All-round Mid Laner

Chapter 69

Very quickly, the game began.

Team FNO stuck to their predetermined plan of stealing Tianhuan's red buff. They invaded Tianhuan's jungle with a group of four—their support, marksman, jungler, and mid laner.

Because the Stealthy Rogue was a jungler without a mana bar, Chi Shuo would rely more on the red buff. As long as FNO could steal away Chi Shuo's red buff at the start of the game, they would disrupt Chi Shuo's ability to farm in the jungle and suppress his ability to develop.

FNO's coach had said that Tianhuan built their team around Chi Shuo as their jungler core; the other players weren't much of a threat.

Mitchell took his teammates over to the red buff, where they ran into Qu Jiang and Cheng Xing. Qu Jiang saw that the enemy was a group of four heroes, so he instantly hit the command to retreat.

Cheng Xing reacted very quickly; he decisively used his flash to escape.

The enemy support, the Master Machinist, had a control skill at Level 1. If he used one of his mechanical soldiers to stun Cheng Xing, then Cheng Xing wouldn't be able to run anymore—he would only be able to die at the enemy's hands, which would greatly hinder his ability to fight later in the game.

At the same time, a group of three—Chi Shuo, Ye Shaoyang, and Qin Yizhu—were invading the enemy jungle to steal their red buff.

Chi Shuo had guessed that FNO would try to steal their red buff. If they faced them head-on, Tianhuan wouldn't necessarily win. In that case, it was better to simply avoid facing them head-on and run off to steal their red buff instead. This opening became a matter of 'you steal from me, I steal from you'. Neither side would come out at a loss, anyway.

After taking down the enemy's red buff, Chi Shuo instantly returned to his own jungle's blue buff.

He swiftly hacked the blue buff down to a sliver of HP, then said, “Shaoyang, come take the blue.”

Ye Shaoyang claimed the buff with a Q skill, then hurriedly returned to the middle lane.

Although Mitchell and the others had stolen Tianhuan's red buff, they didn't manage to kill anyone. Their own red buff had been stolen as well, so it could be said that they wound up achieving nothing. What really surprised them was the fact that Tianhuan's mid laner was glowing with the light of the blue buff.

Mitchell dubiously wondered, “Isn't Tianhuan a jungler-core team? Why did they let their mid laner take the first blue buff?”

The buff buff wasn't only good for restoring mana. It also decreased cooldown times of a hero's skills, and the most important part was—after taking down the buff in the jungle, a player's experience and gold gains would be slightly higher.

If a jungler wanted to reach Level 6 as quickly as possible and learn their ult, they would definitely take the first buff that spawned for themselves. Only a support jungler would step aside and let a teammate take the buff, so that their teammate could develop more quickly.

So…

What exactly was Tianhuan thinking?

Their jungler was their core, but they'd let the mid laner take the first blue buff. That meant the jungler wouldn't be able to reach Level 6 in the next four minutes. A jungler who couldn't learn their ult wouldn't be able to gank anyone!