“Hoh,” Jennifer nodded. “You actually do it when you try.” She referred to Alex’s ret py, when he silehe Padin and secured a kill on the Ranger.

  “Hmph.” Alex shrugged, but it’s clear Coach’s words had an effe him. The mere mention of the first string was enough to light a fire. No matter how slim, if there’s still a ce to get into the first string - Alex wao grab it no matter what. Jennifer uood that well, since she was in the same boat.

  It also seemed like he didn’t make shit up when bming his poor performan chup. Now, that he pyed against a greedy oppo on ne, he punished his oppos without mercy. There’s nobody better tha punishing aggressive pys, even Jennifer had to admit that.

  It’s frustrating, but Alex was... Well, kind of a genius. He showed his stupid fa the club like twice a week at best, yet Coach still insisted putting him in the sed string. And, as a vice-captain no less. Jennifer bombarded Coach with objes oter, but turned out Alex could pull his ow. Heck, he even made a good py there.

  Meh, I really hate that bastard. Jennifer grumped. This sure brought back memories, from when she was but a clueless freshman in the club.

  When she first joined, she had less than 30 hours of pytime under under her belt. She was such a noob, couldn’t even tell left frht. The club had a tough entry exam, it was a mystery how she scraped through it. Maybe Coach went easier on her because she was a newbie, or because she was a girl, or both.

  Either way, it was a miracle she made it through. The gap between her and the other freshmen alling, it’s like she wandered into an alien world. Some of the words they used sounded ese to her.

  But, even among all these aliens, there was one who stood above the rest: Alex Romanov, a prodigy rookie. His existence made Jennifer feel like an ant. In the first couple of days, it became clear he was a league above other rookies. He had more experiehan them, already a Gold pyer in Ranked. Jennifer hadn’t even unlocked the mode at that point. On top of that, his refined pys and sharp deaking awed everybody. He was a guy to be feared and respected.

  But, all these achievements weren’t enough for him. “I’ll make it into the first string this year, mark my words.” He procimed time and again, even after learning how petitive the club was.

  With Coach guiding new pyers, a huge skill gap existed between freshman and juniors. Rookies felt like yers, whereas juniors almost looked like pros. And, seniors were definitely pros The rookies were thhly trashed during practice matches to be learn their pce. They’d have to train for years before reag the seniors’ level, only then they start dreaming about the petitive se.

  heless, Alex insisted: “I’ll make it, just you watch.” He sounded so dumb, but also so cool at the same time. Thinking ba it, maybe Jennifer even had a little crush on him back then. Bleh.

  Anyway, he refused to yield. No matter who ridiculed his ambition, he kept w his ass off throughout the first year. ing early to practice, staying overtime and talking about Cssmancers 24/7. It was impossible to catch him doing something uo Cssmancers.

  That burning desire to make the impossible possible, that’s why Jennifer made Alex her goal. For her, who was at the bottom of the bottom, Alex was like a role model. He was a talented pyer, yet everybody ridiculed him f to get into the first string. heless, he didn’t yield. So, Jennifer refused to yield either.

  No matter how many times others called her an ued scrub, she kept w hard. All she wanted was to bee a respectable pyer, one who could stand shoulder to shoulder with the other freshmen. Such a small, but damn hard, wish to fulfil. There were tless times she sidered quitting, but every time she remembered Alex’s efforts a pushing forward. It’s only thanks to him that she remained in the club to this day.

  For the better or the worse, a lot had ged sihen. Through sheer effort, Jennifer climbed all the way to a captain position. She reached way beyond “respectable pyer”, she was sidered among the club’s top dogs.

  Oher hand, Alex gave up halfway through. Because of that, he failed to reach the first string even on his st year. All his unrewarded hard work during the first year burned him out, turning him into a shell of his former self. Zero motivation, zero effort. A total disgrace.

  Still, oruth remained: even now, he had the makings of a strong pyer. His potential was only held back by the ck of practid fighting spirit. Coach brought up the possibility of promotion in front of everybody, but he mentio to Alex first. Not Jennifer, but Alex.

  Gah, sering! Coach still had expectations for Alex, even in his current sorry state. Not for Jennifer who worked hard every day, but for Alex who zed around. Even after chasing Alex’s back for so long aually surpassing him, she still somehow felt inferior.

  Damn, I’m not losing to some zy bum! Jennifer ched her mouse. So what if Alex made some good pys? She not gonna lose! It’s time to show these scrubs what she’s really made of! Time to uncloak her secret on!

  She rushed Spellbook of Doom during the early game, to begin her bo pys as soon as possible. She gonna terrorize that scrubby Eleancer and score like twenty kills on him! Yeah, that’s right! For each assist Alex got, she gonna score ten kills! She not gonna lose against that zy bum!

  After clearing all enemy minions, she uncloaked her Spellbook of Doom and hit the Eleancer with Pilr of Fire. She already baited Thundercp out of him earlier, so he had no way to escape. He won’t see this ing!

  Soon after Pilr of Fire ected, she followed with Fme Wave and Bze of Inferno. The usual pattern. That scrub sure didn’t expect losing his 80% HP in just two seds! Ha!

