Chapter 34: Let's Play Again

After twenty minutes, the three of them reconvened at the table.

Last time that Zhao Yingyue was there, they had helped Hua Mengyao download the game, but now she was actually going to play for the first time.

"Wifey, do you have a smurf account?"

Zhao Yingyue blushed a little at the use of the new nickname, especially in front of his mother, but nodded.

"Of course."

The two would have to use a smurf account while playing with Hua Mengyao so that they wouldn't boost her matchmaking and accidentally having them play with people who were on their level instead with people more manageable for someone new to the game. They also didn't want to draw attention to themselves since people know their main account names and would no doubt look into who else was playing with them. They'd just save her the pain of the extra attention.

Hua Mengyao asked, "What's a 'smurf account'? Do I need one of those?"

Zhao Yingyue explained, "Don't worry mom, you don't need one. Basically it's another account with a different name that we use when practicing or playing with people of lower levels. If we use our main accounts, we would draw way too much attention to ourselves and we would accidentally drag you into matches on our level."

Hua Mengyao nodded. She understood what Zhao Yingyue said as them doing it to avoid too much attention and not make the game too difficult. She supposed that was fair enough and didn't complain.

Once everyone was logged in, they made sure to add their accounts as friends so that they could get into a party.

Once in the party, Hua Mengyao said, "Okay. Now what are we supposed to do?"

Zhao Yingyue replied, "Our first game will be against AI. That way, we will start you off a little easier while we teach you the basics."

She then leaned over to look at Hua Mengyao's computer. She brought up the game map to show her what it looks like and explain the roles.

The game map consisted of two sides that were identical to each other. Each side had five towers: three at the front, two behind those, and one behind a long wall. The wall, which spanned from one end to the other, would have to be breached first before they can go through. People could also go on top of walls—typically like a sharpshooter who is defending it.

The last tower that was behind it—instead of being destroyed—needed to be captured like a game of capture the flag. This required at least one member occupying the tower for fifteen seconds without being killed.

On random parts of the map, there were also monsters in forest-like areas that provided buffs. Some were only for the person who killed it and the others would be for the team.

On each side, there's one each for one person for movement speed, mana, and health buffs. There were three that were there for the sole purpose of gaining experience. And there were two that were for the entire team that empowered their armies and provided different team buffs depending on how far along the game was.

"So, in this game, we play in teams of five. Each of the five players have their own roles. First, there's my role which is that of a sharpshooter. Sharpshooters are people who do the most ranged damage. We scale—which basically means that people who play my role get stronger the longer the game lasts. That's my main role. The downside of my role is that we tend to take more damage and die fast."

She then pointed at the places on the map where the sharpshooter will likely be.

"The objectives that we are tasked with early game to gain experience and money to by items would typically be killing their army and making sure to poke the enemies. Poking is taking the opportunity to hit them when we can while avoiding getting hit back."

Hua Mengyao nodded. She had watched her son play on television before so it just helped her a little more that she had seen the things they were talking about. It was still really complicated though.

Liu Haoyu then pointed to one of the three towers.

"This is the tower that I guard as a striker. Strikers do more damage and are typically attack damage users. Instead of using mana, we instead have stamina. Typically we will act as a sort of front line main damage dealer and always be in the thick of battle in the middle and late game phase."

Hua Mengyao remembered seeing her son play on national television and the announcers had spoken about how he always managed to pull the team together and hit the enemy with lethal attacks.

Zhao Yingyue then pointed to another tower.

"This is typically where our Regulator will be. The Regulator will typically use magic and mana. They use a lot of crowd control abilities which are basically those that effect multiple people and can turn the tide of a team fight."

She then circled around the area.

"More than likely, this is where you will also find the Guardian. That person will support the team through either heals or shields or other methods depending on the game. Typically, a Guardian has to be accustomed to multiple styles of play to properly support the team based on that game's picks."

Hua Mengyao stared absentmindedly at the map.

"So this would be the most helpful role but it seems so tough. How do people learn so many different types of characters for one position? That seems much to difficult."

Liu Haoyu smiled at his mother and said, "I think you'd make a better Regulator than anything else, Mom. You should try it."

Hua Mengyao asked, "What about the other tower?"

Zhao Yingyue replied, "That's what the Solo protects. He, out of everyone, need to be most adaptable. Solo's can play any of the other characters if they wanted to but they tend to lean toward characters that take the least amount of damage. It's the toughest since it's hard to master that many characters."

Liu Haoyu nodded.

"That's why I chose Dongyang. He's proficient in all of them—even if he hasn't completely mastered them to the same level as each other. He's considered gifted in the industry for this reason."

Zhao Yingyue had already known this but after having met the childish man herself, she felt another wave of shock wash over her. She had expected Aspect to be cold in real life.

