On the fourth day of school, Yuel and Lars went to the clubroom again after school. So far, the club has been gathering like this every day, which was something Yuel really appreciated. The more the team gets to practice the stro’ll bee.

  Unfortunately, this routine will probably only st until Kai makes a proper schedule. But, for now, the team had a frequent and fairly fruitful training regime.

  The ohing that stantly annoyed about the club was the clubroom. Unlike proper clubs, their clubroom was tucked away in the basement. So, every time, Yuel and Lars had to veo the school’s basement to reach their clubroom. That is, if one could even call that pce a “clubroom”. It was just a ste room, really.

  “Heya,” Lars greeted everybody as he entered.

  “Oh,” Viurned around and saluted. “Wele to the Den of Undiscovered Potential!”

  Again with that nonsense. Yuel shook his head.

  Kai and Vi were already here, which wasn't surprising sihe seniors studied on the first floor of the seanwhile, Luke wasn’t here yet even though he had to travel the same distance as Yuel and Lars. Judging by his id-back attitude, he robably in no hurry. No surprises there.

  However, there was one surprise in the room: an unfamiliar face. There was a chubby boy Yuel hasn’t seen before. This must be Ben, the elusive st member of Stratus who skipped every meeting so far.

  “Oh, hi,” Ben raised his hand timidly. “I heard we got two traudents. That’s you?”

  “Yep, that’s us,” Lars poi himself. “The name’s Lars.”

  “Yuel,” Yuel stated briefly. It sure took a long time to finally meet Behough he was supposed to be a part of the same club. What was Ben’s deal?

  “Um, I’m Ben,” Ben shifted his eyes away to avoid Yuel’s gaze. “o meet you...”

  He’s not quite how I imagined. Yuel frowned.

  sidered Ben skipped the st two days of practid hasn’t provided a good reason for that, Yuel expected a deli who didn’t take the club seriously. Yet, this timid guy couldn’t be farther away from that image. Yuel eve bad a little for judging the guy like that.

  “May I ask why you missed every club activity so far?” Yuel had to make this straight.

  “Ah, well...” Ben flinched and his eyes moved from side to side. “I, um, had some stuff I had to do take of...”

  “Like what?”

  “Er, well...” Ben stumbled over his words. “Some friends asked me to help them out at the basketball club, so I...”

  “You’ve been helping them out for three days?”

  “A-Ah, yeah, um, you see...” Ben was at a loss. This was awkward. It almost felt like bullying.

  Should I keep pressing? Yuel wondered. He still hasn’t gotten any answers. What did Ben mean by “helping the basketball club”? What did Ben have to do with it? He was supposed to be a member of the Cssmancers club. Or, maybe this school allowed students tister to multiple clubs?

  “I don’t get it,” Yuel said. “How are you ected to the basketball club?”

  “Well, I got a few friends there and...”

  “... and?”

  “And, um...” Ben was visibly fidgeting. What was he hiding?

  “He just had important stuff to do,” Vi butted into the versation. “Let's leave it at that, shall we?”

  “And, you're okay with it?” Yuel asked Vi and Kai.

  “It's fine,” Kai said. “He had things he had to do, so it 't be helped.” Her words felt forced. It's like she ushing herself to let this slide.

  “But,” Yuel insisted. “He missed days of practice. It'd be ohing if he gave a legit reason but I haven't heard ahe club is already small as it is and yoing to let a member gue like that? If that's your attitude, this club will never get anywhere.”

  “I-I...!” Ben desperately tried to say something. “I'll make up for it! I'll stay extra hours if I have to. And, I practice at home too, so I won't fall behind. I promise.”

  “Really,” Yuel frowned. What could he even say to that? This image of a timid and ear boy cshed with the delinquency of Ben's as.

  No matter how Yuel looked at it, Ben didn't e across like a troublemaker who'd skip club activity on purpose. Yet, he did so anyway. Why? What did the basketball club have to do with any of this? Yuel couldn't prehend.

  Regardless, Ben promised to work hard and even cimed he practiced at home to make up for the lost hours. If he was truly this motivated to improve and py well, maybe he was alright.

  “May I ask what’s your rank?” Yuel asked.

  “It’s Ptinum IV.”

  “I see,” Yuel his table. It was quite a lot more promising than Luke’s Gold I.

  Yuel wao know some more about Ben’s circumstances but it felt like Vi and Kai wao kill the topic, so he couldn't do anything but sigh a slide. He'll have to gauge Ben in a today to form a proper opinion.

  “Okay,” Yuel said. “Let's just move on to today's training. What roles do you py?”

  “I py Top,” Ben said. “I do Juoo, but not so well. And, um, Support, I guess.”

