"Holy shit. That really fits the saying—my AI joseki is unbeatable."
But this Professional Go 2-dan reward was kind of trash. The only thing it really did for him was let him brag.
After all, 2-dan wasn't actually that strong.
He didn't know how the system judged it either.
If it used an algorithmic framework like AlphaGo, then it would be a real, genuine 2-dan level. If he ran into a monster like Jaguar, he'd better ask for a three-stone handicap and quietly place three stones first.
TL:
Joseki (定石) is a Go term meaning "established sequences" or "standard patterns" - these are the well-studied, optimal move sequences in corner positions that Go players memorize and use.
"AI joseki" refers to the revolutionary new joseki/patterns discovered by AI programs like AlphaGo and its successors. Before AI, joseki were based on centuries of human play. But when AlphaGo defeated top human players, it introduced completely new move sequences that humans had never considered - these became known as "AI joseki."
Even then… he might still not win.
As for entering tournaments and stuff, that was just a thought for now. Unless he truly had nothing to do at the club and the timing happened to be right, it wasn't impossible to join something.
But the first major task was still to get his face back.
In a few days, he'd immediately host a viewers' chess-and-board-game exchange tournament!
He'd show them his real strength.
"Just thought of something interesting. It's nothing," he said, seeing chat asking about his expression.
"???"
"With that sneaky grin, it can't be anything good."
"Agreed. He's probably thinking about how to show off. He advanced to the solo finals so easily—he's already imagining the championship scene."
"Honestly, Brother Infinite Borders' Naraka skill is insane. So many pros and they can't beat him? Xiang Yu's stats in the pro league are ridiculous. His eliminations are almost always top three. He's in that top-tier group."
"When those two ran into each other, I thought Brother Infinite Borders was done. My heart sank. But then he actually outplayed—those quick dodges were so damn cool."
"Hidden gem streamer. I saw it on Tieba and thought it was just fan water army hyping him, but once I entered the stream, he really is cracked."
"Brother Infinite Borders is the ultimate hidden gem. Spend one buck and you get seven or eight kinds of happiness. In the entire streaming world, who else can do that? The craziest part is he's still a League pro…"
"Two games and he's already over 40 points, eight points ahead of second place. Qualifying should be no problem."
"Now I'm looking forward to trio. Playing with Dai Laoliu and them—team coordination in three-man is actually pretty hard."
"Even though Brother Infinite Borders has been doing well in ranked, the Elite Cup has tons of pro teams. And FPX is currently number one…"
"Hahaha, I'm imagining TOP versus FPX. It's Naraka, but it's basically a clash between two League clubs."
"That picture is actually pretty funny…"
The chat was lively as everyone waited for Game Three to begin.
In Game Three, Lin Fan picked up another seventeen points. Second place didn't close the gap—he fell even farther behind. It couldn't be helped. The cruelest lesson of battle royale was landing and instantly dying.
And the scoring was the most honest: zero.
If not for his huge point cushion, there might've even been a risk of failing to qualify.
But now it was basically confirmed: Lin Fan would qualify for the finals in first place, unless he pulled back-to-back "land and die" games afterward.
Plenty of people were looking forward to seeing that, but in the end they were disappointed. Lin Fan's Canaan escape ability was truly top tier.
He could run a full lap around Tianren City and kite people like he was walking a dog.
Games Four and Five were more intense, but overall his points didn't change much.
After five games, Lin Fan finished with 94.5 points, entering finals as the knockout stage's first seed.
"This Canaan is actually insane. Main hero. True main hero."
"Wonder what hero Brother Infinite Borders will pick for trio."
"Probably Tianhai or Yueshan. In trio he plays position one—he's the one tanking damage up front."
"Yeah, a key main tank like that has to be Brother Infinite Borders. Yaya can play Kurumi and heal from the back. And honestly Yaya's Kurumi is really strong. Plus Dai Laoliu's control hand—this comp has something."
"GBL is playing separately… even Dabaotou went solo. Their internal conflict is really wild."
