Yuel spread the word about practicing at the club and invited others to join in. Roi, Dan, Gilbert, Taison, and Gregory all dropped by from time to time to help with the grind. It was a huge boost, since playing with a five-man premade was a world apart from playing as a three-man premade. No more praying about being matched with decent teammates. Everybody in the club were skilled players and they all cooperated with Yuel's shot-calling, so the team was consistently strong in every game.

In particular, Roi and Dan were the most welcome visitors. They filled in the need for a Top Laner and a Jungler, and they were the best in the club at these roles.

Though, Dan was a little problematic sometimes. He was a good player, but his desire to master every Jungler class in existence made him pick an unconventional Jungler from time to time. Bottom tier classes like Rogue, complex classes like Chronomaster and even outright memes like Cryomancer.

Needless to say, these experiments didn’t always go well. No matter how well Dan played, classes like Rogue were bottom tier for a reason and the Challenger division wasn’t one to mess around in. Everybody who played at this level came a long way from the bottom, so they knew how to deal with memes and gimmicks. Still, Dan-of-all-Trades insisted.

“Can’t you experiment in Casual?” Yuel asked after they suffered another defeat, in part because Dan played Druid Jungler. Why would anybody even do that...

“I experiment in Casual too,” Dan said. “But, there ain’t anywhere better than Ranked to test stuff for real. You know the matchmaking in Casual is clown fiesta.”

“I suppose that’s true.” Yuel didn’t like it, but he didn’t have any good retorts. The matchmaking of Casual indeed worked in mysterious ways unbeknown to humankind. It supposedly matched players based on level, playtime and estimated skill. But in practice, there were huge skill gaps and games often snowballed. It may be because people used Casual to try new things, but bottom line it made Casual very unreliable and uncompetitive.

There’s no choice, Yuel had accepted Dan’s dedication to playing a billion different classes in Ranked. It surely slowed the team’s progress on the ladder, but it was still leaps and bounds beyond playing in a three-man premade.

All in all, Roi and Dan greatly helped. Thanks to that, Yuel and Lars climbed to Challenger V by the end of the first month. Just one more rank and they’ll catch up to Howard and Ellen!

Unfortunately, there were also some slowdowns the way. Unlike Roi and Dan, Taison and Gregory weren’t as helpful. They insisted they were “da best” Bot duo and demanded to play Support and Carry. As a result, Yuel and Lars had to take turns playing their main classes.

“Saw this shit?” Taison pumped a fist after scoring a kill. “We’re da best duo, yo!”

Admittedly, Taison and Gregory weren’t terrible. They lagged behind on ranks because they didn’t play Ranked as often, but they were definitely around Challenger level in term of skill.

Still, Taison wasn’t Lars. He lacked the explosiveness and snowballing threat. The best thing about Lars in Ranked was how difficult it’s to stop him once he starts rolling. At least 20% of the time, matches were single-handedly decided by Lars snowballing to victory. It crushed the spirit of the enemy team and led to an early surrender. Easy rank grinding. Everybody wanted Lars to carry for that reason.

But, Yuel agreed to entertain Taison and Gregory because a five-man premade was that valuable. Having Taison and Gregory in Bot was still better than not having them at all. So, Yuel and Lars altered between playing their main roles and playing Top and Jungler. It was an alright arrangement for Yuel, but not so much for Lars.

『An ally has been killed!』

“Gah!” Lars exclaimed. “I almost got him! Sneaky dude.”

“That gank was a terrible idea.” Yuel shook his head.

“But he was about to get away with no HP! I had it, yo!”

“The result begs to differ,” Yuel pointed at the defeat message. “You have to keep in mind whether your target has its ult ready. You can’t just attack everybody who has low health.”

“But, how was I supposed to know whether his ult is up? I can’t keep track of that stuff when I’m not even on lane.”

“You can ask others.”

“Oh, didn’t think of that. Smart!”

