“Yo! Let’s play, dude!” Lars dropped his stuff on Yuel’s table and grabbed a nearby chair.

“When did you get here?” Yuel stared at the grinning goof in disbelief. The bell just rang a moment ago, yet Lars was already here. “I haven’t had lunch yet. Heck, I haven’t even taken it out of the bag yet.”

“You can do that while playing, yo!” Lars stuffed a sandwich into his mouth and picked up his controller.

“You gonna choke like this.”

“Nfo prwoblemf!” Lars produced something that vaguely resembled language while munching on the sandwich. He was holding the controller with both hands, which meant he was... eating without hands! And the sandwich didn’t fall off! It was a truly godly skill! Lars definitely had a bright future... in the circus.

Heh, I just can’t keep up with this guy. Yuel sighed and took out his things. He refused to show it on his face, but he was giddy as well. Ever since they started playing together, Classmancers became a blast of a game, more than ever before!

They played in Bot Lane most of the time, as a pair of Support and Carry. A cooperative and skilled Carry was a godsend for Yuel. He could carefully analyze his lane opponents and discover their mistakes, without worrying about the Carry doing something dumb-

“Wait, don’t 1v2 them!” Yuel exclaimed. “Retreat, you can’t win th-”

『DOUBLE KILL』

“Woohoo! That was close as heck! Look at that HP!” Lars finished off both enemies by himself, with less than 1% HP left.

“... that was suicide.”

“No problem, dude! I told you these guys were noobs, haha!”

Seriously, this guy... Yuel sighed. Despite how many times he saw Lars pull crazy stuff, he couldn’t wrap his head around it. No matter how highly he evaluated Lars’s skill, it was never enough. Lars always proved he was at least ten levels above what Yuel expected.

So that’s a real genius, huh. As much as Yuel hated using this misleading word, there was no other way to describe Lars. Yes, Lars was truly a genius. His godlike mechanical skill allowed him to stomp enemies without relying on any complicated tactics. He was a savage beast unrestricted by common sense.

Sadly, sometimes the line between “genius” and “idiot” was unexpectedly thin.

“Don’t chase that kill.”

“But that HP, yo! I’mma finish him off real quick!”

『An ally has been killed!』

“Gah! So close!” Lars fell prey to a Turret. “Quick! Revive me!”

“Sure, just wait a moment while I hack the game and make Arise work across the map.” Yuel made a face. “You totally deserve to rot there. I hope you had fun chasing that kill, just look how much you achieved.”

“Ouch. Okay, okay! I got it already! My bad!”

“Have fun watching from the sidelines without being able to do anything.”

“Gaaaaah! I wanna back already! What’s with this 40 seconds respawn time!? I wanna play!” Lars threw a tantrum.

Heh, perfect. Yuel secretly smirked. He had already figured Lars’s weak points and took nasty jabs at them. It was a necessary evil for educating this goof, who was somehow both a genius and an idiot at the same time. Explanations never worked with that thick-headed goof. Lars had to learn everything the hard way by experiencing the consequences of his mistakes on his own flesh.

“Geh, d-do I chase this one?” Lars forced himself to ask.

“No, too risky. Come back to Mid and take down the Turret.”

“Gah, okay.” Lars looked unsatisfied, but he obediently turned his back to the inviting opportunity. As much as he wanted to score that kill, he knew a terrifyingly long respawn time awaited him in case he failed. After getting burnt enough times, even a fool learned to not carelessly play with fire.

There were many things Yuel had to teach Lars and it was always a challenge. If the other kids Yuel played with were like easy-to-use handguns, then Lars was like a rampaging machinegun. Difficult to handle, but extremely powerful once mastered.

“I told you, don’t buy lifesteal early on.”

“But the self-sustain, dude! I wanna stay longer in lane!”

“Lifesteal is a percentage-based stat, so it’s best to buy it at mid or late game.”

“But why? It gives me the lifesteal, so what’s wrong with that?”