"It's all because results were bad, plus Dai Laoliu doesn't have enough authority in the team. He can't keep those players in check. If it were Brother Infinite Borders, they wouldn't dare say a single word."
"Come on. Skill is always the key factor for team authority. Dai Laoliu hasn't been dominant since others caught up. Look at Brother Infinite Borders—crushing in the pro league, mid lane stats miles ahead. Who in the team doesn't respectfully call him 'Brother Fan'?"
Dai Laoliu's level really had declined after others caught up, and with Dabaotou being young and hot-tempered, he'd snap back the moment you said two words—
That's how their team atmosphere became what it was.
"Holy shit, Brother Infinite Borders, those five games were way too strong. It was like bullying kids—easy, no difficulty at all," Yaya said as she joined voice chat.
"His dueling is crazy too. Solo was definitely smooth. Yaya, today in trio we can't drag him down," Dai said.
"Of course. I practiced all night. Just woke up, brushed my teeth, washed my face—I feel amazing. Kurumi is online today!"
"Really? Don't be the first one to die," Lin Fan joked.
"Uh… today I definitely won't desync. I'll stick with you. If I still die next to you, then it means your protection isn't good enough."
"In that case I should bring out Tianhai Master, and have a teammate grab-protect you. I'm afraid you'll actually die.
Or I can play position two. My Kurumi is pretty good too."
"Hahahaha, no, no. Not that serious."
Joking aside, Yaya's individual skill really was strong. Calling her the nation's number one Kurumi was not an exaggeration.
Her understanding of the hero was beyond normal.
They chatted a bit more. Lin Fan checked the time—about forty minutes until the match started.
If he didn't top up some energy now, he'd get low blood sugar during trio.
He went to the water bar to see if there were snacks. A banana would help a lot and keep his stomach from growling. So he got up and headed over.
There were actually quite a lot of snacks on the table. He grabbed a strip of milk tablets, a banana, and a bottle of Nutritional Express.
"Are those milk tablets good?" JackeyLove had just finished a game and stretched, seeing Lin Fan eating.
"Yeah, they're good."
"Ah—"
"Get lost!" JackeyLove tried to get fed, and Lin Fan just tossed half a strip of milk tablets into his face.
"Damn, Brother Fan, why do you turn cold so fast? When I fed you fried chicken before, your mouth opened so wide."
The chat exploded again.
"So affectionate. This is TES's double carry."
"GayShui! Xiaohu can step down—GayShui duo is next."
"Jokes are fine, but don't turn it into CP fans like Crisp and Lwx. It's disgusting. Their bot duo barely interacts in public now because they have to 'avoid suspicion.'"
"That's true. If two pros stop talking in public, that's a problem. TES is still rising—they need another star on the jersey."
"With this form, it feels very possible."
As team after team entered, the Elite Cup trio group stage entered its final countdown.
Twenty teams—basically all pro squads.
Weibo team aside, since their trio record was too poor. But the T1-tier Wolves team, FPX, Jay Chou's JTeam, and the current popularity king Baoda…
All of them were strong. Breaking out of the trio group stage would obviously be difficult.
After all, compared to solo, trio was the most exciting and best to watch. With this level of intensity, it was normal—team competition was the entire point.
It was like League of Legends: if it became a solo-only game where you just fought mid lane and pushed the opponent's base to win, forget having a league—if anyone played at all it would already be impressive.
It wasn't that solo games were bad.
It depended on the game type.
Like StarCraft 1v1.
Even so, its popularity globally was only average.
That alone said a lot.
Naraka itself was also well-made, but its heat and popularity declining day by day was still kind of insane.
Thankfully, ever since the Elite Cup started, it felt like the game was about to resurrect.
A couple days ago they checked backstage data, and the Naraka staff were all dumbstruck.
Just Brother Infinite Borders playing solo once and occasionally streaming practice had an absurd influence.
A huge number of new users registered. At this pace, not only would this Elite Cup not lose money—it would profit, and the heat would fully break out.