“Literally basic logic.” Yuel sighed. In term of mechanical skill, Lars’s ganks were amazing as expected. However, his lackluster map awareness and subpar decision-making were fatal for playing Jungler. Therefore, as far as playing Jungler was convened, his skill was stuck somewhere in Gold rank. Yuel ended up played Jungler instead most of the time, leaving Top to Lars.

There was also the option of letting Julia play Jungler, but that was an even bigger disaster. She was already struggling to balance her offensive and defensive sides, so adding the complexity of jungling on top of that didn’t do her any favors.

However, Julia was decent as Top so Lars sometimes got to play Mid, his second best role. With access to burst damage, he managed to snowball and carry the team to victory from time to time. Still, he wasn’t nearly as effective as when he played Carry. Ugh, such a waste...

Fortunately, they only had to deal with this whole headache once in a while, because Taison and Gregory didn’t visit the club that frequently. These troublemakers were also fine with playing Jungler and Top at least half the time, and they were actually decent at these roles. In particular, Taison’s aggressive jungling dominated in some games. Even though it wasn’t his main role, he was likely among the top three Junglers in the club, second only to Dan and Ellen.

The seniors who graduated also caught wind of this summer camp and paid a few visits.

“Hey there!” Trever invaded the clubroom and smacked Yuel on the back. “Heard you’re throwing a party! Lemme in.”

“Ugh,” Yuel massaged his KO’d back. “Who called you?”

“Roi said you were having fun here, so I decided to check on ya. You’re throwing a party and don’t even invite your dear seniors. So cold, man.”

Okay, so it’s Roi. Yuel nodded to himself. Now he knew to whom to send a medical bill in case his back breaks from repeated smacks over the summer.

“Yo, dude,” Lars greeted his older self with some fake gangsta moves. “The Carry role is already taken.”

“Seniors get priority, kid.” Trever puffed his chest. Gangsta negotiations began. “I came here to help ya grind, so you better be thankful.”

“Yeah, it’s awesome,” Lars nodded. “We’re missing a Jungler today, so you came at the best time, dude.”

“Heh, you think you can carry better than me? Don’t forget I’m already Challenger IV.”

“It’s because you’re a geezer, so you grinded for a billion years.”

“Wha-!? I’m only two years older!”

And yet you call us “kids” all the time. Yuel retorted mentally.

“Okay then!” Trever thrust a finger at Lars. “Let’s settle who gets Carry with a 1v1!”

“You’re on!”

Aaaaand they went to fight each other for the next two hours. Sigh. This summer sure was going to be noisy...

In the end, every time there was competition for the Carry role, it was decided with a 1v1 between the two goofs. On some days, it was a 1v1v1 with Taison in the mix. Fortunately, Taison never came on top in 1v1v1, so it was always between Lars and Trever. On the other hand, in 1v1 Taison won a lot. Sigh The team was supposed to spend this summer grinding, but somehow these blockheads turned it into a 1v1 tournament...

The good news: Trever’s performance as Carry was more than satisfactory. In fact, as long as he maintained his cool, Trever was even better than Lars thanks to his robust experience and superior decision-making. Trever even sometimes displayed the same snowballing potential as Lars, but only when he was “on a roll”, as he called it.

Based on statistics, on average it took longer to win a match with Trever as Carry than it took with Lars as Carry. The difference was about five minutes, nothing to sneeze at. On the other hand, the win ratio with Trever was higher by almost four percent, so hard to say which of the two was a better Carry for grinding ranks.

One thing for sure, Trever was a better Carry than Taison and Yuel always played Support for him, so it worked out fine. When Trever wasn’t Carry, he was usually a very competent Jungler, so all in all, they steadily grinded rank points with his help. Eventually, they hit Challenger V.

“This is where the grind begins for real,” Trever said. “I’ve been stuck at Challenger V for like a year.”

