"You have to warm up," Yuel explained while directing Nia to Practice mode. "The equipment here is different from what we have in the club, so you have to get used to it."

"Can't I just use my controller?" Nia pouted.

"No, everyday play with mouse and keyboard."

"What a pain," Nia twisted her lips in protest, but obediently leaned forward to reach the mouse and keyboard with her short arms.

For some ungodly reason, this girl preferred to play Classmancers with a controller. After she joined the club, she played exclusively with a controller for a while. It took Yuel some time to notice that and call her out on it.

Good thing I forced her to use a mouse and a keyboard. Yuel sighed in relief as he watched Nia move naturally in Practice mode and properly land hits on the dummies. Despite how much she protested at first, Nia now seemed comfortable with using mouse and keyboard.

"Oh, this feels nice," Nia ran her fingers across the keyboard and moved the mouse in circles.

"Yeah, they got decent equipment here," Yuel agreed. "For high-level games, the quality of the equipment makes a huge difference."

It probably feels good to type on it. Nia brought up the chat window and placed both hands on the keyboard.

『test test test』

『this is nice』

『everybody is a bully today as always』

Well, as long as she's getting used to the equipment... Yuel smiled wryly and returned to his own warm-up.

A few minutes later, the referee announced the beginning of the drafting phase. Taurus won the virtual coin toss and chose to pick first. Each team banned some popular high tier classes, then they proceeded to pick classes.

"Hey, Zephy," Bruce smacked his pal on the shoulder. "I got a brilliant idea for ya. We gonna steamroll these scrubs real hard, khaha!"

"Haha, I'm on board!" Zeph grinned. "Whatcha got?"

"What if we go DK on their asses?"

"You want me to DK?"

"Yeah, do it, bro. It gonna be the joke of the year! We gonna finish them in like five minutes, khaha!"

"Heh, that'd be a riot!" Zeph nodded.

"Dark Knight is a risky pick," Raymond, the captain, acted like the party pooper he always was. "I think we better play it safe in the first round, to get a better feel for their skill level."

"C'mon, what skill?" Bruce sneered. "These guys are clearly a joke. They even got two chicks on their team."

"Female players can be as good as any other player," Raymond argued.

"Bruh, are ya a feminist or some shit? Girls can't video games for shit. Am I right, guys?"

"Totally," Zeph nodded. "Never met a girl who actually knows how to play."

"Right? Right?" Bruce nodded repeatedly. "They always say they're gamers, but then ya let them play and they get the whole team killed. ‘Skill’, khaha! Yeah, right."

"But, female pros exist..." Raymond leveled a counter-argument, but gave up midway, It was pointless to say anything more. Everybody was already on board with Bruce's nonsensical opinion. This situation was nothing new, so Raymond just let it go. "Do as you wish."

"Alright, Zephy, jam in that DK!" Bruce ordered.

"Ya got it, fam!" Zeph picked Dark Knight and locked it in.

Now, the turn passed to StormBlitz.

"These bastards are making fun of us," Kai shot a murderous glare at the screen. Dark Knight as the first pick? Who’d do such a thing except for low ranks? These fuckers were asking for a beating.

"Calm down, they're doing it on purpose," Vincent said. "They're trying to rile us up. I analyzed that guy using my Arbiter of Talents and concluded he got the Fury Inducer skill. It allows him to inject his opponents with anger and frustration, making their performance suffer."

"In short, he's one heck of a scumbag," Kai clicked her tongue. "His BS doesn't work on me, though."

Actually, to me, you look both angry and frustrated. Vincent commented silently. "Well, just try to keep calm, that’s all I'm saying."

"Are you sure you don't need to worry about yourself first?" Kai threw a glance at Vincent's rapid foot tapping. It's like his leg was having a seizure.

"No, no, no, I'm tranquility incarnate."

"Huh, if you say so,” Kai rolled her eyes. “Anyway, Yuel, how we gonna respond to that DK pick?"

"Hmm," Yuel threw a glance at Nia. "Seems like you’ll be helping me out a lot today."

"Ok," Nia nodded. "If I can get Ninja that'd be dope."

"Yes, Ninja is a good counter-pick."

"Ok, then that guy is ded."

"Good, exactly what I wanted to hear," Yuel nodded in approval. Even though Nia's face was still a little pale, it seemed she was alright. She was ready to tackle this Dark Knight head-on.

Over the past couple of months, the girl has gained more than enough experience against Dark Knights in Ranked. She was no longer scared of defusing them. In fact, she no longer saw the Dark Knight as a threat at all.

As long as she plays like her usual self, it’ll be easy to win the lane. Yuel picked Knight, the safe and solid bruiser. Viking would’ve been a great option as well but the enemy banned it, possibly to prevent it from being picked against the Dark Knight.

Next, Nia grabbed Ninja. It was usually better to wait a little longer before picking the team’s Jungler. However, Nia's viable classes boiled down to stealth classes, so grabbing it early was the safest.

The drafting phase went on, with both teams trying to outdo each other. Taurus picked Lumimancer as a soft counter to Nia's stealth, whereas Stratus struck back by countering Aeromancer with Electromancer. The final lineup turned into:

Stratus

Chessmaster (Top): Knight

VanishingFlower (Jungler): Ninja

Gunz (Mid): Electromancer

Beat (Carry): Impaler

InformationBlackhole (Support): Cryomancer

Taurus

DragonMaster (Top): Dark Knight

Messi (Jungler): Lionfolk

Nirvana (Mid): Aeromancer

TheLegend (Carry): Pirate

TheMyth (Support): Lumimancer

"Yo, look!" Lars pointed at the screen. "Looks like we're playing against Messi, haha."