“Do you even know how percentages work?”

“S-Sure, yo!!”

“Then how much is 10% from 100?”

“It’s... umm... ah, wait, isn’t that like 10? Haha, you totally had me there for a second!”

“Good, now how much is 10% from 300?”

“It’s... ehh... Let’s see, how do I calculate that crap again...”

“Just how often do you sleep during math classes?”

“200% of the time, haha!” Lars announced with pride. “See? I’m a master of percentages!”

This goof will be the end of me. Yuel sighed for at least the millionth time since he started coaching Lars.

“Alright, then how about I put it this way.” Yuel changed his approach. “You poked that Pirate a few times by now, right? If you bought a power item instead of lifesteal, you would have scored a kill by now. With the gold earned from that kill you could buy the lifesteal item you wanted so badly. So, you’d have both the power item and the lifesteal item by now.”

“Oh! That’s sick!” Lars nodded vigorously. It took a few more games until these words truly sank in, but he eventually stopped building lifesteal early.

“You better stop playing with Yuel before you become a bot.” John sneered as he passed by them.

“A bot? What’s that about?” Lars titled his head.

“That’s... nothing.” Yuel clenched his controller. His hands trembled.

“He uses his teammates like chess pawns.” John said. “He’s a genius chess strategist alright, but keep following his orders and you’ll become a bot. You may be thinking you’re good at Classmancers, but that’s actually all because of Yuel’s instructions.”

“Yeah, dude is legit a genius.” Lars nodded. “But hey, I rock too!”

“Sure, I also thought I was pretty decent at first. But after playing with him for a while, I realized I was only decent when I was following his orders.”

“Hmm, welp.” Lars rolled his eyes. “If you’re only good when Yuel feeds you from a spoon, doesn’t that mean you’re just... ya know, suck at the game?”

“Wha!?” John’s face contorted. “I don’t mean to brag, but I’m the best Carry player in our class.”

“Oh! That’s cool!” Lars turned to Yuel. “Is this dude strong?”

“He’s... Well, I agree he’s probably the best Carry in our class.” Yuel dodged the question. Out of all the kids in class, he played Classmancers the most with John. They weren’t exactly “friends”, but Yuel didn’t want to say out loud how John compared to Lars in terms of skill.

“Okay, then 1v1 me, dude!” Lars challenged John. “If you win, I’mma quit Classmancers.”

“Huh...” John was taken aback for a moment. “And if you win?”

“You’ll admit you gotta git gud.”

“Fine by me.” John nodded. He brought his tablet over and they began the duel.

“Pft, you’re using Archer?” Lars barely held his laughter during the loading screen.

“What’s wrong with Archer?” John scowled. “Oh, let me guess: Yuel told you it’s a D tier class, so you automatically assume it’s bad.”

“Nah, never heard of that. I just played Archer enough to tell it doesn’t have anything on other Carries.”

I’m sure I told him Archer is D tier... oh well. Yuel shrugged. Lars probably forgot all about tiers right after Yuel taught him. Typical Lars.

So Archer is “bad”, huh. John clenched his controller We’ll see about that.

First Yuel, now Lars. What’s so wrong with Archer? It was a simple and effective class. It’s the first class John picked during the Classmancers lessons and the one he had played the most since then. He tried some other Carries, but most of them required landing some difficult shots. Archer was the best way to go.

I’ll make him eat his words. John was uncharacteristically tilted. He simply couldn’t understand: how could Lars play so much with Yuel and still smile as if it was fun? He had to wipe that stupid smile off Lars’s face!

“Huh!?” John nearly fell off his chair. His Archer fell from 100% HP to 60% HP from a single hit! How!? Trickshot gained bonus damage after bouncing off a wall, but was it that strong!?

Starting with a power item, good. Yuel nodded to himself. Even though Yuel wasn’t there to give advice, Lars overcame his bad habit of buying lifesteal early on his own.

