In Bot, Karen fought the enemy Impaler and brought down the guy to 10% HP. It was an ezpz victory!

  But, the pesky bastard refused to let Karen score a kill. He slipped away just in the nick of time to dodge death.

  However, instead of retreating straight to his tower, the Impaler chose to flee to the juhrough the nearby entrance. What an idiot.

  What is he even doing? I’m gonna catch up to him if he goes that way. Karen thought. Oh well, guess it’s a free kill for me the's go!

  Karen turned her back to the jurand fired off her Backfire on, sending herself flying toward the jungle. Sihe Impaler didn't have any movement skills, Karen should be able to catch up to him in a jiffy. But...

  "Karen, give it up," Nakajima ordered.

  "Huh? Why? I'm literally about to kill this scrub."

  "Or, you’re about to suffer a horrible death."

  "Huh? I still have over half health, tho."

  "No, you meant to say you have ONLY about half health," Nakajima corrected. "That HP is within gankable range, especially when targeting a marksman."

  "Gank? What gank? I don't see anybody ing over here."

  “Just because you don’t see them doesn’t mean they’re not there,” Nakajima said. “They destroyed one of your important wards a while ago, so now there’s a lot you ’t see.”

  “Hmm. Yeaaaah, I guess our vision is a little impaired,” Karen admitted.

  “S-Sorry about that,” Lua apologized. “I should’ve warded better…”

  “Nah, it’s not your fault,” Karen reassured. “These guys are just too gung-ho about warding. Like, who even buys Sentry Wards this early into the game? Mad ds.”

  “True,” Nakajima agreed with the analysis. “They seem unily trated on warding, which isn’t typical for Ranked. Either way, the point remains that they robbed your vision. For example, you haven’t seen their Jungler for a while now, have you?”

  “I guess not, now that I think about it.” Karen scratched her head. “Like, I have no idea if he’s around Top or Bot.”

  “Exactly. So, he might be lurking nearby, waiting for you to overextend.”

  “Damn, seriously?” Karen’s self-preservation instincts kicked in immediately. She rolled out of the jungle before anybody had the ce to attack her. “So, you’re saying I almost got my ass ganked, huh.”

  “Karen, nguage,” Fiona scolded.

  “Oops. Sorry, sis, haha.” Karen ughed awkwardly. “Anyway, yeah, that was kinda close, assuming the Jungler is really there.”

  “Even if he isn’t,” Nakajima said. “It’s safer to assume he’s there areat. Just think about how unnatural this euation was in the first pce.”

  “Huh? Unnatural? It seemed pretty normal to me, tho.” Karen shrugged. “Like, I kicked the guy’s ass all the way down to 10%, so he started running away like a bitch.”

  “Karen.”

  “Oh, sorry, sis, haha!” Karen ughed it off as usual. “Anyway, the guy dropped low so he had to food it, and that’s what he did, right? So, nothing ‘unusual’ here.”

  “Except,” Nakajima started. “For whatever reason, he chose to run into the jungle instead of retreating to the tower.”

  “ht. He did.”

  “And you didn’t find that suspicious?”

  “Well, irospeow I realize he robably baiting me,” Karen answered. “But, back then? It looked like he was just mispying or something.”

  “So, you did notice that his retreat pn was questionable.”

  “Yeah, but I assumed he was just some scrubby Ranked pyer.”

  “I see.” Nakajima nodded. “So, you assumed your oppo is ie instead to figure out his game pn. Is that right?”

  “Yeah, I guess...” Karen awkwardly gnced away. At this point, she had already realized how rash she was.

  Nakajima could only sigh. “Listen, I knoeople like memeing about the skill level of pyers in Ranked. But, that doesn’t mean all the oppos yoing to meet will be amateurs, especially not at these ranks.”

  “Yeah, I know, I know. But real talk, there are so many scrubs in Ptinum it’s crazy.”

  “And, it sounds like you’re one of them if you ’t evehrough a basic bait like that.”

  “Gah!” Karen took emotional damage. “B-But it’s not even firmed there’s going to be a gank, right? Like, it’s just a possibility. Maybe chasing him was the right thing to do, after all.”

  “Are you pnning to use hindsight to justify your decisions?” Nakajima asked. “ It’s not a matter of whether you guess correctly or not. Even if nobody was waiting to gank you, chasing would still be a risky py that’s not worth pursuing.”

  "Why? It might’ve been worth it, you know?” Karen argued. “Like, I could’ve gotten a kill out of it!"

  "Or, you could’ve died. And, as I’ve already expihe tter seemed far more likely. The odds were stacked against you."

  “Well, true, but…” Karen desperately searched for something to shoot back the coach. She ain’t going down without a fight, no way!

  “We’ve been through this already.” Nakajima fired first before Karen got the ce to retaliate. “What’s the rule of thumb I taught you about taking risks?”

  “Eeeeh, what was it again?” Karen scratched her head. “Probably something about how I shouldn’t take any, haha.”

  “... really now.” Nakajima narrowed her already-narrow eyes even further. “When there’s a fog of war, there’s almost always a of uainty. You ’t just avoid taking any risks at all.”

