After Nia finished "recharging" by stuffing herself with chocotes, her MOBA exam began. It was agreed she'll py Jungler because, acc to her, it was her best role.

  "You should sit closer," Yuel said. "It'll be hard to unicate when you're all the way out there."

  "I like it here," Nia curled into a ball on her chair. Instead of sitting in the ter of the room with everybody else, she remaiucked way in her favorite er.

  "Give her a break," Kai said. "Do you have to nitpick everything? Just let her py the way she wants. She still hear us from here just fine."

  "Fine," Yuel sighed i. It felt like every ent he made today just painted him as a vilin. Maybe he should lie low for a while and silently observe Nia's performance.

  "Got any csses you prefer?" Kai asked.

  "Um, Rogue?"

  "Oh! Atta girl!" Luke gave a thumbs up. "A fitting Jungler sub for me, no question."

  "Let's not do that," Yuel couldn't hold it in. "Please."

  "This time, I gotta agree," Kai nodded. "Rogue is a little weak right now."

  "ht" Nia checked something on her phone. “I think it was sidered low tier in MOBA?”

  Wow, imagi knowing that. Yuel couldn't believe what he just heard. If there's ohing everybody and their mom knew about the current tier list, it’d be Rogue’s rough pg oier list. Virtually every pyer went through the experience of getting stomped by a Rogue at low levels and thinking it at first, only to ter realize it was actually pretty easy to deal with.

  Then again, Nia didn't even py Ranked yet. She was still stu the qualifier of the MOBA mode. so maybe that ck of knowledge was reasonable. Somewhat.

  "Looks like it’s really bad. Then..." Nia flipped through something on her phone. "Ninja is okay, right?"

  "Yeah, much better," Kai approved.

  "If we go for Ninja, we better pick it st during drafting," Yuel advised. "That'll hamper the enemy's ability to ter it. Ninja isn't the kind of css that'll be banned unless somebody oher team got a very specific beef with it so we safely pick it st."

  "That's surprisingly siderate for you," Kai said.

  "Why, thank you," Yuel forced a smile. This felt like cold war. It wasn’t like he and Kai were fighting per se, but it felt like Kai would jump on every little opportunity to call him out. When did Yuel bee the vilin here? All he was trying to do was host a proper exam. Sigh.

  They couldn’t queue into Ranked as a team because Nia was still stu the qualifier, so they went for Casual mode instead. However, Yuel insisted for it to be a Casual match with drafting because g with a random unknown team was far from fun or iing.

  Draft Casual was essentially the same as Ranked, just didn’t have the pressure of losing rank points from losing. Many pyers liked chilling in this mode when they weren’t in the mood for some serious grinding. Therefore, it was very much possible to run into a couple of high-level pyers in this “Casual” mode.

  It took the system a while to match them with somebody but it ultimately did. The drafting phase began.

  The enemy's first pick was Viking, most likely for Top. Viking was also a on Jungler pick but most people picked it for Top, especially when it was an early pick. So, Viking will most likely be Yuel's ne oppo.

  The ter pick Yuel went for was Monk. It had the ability to escape from clutch situations by being temporarily invincible, so Yuel will be able to get away if the Vikioo close. In addition, it could attack minions from afar with Chakra Bullet so that’ll give him ne advantage while farming.

  Later into the drafting phase, the enemy picked Aeromancer. Naturally, Yuel ter picked with Eleancer.

  "Aeromancer aromancer, name a more iic duo," Vi chuckled.

  So far, the team has been holding the upper hand in the drafting. Yuel's Monk tered Viking while Lars's Eleancer tered Aeromahe entire game might be decided by those two advantages.

  As expected, the enemy didn't ban Ninja. So, it'll be the team's st pick for Nia. The enemy only had one more css to pick so there was little ce for a surprise. At least, that’s how it looked until the st pick was made...

  "Orc!?" Yuel jumped. This was terrible. He didn't at for this possibility. This meant the earlier Viking pick was for Jungler, not for Top. It was unclear whether the enemy phis from the beginning. But, either way, they mao deliver a devastating surprise with that final pibsp;

  Orc was dangerous. It was an infamous early-game bully, sed only to Dark Knight in its brutality. A pick like this implied the enemy was aiming to end the game early.

  This was bad. Yuel picked Monk mainly due to its ability to get away from Viking’s close-quarters pressure but that wasn’t as relevant against Orlike the Viking, Orc didn't rely on bursting down a single oppo from point-bnk. Its attack power was tinuously high throughout the early game, so it didn't o search for an opportunity to get close and kill his ne oppo. Instead, he simply wrecked everybody in his path, minions and pyers alike.