“A year is too long.” Yuel clenched his fists. Challenger IV was the goal. Once there, he can rightfully challenge Howard for the Support spot. It was just one rank away! It can’t take a year. No, I won’t let it.

The first half of summer break ended, but there was another half to go. By the end of it, they’ll reach Challenger IV. They had to. To accomplish in a month what took Trever a year... Ambitious, to say the least. At their current level, it was borderline impossible.

The promotion from Diamond to Challenger wasn’t reflected only in the amount of grinding, there was also a noticeable difficulty spike. They came across more and more opponents with golden names, either pros or fellow competitive teenagers. Especially, when playing a five-man premade, almost every game was against a premade team of golden names.

The games became fiercer than ever. Enemy teams had airtight defenses and even when Yuel found a way to break through - they weren’t rattled at all and immediately adapted. These enemies also never missed a chance to punish Lars’s extensions and risky plays, making his dominating snowballs much rarer.

So, Yuel and Lars not only had to grind more points than before to rank up, but they couldn’t even grind as quickly as before. Even if given a year, was it even possible to reach Challenger IV at this pace...?

One day, Aron dropped by the club along with Trever. Howard mentioned how Aron used to bring members to the clubroom over the summer, so it wasn’t THAT surprising. Still, Yuel couldn’t believe somebody as strict and by-the-book as Aron would sneak into school without permission, especially now that he graduated. He technically wasn’t even a student here anymore.

“I had my conflicts about it at first,” Aron explained his side of the story. “When I became the captain, Trever and Howard nagged me about how we should use the clubroom instead of meeting at others’ houses.”

“You used to arrange group meetings over the summer?” Yuel asked.

“Oh yeah,” Trever laughed. “The good ol’ days. We picked a victim every time and raided their place, haha.”

“A ‘victim’ is a bit extreme.” Aron frowned. “But yes, we gathered a group of five every time and practiced at somebody’s place. It wasn’t optimal, I admit. But, I couldn’t possibly let them slack off for two months. We played online too with voice chat, but it wasn’t quite the same.”

“Yeah,” Trever nodded. “Because you couldn’t lecture us for hours after every game. Everybody just muted you without telling, haha!”

“Reviewing games is as important as playing them.”

“Yeah, yeah. Anyway, that’s when The Great Trever came up with a brilliant idea: Let’s use the clubroom!”

Reminds me of a certain goof. Yuel smiled wryly.

“I had my concerns,” Aron admitted. “But, he kept begging and got Howard and others on his side, so I gave it a shot. Turns out nobody cares about us using the room, so I just went along with it. The first couple of days I was still on the fence, but after a week it became a routine.”

“I know the feeling,” Yuel nodded. On the first day, he and his accomplices infiltrated the school as if it was mission impossible. A few days forward and it became as natural as going to school every day. The few teachers at school were occupied with other matters, so nobody was interested in policing students who illegally visited their clubs without a supervisor. Clubrooms were locked, so it’s not like unauthorized individuals could easily get in. Besides, they didn’t come here to cause trouble so it's not a big deal.

“I heard you’re stuck at Challenger V?” Aron said.

“Well,” Yuel crossed his arms. “Not stuck, but it’s sure tough. We overall move forward in points, but it feels like we’re crawling.”

“I know that feeling,” Aron nodded as a proud Challenger IV who overcame this great obstacle before. “The surefire method is to play with the same coordinated team and with a game plan in mind.”

“So, like a competitive team.”

“Yes, like the way Howard is training with the first string right now.”

“Huh...?” Yuel’s brain short-circuited for a moment. “Like the way Howard is doing what?”

“He takes the first string online and makes sure to practice with the same lineup all the time. Why the surprise? That's the most logical thing to do.”

“Well, sure...” Except, I heard nothing about it! Yuel clenched his fists. Neither Howard nor Ellen paid a single visit to the club so far, so Yuel thought they were lazing around because it's a vacation. But, they were actually practicing hard too? And with the whole first string!? No wonder Gilbert, Roi and Dan only showed their faces at the club on rare occasions. And, their visits became rarer and rarer as time went by.

