated a grandmaster, and carried the whole match?"
"None of that matters." Huahai shook his head. "I judged his potential based on his freakish ability to gauge players by eye!"
"You watched the whole match from beginning to end without missing a second. Let me ask you, can you judge your teammates' actual skill from their positioning, habits, and little details?"
Wanmo thought for a moment and said seriously, "I can judge roughly what range their skill falls into, but it's pretty vague."
"To be more precise, I'd have to check their game profiles afterward."
By the time he finished, Wanmo's face had turned red, and he smiled sheepishly.
"That's what makes Exalted Emperor so frightening."
Huahai gave Wanmo a long look. "Before the match had even reached the laning and farming phase, he could already judge his teammates' actual skill, right down to what level of honor badge they'd earned and even the range of their highest hero power!"
"Among all King-Titled Players throughout the years, my ability to gauge players by eye is in a tier of its own. Even that filthy bastard Fly, who has a Supreme King Title, isn't as good as me. And yet Exalted Emperor can match me."
Huahai narrowed his eyes slightly. "Don't you think that's terrifying?"
Wanmo shuddered violently. "Brother Hai, now that you've broken it down, Exalted Emperor really is terrifying."
Who was Huahai? He was the unmatched monster with the best eye for judging players in the entire KPL League. In a match, he only needed to watch an enemy's chosen hero for ten seconds to determine that player's true skill.
He could then target the weakest enemy for a focused breakthrough. With this terrifying ability to gauge players by eye, he had led the eStar Team to the pinnacle of the league and dominated an entire era!
"The fact that Exalted Emperor isn't an Overlord only proves how high his starting point and talent are. Add that terrifying eye of his, and earning the Overlord title is only a matter of time. He'll definitely earn a King Title in the future!"
"King Title-gulp."
Wanmo's throat bobbed. As a second-tier honor title, the King Title marked players whom both nonprofessional and professional teams fought over until their heads broke and blood flowed.
A team with a King Title player and one without were as far apart as heaven and earth!
Take the Chongqing Wolves of the past. With Fly, a [Supreme King Title] holder, holding down the fort, they had swept up nine league championships, and their worst finish had still been in the top three!
As for their eStar Team, they had been anchored by two King-Titled Players: Huahai, who had already retired, and Senior Qingrong, who had transferred to the Hero Team not long ago. They had thus swept up seven league championships and earned a reputation as the league's Great Demon King team!
In the past few KPL seasons, one important reason the Wolves and their eStar Team had fallen out of the ranks of the very best teams was the absence of King-Titled Players to anchor them!
Huahai changed the subject. "But as things stand, a King Title won't be the end of Exalted Emperor's pursuit!"
"What makes you say that, Brother Hai?"
Huahai said, "His in-game ID."
Wanmo seemed lost in thought as he repeated, "Exalted Emperor, Exalted Emperor, Exalted Emperor!!!"
A moment later, his whole body jolted, and he said in horror, "Could it be-"
Huahai nodded. "That's why we have to build a good relationship with Exalted Emperor. It's not just for the team's sake, but for my own as well."
"Little Wan, do you know why Qingrong transferred and why I chose to retire?"
"Could it have something to do with Champion Emperor?"
"That's right."
Deep longing rose in Huahai's eyes, and an enraptured expression appeared on his face. "That title is even more enticing than a KPL League championship, Player of the Year, or a championship FMVP skin!"
A moment later, Huahai's gaze turned razor-sharp.
"I have a feeling that in the second half of this year, one of the three who have sat firmly atop the canyon for nine years will be pulled down from their pedestal!"