"You have to warm up," Yuel expined while direg Nia to Practice mode. "The equipment here is different from what we have in the club, so you have to get used to it."

  "'t I just use my troller?" Nia pouted.

  "No, everyday py with mouse and keyboard."

  "What a pain," Nia twisted her lips in protest, but obediently leaned forward to reach the mouse and keyboard with her short arms.

  For some ungodly reason, this girl preferred to py Cssmancers with a troller. After she joihe club, she pyed exclusively with a troller for a while. It took Yuel some time to notice that and call her out on it.

  Good thing I forced her to use a mouse and a keyboard. Yuel sighed in relief as he watched Nia move naturally in Practice mode and properly nd hits on the dummies. Despite how much she protested at first, Nia now seemed fortable with using mouse and keyboard.

  "Oh, this feels nice," Nia ran her fingers across the keyboard and moved the mouse in circles.

  "Yeah, they got det equipment here," Yuel agreed. "Fh-level games, the quality of the equipment makes a huge difference."

  It probably feels good to type on it. Nia brought up the chat windoced both hands on the keyboard.

  test test test

  this is nice

  everybody is a bully today as always

  Well, as long as she's getting used to the equipment... Yuel smiled wryly auro his own warm-up.

  A few mier, the referee annouhe beginning of the drafting phase. Taurus won the virtual toss and chose to pick first. Each team banned some ph tier csses, then they proceeded to pick csses.

  "Hey, Zephy," Bruce smacked his pal on the shoulder. "I got a brilliant idea for ya. We gonna steamroll these scrubs real hard, khaha!"

  "Haha, I'm on board!" Zeph grinned. "Whatcha got?"

  "What if we go DK on their asses?"

  "You wao DK?"

  "Yeah, do it, bro. It gonhe joke of the year! We gonna finish them in like five minutes, khaha!"

  "Heh, that'd be a riot!" Zeph nodded.

  "Dark Knight is a risky pick," Raymond, the captain, acted like the party pooper he always was. "I thiter py it safe in the first round, to get a better feel for their skill level."

  ", what skill?" Brueered. "These guys are clearly a joke. They even got two chicks oeam."

  "Female pyers be as good as any other pyer," Raymond argued.

  "Bruh, are ya a feminist or some shit? Girls 't video games for shit. Am I right, guys?"

  "Totally," Zeph nodded. "Never met a girl who actually knows how to py."

  "Right? Right?" Bruodded repeatedly. "They always say they're gamers, but then ya let them py and they get the whole team killed. ‘Skill’, khaha! Yeah, right."

  "But, female pros exist..." Raymond leveled a ter-argument, but gave up midway, It oio say anything more. Everybody was already on board with Bruce's nonsensical opinion. This situation was nothing new, so Raymond just let it go. "Do as you wish."

  "Alright, Zephy, jam in that DK!" Bruce ordered.

  "Ya got it, fam!" Zeph picked Dark Knight and locked it in.

  Now, the turn passed to StormBlitz.

  "These bastards are making fun of us," Kai shot a murderous gre at the s. Dark Knight as the first pick? Who’d do such a thing except for low ranks? These fuckers were asking for a beating.

  "Calm down, they're doing it on purpose," Vi said. "They're trying to rile us up. I analyzed that guy using my Arbiter of Talents and cluded he got the Fury Inducer skill. It allows him to i his oppos with anger and frustration, making their performance suffer."

  "In short, he's one heck of a scumbag," Kai clicked her tongue. "His BS doesn't work ohough."

  Actually, to me, you look both angry and frustrated. Vi ented silently. "Well, just try to keep calm, that’s all I'm saying."

  "Are you sure you don't o worry about yourself first?" Kai threw a g Vi's rapid foot tapping. It's like his leg was having a seizure.

  "No, no, no, I'm tranquility inate."

  "Huh, if you say so,” Kai rolled her eyes. “Anyway, Yuel, how we gonna respond to that DK pick?"

  "Hmm," Yuel threw a g Nia. "Seems like you’ll be helpi a lot today."

  "Ok," Nia nodded. "If I get Ninja that'd be dope."

  "Yes, Ninja is a good ter-pick."

  "Ok, then that guy is ded."

  "Good, exactly what I wao hear," Yuel nodded in approval. Even though Nia's face was still a little pale, it seemed she was alright. She was ready to tackle this Dark Knight head-on.

  Over the past couple of months, the girl has gained more than enough experience against Dark Knights in Ranked. She was no longer scared of defusing them. In fact, she no longer saw the Dark Knight as a threat at all.

  As long as she pys like her usual self, it’ll be easy to win the ne. Yuel picked Knight, the safe and solid bruiser. Viking would’ve been a great option as well but the enemy ba, possibly to prevent it from being picked against the Dark Knight.

  , Nia grabbed Ninja. It was usually better to wait a little longer before pig the team’s Jungler. However, Nia's viable csses boiled down to stealth csses, so grabbing it early was the safest.