Right now Naraka's daily active users were holding above 120,000.
Still not at its launch peak, but for the current stage, it was a very strong number.
After the long decline, the planners' hearts had gone half cold.
At this pace, if it dropped to 50,000, they wouldn't even recoup maintenance costs.
Shutting down would only be a matter of time.
They'd researched this game for so long—ending in a bleak collapse was unacceptable.
It would become a joke to other departments.
So in this last stage they wanted to "give it a boost." Not necessarily resurrect, but at least stabilize in middle age and not slide into old age…
Thankfully, the results finally came! This wave of heat was pure profit.
Sure enough, the current "traffic password" of the game industry was Brother Infinite Borders!
Who else had that kind of power?
From Infinite Borders, to Goose Goose Duck blowing up—wasn't that proof enough?
With living examples in front of them, the planners were willing to gamble. If it failed, it would only accelerate the game's death. If it succeeded, running it for another four or five years would be no problem.
So the operations director, watching the numbers climb, ran around in his office in excitement.
He pumped his fist and shouted, "Nice! This is Brother Infinite Borders' influence! As long as he keeps playing Naraka, the heat can keep going!"
"But the system has to be fixed next. Cheaters must be cracked down on hard!"
"And new players need a good experience. In ranked, new players should only match with new players. If there aren't enough, fill with bots…"
If they could keep the onlookers, even if they didn't become loyal players, as long as they thought of the game sometimes and came to watch once in a while—that would be a huge success.
…
At this moment, the most eye-catching trio match finally began.
Since they couldn't directly choose Tianren City as a drop, Lin Fan led Yaya and Dai Laoliu to jump south of Tianren City, landing on a small path only a few dozen meters away.
Normally, Dai Laoliu wouldn't pick such a risky landing, but now Lin Fan was the caller. Playing safe and farming was pointless.
And there were three squads nearby—clearly they wanted Tianren City's resources.
If you rushed in first and got fed, you could farm eliminations nonstop.
Even if you got eliminated, you could revive.
In trio, being arrogant wasn't a big deal. Playing too safe actually made it harder to score.
Low placement points didn't matter. If you killed enough, a comeback wasn't impossible.
"Three squads is actually a bit few. With us, that's only twelve people. At least five squads should come over and brawl," Lin Fan said.
"Wouldn't that just turn into a big brawl? It's Elite Cup. Most people still want results. 500,000 is very attractive even for pros," Dai Laoliu sighed.
Even among pros, their popularity gaps were huge. Without popularity, you basically couldn't get sponsorship money. The only money you could actually take home was the tournament prize pool.
Which meant: if you didn't rank high, you got very little.
That was also why Dai Laoliu had considered retiring this season.
With his team's current state, placing well was basically impossible.
Meaning he'd have no income for the entire year.
People still have to feed families. Without money, how do you chase dreams?
In that case, wasting time was pointless…
But if they could win the Elite Cup, 500,000 would give him the confidence to keep chasing his dream.
If the team is messy and doesn't listen, kick them all out!
Dai Laoliu had privately told Yaya too: disband or not depended on this Elite Cup.
So the two of them decided to go all out and coordinate with Lin Fan to get the best placement possible.
"But with three other teams, are we really fighting?"
"Fight. When you meet on a narrow road, the brave win. Get into the city and loot first," Lin Fan said while marking ahead, piloting Tianhai into Tianren City.
Arrogant—yet extremely eye-catching.
The director immediately swapped the camera over.
"TOP charges in first and enters Tianren City!" Korgi shouted in commentary.
He hadn't built much of a name in the League casting circle and rarely got stage time. He'd taken a risk and switched to Naraka casting. And now he'd become the top caster—so long as the game's heat didn't drop, he'd have plenty of space to grow.
So he loved seeing the match heat rise. And in his commentary, he always brought up Lin Fan.
"And GD and the Wolves team are also near Tianren City—so they're bound to collide sooner or later…"
"And Weibo team is on the outer edge. Tianren City is destined for a war of wolves and tigers!"
