LPL didn't want me? I joined SKT instead!

Chapter 220 version changes, regarding the encirclement and attack on Xiao Yan.

Chapter 220 version changes, regarding the encirclement and attack on Xiao Yan.

"You did it."

Lee Hyun-kyung took a step forward, closing the distance between them, and he could even smell her faint perfume.

She raised her head, her eyes, gleaming with an unusual brilliance, staring intently at Xiao Yan. Her gaze no longer held the poise of a host, but rather the admiration and adoration of a woman for a powerful man.

"You looked absolutely stunning today. Especially when you made that arrogant declaration on stage, I felt my heart skip a beat." Lee Hyun-kyung made no attempt to hide her admiration, her voice becoming somewhat coquettish.

"Sister Xianjing, you flatter me." Xiao Yan raised an eyebrow slightly. Although he didn't reject such praise, he preferred to let his strength speak for itself.

Lee Hyun-kyung suddenly pulled a brand-new smartphone out of her handbag. The screen was lit up and displayed an interface for adding friends.

She handed the phone to Xiao Yan with a bright smile on her face.

"Mr. Death, now—" Lee Hyun-kyung's red lips parted slightly, her breath sweet as orchids, "Could you give me a chance to continue getting to know you privately?"

"Your Kakao account or WeChat account is fine."

Xiao Yan looked at the phone handed to him, then at Li Xianjing's expectant yet slightly uneasy eyes.

He did not hesitate or make any awkwardness.

In the world of esports, he is an absolute king; in real life, he is equally fearless.

Xiao Yan naturally took Li Xianjing's phone, his slender fingers quickly tapping the screen a few times, entering his personal number, and then pressing the add button.

"It's approved."

Xiao Yan handed the phone back to Li Xianjing, a smile playing on his lips.

"You're always welcome to get to know me," Hyun-kyung unnie. However, I might not have much time to chat with you until the World Championships are over.

Lee Hyun-kyung took the phone and looked at the new black profile picture in her contacts. Her heart melted with joy.

She carefully put her phone back into her bag, then winked at Xiao Yan and said playfully, "It's okay, I can wait. Go, go win the world championship, that day—"

Lee Hyun-kyung leaned close to Xiao Yan's ear and whispered in a voice only the two of them could hear, "I will give you a reward that is even more special than today's."

After saying that, she took a step back, regained her elegant and charming demeanor, waved to Xiao Yan, turned around, and disappeared at the end of the corridor in her high heels.

Xiao Yan stood there, savoring the lingering warmth of the breath on his ear, and chuckled softly.

"interesting."

He turned around and strode towards SKT's bus.

A night breeze swept by, stirring up a few pieces of golden paper on the ground.

This is a turbulent early autumn.

Golden ginkgo leaves are already falling on the streets of Seoul, and a slight chill hangs in the air. But for the global League of Legends esports community, the temperature is already boiling over. The annual World Championship is about to begin.

However, at this crucial moment before the World Championship, Riot Games officially released a series of events that can only be described as...

Version update announcement for "Earthquake Magnitude".

This update log, which is tens of thousands of words long, has been studied repeatedly under a microscope by commentators, coaches, players and countless gamers from all major regions around the world.

Soon, everyone came to a startling and unanimous conclusion—this was not a routine end-of-season balance adjustment at all; it was a complete and utter "divine punishment" targeting SKT's core player, "Xiao Yan."

In past matches, Xiao Yan's performance on the field can only be described as "terrifying." His ghostly lane dominance, millisecond-precise damage calculations, and unreasonable solo tower dives left all his opponents feeling utterly hopeless. His farming speed broke all records in League of Legends history; often, by the 2000-minute mark, he would have a full item ahead of his opponent, even surpassing the timeline in CS (creep score). This extreme individual heroism, while thrilling for viewers, completely shattered the "teamwork" game philosophy painstakingly cultivated by Riot Games designers.

So, the authorities took action.

Every change in the update announcement was like a precise scalpel, aimed directly at Xiao Yan's Achilles' heel.

First, there's the overall weakening of "development speed".

The respawn time of jungle monsters has been significantly extended, which means that after pushing the minion wave, Xiao Yan can no longer recklessly enter the jungle to plunder resources as before. The experience and gold rewards of lane minions have been reduced by 100% in the first 15 minutes of the game, while the armor and magic resistance of the turret plating increase exponentially as the number of plating layers destroyed increases.

These changes directly eliminated Xiao Yan's possibility of rapidly snowballing his power through extreme sword suppression and consuming plating.

Secondly, there's the epic increase in "solo kill difficulty".

The official update not only increased the base health and scaling armor of all heroes, but also reduced the effectiveness of all armor penetration and magic penetration items in the early game.

Even more critically, the damage from Ignite has been reduced, while the damage reduction effect from Weakness has been enhanced.

The attack power of the defensive towers also received a terrifying boost in the early stages, with the damage increase ratio for consecutive attacks on the same target being frighteningly high.

This means that tower diving will be virtually impossible in the new version. Even a fraction of a second of mistake while tower diving, or taking an extra hit from the tower, will result in an immediate counter-kill.

When this update announcement was translated into multiple languages ​​and spread wildly on major esports forums, the whole world was in an uproar.

"This is insane! Is Fist League tying Xiao Yan's hands together to make him play the match?" A well-known commentator from the North American region shouted, holding his head during the live broadcast.

"This is the first time in League of Legends history that the official developers have forcibly changed the underlying logic of the entire game in order to limit the individual ability of a player. Xiao Yan had the developers write a separate version just for him." On the European region's forums, countless players were posting like crazy.

Meanwhile, in the LCK region of South Korea, the coaching staff of various teams held an emergency meeting overnight to study the new version known as "Xiao Yan's Shackles".

However, restricting Xiao Yan also means that the overall pace of the game will be irreversibly delayed.

Now, early kills have become difficult, the snowball effect has been greatly reduced, and all teams will be forced into a long period of development and attrition.

The focus of the game shifted completely from early laning phase solo kills to team skirmishes around the Elder Dragon and Baron Nashor after the 30-minute mark.

The average duration of a match has been stretched from 25 minutes to 40 minutes, or even 50 minutes.

This dramatic change in game pace is a test of professional players' tactical reserves, but more fatal is the enormous strain on their physical fitness and mental endurance.

During intense competition lasting forty to fifty minutes, players need to maintain a high level of concentration at all times, and their fingers need to make tens of thousands of precise clicks on the keyboard and mouse.

Once the game drags into the late game, any misstep in positioning or any deviation in skill usage can lead to defeat.

Under such suffocating pressure, the physical exertion is terrifying. Many esports players who lack training often find their hands trembling, their minds blank, and they don't even have the strength to stand up after a grueling 05-minute match. In the high-intensity best-of-five format of world championships, playing a full five-game match places physical demands on players comparable to a marathon.

The atmosphere in SKT's training room was somewhat heavy.