  The drafting phase went on, with both teams trying to outdo each other. Taurus picked Lumimancer as a soft ter to Nia's stealth, whereas Stratus struck back by tering Aeromancer with Eleahe final liurned into:

  Stratus

  Chessmaster (Top): Knight

  VanishingFlower (Jungler): Ninja

  Gunz (Mid): Eleancer

  Beat (Carry): Impaler

  InformationBckhole (Support): ancer

  Taurus

  DragonMaster (Top): Dark Knight

  Messi (Jungler): Lionfolk

  Nirvana (Mid): Aeromancer

  TheLegend (Carry): Pirate

  TheMyth (Support): Lumimancer

  "Yo, look!" Lars poi the s. "Looks like we're pying against Messi, haha."

  "And against ‘TheLegend’," Kai felt like throwing up. That was the enemy’s Carry, so it’s gotta be that bastard who looked down on Kai, right? Yeah, no question about it. totally see a bastard with low self-esteem naming himself something like TheLegend. After I'm doh him, he’s really gonna bee a legend. The title will be like “The Greatest Scrub That Ever Lived”.

  And so, the first game of the scrimmage kicked off!

  Overall, our picks are better. Yuel pared the lineups. As long as we shut down the Dark Knight early o this one in the bag.

  Yuel ehe h his Knight. His oppo, the Dark Knight, was already there. Well, of course he’d be. After all, Dark Knight's clearing speed was that much faster than the Knight's. Back when Yuel and Nia were still halfway through clearing the jungle camps for the game-opening, the Dark Knight and his partner were probably already done.

  "How soon will you start ganking?" Yuel asked.

  "As soon as they fet I'm here," Nia answered.

  And when that is, exactly? Yuel sighed. Well, this ar for the course. Nia always ys low during the first portion of the match. Acc to her, this was an important ritual that lowered the enemy's awareness of her.

  It'll be great if it works today, but I have my doubts. Yuel knotted his brows. "Anyway, try to be ready to gank as soon as you have your ult."

  "Ok."

  If she holds her end of the bargain, I’ll only have to deal with the Dark Knight aloil Nia gets to Lv.5. Yuel o himself. With a Knight, that was doable enough.

  The Dark Knight unleashed his Dark Bst. Normally, it’d be enough to wipe out Yuel’s entire minion wave. However, it didn’t. Yuel’s minions just barely hung onto life, o away from death.

  It was all thanks to Knight’s Chivalry, his passive. The ft defense boost it grao nearby allies was enough to stop the Dark Knight from one-shotting the entire minion wave with a single Dark Bst. This huge be won't st for long, but it'll be around for the first couple of levels. Having some minions survive, even with mortal wounds, was a huge deal breaker.

  The swordsmen survived as expected, but Yuel’s bowmen were alive as well for some reason. They were supposed to be squishy enough to succumb to Dark Bst’s damage even with Chivalry in effect, but they remained unharmed.

  Did he miss the bowmen? Yuel wohe Dark Bst went through the entire frontline, but it didn’t reach Yuel's rear. As a result, the bowmen remai perfect health. Is he dealing with tour oo? Or, maybe he’s not that good with Dark Knight? Either way, this might be easier than I thought.

  As the enemy swordsmen approached to strike the bowmen, Yuel activated Honorable Duel to aggro the minions toward himself. The taunt made them waste extra time on moving toward Yuel, giving his bowmen more time barrage the distracted swordsmen.

  Thanks to this maneuver, Yuel got rid of all the swordsmen before they even reached him. All that’s left, was for the bowmen of both sides to duke it out with each other. The enemy bowmen got the first hit advantage, but otherwise, it was a close fight.

  To make sure the Dark Knight won't invade any further alongside his remaining troops, Yuel advao the frontlio strike the bowmen down.

  "Heh, you dare getting close?" Zeph grinned. "I'mma show ya what happens when you get this close to DK!"

  I see. He won't let me do this for free. Yuel o himself. In that case, let's do it the quid dirty way.

  Yuel activated Shield Bash. He charged forth and smmed his shield into the three injured bowmen. The sm khem out i. Triple kill!

  However, this brought Yuel dangerously close to the Dark Knight. Even though both csses had 'Knight' in their names, one of them was much strohaher during the early-game. Therefore, Yuel had to run for his life!

  Crap, he got away! Zeph cursed as his prey rolled away, slipping right through his fingers. That damn guy invaded for but a moment, then instantly rolled the heck outta here. What a guy. Okay, wave it is. wave, I'mma push so hard ya gonna run all the way to your Turret, scrub.

  Okay, safe. Yuel recovered from the roll areated further into allied territory, to maintain as much distance as possible between himself and the Dark Knight. Fortunately, the Dark Knight didn't even sider chasing.

  He's pretty tame for somebody who picked Dark Knight in a petitive match. Yuel thought.

  Dark Knight was a cocky, but viable, option in high-level py. However, to effit, it had to be pyed correctly, only then the pick will be justified. The Dark Knight pyer had to be aggressive and push for as much early-game advantage as possible.

  So far, this DragonMaster pyer has been failing on that front. Was the guy waiting for something and merely Yuel's skill until then? Or, maybe he was still warming-up? It could be oo. After all, being nervous about an official match wasn't a problem exclusive to Stratus. This was the first scrimmage of the year for Taurus as well, so they could be equally nervous.

  I’ll get to the bottom of this in the uping waves. Yuel cluded. If this Dark Knight truly happeo be a low-skill pyer, Yuel could start something on his own here, even without Nia’s help. That would be the best-case sario, because it’d give Nia the freedom to focus on other nes.

  As, things were hat easy on the petitive stage...

  DarkestCymore