The main camera stayed on Tianren City.
Listening to Korgi, Lin Fan's supporters grew nervous.
"Let's see what the Souljade piles drop…"
Lin Fan piloted Tianhai to open a Souljade pile first, and golden light burst out.
A gold spear skill: Raging Waves.
"Looks like this match wants me to play spear."
Yaya was best at longsword, while Dai Laoliu mainly played greatsword.
Neither of them used spear, so it had to be him.
Raging Waves was indeed strong—
As long as he found a spear first.
He flipped a couple piles and found a blue spear.
"Brother Infinite Borders is ridiculous! His luck is always maxed out. He just opens any pile and gets Raging Waves?"
"Now he has a weapon and blue armor. He might be the strongest fighter in Tianren City right now."
"Let's see which unlucky squad runs into him first."
Tianren City wasn't big. While looting, they already spotted other players.
But there were too many people around. If they forced a fight, they could get ratted.
Then Lin Fan noticed the Wolves team—someone had purple armor.
Two words: want it.
"Fight! Instantly delete Kurumi!"
Lin Fan grappling-hooked straight onto Kurumi and started charging Raging Waves immediately!
Dai Laoliu and Yaya both jumped—completely shocked.
They didn't expect Lin Fan to go in like that. But they were a team. If their response was slow, it would be the same as selling Lin Fan out.
The Wolves team also didn't expect TOP to be so shameless and jump right into their faces.
Wan Feng looked at Lin Fan charging in front of him and sneered. Trying to bait me into parrying mid-air?
Then I'll just charge back!
But the next second—ding!
He got parried.
And then came Raging Waves!
The suction pulled in all nearby teammates. Dai Laoliu and Yaya arrived and instantly charged attacks too.
They deleted Kurumi on the spot.
The remaining Yueshan popped ultimate, but it didn't change anything.
Cui Sanniang died together with Kurumi.
"Fuck," Zhou cursed and piloted Yueshan to run.
Yaya immediately stripped Kurumi's purple armor, ate a revival flower, and started chugging pots to refill armor.
Two rat squads nearby had originally planned to steal a kill, but after bumping into this scene, they could only shoot from afar and then back off.
"Beautiful. Two elimination points right after landing. Wolves can only retreat. In their current state they can't stay in Tianren City. They have to leave and farm."
"Brother Infinite Borders is decisive. Grapple forward to bait parry, then directly triggers Raging Waves with Dragon King Break."
"High skill, big courage! This engage was absolutely worth it. Yaya swapped into purple armor—some safety at least."
"Then Tianren City won't keep fighting for now. Everyone's healing too fast, and they all still have ultimates."
But Tianhai Master unexpectedly grappling-hooked onto Ning Hongye—clearly he wasn't letting them leave.
And GD team stayed too.
If they fought, GD could profit as the fisherman.
Ning Hongye's long legs lit up, and she kicked toward Lin Fan.
Everyone thought it was a guaranteed hit—
But Tianhai, under Lin Fan's control, slid and dodged it cleanly.
His teammates followed up immediately, forcing Ning Hongye to pop ultimate and fight!
But in Tianren City, ultimates didn't have much space to shine.
Dai Laoliu countered with Sandstorm to cut off pursuit, and the three jumped sideways.
Seeing this, GD had zero hesitation and went in.
Finally, a chance—at least five eliminations this fight.
But when they collided, they found TOP had vanished from the battlefield.
Damn—big trick.
GD hesitated.
But the opponents had already burned most of their ultimates. If they didn't fight now, there'd be no chance later.
So they hardened their scalp and went in.
With three people, they instantly chunked Ning Hongye low. But right then, the sound of grappling hooks rang out.
The Lin Fan who had "run away" returned—landing with a jump slash to steal the low-HP kill.
"Fuck, Brother Infinite Borders is disgusting," Cay shouted.
"Their Temulch has no ult. Just delete him first!" Dongqing yelled, charging a sword wave as a sneak attack.
