After getting over the fact that bully Elf stole her precious red buff, Nia headed toward Mid. Along the way, she placed a ward in one of the intersections Tipmancer recommended as top priority warding spots.

And so, the laning phase began. She had to deal with a Pyromancer.

"Do you know how to farm with Wizard?" Yuel asked.

"Yeah, it's in the app," Nia glanced at her phone again. "I slow them down before they arrive using Quicksand and then hit them with Windstorm. Ah, but they're all already here..."

Since Nia's team was slow at taking the red buff, the minions from both sides have already reached the center of the lane and clashed. Ideally, a Wizard was supposed to slow down the incoming wave with Quicksand to pack them into one spot, then blast them away with Windstorm from afar. This setup guaranteed that both spells hit the entire wave so it maximized damage.

Alas, the enemy minions have already assumed their battle positions. The swordsmen fought on the frontline while the bowmen stayed behind. With such a distance between the frontline and the backline, it was impossible to hit all minions at once with Quicksand; the radius of the spell wasn't big enough at low levels.

With that said, Nia could still hit the entire wave with Windstorm thanks to its amazing reach and width. It wasn’t optimal damage but it wasn’t that bad. Probably.

"Do you know how to farm in this scenario?" Yuel asked.

"Hmm," Nia's eyes naturally gravitated toward the phone beside her. However, she couldn't find any further instructions regarding farming. The only advice in Tipmancer was to do the Quicksand play into Windstorm. There was no mention of what to do when the wave was already there and it was too late to use Quicksand.

“Oh, I know," Nia claimed. “I’ll just hit them with the wind. Better than nothing.”

"Wait. Get closer to the swordsmen and make sure they're within the first half of Windstorm, the half that knocks back. That’ll send them flying toward the bowmen."

"Ok," Nia cautiously advanced toward the frontline with Windstorm ready in target mode. The targeting animation was neatly split into two parts to inform the caster where the first half of the spell will hit. That half had a knockback effect, which was crucial for this operation.

Nia fit all the enemy swordsmen within the first half of the spell and unleashed a storm. The winds slammed into the swordsmen and shoved them to the backline. At the same time, the other half of the spell hit the bowmen in the back without repositioning them.

This clustered all enemy minions into one packed area. It was time for Quicksand! Nia encircled the minions with a deadly quicksand. It damaged them over time and slowed them down, which made it harder for the swordsmen to return to the frontline.

Her mechanical skill is decent. Yuel nodded to himself.

Nia’s execution was swift but accurate as she chained one spell into another with next to no delay. In Yuel's younger days, he used to mess up whenever he tried to chain spells quickly like that. Even though he knew exactly what he should be doing, he was always either too slow or rushed too much in fear of being too slow. Either way, it often ended up as a disaster. Even now, he wasn’t so fluent with casting multiple skills in a row unless it was a specific setup he practiced a lot.

That feel when you know the right thing to do but often mess up, while there are players like Nia who don't know what to do but still pull it off somehow. Yuel smiled wryly. To be honest, he was a bit jealous of people who had such a good gaming sense. Perhaps he wasn't blessed with one or maybe he failed to develop one as a kid because he didn't play video games much before Classmancers. Either way, it has been giving him a lot of trouble, and despite all the regular practice he has been doing, the issue haunted him to this day. Sigh.

At least, Nia won't need much coaching in that area. Yuel concluded. The main thing Nia lacked was game knowledge regarding the main 5v5 mode. That Yuel had in spades and will gladly share. So, given Nia’s already-decent execution, she'll level up into a solid player in no time as long as she keeps absorbing knowledge from Yuel.

The Windstorm plus Quicksand play almost wiped out the entire enemy wave. Such was the strength of an early-game Wizard. Its spells had both an amazing range and they hit hard thanks to the extra magical power coming from Wizard’s passive. This power advantage was only going to last Nia a couple of waves but it’ll be a big factor in gaining early-game momentum.

