As the school year ended, summer vacation began. This was Yuel’s sed summer since he started pying Cssmancers.

  Last summer, he and Lars spent the whole time pying together to climb the dder in Rahat was their best indication of improving at the game. But this summer, they had a crete goal in mind: surpassing Howard and Ellen. The goal was huge and stared them right in the face, but they weren’t sure how to actually reach it.

  Unlike ranking up in Rahere was no linear progression toward this goal. How will they know if they’re getting any closer to beating Howard and Ellen? Was there any specific training regime they could use to get there faster? Unfortunately, Yuel didn’t have an answer and Lars didn’t even bother thinking much.

  “Don’t worry, yo.” Lars always said. “Let’s just keep pying and climb these ranks! We’re just two ranks below them, so we gonhem in no time!”

  “Online rank doesn’t decide everything, you know.” Yuel always retorted. They were at “Diamond I” right now, whereas Howard and Ellen were at “Challenger IV”. They were indeed only two ranks apart. Though, in Diamond and Challenger, even a single rank required tons of grinding.

  Still, in theory, they could eventually catch up with Howard and Ellen if they grind a whole lot. Unfortunately, that didn’t mean anything for their position in the club. Clubmates had a certain amount of respect toward online ranking, but it couldn’t single-handedly decide who’ll py on the first string. There were many other factors involved.

  For ohere’s each pyer’s “main role”. Even though Yuel and Lars had the highest online ranks after Howard, Ellen and Roi, it didn’t mean they could just take the 4th and 5th spots oeam. Their main roles were Support and Carry, which were already taken by Howard and Ellen. So, there weren’t any open spots to cim.

  So, how about Lars’s suggestion of beating Howard and Ellen’s ranks? Well, Howard was netain so he decided the roster. Beating his online rank won’t be enough to make him surrender his spot. The only true way to force Howard to step down was by making him admit defeat. In other words, making him admit Yuel was the superior Support and that the team would have a higher ce of winning with Yuel oeam

  So, while beating Howard’s online rank could be a good first step, it’s far from enough. Yuel had to do more, to aim higher. But, he had no idea where exactly he should aim or how high he should get.

  In the end, all he could do end the summer practig, just like st time. Lars dropped by every day and they pyed Cssmancers from m to evening. Lars eve over a few times so they could py some more.

  Julia also tagged along. She didn’t visit every day like Lars and she vehemently refused to sleep over, but she also poured hours upon hours into the game. This was also the same as st summer, except for her big shift in attitude pared to st year.

  Julia firstmost came over because of Lars, no question about it. However, she also dispyed a much menuine desire to better herself.

  “Hey, you,” Julia called out. “Take a look at this.” She shoved her tablet into Yuel’s face. “How should I’ve pyed here? This guy mopped the floor with me.”

  “Let’s see,” Yuel grabbed the tablet before it smashed his nose. “For starters, you pushed too hard here. Aeromancer is good for defending, so random aggression won’t get you far.”

  “Yeah, I know that stuff.” Julia gred at him as if he was making a fool of her. “But, the heck was I supposed to do ihen? The guy was hugging his tower all day like it’s his baby.”

  “One idea is to bait them outside.” Yuel slid his finger across the s, drawing paths from Mid Lao the ral Griffin Camps and the enemy Hyena Camps. “Pretend yoing for one of their camps while they’re turtling. It won’t work on everybody, but some may be tempted to chase you. That’s when you catch them off guard and finish them off.”

  “Oh, that’s an idea!” Julia hen shifted her eyes aside. “But of course I already khat. Hmph.”

  “Sure.” Yuel rolled his eyes. Even though Julia ged her attitude toward the game, her attitude toward Yuel remaihe same. Oh well.

  Over the year, Julia greatly improved her defense and offense. Her tight defense was no longer as wasteful as before because she developed the fideo not ward every single pixel on the mini-map. Her offense was also fiercer thanks to her secret training with Ellen, or so Yuel heard. He barely got any ces to see it in a because Julia refused to use it in front of Lars.

  Julia didn’t admit it, but she was also chasing a rival. Gilbert was assuredly going to be StormBlitz’s new Mid Laner year, so Julia had to surpass him to get a ce to py petitively. Just like Yuel and Lars, she also gged behind her rival by two ranks. Julia was at Diamond III, whereas Gilbert was in Diamond I.

