“Yo! Let’s py, dude!” Lars dropped his stuff on Yuel’s table and grabbed a nearby chair.

  “When did you get here?” Yuel stared at the grinning goof in disbelief. The bell just rang a moment ago, yet Lars was already here. “I haven’t had lunch yet. Heck, I haven’t even taken it out of the bag yet.”

  “You do that while pying, yo!” Lars stuffed a sandwito his mouth and picked up his troller.

  “You gonna choke like this.”

  “Nfo prwoblemf!” Lars produced something that vaguely resembled nguage while mung on the sandwich. He was holding the troller with both hands, which meant he was... eating without hands! And the sandwich didn’t fall off! It was a truly godly skill! Lars definitely had a bright future... in the circus.

  Heh, I just ’t keep up with this guy. Yuel sighed and took out his things. He refused to show it on his face, but he was giddy as well. Ever sihey started pying together, Cssmancers became a bst of a game, more than ever before!

  They pyed in Bot Lane most of the time, as a pair of Support and Carry. A cooperative and skilled Carry was a godsend for Yuel. He could carefully analyze his ne oppos and discover their mistakes, without w about the Carry doing something dumb-

  “Wait, don’t 1v2 them!” Yuel excimed. “Retreat, you ’t win th-”

  DOUBLE KILL

  “Woohoo! That was close as heck! Look at that HP!” Lars finished off both enemies by himself, with less than 1% HP left.

  “... that was suicide.”

  “No problem, dude! I told you these guys were noobs, haha!”

  Seriously, this guy... Yuel sighed. Despite how many times he saull crazy stuff, he couldn’t his head around it. No matter how highly he evaluated Lars’s skill, it was never enough. Lars alroved he was at least ten levels above what Yuel expected.

  So that’s a real genius, huh. As much as Yuel hated using this misleading word, there was no other way to describe Lars. Yes, Lars was truly a genius. His godlike meical skill allowed him to stomp enemies without relying on any plicated tactics. He was a savage beast uricted by on sense.

  Sadly, sometimes the liween “genius” and “idiot” was uedly thin.

  “Don’t chase that kill.”

  “But that HP, yo! I’mma finish him off real quick!”

  An ally has been killed!

  “Gah! So close!” Lars fell prey to a Turret. “Quick! Revive me!”

  “Sure, just wait a moment while I hack the game and make Arise work across the map.” Yuel made a face. “You totally deserve to rot there. I hope you had fun chasing that kill, just look how much you achieved.”

  “Ouch. Okay, okay! I got it already! My bad!”

  “Have fun watg from the sidelines without being able to do anything.”

  “Gaaaaah! I wanna back already! What’s with this 40 seds respawn time!? I y!” Lars threw a tantrum.

  Heh, perfect. Yuel secretly smirked. He had already figured Lars’s oints and took nasty jabs at them. It was a necessary evil for edug this goof, who was somehow both a genius and an idiot at the same time. Expnations never worked with that thick-headed goof. Lars had to learhing the hard way by experieng the sequences of his mistakes on his own flesh.

  “Geh, d-do I chase this one?” Lars forced himself to ask.

  “No, too risky. e baid and take dowurret.”

  “Gah, okay.” Lars looked unsatisfied, but he obediently turned his back to the inviting opportunity. As much as he wao score that kill, he knew a terrifyingly long respawn time awaited him in case he failed. After getting burnt enough times, even a fool learo not carelessly py with fire.

  There were many things Yuel had to teach Lars and it was always a challenge. If the other kids Yuel pyed with were like easy-to-use handguns, then Lars was like a rampaging maegun. Difficult to handle, but extremely powerful once mastered.

  “I told you, don’t buy lifesteal early on.”

  “But the self-sustain, dude! I wanna stay longer in ne!”

  “Lifesteal is a pertage-based stat, so it’s best to buy it at mid or te game.”

  “But why? It gives me the lifesteal, so what’s wrong with that?”

  “Do you even know how pertages work?”