Why Yuel hadn’t heard any of this? Was it supposed to be some sort of secret training? A ploy by Howard to rise to Master rank before Yuel could catch up to him!? Yuel had to know the details. He had to know everything!

The next time first string members came to the clubroom, Yuel interrogated them.

“Yeah,” Dan said. “We’ve been meeting at Howard’s place to practice every now and then,” he admitted without the slightest hesitation.

“How comes nobody ever mentioned it?”

“Hmm, I guess because Howard asked to not talk about it too much.”

“Wha...” So, there was something fishy after all! Howard told Yuel to chase his rank, then proceeded to abuse his position as captain to grind rank points faster than Yuel with the strongest lineup! Ugh!

“So,” Yuel said, holding back his irritation. “You grind online a lot?”

“We grind, but I wouldn't say ‘a lot’.”

“Really? Then what do you do?”

“Howard comes up with the menu, so we just go along. Practicing stuff, reviewing matches and... Well, you get the idea.”

“I see,” Sounded like standard first string training. Maybe there’s nothing to worry about after all? He thought there was some huge secret, but it sounded very normal.

Still, as the vice-captain, Yuel would have liked to be informed about the club’s activities. But, Howard probably didn't deem it necessary. After all, Yuel was just a second string player. Howard made his stance clear when Yuel became the vice-captain: “I can’t babysit everybody. My job as the captain is to bring the team to nationals.”

That’s fine, for now. Yuel was in no position to overthrow Howard, not yet. But by the end of this summer, Yuel and Lars should have enough experience to do so. They’ll seize their spots on the first string and get to play in tournaments, no matter what.

But first, they had to actually get said experience and grinding ranks was the most straightforward way to go about it. With Aron joining the summer camp, their win ratio fired upwards. He was StormBlitz’s former Jungler and one of best Junglers in the entire region, second only to the Leopards’ Fenrir. Aron’s consistency, knowledge and decision-making were top-notch.

On top of that, his late game was brutal. He deconstructed enemies to the tiniest bits throughout the match, gathering even more data than Yuel. Then, in the late game, he unleashed all that knowledge and decimated every opponent on his path. He became a killing machine without a single flawed move.

His effectiveness was further enhanced with Trever on the team. When Trever picked a Carry like Ranger with good jungle clear, the two of them played a “Two Junglers” formation. Trever strolled throughout Bot Jungle, whereas Aron focused on Top Jungle. That way, they greatly optimized jungle farm.

In addition, they used coordinated pincer attacks. They ganked their prey from two opposite directions, leaving no chance to escape. When the target through they escaped Aron’s gank, they ended up running into Trever instead. An elegant and powerful tactic.

If Yuel and Lars get into Ivy High as planned, they might get a chance to face Aron and Trever in the high school regionals. Shivers danced on his skin from the mere thought. How would Yuel counter Aron’s unstoppable late game? How will Lars’s skill compare against Trever’s by then? Sadly, there were still two more years ahead of them before any of that can be answered.

Before long, the summer break was approaching its end. They made huge progress with everybody’s help, but... Yuel and Lars didn’t make it. They were still stuck at Challenger V. Trever didn’t joke when he said it took him a year to get to Challenger IV. The grind was REAL.

Did Yuel and Lars get any closer to overthrowing Howard and Ellen? It’s hard to tell. They needed some sort of opportunity to test their mettle against Aegis and Athena. The chance will surely come once the school year begins. Worst case, Yuel will have to create one himself.

A week and a half before school resumes, these were everybody’s standings:

Challenger III - Aron

Challenger IV - Howard, Ellen, Trever

Challenger V - Yuel, Lars, Roi

Diamond I - Julia, Gilbert

Diamond II - Dan

Diamond III - Taison, Gregory