  Fortunately for her, gaps within Diamond division were much easier to close than the gap between Diamond I and Challenger IV. So, she actually had the highest ce to catch up to her target this summer. Who knows, she might even bee a starter before Yuel and Lars. That is, if she were as passionate as them.

  “I’m pooped,” Julia sighed as she dropped on the sofa. “Say, don’t you guys wanna do something else for a ge?” She made it sound like she’s asking both of them, but her eyes were locked on Lars. “It’s summer and stuff. We could go to the beach or just hang out at the mall. We didn’t get to do anything fun st summer. I don’t end another summer cramped in this room.”

  “Hey now,” Lars said. “We went to the beace, remember?”

  “Oh yes, of course I remember.” Julia’s eyes turned sharp like knives. “You mean that oime when I thought we’re going to have fun at the beach, but turned you were talking about doing a flipping marathon aaaaall the way to the bead back!”

  “Nah, that’s no marathon. It was just like five kilometers.”

  “That’s marathon enough for me!” Julia hissed. “Anyway, I’m talking about hanging out for real, not w out or pying Mancers.”

  “Well,” Yuel said. “You have girl friends you go with, right?”

  “You don’t get it, do you? Dumbass” Julia puffed her cheeks. “I wanna go to the beach with-” She paused and threw a g Lars, then turned away with a tint of blush on her cheeks. “Nevermind, fet it.” She dropped again on the sofa. “Guess we’ll just rot in this b room the whole summer. Great.”

  “Welp,” Lars scratched his head. “I kinda get it. Pying at the same pce with the same people kinda burns you out. I wanna keep pying Mancers, but maybe we make things more fun somehow?”

  “More fun?” Yuel asked.

  “Ya know, revolutiouff. ge the atmosphere. Do some cooler stuff..”

  “Hmm,” Yuel pondered. So, Lars meant to keep pying Cssmancers but to do so with a novel approach or in a different enviro. That’s indeed a good way to bat burnout.

  Admittedly, Yuel was also getting a little sluggish during this routi didn’t bother him at all st summer, probably because Cssmancers was still new for him. But after spending a whole year pying Cssmancers seriously in a club, the game lost most of its y.

  Iingly, Yuel didn’t feel that way during the year. Everybody had been practig every day in the clubroom, yet every time felt fresh and new in its own way. Sure, there was some repetition, but it didn’t feel this bad.

  What was the difference? Why ractig in the club usually fun, whereas meeting up in Yuel’s room was burning them out? It’s probably the number of people. They had 15 members in the club, so there was a lot of variety. Team lineups and positions varied wildly during practice matches and even the roles people pyed were different. Yuel usually pyed Support, but sometimes he was had to fill in as a Top Laner or Jungler.

  This variety and flexibility of club practice was something this room severely cked. It’s only the three of them here, which wasn’t even enough to plete a full team. The only “variety” they had was when their oeammates stole their main roles, so they had to adapt. But, that always felt like nothing more than an invenience.

  Another factor that pyed a role in the burnout was the location itself. Even though the clubroom sometimes felt stuffed because of all the puters, it was rather big and offered a lot of space. pared to that, Yuel’s room felt jail; tiny arig.

  There was the option of pying in the living room, but he wahem to take turns pying on his puter so they don’t bee overused to tablets. Sadly, his puter was in his room. He suggested temporarily moving it to the living room for the summer, but his mom rejected the idea.

  So, whoever was going to py from the puter had to stay in Yuel’s room, while the rest could py from the living room. Lars said that’s silly as the entire point of gathering together, and Yuel agreed. Thus, there’s no choice but to py together in Yuel’s room. Ugh, it’s really cramped.

  The third factor of note was that there’s only one PC here. Lars didn’t like pying on tablet because apparently, it’s harder to execute his superhuman shots there. So, he brought over a ptop whenever he could. It wasly optimal because there wasn’t much space for a ptop with a mouse, but Lars preferred that over a tablet.

  So, most of the time Yuel and Julia took turns pying on Yuel’s PC. Julia actually liked pying on tablet and argued she’s fih Yuel always staying on PC, but Yuel objected. Pying on a tablet was a different experience from pying on PC, so it might create some bad habits. petitors pyed on PCs during tours, so it’s important to hone meical skill on PC.

