She opened her streaming app and logged into League of Legends: Wild Rift.
Barbatos, with practiced ease, clicked on Ranked and hit 'Find Match'!
It was a new account, but she'd already grinded it up to level 10 beforehand, meeting the requirement for ranked games. Perfect timing to jump straight into ranked right after starting her stream today.
The stream title was boldly displayed: "The Wondrous Adventure of Japan's Thousand-LP Queen on the Chinese Server."
The Japanese server for the mobile version had launched over a year earlier than the Chinese one, so running into Chinese players on there was common.
She'd often seen people typing in pinyin to communicate.
Now, actually playing ranked on the Chinese server gave her a peculiar feeling. She wondered if she'd run into any familiar people over here.
Having crossed over and become an Uma Musume herself, she was a certified horse girl through and through. If anyone tried anything, she'd teach them a lesson right then and there!
Since she only had one phone, she couldn't see the live chat while playing. The best she could do was switch apps after each win to check and respond to any comments. But as a new streamer, she didn't need to interact with viewers constantly anyway—after all, she had zero followers at the moment.
Position selection: Jungle, ADC, Mid, Top, Support.
Setting the order like this meant that even if she got autofilled, she'd most likely end up as ADC, a role still perfectly capable of carrying the game.
"Lucky me, got Jungle first game."
Unable to see the chat or viewer count, Barbatos muttered to herself as she entered the champion select screen.
She immediately pre-selected Master Yi to prevent a teammate from accidentally banning him. It wasn't that she had to play him, but Master Yi just felt smooth to play. Especially since her true main—Hecarim—hadn't been added to the mobile version yet.
"Uh."
Her voice tinged with helplessness as, right on her phone screen, a teammate banned Master Yi despite her having pre-selected him. She opened the chat and silently typed a single "?".
She really didn't get it. Why would they ban her pick when she'd already shown it, and the enemy team hadn't banned Yi either?
"Their team has first pick. You wouldn't get him."
Reading that message, she felt a wave of exasperation.
So what if the enemy picked Yi?
It's not like the game was unwinnable. But then again, in lower elo, Master Yi seemed to be this permaban-or-pick kind of champion. Get a few kills and his late-game cleanup potential was insane; even without precise timing on his Q and W, multi-kills were still possible.
Resigned, she picked Jax for the jungle.
Thankfully, while this account didn't have many champions, she'd made sure to buy all the viable junglers. Even if autofilled to ADC, she still had the Ashe gifted from the beginner missions.
As the game loaded, she quickly switched to check her stream. It'd only just started, so it was unlikely anyone had found her tiny channel yet, right?
Contrary to her expectations, a flicker of hope wished someone had already dropped in. She glanced at the stream interface.
Viewers: 27
The number surprised her. You see, on this particular platform, view-bots were practically non-existent; the viewer count reflected real people. And these viewers weren't just watching—they were chatting.
Except, apart from two comments, the rest left her utterly baffled.
Chat:
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"With an accent like that, you sound like a high-ranking officer. Streamer, are you Japanese or something?"
"Ehe~"
"Ehe~"
"Is that picture really you, streamer? If it is, looking forward to finding more of your pics on Kaka."
(T/N: Chinese version of the hub/r34)
"Don't be mad, streamer. I've had my pre-picks banned by teammates loads of times too. Those people are seriously the worst."
"So... you guys play Genshin too?!"
"Ehe~"
--+--
Having so many chat messages should have been a happy thing, but Barbatos was momentarily plunged into confusion.
Staring at the two words "Ehe" that made up nearly half the comments, she muttered, "Ehe?"
The word came out sounding a bit strange with her native Japanese accent. Was that word some new popular phrase, like "slay" or something? But the loading time for Wild Rift was short, and the jungle camps spawned quickly, so she didn't dwell on it, switching back to the game instead. She couldn't see any subsequent messages.
"Well, yes, I am Japanese."
"The picture is one I just took. If the stream goes well, maybe I can use a webcam later so you can see."
"Let me focus on the game first. I'll reply to all your comments after the match. If you like the stream, feel free to hit the follow button in the top right."
The photo they mentioned was a selfie she'd just taken and set as the stream thumbnail while configuring the broadcast. She hadn't expected the thumbnail alone to attract a bunch of... let's just say, enthusiastic viewers.
Guess this was the legendary power of a 'thumbnail click'.
Entering the game, she pushed all other thoughts aside. She controlled Jax to place a ward in the blue buff area, then recalled and headed to the F6 camp.
Unlike the PC version, in the mobile game, even melee attacks have a small area-of-effect damage, allowing you to hit the large Raptor and the smaller ones around it simultaneously. That's why many junglers start with the F6.
(T/N: F6 is short for raptor camp. Lowkey, if you don't know league why u even reading(i don't play league))
Her route was set: F6 -> Red Buff -> Krugs, finishing just in time for the Scuttle Crab to spawn.
After taking the crab, she smoothly used a Flash-E combo to assist her mid laner, securing First Blood on the enemy mid. Then it was back to farming, buying items, and looking for gank opportunities in the lanes.
At the 4-minute mark, both the Rift Herald and the Dragon spawned. With her items already updated, she brought Jax to the Herald and started whacking it with her lamppost.
In a high-elo match, she'd consider the Dragon's element, the state of the side lanes, and the enemy jungler's position before deciding.
But for these placement matches, Barbatos went straight for the Herald—it was better for snowballing and ending games quickly.
The Herald's body slowly collapsed, but no death cry signaled the Dragon's fall; the enemy team clearly had no intention of taking it.
"This game is over. It's my tempo now."
She didn't bother with the Dragon immediately. Instead, she ganked the unprepared enemy mid laner again. Without even using the Herald, they destroyed the mid lane outer turret. The enemy jungler and the freshly respawned mid laner arrived far too late.
After backing for more items, she headed bot lane. It was just a matter of swinging her lamppost wildly at the unsuspecting bot duo, taking the tower, and then securing the Dragon.
She still had the Rift Herald. Now came the classic Jax split-push strategy. A Jax with two items at just over six minutes was practically invincible; you'd need at least three people to have a chance of taking him down.
In under 10 minutes, Jax, sporting a luxurious 13/0/3 score, secured the first victory of her placement matches. The 2 Blue Motes credited to her account the moment the results screen appeared.
But when she switched back to her stream interface, she couldn't help but freeze.
Someone had gifted a 'Captain' subscription?!
(T/N: Its basically a sub on twitch)
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T/N: While I am an inexperienced Translator, I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 1 Chapter Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.