Chapter Seven: The First Lesson in Becoming a Professional Top Laner

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This was the first life-or-death match since the team’s reorganization.

At this juncture, Coach Nofe, newly appointed, wielded absolute authority. The draft phase was almost a formality; he merely asked players if they could handle certain picks, but ultimately locked in his own predetermined strategy.

After various respectful bans and meta bans, the final lineups were:

V5: Top – Camille, Jungle – Olaf, Mid – Ryze, Bot – Caitlyn and Lux
OMG: Top – Gwen, Jungle – Xin Zhao, Mid – Galio, Bot – Samira and Nautilus

Luo Ji glanced at the compositions and felt a headache creeping in.

On the surface, neither lineup had major issues. But this assumption rested on both teams flawlessly executing their coaches’ tactics in-game: V5’s Caitlyn-focused strategy needed to be effective early, or OMG had to withstand early pressure and then split the map with double rotations mid-game.

But, as the saying goes, you can’t have it all.

Since this was a battle of tactics, only one team could prevail.

The chat was rife with doubts, memes, and betting fans—Luo Ji preferred to call it “respect,” or, less diplomatically, blaming whichever side lost for poor draft choices.

“This round, we’ll focus mainly on the bot lane.”
“Mid and jungle, pay extra attention to bot. If Caitlyn’s push is stifled early, it’s nearly half the match lost.”
“As for top lane,”
“Try not to give the enemy too many chances.”

Even as Nofe spoke before stepping down from the stage, he sounded like a nagging mother, until staff finally intervened and “escorted” him off.

Even during loading, the team, holding the rookie top laner in mind, remained deeply concerned about Luo Ji’s condition.

“How are you? Really no problem?”
“Absolutely fine. I’ve practiced Camille a lot offline—I’m basically ready to open a shop.”
“Open... a shop?”
“Yeah, I’ve studied a bit about human bondage techniques. Tortoise shell binding involves ropes, Camille’s kit is rope-based as well. One technique leads to mastery of all. Plus, ropes sell well. Just add a ‘bondage’ prefix and you can sell a simple hemp rope for 10 to 20 bucks—pure profit!”

The other four on V5 were speechless.

Wait, do you really mess around like that in private? And just imagining this serious-looking guy awkwardly practicing with ropes for mastery on stage made them smile so crookedly that the tension of this life-or-death match eased momentarily.

Soon, the match began.

At the start, Luo Ji positioned himself conventionally to guard the top-jungle area, pondering XLB’s jungle path. Since they planned to focus on bot lane and Olaf was the jungler, the opening was undoubtedly a red buff start on the blue side.

This meant, at least early on, he had to play cautiously.

Top lane was like this:

Had he possessed a perfect mastery system, he could’ve dominated any matchup and faced a stepping-stone top laner like Shanji with a triumphant cry: “Never had such a glorious start! Cheer for me, celebrate me!”

But he didn’t.

And he’d been schooled by seasoned top laners before.

Many think top laners are simple and honest, and many top laners do seem straightforward.

But if you go and lane against them, you’ll see how cunning they really are.

So after the first wave, Luo Ji strictly followed the philosophy of the author of “From Ekko Basics to Galio Mastery” Chu Sheng: no fighting at level one, focus solely on balancing the minion wave.

The reason was simple.

Camille is slightly disadvantaged against Gwen. At level one, if Gwen tries to contest the wave, Camille can only retreat. Gwen’s QE easily breaks Camille’s bone plating. Luo Ji’s runes were set to Grasp of the Undying and he started with a Doran’s Shield, emphasizing stability.

On the other side,

Shanji’s gaze on Luo Ji was like that of a predator eyeing prey.

But as a pro who joined the LDL team LEG in 2019 and has been on the professional scene for nearly five years, Shanji didn’t imagine beating his opponent by brute force. He wanted to cruelly make Luo Ji walk his own path.

It was just the Demacia Cup, after all—just for fun.

Yes!

Veteran players often have this dark humor.

New players’ first tournaments tend to be reckless, impulsive, emotional, and easily triggered by a little provocation. They give away kills for free, especially top laners. As a rookie, if you’re not fierce and willing to fight, how do you build your reputation?

So...

Despite his rich lane experience, Luo Ji deliberately showed a few cracks early on, giving Shanji some “sweet fruit” to taste first. Once Shanji gained an advantage and got complacent, Luo Ji would strike like thunder to show him the dark side of human nature.

Just thinking about this made Shanji feel a bit exhilarated.

“This isn’t right!”

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Shanji’s feigned weakness immediately set off alarms for Luo Ji.

Unlike other LDL rookies or academy players, Luo Ji was handpicked and trained by the legendary Saint Gun. He had been outwitted and set up in countless mind games. How could a professional top laner ever concede level one?

Could it be that Shanji somehow sensed Luo Ji’s overwhelming aura through the screen?

Just as Luo Ji was about to speak in voice chat,

At 2:03, the sound of the bot lane support dying—giving the first blood—suddenly rang in his ears.

Luo Ji: ...

Damn, the worst-case scenario happened!

Checking his status bar, he’d only last-hit two or three minions—barely the first wave. The bot support was dead first, just like in past matches.

This was a real top laner lying down while the “good news” came from bot.

[V5, doomed!]
[God-tier bot lane, Caitlyn strategy is dead after one death?]
[This is how it is against Able, god’s punishment descends before the divine child!]
[Rookie and Karsa, do something! ()]

The sudden death of the support silenced V5’s voice chat, especially XLB, who had planned to help secure a bot push at level three.

But...

He hadn’t even finished his first buff, and their bot already died?

If this was ranked, he’d already be raging. How could the Great V Dragon be built with these pests?

