“Phew. Safe.” Nia took a deep breath upon returning to base. These few seconds of recalling were the longest moment of her life. “That was scary.”

“Nice escape,” Yuel said. “Though, you took a big gamble there.”

“He didn’t find me so I won,” Nia said. This was a common technique she employed during hide-and-seek when she didn’t feel like going far. Instead of hiding in some desolate spot, she just snuck around the “it” and touched the home base once the “it” stepped away. She only stopped doing it because some kids kept complaining about how cheap it was. Though, she still resorted to that strategy from time to time because it was funny. It’s like she was a ninja. Nin nin.

“Besides,” Nia pouted. “I wouldn’t have to take any ‘gambles’ if I didn’t gank that lane in the first place. I didn’t even get a kill. I knew it was a bad idea.”

“It turned out a little different from how I imagined it but it wasn’t a bad idea.”

“How come? I got nothing there, not even a kill. Nothing. Only almost got killed.”

“That’s not true,” Yuel insisted. “You reduced the Dark Knight to critical health. He can’t keep farming like this so he has to return to base. That’s a huge deal. Not only it’ll let the Knight push now, but it also sets the Dark Knight back. Every second of farming the Dark Knight loses will hurt him dearly in the near future.”

“Sounds like shilling,” Nia gave him a look. “There wasn’t anything impressive like that”

“Very well,” Yuel smiled meaningfully. “Perhaps you can’t see the bigger picture at the moment. But, in time, you’ll come to understand the importance of this gank. Even now, look at the Knight pushing the lane hard.”

While Nia was busy ganking the Dark Knight and running away, the Knight recalled to base, healed up and now returned to the lane. There was no lane opponent to contest him, so he pushed full gas. His minions had superior defense thanks to his passive, so most of them survived the clash against the enemy wave, and they all advanced together toward the enemy Turret.

And, this was the only beginning. Perhaps Nia couldn’t see the ripple effect this will cause but taking lane advantage was huge against a lane bully. Dark Knight’s entire purpose in life was to dominate the lane in order to get ahead and now Nia robbed him of that higher ground.

"Meanwhile, the Pyro is doing whatever he wants in Mid," Nia ranted on her way to defend her lane. “Byebye my lane advantage.”

While she was amiss, the Pyromancer returned to lane and pushed hard. Thanks to that, she lost all the lane advantage she built earlier. At least, that's how she saw it.

It was a trade, not a loss. Yuel reasoned. Following his instructions, Nia traded her lane advantage for an opportunity to rotate to Top and slow down the Dark Knight. It was like an exchange of resources: she traded one pile of lane advantage for one free rotation.

In the greater scheme of things, this rotation will reap greater benefits for the team than holding onto a short-lived early-game lane advantage. However, with a newbie's limited ability to see the greater picture, Nia couldn't grasp how this exchange worked.

"I'm not doing that again even if you ask," Nia pouted.

Grumpy much? Yuel smiled wryly. "If you want to win against a team that has a Dark Knight, you will gank him as neccessary. Look how much the Knight managed to push thanks to your gank."

"Hm, I guess he did some work," Nia twisted her lips. The Knight brought the enemy Turret down to 60% before the Dark Knight returned. This progress was only possible because Nia drew away the Dark Knight.

"I could've stayed in Mid and do the same, though," Nia claimed.

"True, a valid observation. You could've used that time to push Mid just as hard. But, the difference is that you have a favorable matchup in lane while the Knight doesn't. Look how quickly you regained lane control as soon as you returned."

"Well, I guess." Nia didn't have anything to say to that. Even though she left the lane undefended and gave the Pyromancer so much time to establish lane control, she easily reclaimed control upon returning. Her Quicksand and Windstorm made quick work of the incoming minion wave and her Fireball smacked the Pyromancer.

It was that easy to reset the situation, almost as if Nia never left the lane. The only penalty her lane suffered for that rotation was that her Turret lost 5% HP. No biggie.

"As you see,” Yuel lectured. “You didn't lose much, but you helped the Knight get a lot of damage on the Top Turret."

"I guess." Nia finally started seeing things Yuel's way. Or, so he thought. "But, I almost died. That would have ruined everything."

So damn stubborn. Yuel grimaced. "Your fight with the Dark Knight came down to the wire only because your reaction was sloppy. You just froze back there."

"Ah, um," Nia curled into a ball on top of the chair and mumbled. "I don't play Wizard much, so I didn't know what to do..."

"Fair enough," Yuel said. "But, now you know how to handle yourself. So, if you have to gank again, you'll be able to defuse him no problem."

"Maybe."

She’d never win the “Ms. Confidence” title, that’s for sure. Yuel crossed his arms and thought back on the fight with the Dark Knight.

Naturally, the fact Nia wasn't entirely used to Wizard played a role in her slow decision-making. However, even aside from that problem, it felt like Nia just short-circuited there for a moment.

A similar thing happened before when she was dueling Lars. When she tried to sneak up to him but he dodged her Izuna Drop, it felt like Nia was lost. She understood she had to retreat but her retreat was incredibly sloppy.

That instance couldn't be blamed on class unfamiliarity. After all, Ninja was one of her main classes. So, that one was all Nia. She failed to properly react to that development, just like what happened against the Dark Knight. It was surprising, considering Nia otherwise displayed a sharp gaming sense.