  So, what I do with this? Yuel wao vert his observations into a solution. First, the number of pyers. The most straightforward approach was to call other club members and py together with them. Especially, Roi and Dan would be great additions because they’d fill in the missing Top Laner and Jungler roles. Pying as a full premade team would also allow them to climb ranks faster, so it’s a win-win for everybody.

  But, Yuel couldn’t possibly call them over. The room was already cramped, so shoving more people in here would make pack them like sardines.

  “So,” Lars said. “How about we py at the club?”

  “At the club?” Yuel blinked. “But it’s summer vacation. The school is closed.”

  “Is it though? Some srs bsns sports clubs practice during the summer, so don’t see why we ’t. My basketball club did that in grade school.”

  “Hmm, I suspect that’ll require getting Burton involved,” Yuel said. For starters, they probably had to get permission from their club supervisor, Mr. Burton. There’s a ce Burton will have to be physically present at school to permit this activity, in which case there’s no ce. He didn’t care about Cssmancers or the club. The supervisor role was forced on him and he wasn’t particurly thrilled about it.

  “Ask him then.” Lars pushed.

  “No, he may suspeething. I’ll talk to Howard and Aron first. I’m sure they know.”

  “You do that,” Lars nodded and ched a fist. “Worst case, we’ll bust our way in!”

  “Yeah, no.” Yuel shook his head. “You don’t want the club to get into trouble, do you?”

  “Meh, what they gonna do about it? Probably just scold us or something.”

  “You talk like you’re a veteran at getting scolded by teachers. Not surprising, with yrades.”

  “Weeeeelp, haha.”

  Later that day, Yuel called Howard about this topibsp;

  “You want to practice at the club room?” Howard asked. “Alright, go ahead. You haven't lost the key I gave you, did you?”

  “Of course not. Getting in isn’t the problem. You sure it’s alright? We don’t need Burton’s permission or anything?”

  “Yeah, acc to the rules you need him at school to ‘supervise’ you.”

  “Figured...”

  “But who cares, right?” Howard chuckled.

  “Huh?” Yuel raised an eyebrow.

  “Just do it.”

  “You tellio break the rules? art, ne.”

  “Nobody gonna give a shit. Just don’t wander around the school too mud you’ll be fine. If they question you, tell them you fot something in the clubroom and came to fetch it. A no-brainer.”

  “’t believe I’m hearing this from the captain. If it were Aron, he’d object for sure.”

  “Yeah, he was relut at first too,” Howard said. “But lied peer pressure on him so he gave in, haha. He agreed to us use the clubroom as long as he’s there to supervise us. Treating us like a bunch of brats, heh.”

  “Definitely sounds like Aron,” Yuel nodded, but still had trouble believing it. A strid by-the-book captain like Aron agreed to sneak into the club room during the summer? It’s hard to imagine, but the part about peer pressure sounded believable enough. Won’t be surprised if it’s Howard whahat peer pressure.

  “Let’s be real here,” Howard said. “Burton not gonna bother ing to school for you. And, he not gonna stick out his o give us special permission in his absence. If you want to use the club room, gotta break a rule or two.”

  “Yeah...” Yuel wasn’t too happy about this, but it’s true. Talking to Burton was a lost cause, it’ll only alert him of the club’s iions. Maybe it was really necessary to sneak around the rules here...

  “Well,” Yuel said. “Worst case if they catch us, you’ll defend us, right cap? After all, you’re Aegis. Your defense is uable.”

  “Heh, sure. Tell them I gave permission if they catch you. I’ll take the hit.”

  “Huh? You’re actually fih that?”

  “It’ll look even worse if they think you’re ag without the captain’s permission. It’ll make the club look like a bunch of rascals and the school will bme Burton for that. He won't get off our cases for a while.”

  He sure put some thought into that. Yuel just listened, abs every word. These sort of school politics were beyond him. How did Howard know all of that so well? Because he spent more time at the club? Yuel would eventually bee a captain too, so he had to get on Howard’s level as soon as possible.

  “Anyway,” Howard said. “Have fun there.”

  “Hm? You’re not joining?”

  “Nah. I may drop by from time to time, but don’t expect me to stick around. It’s summer break, after all. It’s silly to go to school during a vacatiht? Haha.”