“My fault.”

After a brief silence, PPGOD apologized decisively.

“I messed up too,” said Xiao Yan, the bot laner. Since bot is a unit, he couldn’t avoid responsibility.

“No big deal, guys.”

Luo Ji spoke up just in time: “As the saying goes, when it’s dark in the east, it’s bright in the west. We can focus on top lane now. They’re treating me like a noob, I’m treating them like idiots. We have a chance.”

The other four on V5: ???

Hearing Luo Ji’s voice, the entire team instinctively turned their cameras.

And what they saw was Luo Ji pushing his advantage slightly against Shanji’s top lane, holding a small minion wave lead.

Holy crap!

This is outrageous for a rookie!

“Wait... how did you do this!?”

XLB, who was initially confused and upset, suddenly found direction.

Right, the coach’s strategy centered around bot lane, but with bot support dead early, they lost early initiative. The Caitlyn strategy can’t afford mistakes early; once it falters, the whole segment collapses.

Put simply:

The Caitlyn strategy is like a certain player from Hebei who laughs at low intensity but cries at high intensity—has no real durability.

Unless your bot lane is insanely good, like Uzi in the old days.

“No, it’s not that I’m strong. He’s treating me like an idiot, deliberately showing cracks.”
“Especially after PPGOD died, his moves were even more obvious—he purposely missed a few Qs. He really thinks I’m a fool.”

Hearing this, the teammates immediately understood.

XLB hurriedly asked, “So what did you do?”

“Me?” Luo Ji paused, then said, “I ate all the sweet fruit and waited for you guys to come. Now, in his eyes, I’m just a standard dumb rookie.”

V5: !!!
Lucky star!
This is a real lucky star!

For days, even though they knew Luo Ji was the direct pupil of Saint Gun, he had been fairly ordinary during practice and scrims, showing none of Saint Gun’s slyness. Instead, it was bot lane’s Xiao Yan who had shined.

But in the match, Luo Ji’s true nature was revealed instantly.

In V5’s backstage room,

Assistant coach Zero and head coach Nofe watched the screen with smiles, as if all this had been foreseen.

Especially Nofe.

Having watched Luo Ji’s streams many days ago with Rookie, how could he believe this sly-top laner suddenly turned good? Especially one trained by Saint Gun—no, this guy’s mind is always scheming.

And Shanji had actually fallen into his trap?

Thinking this, Nofe curiously looked at Zero:

“When did you figure it out?”

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Clearly, he was curious about Zero’s reaction.

He confirmed it after watching many streams himself, but Zero—surely he wasn’t secretly watching streams too?

Zero thought for a moment and said:

“Probably the moment I saw him not contesting.”

As a professional coach, even an assistant, Nofe had seen countless academy players. Almost every one of them tried to prove themselves with explosive plays to earn a spot on the main roster.

This was theoretically correct, but they wasted their energy in the wrong places.

V5’s lineup was built around mid and jungle from the start.

Even ignoring that, before a player’s true skill is verified, teams instinctively focus tactics around bot lane, because academy results are unreliable. Even the so-called “Blue Sky” who dominated academy was only average in the LPL.

Therefore,

At this stage, V5 needed a top laner who could execute tactics seriously and hold the lane steadily.

Luo Ji fit perfectly.

He didn’t fight unnecessarily. He did exactly what was needed in scrims, mature beyond his age.

He seemed to lack Saint Gun’s slyness but had actually absorbed and refined it deeply, integrating it in ways others couldn’t see.

Not fighting didn’t mean not fighting at all—it meant waiting for the right moment.

Like this match.

When the bot support died, he immediately seized the moment, proactively coordinating with jungle. Nobody doubted him then; his voice was like salvation.

“This isn’t right.”
“Feels wrong to an extreme degree.”

On the other side of the screen,

Shanji, who had purposely shown cracks to Luo Ji, was beginning to suspect.

He feared he’d been found out.

Though he had deliberately shown weaknesses, he couldn’t do so all the time. Half-truths and careful bloodline control was the safe play; Gwen dying once wasn’t much better than Caitlyn.

But the problem was,

Even though Luo Ji accepted every bait, he seemed selectively eating only some traps. Several times, Shanji wanted to bait him into a kill.

But Luo Ji never took the bait—he was too cunning.

If this was coincidence, Luo Ji’s luck was absurd.

If deliberate, what kind of monster was Luo Ji?

“AKI, come help me out here, this rookie’s got problems.”
“Okay, on my way.”

AKI was surprised.

He didn’t expect Shanji to call for backup even when bullying a rookie.

But the rhythm felt good; thanks to the bot lane’s early kill, their bottom half had a huge advantage, freeing up jungle path.

This wave was go-time.

With AKI’s response, Shanji steadied himself.

No one blamed him for being ruthless; at this level, who fights 1v1 like a true man?

Only after enduring brutal pro beatings do you realize nothing fits the stage better than victory.

Just as Shanji thought this,

That sly Camille suddenly charged forward.

At the same time, a burly figure appeared in river vision.

Seeing this, Shanji’s eyes widened.

Damn!

He thought calling jungle was shameless enough, but who was this fast reinforcer, even faster than him?

Luo Ji was cunningly standing close to the wall.

Camille’s wall dash is faster than normal, and Gwen had no flash. Standing by the wall practically guaranteed Shanji’s demise.

The screen showed

The sudden top-jungle synergy crashed like a tidal wave.

Faced with this overwhelming force, what could a level-5 Gwen do?

Only this:

A night raid on Pearl Harbor, the beauty startled.

Two atomic bombs, Japan and Germany surrender.

V5 Mebius killed OMG Shanji.

First blood secured!