Despite Yuel and Kai’s ky cooperation during their first offehey successfully took out the enemy Pirate. That was a huge early achievement and a First Blood to boot. It created a solid momentum for the team.

  With the Pirate out of the picture, they shifted their focus toward the remaining enemy on the he Lumimancer. It was a 2v1 situation, so Yuel and Kai could go for anressive py here. Unfortunately, the Lumimancer blinked away with Fsh before Yuel could initiate anything. What a shame.

  This guy seems very cautious. Perhaps overly cautious. Yuel took a mental note. Back when Kai attacked the Pirate, the Lumimancer didn't even try stepping in to rescue his partner. And now, with his partner dead, the Lumimcer immediately retreated all the way back to his Turret. There was no doubt he was the defeype.

  Not getting involved against Kai’s assault might have been a smart choice because Lumimancer didn't have any good tools from resg the Pirate from the situation. However, if he truly valued his Carry, he should’ve at least interfered with Blinding Light or Ray of Light before blinking away.

  Judging by Kai's skill, suterference most likely wouldn't have fazed her. However, the Lumimancer couldn't have possibly known that. He should have at least tried.

  Therefore, this Luminancer was either a scaredy-cat or not so experienced. He'll probably be one of the ots of the eeam. To test his theory further, Yuel wao push hard.

  During the minion wave, Yuel's side held an overwhelming advahanks to Kai's clearing speed. The Lumimancer couldn't test her on his own, especially not with a defensive Support build. So, Kai won the h ease.

  “Let's push the Turret,” Yuel suggested.

  “Huh?” Kai gave him a look. “It's dangerous.”

  “A little, but probably not too much.”

  “The Lumi is still there, though.”

  “Yeah, but think about it: what kind of scary thing a Lumimancer really pull?”

  “Um, well,” Kai cocked her head. “There's not much, huh.”

  “Exactly. Also, I got a feeling he’ll not dare to fight us.”

  “A feeling?” Kai raised an eyebrow. “Are you a mind reader?”

  “It’s just a theory based on circumstantial evidence. Looking at how he’s been pying so far, he seems to have a very defensive pystyle.”

  “How do you figure?”

  Here we go again with questioning. Yuel sighed. Every siime he pyed with somebody new, he had to justify himself. He has already vinced Luke and Vio trust his observations but Kai was a new challenge. Well, I didn’t many opportuo vince her before so I better start doing that now.

  “Remember how that Lumiancer didn't help out the Pirate?” Yuel asked.

  “Yesh, I guess he didn't do much back then,” Kai sounded indifferent. They clearly weren't on the same page regarding what that piece of evidence implied.

  “It was more than just ‘not doing much’. He maintained distahe whole time areated as soon as we took out the Pirate.”

  “You mean, as soon as I took down the Pirate.”

  “Sure. Anyway, it implies that Lumimancer doesn't like stepping to the frontline unless he's forced to.”

  “Sounds like jumping to clusions to me,” Kai shrugged. “You've seen him py like that just ond you’re already talking like you’ve known him for years.”

  This will never get easy, will it? Yuel sighed. As always, making somebody trust his analysis was difficult. It always felt like he was a shady salesman who came to sell something wonky and had to prove his credibility.

  As far as others were ed, Yuel was simply making a wild guess. It made sense for them to think that way but knowing that didn't help him find a solution to the problem. He had fiden his analysis but, in the end, most of them were just theories. There was always a ce he was wrong so he couldn’t go ahead and procim “I’m 100% sure I’m correct! Follow my pn!”

  In times like these, vocal supporters like Vi are really helpful. Yuel's eyes naturally id on the loud , who was busy hyping up the match right now.

  Back when Yuel had to pitch his sale to Luke, it was Vi who ultimately vinced Luke to cooperate with Yuel's shot-call. What argument did Vi use back then? It was something very ving, which went something like...

