"Terrifying! He reached Legendary 100 Stars with a hundred percent win rate and MVP in every match. Brother Hai, your analysis was right. This Exalted Emperor is clearly a King Title expert wearing an Overlord's skin!"
At the eStar Team training base in Wuhan City, starting mid laner Wanmo felt his scalp tingle as he read the gaming news at the top of the trending list!
"I still underestimated Exalted Emperor by a wide margin." Huahai looked grave. "The dominance he showed while climbing the ranks was enough to rival mine. I even saw a trace of Fly in him!"
"General Feiniu?"
Wanmo's throat bobbed. Fly was an eight-time KPL League champion and a Supreme King Title holder with seven FMVP honors. He was the strongest clash lane player in the current Honor of Kings scene!
There was a saying that had long circulated in the scene.
As long as no Champion Emperor player appeared, Fly was invincible!
Fly was also the active KPL player with the best chance of reaching Champion Emperor!
"Sure enough, I still can't see through Exalted Emperor!" Huahai swiped across his phone screen, his eyes scanning Exalted Emperor's match statistics on Honor of Kings Camp. "The feeling that something's strange is getting stronger."
Wanmo was puzzled. "Strange?"
"Whether they're ordinary players, expert players, or KPL pros, they all have a signature role!" Huahai said as he looked. "You're a mid laner, I'm a jungler, and Fly, for example, plays clash lane!"
"Exalted Emperor has played more than eighty matches, both as a jungler and in the farm lane, but the dominance he showed in those two roles was remarkably consistent!"
Wanmo froze in his seat. "Brother Hai, you mean Exalted Emperor still hasn't revealed his signature role?"
Huahai nodded. "That's right."
A chill instantly ran down Wanmo's spine. Exalted Emperor had crushed Zongshi as a jungler and smashed Nuanyang, the former strongest Overlord, in the farm lane. Yet neither of those roles was his signature role. That was terrifying.
A signature role was called a signature role precisely because, in that role, a player could explode with power and perform above their usual level!
It was like a one-star Mighty King and a fifty-star Glory King. If players of those two ranks met, the Glory King would surely win.
But if the Mighty King player got their signature role while the Glory King player didn't, the Mighty King player would have a strong chance of winning thanks to the signature-role buff!
Wanmo swallowed. "Because Exalted Emperor hasn't revealed his signature role yet, we still haven't seen the limits of his skill!"
"Clash lane, mid lane, and roaming. There are still three roles left." Huahai narrowed his eyes slightly. "Exalted Emperor, which one is your signature role? I'm getting more and more curious."
Huating Residential Complex, Jiangcheng.
[Congratulations to the host on completing the mission. Talent point rewards are now being issued. Total talent points currently available for allocation: 155]
In the bedroom, a system notification sounded in Su Hang's mind.
[First-stage livestream mission progress: 30%] [New mission issued. Please obtain national hero badge honors for any hero before the end of this season. Reward: 200 talent points]
"National badge honors for any hero?"
Su Hang tapped his fingertips against a can of sugar-free cola. Because the system had arrived ten years late, it still saw him as an eight-year-old elementary school student.
Even now, though, eight-year-olds who had earned national badge honors were as rare as phoenix feathers and qilin horns.
The system's version was stuck in Honor of Kings season S1.
Back then, there were no Peak Tournaments or challenge matches. To earn national badge honors, players could only keep climbing to higher King ranks to increase their hero power.
Although five or six thousand power was enough to earn a Major National Badge, it was no less prestigious than it is now.
"Who was my first national badge hero when I was eight?"
Su Hang took a sip of chilled sugar-free cola and looked up as he tried to remember, but it had been so long that he couldn't recall.
"With my current skills, getting one hero a Major National Badge each week would be a piece of cake. No problem at all."
Su Hang looked at the calendar on his desk. Today was July 27, leaving three days before the Major National Badge rankings were finalized at the end of the month.
"If I miss the end-of-July rankings, I'll have to wait for the end-of-August Major National Badge rankings."
An almost crazy idea sprang to mind.
"I don't have a month, or even a week. I only have three days. Before the end-of-July rankings are finalized, I'll start from zero hero power and win a Major National Badge for a hero!"
Su Hang licked the corner of his mouth and tapped the cola can with his index finger. Since he had managed to break his limits this time and achieve the feat of reaching the top with a hundred percent win rate and MVP in every match, why not take on another challenge and reach the top of the national server in three days, starting from zero hero power!
"Bro~"
A girl's voice called from behind him, drawing out the word.