Tch, he was sure lucky hitting that shot from a bounce. John gritted his teeth. I need to lower his HP as well. He initiated a fight to get some damage on Lars, but soon realized it was a grave mistake.

“Huh!?” John was overwhelmed. His shots... they didn’t connect! Lars sidestepped and rolled around, dodging everything John fired his way. What’s with these movements!? Was it even possible to move so quickly in this game!?

Wait, calm down. John took a deep breath. He’s just mashing buttons.

Right, of course it was possible to move this quickly by spamming buttons. It’s just that nobody did it because it was impossible to aim-

No way! John was hit. And hit. And hit. His shots missed Lars, yet each of Lars’s shot perfectly connected. Why? How!? John’s HP fell down to 20% in a matter of seconds!

I’m outta here! John turned around and dashed toward his Golem.

However, Lars had no intention letting this opportunity slip. He slid forward with Trickslide and barraged his prey. John fell all the way to 10% HP!

I-It’s fine. John tried to convince himself. I’ll have a chance once he gets into the Golem’s zone. I’m sure Yuel would advise against such a dangerous pursuit, but that guy is playing on his own right now. He’ll chase me all the way for sure. Heh, now you’ll see how bad you really are!

This is bad! Yuel covered his mouth, he almost blurted a retreat order. A Lv.3 Trickshooter wouldn’t survive more than two shots from the Golem. Chasing after John was suicide!

“Hmm, looks risky.” Lars stopped right at the edge of the Golem’s area. “Heh, go ahead, Run back to your base, dude. I’ll take good care of the lane meanwhile.”

The old Lars would had definitely charged in, but the current Lars knew it’d end in a tragedy. Bit by bit, he learned from his mistakes. He definitely didn’t need Yuel to hold his hand at all times.

Tch, he didn’t fall for it. John clicked his tongue. I can’t give him lane advantage so early. Guess I’ll stay and farm under the Golem for a while.

Instead of returning to base to restore HP, John advanced so he could shoot the incoming minions. He had a rough idea of Trickshot’s maximum range, so he stayed far enough to not get hit. If Lars wanted this kill, he’d have to invade-

“Haha, gotcha!” Lars grinned and fired Trickshot. However, he didn’t aim it straight at John because that wouldn’t reach. Instead, he fired it toward the lane’s wall. The bullet bounced and gained extended range.

『You have been killed!』

“Ah... huh...?” John’s controller fell from his hands. His jaw was hanging. What. How. He just advanced a bit forward. It all happened in an instant. Before he even registered the situation, the Trickshot bounced off the wall and killed him.

That skill is so hard to aim, but he... in an instant... John’s hands trembled. A monster. This guy’s a monster.

John fought until end, but the difference in their skills was obvious from very beginning. He lost the match without killing Lars even once. Heck, he barely grazed Lars at all. It was laughable.

“C’mon, say it! Loud and clear!” Lars grinned.

“I... I need to git gud.” John mumbled.

“Okay! Now that that’s out of the way, wanna play with us? You’re not half bad!”

“I’ll pass. You two are monsters.” John walked away with his head hanging. His eyes were dead.

From the very first lesson, John really liked Classmancers. It was a fun game to play with friends and he was pretty decent at it. He didn’t tell anybody, but he even tried playing online. However, his teams always got trashed and his teammates raged at him, so he quit after just three matches.

His brief experience playing online completely shattered his self-image. How come he played so well in class but sucked so hard online? That’s when he realized the truth: it was all thanks to Yuel. John made strong plays when he followed Yuel’s orders, but he was nothing without them.

In other words, he was just a pawn in Yuel’s design. None of his achievements really belonged to him. He felt cheated and used, that’s why he took it out on Yuel. Looking back on it, that was really immature of him.

The duel with Lars forced John to face the truth: he simply wasn’t good enough. Yuel was just helping the team win. The one who turned John into a pawn was none other than John himself. It’s so dumb.

Ah. I can’t take it anymore. I’m through with this shitty game. John sighed. He was going to uninstalled Classmancers. Forever.