  Doesn't sound like you're too pumped for Support. Yuel o himself. It felt like a personal attack against Yuel's favorite role but it wasn't unusual. Even among pyers who could py Support well, many didn't enjoy the role as much as others. After all, it could easily be the most unrewarding role ever when the rest of the team isn’t coordinated enough. On top of that, being bmed for everything was on and far from fun. Yuel went through all these struggles before so he perfectly uood.

  “So, you prefer Top?” Yuel asked.

  “Yes, if possible,” Ben nodded.

  I'm the Top La the moment, though. Yuel frowned. It wasn't like he yearo be the team's Top but that was his role for now. So, he had to practice it in case he ends up pying it in official scrimmages.

  “I also py Top,” Yuel said. “So, how do you want to do it? Do we take turns?”

  “I'm fih turns,” Ben nodded.

  “You take turns with me too,” Viold Yuel. “I'm fih sitting the first game out.”

  “I see.” The timing of this offer was a tad too ve. It was as if Vi could tell how much Yuel wao py Support. Did Yuel's thoughts surfa his face? Either way, this was good. Getting practice as both Top and Support was ideal.

  “Are you also going to take turns?” Yuel asked Kai. “It's good to switch with Lars from time to time so you both gain experience as Mid and Carry.”

  “Maybe,” Kai shrugged. “But, today I'm only pying Carry.”

  “I see,” Yuel didn't let the disappoio show on his face. This was the club's fourth day of activity, yet Kai hasn't pyed anything but Carry this eime. That was the main reason Yuel didn't bother taking turns with Vi until now.

  What he really wanted was to py Bot together with Lars so they could get experieh their main roles while pying as a team. Also, it'd be a great opportunity to show off how strong they were as a duo, which should vince Kai to give up on the Carry role.

  Unfortunately, none of that was achievable at the moment. Kai insisted to hold onto the Carry role like it was her baby so it might take a while before Kai agrees to part with it. Therefore, for now, Yuel will py with the hand he was dealt and py Support for Kai. It should be an iing experien its ht.

  Luke arrived in the clubroom five mier and so lineup for the first match was decided.

  Top: Ben

  Jungler: Luke

  Mid: Lars

  Support: Yuel

  Carry: Kai

  “Good luck with your supp,” Vi whispered as he passed by Yuel. “Kai be a bit of a handful but try your best.”

  “That goes without saying,” Yuel nodded. No matter who his ne partner was, he had every iion to do everything in his power to secure victory.

  heless, this warning made him cautious. Was Kai a difficult Carry to handle? Based on her aloof and rather selfish attitude, there was no doubt it won't be easy to handle her.

  Then again, when was a Carry pyer ever easy to handle? Lars and Taison were rascals who had to be babysat or else they'd mess everything up. The only Carry Yuel ever pyed with that made his life easy was Ellen, who was petent enough to make good decisions for herself but still made sure to cooperate and pn ahead with Yuel.

  Though, with that pairing, Yuel ofte like he wasn’t too relevant because Ellen could handle most things by herself just fine. Both Yuel and Ellen were good at analyzing oppos, so Yuel’s analysis only added a little bit to what Ellen already figured on her own.

  Where did Kai fall on the Carry scale? Was she a needy Carry who required a lot of attention? Or, was she a petent Carry who mostly acted indepely?

  Either way, Yuel will do his utmost to support her. For that, they absolutely had to have good unication.

  “What are you doing?” Kai asked.

  “Making sure roperly unicate,” Yuel brought over a chair and a table.

  “Seems excessive to me but whatever floats your boat,” Kai shrugged.

  The team queued into Ranked and soon found a match.

  “Let's pick Top first,” Yuel advised. His team was going first, so cssic theory advised to pick a versatile high tier Top Laner or Support which had no obvious ters.

  “So, I’m first?” Ben asked. “Um, is Vanguard alright?”

  “Sure,” Yuel couldn’t decide whether he liked the fact Ben asked for everybody's input or disliked how unsure Ben sounded. It almost felt like Ben didn't know what he was doing and just picked something because he ut on the spot.

  But, that couldn't possibly be the case. After all, Vanguard wasn't the kind of css anybody would pi a whim. It was a rather unpopur defensive pick for Top Laners because of its slowness and self-sacrificial nature, so Ben definitely knew what he was going for. The uainty in his voice robably just a part of his timid nature.

  The eeam also followed standard theory and picked csses for Top and Support: Knight and Lumimahat didn't give Yuel any ideas for effective ter picks. Thus, for now, they’ll just go ahead and piething solid.

  “What's today's meme?” Yuel asked.

  “Let's see, let's see,” Luke scrolled through his filter of “Jungle Memes”. “Jungle Druid sounds like fun. Yeah, I'm feeling it!”

  “I see,” Yuel sighed i. After pying with Luke for the past few days, Yuel came to terms with Luke’s “meme of the day” routi least, for now.

