The StormBlitz vs. Leopards scrimmage was a week away. As the sed string, Yuel, Trever, Gilbert, Roi and Dahat time practig together as much as possible. They pyed Ranked as a team, practiced against the first string and strategized team positions.

  By Howard’s order, Lars was also mixed into the sed string’s core training. This allowed the sed string to hold intense 3v3 matches, helping them polish their teamwork in team fights. Even though Lars didn’t get to participate in the scrimmage, he had no problem sacrifig his free time even after school, all for the sake of the sed string.

  “I gotta make sure you win your debut match, dude.” Lars procimed to Yuel. “If you dudes improve by pying against me, then I’m avaible anytime.”

  “Thanks.” Yuel smiled wryly. How did Lars feel as he pyed with the sed string? Yuel couldn’t even imagine.

  Lars thristed to py petitively as strongly as Yuel, maybe even more. Yet, he didn’t make the cut this time. It took real strength to be able to help the sed string around the clock despite that. Yuel wasn’t sure he could had dohe same in Lars’s shoes. Lars was truly amazing.

  As the sed string practiced together, it became apparent that Trever, despite being nominated as the captain, couldn’t lead the team at all irategic department. “Just pick your best csses and we’ll stomp these guys.” That was Trever’s typical response wheeam strategy was brought up. Thus, Yuel and Gilbert handled most of these matters, Trever was just there to provide moral support or whatever.

  Before long, the important day was here. The scrimmage took p Proter, a game ter which also hosted various Esport tours. Some came here to py casually with friends, whereas others came to fight to the death in serious tours. Since Yuel barely pyed video games with others before Cssmancers, he had no idea such pces eveed until this year.

  Proter hosted tours for a myriad of game genres, such fighting, rag, battle royale and, of course, MOBA. Since Cssmancers was an Espnized in schools, it received extra attention. Huge halls and well-kept rooms were reserved for both teams today, even though the uping matches weren’t even part of a tour.

  The halls were desigo satisfy any petitive needs, ing with cutting edge puters, a rge stage, huge monitors, tons of crowd seats and literally everything. There were even rger and fshier stadiums deeper into the ter. These were reserved for the regional tour and pro matches. Yes, even some pro matches were hosted here.

  This wasn’t the first time Yuel came to Proter in the past year. Most of the first string scrimmages were hosted here and the whole club apahe team for these matches. However, this was the first time he came here as a fellow partit, not just as part of the crowd.

  Shivers danced across his skin. For the first time, he felt pressure as he stepped ihis was the petitive stage he was yearning for, the orained so hard for. Even though it was only going to be a scrimmage and he was merely on the sed string, he was definitely here - on the same stage pros pyed on.

  “Hey, what’s up, kid?” Trever asked. “You look like a zombie.”

  “Nothing, just a little tired.” Yuel wobbled, barely keeping himself on his feet. His brain ran game simutions the whole night, so he barely got any sleep. He somehow mao pull himself together until now, but the fatigue started getting to him.

  “Haha, so nervous you couldn’t sleep?”

  “Something like that.”

  “There are some nice sofas in the back, you should y down a little. We still got like an hour until the matyway.”

  “That sounds greaaaaaaa- ah.” Yuel almost colpsed as he imagined himself rexing on fy sofa. With Trever leading the way, they went to the private roed for the sed string team.

  It was a mere scrimmage, yet each team got a personal room. At the back of his head, Yuel uood the rooms were just built side-by-side with the stage, so it was a no-braio let teams borrow these rooms. heless, he couldn’t help but feel like a VIP. He was almost like a pro! A pro who was about to pass out... ugh.

  “You look like shit.” Howard appeared beside them, ing from the first string’s room. “Sure yood to go today? I switch you out, there are plenty pyers here raring to go..”

  “I’m perfectly fine.” Yuel mustered a serious expression.

  “Pft, you look like some zombie lord.” Howard chuckled. “But, these are good eyes. From the moment you accepted your spot oeam, you’re no longer pying just for yourself. You’re obligated to put on your best performance for those who didn’t make the cut. So, I don’t wanna hear excuses like ‘I was tired’.”

