Before the actual game, there was a warm-up phase. Both teams were allowed to enter practice mode and check out the settings, trols, etc.

  It was a brief phase but one of utmost importa allowed the pyers to warm up their fingers for the uping bout, as well as get used to the unfamiliar equipment.

  Ruez stressed many times how important it was for pro pyers to be able to adapt to unfamiliar game gear. After all, they had to py on many different stages throughout their career and the equipment was different everywhere.

  He shared some stories about spoiled novices who bmed their poor performan the “unfortable” equipment. That was an uable excuse uhe equipment was ht malfuning. Suffice to say, such pyers never survived long in the pro se.

  To get the Leopards used to this harsh reality, Ruez periodically switched up the equipment which the first-string was allowed to use during club practice. He rotated through a couple of different popur models of keyboards and mouses, the ohat were radically different from each other.

  It's su overkill, really. Cato sighed as he went through his usual warm-up routine. But, it has its merit. One of the models we use at the club is pretty much like this one, so I already feel at home here.

  Cato has already pyed on this stage twice this year, but that alone wasn’t enough to let him master the equipment of Proter. It was only thanks to Ruez's over-the-top attention to detail that using this equipme like sed nature.

  Oher hand, for a club that didn't have the luxury out this model during practice, there was always a period of adaptation.

  "Dang, it missed!" Lars pouted. ", I should've hat headshot!"

  "Just try again," Yuel said. "You'll get used to it. Or rather, it'd be a problem if you don't."

  "Yeah, no problem. I'mma get the hang of it, I always do. It usually takes me a couple of miho."

  "Yes, that’s uandable." Yuel frow the results of his own shooting practice. Perhaps he was never known for his sniping skills, but even so, the result in front of him was worse than usual.

  And, it wasn’t just the aim. His ancer didn't quite move as he ahere was extra sensitivity and offset that he had to get used to.

  Fortunately, sihe pyers had to log in with their own ats, the game was smart enough to load their game settings. What’s more, it ossible to create multiple setting profiles for different occasions.

  Thanks to that feature, uhe “Proter” profile, Yuel arranged special figurations for audio, sensitivity, and so forth. These were the settings he sidered best for the equipment in Proter... or so he thought, back when he figured them.

  This feels a little off. Yuel frowned. Is the equipment different? Or, did I get used to differeings during practice?

  Since Yuel only pyed in Proter on a while, he couldn’t tell what actually ged: his preferences or the equipmeher way, the settings he loaded felt a little off, so he had to adjust them yet again.

  “This is irritating,” Yuel muttered. "I wonder if urchase the same models of keyboard and mouse for the club.."

  "Oh! That's real smart, actually!" Lars agreed.

  “Except, our club has effectively no budget.”

  “That’s true, haha...”

  “I guess we’ll have to buy it individually.”

  "Yeah, makes sense. I'mma ask my folks about it ter. I haven't asked them for anything pricey in a while, so it should be A-OK."

  "Good for you." Yuel smiled wryly. "As for me, that probably will never happen, not with my strict allowance."

  "'t you just ask your mom to buy da stuff?"

  "I , but I have a strong feeling she won’t be ied in c this expanse. She’s ly thrilled about me pying Mancers."

  "Okay, no problem! I'mma just ask my folks to buy one for you, too."

  "I appreciate the thought, but I 't accept such a generous gift out of naming equipment isly cheap."

  “Yeah, that’s true. Then, how about I sneak it in as a birthday present? That’s a 200 IQ py right there!”

  “My birthday is still months away, though.”

  “Then... it’ll be an early birthday present!”

  “You’re really pushing it, but it’s irely unreasonable,” Yuel said. “Anyway, we discuss this ter. Focus on your warm-up for now. Out of everybody here, it’s the most important for you to be in top shape.”

  “No problem, yo. Gimme five minutes and I’mma draw out 200% of my power, believe it!”

  “That’s good to hear.” Yuel nodded. “I wish everybody was as motivated as you about the warm-up phase. Especially, a certain somebody who thinks this is a good opportunity to take a nap.”