  “I got the Mystic Eyes of Weakness Perception!” Yuel decred... Yeah, right. As if he could spout suonse loud. It was mind-boggling that something so asinine mao vince Luke.

  Would Vi be able to vince Kai as well? Yuel wondered. No, I shouldn't rely on others to do my work for me. I have to resolve this myself. Somehow.

  Thinking ba it, this was one of the first challenges Aron posed on Yuel during StormBlitz’s entrance exam. Already back then, Aron noticed this unication issue and pushed Yuel to work on it. However, after Yuel proved his worth in front of the entire club, this problem died out and he never had a ce to work on it. Or, rather, he didn’t want to work on it. He hoped to keep pying with the same people for a long time and to never again be forced to vinybody of anything.

  But, now the problem returo bite him it and he wasn’t ready. So, Yuel had to figure a way to solve it himself. He won't always have other people nearby who do the marketing for him. He had to learn how to sell people on his skill.

  So, how should he sell his current idea to Kai? How could he vince her to push against the Lumimancer without any further evidence regarding his defensive pystyle?

  Wait, didn't Vi say something else to Luke as well? Yuel searched his memory. Ihere was something else Vi said besides the whole nonsense of the Mystic Eyes. Vi also told Luke to “give it a shot”.

  In other words, Vi didn't fully sell Luke on the idea right away. Instead, he just asked Luke to py along and see what happens.

  “You're right,” Yuel finally spoke up. “I've only seen that one py, so my impression of this Lumimancer might be wrong. But, that's why we should push him now and see what happens. If I'm right, he'll back off and we'll get to push for free. If not, we won't lose anything.”

  “Hm, I suppose,” Kai took a moment to think it over. “Okay, I'm game. Let's poke him and see how things go.”

  Yes!!! Yuel pumped a fist. He did it! He vinced somebody to follow his pn! All by himself! No cheats or audience help! Yuel really did it on his own! Did you see that, Aron? I do it!

  It was a small thing but for Yuel it was huge. Finally, he overcame one of the most annoying hurdles ever. He probably won't run into this problem again for a while but it still felt satisfying to beat it. Now, he’ll know how to deal with this issue iure.

  I just o ask them to give it a shot. Yuel o himself. It was such a basic thing but it didn't occur to him until now. In his mind, his reads of the enemy's behavior were akin to educated guesses and he wao test them. However, he failed to vey that seo others, so he was always met with resistance. He'll definitely have to avoid problems like that iure if he wants to bee a shot-caller on the same level as Howard.

  Following Yuel’s idea, he and Kai ihe enemy's Turret area. As Yuel suspected, the Lumimancer didn't get in their way. The guy maintained his distand only fired at minions from afar. He'd have to it and advao the frontline if he wao hit Kai or Yuel and he clearly had no iion of doing so.

  “No balls, huh,” Kai shook her head.

  Thanks to this push, they shaved off 20% from the Turret's HP. Hopefully, all these pys will vince Kai to trust him a little more as her Support. Yuel made it clear he’ll properly ward the area, he helped her secure a kill on the Pirate and now he also came up with this great push opportunity.

  So, it was about time this lone wolf started trusting him, right? Unfortunately, things weren’t so easy.

  Shortly after they finished pushing the Turret areated, the enemy Pirate returo he tug of war on the ne began once more but this time Kai had a clear advantage. She out-leveled the Pirate by one level so her attacks were stronger.

  On top of that, Pirate was a css that relied oing ahead through extra gold. So, without that adva was a rather subpar css. That one early kill Kai scored on the Pirate set the guy ba a big way.

  Kai was leading in the wave clearing by a mile. But, right before she fihe entire wave, she advaoward the frontline for no apparent reason. She summoned an iron maiden behind the Pirate and fired Impale at him.

  Yes, just like that. Out of the blue, she opened an attack without pnning ahead or even warning Yuel. This was even worse than st time.

