Jaiden continued watching the second game between Taurus and Stratus. He’d give anything to be on that stage right now, but he had no choice but to watch from the audience.

Nevertheless, even from down here, there were many things to study and analyze. Jaiden was going to do everything in his power to help Taurus win, even if he couldn’t set foot on the stage itself.

This is looking bad. Jaiden thought.

The enemy killed Bruce in Bot and chased Bryan away. Next, they went after the Dragon. Nobody dared to stop them. Dylan seemed to entertain the idea of stealing the Dragon, but he ultimately decided against it.

Yeah, Dragon isn't worth the risk. We can’t give them another kill. Jaiden thought. It was usually worthwhile to die in an attempt to steal the Overlord, but not Dragon.

And so, nobody stopped the enemy from taking the Dragon. Next, the enemy trio consisting of Impaler, Druid, and Ninja rotated back to harass Bot.

They were planning to push through with raw strength. Bryan couldn’t fend off all three of them alone. On top of that, Druid's Ents will be able to tank the tower for quite some time. It was a hopeless situation.

"We probably gonna lose Bot tower," Jaiden shared his opinion with his pals.

"What? No way!" Nash objected. "I mean, the game is basically over if they take Bot this early."

"Yeah, but how would you stop them?"

"Well, hrrrrrm..." Nash crossed his arms and fell into deep thought. Or, at least, he wore a difficult expression that made it look like he was thinking real hard about it.

"You'll fry your brain if you try to think," Rio said quietly.

"What was that!?" Nash barked. He didn't quite catch what Rio said, but his instincts were telling him it was some sort of insult toward this genius here. "Just so you know, I actually came up with something!"

"You did?" Jaiden and Rio blinked in unison as if they've just witnessed the paranormal.

"What's with that reaction?" Nash grumped. "Anyway, listen to this! It's the ultimate counter! Basically, they gonna use the Invincible Triangle!"

"You realize that's our move, right?" Jaiden asked.

"Yeah, but no choice! They gotta do it. Here and now!"

"They don't even have the three players in Bot for it," Rio pointed out.

"Oh, now that you mention it..." Nash scratched his head. "Eh, hmm, oh, I know! They should just do the Invincible Square instead!"

"The heck is that even?" Jaiden asked. "Also, a 'square'? Sounds like they’d need four players. There are only three players alive, you know"

"Oh, yeah," Nash shrugged. "Guess they're doomed then."

You don’t say, genius! Jaiden laughed. "Rio, what do you think?"

"I have nothing," Rio admitted. "I'd suggest the Invincible Pentagon, but they don't have enough players." He smiled mischievously.

"I see, so their only option is... the Invincible Hexagon!" Jaiden said. "They only got five players on the team, so to create a hexagon they gonna summon Maker to lend them a hand!"

"Haha, sounds broken," Nash laughed.

"There’s one thing I do know," Rio pointed at one of the screens. "This gank is a bad idea."

"Yeah, it sure is," Jaiden frowned at what he saw. For some ungodly reason, Dylan was on his way to Bot. Even worse, he was apparently planning to appear behind the enemy. It was an incoming gank, no two ways about it.

But, why? It was suicide. At best, Dylan will kill the injured Carry before dying. It might stop the enemy from taking Bot Turret in this push, but the turret will stay on life support after that. It'll easily crumble in the next push anyway.

Dylan was one of the brighter dudes in Bruce's gank, so he should've known all of that. Nevertheless, he was about to commit a terrible misplay that might cost him his life. Why?

Did somebody ask him to gank? I doubt it was Bryan. Jaiden knotted his brows. Bryan was undeniably the "brain" in Bruce's gang, so he wouldn't request a hopeless gank like that. In that case, there was only one logical conclusion: Bruce asked for it.

Is he really going to be Bruce's lapdog here? Jaiden smiled wryly. Most likely, Bruce was throwing a tantrum right now and asking for something stupid like "Kill that chick I fought!". He was a prideful dude like that.