Lin Fan instantly hit the quick parry key!
He parried the sword wave right back, then counterattacked with—Raging Waves again!
Boom boom boom!
Raging Waves' suction pulled in nearby Yoto Hime and Yueshan.
As for the Kurumi at the side, Dai Laoliu and Yaya handled her.
In a 2v1, they quickly forced out Kurumi's ultimate, but it did nothing—she got comboed to death anyway.
Lin Fan used Golden Bell and an instant step to escape the encirclement of the remaining two.
The squad that had run away healed and came back to fight again.
The situation instantly became chaotic.
Three versus three, two versus two.
Whoever could run out of Tianren City—
Would be massively fed
And become the strongest chicken-dinner contender.
From the situation, TOP still held the advantage.
But even though the two enemy squads didn't communicate, they had reached an understanding: four versus three!
They rushed from both left and right, trying to force a combo while Lin Fan's state was unhealthy.
The moment four people closed in, Lin Fan activated his ultimate—turning into a Titan form!
One grab—he caught Yueshan in his hand!
Then he side-jumped, aimed at Cui Sanniang, and right-click grabbed again—snatching her out of the air.
Double grab!
He smashed both of them into the ground.
Double kill!
After that, it was one-sided pursuit—an easy team wipe.
"My god! Brother Infinite Borders' double grab was a pure execution. It completely flipped the fight. TOP has already taken eight eliminations and is now a war-god team. Brother Infinite Borders even got the Tianren City 'City Lord' title!" Korgi shouted.
The official stream chat spammed 6666 across the screen.
"If the league was this fun to watch, how could it lack heat?"
"It's because nobody has Brother Infinite Borders' aggression. See someone and just go—who cares?"
"This fear here, that fear there. Honestly, aside from turtling for points, I don't even know what that playstyle is."
"Sure enough, confident people play matches in a way that's fun to watch. Grapple forward, only believing you can win."
"The parries are like he's cheating. You expect me to believe he parried a charged sword wave on reaction?"
"Top-tier League pro reactions aren't a joke. Don't forget Raging Waves is easy to parry, but if Brother Infinite Borders is fishing for parries, he can easily land it."
"One huge feed in Tianren City. Everyone is in purple armor now. Feels like it's time to farm chickens."
That wasn't wrong at all.
Lin Fan led Dai Laoliu and Yaya sprinting straight toward the Lotus revive point.
They actually caught a squad of little chickens.
Nothing to say—just kill.
Three more elimination points!
"TOP's gear after leaving Tianren City is just too good. Camping revive points like this—there's nothing you can do."
"This match feels like it's going to be a huge score."
"Another elimination…"
This was only the first dark zone, and the team kill count had already reached twelve.
Even Dai Laoliu was grinning.
The feeling was back—like when he first started competing.
A dimensionality reduction. A different kind of dimensionality reduction.
See someone, rush and kill—rather than sitting aside as a rat.
At this score, even if they died right now, their elimination count alone could keep them in top ten.
They weren't even in finals yet. There was no point forcing so many points—qualifying was enough. Of course, scoring higher was still great.
So the more relaxed they were, the better Dai Laoliu played.
Just now, he even spun a greatsword and killed Gu Qinghan.
They moved from Tianren City toward Sunset Temple.
Their gear became stronger and more absurd.
Yaya swapped into gold armor.
Lin Fan found a golden spear! Now the "gold spear never falls" Tianhai appeared—charging in from the side. Raging Waves came out and the battlefield got cleared.
Unbeatable.
Truly an unbeatable squad.
At this stage, they had to farm kills quickly.
By the final circle, everyone's gear would be maxed. With so many eyes and so many people, the difficulty of outplaying would skyrocket.
And before that, their ultimates had to be charged.
Otherwise, how do you fight the final battle without ult?
"I thought TOP's Naraka trio squad would do well. I just didn't expect it to be this insane!"
"My god, Brother Infinite Borders' Titan form is so strong. Raging Waves is invincible. I never imagined this Souljade could be used so brutally."