  Worst of all, Monk was a retively slow ne clearer, that was the pensation for the ability to clear from afar. Viking wasn't a particurly fast clearer either so, in that matchup, the extra attack range would have pyed a huge role.

  But, against Orc’s overwhelming clearing speed? The extra range ractically useless. This was going be one hell of a ning phase, that's for sure.

  "I got ter picked hard," Yuel expined everybody the gist of the problem.

  "To think that somebody out there was able to outsmart the great Chessmaster!" Vi made noise.

  "It's just bad luck," Yuel said. "It's impossible to at for everything when there are so many csses in the game. Besides, Orc is a rather rare pi the currea even though it's a det css. Didn't expect to see it."

  "All I hear is excuses."

  "I guess you're right," Yuel smiled wryly. No matter how he twists it, this was clearly his mess up. I’ll have to refle it ter.

  But, until then, his top priority was to deal with the situation at hand. How should he defuse an Or this matchup?

  Just like Dark Knight, Orc was a css that could easily snowball during the early-game but fell off ter into the game. So, as long as Yuel survives through the early-game without any unfortunate is, things will work out. However, with his Monk pick...

  "Nia, I'll need you to gank Top a lot," Yuel said.

  "Me?" Nia looked around as if expeg to find somebody else with the same name.

  "Yes, you. You're the Jungler so you got the most flexibility in terms of ganks. I’m not sure I'll be able to stall Orc by myself so prioritize Top fanks. We have to make sure he's stantly scared of the possibility of being gahat'll make him think twice about pushing."

  "Ok," Nia replied briefly. It was hard to tell whether she uood the importance of her role in all of this but at least she didn't object. As long as she ganks Top every now and then, it should put enough pressure on the Ord stop him in his tracks.

  The drafting phase came to an end and the match began. Yuel started off with Giant Warhammer, a primitive item that offered nothing more than sheer power and a little bit of peion at Lv.3 It was the most aggressive option he could go for during the early-game for such a low price. Though, even this much power probably won’t bother the Orc much.

  Once Yuel arrived on the he enemy's onsught began. The guy knew he had the upper hand and utilized his advantage right away.

  The Orc darted toward Yuel's swordsmen and brought down his axe. Wham! A swordsman was gone. Just like that, in a si, one of Yuel’s frontline minions was gone.

  The Orc swung his axe again. Another swordsman was gohen, a third strike. Yuel's entire frontline disappeared. Such was the terrifying strength of an early-game Orc. While it wasn’t as overwhelming as Dark Knight’s ability to clear aire wave with Dark Bst, the brute strength of these basic attacks was more than enough to bully most ne oppos.

  While Dark Knight's ne bullying strength id in his powerful Dark Bst, Orc's strength id in his high attack power. Orc’s passive, Gang Up, boosted his attack power for every nearby ally. It was simir to Warrior's passive, except it buffed based on the number of allies instead of the number of enemies.

  And, the buffs were much greater. While Warrior only gained a little bit of power from nearby enemy minions, aiwice the amount. Together with Orc’s already higher base attack power, that made Orc a terrifying force during the early-game. He crushed every minion in his path like they were ants.

  Yuel's Monk had no ce of testing the ne against this. In fao Top Laner held a real ce except for Dark Knight. All Yuel could do was stay behind and shoot minions from afar.

  Monk was a melee fighter like most bruisers but he had the Chakra Bullet skill which fired a ranged shot. The Monk charged his fist with wind energy and thrust it forth. A bst of wind shot from the fist and smmed into a minion. Unfortunately, the damage was far from impressive, even with the Giant Warhammer in his build. The damage was just slightly higher than that of his basic attack.

  However, the good news was that Yuel could shoot multiple times in a row because Chakra Bullet was a toggle ability. Ourned on, all of Yuel's basic attacks became ranged. So, he stayed in the rear aedly thrust his fists to gee bsts of wind.

  Unfortunately, this great effect didn't st forever. Each shot of Chakra Bullet cost one point of Chakra, which ecial resource that repced MP for the Monk. The Monk started the game with just 6 Chakra and got 1 Max Chakra per level sht now, Yuel could only shoot seven times before running out.

  On top of that, unlike MP, Chakra didn't replenish over time. Instead, the Monk had to meditate to restore it. After exhausting all his Chakra, Yuel retreated to his tower and stopped moving. Shortly, the Mo out of "bat mode" and sat down to meditate. Staying in this pose gradually restored Yuel's Chakra.