  “Yeah, that’s fair.” Karen nodded. “So, like, I should only take the good opportunities or something, right?”

  “Of course, but how do ynize what’s a ‘good opportunity’?”

  “Eh, low-risk high-reward?”

  “That’s an obvious sario,” Nakajima said. “But, for example, how about the situation you just had? How would you quantify the risk-reward ratio there?”

  “Hmm. Medium-risk and high-reward?”

  “Was the reward really that high?”

  “Duh, it’d be a kill.”

  “But, would a kill really put you that much ahead?” Nakajima asked. “You already had ne advantage, and you effectively booted the Impaler out of the ne sidering how little HP he had.”

  “True, true.” Karen smirked as she nodded. “I’m just that awesome, you know?”

  “So,” Nakajima tinued. “Given all that, would sg a kill on him really improve your situation by much?”

  “Hmm. Not really, I guess.” Karen shrugged. “Like, the exp and gold would be cool, but yeah, it wouldn’t give me that much extra edge.”

  “So, is it really a ‘high reward’ kind of sario?”

  “More like medium-reward it seems,” Karen said. “So, medium-risk medium-reward, huh. Not the hottest deal out there.”

  “But, there’s more,” Nakajima said. “As I said, the odds were stacked against you. There was a det ce of you being ganked.”

  “Eeeeh, now you’re just pushing it I feel.” Karen grumped. “Like, you want to say it’s actually high-risk, right?”

  “Yes, because it was,” Nakajima asserted. “If the odds themselves aren’t enough to prove the point, then think about what you stood to lose. Hint: it’s more than just your life.”

  “I guess it’d also make me lose that great momentum I built up. And, also the ne advaoo… Yeah, it’s high-risk alright, haha.”

  “So, vinced?”

  “Yeaaah, vinced.” Karen sighed i. She had to hand it to the coach. That woman was sure a big-brain pyer alright.

  "Okay, lesson learned,” Karen said. “I'll try to think more about things like that from now on."

  "Please do," Nakajima pleaded. "This isn't the first time I've caught you making a mistake like this. You ofte swept up in the flow without stopping to sider the risk-reward ratio."

  Even though Karen and elia bickered a lot, they were actually simir to each other. In fact, maybe that simirity was the very thing that sparked their fights in the first pce.

  elia had unfounded fiden her skill whereas Kareed her oppos as all of them were noobs. Though their attitudes seemed different, the e retty much the same. Both had a problem with gauging the enemy’s skill level, which ofteo unfortunate is.

  These girls are a handful. Nakajima Kei sighed to herself but then smiled wryly. I really have to pay careful attention to how they py. They have so much to work on.

  As the master of a high school team, Kei was used to dealing with problematic pupils. However, teag the Valkyries had been proving to be a greater challehan expected.

  For starters, the club was small. It only had five members which meant everybody would have to participate in official matches. Nobody could be excluded, so Kei didn’t have the usual luxury to take her time dealing with problem kids. They all had to be ready ASAP.

  Furthermore, the Valkyries were middle schoolers, not high schoolers. Kei uimated the differehat made.

  For starters, due to their younger age, the girls had minimal experience pying Cssmancers. This was very different from the high schoolers Kei typically coached, who joihe Aces with 3 years of experience from their middle school club.

  Fernando has been dealing with this for years now, huh. Kei couldn't help but feel a mixture of pity and respect toward the man. pared to him, it was almost as if she ying in “easy mode”.

  This region only had three masters who trained Cssmancers school teams. Two of them were in charge of the high school teams Venom and Aces, so only Fernando had to deal with middle schoolers.

  Unsurprisingly, the youhe children were, the more troublesome it was to deal with them. That's surely why that sleazebag Viktor chose to train high schoolers.

  The guy only ever cared about making his team win, so of course he chose the easy road. He even specifically picked Ivy High, the richest high school in the region. Building up a powerhouse team was the only thing in his head.

  Oher hand, Fernando was on the opposite side of that spectrum. Case in point, he trained Venom for two years before switg to training middle schoolers.

  Acc to him, high school was "too te" for teag teens solid fuals. He cimed that many of the high schoolers who joihe club had bad habits which they struggled to fix. So, Fernando decided to resolve this problem at this core by being a middle school coach.

  The man surely uood what kind of challenge he was uaking, yet he still went through with it regardless. Nothing but respect for him.

  As for Kei, she was somewhere in the middle. She happeo nd a position as a high school coach, so she just rolled with it. She never had to face that middle school vs. high school dilemma until the Valkyries came into the picture. And even now, she was still a high school coach first.

  But, truth be told, if she had to decide between coag middle school and high school… she would’ve likely picked high saybe the Valkyries were areme example due to how fresh the club was, but the ck of fuals of these middle schoolers alling.

  Oher hand, it seemed Fernando sidered this kind of thing a blessing. He treated middle schoolers as a "bnk ste" that he could shape into something amazing.

  Kei uood the appeal but she wasn’t idealist enough for it. As far as she was ed, high schoolers were young enough to be molded into high-level pyers. So, there was no point in taking the harsher road and starting all the way ba middle school for some extra diminishiurns.

