“Sorry for taking your time, kids,” Nicole said. “Good luck with your project. I’ll help with whatever you need. Also, Vinnie, you can borrow my PC for this. I don’t have any urgent work, so I feel like taking a break today”

“Oh, so we’ll have two powerful machines at disposal!?” Vincent smiled meaningfully. “With two PCs, we’ll have double the power!”

“Is there a good way to split this task between two PCs?” Yuel asked.

“Why yes, there is,” Nicole said. “You have two separate tasks, right? You need to record raw footage from the game itself, and you gotta combine these recordings in a video editor.”

“Yes, that sounds about right.”

“So, that’s the two tasks for you. One will go over the replays and generate the raw footage, while the other will handle the video editing. It’ll save you a lot of time.”

“Indeed it will,” Vincent agreed. “Naturally, I shall be in charge of video editing. Therefore, Chessmaster, I’m leaving the recording in your care.”

And so, everybody’s roles were decided.

Vincent and Nicole instructed Yuel on how to use their video recording software. Capturing footage from the replays was the easier part of this entire task, so it made sense they assigned it to him.

If I knew it’d be this easy, I would’ve prepared all the footage myself yesterday. Yuel already went over the entire scrimmage yesterday, so he could’ve recorded everything along the way.

Unfortunately, now he’ll have to go over everything again. Oh well. I already have all the timestamps and their descriptions, so I’ll just have to jump to these scenes one by one.

And so, Yuel went over every timestamp and made the software record the game footage from the relevant camera angle. The hardest part was to position the camera efficiently for every play, which sometimes required him to record the same scene multiple times until he nailed it.

Vincent was helping him at first, but a lot of footage accumulated over time, so Vincent had to start stitching it all together.

The two of them worked tirelessly through the morning, then took a break around lunch.

Yuel joined the family at the table and had spaghetti with meat. It was good. Contrary to Nicole’s messy appearance, it seemed she had her cooking down.

“Actually, my dear father is the one who handles the toll of cooking,” Vincent whispered. “My mother is a mutant who can live off instant noodles.”

“Oh, I see,” Yuel said. “Instant noodles are great.” He felt a sense of comradery with Nicole.

No matter how much the rest of the world ridiculed instant noodles, Yuel had allies out there who supported instant noodles from the shadows! Viva la instant noodles!

After lunch, Vincent came up with a suggestion. “Let us take a little break after eating.”

“I’m fine with a little more rest, but do you have something in mind?”

“Allow me to show you some of my glorious videocrafting!”

“As long as it doesn’t take too long,” Yuel said. “We have a lot of work ahead of us.”

“Worry not, for it’ll take but a fleeting moment. I’m sure you will find the contents of these videos most interesting.”

“Is that so.” Yuel had his doubts, but he played along for now. Tiredness assaulted him after eating lunch, so he needed some rest either way.

“Alright, let’s see.” Vincent navigated through the many folders inside the general “Videocraft” folder. It seemed he was saving all his video editing projects there.

There were folders inside folders inside folders. Some of the folders had nothing but a single folder inside it. Vincent probably prepared the ground for producing multiple videos for that particular topic, but then stopped after a single one.

Such meticulous organizing. I approve. Yuel nodded.

“Here it is! I’ve found the Holy Grail!” Vincent exclaimed. “Lo and behold, the glory of your past!”

“Ah, it’s that match.” Yuel recognized it immediately, for it featured unforgettable names such as ComboBreaker and Freezer. It was StromBlitz’s second-string scrimmage from last year, the one in which Yuel and Lars debuted on the competitive stage.

Like Vincent’s previous showcase, this video was also accompanied by loud commentary. “And, another one bites the dust! ComboBreaker exhibits her lightning-speed killing technique once more!” Vincent’s voice boomed from the speakers.

For once, Vincent was on point. This was indeed an interesting video to watch. It went over the key plays of the scrimmage and even provided semi-informative commentary about the unfolding events, albeit with a little too much hype.

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“It appears WildDragon subbed out,” the commentator informed. “Instead comes in... Gunz! Who is this young man? The team must have strong faith in his skill to drop him into the game at such a critical moment. Will he live up to the expectations!?”

Not too long after that, Lars already established himself as a threat.

“AND IT’S A KIIIIIIILL!!!!” the commentator hyperventilated. “Gunz just subbed in moments ago, but he’s already delivering results! Such overwhelming strength! Is he really just a second-string player!? Just how powerful is the main roster of StormBlitz!?”

The video covered the scrimmage from start to end by jumping through the most important moments. The commentary was both hype and informative, giving the match a narrative that was mostly on point.

“It’s well-made,” Yuel admitted. “Surprisingly so.”

“C-Could it be!? Is that a compliment from the ever-critical Chessmater!? The man with the Mystic Eyes of Nitpick Perception!?”

“I can nitpick it if you want,” Yuel said. “Some of the cuts were a little abrupt. Also, your commentary got way too loud a few times.”