  Monk's low amounts of initial Chakra was the main reason it was subpar in the early-game. On paper, a bruiser who could fire ratacks like that should be able to bully most melee bruisers on ne. However, the number of shots was greatly restricted and the Monk had to take a long break before he could start his engine again.

  Monk will beuch scarier around mid-game o starts carrying loads of Chakra but, until then, it didn't bring much to the table. Since Yuel expected to face a Viking, he wasn't too ed with the early-game when he drafted Monk. After all, Viking was also a mid-game css because his true power only kicked off once he got his ult up. So, Yuel thought he wouldn't have to worry about anything until the mid-game. H he turned out to be...

  WHAM. The Orc swung a huge war hammer in front of him. The assault bsted off all of Yuel's bowmen i. The little guys flew all across the ne like lifeless ragdolls.

  Yes, that's right. Orc had more than just one-shot basic attacks in his arsenal. He also had access to a e AoE attack via the Sledgehammer skill. The e attack dealt less damage than his basics but it still allowed him to take out Yuel's entire group of bowmen i.

  This Orc pyer sure knew what he was doing and ulling out all the stops. It was frustrating but that’s how Orc should py against weaker oppos. Gaining this sort of ne advantage was the entire purpose behind pig a css like Or the first pce.

  Yuel didn’t even try to test this strength. Instead, he retreated to his Turret and sat down with his legs crossed. The enemy’s uping push was iable so Yuel could only brace himself for the worst. The enemy will e to him and he'll be ready to greet them after he restores his Chakra back to full.

  Yuel already hit Lv.3 so his max number of Chakra Bullet shots was at eight. Before the enemy formation got to raid his tower, Yuel stood up and fired at the rushing minions. The more minioakes outside the Turret's rahe better.

  Against an Orc, it was iable to let some minions ihe tower and lose farm as a result. So, Yuel tried to keep those losses to a minimum by sniping ining minions before they got in. He mao clear the enemy's frontline in time but the three bowmen invaded and began their assault on his Turret.

  Yuel’s Chakra was exhausted again so he had to deal with these invaders personally. In other words, get in there and punch these invaders in the face. But, as he got closer, a whip shed at him.

  Orc used Sce to deliver a liack by whipping in front of him. Since Yuel was the only target in rahe whipsh also stunned him for a brief moment.

  But, that's all the attack did to him. It dealt alright damage and it briefly stunned Yuel but the Orc couldn't follow up on this atta any way. After all, even though Yuel was stunned, he was still under his tower. As such, the Orc didn't dare to e any closer to attack for that’d incur the Turret’s wrath.

  So, at first ghis whipsh was nothing more than a poke. But, this kind of single poke without follow-ups was rather pointless against Monk, who had increased HP5 duriation. The ime Yuel mediates, he'll quickly heal up this damage aurn to full health. So, as far as hindering Yuel was ed, the damage of this poke did nothing.

  However, that wasn't the end of the skill's effect. After shing with the whip, the Orc kept the whip in hand instead of returning to his default axe. In other words, his basic attacks temporarily transformed from axe swings to whip shes. That gave him extra read he had every iion to make the best of it.

  I see this guy is pulling out all the stops. Yuel frowned. He didn't have a good ao this move. This Orc pyer definitely knew how to make the most out of this matchup; most likely a high rank.

  The nored Yuel's presend ihe tower's area with a sce in hand. He took advantage of the extra range and whipped the Turret from a distahis way, he didn't have to veoo deep into the tower area to get hits ourret.

  Should I spook him? Yuel wondered. It'll be bad if the Orc feels too fortable with this situation and turns it into a routine. If this repeats for a couple more waves, it won’t take long for the Orc to tear dowurret with his high damage. The guy even built Ninja Tabi, the shoes that increase attack speed. Clearly, the guy had every iion t the Turret down as quickly as possible.

  Therefore, Yuel ighe enemy minions a after the Orstead. All his Chakra was exhausted so he could only attack with fists. So, he had to be in the Orc's face to deliver any damage.

  That'd be a risky situation. Even though Monk was a bruiser, Or't o work too hard to take him down. That’s how crazy Orc's early-game damage was. He'd need about five or six attacks to kill Yuel.

  Granted, it could've taken more hits than that if Yuel built a defeem first. However, he hoped to test the ne so he went fiant Warhammer, the most aggressive early game option he had. It helped him to clear minions faster and lose less farm but it also left him more vulnerable against the Or fights.