  “I uand. I’m here to win, nothing less.”

  “Good, because their first string is pretty strong. It probably gonna be a close one for us, so the sed strier do its job.” Howard ed his arm around Yuel’s shoulder and lowered his voice. “If you mess this up, everybody gonna be on your ass ter.”

  “I-I got it.” Yuel gulped, a shiver jolted through his spine.

  “Good, I trust you.” Howard smacked Yuel on the back, the. His words put quite the pressure on Yuel, but it was uandable. Even though the sed string match wasn’t the mai, it also pyed a role iermining today’s overall winner.

  Each string was scheduled to py five matches and the team with the most points by the end of the day was going to be decred victor. Each won game in the first string grahe team 2 points, whereas a win in the sed string granted 1 point. In case the first strings were going to have a atch like Howard anticipated, the performance of the sed string could determioday’s winner.

  For example, if StormBlitz’s first strio go 3-2, the points were going to stand at 6-4. In case the sed strio be crushed with an embarrassing 1-4, the final score would be 7-8, resulting in StormBlitz’s loss. In other words, StormBlitz would lose the scrummage despite the first string winning mames, just because the sed string sucked hard. No wonder Howard was so serious about this.

  At the minimum, the sed string had to win two out of five matches. As long as they went 3-2 or 2-3, the result of the sed string matches would be rendered irrelevant for the total score. In this case, everything would be riding on the first string’s achievements and the sed string wouldn’t be a liability anymore.

  At first ghe requirement to go at least 2-3 didn’t sound that scary. However, 2-3 was just one loss away from 1-4, which could spell a disaster. They couldn’t rex until they scored the two wins they needed.

  But, that’s just the bare minimum. Yuel wao put on a strong performance during his debut, so he o win at least four matches today. Not only would that showcase his skill and bring him a step closer to the first string, but it’d also provide backup for the first string. In case the first strio stumble and go 2-3, the sed string’s 4-1 would transform that into a win for StormBlitz.

  Not good, I’m getting lost in numbers again. Yuel shook his head. It’s small thoughts like that which robbed him of his sleep st night, he always turhem into a full sessiht now, he had to use what little time he had to rest before the scrimmage, so he tried emptying his mind.

  There’s o worry so much about whether the team could win two or four matches today. Of course, if they could win 4 out of 5 and that’d be the reason StormBlitz won today, that’d put him in a great spot and- Ugh! Enough already!

  He set up an arm for 45 minutes from now and id down on the sofa. After he finally defeated the nagging thoughts, he shut down his eyes and succumbed to slumber.

  When he woke up, it was already time to head to the stage. As a , the two teams were to greet each other on stage before the match started. Trever was teically the “captain” of the sed string, so he went ahead, dragging Yuel with him. Gilbert was more of a vice-captain than Yuel, but he shoved the job on the freshmen after calling it “a pain”.

  The representatives from the Leopards were a tall girl, most likely a senior, and aaller guy, who looked like he didn’t even want to be here.

  “boBreaker, captain of the sed string.” The girl introduced herself and stretched her hand.

  “Heh, a chick for captain? Pretty hot.” Trever grinned and shook her hand. “WildDragon, o meetcha, sweetie. I don’t have a girlfriend, in case you’re w.”

  “I don’t remember asking.” Breaker made a fad pulled her hand. “And you?” She turo Yuel.

  “Um...” Yuel flinched. Apparently, the tradition was to introduce themselves using their niames. Ugh, how embarrassing. “It’s Chessmaster...”

  “Chessmaster? Pft, you’re sure modest. Then again, WildDragon isly tame either. Might as well call yourself TheBestPyer.”

  “Believe it or not, we actually got somebody in the club with a nick like that”

  “Say what?”

  “You don’t want to know.” Yuel sighed with a wry smile. It was a weird iion. The girl standing in front of him was the captain of the eeam, the one Yuel was about to fight against. Yet there they were, casually chit-chatting like it was the most natural thing in the world.

  Were petitive matches normally like this? The image of cold and ruthless battles began crumbling in his mind. He was stiff like a statue at first, but the versation helped him rex.