Bryan and Dylan knew that ganking the trio in Bot was hopeless. But, Bruce had control over them. Not because he was good at debating or could bring up reasonable arguments. Nah, he always just yelled real hard until he got his way.

Everybody caved in against Bruce's intimidating aura, even those who always hung out with him. Jaiden was on the receiving end of that treatment a few times as well. He also gave in most of the time. It was that much easier to simply shut up and do whatever nonsense Bruce was asking, instead of getting into a fight with that wild boar.

That oppressing aura Bruce had turned him into the unofficial captain of the seniors. He was brash and strong to boot. Nobody could stand up to him, except for the real captain. But, Raymond was too much of a pacifist for his own good and didn’t intervene much in others’ businesses. He was a good guy and a strong player, but a terrible captain.

On top of that, the club’s size was another reason why Bruce’s gang managed to seize this much control. Players from other teams often envied Taurus on that front. Most schools in the region restricted the sizes of their Classmancers clubs, but Taurus was allowed to have up to 30 members. The club was second only the Leopards’ in size.

However, it wasn't all sunshine and rainbows. In a big club, it was impossible for everybody to be close friends. There were simply too many dudes in there.

As a result, the club always had multiple dominant groups. Like-minded individuals grouped together to form a circle of close friends. Sometimes, it felt like the club was split into multiple ganks contesting for territory.

Forming such groups was only natural. Nobody tried to stop it from happening. However, for a competitive team sport, these groups were an issue.

The "gangs" didn’t exist just to make friends. People in the same circle often played together and improved together. As a result, their affinity developed and they became great teammates.

For example, Jaiden played the most with his best pals: Nash and Rio. Likewise, Bruce played the most with Bryan and Dylan, and recently with Zeph too. Of course, they also played with other clubmates every now and then, but everybody spent the most time playing with their closest friends.

As a result, their game skill developed bias. They believed they couldn’t play their best unless they were alongside their best pals, and it was true to some degree.

For example, Jaiden was definitely at his best when fighting alongside Nash and Rio. They were the Invincible Triangle together! But, without them? Jaiden didn’t consider himself particularly amazing.

Still, that bias wasn’t a problem at first. Anybody was free to team up with anybody during practice. If anything, training alongside friends boosted motivation and made the training more fruitful.

The problems started surfacing once the “gangs” entered their third year. It was time to decide who’ll compose the first-string and represent the club at the regionals.

Logically, one would choose the best senior players for the first-string. However, what did it mean to be the “best”? In this club, where everybody formed circles of trusted comrades with whom they performed better, an objective “best” didn’t exist.

For example, Jaiden believed himself to be the “best” Carry player among the juniors. However, that’s only provided he had Rio as the Support and Nash as the Jungler. As long as the three of them were together, their teamwork was top-notch and they crushed everybody with their Invincible Triangle!

But, what if it was just Jaiden by himself? Paired with a different Support he wasn’t used to, and with a Jungler who didn’t cooperate nearly enough. Suddenly, it became an entirely different story.

Was Jaiden still the “best” Carry among juniors without his pals by his side? He wanted to believe so, but it was impossible to prove. His strength laid in the trust and teamwork he built up with his best friends, so it was pointless to judge his own skill in a vacuum. After all, Classmancers was a team game. It was the strength of the team that counted, not the strength of each individual.

Unfortunately, this problem wasn’t unique to Jaiden. Anybody who spent the majority of their time playing with friends developed a dependency on them. Every player felt that, to “play their best”, they absolutely needed their friends as teammates. And, they weren’t wrong. Jaiden was really at his “best” only together with Nash and Rio.

This was a huge hurdle when deciding on the team’s first-string. Who was the “best” Carry in the club? The “best” Support? The “best” Jungler? Jaiden could confidently claim that, among the juniors, the “best” at these roles were him, Nash, and Rio when they were playing together.

But, individually? Without each other around? Was any of them truly the “best” in any of these roles? Jaiden couldn’t tell. That’s what made the selection process for the first-string so difficult.

