Chapter 144 - 103: Esports King

After all, he ran a game-boosting studio. Boosting one person was the same as boosting two.

But when Wang Wei saw Chen Jue’s Bronze Rank account, he looked disgusted. Afraid of getting terrible teammates if they queued together, he sent over a Challenger account for Chen Jue to use.

It was Chen Jue’s first time playing on a Challenger account, and he felt a small thrill of anticipation. Stomping low-rank games just didn’t give him the competitive rush he craved anymore.

But as soon as he logged into the borrowed account, a rank announcement echoed through the Moyu Internet Cafe: "The player at station 73 is a god-tier player, a Challenger from Ionia!"

The moment the announcement played, Chen Jue’s coolness factor and status inside the Moyu Internet Cafe shot through the roof.

The players in the neighboring seats and even some from other sections who were playing League all craned their necks to look toward station 73. "Damn! A Challenger from server 1?"

"Couldn’t be a rented account just to show off, could it?"

Within minutes, while he was still in champion select, a crowd of fellow cafe-goers had gathered behind Chen Jue’s seat, all waiting to watch a god-tier player show off his skills.

Even the cafe manager sent a girl over with three cans of Red Bull, saying that any Challenger-rank player got free drinks. Chen Jue was stunned.

’Holy crap! You get treated this well just for being good at a game?’

’No wonder that kid Wang Wei was changing girlfriends every other day back when he first went pro.’ Chen Jue couldn’t help but sigh, glancing back at the pairs of curious eyes behind him.

’If I lose this game and fail to impress, won’t borrowing this Challenger account just make me a clown? It’d be total social suicide, right here and now.’

And the worst part was, the Moyu Internet Cafe had a projection feature. They were live-streaming Chen Jue’s game screen in the main lobby for everyone to get a close-up look at the skills of a server 1 Challenger.

Faced with this situation, Chen Jue felt a sliver of pressure and nervousness.

Fortunately, his hand speed and reflexes were genuinely well-honed. Plus, he was playing with Wang Wei, a real Challenger, who could coordinate with him. After picking Kha’Zix jungle, he entered the game and immediately began tearing the enemy team to shreds.

Although he didn’t get a pentakill, he did go on a godlike spree in a Challenger-level game in front of everyone, solidifying his reputation as a player worthy of the rank.

"Awesome!"

"Look at that positioning and teamwork. No wonder he’s a Challenger!"

"Dude’s hand speed is insane! His APM has to be over 300, right?"

"He’s stomping even in a server 1 Challenger game. I feel like he could take on the Korean server." The patrons watched with great interest, discussing amongst themselves.

Chen Jue, meanwhile, won several games in a row with Wang Wei. The moment they destroyed the enemy’s Nexus in the final match, Chen Jue felt an immense sense of satisfaction.

Just as he was about to stretch and leave his seat, a notification unexpectedly popped up on his panel:

——————

[Ding~]

[You have completed a high-intensity competitive sport. Your hand dexterity has been fully exercised.]

[Despite external distractions, you maintained a high level of concentration. Your neural reaction speed has slightly increased.]

[Spirit Attribute +0.01]

[Free Attribute +0.01]

——————

’Playing games can also increase Attributes?’ Chen Jue stared at the panel notification, a little surprised.

This was the first time he had ever gained an attribute value from an electronic entertainment activity.

But on second thought, League of Legends was an esport, which was fundamentally a new type of competitive sport.

Any competitive sport inevitably involves mental confrontation and a contest of physical conditioning. Participating in it was no less demanding than traditional sports, so it was understandable that he could gain Attributes from it.

However, seeing the crowd of gawking patrons behind his seat growing larger, Chen Jue quickly logged off and slipped away.

After all, he was just using someone else’s god-tier Challenger account. If someone who knew their stuff recognized that, it would be true social suicide.

「...」

By the time he left the internet cafe and drove back to his apartment, it was already 11 p.m. Chen Jue quickly washed up.

Although the Moyu Internet Cafe he and Jiang Zhe frequented had a nice environment, a person could never avoid picking up a strange smell after spending time in a place like an internet cafe.

The smell of smoke, instant noodles, and late-night snacks, all mixed with the body odor of adult men—there was no way he could sleep without showering and changing into fresh clothes.

By the time he finished everything and crawled into bed, it was already midnight.

This was the latest Chen Jue had stayed up recently. A powerful wave of drowsiness washed over him as his biological clock kicked in.

When he woke up at sunrise the next day as usual, he didn’t feel tired from the lack of sleep. Instead, he felt comfortable and refreshed.

