Without hesitation, A-Gao used his starting 500 gold to buy a 435-cost Magic Codex and a 50 gold Health Potion, instead of opting for the safer route of Guardian’s Ring (400) + 2 Health Potions or Guardian’s Shield (400) + 2 Health Potions.
“Playing in Gold rank doesn’t need any explanation—just stack up damage and slaughter everything.” A-Gao clenched a cigarette between his lips, full of confidence as he walked onto the lane, bragging as he puffed smoke. “Honestly, if it weren’t for the heavy discipline I got during my pro days, I wouldn’t even bother bringing this potion.”
Controlling with one hand, he blew a smoke ring. “What’s the use of this potion, huh? You think I’ll actually drink it? Don’t make me laugh. Do I even need to explain the healing from the Count’s Q skill? And come on, I’m not looking down on Gold players or anything, but with your little Gold-rank mechanics, you think you can even land a hit on me?”
[Here we go, Gao Emperor reminiscing about the old days]
[Bro only played one pro season, accomplished nothing, and got benched. What’s there to brag about?]
[Shh, don’t interrupt a dying man’s memories]
[“A dying man,” lol! Even the jokers have learned to be diplomatic. Gao Emperor has fallen so low he’s flexing in front of Gold players—show him some mercy]
A-Gao curled his lip disdainfully, drew on his cigarette, and focused his gaze on the Stellar Sprite · Aeria. He had seen plenty of her the first day she was released—even at Master rank there were tons of them. Out of ten Aeria players, eleven were total feeders. If she was on his team, they lost; if she was on the enemy, they won.
Back then, he declared that Aeria was doomed: she couldn’t win any lane matchups, had no damage in teamfights, could only hover at the edges and observe, and would disappear within a few days.
As expected, Aeria was already extremely rare at higher ranks.
A-Gao squinted his clouded eyes. Aeria’s QWE could all be blocked by minions or sidestepped with positioning. Meanwhile, his Blood Count could lifesteal and sustain himself. In lane, his pressure was practically zero.
“Watch me solo-kill her at level 2.” He curled the corner of his lips, trying to look cool, but instead accidentally revealed a rather deranged grin.
[6, even against Golds he has to talk big first—classic Pro Gao]
[Place your bets, which teammate will Gao Emperor flame first this game?]
[Even in Gold he flames teammates? Streamer, stop grinning—you scared my dog]
The audience spammed sarcastic comments, but their eyes were glued to the blue-haired little girl on screen.
Aeria obediently stepped out from the shadow of the tower’s vision, then, bouncing cheerfully, hopped straight into the left-side river bush in front of hundreds of thousands of viewers.
Everyone assumed she was setting up an ambush.
A-Gao was genuinely amused. “Doesn’t even know how to hide vision? Entering the bush right in front of me?”
While he mocked aloud, his mind was already preparing dozens of ways to dodge her abilities—though whether his hands could keep up with those imagined maneuvers was another question.
But unexpectedly, just as the blue minion wave reached the first tower, Aeria walked strangely out of the bush, wobbling like a silly penguin.
The blue minions immediately turned their weapons on her and started moving toward her.
The next second, Aeria stepped back into the bush again, instantly dropping their aggro.
[????]
[What the hell is this move??]
[Got it! At the start, she’s using the bush to manipulate minion vision, styling on them! Even the minions are dumbfounded!]
[Not just the minions—she styled on Gao Emperor too! He can’t even last-hit properly now!]
[Minions: mdzz!]
“Damn it.” A-Gao’s eyes widened as he cursed under his breath. Then, reading the barrage of comments, he couldn’t help rolling his eyes.
He felt deep frustration—these viewers were clueless. Sure, his skill had declined somewhat, but he had once been a member of AQ, a starting mid-laner in the HPL league. What did that mean?