  “Wha...” Yuel was taken aback. Didn't they just talk about this a few minutes ago? Damn, I'm too far away to extend the stun with Ice Coffin. The Pirate will get away.

  Yuel sed the mini-map. Fortunately, Luke wasn't too far away.

  “Luke,” Yuel called out and dreath on the mini-map. “ you e here to gank along this path? The Pirate will probably retreat soon.”

  “Alright, gotcha,” Luke replied. “You gotta have to help me if he got HP, though. I 't burst for shit.”

  “Right.” With any normal Jungler, a simple gank should be able to finish off an injured oppo. However, Druid was a “setup” type of ganker. He could stop an enemy iracks but he needed somebody else to help with the damage. So, it to Yuel te the follow-up.

  Kai drilled the stunned enemy with flying spears and the for her ult: A Thousand Impales. tless spears peed through the ground below the Pirate. They cut through the Pirate and knocked him into the air. The damage was high because the Pirate was hit while stunned and, on top of that, he was air-bound now.

  So, this gave Kai another opportunity to fire at the helpless Pirate. But, the Pirate performed a Dodge Roll in mid-air and dodged her spear.

  heless, the knock-up effect was strong enough and slowed down the Pirate's escape. This gave Yuel more than enough time to catch up and secure the kill. However, unlike him, Kai didn't seem too ied in chasing.

  “Kai,” Yuel called out. “Let's chase the Pirate. We get a kill.”

  “ we?” Kai tilted her head. “I think he gon away. See? He used Backfire to get out.”

  “I asked Luke to gank. We catch up.”

  “You're so sure about it,” Kai was as uncooperative as ever. This was the time for Yuel to pull his rick.

  “Let's just give it a shot. The Lumimancer is also retreating and the enemy Jungler is oher side of the ne, so we won't be in any danger if we chase. We either get the kill or we don't. We won't lose anything.”

  “Huh, I guess t,” Kai nodded and joihe chase, albeit with a slight dey.

  Okay, now everything is riding on Luke's setup ability. Yuel o himself. It was difficult to sistently nd Nature's Grasp due to its thin width, so it'll be iing to see how Luke fares. If he was truly the almighty memer he cimed to be, he better nail this py.

  Fortunately, Luke got to the se on time. He cut off the Pirate and fired Nature's Grasp right before the Pirate reached his Turret. It was a hit! The branches grabbed the Pirate and dragged him back toward the Druid. Checkmate. The Pirate was captured.

  Yuel erected an ice wall right in front of the Pirate to stall him even further. Unfortuhat alone wasn't enough. Kai had to be the oo deal the finishing blow but she was too far away because she started te. From this position, the Pirate might still get away if nothing was done.

  But, Yuel already determihis was a checkmate. The final move to guarahe kill was to apply extra the Pirate. While the Pirate was maneuvering around the ice wall, Yuel caught up and unleashed Ice Coffin.

  That's it. The Pirate was down for. Kai arrived at the se and delivered two heavy blows.

  An enemy has been killed!

  “Good job, guys!” Luke saluted to Yuel and Kai.

  “Thanks,” Kai said.

  “It was a solid gank,” Yuel nodded in approval. “Have to say, you know your Jungler Druid.”

  “an,” Luke ughed. “You make me blush.”

  “Ya better tape that, dude,” Lars chuckled. “Dude never praises anybody. If ya got his seal of approval, it means ya pro level material, yo.”

  I'm not THAT bad, am I? Yuel made a face. It's true he teo criticize pyers a lot but he'd drop a nice word every now and then when somebody did well. Especially, when somebody pulled off a difficult skill-shot like Nature's Grasp. Yuel had to practice for a long time before he started nding that thing on enemies.

  In the end, this uncoordinated py miraculously verted into a kill. However, that didn't mean Kai's solo attack was good. Far from it. That py was irresponsible and wasteful in every way. There were other, much more effit, ways to secure a kill there. But, instead, Kai went In alone and wasted a lot of resources for no good reason. Kai even wasted her ult on this. It was so unnecessary.