  Therefore, if possible, Yuel rather avoid getting too close to the Orc, even uower. The fewer ces the ets to hit him during the early game, the better. heless, Yuel had to take the risk this on order to slow down the Orc’s future pushes.

  Against most oppos, it was enough to show them that they’d bee a target whehey push the tower. That usually made them retreat right away. So, Yuel made it very clear that he was going to charge at the Orc to. Hopefully, that’d scare the guy away before Yuel evehere.

  Unfortunately, this Orc didn't budge. He kept whipping the tower without a care in the world. Ballsy of him. Very ballsy.

  You're one of those, huh. I see. This oppo had no fear. Or, at least, he preteo have no fear. So, there was no choice but to go all the way against him. Yuel had to prove he had the upper hand in this position and that he knew how to take advantage of it.

  While Yuel roag, the Orc cracked his whip again. However, this time, the sh wasn't aimed at the tower. The thorny whip shht at Yuel!

  "Wha!?" Yuel jerked. He was supposed to be the one delivering the attack, yet the Orc beat him to the punch! So cheeky!

  However, hitting Yuel was a grave mistake. It triggered the tower and made it focus its fire on the Orc. If they fight uhese ditions, Yuel will win with ease even against Orc’s high damage output. No matter how strong it was during the early-game, there was ing the damage of early-game Turrets. These guys were the true top tier early-game fighters of this game.

  For the better or the worse, this Orc wasn't just a reckless fool. He dashed out of the tower's area after nding that risky hit. The tower wasn't fast enough to snipe him so he got away scot-free. On top of that, Yuel couldn't get to the Or time to nd any hits. Thus, the Orc suffered literally no damage whatsoever from this exge.

  WHISH. The thorny whip cracked again and sshed Yuel. This time, the attack came from outside the tower area. The Orc took advantage of the sce's superie to reach Yuel from all the way over out here.

  He isn't just a cocky aggressive pyer. He knows what he's doing. Yuel cluded. This Orc forced Yuel to e to close and then struck twice while maintaining distahat was almost 40% HP gone. Even after Yuel mediates, this will leave some marks.

  Still, despite the ives, Yuel successfully drew the Orc away from the tower area. Now, he just had to take care of the remaining minions and the push will be over. Or, so he thought.

  This guy... Yuel frowhe Orc stepped into the tower area again as soon as Yuel shifted his attention to the minions. Sun persistehis guy was dead set on taking any damage he could get oower. This created a dilemma.

  Do I clear the minions first? Or, do I keep zoning him out ahe Turret hahe minions? Unfortunately, he’s not going to let me do both at once. Let’s see then, which approach will keep my tower safer?

  Yuel couldn't answer right away. Based on a rough estimation, the damage from minions was likely more dangerous, especially from the bowmen. Normally, their damage was nowhere hat of an Orc’s. However, they were a gang and their dealt extra damage to towers. So, these little guys seemed to be the greater threat here.

  Yuel took out the minions one by one ahe Orc freely hit the Turret. Only two minions remained uhe tower, the Orc ceased his attacks areated. And so, the invade has been successfully deflected. However, it’ll have sting effects.

  Yuel's HP was at 60% after all the pokes, which was effectively around 70% HP after he meditates. But, much worse than that, the tower fell to 75% HP during this push. That was the real disaster of this exge.

  Teically, the game was designed in such a way that Turrets were extremely sturdy during the early-game pared to the damage output of minions and pyers. So, it shouldn’t have been possible to push a Turret too hard during the first couple of waves. However, when almost the entire painions made it to Turret and the pusher was an Orc, it ossible to delete a quarter of the Turret's HP on the very first wave.

  This was bad. Three more pushes like that and the Turret’s HP will crumble. Yuel had to find a ter to this Orc’s cocky tactic but he was drawing a bnk for now. There was one idea to try during the wave but it won’t help him win ne adva’ll merely stall the Orc a little. That won’t fix the issue in the long run.

  The real solution would be to kill the Orc. Or, at least, to scare the Orc away before he wipes out Yuel’s troops. But, by himself, Monk didn't have the tools to pull anything like that against an Orc. To achieve that, a gank was necessary.

  As suia's help was mandatory. She'll o gank the Ord drive him away. That’ll also serve as a great test for her Jungler skills. She mained assassins, so she had to be good at ganking to make the most out of these csses.

  Will Nia be able to turides around and help Yuel recim the ne?