Even as the weakest, AQ would still play through a full regular season, giving him plenty of opportunities to lane against every top-tier mid-laner. Sure, he hadn’t solo-killed many of them, but he had been solo-killed plenty! The audience might not notice these details, but he could.
The opponent was clearly wave-controlling!
By pulling minion aggro with early movement, clustering them together, and altering their attack order so they focused his side’s front minion, the wave would inevitably push back toward Aeria’s tower. That meant A-Gao’s jungler would have a harder time acting, immediately shutting down early mid-lane gank potential.
For a champion like Blood Count, who lacked early roaming or fast wave-clear, this pushback wave was deadly—A-Gao would be forced to play far forward to last-hit, unable to let the wave push and roam elsewhere to mitigate risk.
At high-level play, battles were often decided in these tiny moments.
Poisonous. Too poisonous!
And this was only level 1! Just this one detail was enough to make Blood Count’s life miserable until level 3 or 4—until his support and jungler’s first rotation came to relieve the lane pressure.
By then, Aeria could easily use her advantage to set up ganks and roams. Fall behind by one step, and the Blood Count would fall step by step behind.
Some viewers who watched pro games and high-rank streams also noticed.
[Who’s calling the enemy random? Can you shut up if you don’t understand high-level mechanics?]
[Hiss—that wave control was refined beyond belief]
[Not gonna lie, that wave management is several patches ahead of Gao Emperor. His flailing is cracking me up]
[It’s a smurf, Gao Emperor is done for]
A-Gao’s expression grew heavy.
This kind of wave-control technique is way too subtle. Even many players at Top King rank don’t notice it, or at least haven’t formed the habit of forcing themselves to play this way. He himself only secretly picked up a few tricks while laning against some of the league’s top mid players. Unfortunately, since he never drilled it repeatedly into habit, he often forgot to use it.
But the problem was—how could this little Gold-rank player possibly know such a technique?
Irritated, he ruffled his hair and lit another cigarette, his tone grave: “Damn, something’s up. This round we might’ve run into a real expert.”
“But no rush. Let him strut for a bit first.”
A-Gao pulled back slightly, moving far more cautiously. “What mid laner haven’t I fought against before? Which one of the four HPL midlane gods—ABCD—haven’t I solo-killed? Just some smurf account.”
Like rattling off menu items, A-Gao listed a few IDs.
The “ABCD” he mentioned were precisely the four strongest midlaner players recognized domestically—Amor, Boring, Cpyhc, and Doll—nicknamed by fans as the Four Letter Gods.
[Crazy crazy crazy, so if someone kills me 20 times but I get one kill back, that’s a ‘solo kill,’ right?]
[Isn’t C-god supposed to be Cloud? (lol)]
[So junglers who tax midlane CS count as mids now? Of course, the “Four Gods” can be five people!]
[Where’s my G-god? No G-god? G-fans are furious]
[What the hell is G-god, don’t tell me it’s Ghost the so-called Ghost Emperor? A wannabe “Emperor” is worthy of leeching clout off the Four Gods? Your Ghost Emperor is about to crash straight into hell with PNG, better hurry up and retire, lol.]
[Upstairs, I suspect you’re taking shots at Gao Emperor, and the evidence is solid]
“Don’t bark yet,” A-Gao sneered. “This round, I’ll bring out one hundred percent of my strength.”
Whoosh—
Before he even finished, the Stellar Sprite hit him with a blind Q from out of vision, a flying star right to the face, making the Blood Count let out a pained shriek.
Unconvinced, A-Gao immediately moved his Count forward to trade, trying to use his Q to heal while poking back, but Aeria simply kited him with nimble backsteps.
He retreated—Aeria advanced. He advanced—Aeria retreated. Back and forth, she worked the spacing to perfection, so that he simply could not land a skill. The Blood Count was left impotently raging in place, stuck mid-casting animation like a glitching puppet.
“Sht!” the scruffy young man cursed, slamming his mouse against the desk with loud clatters. “Fcking smurf, huh? I’m gonna teach you a lesson this game!”