For example, if somebody wanted to put Jaiden on the first string, they’d have to consider adding Nash and Rio as well. Their participation was neccessary for unlocking Jaiden’s full potential. Not to mention, it was very likely for people to find Jaiden worthy of the first-string based on how he performed alongside his friends. Without them, he couldn’t even qualify.

Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

So, just by wanting Jaiden as the first-string’s Carry, it meant locking the spots for Jungler and Support as well. After that, only two options would be left: Top and Mid.

But, what if the “best” Mid Laner in the club could only do his best when paired with his best pal Jungler? And, suppose said Jungler wasn’t Nash. Bam! A conflict right there.

Who gonna get the Jungler spot now? Nash, who’d draw out Jaiden’s full potential? Or, that other Jungler who’d help the Mid Laner perform his best? There was no clear-cut answer to these cases. They were a huge headache.

All the first-string candidates wanted to play alongside their friends. They banded together and stood their ground, fighting for the right to join the first-string as a group. Therefore, it was suitable to calls them "gangs". They fought each other for territory, with the first-string being the ultimate prize of this war.

Well, "fought" might be a harsh word. For the most part, the gangs just competed against each other, each trying to prove their members’ worth. However, some gangs took the “fights” literally. Bruce's gang was one such example.

Instead of competing for the first-strong via sheer skill, Bruce was notorious for applying intimidation on the competition. He was like a terrorist. It was unclear whether his pals fully agreed with his actions, but they followed him through, perhaps out of fear of becoming his next targets.

Thanks to that support, Burce’s gang climbed all the way to the top of the club. Anybody who dared to cross them had to prepare themselves. Verbal abuse, and sometimes even physical abuse, soon followed.

Yes, Bruce was no stranger to starting real fights. And, he was strong too, one of the few areas in which he really distinguished himself. There was even a time he took on two guys at once and pummeled them hard. The captain was the only one in the club who could stand up to Bruce.

But, Ray never gets involved. Luke sighed. In such a problematic environment, a passive captain was like a curse. Raymond was a good guy, but way too passive for his own good.

And so, Bruce continued intimidating clubmates without anybody there to punish him. With time, the other seniors understood they had no hope of making it into the first-string as long as Bruce's tyranny continued. On top of that, the environment in the club became far from pleasant for them.

Therefore, many of them started skipping practice. They didn’t want to be in the same space as the almighty tyrant. On top of that, they misused their status as “seniors” to dismiss any criticism toward their attitude.

"I've been attending properly for two years, so I can slack off a little in the end, right?" They used bad excuses like that to justify their actions. Bruce's gang sucked out all motivation from these guys. They barely even cared about Classmancers anymore at that point.

Only two survived through these dark times: Raymond and Zeph. Bruce didn’t dare to do anything funny in front of the giant captain since everybody knew Raymond was the strongest in the club. Meanwhile, Zeph didn’t have any such insurance, so he simply jumped ship and wiggled his way into Bruce’s gang before it came to crush him and his former gang.

And so, that’s how the current first-string came to be. Bruce’s gang was the core of the first-string, while Raymond and Zeph were the two survivors who made it through the harsh times.

As far as skill was concerned, Bruce’s gang was “alright”, nothing more. Not the worst, but not amazing either. Jaiden could name at least two other seniors who deserved to be on the first-string way more than these terrorists. Alas, said seniors have lost their passion for Classmancers by now, so the current clunky first-string was all Taurus had.

Unfortunately, this team didn't quite cut in a competitive environment. Even Stratus, the team considered to be the weakest in the region, was mopping the floor with the current Taurus. It was a sorry sight.

You hate to see it. Jaiden sighed. The first-string, the supposed representatives of the entire club, had their arse handed to them by Stratus. If only Jaiden and his pals were on that stage right now...!

『DEFEAT』

Taurus' fate was all too predictable. After losing the early-game so hard, they had no chance of recovering against Stratus' early game composition. The game was over in a blink of an eye.