  “S-Sure, yo!!”

  “Then how much is 10% from 100?”

  “It’s... umm... ah, wait, isn’t that like 10? Haha, you totally had me there for a sed!”

  “Good, now how much is 10% from 300?”

  “It’s... ehh... Let’s see, how do I calcute that crap again...”

  “Just how often do you sleep during math csses?”

  “200% of the time, haha!” Lars announced with pride. “See? I’m a master of pertages!”

  This goof will be the end of me. Yuel sighed for at least the millionth time since he started coag Lars.

  “Alright, then how about I put it this way.” Yuel ged his approach. “You poked that Pirate a few times by nht? If you bought a power item instead of lifesteal, you would have scored a kill by now. With the gold earned from that kill you could buy the lifesteal item you wanted so badly. So, you’d have both the power item and the lifesteal item by now.”

  “Oh! That’s sick!” Lars nodded vigorously. It took a few mames until these words truly sank in, but he eventually stopped building lifesteal early.

  “You better stop pying with Yuel before you bee a bot.” John sneered as he passed by them.

  “A bot? What’s that about?” Lars titled his head.

  “That’s... nothing.” Yuel ched his troller. His hands trembled.

  “He uses his teammates like chess pawns.” John said. “He’s a genius chess strategist alright, but keep following his orders and you’ll bee a bot. You may be thinking yood at Cssmancers, but that’s actually all because of Yuel’s instrus.”

  “Yeah, dude is legit a genius.” Lars nodded. “But hey, I rock too!”

  “Sure, I also thought I retty det at first. But after pying with him for a while, I realized I was only det when I was following his orders.”

  “Hmm, welp.” Lars rolled his eyes. “If you’re only good when Yuel feeds you from a spoon, doesn’t that mean you’re just... ya know, suck at the game?”

  “Wha!?” John’s face torted. “I don’t mean t, but I’m the best Carry pyer in our css.”

  “Oh! That’s cool!” Lars turo Yuel. “Is this dude strong?”

  “He’s... Well, I agree he’s probably the best Carry in our css.” Yuel dodged the question. Out of all the kids in css, he pyed Cssmahe most with John. They werely “friends”, but Yuel didn’t want to say out loud how John pared to Lars in terms of skill.

  “Okay, then 1v1 me, dude!” Lars challenged John. “If you win, I’mma quit Cssmancers.”

  “Huh...” John was taken aback for a moment. “And if you win?”

  “You’ll admit you gotta git gud.”

  “Fine by me.” John nodded. He brought his tablet over and they began the duel.

  “Pft, you’re using Archer?” Lars barely held his ughter during the loading s.

  “What’s wrong with Archer?” John scowled. “Oh, let me guess: Yuel told you it’s a D tier css, so you automatically assume it’s bad.”

  “Nah, never heard of that. I just pyed Archer enough to tell it doesn’t have anything on other Carries.”

  I’m sure I told him Archer is D tier... oh well. Yuel shrugged. Lars probably fot all about tiers right after Yuel taught him. Typical Lars.

  So Archer is “bad”, huh. John ched his troller We’ll see about that.

  First Yuel, now Lars. What’s s with Archer? It was a simple and effective css. It’s the first css John picked during the Cssmancers lessons and the one he had pyed the most siheried some other Carries, but most of them required nding some difficult shots. Archer was the best way to go.

  I’ll make him eat his words. John was uncharacteristically tilted. He simply couldn’t uand: how could Lars py so much with Yuel and still smile as if it was fun? He had to wipe that stupid smile off Lars’s face!

  “Huh!?” John nearly fell off his chair. His Archer fell from 100% HP to 60% HP from a si! How!? Trickshot gained bonus damage after boung off a wall, but was it that strong!?

  Starting with a power item, good. Yuel o himself. Even though Yuel wasn’t there to give advice, Lars overcame his bad habit of buying lifesteal early on his own.

