Chapter 48: Spontaneous Promotion

After absorbing the golden skill of Perspective-Level Awareness, Lin Hao took a moment to reflect.

First and foremost, his memory had improved significantly.

His brain could now process multiple streams of information at an astonishing level.

Take, for example, today’s match where he collected the most rage points. When he collided with Ji Ran, even Lin Hao’s nationally ranked Jin Chan was caught out by Ji Ran several times.

There was nothing he could do about it—Jin Chan is naturally countered by heroes like Han Xin who can ambush from the fog of war. Even Lin Hao’s top-tier Jin Chan awareness wasn’t always enough to keep track of a ceiling-level Han Xin.

But now, everything was different. With perspective-level awareness at his disposal, it was almost impossible for anyone to catch Lin Hao off guard again.

“Luck’s really on my side today!” Lin Hao nodded in satisfaction. “I actually drew a golden skill on the first try!”

“Let’s keep going!”

Blue lights flashed one after another. At a cost of 160 rage points per draw, Lin Hao, with the amount he’d collected in a day, could keep drawing for quite some time.

Perhaps his luck truly was exceptional today. Soon after, Lin Hao drew two purple skills in succession.

“Congratulations, Host! You have obtained National Server Mastery: Elder Fuzi!”

“Congratulations, Host! You have obtained National Server Mastery: Ma Chao!”

Both were heroes renowned for dominating the side lanes and showy plays.

Lin Hao had already played Elder Fuzi a few times before, mainly because that hero relies heavily on movement skills—and Lin Hao had drawn a script-level movement skill at the very start.

However, in other aspects such as awareness and split-pushing, Lin Hao’s Elder Fuzi was only at about a 2000-point level.

Now, with this mastery skill, he had patched up his weaknesses.

Combined with perspective-level awareness, carrying two powerful skills, Lin Hao’s Elder Fuzi was now stronger than Yi Fan’s.

As for National Server Ma Chao, that was a skill Lin Hao had long coveted.

Yuan Ge, Guan Yu, and Ma Chao—the three legendary side lane heroes. All were difficult to master, but their potential was equally immense.

With both awareness and movement skills enhanced, Lin Hao’s mastery of Ma Chao had undergone a true transformation.

...

“Recently, the up-and-coming streamer Da Xiang–Haoran on Shark Platform’s Honor of Kings section has attracted a massive following with his cocky demeanor and flawless mechanics.”

“Numerous top-tier streamers—Xin Ran, Yi Fan, Nine-Tailed Fox, Ji Ran, and others—have fallen to him in peak matches, even being ruthlessly taunted to the point of losing composure. Let’s enjoy these moments where the streamers break down!”

The scene shifted to a clip from Yi Fan’s stream.

“What the hell is up with this Elder Fuzi’s movement?!”

Next came Nine-Tailed Fox.

“Is the enemy Guan Yu insane? Why is he invading my jungle this early?”

...

This was a news segment about Lin Hao on the King’s Express.

King’s Express was a short video program launched by the King’s Camp Assistant in this world.

Normally, a streamer with little fanbase or buzz wouldn’t be featured on King’s Express.

But Lin Hao had repeatedly matched with well-known streamers, angering each of them and delivering explosive entertainment value.

So this episode of King’s Express gave Lin Hao a comprehensive spotlight.

Similarly, on many other platforms, news about Lin Hao was sprouting up everywhere.

Many were organic posts—Lin Hao’s guild hadn’t paid for promotions, but the topic and freshness of his content led media outlets to publicize him voluntarily.

...

Xiao Yu had just started his career after graduating from college.

He was now an intern doctor.

He was also an avid Honor of Kings player.

However, as a corporate drone, especially a newcomer, his daily workload was overwhelming. He hardly had time to play the game anymore.

That night, at midnight, he’d just finished his shift and wrapped up a long day.

Arriving home with some barbecue in hand, he prepared to enjoy a solitary late-night feast in his rented room.

It was a rare moment of leisure. Eating skewers just called for some Honor of Kings gameplay videos to enhance the meal.

As for actually playing a few matches himself… he simply didn’t have the energy.

He searched for “Honor of Kings Peak Matches” on Bilibili.

He’d been following this uploader for a long time—who often posted exciting matches at the top of the ladder, usually featuring clashes between two or three popular streamers, making for great entertainment.

“The latest episode… Haoran completely outplayed Nine-Tailed Fox? I know Nine-Tailed Fox, but who’s this Haoran?”

Puzzled, Xiao Yu clicked on the video anyway.

If he didn’t start the video soon, his barbecue would get cold and lose its flavor!

“Which is more important: lane minions or the enemy jungler’s tempo?”

“Friends in the audience, let me tell you seriously—it’s all about the jungler’s tempo!”

“That’s why, with my Guan Yu, I always invade the enemy jungle at level one, even if I have to pop Sprint to do it!”

The match was a clip from Lin Hao’s stream, shown from his perspective, with Lin Hao’s live commentary and voice throughout.

...

Xiao Yu listened to Lin Hao’s deadpan nonsense, utterly stunned.

But… it kind of made sense.

Even though he lost a wave of minions, this slowed down Nine-Tailed Fox’s jungle tempo, which in turn delayed the enemy team’s overall offensive rhythm.

But that wasn’t the main point.

Why was this Haoran… so brazen in his playstyle?

He kept recalling to base, kept spamming apology taunts.

And his taunts almost never failed—the enemy could only watch him taunt, helplessly.

Interesting!

After finishing the match, Xiao Yu immediately searched for Haoran on Shark Platform.

It was after midnight, so Haoran wasn’t streaming. Xiao Yu followed him anyway, planning to watch his VODs when he had time.

If all his matches were like this, it would be genuinely entertaining—and, honestly, very satisfying to watch!

...

Lin Hao, meanwhile, wasn’t very aware of all the publicity swirling around him.

He just noticed that his stream was unusually popular tonight.

Before he’d even started playing, his viewer count had already reached 1.1 million.

With that kind of viewership in the Honor of Kings section on Shark Platform, if not top ten, he was at least on the front page!

The barrage of messages was just as intense, matching the hype of the biggest streamers.

At the very start of his stream, the chat was already moving so fast that a single message would be pushed off the screen within five seconds.

But with a bigger forest, you get all kinds of birds.

Lin Hao now saw plenty of negative comments, including spam, offensive advertisements, and even abusive messages targeting the streamer.

At times like this, you needed moderators to keep things clean.

Previously, Lin Hao had only one moderator, named “Love Hidden in the Deep Sea,” who had gifted him his first plane when Lin Hao started streaming. As a small-time streamer back then, Lin Hao had promptly made that viewer a mod.