"And against ‘TheLegend’," Kai felt like throwing up. That was the enemy’s Carry, so it’s gotta be that bastard who looked down on Kai, right? Yeah, no question about it. Can totally see a bastard with low self-esteem naming himself something like TheLegend. After I'm done with him, he’s really gonna become a legend. The title will be like “The Greatest Scrub That Ever Lived”.

And so, the first game of the scrimmage kicked off!

Overall, our picks are better. Yuel compared the lineups. As long as we shut down the Dark Knight early on, we got this one in the bag.

Yuel entered the lane with his Knight. His opponent, the Dark Knight, was already there. Well, of course he’d be. After all, Dark Knight's clearing speed was that much faster than the Knight's. Back when Yuel and Nia were still halfway through clearing the jungle camps for the game-opening, the Dark Knight and his partner were probably already done.

"How soon will you start ganking?" Yuel asked.

"As soon as they forget I'm here," Nia answered.

And when that is, exactly? Yuel sighed. Well, this was par for the course. Nia always lays low during the first portion of the match. According to her, this was an important ritual that lowered the enemy's awareness of her.

It'll be great if it works today, but I have my doubts. Yuel knotted his brows. "Anyway, try to be ready to gank as soon as you have your ult."

"Ok."

If she holds her end of the bargain, I’ll only have to deal with the Dark Knight alone until Nia gets to Lv.5. Yuel nodded to himself. With a Knight, that was doable enough.

The Dark Knight unleashed his Dark Blast. Normally, it’d be enough to wipe out Yuel’s entire minion wave. However, it didn’t. Yuel’s minions just barely hung onto life, one hit away from death.

It was all thanks to Knight’s Chivalry, his passive. The flat defense boost it granted to nearby allies was enough to stop the Dark Knight from one-shotting the entire minion wave with a single Dark Blast. This huge benefit won't last for long, but it'll be around for the first couple of levels. Having some minions survive, even with mortal wounds, was a huge deal breaker.

The swordsmen survived as expected, but Yuel’s bowmen were alive as well for some reason. They were supposed to be squishy enough to succumb to Dark Blast’s damage even with Chivalry in effect, but they remained unharmed.

Did he miss the bowmen? Yuel wondered. The Dark Blast went through the entire frontline, but it didn’t reach Yuel's rear. As a result, the bowmen remained at perfect health. Is he dealing with tournament nerves, too? Or, maybe he’s not that good with Dark Knight? Either way, this might be easier than I thought.

As the enemy swordsmen approached to strike the bowmen, Yuel activated Honorable Duel to aggro the minions toward himself. The taunt made them waste extra time on moving toward Yuel, giving his bowmen more time barrage the distracted swordsmen.

Thanks to this maneuver, Yuel got rid of all the swordsmen before they even reached him. All that’s left, was for the bowmen of both sides to duke it out with each other. The enemy bowmen got the first hit advantage, but otherwise, it was a close fight.

To make sure the Dark Knight won't invade any further alongside his remaining troops, Yuel advanced to the frontline to strike the bowmen down.

"Heh, you dare getting close?" Zeph grinned. "I'mma show ya what happens when you get this close to DK!"

I see. He won't let me do this for free. Yuel nodded to himself. In that case, let's do it the quick and dirty way.

Yuel activated Shield Bash. He charged forth and slammed his shield into the three injured bowmen. The slam knocked them out in one hit. Triple kill!

However, this brought Yuel dangerously close to the Dark Knight. Even though both classes had 'Knight' in their names, one of them was much stronger than the other during the early-game. Therefore, Yuel had to run for his life!

Crap, he got away! Zeph cursed as his prey rolled away, slipping right through his fingers. That damn guy invaded for but a moment, then instantly rolled the heck outta here. What a guy. Okay, next wave it is. Next wave, I'mma push so hard ya gonna run all the way to your Turret, scrub.

Okay, safe. Yuel recovered from the roll and retreated further into allied territory, to maintain as much distance as possible between himself and the Dark Knight. Fortunately, the Dark Knight didn't even consider chasing.

He's pretty tame for somebody who picked Dark Knight in a competitive match. Yuel thought.

Dark Knight was a cocky, but viable, option in high-level play. However, to efficient, it had to be played correctly, only then the pick will be justified. The Dark Knight player had to be aggressive and push for as much early-game advantage as possible.

So far, this DragonMaster player has been failing on that front. Was the guy waiting for something and merely observing Yuel's skill until then? Or, maybe he was still warming-up? It could be nerves, too. After all, being nervous about an official match wasn't a problem exclusive to Stratus. This was the first scrimmage of the year for Taurus as well, so they could be equally nervous.

I’ll get to the bottom of this in the upcoming waves. Yuel concluded. If this Dark Knight truly happened to be a low-skill player, Yuel could start something on his own here, even without Nia’s help. That would be the best-case scenario, because it’d give Nia the freedom to focus on other lanes.

Alas, things were never that easy on the competitive stage...