  With that said, training the Valkyries for half a year ged her perception a bit. Middle schoolers were a handful but they also developed at an immense speed. After every training session, Kei could feel how every club member became a better pyer than before. Their progress was very visible.

  I see why Fernando finds this rewarding. There's something very satisfying about bringing these girls from zero to hero.

  It was almost like watg her own children grow up… not that she had any first-hand experieh that. Tch, it's not my fault that all the good men are always taken. But, that’s not the topic here…

  In short, training middle schoolers was very rewarding when it worked out. But, it was also very challenging, even agonizing at times.

  Kei only signed up for this double-edged arra because it was an unusual attempt to create a team in a servative all-girls school. And well, the payment was alsenerous, she wasn't going to pretend like it wasn't a factor.

  Two-timiween coag the Aces and the Valkyries has proven to be an exercise in time ma, but Kei got used to it over time. At least, for the most part.

  Fiona requested to provide coag to the team on a daily basis, but that was clearly impossible. Kei was already coag the Aces every day, on top of also being a teacher at Hamilton High. As such, coag aeam so frequently was bound to wear her out.

  So, Kei settled on coag the Valkyries three times a week. Frankly, it wasn’t nearly enough for a stumbling newbie team like this, but it was the best Kei could promise on at the moment.

  If worse es to worst, I might have to start coag them on Saturdays as well… Kei sighed at the thought. I'm sure some of them will pin about it, and it’s not like I’m too eager to do it, either. But...

  DEFEAT The red words were smeared on their monitors like blood. They painted a grim image that made Kei worry.

  Despite her meticulous instrus, the girls still failed to gain the upper hand in this game. This happened way too frequently to her taste.

  Things were going well until elia overextended in Top and got killed. It was like a ical routi this point, ohat Kei failed to prevent this time.

  At first, the situation still looked salvageable. However, shortly after that, Karen also found herself in trouble. As usual, the girl got carried away in the heat of bat.

  As the Support, Lua tried to save her ne partner… only to ehe se in the worst ossible. It was mostly a case of bad luck, but that was unfortunately all too o came to Lua.

  She aimed her Nature’s Grasp at the enemy Carry, intending to pull the guy away from Karen. But, just as she fired her carefully calcuted skillshot… the enemy Jungler waltzed into the se!

  Nothing about that turn of events implied the Juepped in iionally. In fact, if he had to choose between doing that or not, he most likely would’ve avoided the pull. After all, his pn was clearly to kill Karen.

  But, due to this silly turn of events, Lua ended up dragging the Juoward herself. And, that’s how she ended up dead instead of Karen.

  Seriously, Lua was one of these rare cases when Kei would straight up believe if somebody told her the girl was cursed. That ss always found a way to cause acts in the worst of times…

  With that said, the girl somehow achieved her goal. Karen got away alive from the se, but Lua ended up trading her own life for it. From there, the enemy gained overwhelming momentum in Bot that proved too difficult to break.

  Fiona did her best to fight back, she even scored a few kills despite the odds being stacked against the team. But, she alone wasn't enough to turuation around.

  Perhaps if Andria was more proactive in Mid then the game could have turned out differently. But, as usual, the girl stuck tuns and pyed at her own pace. And, her motivation gradually deed as the odds shifted in the enemy’s favor, a on occurrence, unfortunately.

  So, in the end, the Valkyries lost just like that. To add insult to injury, in the post-match review, it was revealed that most of their oppos were high Ptinum. In other words, these were oppos that a petitive team should be able to handle much better than this.

  I'm not saying they have to win every game, but that performance was a little... Kei frowned. Games like this really expose all the big issues this team has.

  On average, the team performed detly enough, especially sidering the pyers' humble amount of experience. So, under Fiona's bahe Valkyries almost looked ready for the petitive se.

  But, that was just a mirage. In truth, this team was built on a very shaky foundation. It easily crumbled apart when any of their Achilles' heels got hit.

  BAM! "The teams at the regionals will eat you alive for bad habits like these!" Kei struck her shinai against the floor to emphasize the point. "In this game, the enemy was just lucky to strike you where it hurt. But, at the regionals? It’ll be iional. Everybody will know your ots."

  With how accessible scrim repys were today, it was a no-brainer for teams to colletel on each other. Proter made a quick buck from selling them to anybody who wanted.

  Therefore, everybody at the regionals will be thhly prepared. These sharks will gobble up every obvious weakhe Valkyries show them.

  For now, the Valkyries were still an underground team. They haven’t had many opportuo show their skill in public. But, as time goes on, they’ll partake in more and more scrims, drawing lots of attention to themselves.

  In fact, they had already participated in one official scrimmage that might’ve drawn some eyes to them. After all, it was a match against her than the Leopards.

  Pitting a newbie team against the regional champions might’ve sounded extreme, but there wasn’t much choi the matter. It was the only team that agreed to hold a scrim on such short notice, courtesy of Fernando.

  Ugh. Just remembering that crushi gave Kei the shivers...

  DarkestCymore