"Wasn't this Souljade considered trash? Why does it feel broken in Brother Infinite Borders' hands?"
"Weibo squad is gone too—three more eliminations. 22 kills. If they place top three, the score will be terrifying."
"Only three squads left now. Brother Infinite Borders probably takes Game One."
Korgi spoke rapidly, describing the situation.
"Wolves team currently has two purple armors and one gold armor, three weapons. But after getting beaten by Brother Infinite Borders, being able to develop to this state is already impressive."
"The remaining GG squad is tricky—they only have two people… Temulch and Kurumi. With Sandstorm, they might disrupt the situation."
"The circle is constantly shifting, and Wolves doesn't have Temulch!"
Before Korgi even finished, Dai Laoliu slammed an ultimate right into their faces.
The moment the opponent flew up, Lin Fan charged Dragon King Break—hit, then chained into Nezha Rages the Sea, ultimate technique, Raging Waves.
Kurumi and Cui Sanniang got sucked in together. The remaining Yueshan was forced to pop ultimate.
But Dai Laoliu and Yaya didn't even look at Yueshan.
Kill the two first!
Charge, spin!
With Raging Waves' suction, they deleted Wolves' two players immediately.
As for the remaining Yueshan—go play by yourself.
Once your ultimate ends, you're eliminated.
Zhou watched as his two teammates died like that, helpless.
All he could do was run and turtle for points.
No better option.
As for GG squad, seeing this scene, they were tempted to take advantage.
But their gear was too poor.
A loser squad getting here was mostly because they played like rats.
So their goal wasn't to win.
It was to kill Yueshan.
So they fired a sudden arrow from the side!
Yueshan's model was too huge to dodge.
His HP dropped rapidly.
Damn it—another rat!
Lin Fan wasn't leaving now. You want to steal elimination points? Dream on.
He drew his bow and fired, the arrow landing perfectly on the massive Yueshan.
Elimination point number 25!
"That arrow was so accurate. One shot, soul-piercing—803 damage!"
"Only a two-man squad left. Even though Dai Laoliu doesn't have ultimate, it doesn't really matter. The gear gap is too big."
"Yeah. For GG squad, second place would already be great. Plus six eliminations, their total will be around 15. That should put them top six in the group."
With revives and teammate saves, elimination numbers could get absurd—like Wolves alone donating six eliminations to Lin Fan.
Korgi's judgment was solid.
Temulch tried one last Sandstorm ult to gamble.
But Lin Fan turned into Titan form and gave them no chance, even forcing them off center zone.
The moment the ultimate ended was the final slaughter.
They rushed in, easily securing the last two heads.
The Immortal Glory victory screen appeared for everyone to see.
Looking at TOP's squad with 27 eliminations—
No one could control their body anymore.
They stood up.
There was no choice.
This was a stand-up moment.
"My god! 27 kills, elimination multiplier 1.7, first place is 9 points—that means TES scored 54.9 points in Game One!"
An unbelievable score.
Not exaggerating—this one game basically locked qualification.
"Not bad. Game One was solid."
"Brother Fan, watching this makes my scalp tingle. I can't take it. Nobody can take it. If you were my opponent, I'd be dizzy already," Yaya laughed.
"Seriously, I'm dizzy too. Too fierce. Blink and a squad is gone."
"Isn't this just the start? Keep it up."
"No problem!" Dai Laoliu and Yaya answered with booming confidence.
With confidence, everything changes. See someone—rush and fight. Even if they died later, it didn't affect the big picture.
After five trio games, they still ranked first, successfully qualifying for finals!
The moment Naraka's matches ended, Lin Fan's TOP squad instantly hit Weibo trending.
"Brother Infinite Borders qualifies for solo finals."
"Landing into a Raging Waves drop!"
"TOP qualifies for Elite Cup trio finals."
"Good grief. It's confirmed—TES orthodoxy is in Naraka: Bladepoint."
TL: If you want to read ahead by at least ten chapters, patreon.com/EdibleMapleSyrup