  Tch, he was sure lucky hitting that shot from a bounce. John gritted his teeth. I o lower his HP as well. He initiated a fight to get some damage on Lars, but soon realized it was a grave mistake.

  “Huh!?” John was overwhelmed. His shots... they didn’t ect! Lars sidestepped and rolled around, dodging everything John fired his way. What’s with these movements!? Was it even possible to move so quickly in this game!?

  Wait, calm down. John took a deep breath. He’s just mashing buttons.

  Right, of course it ossible to move this quickly by spamming buttons. It’s just that nobody did it because it was impossible to aim-

  No way! John was hit. And hit. And hit. His shots missed Lars, yet each of Lars’s shot perfectly ected. Why? How!? John’s HP fell down to 20% in a matter of seds!

  I’m outta here! John turned around and dashed toward his Golem.

  However, Lars had no iioing this opportunity slip. He slid forward with Trickslide and barraged his prey. John fell all the way to 10% HP!

  I-It’s fine. John tried to vince himself. I’ll have a ce he gets into the Golem’s zone. I’m sure Yuel would advise against such a dangerous pursuit, but that guy is pying on his ht now. He’ll chase me all the way for sure. Heh, now you’ll see how bad you really are!

  This is bad! Yuel covered his mouth, he almost blurted a retreat order. A Lv.3 Trickshooter wouldn’t survive more than two shots from the Golem. Chasing after John was suicide!

  “Hmm, looks risky.” Lars stopped right at the edge of the Golem’s area. “Heh, go ahead, Run back to your base, dude. I’ll take good care of the ne meanwhile.”

  The old Lars would had definitely charged in, but the current Lars k’d end in a tragedy. Bit by bit, he learned from his mistakes. He definitely didn’t need Yuel to hold his hand at all times.

  Tch, he didn’t fall for it. John clicked his tongue. I ’t give him ne advantage so early. Guess I’ll stay and farm uhe Golem for a while.

  Instead of returning to base to restore HP, John advanced so he could shoot the ining minions. He had a rough idea of Trickshot’s maximum range, so he stayed far enough to not get hit. If Lars wahis kill, he’d have to invade-

  “Haha, gotcha!” Lars grinned and fired Trickshot. However, he didn’t aim it straight at John because that wouldn’t reach. Instead, he fired it toward the ne’s wall. The bullet bounced and gaiended range.

  You have been killed!

  “Ah... huh...?” John’s troller fell from his hands. His jaw was hanging. What. How. He just advanced a bit forward. It all happened in an instant. Before he eveered the situation, the Trickshot bounced off the wall and killed him.

  That skill is so hard to aim, but he... in an instant... John’s hands trembled. A mohis guy’s a monster.

  John fought until end, but the differen their skills was obvious from very beginning. He lost the match without killing Lars even once. Heck, he barely grazed Lars at all. It was ughable.

  “, say it! Loud and clear!” Lars grinned.

  “I... I o git gud.” John mumbled.

  “Okay! Now that that’s out of the way, y with us? You’re not half bad!”

  “I’ll pass. You two are monsters.” John walked away with his head hanging. His eyes were dead.

  From the very first lesson, John really liked Cssmancers. It was a fun game to py with friends and he retty det at it. He didn’t tell anybody, but he even tried pying online. However, his teams always got trashed and his teammates raged at him, so he quit after just three matches.

  His brief experience pying online pletely shattered his self-image. How e he pyed so well in css but sucked so hard ohat’s when he realized the truth: it was all thanks to Yuel. John made strong pys when he followed Yuel’s orders, but he was nothing without them.

  In other words, he was just a pawn in Yuel’s design. None of his achievements really beloo him. He felt cheated and used, that’s why he took it out on Yuel. Looking ba it, that was really immature of him.

  The duel with Lars forced John to face the truth: he simply wasn’t good enough. Yuel was just helping the team win. The one who turned John into a pawn was her than John himself. It’s so dumb.

  Ah. I ’t take it anymore. I’m through with this shitty game. John sighed. He was going to uninstalled Cssmancers. Forever.