Hua Mengyao shook her head before saying, "Yes, I suppose this role of Regulator will do then. Yingyue, who do you think I should start off playing?"

She scrolled through the list of characters curiously. She had no clue what any of these characters did so she had to insist on help from her daughter.

Liu Haoyu, who was slightly offended since his mom had never picked the game up for him before, said, "Mom, I also play this game. I don't know if you remember but my team was best in the country two years ago and we're still semi-finalists. Don't you think I know a thing or two about the game?"

Hua Mengyao shooed him with her hand before saying, "Yes, but Yingyue has a woman's touch and isn't so grumpy and serious. I want to play to have fun and get to know you guys better—not for you to act all full of yourself."

Liu Haoyu withheld a chuckle as he huffed and returned his attention to his own screen.

Zhao Yingyue, who found herself enjoying the attention, said, "Mom, if you want, I can be a Guardian this game. That's actually the role I started off playing so I can help you until you learn how to play better."

Hua Mengyao asked, "But then how will I see you play in your usual role?"

"We can play another one like that later. For now, I have to make sure that no one bullies you. If we run into other smurfs, they won't take it easy on you!"

Hua Mengyao hesitated before nodding.

"With such logic, how can I say no? What a filial daughter you are to think of taking care of me even inside of a game!"

Liu Haoyu knew this was a jab at him but ignored it as he started the matchmaking.

"Right now, we're in matchmaking. When we get into Character Selection, that's when you pick who you will be. Because we're against robots, you don't need to worry about banning character so that they won't be in play."

Zhao Yingyue said, "I'm thinking Mom would be a good Yanmei or Tongku. Because we're not playing against actually people yet, I don't think she would need to use Gen. Gen is less sustainable on his own since he doesn't do enough damage with his abilities. I also don't think he matches her very well."

Liu Haoyu, who was happy with his wife asking for his opinion, proudly replied, "Well, while Yanmei would leave her with a good engage and disengage, I think mom would prefer more damage so Tongku or Xianliang would probably fit her better."

Zhao Yingyue stared at her screen as she thought about what he said. As they were put in Character Selection, she made her decision.

"I think she should learn Tongku then. While Xianliang would be a good main for her later, Tongku is easier to navigate with. With Xianliang, she would have to first learn how to properly handle herself early game because he needs to be relied on in middle and late game stages."

Liu Haoyu nodded along.

"I suppose what wifey says goes."

After they selected their characters, loading screen ensued.

Zhao Yingyue said, "In normal games against people, you'd use this time to scout out their ability with the character and try to guess the way they will play the character based off the pack they bring with them. The pack is basically these things you attach to your character to have them either do more damage and different types or defenses or otherwise. We don't need to worry about that for now."

Once the game started, Zhao Yingyue patiently taught Hua Mengyao how to buy items for the start of the game and use the basic mechanics of the game. In the time before the armies spawned, she took her on a tour to the monsters in the forest areas and showed her which ones would be helpful to her if she needed it.

Liu Haoyu couldn't help but find the wholesome sight quite special. The two women who mattered the most to him in the world were now bonding over the game that brought him together with one of them and helped him find himself.

After they returned to tower, Zhao Yingyue then went on a lecture about how this phase of the game actually worked.

"For now, you focus on getting their army. Every time one of their soldiers die, we get experience. However, the only way that you make money off of it is if you are the last one to attack them. You focus on that while I focus on poking the other people. They will try to do the same to us so try to move around a lot and not stay in one place too long."

Hua Mengyao nodded before awkwardly moving the mouse around the screen and trying to get used to the controls. Zhao Yingyue, true to her word, made sure to take care of her and poked at the other people a lot.

As they progressed, she would help Hua Mengyao little by little with small tips when she would get caught with bad positioning or something of the like.

After their Sharpshooter came in and helped them secure the kills, the pair pushed in the army so that they could attack the tower.

"So, here is an important thing. As you can see, we can only see certain parts of the map. The parts we can see are the parts with our team members, towers, and soldiers. Everything else is dark. Because of this, we need to be aware of anyone coming. Now that we have won a fight and our health is low, others may try to bully us."

Hua Mengyao nodded in understanding with a serious look on her face. It seemed that she was really getting into the game.

Zhao Yingyue took that as a sign to continue, "Since we have a lot of gold from the kills and very low health, it's best that we go back to the castle. When doing this, we should do it under our tower where it's safe though. That way no enemy could attack us without getting hurt themselves."

Hua Mengyao followed Zhao Yingyue's lead and Zhao Yingyue noticed the woman's hand movements weren't as awkward anymore—though it was still far from natural.

As the game progressed, Liu Haoyu started to carry them through as they were only fighting robots. Hua Mengyao was really excited when she saw that she could get kills on her own and eventually they made it to the end of the match with a victory.

Hua Mengyao, who had died only twice was ecstatic.

"Let's play again!"