“Indeed, it’s as you say.” Vincent slumped on his chair and created a new text file called “Chessmaster’s Criticism”. Inside, he wrote down the points Yuel brought up. “Yes, what else? Hit me with your worst shot! I fear nothing!”

That’s quite the attitude. Yuel blinked in surprise. Few people could accept criticism so willingly. Most people, especially kids their age, were immediately repulsed by any hint of criticism.

But, not Vincent. He took the matter seriously. There was a genuine desire to learn from his mistakes and improve.

Therefore, Yuel couldn’t hold back. It’d be disrespectful for the person who wanted to improve their craft.

“This rotation to Top was pointless in the grand scheme of things, so you might want to cut it out. The video is already long as it is.

Also, about this fight between Average and ComboBreaker, you almost had it right. It was bait but it wasn’t a spontaneous one. I arranged it ahead of time.

Also, the reason we went for this play here was because...”

On and on, Yuel pointed out small mistakes in Vincent’s delivery and Vincent accepted it all with open arms. In turn, that gave Yuel more motivation to continue. Diligent students like that were the best. Yuel could lecture them for days.

“That’s about all I have,” Yuel concluded.

“Phew, that was a torrent.” Vincent sighed in relief and slumped on his chair. After a whole hour of reviewing, he ended up with a huge text wall of notes. “You tore my beautiful video to shreds. I feel like a part of me just died.”

“It looked like you wanted honest criticism, so I didn’t want to hold anything back. When somebody is genuinely trying to improve, I have to hit them with everything I got.”

“I see. I shall be more careful in the future.”

“Yes, you really should be.” Yuel smiled wryly. “But, all these problems aside, your video is really well-made. Do you have any other videos of the same quality?”

“I have a few others I worked hard on,” Vincent said. “Alas, none of them lives up to this quality. This one video is my personal masterpiece! The ultimate S tier videocrafting sorcery!”

“I see. Honestly, I think you have a knack for it.”

“Really!?” Vincent jumped. “W-Well, of course I do! After all, I hail from a lineage of great journalists and editors. I’ll disgrace my family if I don’t prove myself worthy in the same fields!”

“Did you upload these videos anywhere?”

“About that...” Vincent fell silent for a moment. “I did not. They’re for personal use only.”

“I see,” Yuel said. “That’s a shame. You could start a ClassTube channel with this content. It’s already a hundred times better than the average clickbait content that gets thousands of views it doesn’t deserve.”

“You really mean it!?” Vincent teared up.

“Yeah, I meant it. It’s that good.”

”This must be a cold day in hell. To think that Chessmaster, the arch-demon of criticism, is approving of my hard work!”

“Hey now.” Yuel made a face. “But really, it’s a shame. You should consider sharing these videos online. It’ll definitely bring more interest to the middle school competitive scene.”

“Indeed, that might happen.” Vincent wore a difficult expression. “I might start uploading the videos one day. But, I’m not ready yet.”

“I’m sure your parents can advise you on the topic.”

“They’ve advised me plenty,” Vincent admitted. “But, it’s just... I don’t feel like I’m ready to face the world yet.”

“I see.” Yuel had nothing else to add. If Vincent himself was so opposed to the idea, then there was nothing that could be done.

“Somebody like me doesn’t deserve to...” Vincent mumbled these last words but Yuel didn’t catch them.

After a moment of awkward silence, Vincent was back on his feet. “Very well! Let us continue our videocrafting! With our combined strength, we shall conquer this difficult task!”

“Right. Let’s get back to work.”

The two of them parted ways, each returned to their respective working station. Yuel continued recording raw game footage, whereas Vincent cut and stitched the content together.

Nicole gave them a few tips along the way, mainly to make sure her son wasn’t going overboard with adding effects. The moment everybody took their eyes off him, he slapped a special effect or twenty on the video, just because.

By the end of the day, Yuel finished recording all the relevant parts and Vincent was nearly done with the editing.

“I shall finish the remaining work by tomorrow,” Vincent promised.

“Okay, I’ll hold you to that,” Yuel said.

Vincent had already proven how serious he was about the entire thing, so it was alright to give him the benefit of the doubt for once. Probably.

Vincent carried himself like an incomprehensible clown, but deep down he was a dedicated kid who genuinely wanted to see his teammates do well. There was no greater fun for him but to capture others’ moments of glory. He wanted Stratus to improve and perform even better in the next game, for it’ll make for a glorious story.

I almost feel bad for doubting him before. Yuel smiled wryly.

For example, there was that silly incident with the flyers the club used for advertising itself. Everybody agreed that Vincent will handle that task, but Yuel came that day with a few printed flyers of his own, just in case.

Fortunately, it proved to be unnecessary. Vincent brought a stack of flyers and they were even well-designed, courtesy of his mom. That was the first time Vincent proved himself as a dependable teammate despite his eccentric personality.

I really don’t get this guy sometimes. Yuel smiled to himself on the way back. But, I don’t dislike him. He might be a goof, but a dependable one.

And so, Yuel was convinced that Vincent will live up to the promise and will deliver the finished video to school tomorrow. Or, will he…?