  Is it my fault? Yuel bit his lip. The way Lars stomped John looked like a pro going serious against an amatuer. It was only natural for John’s spirit to be crushed.

  Was that how everybody felt when they pyed with Yuel? They were all the same age, so he never sidered himself above the rest. He took the matches seriously and did his best to win, that was only natural for him.

  He... crushed them. None of them took Cssmancers as seriously as him. They ehe game, but they didn’t feel like reag Yuel’s level yet. It’s like they were pyed pletely different games.

  He never realized any of that because his pystyle didn’t overwhelm his oppos with raw strength the way Lars did. He merely advised his allies how to punish the enemy’s mistakes, but the effect was the same. Everybody he pyed against were overwhelmed and dispirited.

  Yuel and John werely friends, but they had been pying Cssmaogether ever sihe first lesson. John definitely liked the game, but he must had grown to hate it because of Yuel.

  No, it wasn’t only John. Just how many of Yuel’s cssmates quit Cssmancers because of him? They all pyed casually, but they were by no means bad pyers. By destroying them with everythi, Yuel murdered their ces of ever taking the game more seriously.

  “Sorry...” Yuel mumbled as John passed by him.

  “It’s fine.” John answered without lifting his head. “I just suck at Cssmancers, that’s all there is to it.”

  “That’s not true. You beuch better if you take your time to learn the game.”

  “Bee better, huh. No way I keep up with monsters like you.”

  “At least py with us sometimes.”

  “If I feel like it.” Joh. Based on his expression, he most likely wouldn’t touch Cssmancers ever again.

  “Hey, dude. What’s with the long face?” Lars smacked Yuel on the back.

  “Agh. It hurts.” Yuel frowned. “Say, is it fun pying Cssmancers with me?”

  “Hmm. Welp.” Lars scratched the back of his head. “You sure get bossy. ‘Do this’, ‘don’t do that’. Sometimes I feel like pung yo face.”

  “Eh? Seriously?”

  “But it’s fine, ya know? You’re right on the money most of the time.” Lars smiled and gave a thumb up. “You saw that duel just nht? I scored that sick early kill because I started with a power item and didn’t dive the Golem. That’s stuff I learned from Professor Yuel himself.”

  “Heh, is that so.” Yuel smiled wryly. “But don’t you sometimes feel like I’m deg all your as for you?”

  “Hey, hey! Don’t ya steal my glory, yo! I’m the one nding all the shots, you’re just there to give me some tips. I’m Batman and you’re Robi’s be clear about that.”

  “Heh, not sure I agree.”

  “Deal with it, dude.”

  “Haha.” Yuel breathed in relief. He was gd at least Lars was resistant to his habit of bossing his teammates around. If a prodigy like Lars were to quit Cssmancers because of that, Yuel would never five himself.

  “Anyway, let’s py already!”

  “Sure.”

  They queued into yet another match. Even though they were a party of just two people, it made the online experienpletely different from pying solo. Their win ratio rocketed all the way to 68% and they ed long winning streaks, gaining huge amounts of exp for their ats.

  Most of the time it was just the two of them, but sometimes other kids joined in as well. Among them were Taison and Gregory, the Pirate and Cleri Yuel and Lars defeated on their first meeting. These two didn’t py online much before and were tent with stomping weaker cssmates, but being utterly crushed by Yuel and Lars apparently made them ge their ways.

  The one who joined Yuel and Lars most often was Julia, the girl who pyed terrible Support for Lars before. After Yuel magnifitly shut down Taison and Gregory, even Julia had to admit he was somewhat det. Though, her attitude toward him remained as nasty as ever.

  “ I py Support for you this time?” Julia asked Lars with a pretty smile.

  “Hmm. Yuel, what do you say?” Lars titled his head.

  “She’s not fit to py Support.” Yuel gave it to her straight.

  “What’s that? You’re saying I’m a bad pyer!?” Julia raised her void gred at Yuel. Her angelic smile vanished without a trace.

