Heimerdinger—better known as Big Head, the Grand Inventor.
This champion should be familiar to everyone.
In the early days, he could summon five turrets. Place them mid lane and it became a full-on turret fortress—no jungler would even think about ganking him.
TL: Gank is jumping him and beating him up
No other reason than this: those little turrets dealt absurd damage. A few biu-biu shots and someone who arrived at full HP would be sent back to base empty.
Any champion laning against the Grand Inventor suffered immensely.
Last-hitting was impossible, pushing the wave was hopeless, and once the opponent set up a full turret line in front of the tower, you couldn't step forward at all.
You could only wait for your mid turret to be taken.
Riot's designers do play the game—after being tortured like that themselves, they naturally nerfed him.
That's how Big Head gradually became what he is today.
Of course, a lane bully is still a lane bully. In terms of wave clear, very few champions can compare.
It's just that in fights, this champion relies too heavily on his turrets, and with the meta shifting so fast, mid-lane Heimerdinger has long disappeared.
Nowadays, anyone still picking Heimer mid is usually a one-trick specialist… with a pitiful pick rate.
Taking a step back, Lin Fan was a support player. Seeing a max-proficiency Heimerdinger as a reward should have given him a headache—but instead, he was thrilled.
Because support Heimerdinger was insanely strong, especially when paired with Ashe.
Yuanshen Bro pulled out support Heimer and single-handedly helped DRX advance from groups all the way to the finals.
Then they went on to defeat SKT 3–2.
From this alone, the viability of support Heimer was obvious.
Later that season, many summoners who were stuck below Master copied support Heimer and broke through their bottlenecks to reach Master.
Even Lin Fan himself—a ten-thousand-game Silver veteran—had once dominated Silver games with Heimer support.
Of course, right now it still wasn't exactly stage-ready.
But once today's slacking was complete, wouldn't he have max proficiency Heimerdinger?
When that time came, he'd lock it in, pair it with Ice Goddess Ashe, kill gods who came and crush Buddhas who blocked the way, and obliterate the enemy bot lane.
Alright. Time to clock in and start slacking.
Lin Fan sat down and booted up the games he had downloaded yesterday.
To be fair, sitting still for eight straight hours wasn't something any human could do.
At that moment, the system started timing his slacking.
As for League of Legends, it was already uninstalled. When it got reinstalled would depend on when the system stopped letting him slack.
Looking at the 100,000 reward—even though he hadn't received it yet—his pockets already felt a lot less empty.
And since cash rewards were possible once, it meant they'd likely appear again.
Thinking openly, future task rewards could be even more generous.
Now he could really enjoy playing Rise of Kingdoms.
In his previous life, he'd been a twenty-one-season monthly card player.
Even though it was still technically free-to-play, he had everything he needed.
Fighting alongside teammates to pave roads for conquest, avenging wronged guildmates—those memories were genuinely fun.
Honestly, Rise of Kingdoms was a great game if you had some spare money to burn.
It was incredibly good at killing time—before you knew it, a whole day was gone.
With that thought, he didn't hesitate and logged into his account.
Unfortunately, his twenty-one-season account was gone.
After all, this was a parallel world. Some things were bound to be different.
The only thing unchanged was that Lin Fan was still an orphan—at least he didn't have to worry about people cursing his parents when he played badly.
...
When he first played Rise of Kingdoms, he'd coincidentally joined the Leopard Zone 666, so the memory was unforgettable.
But it didn't matter. He was just here to pass time and enjoy being called a big shot.
Meeting his old guild would probably have to wait until the Conquest Season.
JackeyLove had originally wanted to invite Lin Fan to duo.
After a night had passed, he should've cooled down, right?
But when JackeyLove walked over and took a look, he froze.
The client on the screen still wasn't League of Legends.
It was Rise of Kingdoms.
He'd only ever seen this game in ads while scrolling short videos.
Was Brother Fan really planning to stop playing professionally?
"Brother Shui is here."
"Are you planning to play this game today?"
Lin Fan nodded.
"I still can't duo with you today."
"It's fine. Mark's here. The coach said he'll arrive around ten. I'll solo queue a game—timing should line up."
After saying that, JackeyLove kept his eyes on Lin Fan's face, clearly watching for any reaction.
But to his disappointment, Lin Fan remained expressionless upon hearing the ID 'Mark.'
After all, this was supposed to be a competitive relationship.
But Lin Fan genuinely had no strong feelings about it.
Right now, he really was inferior to Mark.
Even if all he had today was a single Heimer pick—and even if he told the team and coaches he wanted to play Heimer support—would they let him on stage?
Absolutely not.
So before that point, there was no competition between him and Mark.
There was no need to care.
Besides, even if he never got another chance to play, once the Spring Split ended and the transfer window opened, TES would either sell him or send him to the academy team.
At that point, dominating with his champion pool wouldn't be difficult at all.
This was the dormant phase.
There would be plenty of chances later.
JackeyLove shook his head.
Everyone had their own path.
He actually admired Lin Fan's relaxed mindset.
But he himself still wanted another championship.
You never get tired of winning titles—especially once you've tasted one, you crave returning to the peak.
Seeing JackeyLove had nothing more to say, Lin Fan continued playing Rise of Kingdoms.
After thinking for a moment, he reused his earliest ID: Xia Li Xunhuan.
His former guild leader had loved Gu Long's novels, so the entire guild used characters from Gu Long's books as IDs.
TL: Gu Long's books were considered among the "Big Three" wuxia authors.
Today's slacking task wasn't finished yet, so he could only use his own money.
After spawning in, he immediately topped up ten 648 packs and started pulling.
TL: 648 RMB, usually the most expensive premium packs you could buy in Chinese mobile games
Early strategy experience was crucial.
Unexpectedly, a single pull hit jackpot—Ma Chao popped out.
"Holy shit… did I really become an RNG god after reincarnating?"
He'd originally planned to use the reward money to pull later, but Ma Chao came out this early.
TL: Ma Chao was a Chinese general.
It felt incredible.
Lin Fan didn't waste time and immediately got to work, pulling and starting his early-game development.
"All set…"
Just as he finished the basic setup and let out a sigh of relief, he glanced at the time—it was almost lunch.
At that moment, the training room door was pushed open.
Luo Sheng walked in, followed by today's main character—Mark, Ling Xu.
Mark greeted everyone a bit shyly.
Almost simultaneously, TES's official Weibo updated.
TES.Mark officially connected.
After friendly discussions between both parties, we are delighted to announce that support player Ling Xu (ID: Mark) has officially joined Top Esports' League of Legends division, embarking on a new journey together.
Mark is humble and diligent, balanced in offense and defense. His assertive playstyle gives him a unique macro perspective and keeps him in peak competitive condition. A seasoned veteran, he excels at champions such as Leona, Alistar, and Bard. We believe his addition will inject fresh vitality into the team.
Soaring through the clouds, rising with the sun. Welcome @markOvO to the TES family. Let's strive for greatness together!
#ReigniteTheFire #FightWithoutRegret#
In that instant, the Weibo post surpassed three thousand likes.
"Let's go. TES finally decided to replace the support."
"Trash Dine can finally get out."
"Hahahaha, it's like a holiday celebration."
TL: If you want to read ahead by at least ten chapters, patreon.com/EdibleMapleSyrup