Kai insisted to piber for this so-called "test game". It was one of the more ret csses she had been w on, and this game was a good opportunity to try it out against high-level oppos.

  I'm feeling pretty fident about it, but let's see how well it performs in practice.

  After finishing the opening phase in the jungle, Kai ran into Merlin, her ne oppo. As expected, both of them were sp the red buff, which meant their wave clearing powers should be roughly equal.

  Alright, let's see what your Aero is pag. Kai opened her attack by throwing small bombs at the minions. These were Bomber’s basics attacks, which was a tool that Mid Laners rarely utilized much for wave-clearing.

  In particur, it was in total trast to Aeromancer’s wave-clearihodology. While Kai was b the minions with a frontal assault, Merlin only advanced a little in order to pce his Whirlwind at the perfect spot, and then he backed off almost immediately.

  He did zily fire a couple of basics at Kai’s swordsmen, but his heart clearly wasn’t in it. For him, using basic attacks was just an optional sedary activity to pass the time.

  Oher hand, for Bomber, basic attacks were actually a main ingredient in the wave clearing process. The small bombs weren’t particurly strong or fast, but they prepared the ground for Bomber’s follow-up skills.

  Alright, this should be good enough. Kai nodded in satisfa after throwing six bombs at the swordsmen. The bombs dealt negligible damage on impact, but they glued themselves to their targets without exploding. This art of the Bomber’s Sticky Bombs passive.

  Eaemy swordsman was now wearing two Sticky Bombs, so it was time to unleash Bomber’s actual wave-clearing tool: Bounb! Kai pulled out a huge bomb from her backpad sent it flying toward the enemy wave!

  The deadly bb, painted with an intimidating white skull, flew straight at the swordsmen. BOOM! EXPLOSION!

  Except, it wasn’t the big bomb that actually exploded. The bomb only rammed into the swordsmen, triggering the Sticky Bombs glued to their bodies.

  What’s more, the explosion didn’t actually remove the Sticky Bombs themselves. They definitely blew up once, but they remained glued to the swordsmen all the same. It was some video game magic that defihe ws of physics.

  Likewise, the Bounb didn’t vanish either after the explosion. And, as its name implied, it was a bomb that bounced around. So, even after triggering the big explosion, it tinued jumping forward.

  But, the distahe bomb jumped was very short, exactly as Kai inte. So, after hitting the swordsmen oh its front half, the bomb hit them again with its backside!

  BOOM! Another round of Sticky Bombs went off! Two of the three swordsmen received heavy damage in the sed round.

  Tch, I missed. Kai clicked her tohat should've blown up all the swordsmen. Oh well. Let's just chalk it up to stage pressure.

  The Bounb tis adventure. After blowing up the swordsmen twi a row, it tinued onward for a third bounce. Unfortunately, this time, the swordsmen were no longer within the bomb’s reach.

  Instead, the Bounb rammed into the bowmen, but the damage was nothing to write home about. As long as the target wasn’t wearing any Sticky Bombs, the bomb’s bounces posed very little threat.

  But, that's where the part came in. After jumping three times, the Bounb exploded! And, thanks to Kai’s careful aiming, the radius of the explosion was big enough to reach both the enemy swordsmen and bowmen.

  BOOM! This explosion, same as the bomb’s bounces, alsered the Sticky Bombs on the swordsmen. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! It was like fireworks all over the pce.

  After getting hit with so many explosions in a row, the enemy frontliuro ashes. Well, except for one pesky swordsman who survived with 20% HP, all because the Bounb’s sed bounce failed to blow him up. So, if Kai aimed her Bounb just a little better, this setup could’ve entirely annihited the enemy frontline.

  What’s more, the bomb’s final bound the explosion also hit the bowmen, bringing them down to 70% HP. It wasn’t huge damage, especially sidering the bowmen were squishy, but it was still extra damage heless.

  With the enemy’s bae already injured, it was just a matter of time before Kai’s army emerges victorious. But first, they had to get past the pesky swordsman, who thought himself a vanguard despite being more dead than alive.

  Die already. Kai threw bombs at the st-standing swordsman to fix the mistake she herself created. And so, the entire enemy frontline vanished from existence.

  Kai's army took that as a sign to advance along the ne and target the enemy's bowme.