  “Gufu...” Nia twitched in her chair, with her eyes closed. While everybody else was busy in Practice mode, Nia took the opportunity to close her eyes and drift into slumber.

  “, wake up,” Yuel urged. “You o warm up, too.”

  “So sleepy...”

  “Then do the warm-up, it’ll wake you up. I join your room and duel you if that’ll help.”

  “Maybe it will...” Nia put her hands on the mouse and keyboard, with her eyes still shut. She had to search for the equipment by touch as if she was blind.

  This looks worse than her usual sleepiness. Yuel thought. She’s not just faking sleepio dodge responsibility, she’s actually sleepy this time. I hope this doesn’t cause any problems...

  Perhaps it was hasty of Yuel to foria on stage. The girl barely eveed to the fact she was on a big stage with a rge audience. Her stage fright didn’t even ki, that’s how sleepy she was. It was mildly ing, to say the least.

  Well, I’m sure she’ll wake up ohings get serious. Yuel reassured himself. “, I’ll join your room. Pretend like this is a real fight, with the team’s victory on the line.”

  “Ok...”

  Meanwhile, oher team, the warm-up phase proceeded without a hitch.

  All members of the Leopard were aced to this brand of gaming gear, so nobody had an issue adjusting. And, since Ruez droned about the importance of warm-up tless times by now, nobody voiced a single obje to the procedure

  With that said, some of them were definitely mung-ho about the procedure than others...

  You have been killed!

  “Dang, bro!” Ronald excimed. “, one more time! I’mma win this one!”

  “You’ll try.” William was unfazed by the bold decration of his younger brother. Their score was 4-1 so far, so William was fident about his ces.

  I’m in a good dition today. William examined his own hands. His body felt light and his mind was sharp. The light workout he did befetting on stage was showing off its effects.

  Not to mention, today’s scrimmage ecial. It was the first time this year that he was expeg to run into an actual challenge, one by the name of Gunz.

  Good, good. iled meaningfully as he watched the two brothers spar. Looks like the “No.3 Stro Pyer” is wholly motivated to defeat Gunz and cim the No.2 spot. This is what I like seeing~

  “Hah.” Sonya sighed as she watched the two siblings go hard at each other as if they were fighting for their lives. “Where do they eve all that energy from? They better not burn themselves out before we get to the actual game.”

  “Well, they feel motivated about a scrimmage for once, so that’s good as far as I’m ed,” Cato said. “It’s the first time this year we might fa actual challenge.”

  “I suppose they really view Stratus as a potential threat.”

  “Ironic, isn’t it? The ‘weakest team’ might turn out to be one of the stro we’ll get to face this year, at least in this region.”

  “Perhaps.”

  “Oh?” Cato tilted his head. “It doesn’t sound like you think Stratus is going to pose much of a challenge.”

  “They might, but it remains to be seen. The way I see it, their eeam is riding on the backs of Gunz’s meical skill and Chessmaster’s shot-calling. If we shut those two down, it should be a cakewalk from there.”

  “My, I think you’re uimating the other members a little.”

  “We analyzed them thhly, I even rated all of them. We know where they’re standing.”

  “Yes, I get what you’re saying. For sure, Chess and Gunz are the biggest threats for us. The rest are ‘det’ at best, so they got nothing on our lineup.”

  “Exactly.” Sonya felt like there was nothing more to say oopic, so she returo her own warm-up routine. Hers wasn’t nearly as intense as that of the brothers. It was very methodical, going over specific motions she prepared acc to the coach’s advice.

  Sonya sed to Eleancer and nded a couple of hits on moving targets. Then, she dashed through the jungle and pced a ward along the way before reag the Griffin Camp.

  After taking out the camp, she sed to Knight and challenged an Ogre Camp with basic attacks, making sure to dodge all their ining attacks as she sliced them down.

  After that, she sed to Areomancer and held a mock duel against a Pyromancer bot figured for the highest difficulty. She made sure to zo the Pyromahhly in the ne, not giving him any ce to get close, just as she should be doing against a real Pyromancer oppo.