  “I take it you have some other training pn?”

  “Training pn? , it’s summer. Gotta rex sometimes.”

  “Huh...” Is he serious? Yuel paused for a moment. Howard wasn’t going to practice much during the summer? Really? Was he that fident in his skill?

  Holy, it’s disappointing. Yuel expected more from the rival he was trying to surpass.

  “Fine,” Yuel said. “You’re free to spend the summer as you wish.”

  “Damn right, son.”

  “But, I’m going to keep improving myself. Once school starts, don’t be surprised if I take your spot oeam.”

  “You wish,” Howard sneered. “Don’t fet I’m the captain. I make the calls.”

  “Ugh.” Yuel bit his lip. That’s right, Howard’s position as the captain was the final obstacle in Yuel’s path. No matter how much Yuel improves, Howard will have the final say about who makes it into the first string. To snatch a spot oeam, Yuel will have to beat Howard so hard that it’ll make Howard reize Yuel’s skill and admit defeat. Easier said than done.

  “Well,” Howard said. “We’ll see what happens. You’re still Diamond I, right? If you catch up with me, I’ll take you more seriously.”

  “Ah.” Yuel’s hand trembled, almost losing grip of his phohere it was! The goal! Yuel could see it clearly now. He was already pnning to beat Howard’s rank anyway, but now he had every reason to pursue that objective. He was going to do it! Challenger IV in two months! Easy. No sweat.

  “Just to make sure,” Yuel said. “This also applies to Lars, right?”

  “Sure. I mean, if you’re supp then it’s stupid to not make Lars carry, and vice-versa. You know I ’t deal with him on ne. You’re the only one he listens to.”

  “Yeah, I feel you.” Yuel nodded. Even after spending a whole year in the club, Lars remained one heck of a brat. He didn’t like Howard’s defensive shot-calls, so he often rebelled by going on the offensive anyway. Sometimes it worked and scored a kill, other times it got Lars killed. Either way, Howard wasn’t amused. The two of them just didn’t mesh together as a Bot duo.

  The same could be said about Yuel and Ellen but from a different angle. Ellen had her own unique pystyle and her own ways to exploit enemy weaknesses. Yuel had trouble iing su unusual chess pieto his tactics. Ellen was like a wild card who ged properties on the fly to mess around with her oppos, but in the process that made it difficult to form a sistent strategy around her.

  Perhaps it wasn’t necessary to do so since she was arguably better tha striking enemy weaknesses by herself. However, having one less piemand greatly restricted Yuel’s strategic options. So, rather than not meshing together, it’s more that Yuel and Ellen just didn’t quite plement each other as a pair.

  With all of this in mind, it’s easy to see why StormBlitz’s Bot duo could only be either Yuel & Lars or Howard & Ellen. Therefore, it won’t be enough just for Yuel to beat Howard or for Lars to beat Ellen. Howard most likely won’t admit defeat unless “Yuel & Lars” defeat “Howard & Ellen”. It had to be a joint victory.

  “Fine by me,” Yuel said. “Have fun during your ‘vacation’. Meanwhile, Lars and I will use the clubroom to grind all the way to Master a you and Ellen.”

  “Heh, have fun.”

  With that, it was decided Yuel and the rest could use the clubroom throughout the summer. He, Lars and Julia went to school on the following day, dressed in school uniforms. The guard at the gate didn’t ask them anything, so they cleared the first stage. Phew, they got ihout alerting anybody.

  “Really,” Julia pouted as she stared at her t-shirt. “’t believe I’m wearing a uniform during summer break. It’s like school never ended.”

  “Better safe than sorry,” Yuel retorted. The guard at the gate seemed more lehan usual, so maybe they could’ve gotten ihout uniforms. But, it’s better to wear them just in case. Hreed too.

  Even so, this whole situation was bad for his heart. His eyes darted from side to side as he walked, searg for openings ieachers’ positions to avoid their eyes.

  Judging by the activities around, all the students here beloo sports clubs. Some dribbled a basketball, others took turns shooting a soccer ball into the goal. They sure worked hard.