Is it nerves? Does she buckle under pressure? Yuel wondered. Perhaps, the girl who loved launching surprise attacks on people actually hated being surprised herself.

Thinking of it, Julia had a lot of that too when she was starting out. Yuel smiled softly. It took him a long time to help that girl overcome her stage fright. Instead of confronting it, Julia chose to flood the map with wards so she could reduce the number of unexpected developments. That approach partially got rid of the problem but it was costly and didn't help her overcome the core issue she had.

How should Yuel go about helping Nia overcome this? The one and only surefire method was to put her through many such difficult situations and force her to overcome them until she becomes more comfortable with them. Perhaps, that'd help her build up some confidence as well. At least, that's the kind of experience that helped Yuel level up and be able to reason more calmly under pressure. Though, admittedly, some developments still threw him off at times.

『You have killed an enemy!』

Nia killed the Pyromancer for the third time.

"Good job," Yuel nodded.

"This guy is kinda wack," Nia shrugged.

"So it seems. Let's see," Yuel checked the mini-map. "Take their red buff."

"Can't I just push?"

"It's better to use this opportunity to steal their camp."

"But, I might run into somebody."

"The Vampire just went far toward Top so no need to worry about him. The others are in their lanes. So, the camp is totally free. You can take it without any worries."

"Not sure I can trust you on these things," Nia peeked at him with her black eyes through her long spaghetti bangs.

"Don't worry, this is much safer than the time with the Dark Knight. And, getting the buff is going to make laning a breeze from there onward."

"Hmmmm." Nia twisted her lip. "Ok, I'll try."

She left the lane and traveled to the enemy Orc Camp. As Yuel said, the camp was undefended and free for the taking. At least, until Nia made her move.

There was a good chance the enemy will spot her traveling toward the camp and will try to engage her there. That's what Yuel was aiming for.

As long as Nia doesn't fold under the pressure of the sudden attack, she should be able to get the red huff and get away without any problems. However, if she reacts poorly and fails to disengage correctly, her life might be at stake. It should be a good learning experience.

If Yuel wanted to advise a safe play, he'd simply tell Nia to take the Ogre Camp on her side. However, going after the enemy's red buff was the high-risk high-reward play right now. Nia didn't object so she seemed to understand the appeal of this play.

If all goes well, Nia will experience a little bit of danger and also get to reap great benefits, provided she handles the situation appropriately. On top of that, she’ll get a great confidence boost after she overcomes this challenge.

However, things didn't quite go as he planned...

"That's sure a roundabout path you're taking," Yuel commented.

"Dodging them wards."

"I see," Yuel frowned.

In an ideal world, it was indeed the best to play around enemy wards here. However, in practice, traveling in circles like that wasted a lot of time and there was no way to guarantee she’ll really dodge all enemy wards. So, generally, it was best to take the shortest path at the risk of being revealed by wards.

Nevertheless, if Nia truly dodges all the wards along the way, that'd make this play ten times safer. It'd still waste some precious time but it'll potentially keep the entire play hidden from enemy eyes. It'll be pretty neat, actually.

After traveling through a long and sneaky route, Nia finally reached the Ogre Camp. All the while, there were no signs of movement from the enemy team. Both the enemy Ranger and Lumimancer remained in Bot. Apparently, Nia successfully snuck around the enemy’s wards. She turned this high-risk high-reward play into low-risk high-reward one.

This is both impressive and disappointing. Yuel smiled wryly. On one hand, Nia improved Yuel’s play and transformed it something amazing. On the other hand, she didn’t get to face any danger so there was no opportunity to practice stressful situations.

Drat! And double drat! Yuel shook his head. He felt like a villain whose plans have been foiled. Though, this was an interesting development in its own way. I’m willing to bet real money that Vincent would attribute this achievement to the “Vanishing Phantom”. It sounds like something straight out a fantasy movie, but it seems to have something real to it.

Based on her playstyle so far, Nia didn’t seem to like frontal confrontations. Therefore, she always snuck around like this. And, as a result, she became proficient at playing around enemy wards, and sneaking up to players in general.

That was her way to “deal” with the problem. She wasn’t good with stressful situations, so she found ways to minimize and avoid them. No stressful situations = no stress = easy life.

Teammates like that can be a pain to command but maybe Yuel needed this kind of resistance at times. He had a bad habit of going for risky plays so somebody like Nia, who refused to put herself at risk, might be a good counter force. It might lower the chances of Yuel requesting a risky play from her that’ll lead to disaster. She’ll either object to it or find a way to lower the risk with her high-level sneaking skills.

Though, at the moment, Nia was still too rebellious to Yuel’s taste. She refused to cooperate even with plays that were perfectly reasonable. However, that’s only due to her lack of experience in the MOBA mode. If Yuel properly helps her grow as a player, Nia might become a great asset for the team. In fact, she might even take the Jungler spot from Luke, the walking meme.

It was still too early to tell but the potential was definitely there. It was up to Yuel and the rest of the club to help Nia develop into the fearsome player she could become. To that end, the first step was to make her more cooperative and increase her trust in Yuel’s shot-calling.

That just became harder to achieve after Nia had an unpleasant interaction with the Dark Knight while following Yuel’s instructions. Nevertheless, she listened to his suggestion about stealing the Ogre Camp and this play went by smoothly. Hopefully, that redeemed Yuel a little. Hopefully.