Su Hang turned his gaming chair.
A pretty figure in a dopamine-colored JK outfit teleported right in front of him. She wore a white shirt with a pink tie on top, a pink pleated skirt swaying slightly below, and cherry-colored slouch socks wrapped around her smooth, shapely legs.
"Hmph~"
Jiang Sui leaned her little head close and sniffed her way from Su Hang's arm to his cheek. Her eyes squeezed into >< shapes, and she flapped her arms. "Ah-"
"Bro, you're a fragrant, soft, sweet and chewy, honey-and-cream, sugary-sweet, crisp and crunchy, smooth and tender, fluffy and dense, springy and moist, delicate and soft little cake."
Goosebumps broke out all over Su Hang. He shoved her away. "Where did you learn that string of phrases? Shoo, shoo. Don't gross me out!"
"Eh-heh?"
A surprised look came over Jiang Sui's little face. "Bro, you're in a great mood tonight."
"Mm."
Su Hang took a sip of sugar-free cola and glanced at her. "What is it you want to ask me for this time?"
He knew his sister inside out. Although they lived under the same roof, they were like the most familiar strangers, each doing their own thing. At the extreme, a whole week could pass without them exchanging a word.
But whenever she did open her mouth, she was bound to ask for money.
"Oh, my dear brother." Jiang Sui shook Su Hang's arm and pouted. "Can't I just spend some time bonding with you?"
"You've been bonding with me pretty often lately," Su Hang said mildly. "What Honor of Kings button badge have you got your eye on? Tell me while I'm in a good mood, and maybe I'll agree to buy it for you."
"It's not a button badge." Jiang Sui held up three fingers. "I swear to heaven, I only came to bond with you. There's nothing else."
Su Hang held his cola can and stared in surprise. "Really? Nothing else?"
Jiang Sui assured him, "Truer than Ding Zhen!"
Su Hang looked at her again, still finding it hard to believe.
"It's just that something bothered me today."
Su Hang narrowed his eyes. "Something bothered you?"
"Remember when we went to Wuyue Plaza the other day? While I was at the anime convention, I joined a QQ group for Honor of Kings merch collectors."
Jiang Sui sat down on the edge of the bed and continued, "The merch fans in the group went from talking about rare button badges to talking about relationships. They said how amazing their boyfriends were at Honor of Kings, and deliberately showed off screenshots of their gold-badge heroes alongside their button badges."
Su Hang took a sip of cola. "And then?"
"I wasn't going to join the conversation, but someone in the group tagged me. I said I didn't have a boyfriend, but I had a brother who was really amazing at Honor of Kings!"
"Then they asked me, 'How amazing is your brother?'"
Jiang Sui said proudly, "So I said my brother was the number one Baturu in Honor of Kings!"
"Pfft-"
Su Hang sprayed out his drink and stared at her. "Number one Baturu?"
"They didn't believe me and even made fun of me. They told me to show them a screenshot of a hero currently ranked for a Major National Badge." Jiang Sui ventured, "Bro, you've played Honor of Kings for so long. You must have a hero currently ranked for a Major National Badge, right?"
The fox's tail had finally shown itself.
Su Hang nodded. "Yes."
Although his new account, Exalted Emperor, didn't have any heroes currently ranked for a Major National Badge, his old account seemed to have more than a dozen. He couldn't remember exactly how many.
Jiang Sui brightened. "Then do you have a mid-lane hero currently ranked for a Major National Badge?"
"A mid-lane hero?"
Su Hang froze. His old account had more than a dozen heroes currently ranked for national badges, but not a single mid-lane hero ranked for a Major National Badge. After all, in season S40, he had mainly played junglers and farm-lane heroes.
"All my rare button badges are mid-lane heroes." Jiang Sui waved her little fist. "I want to pair them with a screenshot of a mid-lane hero currently ranked for a Major National Badge and really mock them back!"
Su Hang took a sip of cola. "I don't have a mid-lane hero currently ranked for a Major National Badge at the moment."
"Huh?"
Jiang Sui looked visibly disappointed.
"But."
Su Hang said mildly, "I will in three days."
At those words, Jiang Sui's eyes shone with boundless light!
"Love you to death, my dear brother!" Jiang Sui instantly turned into a servant and rolled up her sleeves. "You must be tired, Bro. I'll go run your bath right now."
"Wait."
Su Hang stopped his sister.
"What is it, Bro?"
Su Hang asked casually, "Which mid-lane hero's button badge do you like best?"
Jiang Sui pressed a finger to her chin and thought for a long while before naming a mid-lane hero.