  It felt like a long time ago now, but just a year ago Yuel also yearo be a part of this. He tried many different sports at school, but nothing ever went his way. No matter how hard he studied the sport and its theories, he always messed up in practice. At one point, he even sidered giving up on sports entirely and stig with chess all the way, maybe even being a pro.

  But, that’s history now. While Cssmancers wasly what most would sider a “real sport”, in Yuel’s book it ort in every sense of the word., Having teammates with a variety of skills, using team strategies to defeat the opposition and participating in petitions against other schools. It had everything a team sport needed.

  And just like these hardw sports clubs in front of him, Yuel and Co. also came here today to hoheir skills at a sport. It’s just the three of them here today, but if this infiltration mission succeeds then he’ll to ihe others too. Maybe they’ll even recreate the same envirohey had throughout the year, minus the seniors who graduated.

  But first of all, they had to safely reach the clubroom. They almost ran into some teachers along the way, but Yuel maneuvered around them through safe paths. The team rotated from o ne, dodging enemy gankers.

  They ended up going in a roundabout route, but that should let them avoid all dangers. As long as they don’t attraybody’s attention, they should be fine. Except, that’s easier said than done...

  Julia fidged as she walked, throwing gnces all over the pce. Yuel was nervous too, but Julia was overdoing it. She looked like a thief who snuto a house and worried the residents may wake up any moment.

  “You know,” Yuel said. “You look suspicious staring at everything like that. Are you that worried?”

  “H-Huh? Of course not, dumbass! I’m just... Err, looking around! Yeah! Because the school looks so different when nobody is around!”

  “Looks the same to me.”

  “Hmph, you must be blind then.” Julia turned her face away. “But serious talk: what do we say if a teacher catches us?”

  “Rex, July.” Lars chuckled and tapped on her shoulder. “If somebody stops us, we just do the obvious: DASH THE HECK OUTTA HERE FULL GAS, YO!”

  “Like hell we will,” Yuel made a face. “We’ll say we’re from the Cssmancers club and that we came here to pick up our trollers. We only now realized we fot them back at school, because we usually py on PCs at home. Got it?”

  “Hmm,” Julia cocked her head. “Not the best excuse ever. I’ll give it like 4/10. But, it should do.”

  “But, but,” Lars insisted. “Running away like assassins is so much cooler! Then we’ll have to slip by the guard and-”

  “You. Fot. A trot it?” Yuel shot a sharp look.

  “Okay, okay. Just don’t kill me, haha.”

  After what felt like an hour, they finally reached the clubroom. Ohey went in, Yuel immediately closed the door and locked it. That’s it. They made it. Mission aplished! They infiltrated the clubroom without any is!

  “Dude!” Lars spread his arms wide as if to embrace the whole room. “Now we’re talking! This is a whole different level of space.” He ran around the clubroom in an airpne pose, something he definitely wouldn’t be able to do in Yuel’s room.

  “Gotta agree,” Julia nodded. “Like, I’m not a fan of spending my summer at school, but at least it’s better than that cramped room.”

  “Well,” Yuel frowned. “Excuse me for not hosting a five-star hotel in my room.” These ungrateful rascals.

  Still, they were right. Even though it was the three of them like always, the atmosphere here felt a world apart. The room was rger, PCs were avaible for everybody and various training notes were posted around, mostly Aron’s prints. This roper training room designed for improving at Cssmancers. Just breathing the air of this room already made them feel like slightly better pyers.

  “, yo!” Lars waved at them, already seated at his favorite spot at the PC closest to the window. It’s one of the two PCs which were clogged at the beginning of the year. Yuel shaped them up, but they still weren’t i form pared to the other PCs here. Yuel reended using one of the better ps, but Lars insisted this one was the best.

  “Let’s go, my dudes!”

  “ing,” Yuel joined in.

  Meanwhile, Julia was torween her options. On one hand, she wao sit near Lars. But oher hand, she wao stay far away from the noisiest PCs. In the end, she sucked it up and took a seat beside Lars. But of course, she didn’t dare to pick the other defective PC.

  With that, their summer training began. Yuel reyed Howard’s words to Lars: “You’re still Diamond I, right? If you catch up with me, I’ll take you more seriously.”

  They agreed this was the first goal on their way to the first string. They had to catch up to Challenger IV, then challenge Aegis and Athena for the starter positions.

  With that determination, they spent every day practig at the club.