Is it my fault? Yuel bit his lip. The way Lars stomped John looked like a pro going serious against an amatuer. It was only natural for John’s spirit to be crushed.

Was that how everybody felt when they played with Yuel? They were all the same age, so he never considered himself above the rest. He took the matches seriously and did his best to win, that was only natural for him.

He... crushed them. None of them took Classmancers as seriously as him. They enjoyed the game, but they didn’t feel like reaching Yuel’s level yet. It’s like they were played completely different games.

He never realized any of that because his playstyle didn’t overwhelm his opponents with raw strength the way Lars did. He merely advised his allies how to punish the enemy’s mistakes, but the effect was the same. Everybody he played against were overwhelmed and dispirited.

Yuel and John weren’t exactly friends, but they had been playing Classmancers together ever since the first lesson. John definitely liked the game, but he must had grown to hate it because of Yuel.

No, it wasn’t only John. Just how many of Yuel’s classmates quit Classmancers because of him? They all played casually, but they were by no means bad players. By destroying them with everything he got, Yuel murdered their chances of ever taking the game more seriously.

“Sorry...” Yuel mumbled as John passed by him.

“It’s fine.” John answered without lifting his head. “I just suck at Classmancers, that’s all there is to it.”

“That’s not true. You can become much better if you take your time to learn the game.”

“Become better, huh. No way I can keep up with monsters like you.”

“At least play with us sometimes.”

“If I feel like it.” John left. Based on his expression, he most likely wouldn’t touch Classmancers ever again.

“Hey, dude. What’s with the long face?” Lars smacked Yuel on the back.

“Agh. It hurts.” Yuel frowned. “Say, is it fun playing Classmancers with me?”

“Hmm. Welp.” Lars scratched the back of his head. “You sure can get bossy. ‘Do this’, ‘don’t do that’. Sometimes I feel like punching yo face.”

“Eh? Seriously?”

“But it’s fine, ya know? You’re right on the money most of the time.” Lars smiled and gave a thumb up. “You saw that duel just now, right? I scored that sick early kill because I started with a power item and didn’t dive the Golem. That’s stuff I learned from Professor Yuel himself.”

“Heh, is that so.” Yuel smiled wryly. “But don’t you sometimes feel like I’m deciding all your actions for you?”

“Hey, hey! Don’t ya steal my glory, yo! I’m the one landing all the shots, you’re just there to give me some tips. I’m Batman and you’re Robin, let’s be clear about that.”

“Heh, not sure I agree.”

“Deal with it, dude.”

“Haha.” Yuel breathed in relief. He was glad at least Lars was resistant to his habit of bossing his teammates around. If a prodigy like Lars were to quit Classmancers because of that, Yuel would never forgive himself.

“Anyway, let’s play already!”

“Sure.”

They queued into yet another match. Even though they were a party of just two people, it made the online experience completely different from playing solo. Their win ratio rocketed all the way to 68% and they chained long winning streaks, gaining huge amounts of exp for their accounts.

Most of the time it was just the two of them, but sometimes other kids joined in as well. Among them were Taison and Gregory, the Pirate and Cleric whom Yuel and Lars defeated on their first meeting. These two didn’t play online much before and were content with stomping weaker classmates, but being utterly crushed by Yuel and Lars apparently made them change their ways.

The one who joined Yuel and Lars most often was Julia, the girl who played terrible Support for Lars before. After Yuel magnificently shut down Taison and Gregory, even Julia had to admit he was somewhat decent. Though, her attitude toward him remained as nasty as ever.

“Can I play Support for you this time?” Julia asked Lars with a pretty smile.

“Hmm. Yuel, what do you say?” Lars titled his head.

“She’s not fit to play Support.” Yuel gave it to her straight.

“What’s that? You’re saying I’m a bad player!?” Julia raised her voice and glared at Yuel. Her angelic smile vanished without a trace.

