After being coached by Yuel, Julia became an adept Mid Laner. She learned when and where to place wards, which class matchups were favorable, when to rotate to other lanes and much more.

She also left Yuel in the dust when it came to jogging. After her embarrassing injury on the first day, she started from slow jogs and gradually raised the pace. By the end of the summer, she could jog at Lars’s pace for one kilometer.

Contrary to her, Yuel didn’t feel his fitness improved much after the first couple of weeks. His stamina definitely increased over time, but he was still a laughably slow runner. He was definitely a turtle in his previous life.

Nevertheless, maintaining a jogging routine sharpened his senses and improved his reaction speed. He even grew to enjoy shooters somewhat, as he learned to not freak out during tense situations. That was an important skill which carried into Classmancers as well, allowing him to stay composed when ganked and amidst chaotic team fights.

As for Lars, he absorbed lots of wisdom from Yuel throughout the summer. His game knowledge and decision-making skills reached a decent level, but he eventually hit a wall. It’s not like he reached a very high level, especially not in the game knowledge department, but he didn’t show much growth from there. That must had been the current limit of this muscle brain goof.

Ranked mode had a “draft system”, which allowed players to ban classes during the class selection phase. After the first time Trickshooter was banned by the enemy, Lars realized he couldn’t play any other Carry class on the same level. Therefore, instead of studying the game, he practiced many different classes.

With his mechanical skill, he was naturally good with every class he picked. However, “good” was far from “godlike”, which best described Lars’s insane mastery over Trickshooter.

Yuel was secretly relieved, since he finally discovered something sensible in Lars’s superhuman skill. Even somebody as talented as Lars needed time to master new classes, just like any other human being. That proved Lars wasn’t some alien from planet GodlikeSkills.

However, it was still mind boggling how quickly Lars produced results. He practiced, practiced, practiced and then practiced some more. He learned to perfectly land headshots with Headhunter, to rapidly snipe targets with Elf and to deliver timely counters with Punisher. Even though he picked classes which demanded acute mechanical finesse to be effective - he mastered all of them.

By the time summer break was over, Yuel, Lars and Julia were all Platinum tier in Ranked mode. Julia lagged behind them by two ranks, being Platinum IV, but she was recognized as a strong member of the team all the same.

When the new school year began, the three of them attended Riverstock Junior High. Yuel and Lars were set on joining the Classmancers club, but Julia was reluctant. None of her girl friends were interested in Classmancers.

“But you’re good at Classmancers! You should totally do it!”

“Um, t-then I’ll give it a shot...”

In the end, Julia couldn’t resist Lars’s overflowing passion. She came this far already, so she decided to go all the way.

And so, the three of them attended the entry exam for the Classmancers club. Based on the number of kids who took Classmancers seriously back at grade school, Yuel didn’t expect much competition. He was wrong, completely wrong.

Where did all these guys come from? Yuel looked around in disbelief. The hall was stuffed with over 50 freshmen, all eager to join the Classmancers club. The vast majority were boys, but, to Julia’s relief, there were some girls as well.

“Yo, yo, yo! Who do we have here?” Taison emerged from the crowd and strode toward Lars. He came dangerously close, but didn’t slow down in the slightest.

“Long time no see, dude! Heh!” Lars met his pal head on, literally. The two banged their foreheads, like bulls locked in a duel. Everybody was startled by this act of violence, but it was like a handshake for these muscleheads. Yuel suspected they both became idiots after receiving serious brain damage from repeated headbutts.

“So? Did ya ever reach Ranked, scrub?” Taison wore a smug. “Me and Greg got to Gold!”

“Pft, lame! All three of us are Platinum, yo!”

“Wha!? Even Julia!?” Taison’s jaw nearly hit the floor.

“Obviously.” Julia crossed her arms and lifted her chin. “Don’t compare me to losers like you. Gold? That’s so yesterday.”

“The heck? You don’t even like the game, yo!”

“Hmph. Who are you to tell me what I like and what I don’t, dumbface?”

“Tch, you’re as cute as always.”