  “What was that py?” Yuel asked. “You should've told me yoing to aggress.”

  “Ah, right,” Kai agreed but there was no hint of remorse ione. “I saw the Pirate had bad positioning so I went for it without thinking much. I didn't want to let that opportunity slide. You're right, I fot to inform you.”

  “It would be great if you refrain from that kind of solo activity. We’re supposed to work as a pair. As I said, you should use my resources when you . You even wasted your ult there.”

  “Yesh, I thought I’ll get him after the ult but he reacted well.”

  “If you just told me you were pnning to attack, I could've arrahe same setup as st time. We would've secured the kill without wasting your ult that way.”

  “I don't see the amazing line of py you had in mind,” Kai admitted. “But, you're the Challenger here so I guess you know what you're talking about.”

  “I’d like to believe so. Anylease, don't go for solo pys like that while I'm here. Let me initiate the fight a up the kill for you.”

  “You're really bossy for a Support,” Kai gave him a look.

  “I'm pretty sure that's how the optimal dynamic between the Support and Carry should be. What do you think the Support is?”

  “The guy who got stu Bot with the Carry because there aren't enough nes for five pyers.”

  “Sounds like a very sad story.”

  “I knht?” Kai chuckled. “What I really think about the Support? Well, not much, really. They’re here to help me out from time to time, that’s about it.”

  “That’s all?” Yuel blihat was a disgustingly low evaluation of the Support's importance. Worst of all, it didn’t even sound like Kai was trying to make fun of the role or anything. She just genuinely didn’t find much value in the Support’s presence. Wow, this is... I have no words.

  “So,” Yuel started. “You don’t trust your Support to help you out and create opportunities for you?”

  “Sometimes. But, I rather not rely on that,” Kai shrugged. “I win fights a kills on my own. I don’t need somebody to ‘babysit’ me.”

  “Babysitting is just a snazzy term. It’s not that anybody is uimating the Carry. It’s just that the Carry is the pivot of the team and usually vulnerable during the early game. So, the Carry is very important but also very fragile by design.”

  “I’m nile.”

  “I’m talking about the csses, not the pyers,” Yuel shook his head. “Marksmen are desigo have the highest DPS but, in exge, they’re some of the easiest csses to kill. A Carry who gs behind is going t the eeam down, so it’s crucial to prevent that from happening. That’s where the Support es into the picture and takes the job of guarding the Carry.”

  “You’re lecturing me like I don’t know all that stuff,” Kai rolled her eyes. “Looks you take your ‘babysitting’ quite literally, huh.”

  “Well,” Yuel smiled wryly. “Let’s just say that some of the Carries I pyed with are... a little special.”

  “Like Lars?”

  “Like Lars,” Yuel chuckled. In the case of that goof, being a Support was truly “babysitting” in every sense of the word. When they just started pying together, Lars’s deaking was godawful and Yuel had to lead the guy 24/7. Fortunately, the goof was steadily learning and, right now, he was even pying indepely in Mid without getting any advice from Yuel.

  An enemy has been killed!

  Lars scored a kill in Mid. Yuel didn’t catch all the details but he knew Lars has been pressuring the enemy hard for a while now. At some point, the enemy Sorcerer must have bee fed up with the situation and attempted to assault Lars. However, Lars struck bad crushed the Sorcerer.

  Yuel wasn’t involved in this process at all. Lars handled everything himself from start to end. Truly, the goof has been growing into a fine pyer. It was a little emotional, like watg your baby grow up.

  “You know,” Yuel smiled. “When Lars started out, he was terrible. A literal baby who couldn’t tell left frht. So yeah, in his case, I’d say I had to ‘babysit’ him iruest sense of the word.”

  “You have my dolences,” Kai said.

  “But, he has improved a lot sihen and I only give him advice every now and then. So, at this point, he’s good enough to just go out there a kills by himself as you do. In fao offense, but he’d likely do a much better job than you at seg kills on his own.”