“No, you’re not a bad player.” Yuel shook his head. “You’re a decent Mid Laner, but you’re not fit to play Support.”

“And why’s that, exactly? Mid and Support even have some classes in common.”

“That’s true, but you need to play Mid Cryomancer and Support Cryomancer very differently. You play Support the same way you play Mid, which a no-no.”

“Hmph, I just need to practice it.” Julia refused to give up. “How do you expect me to get any better if you’re not letting me play Support?”

“It’s pointless. You won’t learn the Support’s mentality just from playing a lot of Support.”

“How do you even know that, you reta-” Julia barely stopped herself. She threw a nervous glance in Lars’s direction. Phew, he wasn’t bothered by her outburst. She adjusted her attitude and swallowed her pride. “T-Then teach me how to play Support.”

“No.”

“You dumb- Geh. I mean, why not?”

“It’ll be a waste of time. I can teach you about Mid if you want.”

“Gah! You’re really such a...!” Julia gritted her teeth to stop herself from raining a thousand curses.

“Okay, okay.” Lars clapped his hands. “July, you mind playing Mid? Dunno whether you’re fit to play Support, but I agree you’re a great Mid.”

“T-Thanks.” Julia blanked out for a moment and her face turned pinkish. “Sure, I like Mid more than Support anyway.” Her attitude made a sudden 180. Seriously, this girl...

But that wasn’t the end of it. Once in a while she pestered them about playing Support, only to be shot down by Yuel. Why was she so eager to play Support anyway? It didn’t suit her at all.

She was a scaredy-cat who ran away at the first sign of danger. It wasn’t exactly a great attitude, but it worked fine for a Mid Laner. Mages were squishies with bad escape tools and Mid Lane was the most prone to ganks. Therefore, playing safe was important in Mid. But the same mentality didn’t apply to Support Mages, who more often than not had to be in enemy’s face.

“Hey, Yuel! Let’s play- ah.” Lars barraged into the class, only to realize that Yuel’s seat was empty.

“He has a chess tournament today.”

“Oh! Right! Completely forgot about that thing!” Lars smacked himself on the forehead.

“Then, how about I play Supp-”

“Meh, guess I’ll practice my jungling today.” Lars shrugged and turned toward Julia. “You’re playing, right?”

“Sure...” Julia answered with a wry smile. Even when Yuel wasn’t there, she simply couldn’t win.

Nevertheless, she kept playing Classmancers with them more than anybody else. At least on the surface, she looked as passionate as them about the game. Even once the school year ended and the summer vacation began, she kept playing online with them. They used voice chat to communicate and steadily climbed up the levels.

“Meh, this isn’t the same.” Lars complained. “Let’s all meet up!” Ever since he suggested that, they start meeting twice a week to play together in the same room.

“But why Yuel’s room?” Julia pouted.

“Because of you.” Yuel answered. “You acted weird when we played at Lars’s place. Your performance suffered and we lost some very easy games.”

“Geh.” Julia averted her eyes. Her cheeks turned pink.

“Haha, sorry about all the mess in my room.” Lars laughed. “Bet it wasn’t comfortable to play there.”

“N-Not at all!” Julia exclaimed. “I-It’s just what I’d expect from a boy’s room! Compared to that...”

Yuel’s room was tidy and organized, eerily so. No decorations and no color, it hardly even looked like a room somebody lived in. Julia never thought her room was particularly messy, but compared to Yuel’s - hers looked like a jungle.

“We can always play at your place.” Yuel smirked. “That is, if you’re fine with inviting two boys to your house.”

“No thank you.” Julia shot him a glare. “If it were only Lar... then...” Her face gradually transformed into a tomato.

In the end, meeting in Yuel’s room became their routine for the summer break. In these two months, Yuel and Lars planned to reach Lv.50 and conquer the world of Ranked mode. They both began the vacation at Lv.46, so Ranked was just around the corner. Oh, and Julia was also there, lagging behind at Lv.38.