“Don’t get so worked up, Tai.” Gregory appeared behind Taison. At first glance it looked like he wanted to put out the fire, but Yuel knew better than believe that. “Obviously Yuel and Lars carried her, even a monkey can get to Platinum that way.”

“Khahaha! Yeah!” Taison burst into laughter.

“What did you just say, four-eyes!?” Julia’s eyes emitted a murderous glint.

“C’mon, we all know the truth.” Gregory smirked while touching his glasses. “Admit it, you’re just a third wheel for these two. The sooner you face the truth, the better.”

“Big words for somebody who leeches off Taison’s skill.” Yuel couldn’t stand this anymore. In the past month, he watched Julia’s hard work and growth more than anybody. Perhaps she wasn’t on par with Yuel and Lars yet, but she wasn’t weak and she definitely wasn’t a third wheel.

“Now, now. Let’s play nice, my dudes.” Lars wrapped his arm around Gregory’s shoulder in an overly friendly manner. “We gonna have a Classmancers exam or something, right? Let’s settle it there.”

“Heh, sure. Let’s do that.” Gregory shook off Lars’s arm. “That is, if you guys pull through this exam. It’s going to be quite different from what you expect, kek.”

“Hoh? You know something about this exam?”

“Who knows.” Gregory shrugged. “Here’s my prediction though: Yuel will be eliminated in the first round and you’ll be eliminated in the second.”

“Heh, sounds like fun!” Lars grinned. “We’ll see about that.”

Their chit-chat was eventually interrupted when Howard, the vice-captain of the Classmancers club, took the stage. He and the captain briefly introduced themselves, then he proceeded to talk about the entry exam.

“I know what some of you are thinking.” Howard smiled. “You want to join the Classmancers club because it sounds like a fun place where you can play video games, right? Haha.”

Some of the audience laughed along with Howard. The school demanded all students to join a club, so it was clear some applied to the Classmancers club to dodge that obligation. As long as they were gamers, playing a video game for club activities sounded like easy life even if they weren’t genuinely interested in Classmancers.

“For those who are thinking that way, the door is over there.” Howard pierced the audience with a sharp glare. “Like it or not, but our Classmancers club is strictly competitive. The school allows the club only 15 members in total. To be fair about it, we always maintain 5 members from each year. You see where I’m going with this, yes?”

In other words, out of the 50+ freshmen gathered in this hall, only five would be admitted into the club. The shocking reveal invoked exclamations and whispers throughout the crowd. Everybody began realizing that the Classmancers club wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows.

“Interesting.” Yuel smiled. “We may be in for some real challenge, like Gregory said.”

“Heh, that’s how it gotta be!” Lars grinned. His reaction stood in complete opposite to everybody around him.

“Seriously, you boys.” Julia threw a look at Yuel and Lars, who were both pumped for the this dumb challenge. Sigh, what a pain.

“The entry exam will have three rounds.” Howard explained. “In the first round, we’ll test how serious you are about Classmancers. We’ll have you run five kilometers.”

“Eeeeh!?”

“F-Five kilometers!?”

The crowd was in an uproar.

Five!? How exactly is that a Classmancers exam!? Yuel turned pale. He barely lasted two kilometers even after all the training he had during summer break! It was insane!

“Yes, yes.” Howard nodded. “I know what you’re all wondering: ‘How the heck is this a Classmancers exam!?’ After all, most of you are here because you hate physical exercise, right? Haha.”

“But, too bad.” Howard’s voice turned cold. “We’ll have you run. Even if you can’t jog the whole way through, you can always walk. Crawl for all I care. If you don’t reach the finish line, you’re out. If you’re in the last 15, you’re out. If you have any medical certificates which forbid you to jog, bring them later and we’ll figure something out.”

“This is dumb!”

“I’m not doing this shit!”

A few students left the hall and Yuel almost wanted joining them. As much as he wanted to play competitive Classmancers, running 5 kilometers was insanity.

“Somebody shaking in his boots?” Gregory wore a smug. “You better quit before you die out there, kek.”

“I-I’m fine.” Yuel tried to convince himself. “As long as there are less than 15 people here who can run all the way, I can pass this round by walking.”