  You have killed an enemy!

  Fwless execution, just like she practiced. Maybe she wasn’t a natural genius like Alex, but she delivered results through hard work! She’s not gonna lose. Not to Alex, and not to anybody else!

  “Spellbook? Already?” Gilbert frowned as he stared at the message on his s.

  You have been killed!

  This was ued, to say the least. Breaker kept her Spellbook of Doom cloaked until the right moment, baited Thundercp of him and theroyed his life with a bo. Thinking ba it, he should had suspected something was off when she suddenly went on the offensive and thereated as soon as he spent Thundercp. She was already setting up the stage back then, it was so obvious. Damn. He yed.

  “She rushed Spellbook, so beware of bos.” Gilbert informed the rest. “Pyro is already hard enough for to deal with as Electro, so I doubt I handle her bos on top of that. Help will be appreciated.”

  “Sorry, man.” Trever shook his head. “I gotta deal with lots of shit over here too.”

  “Yeah,” Roi said “I’m not having an easy time either. They keep rotating from your nes into mine 24/7. Do something about that, will ya?”

  “Hey, don’t bme me for that shit.” Trever scowled. “I almost got them both times, just got unlucky there. You’re a big boy, you handle a gank or two. Just hug the Turret until they give up and you gonna be fine.”

  “Sure.” Roi rolled his eyes. “Except, if they push me back to tower all the time, the Viking gonna outfarm me like crazy. I’m already gging behind on gold and ’t 1v1 him.”

  “Well, figure something out, man.” Trever shrugged. “You’re not the only oing shit here.”

  “Just keep your oppos in ne, okay?”

  “We would, if it were that easy.” Gilbert said. “It definitely doesn’t help our Jungler ganks only on a blue moon.”

  “Excuse me,” Daed. “I’m ly a fan of ganking fed enemies with full health. You gotta poke them harder first if you want good ganks.”

  Bad forth. Forth and back. Bme was fired in every dire and Yuel wasn’t spared either. He made some poor shot-calls, failing to predict the enemy’s movements. The enemy’s mixup didn’t only shuffle the pyers around the map, it also made these very same pyers move differently.

  For example, uhere were special circumstances, Breaker always rotated upwards. She started at Bot, went to Mid and usually end up in Top. It’s a routine Yuel saw tless times and even exploited.

  But, the rule was broken this game. Breaker now started in Mid, so she was supposed to rotate to Top. But, she rotated to Bot.

  An ally has been killed!

  “Shit!” Trever roared. “Didn’t you say she’ll go for Top!? Great job, detective!”

  “Ugh.” Yuel bit his lip. It was a careless mistake. He should figured he couldn’t blindly trust his previous dedus, yet he went for it anyway. His attention lit between shot-calling and thinking about the team’s sorry state. He had to focus. Focus!

  “What, nothing to say for yourself?” Trever clicked his tongue.

  “... Sorry.” Yuel hung his head in apology. Any attempt to justify himself would only add fuel to the fire.

  “Ma a grip. I’m getting stomped all over the pce thanks to you. You’re been pying like shit the whole game.”

  “Sorry.” Yuel apologized again. That’s all he could do. He itched te back against him “pying poorly the whole game”, because it’s clearly Trever who messed up the team’s early game. But, he held himself back. The team already succumbed to toxicity, he shouldn’t feed it any further.

  Excuses aside, he failed to predict Breaker’s movements. Even worse, he carelessly cimed he knew where she’ll rotate, giving Trever the green light to keep pushing. He chose to trust his dedu without thinking twice, because if Breaker were to rotate to Top - Trever would be able to push Bot hard, maybe even score his first kill. Finally, StormBlitz would make a strong py! It’d surely alleviate some of the team’s toxicity!

  It was too alluring. He gave in to temptation, ign reason to chase that daydream. So, this was fully on him. And, it wasn’t the first dumb mistake he itted due to haste. Ever since his team started bickering, he stumbled time and again as he tried to restore the team’s momentum.

  It’s bad. The team was falling apart. Their ces of winning slipped farther and farther away with every passing sed. If Yuel lost his focus too, they’ll be doomed.

  How could he turn this around? Was there anything he could do? The fastest way to ihe team with some positivity was to make a strong py, preferably as a team. For example, winning a team fight would surely boost morale. As the shot-caller, it to him to prepare the stage for that. But...

  Isn’t there anything? Anything at all!? He sed the map, the status s, pared levels, calcuted gold, sed the map again. Nothing. He couldn’t find the py his team desperately needed.

  Was there really none? Or, was he too foggy to see it? There’s no denying it: the ive atmosphere got to him as well. His vision and judgment were clouded. Thoughts about the situation stantly distracted him. What should he do? How could he turn this around? These questions haunted him.

  On top of that, the enemy’s mixup strategy got him well. They only moved three pyers around the map, yet it ged the the rhythm of the whole team.

  With Freezer as Support and SkyNight as Carry, the Bot duo pyed a lot more defehan the Breaker + SkyNight duo. They made calcuted pys and always waited for the right time to punish overextension. That’s how they purever time and again, as he threw caution to the wind for some reason.