  “Don’t just stand there.” Breaker turo the guy apanying her.

  “Ah, what a drag...” The guy sighed and stepped forward. “The name’s Freezer, let’s have a good game and all that crap.”

  “Haha, someone sure looks hyped up.” Trever ughed.

  “I knht?” Breaker shook her head. “Guess he doesn’t expect much from you. Holy, her do I.”

  “Hoho, fident, aren’t we?” Trever grinned. “ Then, how about we make a bet? If we win more matches, you’ll give me your phone number.”

  “Is this really your captain?” Breaker raised an eyebrow.

  “Yes, at least on paper.” Yuel shrugged. “He’s the senior, so we make him feel good by calling him ‘captain’.”

  “Haha, you little...!” Trever smacked Yuel on the back.

  “So, you also got seniors in sed string.” Breaker o herself. “I see why you agreed to this match. Maybe you won’t be a total bore after all.”

  “What do you mean?” Yuel asked.

  “Our club is pretty big pared to others in the region.” Breaker expined. “We got 28 members, so the sed string is filled with seniors who didn’t make the first string. We’re all ag for some a, you know?”

  “I-I see.” Yuel flinched. Even though they were still chatting casually, he could sense burniermination behind Breaker’s words. More specifically, the determination to mop the floor with StormBlitz’s makeshift sed string.

  “That’s why I’m gd you also got seniors on your team.” Breaker said. “Otherwise, this rare opportunity to py an official match would be a total waste. This is our st year and probably the st ce we get to py in Proter, so we wanna make it t. Just imagine if you came at us with a bunch of freshmen, haha!”

  “Yes, that'd be hirious...” Yuel forced a smile.

  “Speaking of which, which year are you, midget? You look pretty fresh.”

  “Err, that’s...” Yuel averted his eyes.

  “A freshman, of course!” Trever smacked Yuel’s back. Gah! That goof had to e and say it! “He’s a total rookie, so please go easy on him. Haha.”

  “You seriously put a freshman against us?” Breaker’s smile vanished “And he’s your vice-captain? Are you for real?”.

  “Let’s just get this b stuff over with.” Freezer sighed. “I heard they don’t even have an official sed string, they literally put that team together for today’s match.”

  “Are you serious? You guys didn’t even practice as a team?”

  “Hey, hey!” Trever excimed. “We did a bunch of training over the week, we’re good to go!”

  “A week...” Breaker mumbled. “Tch, I got up my hopes for nothing. You’re right, let’s just get this farce over with. Get ready to be styled on, scrubs.” Breaker and Freezer turned around and strutted away.

  “Heh, we’ll see who gonna cry by the end of it!” Trever shouted their way, but they ignored him. They were fident they had this mat the bag, so they didn’t feel like chatting anymore. Before the match even started, Yule’s team disappeared from the enemy’s radar. Ugh, such humiliation!

  But, it was uandable. Even though he was just a freshmaed Breaker’s frustration as a senior. She aeammates had been training for the past two years with the goal of making it into the first string, same as Yuel right now. As, even though this was now their st year of middle school, they were left to rot in the sed string.

  Not only that, but most teams in the region didn’t even have a sed string, so Breaker probably didn't get to py many official matches, if any. And now, when a rare opportunity to py in Proter finally preseself, turned out Breaker ying against a makeshift team that was a formed a week ago. It’s only natural to be upset.

  Right now, on this stage, gathered everybody who didn’t make it. His oppos were the spitting image of his greatest fear: What if he also wasn’t going to make it into first string during middle school? The mere thought of it depressed him to the core.

  Fortunately, today was his first ce to destroy this grim future. Even though he was just a freshman, he already set foot on this stage. If he were to surpass the sed string seniors today, it’d prove he was at least as good as them in his first year. From there, it’d take just one more step to get into the first string.

  “Hey kid, what’s wrong?” Trever called from the other side of the stage. “We gonna start warming up. e on!”

  “ing.” Yuel returo earth and shook off the stressing thoughts. To achieve his grand ambitions, he first had to focus och at hand. He was going to quer the stage of sed strings, no matter what!