  Alright, this should mitigate some of the damage. Kai nodded in satisfa.

  The Aeromnacer's Whirlwind was still raging about, accumuting damage on Kai’s minions via small ticks. Therefore, by making her swordsmen advance early along the ne, Kai helped them escape the danger zone earlier.

  Unfortunately, the bowmen who gged behind the swordsmen had no choice but to remain ihe raging tornado from start to end. They receive the full impact of the spell, dropping down to 40% HP over time. But, at least, Kai’s swordsmen were healthy at 70% HP.

  In a way, Kai's farming achieved the exact opposite of what Merlin’s did. She demolished the enemy frontli left the bae retively healthy, whereas Merlin nearly destroyed her bae but barely touched her frontline.

  Well, I dealt way more damage overall. Kai lifted her . I won this round. So, what are you gonna do about this?

  She eagerly waited for Merlin's respoo this overwhelming victory. But, Merlin didn't do anything about this.

  The two minion forces cshed and Kai's army won by a ndslide. She remained with 2 swordsmen and 3 bowmen after the exge. Though they were gravely ihey were very much alive and ready to push forward!

  But, even then, Merlin didn't express much of an initiative. He cast an early Jet Stream areated back to his tower, waiting for the minions to slowly e within attack range. He clearly had no iion of stepping out to clear them faster.

  Huh. Are you really gon us advance, just like this? Kai wondered. You’re only slowing my minions a little with this, you know.

  Even for a defensive py, it was a very weak o would’ve made far more sense for Merlin to retreat to his tower first, and then cast Jet Stream from there.

  With that setup, he could’ve started shooting the ining minions from a greater dista was a textbook py, really.

  What was even the point of casting it so early? Was he so ed about his own safety?

  The only reason to cast Jet Stream as early as Merlin did was to grant himself a Movement Speed buff when passing through the stream. That allowed him to retreat faster to the tower, but was that worth it? It’s not like Kai could’ve instantly closed the distaween them anyway.

  A y. Kai summarized. Anyway, I pretty much have aire wave here, so this bee one heck of a push. But, should I?

  Holy, this felt a little too ve. Other than Whirlwind, the Aeromancer didn't have any other AoE spells at his disposal until Lv.5, so Merlin had no way to eliminate Kai's minions all at once right now. And, since he cast that Jet Stream early, he won’t be able to defend from a distance, either.

  I'm pretty much guarao get some nice damage oower if I follow the minions, but this is too easy. I know these guys like pying defense, but this isn’t even good defense. I 't believe that's the best the regional champions do.

  In an odd situation like this, the most natural thing to do was to check the jungle first. The areas around Mid were detly warded thanks to Kai and Yuel’s efforts, but it was impossible to cover every nook and y. So, a couple of blind spots existed.

  Their Jungler might be hiding nearby. Kai thought. I haven't seen him anywhere in the past 10+ seds, which means he be anywhere right now.

  Perhaps Rook was on standby at this very moment, waiting to jump Kai the moment she advahis could easily turn into a nasty pitack.

  Knowing these guys, they're probably up to something. Kai decided to retreat for now and not press her advahis time.

  Judging by previous scrimmages, Rook and Merlin were quite the crafty duo. They both employed bait tactics, with which they lured many unsuspeg oppos to their graves.

  Quite frequently, those two coordiheir pys, just like AbsoluteWinner and AbsoluteChalleen did. In fact, Rook and Merlihe Leopards’ alternative Bot duo, which attested to their great synergy.

  "Before you push against Merlin, always take a step bad make sure you know where Rook is." That was Yuel’s advice back when they reviewed the Leopards' games. "If you 't tell Rook’s location, then it's best to assume he is waiting to jump you. He seems to like hanging around Mid."

  Kai made sure to take that advice to heart. That mentality was a bit too cautious to her taste, but ara bit of caution was necessary on the petitive stage. She learhat the hard way in the previous scrimmage.

  No way I’m giving them any easy kills, not today and not ever. Kai promised. This time, I won’t drag the team down.

  Even though weeks have passed sihe Taurus scrimmage, the scars of that match were still fresh in Kai’s memory. She probably won’t fet her embarrassing performan that scrim for the rest of her life.