  Sonya prepared all these training routines ahead of time and loaded them oer ahis ossible thanks to one of the many handy plugins for Practice mode that the game allowed to install.

  There were many such extensions that CssSoft officially approved of and added to the in-game store. Some were free, some had to be purchased, and others had subscription pns. Thankfully, many of them were disted or made free for petitive pyers, so Sonya didn’t have to spend a t on this one.

  Thanks to that, Sonya was able to fortably and effitly rotate through the pre-programmed training sarios. It made her use multiple different csses and practice different on situations.

  It was almost like watg a speedrun session fame tutorial. She went from practig shots against moving dummies, to pg wards, to clearing camps, to ning against an AI oppo, to chasing a low HP oppo, to fleeing from an oppo, and so forth.

  Yikes. I’d never be able to do something like this. Cato thought. Warm-up is important and all, but she’s defiaking it too far.

  pared to Sonya, Cato’s training regime was far more ventional. He did some basic target practice, dodged some ining enemy attacks, and simuted simple ning situations.

  These were the main sarios a pyer entered throughout a match, so these were the only activities Cato focused on. In the remaining time, he simply repeated the same motions with a melee css, to make sure his brain wasn’t only warmed up for the trols of a ranged css.

  It was a simple and effit routine, one which maximized results for minimum effort. That was always the best way to go about things.

  Besides, I’m not even the ziest one around. Cato excused himself. Matt always does far less than that.

  Cato g the neighbor sitting on his right. Out of everybody here, Matthew’s warm-up routine was the most basic.

  This zy bum straight up logged into Practice mode, moved around a little, shot a couple of targets, cast a skill or two, and then called it a day. Yeah, just like that. The entire endeavor took him less than two minutes.

  He’s always like that, huh. iled wryly. Lazy but effit. I ’t say I hate that. With that said...

  Even for Matthew, today’s warm-up routine was extremely short. He barely touched the keyboard at all. After rushing through a couple of basic motions, he just sat there and gazed to the distaoward the table on the opposite side of the stage.

  “What’s wrong?” Cato asked. “Are y to study our oppos from afar or something?”

  “Nah,” Matthew replied. “I was just w about one of their pyers.”

  “Is there someone you know?”

  “Maybe.” Matthew wasn’t sure. “InformationBckhole... what was his real name, again?”

  “Um, what was it?” Cato scratched his head. “Sec, I’ll ask my secretary.”

  “Who’s your secretary?” Sonya shed. “InformationBckhole is Vi Valentine.”

  “My, you even remember the family name? As expected from my secretary~”

  “Yeah, yeah.” Sonya rolled her eyes.

  “Then, it’s him,” Matthew said.

  Even though he st saw that etric journalist wannabe almost three years ago, it seemed as if not too much ged about the guy. The same couldn’t be said about Mattheas very different from back then.

  “A friend of yours?” Cato asked.

  “ly. But, we went to the same elementary school.”

  “Oh.” Cato took a moment to choose his words. This was a delicate topic. “Is he one of the bad guys?” He whispered.

  “No, he isn’t. Although...” Matthew opened and closed his mouth without produg any words. He had no idea how to tihat sentence. His feelings oter were jumbled. “Nevermind. He’s just a former cssmate, that’s all.”

  “If you say so.” Cato deduced there was more to the story, but it seemed Matthew wasn’t fortable about sharing the details at the moment. I better avoid opening any past wounds, especially right before the match. We ’t afford to lose today, not to this team.

  This wasn’t just aname they had to win for the honor of the Leopards. It was an important match that Cato had to personally deliver to victory, for it was a long-anticipated rematch against Yuel, the oime chess champion.

  You’re not going to win the rematch, I guarantee you. Cato was fident. I’ll prove to you that I beat you even when you’re fully prepared for the match.

  Today’s game was more than just a scrimmage between two teams. It was a rematch, and possibly a showdowween Cato and Yuel as strategists. Only one of them will walk away victorious today!

  DarkestCymore