[Here it comes, my favorite Gao Emperor trash-talk segment]
[This is a former pro? Can’t even dodge skills? Getting infinitely kited by a Gold? Love it.]
[Gao Emperor quote of the day: ‘How could a Gold possibly beat me?’]
——
Not only A-Gao, even Ning Sui’s stream chat was filled with question marks after that play. The black-haired young man glanced at it, and during a lull in last-hitting, explained:
“With this kind of lane control, the Blood Count is miserable. Before level 3, we’re perfectly safe.” Ning Sui spoke earnestly. “Later on, if support and jungle don’t come relieve the lane, once we hit 6 we can look for a solo kill. Aeria is very strong into traditional mages, but the Count’s laning power is also very high—you just really shouldn’t go head-to-head before 3.”
“Relieving the lane” means that when the opponent keeps freezing minions in front of their tower to suffocate you, your support or jungler—mobile roles—come cover you, so you can force-push a wave. Then the next wave meets again at mid-river, resetting the lane and easing pressure. It’s a common way of surviving tough matchups.
[666666, learned something new]
[Baby, your analysis is so detailed it’s dizzying]
[Wait, isn’t Aeria an assassin? Shouldn’t she push and roam? Didn’t you earlier play Fox and gank at level 2?]
“It’s different. Aeria’s side ganks rely too much on landing her E. Without teammates helping early, she can easily waste the trip.”
Sui Ning multi-tasked smoothly, explaining while executing another long-range Q that struck the Blood Count. His HP bar dropped dangerously low, forcing him to back off and chug a potion in humiliation.
“Besides, why must you gank sides to make money?” The black-haired youth smiled faintly, his eyes skipping past the low-HP minions and locking onto the Count.
Right now, the Count, the minions, and Aeria lined up perfectly.
Feigning casualness, Sui Ning tossed a W to clear the wave. Predictably, the Count didn’t sense danger and even tried to poke with Q.
The moment W exploded on the minions, Sui Ning dinged level 3. Too late, A-Gao realized—damn, this sly bastard timed XP to hit level 3 first!
But it was already over. Ning Sui’s W had been placed cunningly: its outer ring explosion killed the minions and leveled him up right as the Count stood exposed. No more obstacles between them. A precise E locked the target and applied Galaxy Mark, forcing the Count’s Flash. Then Ning Sui reeled him back with a long-range predictive Q, maximizing damage and detonating his passive.
Bang—!
In half a second, the level-2.5 half-HP Count evaporated.
[Fenglan (Stellar Sprite) has slain XGSY (Blood Count)!]
[First Blood!]
The youth gave a small smile, his voice in the mic soft and devilish, like a demon whispering from the abyss: “A solo kill is still worth first-blood gold. No need to run all that far for it.”
The chat instantly ignited.
[Holy sht sht sh*t, was that Aeria? A level-3 solo kill?? Isn’t she supposed to just spam Q poke from afar?!]
[What the hell, that damage is real? Everyone starts with 500 gold, how are you this cracked?!]
[That hand speed was so fast I couldn’t even see… the sleep effect from E didn’t even register, right?]
[Where’s my minion? Where’s my big fat minion? Why didn’t it block the Q?! I’m dizzy!!]
“See that?” Sui Ning pressed his lips together, eyes sparkling. “From level 3 onward, Aeria already has solo-kill potential. Level 6 is a small power spike, and after that her damage only gets more and more ridiculous—she stays extremely strong all the way into late game.”
“As for those minions just now, that was one of Aeria’s classic early laning tricks. You use the low-HP minion between you and your opponent to make them think their position is safe. But in reality, you can instantly last-hit the minion with the edge damage of your W, then chain into E plus the pull-back on Q. The damage is really high—and even if it’s not enough, it still triggers the second part of E. Then you can just walk up to finish the kill.”
