A Legend in the Leage

The path of the predator

The pristine, infinite, and white platform of the League welcomed him with its familiar, soaring, and majestic digital chime that always gave him goosebumps. Rágnar did not waste a single instant contemplating the void. Before jumping into a real match against human players in the new mode, he wanted to run a practice battle to test the new jungle champion he had been studying at school and see firsthand how all of its dynamic abilities functioned. He entered the selection menu through his mental command, and as soon as the champion screen unfolded before his eyes, his virtual fingers flew over the holographic interface.

"JG!" he typed in the simulator's chat with astonishing speed. "I won the lane!" he said to himself, with a wild, competitive excitement running through his entire body.

For this practice match, he selected a highly beastly and fearsome-looking champion: a predator in the shape of a giant wolf, designed specifically for tracking and hunting in the darkness of the dense brush. Upon confirming the character selection, Rágnar felt the physical transformation take over his body within the system with unprecedented intensity. The sensation was incredible and overwhelming. His muscles expanded with raw, primal strength, his fingers lengthened into sharp claws of ebony black, and his senses sharpened to a supernatural level. He could smell the scent of the damp earth, the freshness of the fallen leaves, and the metallic touch of the river water before taking his first step out of the base.

He appeared at the starting fountain surrounded by a wild aura. He opened the virtual shop with a quick gesture, bought the specific jungle items that granted him regeneration and damage against monsters, and headed at full speed toward the thicket of trees on all fours, feeling the ground beneath his claws. His route studied in the school notebook was perfectly engraved in his tactical memory.

He headed first to the camp of the giant beast guarding the ash emblem, the fearsome Red Buff. Using his empowered claw strikes and his new hunter skill, he tore through the runic creature, feeling the fiery power of the emblem transfer directly to his own claws, making them glow with a scarlet fire. From there, he moved with feline agility toward the camp of the runic raptors, eliminating them with swift, precise, and circular slashes. He continued his rapid path toward the clearing of the wolves, clearing the nest while receiving barely any damage, and headed straight toward the great stone colossus safeguarding the insight emblem, the Blue Buff. Upon defeating it, the cold, regenerative energy of the colossus flooded his body, filling his mana bar instantly. He finished his first round of clearing by defeating the giant, toxic toad that inhabited the edge of the map.

His first tactical objective was completely fulfilled. His health and energy bars were full, his level had risen substantially, and the enhancements of both buffs were active on his body. It was the exact moment to help the top lane.

Rágnar moved stealthily through the brush bordering the river, hiding perfectly thanks to his dark fur. He observed the enemy top-lane champion, who had pushed too far near the allied tower, confident in his strength. With a savage growl that made the leaves shake, Rágnar leaped from the bushes with a massive jump. The ambush was perfect and surgical. He cut off the rival's retreat, slowing him with a strike of freezing energy from his hunter power and allowing the allied top-lane champion to land the final blow on the helpless enemy.

"First Blood!" announced the thundering, majestic, and divine voice of the system from high in the virtual heavens.

A grin of deep satisfaction formed on his wolfish face. He ran back to the river and easily defeated the scuttle crab patrolling the middle waters, securing constant vision and movement speed for his team in that crucial area. Feeling loaded with shining gold, he used his return to base to buy new attack upgrades in the shop and acquire a permanent control ward, a key tool for dominating the map's vision.

He returned to the jungle immediately and headed to the camp of the rock monsters, destroying them with heavy blows that turned them into dust. By that time, his ash Red Buff had reappeared on the map; he defeated it once more to regain his firepower and headed quickly to the river on the dragon's side, seeking to perform another strategic feat in the mid lane.

He hid patiently in the brush near the central lane, controlling his breathing and waiting for the exact moment to leap on the enemy mage controlling the lane. But just as he prepared to make the great leap, the leaves behind him rustled with a dry sound. The enemy jungler from the opposing side leaped on him unexpectedly from the shadows!

Rágnar was taken completely by surprise, feeling the impact of the rival's blow on his back. An epic, chaotic, and brutal combat broke out in the narrow river corridor. Claws clashed with force against the steel of the enemy weapon, flashes of magic illuminated the surrounding brush, and both junglers exchanged devastating blows that made the ground shake. Rágnar managed to activate his protective shield in the very last millisecond of the fight, absorbing a critical impact that otherwise would have been lethal for his character. With their health bars reduced to a millimeter, blinking in an agonizing red warning of deadly danger, both fighters retreated toward their respective territories in a silent pact of survival.

Rágnar breathed heavily, feeling the furious beats of his heart thumping loudly in his wolfish ears. He had saved his life by a very narrow margin, at the edge of the abyss, but as he ran to a safe place among the trees, a wave of tremendous mental clarity washed over him. Now he understood the dynamics of real-time decision-making, the importance of map vision, and reading enemy movements much better. This borderline experience would serve him for all his upcoming championship battles.

However, Rágnar decided to play with intelligence instead of returning to the base empty-handed. Knowing that the rival jungler was also out of health and probably trying to return to his fountain hidden in some nearby bush, Rágnar stealthily entered the enemy jungle. Using his sense of smell sharpened by the transformation, he discovered the enemy jungler trying to teleport behind a stone wall. With a definitive and swift claw s***h, Rágnar eliminated him on the spot, collecting a huge gold bounty and a massive advantage for his scoreboard.

Rágnar felt he was improving by leaps and bounds with every decision he made, but as his team advanced destroying the enemy towers until securing the definitive victory of the match, he kept a cool head and said to himself with maturity:

"These are still bots with predictable programming patterns. In a real battle against other flesh-and-blood opponents, where the human mind improvises and deceives, it will not be simple like this at all. I have to be prepared for the worst."

As soon as the system screen flashed brightly with the golden word "VICTORIA," a massive holographic notification appeared in the center of his visual field, glowing with intense neon lights:

—Congratulations, Summoner MDLuffy. You have reached the required level and experience on your user account. Draft Mode has been officially unlocked for you!

Rágnar held his breath from the pure excitement rising in his chest. Finally! The true challenge, the true championship was open to him. No more pre-programmed bot routines, no more mechanical and predictable plays. From now on, he would face human minds in a phase of selection, strategy, and real-time Draft.

Highly excited and with glowing eyes, he closed the system and returned to reality. He opened his eyes in his dimly lit room, smelling the dinner his mother had prepared. He went down to eat with his parents with a boundless energy that caught both of their attention, and as soon as he finished dining and helping around the house, he returned to his room to rest.

As he got comfortable between the warm sheets to sleep, a sudden, annoying, and mundane thought crossed his mind, bringing him back to school reality.

"Ugh... tomorrow I have a math exam," he muttered, rolling his eyes heavily toward the ceiling of his room. "What a drag. But well... solving boring equations on a paper is not a real challenge compared to what awaits me in the Draft Mode of the League."

With a smile of absolute confidence painted on his lips and his mind full of strategies to dominate the jungle, the young Summoner closed his eyes and drifted into a deep sleep, ready for the great day of tomorrow.