He glanced at his panel’s notification log and saw that, sure enough, a long-awaited [Deep Sleep] notification had appeared in the early hours of the morning. His Constitution and Spirit had each increased by 0.01.

Apparently, going out for some appropriate relaxation had allowed Chen Jue’s mind and body to unwind more effectively, triggering this extremely rare [Deep Sleep].

’Life really is all about finding a balance between tension and relaxation!’

’People aren’t machines, after all. We need adjustments and lubrication.’ Chen Jue mused as he looked at the panel notification.

He glanced out the window. The rain had stopped, and large patches of azure blue had appeared in the sky. The sudden cold front from the south yesterday had not only accelerated the drop in temperature but had also swept away the clouds.

Putting on a thick thermal shirt, Chen Jue went up to the roof of his apartment building.

The cold wind that greeted him was bleak and biting, but it invigorated Chen Jue’s spirit.

As usual, he first assumed the Horse Stance to train his eyes, then began practicing the newly learned Heaven-Drumming Technique and massaging the acupoints on his ears.

After training for over an hour under the sun, constantly pressing the acupoints on his eyes and ears, Chen Jue felt his eye sockets turn slightly red and his ears grow hot.

And just as his panel was showing +4 and +5 Skill Level notifications, another one popped up:

——————

[Ding~]

[Skill Level reached 100%. Skill Level has increased.]

[Ear Health Exercises Lv1 → Lv2]

[Your understanding of ear acupoints has deepened, and your massaging technique has become more efficient.]

[Your hearing has slightly improved. Your atrophied auricular muscles are slowly regaining their original elasticity.]

——————

Looking at the notification on his panel, Chen Jue felt his mood soar.

Because in the process of massaging and stimulating his ear acupoints, he discovered that his ability to distinguish environmental sounds had become sharper than before.

Take his current position, for example. The apartment roof was on the eighth floor, and the straight-line distance to the security booth at the entrance was at least forty or fifty meters.

With the added interference of cars and wind, Chen Jue previously couldn’t hear any sounds from inside the security booth.

But after practicing the improved [Ear Health Exercises] for a while, Chen Jue could now faintly hear the sound of the old security guard playing the radio inside the booth.

It was a storytelling program. The male host’s voice was magnetic and resonant, quite distinctive. Just by listening, Chen Jue could guess it was a segment from something like *Yue Fei’s Biography*.

He faintly heard the name "Lin’an Prefecture," which was Hang City’s name during the Southern Song Dynasty. He also heard a snippet of the story: "Yue Fei was born with divine strength. Before he even came of age, he could draw a 300-jin bow and an 8-shi crossbow. He later learned archery from ’Iron Arm’ Zhou Dong, mastering his techniques and becoming able to shoot enemies a hundred paces away with either hand."

’Drawing a 300-jin bow?’

’This Yue Fei... don’t tell me Lord Yue had a panel just like me?’ Chen Jue couldn’t help but quip.

Although he knew that these storytelling programs were often filled with hyperbole, the figure of 300 jin still gave Chen Jue a small shock.

This was because the weight of a jin during the Southern Song Dynasty was different from today’s, roughly equivalent to 600 grams or more. By that calculation, Yue Fei could draw a traditional Song bow with a draw weight of what would be 360 modern jin—nearly 400 pounds—before he was even 20 years old!

That couldn’t be described as mere "divine strength" anymore; he was practically a mini-superman of the cold weapon era.

The problem was, after Chen Jue finished his morning training on the roof and went downstairs for breakfast, he specifically looked up information about Yue Fei.

Unexpectedly, the claim of "drawing a 300-jin bow and an 8-shi crossbow" wasn’t an exaggeration but was actually recorded in the *Song History*.

This left Chen Jue scratching his head.

’Was it just subtle, loaded wording in the historical records?’

’Or is there really such a thing as "divine strength" in this world?’

’Is the difference in strength between ancient and modern people really that big?’ With several questions swirling in his mind, Chen Jue instantly thought of the academic madman he’d befriended, Zhou Chuan.

Previously, when he had watched Zhou Chuan present a slideshow, he had seen a research topic on his USB drive titled something like *Differences in Physical Constitution Between Ancient and Modern People*.

Knowing the academic madman’s pragmatic way of thinking, he definitely wouldn’t have started such a project casually. He must have researched it because he had discovered the reasons for the differences.

’Looks like I’ll have to find some time to talk with Zhou Chuan,’ Chen Jue thought to himself, temporarily setting aside the small doubt in his mind.