After explaining the combo, he paused and added with a bright smile, “Of course, that’s also because the opponent was too careless. At lower ranks, people really can’t react fast enough to this kind of burst.”
[6666, I’m tired of repeating the word “strong”]
[The streamer knows Aeria so well—could he be playing on a smurf account of the top Aeria in the national server?]
[Nope, the top Aeria is live right now… honestly, between us, I feel his mechanics aren’t as smooth as the streamer’s…]
[Above+1]
[Wait, low rank—? But that XGSY ID looks really familiar. If I’m not mistaken…]
A viewer suddenly remembered something and searched it up. Sure enough, they found a live stream on Little Shark Streaming Platform.
Clicking in, the game screen was black and white: 0/1/0 Blood Count, and it was the same matchup. Looking at the webcam in the bottom right—who else could that greasy-haired guy be but A-Gao?!
A-Gao had just been solo-killed. He was slumped in his chair, spewing curses as he bickered with his chat.
[That’s A-Gao all right! Flash-into-graveyard, classic move!]
[LMAO, what trash thinks he can call himself a retired pro? Getting wrecked by a Gold player?]
[Immortal quote: “Aeria is trash.” I literally went to grab a glass of water and he already fed first blood hahaha]
[One word: noob]
Sarcasm flooded the chat. A-Gao fumed, hands trembling as he tried to light a cigarette. “Do you idiots even understand the game? I was countered, okay? Aeria is my hard counter!”
[66666 excuses coming in hot]
[Who was the clown saying Count mid is unbeatable and Aeria is useless? Dies once and suddenly it’s a counter matchup?]
[Refund refund refund refund]
“That guy’s clearly using an account booster,” A-Gao shamelessly argued. “That bastard saw me pick Count and deliberately counter-picked. Screen-peeking dog, may his whole family drop dead.”
Hearing this, fans who had just come from Sui Ning’s stream were immediately pissed.
[What nonsense—you do know the other guy is also a streamer, right? ^^]
[Feng-bao is way stronger than you. Carrying him away, don’t bother asking ^^]
[Does killing you really require screen-peeking? ^^]
[Live room: 32566, brothers drop a follow—watch Diamond Walnut Feng-bao stomp trash-talker A-Gao ^^]
The flood of “^^” comments, one after another, felt like some kind of eerie secret code. A-Gao’s viewers couldn’t help but get curious.
Before he knew it, a massive wave of people had flocked to Sui Ning’s stream.
Soon, the flame war sparked by first blood reached halftime.
“What’s wrong with you guys today? Out of energy already?” A-Gao sneered, taking a sip of water. But when he glanced at his viewer count, his heart skipped. “Pfft—!”
Where the hell did his audience go?!!!
His viewership had dropped by nearly a third?!
A-Gao exploded. “The hell, what random nobody streamer is leeching off my popularity and stealing my viewers? Ban his account right now, mods do your damn job!!”
[Report! My lord, the mods have already defected!]
[LOL I’m done, let’s go watch the idiot meltdown instead]
[Did anyone record A-Gao’s peak mental breakdown just now?]
[Got it. Gonna use it tonight]
[…You can use that? Bro, you’re on another level]
Viewership kept plummeting. Curious viewers left, checked out 32566, and instantly got hooked by that hypnotic “Diamond Walnut” catchphrase. A-Gao’s stream was now reduced to trolls and hecklers.
Frustrated and helpless, A-Gao couldn’t think of a way to pull people back. His entire persona was built on clashing with his chat—there was no way he’d swallow his pride and beg for viewers. Flustered, he slipped up again and got caught out by Sui Ning.
[Fenglan (Stellar Sprite) has slain XGSY (Blood Count)!]
“Fck!!”
He slammed his rage into his keyboard. With a loud crack, two keycaps popped off and flew across the room.
By level 6, two solo kills had already sealed the Blood Count’s fate—his lane was completely doomed.
----------
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