“You? Pass? And here I thought you were a realist.” Gregory shook his head. “But surely you’re quitting, right July?”

“Sounds rough.” Julia cocked her head and turned to Lars. “You think I can run it?”

“Easy!” Lars gave her a thumb up. “Remember that time we jogged to the beach and back? That was about five kilometers.”

“Ouch, that was a harsh run. But I survived it, so guess I can pull it off and stuff?”

“You can run five kilometers...?” Gregory’s glasses almost slipped down his nose.

“I guess? Anyway, what about you, four-eyes?” Julia lifted her chin. “Gonna crawl your way to the finish line?”

“Kek, don’t think I’m the same as before.” Gregory adjusted his glasses. “I trained quite a lot during the summer. Look, I even built some muscles.”

“You trained? Interesting.” Yuel eyed Gregory. “Were you preparing for this very exam, perchance?”

“Who knows.” Gregory dodged the question.

“Very well.” Howard continued after everybody made up their minds. “Rejoice, those who left also count toward the 15 dropouts. Thanks to them, only seven of you can fail the first round now. How nice of them, right? Haha.”

My chances went up a little. Yuel nodded to himself. Now, he only had to outpace seven competitors. Five kilometers was a huge deal, but he had a decent chance.

“Oh, and I joked.” Howard grinned. “Don’t worry, we won’t make you run that much. We’re not the track club, yes? Haha. One kilometer will suffice, but the rest is still effect. Fail to reach the finish line and you’re out. Finish among the last seven and you’re out.”

Howard called it a joke, but 8 students actually left after hearing about the 5 kilometers. Was that part of the test? If so, it was definitely effective at eliminating weak-willed players, even though it didn’t quite feel fair. Good thing Yuel didn’t take the bait.

“There are also some good news to hype you up.” Howard announced. “If you finish the race in first place, you’ll be excused from the rest of the exam. You become a club member right away.”

“Oh! Cool!” Lars grinned. “Welp, this gonna end on the first round for me. Good luck at the rest of the exam, my dudes!”

“Tch, aren’t ya a modest one?” Taison retorted. “Don’t forget I'm also here. If ya think this gonna be a sneeze, think again.”

“Oh? You trained during the summer or something? Because I don’t remember you ever beating me at sprinting.”

“This time will be different, mark my words.”

“Looking forward to it!”

The two sports maniacs eyed each other, both confident in their upcoming victory. Unlike them, Yuel wasn’t as enthusiastic about this announcement.

He raised his hand and posed a question to Howard. “Is it really a good idea to select a Classmancers player based on nothing but their running speed? I thought the club was geared toward winning competitions.”

“A good question.” Howard nodded. “I’m sure at least half the audience shares your sentiment. Tell me, you have any athletic pals who play Classmancers?”

“Yes.”

“Are they any good at Classmancers?”

“Yes, they are.” Yuel had to admit. Lars was a god and Taison was quite skilled as well.

“And what do you think makes them so good?”

“They’re mechanically skilled, for one.” Yuel took a moment to think about it. “They’re also used to practicing and playing as a team, since they were in a sport club before.”

“A full marks answer.” Howard clapped once. “It’s exactly as you said, the athletic fellows usually come from sport clubs. They’re used to training and maybe even played on a team. So, whoever wins the race may not be an amazing Classmancers player right now, but they should have a solid foundation to molded into one.”

“I see.” Yuel frowned. He essentially answered his own question via Howard’s lead. Howard definitely already had the answer ready when he announced that rule, Yuel felt like he was baited into asking about it. Ugh.

“If that’s all, you have half an hour to gather at the building's entrance.” Howard announced. “If you need to warm up or change into a PE uniform, do so now.”

The crowd dispersed. Yuel and Lars headed outside, but Julia first went to get her PE uniform. “No way I’m sweating in these clothes.”

And so, the entry exam was about to begin. The opportunity to play in the competitive scene was right in front of them, they just had to grasp it. The junior high competitive scene wasn’t nearly as popular as that of high schools, but it was the first step. Before advancing to larger scenes, they first had to conquer the junior high competitive scene!