  And so, that bitter memory vinced her to exercise extra caution, even if it meant giving on this nice opportunity to push. It was a shame, but it was a necessary sacrifice.

  Thus, Kai turned around auro her side of the ne. And, it turned out Yuel’s advice was right on the money on this one.

  “She’s not taking the bait,” Matthew informed.

  “So it seems,” Cato agreed. He was lying in wait right around the jungle wall, waiting for an opportunity to jump in. As, his target chose to retreat instead of capitalizing on the juicy advantage she had.

  “What a drag.” Matthew sighed. “ you help me clear the minions, at least?”

  “Sure thing.” Cato circled around the jungle wall and arrived in Mid. Unfortunately, Beat was already too far away to pursue, so the only work left was helping Matthew to thin out the invading minions.

  Some would call this py ineffit, but it’s very important for building a solid foundation. otivated himself as he cwed down the minions with his Lionfolk.

  There was no denying that this py “wasted” some of his precious jungling time. For one, he was losing on jungle farm while helping out in Mid like this. But, that was a small price to pay if it meant reinf the team’s position in Mid.

  This is the same as building a wall of pawns instead of developing other pieces. iled meaningfully. I always gain more exp and gold ter, but I ’t undo any damage to our towers; such are the rules of the game.

  And so, Cato assaulted the invading minions in order, bringing each of them to the brink of death. Then, Matthew ed up by st-hitting.

  Even though Cato was doing most of the work, these minions were ultimately under Matthew’s jurisdi, so Matthew should be taking most of the exp. Besides, Cato was already passively stealing some of that exp just by being present in the ne, so he didn’t want to take more than was absolutely necessary.

  The sooner Matt levels up his Aero, the sooner he measure up to the Bomber. Cato reasoned. And, of course, ot clear minions as fast as his oppo, then I’ll no longer o help him out here. So, this is like a long-term iment.

  “If nothing happens,” Matthew said. “I pn to py like this for the couple of waves, so I’m ting on your support.”

  “Yes, as always.” Cato nodded with a small sigh on the side. So, he has no iion of even trying testi, does he? Well, that’s a part of what I like about him~

  Matthew was a very rational pyer, sometimes to a fault. He was strong with game theory, so he khat Bomber held an undeniable early-game advantage against Aeromancer. As such, he had no iion of even trying to e up with a way to pete. He simply accepted that the enemy had the upper hand and moved on.

  After all, why bother doing anything yourself when you just rely on me, right? iled wryly. But, it’s all good. I prefer this passive mentality over hot-heads who think they take on the world all by themselves, like a CERTAIN SOMEBODY from our team.

  Ohey finished clearing all the remaining minions, Cato took his leave.

  "By the way," Cato started. "Do you think they had a ward in the dire I rotated from?”

  "Didn’t seem like it."

  "Alright, noted. Make sure to tell me when you feel like they spot my rotation with a ward."

  "No problem. But, keep in mind that to verify for sure whether they got a ward or not, you’ll have to rotate over here many times.”

  "Haha, cheeky." Cato chuckled. "Don't worry, I'll rotate as often as I ."

  "Thanks."

  On that note, Cato vanished into the jungle. And so, Matthew was left to fro alone once again.

  However, instead of dedig all his attention to his ne oppo, Matthew set his sights on Top Lane.

  Looks like he's doing well. Cato thought. InformationBckhole, huh. I see that oddball ing up with a nick like this. So, it must really be him...

  How was Matthew supposed to feel about this ued reunion? Should he even feel anything at all? After all, it had been three years sihat i. It was all water uhe bridge by now, or so he believed.

  A, here I am, needlessly thinking about it. Matthew felt flicted.

  What did he really feel toward Vi? Was it misguided hatred? Or, maybe awkward gratitude? Should he hate the guy, or thank him?

  It's kinda both and kinda her. I have no idea. Matthew's stomach turned. It's been such a long time since he had to recall the old, dark days of his life. Just trying to recolley of the details made his body spasm as if he was having a stroke.

  No good. I o focus on the ne.

  Fortunately, he mostly regained his focus by the time the minion wave arrived. And, for this wave as well, he was going to use a very passive farming routihat’ll surely require Cato’s aid...

  DarkestCymore