  “You sure like singing praises to that guy. How about you just marry him?”

  “It’s just a fact,” Yuel said. “Fight him 1v1 and you’ll uand how easily he overwhelm most oppos. A, when he pys Carry, he still relies on me, his Support. He knows that, no matter what amazing pys he pull off on his own, he’ll be able to do even more if he cooperates with the Support.”

  “Is that so,” Kai shrugged. “In the end, it’s the Carry who gets the job dohe Support is just there to provide some help.”

  “Even though the role is called ‘Support’, the Support and the Carry are partners. They’re supposed to sult each other and decide on a game pn together. It shouldn’t be the Carry’s one-man show while Support is just kinda there to help sometimes maybe. No, the Support and Carry are supposed to work together.”

  “Did you flip some sort of ‘lecturer switch’?” Kai made a face. “Alright, I get it already. I’ll make sure to tell you the ime I attack.”

  “I’m trying to say that’s not good enough,” Yuel insisted. “You shouldn’t only focus on your pys and inform me about them as if I’m an afterthought. It’s fine if you want to be the oo call the shots and decide when we go on the offe make sure you make that judgment with both of us in mind.”

  “Not gonna lie, you’re such a bossy Support,” Kai sighed. “I dunno. What you’re saying sounds too idealistie. I’ve pyed more than enough matches where I got bitten in the ass for trusting the Support to do stuff.”

  “Is Vi a bad Support?”

  “Nah, that idiot is fine,” Kai said. “Like, he’s not amazing and I already see why he’s praising you as the superior Support. But, he gets the job done. He usually follows up on my pys in time and helps me out. That’s all I need.”

  “But, he doesn't call you out for making selfish pys, does he? I see.”

  “To be ho,” Kai said. “You're the first Support I met who cares about that stuff so much. Ben pyed Support for me before and he didn't say anythiher. He just did his job and helped me out as a proper Support should.”

  “So, you're saying I'm the odd o?” Yuel smiled wryly. From what he could tell, Vi and Ben preferred pying Top so Support wasn't their main role. And, even it were, Yuel most likely had a deeper uanding of the role than them. So, it made sense he came across as a very different type of Support.

  “I uand,” Yuel said. “You're not used to pying with a Support who dictates you how to move.”

  “Oh, so you actually uand how bossy you are.”

  “But, how about you give it a try this game?” Yuel asked. “Tell me ahead of time when you want to go on the offensive a me initiate. Then, judge for yourself how effective that approach is.”

  “Sounds like a pain,” Kai rolled her eyes. “But, alright. You've been making some good calls so far. I py along with that.”

  “Thank you,” Yuel meant that sincerely but it felt rather sarcastic. Why did he even have to work so hard to vince his ne parto cooperate? It should have been on sense for the Support and Carry to work together ohing.

  Has Vi never brought that up before when pying with Kai? Yuel wondered.

  Vi wasn’t a bad Support. During the past week, the Bot duo of Kai and Vi has been doing perfectly fine. However, it seemed like Vi allowed Kai to get away with her selfishness and did his best to followed up on her pys.

  That was admirable in its own way because Yuel couldn't stand pying like that. He believed the Support and Carry were equals on the ne and had to cooperate ohing to draw out their maximum potential. It wasn't the Carry's one-man show.

  At least, Kai is listening. Yuel only had that to sole him.

  Despite Kai's self-tered way of thinking while making her pys, she lent ao Yuel and even agreed to try doing things his way. Truly, the phrase “give it a try” became Yuel's trump card today. He should use it every time he tries to vinebody to make a py.

  Now, with Kai vihe responsibility fell on Yuel's shoulder. His supp this game was going to either make or break it. If he puts on a strong show, Kai will be more willing to cooperate from now on. Oher hand, if he messes up, it'll be tough to make her trust her Support ever again. The py will critical.