  At the same time, with boBreaker in Mid, the urned inting war zone as soon as she unlocked her bo. She relentlessly pressured Gilbert a for kills, a world apart from how Freezer pyed Mid i two games. On top of adapting to a pletely new beast, Gilbert also had to fend off Breaker’s unstoppable offense. He was a smart pyer with solid judgment, but meical skill wasn’t his forte. Therefore, Breaker overwhelmed him with the bination of superior meical skill and tremendous burst damage.

  Just by shifting pyers betweehe dynamics of the matpletely ged. And, this wasn’t even a “full mixup”, as only three enemies ged roles. A true mixup shuffled the eeam around, that’s what the first string had to deal with right now. Yuel could only imagine how difficult it was.

  If I ’t even deal with this much, how am I ever going to get into the first string? He gritted his teeth. He had to find a way to overturn this situation. He won’t lose to some half-baked mixup. If he couldn’t overe that much, he had no hope getting into the first string anytime soon.

  Think. It ’t be that hard. They ged positions, but they’re still the same pyers. He took a deep breath and blocked out the ive energy surrounding him. They already pyed against these enemies before. Twice already. The ges in position caught them off guard, but the shock value mostly wore off by now. In addition, mid game started, so chups were no longer as important.

  That’s when it hit him. Even though Breaker pyed Mid, she was a bo Pyromancer just like before. Likewise, even though Freezer pyed Support, he stuck to his hybrid build like before. In other words, once Breaker and Freezer stepped out of their o partake in team fights - they’ll bee familiar foes again. That’s when Yuel will get a ce to turables around with all the data he accumuted on them!

  There’s o act hasty right now. He gave up on making huge pys and prioritized defense, waiting for his o matter what, he couldn’t allow the enemy gain any more advantage before the team fighting phase. When the likes of Breaker were fed, they became virtually unstoppable. That’s the main danger he had to avert at any cost.

  “Gilbert, return to base.” Yuel said as he arrived in Mid. “I’ll hold the ne.”

  “She clears fast," Gilbert argued. “You won’t be able to hold her back.”

  “I know, but it’s better than feeding her a kill.”

  “... Yeah, I suppose.” Gilbert nodded with a plicated expression. Odd. Gilbert should had known that g another kill to Breaker was the worst thing they could dht now. Yet, he seemed relut about returning to base.

  Why? Did he want to stick around and fight Breaker? Sure, if he could score a kill on Breaker, theides would turn in their favor and he’d pensate for his two deaths. However, it’s too risky. Even Yuel preferred going on the defensive here, despite usually fav offeactics. Their situation was that desperate.

  As Gilbert warned, Yuel couldn’t hold Breaker back. With her superior damage, fueled by the extra gold and exp she gained from two kills on Gilbert, she torched minions in an instant. Yuel couldn’t pete in the slightest in term of wave clearing speed, but at he zoned Breaker out of the Turret’s area. She was forced to rely on her minions for pushing the Turret, without getting any attacks in.

  She clearly wao invade, but residered. Good. She uood the dangers of invading against a Padin, Yuel’s whole pn revolved around that. Justice Strike gained additional effects against enemies who dealt rge amounts of damage siheir test respawn, and Breaker was the biggest offender right now. She knew she most likely stacked enough damage on her record ter Justice Strike’s most vicious effect: stun. If Yuel were to make the Turret target Breaker and then stunned her withiurret’s range, she’d be done for.

  In the end, Breaker didn’t dare to ihe Turret fell from 70% HP to 40% HP due to efforts of enemy minions, but the it remained intact. Mission aplished. The Turret survived and they didn’t feed Breaker with any kills. All’s well that ended we-

  An ally has been killed!

  “Gah!” Trever excimed. “Where are you at? I ’t 1v2 them!”

  “But, I told you to py defensively...” Yuel muttered. While he was busy defending Mid, Trever was left alone in Bot and had to face Freezer and SkyNight. sidering Trever’s poor performance so far, Yuel was vi’s best to make him py safe by hugging the Turret. Yet, somehow, Trever failed even that.

  “You saw how my previous fights went and you still leave the rever ranted. “Support please?”

  “... Sorry.” Yuel ched his mouse. Excuse me for believing you do something as simple as hugging a tower. Totally my fault. Given the circumstances, Yuel had no choice but rotate back to Bot. “I’ll go defend Bot.”

  “Yeah, great! e back right after I’m dead! Such helpful, so support!”

  “Ugh.” Yuel trembled. What’s that guy’s problem? Yuel did everything he could to prevent this match from heading straight to hell, but all he received iurn were pints.

  Just who was that angry guy and what did he do to the usual goof? Trever’s transformation was so uny it was uling. Yuel caught glimpses of this behaviour before during practice matches, but he still couldn’t believe this was happening right now.

  Just what was wrong with Trever? Yuel couldn’t find the ao that. There’s only ohing he knew: if things tinue like this, the team will fall apart for sure. He had to do something, anything. But what? No idea.

  Maybe... Maybe this was beyond his power.