  “No, you’re not a bad pyer.” Yuel shook his head. “You’re a det Mid Laner, but you’re not fit to py Support.”

  “And why’s that, exactly? Mid and Support even have some csses in on.”

  “That’s true, but you o py Mid ancer and Support ancer very differently. You py Support the same way you py Mid, which a no-no.”

  “Hmph, I just o practice it.” Julia refused to give up. “How do you expect me to get aer if you’re not letting me py Support?”

  “It’s pointless. You won’t learn the Support’s mentality just from pying a lot of Support.”

  “How do you even know that, you reta-” Julia barely stopped herself. She threw a nervous gn Lars’s dire. Phew, he wasn’t bothered by her outburst. She adjusted her attitude and swallowed her pride. “T-Then teach me how to py Support.”

  “No.”

  “You dumb- Geh. I mean, why not?”

  “It’ll be a waste of time. I teach you about Mid if you want.”

  “Gah! You’re really such a...!” Julia gritted her teeth to stop herself from raining a thousand curses.

  “Okay, okay.” Lars cpped his hands. “July, you mind pying Mid? Dunno whether you’re fit to py Support, but I agree you’re a great Mid.”

  “T-Thanks.” Julia bnked out for a moment and her face turned pinkish. “Sure, I like Mid more than Support anyway.” Her attitude made a sudden 180. Seriously, this girl...

  But that wasn’t the end of it. On a while she pestered them about pying Support, only to be shot down by Yuel. Why was she so eager to py Support anyway? It didn’t suit her at all.

  She was a scaredy-cat who ran away at the first sign of danger. It wasly a great attitude, but it worked fine for a Mid Laner. Mages were squishies with bad escape tools and Mid Lane was the most proo ganks. Therefore, pying safe was important in Mid. But the same mentality didn’t apply to Support Mages, who more often than not had to be in enemy’s face.

  “Hey, Yuel! Let’s py- ah.” Lars barraged into the css, only to realize that Yuel’s seat was empty.

  “He has a chess touroday.”

  “ht! pletely fot about that thing!” Lars smacked himself on the forehead.

  “Then, how about I py Supp-”

  “Meh, guess I’ll practice my jungling today.” Lars shrugged and turoward Julia. “You’re pying, right?”

  “Sure...” Julia answered with a wry smile. Even when Yuel wasn’t there, she simply couldn’t win.

  heless, she kept pying Cssmancers with them more than anybody else. At least on the surface, she looked as passionate as them about the game. Even ohe school year ended and the summer vacation began, she kept pying oh them. They used voice chat to unicate and steadily climbed up the levels.

  “Meh, this isn’t the same.” Lars pined. “Let’s all meet up!” Ever since he suggested that, they start meeting twice a week to py together in the same room.

  “But why Yuel’s room?” Julia pouted.

  “Because of you.” Yuel answered. “You acted weird when we pyed at Lars’s pce. Your performance suffered and we lost some very easy games.”

  “Geh.” Julia averted her eyes. Her cheeks turned pink.

  “Haha, sorry about all the mess in my room.” Lars ughed. “Bet it wasn’t fortable to py there.”

  “N-Not at all!” Julia excimed. “I-It’s just what I’d expect from a boy’s room! pared to that...”

  Yuel’s room was tidy and anized, eerily so. No decorations and no color, it hardly even looked like a room somebody lived in. Julia hought her room articurly messy, but pared to Yuel’s - hers looked like a jungle.

  “We aly at your pce.” Yuel smirked. “That is, if you’re fih inviting two boys to your house.”

  “No thank you.” Julia shot him a gre. “If it were only Lar... then...” Her face gradually transformed into a tomato.

  In the end, meeting in Yuel’s room became their routine for the summer break. Iwo months, Yuel and Lars po reach Lv.50 and quer the world of Ranked mode. They both began the vacation at Lv.46, so Ranked was just around the er. Oh, and Julia was also there, gging behind at Lv.38.