As expected, Gunz and Chessmaster performed well. Chessmaster dominated against Zeph and established the team’s early game momentum, while Gunz held his own against a powerhouse like Raymond and later went on a killing spree during team fights. Those two were on a completely different level, even though they were the same age as Jaiden and his friends. It was amazing, but also baffling at the same time.

If they're so good, why leave StormBlitz? Jaiden still couldn't wrap his head around that mystery. Players of their caliber should be playing for one of the strongest teams in the region, not dragging their feet in Stratus. Not to mention, these guys took Jaiden's spot during StormBlitz’s entrance exam. They had the responsibility to see things through.

I can’t leave things hanging in the air like this! Jaiden jumped on his feet. Stratus' members were in the middle of leaving their chairs, so he ran up to them. "Hey! Gunz and Chessmaster!" The yell caught the boys' attention.

"Yo, what's up?" the tall dude, Gunz, flashed a smile.

Okay, they look friendly enough. Jaiden thought. "Can I ask you guys something?

"I believe you just did," Chessmaster retorted.

"Haha, don’t mind him," Gunz laughed. "Sure, ask away."

"You two used to in StormBlitz, right?" Jaiden cut to the chase.

"..........." The two boys exchanged glances.

They’re probably wondering where I got my hands on this confidential information, hehe. Jaiden smirked.

"Yeah, we were on StormBlitz. How do ya know?" Lars asked. "Are we super famous or something?"

"I saw you playing on the second-string last year," Jaiden explained.

"Heh, it feels like everybody and their moms saw that match," Gunz laughed.

"No kidding," Chessmaster nodded. Jaiden had no idea what they were talking about, but it sounded like he wasn't the only one who was mesmerized by that rare second-string scrimmage.

"You guys gave the Leopards a run for their money," Jaiden grinned

"Heck yeah, we kicked their butts! Ez!" Gunz gave a thumbs up.

"I wouldn't say it was that easy," Chessmaster argued. "But yes, overall we had the upper hand in that scrimmage."

Good, looks like I buttered them up without even planning. Jaiden smiled mischievously. With these preparations in place, there was a good chance their lips will become loose. "So, how did you two end up in Stratus?"

"........." Heavy silence again. The two boys looked at each other with difficult expressions. It felt like Jaiden stepped on a landmine. Nevertheless, he had to know the truth.

"Reasons and stuff, ya know," Gunz finally gave an answer, or at least something that pretended to be one.

"Reasons...?" Jaiden raised an eyebrow. That was as good as giving him nothing.

"You're from Taurus, aren't you?" Chessmaster asked.

"Yep, I'm a junior in the club."

"In that case, I don't see why we should share any information with the enemy."

"Whoa," Gunz exclaimed. "Aren't ya a little harsh on the dude? He just came here to talk."

"Or,” Chessmaster narrowed his eyes. “Maybe he came to extract information about us."

"Fair enough," Jaiden nodded with an understanding smile. Chessmaster's words were a little cold, but it seemed like he was a harsh guy in general. True to his nickname, he was a strategist. He must've suspected the possibility of an enemy ploy at every turn.

"Then, how about this?" Jaiden suggested. "If Taurus wins today, would you mind telling me the reason you’re in Stratus? At least some of it?"

"Why do you care so much?" Chessmaster asked.

"I'm... something of a fan, I guess," Jaiden scratched the back of his head with an embarrassed smile. "It was cool how you gave the Leopards such a hard fight even though you were just freshmen. As a freshman myself at the time, it was very inspiring."

"Okay, gotcha!" Gunz gave a thumbs up. "If ya dudes can beat us today, we'll tell ya the whole story."

"Seriously!?" Jaiden jumped. "It's a deal then. My IGN is Renegade. You better remember it!"

"You betcha!"

"We should be going," Chessmaster cut the conversation short. It was only fair since Jaiden’s banter was wasting away their precious break time.

"It was fun talking to you," Jaiden waved at them with a smile. "Catch you later. Hopefully, it gonna on this stage." On that note, Jaiden left.

"An interesting dude," Lars said.