"You won the lane," Yuel announced. "The Pyromancer should be retreating now, so you can push on."

"Um, but he's coming closer?"

"Say what?" Yuel narrowed his eyes. This Pyromancer had no fear and showed zero respect toward Nia's lane advantage. Instead of retreating to the tower as he should, he approached the frontline to unleash his spells. What an absolute mad lad.

Low ranks. Right. Yuel smiled wryly. Of course, things like that often happened at lower ranks. Most players here didn't know the importance of defense so they didn’t fall back at the right time. Most likely, that Pyromancer was only thinking about reclaiming lane control by wiping out Nia’s minions.

Of course, it made sense to try reclaiming the lane whenever the opportunity presented itself. However, one also had to consider the resources they’ll spend to achieve that and the risk they'll be putting themselves in. Apparently, such judgments were beyond this Pyromancer's current level, so he charged at Nia's minions.

With no enemy minions left on the lane, Nia's soldiers naturally focused their fire on the incoming Pyromancer. Their damage was devastating in the early-game, especially against a squishy target.

"You can probably kill him right here with Fireball," Yuel said. "Wait until the minions approach him and shoot him while he’s casting his spells."

"Ok," Nia advanced a little and waited for her loyal minions to begin their assault.

The swordsmen reached the Pyromancer and the enemy was about to retaliate. That’s when Nia unleashed Fireball. The spell connected and erased 25% of the Pyromancer’s HP.

Okay, he's rattled. Yuel could tell by the Pyromancer’s sluggish movements. Clearly, that guy didn't expect Nia to aggress on him so quickly. The huge damage made the Pyromancer hesitate. He was no longer so sure he wanted to stay here and spend time unleashing his spells on the minions. However, he couldn't decide whether to retreat or not. So, Nia should capitalize on this situation and-

『You have killed an enemy!』

It was over in a matter of seconds. Yuel didn't even need to say anything. Nia advanced on her own and attacked the Pyromancer along with all her minions. The Pyromancer ultimately decided to flee but he was only Lv.2, so he didn't have Burning Spirit to make a quick escape. As a result, Nia wiped him out with ease.

Good reaction there. Yuel thought. Contrary to the way Nia has been relying on Tipmancer for every little thing, she went after that kill of her own accord and made a fast judgment on the spot. Did her experience as an assassin main kick in? She saw an opportunity for a kill so she seized it without a moment’s hesitation.

“I push now?” Nia threw a glance at Yuel.

And already back to asking for guidance. Yuel smiled wryly. “What do you think? Should you push right now?”

“Yeah. The Pyro is dead so I can attack the tower.”

“No, retreat. Their Jungler should be nearby.”

“Ah, yeah, I guess,” Nia retreated without objection and only her loyal minions kept charging forward. Shortly, the enemy Vampire appeared from the jungle and slaughtered the little soldiers. Sad story.

About what I expected. Yuel nodded. The Vampire’s timing was in line with the textbook jungle-clearing routine. First, the Jungler cleared the Wraith Camp together with the Top Laner. Then, he usually went to clear the Wolf Camp near Top. After that, it’s the Hyena Camp near Mid.

Considering how little time has passed from the beginning of the match, it was only natural the Vampire was somewhere around the Hyena camp. Whether he has finished clearing the camp was anybody’s guess but, either way, it was safe to assume the Vampire might be nearby. That’s why Yuel claimed that pushing Mid was a bad idea and he was right on the money.

Yuel deduced all that basic stuff on the spot, but it was understandable for a newbie to not be able to do so yet, especially a player who mostly played 1v1. Yuel will simply have to teach her, one thing at a time. Nia’s gaming sense seemed to be sharp enough to quickly pick things up.

The next play he had in mind for Nia was also heavily based on game knowledge. It’ll be a good learning experience for her and, shall it succeeded, it will grant her a big advantage for the rest of this match.