  Rogue, ancer, Archer and now Druid. There was o Luke’s arsenal of meme Junglers. Though, surprisingly, Luke pyed all these csses far better than Yuel expected. Luke tered Stealth Wards as Rogue, he found the right moments to set up ganks with ancer and he went for a heavy crit-oriented build with Archer to burst down enemies. So, sidering this impressive performance, Yuel began accepting that impractical pystyle.

  So, for now, Yuel will let Luke meme and see where that goes. But, for petitive matches, Luke will eventually have to pick up meta csses. There was no doubt about that.

  And so, Luke picked Druid for jungling, of all things. Druid already had a niche sedary pick as a Top Laner, but a Jungler pick was even rarer than that. The only justifications Druid had for being a Jungler were the C Nature’s Grasp and the split-pushing potential of Awakes. Same as with most memes, it had a ce to be viable and sometimes even strong, but the ces of that happenioo slim on the highest levels of py.

  “I feel like w on my Electro ,” Lars said.

  “Sounds good,” Yuel approved. The past few days, Lars has beeing into shape as a Mid Laner by pying some of the lower difficulty mages. Today, he should be ready to tackle a css that demanded a higher execution like Eleancer.

  The eeam picked Vampire and Pirate, which were possibly supposed to be ter-picks to Druid’s Nature Grasp. Vampire could use Coffin Slumber to e any damage after being pulled in, which would buy enough time to assess the situation and decide on the best line of py.

  Pirate had eveer ways to ter Nature’s Grasp. For o could quickly dodge the branches of Nature’s Grasp with Backfire on. Alternatively, it could unleash Kraken in the enemy’s face after being pulled.

  There was no telling for sure regarding the Vampire, but the enemy definitely picked Pirate to ter Druid. After all, from their point of view, the Druid seemed like the most likely didate for being the Support.

  Yuel’s team already had Vanguard and Druid, so either of those would normally be assumed to be the Support. The Pirate pick was det against Vanguard as well, so it covered both bases.

  But, too bad for them. her of those was going to be the Support. Yuel left his pick for st, hoping he could ter-pick the enemy’s Bot duo.

  “Who do you want to py?” Yuel asked Kai.

  “Impaler,” Kai locked her pick before Yuel even got a ment.

  Wow, an insta-locker. Yuel made a face.

  It wasn’t like Impaler was a bad pick here. In fact, the Impaler’s Iron Maiden could serve as a ter to Pirate’s Backfire on when applied smartly, so this was a solid choievertheless...

  “You didn’t give me a ment on your pick.”

  “Hm?” Kai tilted her head. “What did you want to say?”

  “Well...” Yuel frowned. In truth, he didn’t have anything to say about this particur pick. “Nothing, I guess.”

  “Huh. Okay.”

  I didn’t get the point across, did I? Yuel sighed. Well, that’s alright. He wasn’t particurly silver-tongued and Kai wasly the easiest person to socialize with, so it was only iable to run into such issues. Yuel will just have to work on this oep at a time.

  So, I have to work with an Impaler. Yuel went over the list of Support options. He wanted a css that’ll either ter the enemy’s position or will supplement Kai’s Impaler. Or, optimally, a css that’ll do both at once.

  Impaler’s main gimmick was its Impale skill, whiched a big spear that knocked baemy pyers. When Impale pushed an enemy into a wall, it dealt extra damage and stuhe pyer. The rest of the Impaler’s kit was desigo bo off from this initial py.

  Therefore, a good way to support an Impaler was by helping them execute this setup. In other words, help them push an oppo into a wall. Which Support could help with that? Naturally, ancer came to mind.

  Ice Wall was treated like a wall, so pushing an enemy into it with Impale gave all the same bes. On top of that, ancer’s Ice Coffin added another optional yer to the Impaler’s bo.

  “I’ll take Cryo,” Yuel said. “Tell me when you need an ice wall for pushing somebody.”

  “Sure,” Kai didn’t show much rea.

  I’m pig Cryo for you, you know. Yuel made a face.

  Well, not receiving prratitude was on for a Support. By the end of the day, he didn’t really pick ancer specifically for Kai. He made this pick to increase the team’s overall ces of victory. So, it was fine. A little irking, but fine.

  The eeam ed up the drafting phase with a Sorcerer piid. It didn’t e across as a ter to anything in particur, so it robably just a preference of that Mid pyer.

  With that, the match began. How was Ben going to perform? How well with Yuel be able to cooperate with Kai as his parthese were the main topics Yuel wao explore in the uping match.

  Yuel’s team:

  Top: Ben (Vanguard)

  Jungler: Luke (Druid Meme)

  Mid: Lars (Eleancer)

  Carry: Kai (Impaler)

  Support: Yuel (ancer)

  Eeam:

  Top: Knight

  Jungler: Vampire

  Mid: Sorcerer

  Carry: Pirate

  Support: Lumimancer