"I can't quite figure what's his deal," Yuel frowned. "Have we met him somewhere before?"

"Hmm," Lars titled his head. "Don't think so."

"I don’t remember him either," Yuel crossed his arms. "But, I have this weird feeling like I’ve seen him before."

"Maybe you saw him in the audience last year?"

"No, I think it was somewhere else. Hmm," Yuel was drawing a blank no matter how hard he thought about it. "Anyway, he's definitely suspicious."

"Hm? What gives?” Lars tilted his head. “He seems like a nice dude."

"He slipped at one point," Yuel explained. "He said we were 'freshmen' last year."

"Yeah, we totally were."

"Yes, but how did he know that?"

"He just saw us play and... oh," Lars realized what was so peculiar about it. Most people wouldn't just assume he was a freshman. Lars was pretty tall, so everybody always thought he was a few years older than his actual age. It was impossible to guess he was a freshman without being told.

"Maybe he asked somebody?" Lars wondered.

“Who, exactly?” Yuel threw the question back at Lars. “And, if he did ask somebody, it means he investigated us. I don’t like that.”

“Dang, he sure sounds suspicious all of a sudden.”

"Well, let's ignore that," Yuel said. "He's a junior, so he won't be playing today. I doubt we're going to see him again."

"Are you sure about that?" Lars smiled meaningfully. "Dunno why, but I got this gut feeling. I think we gonna be fighting that dude today. He didn't come here to declare war for no reason. At least, that's how it felt to me."

“We’ll see," Yuel didn't believe that’ll happen, but that boy was clearly suspicious. It was possible he knew something about Taurus's inner workings that’d let him sub in.

Taurus had a big club, so they should have had plenty of seniors ready to sub in. Logically, they shouldn’t have any reason to sub in a junior. However, if they do sub Renegade in, it’ll imply he out-skilled most of the seniors.

"C'mon, let's go," Yuel said.

"Wait, where's July?" Lars scouted the audience. He was searching for a girl with a long ponytail. It took him a while to realize he was searching for the wrong target. "Oh, right. She cut her hair. Then... Oh, there she is!" He waved in her direction with a broad smile.

D-Don't wave at me like that... Julia shrunk in her chair. She felt curious gazes checking her out. Oh god, she so wished for the chair to suck her in and make her disappear.

Well, at least he’s not talking to me directly-

"Hey, July!" Lars called out and waved.

"Wha-!?" Julia jumped in her chair. Oh no. Oh no! OH NO! Now, even those who weren't paying attention started looking at her. What's worse, they even heard her name! Nuuuuuu!

"How was this game?!" Lars asked with a booming tone, disregarding Julia's distress. "We totally beat these dudes, right? Did it look convincing enough?"

"Um, hmm," Julia chewed her lips. It seemed like Lars was actually expecting an answer, but Julia wasn’t going to shout back toward him. Frankly, all she wanted was to get this awkward situation over with. So, she raised a thumbs up while averting her eyes. It was so embarrassing!

"Heck yeah!" Lars triumphantly waved his fist at Julia's response.

Maybe I shouldn’t have done it... Julia regretted her hasty action. She only gave a thumbs up because she wanted to end this embarrassing situation as quickly as possible. In truth, she wasn't content with the way that game turned out. That wasn’t the kind of Classmancers he was meant to play.

As a whole, Stratus dominated the game. There were a few dangerous situations, but that's how Yuel's strategizing usually looked like. It was always hard to tell whenever a dangerous play was a reckless misplay or just some calculated risk by Yuel.

What really left Julia unsatisfied was the skill level of the entire thing. Namely, the skill level of Taurus. That team was trash. They didn't pose a real challenge. It was difficult to estimate Stratus' current strength like that.

If only somebody strong subbed in and pulled that crappy team together. Julia sighed. She knew it was not going to happen, but she prayed for it regardless.

As if responding to said prayer, turmoil broke out in Taurus' waiting room. The outcome of that in-fight will shake the foundation of the team to the core...