After instantaneously banning Trickshooter and Gunslinger, Cato slowed down for the third ban.

"So," Cato started. "Are you absolutely sure you want to go through with this pick?"

"Yes," Jin affirmed. "Do I need repeat it again? Yes, yes, and yes. You asked me ten times already."

"Can you blame me? What you're suggesting is borderline insanity."

"No. It’s off-meta but viable."

"Yes, it's technically 'viable' but..." Cato didn't like it, not even one bit. The idea Jin suggested stood against everything Cato believed in.

And, Cato wasn't alone here. Jin's loud announcement shocked everybody.

"Is it really necessary to cause this much trouble for us?" Sonya asked. "Frankly, your suggestion doesn't mesh at all with our team’s usual game plan."

"No problem," Jin assured. "You do your thing, I do mine. Simple."

"My, I guess I missed when they announced that Mancers has become a single-player game," Cato retorted.

"There is no conflict between plans. You can handle defense while I handle offense. It works."

"Except, this ‘offense’ you're suggesting is beyond extreme."

"It works fine,” Jin insisted. “Only danger is if I not do well during early-game, but that won't happen."

"My, such confidence. Or, is it arrogance?"

"Opponents of this level are nothing. They shouldn’t have given you trouble."

"How nice of you to say that to your teammates..." Cato frowned, and so did Sonya and William. The worst part was that they didn't have a good retort to this accusation. Their performance today was indeed far from satisfactory.

The only one who didn't particularly care about any of this was Matthew, who was silently watching the entire exchange from the side. But, after seeing everybody slump like this, even he had to say something.

"Stratus is a pain to deal with this year, they're a lot better than expected. Honestly, they're pretty good."

"Perhaps,” Jin said. “But, not good enough to give trouble to regional champions."

"I dunno to what high standard you're holding us, but we're all just middle schoolers, you know?” Matthew said. “The only difference between us and them is that we receive professional coaching and have a better environment to practice in. We're not that different, really."

"That's not how a champion team should be thinking."

"I’ll be real, I don't care what a 'champion' should be like,” Matthew retorted. “Besides, we're not even 'champions' at anything yet."

"This attitude is no good."

"Sorry, but neither is yours."

They stared each other down for a few good seconds. This was a rare example of Matthew actually taking on the fight and speaking his mind. Alas, his motivation for these things never lasted long...

"Whatever." Matthew shrugged. "As far as I’m concerned, do whatever makes you happy. Just please don't come crying to us later if it turns out the enemy was better than you expected."

"I won't,” Jin asserted. “I have good assessment of the Stratus' skill by now, that's why I know Orc will work."

Yes, Orc, that's the pick Jin wanted to go through. It was the long-lost sibling of Dark Knight, another hyper-aggressive class that was only relevant during the early-game.

With that said, unlike the meme that was Dark Knight, Orc was at least considered “viable” meta-wise. But, it was incredibly niche, and for a good reason.

Basically, only cocky Top Laners picked Orc. When there was a good reason to believe that the Orc player would be able to steamroll their lane opponent, then Orc suddenly became a passable pick.

Jin definitely satisfied that condition to a T, but in the end, he was just one player out of five. The rest of the team also had to pick classes, and theirs won’t mesh with Orc’s aggressiveness at all.

Therefore, logically, it was absurd to even suggest something like this, especially for such a critical game. And yet, Jin was doing exactly that.

"Why can't you pick something more reasonable?" Cato asked. "If you just want an aggressive class so you can dominate, there are plenty of meta options, like Viking."

"Not good enough,” Jin said. “The game needs 'impact'. The audience thinks Leopards are weak right now. That has to change."

"My, how nice of you to think of the Leopards’ reputation,” Cato said. “But, there’s no need for anything grandiose. We just need to win, that’s all.”

"A champion team needs to do more than that" Jin asserted. "It has to be a goal other teams strive toward."

"Oh my, are you quoting the coach there?"

"I like this idea," Jin admitted. "Coach is correct. For a weak region like this, it very good to have strong team that gives others a goal to work for. Goals are important for progress."

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"True, I won't argue with that,” Cato said. “But, do you really care about any of this? Or, is this just something you're using as an excuse?"

"Hmph..." Jin glanced aside. He can be sharp sometimes. Annoying.

Indeed, Jin's real motivations lay elsewhere. He did genuinely agree with the coach's views on the matter, but neither this region nor this team was his concern.

This region is unsalvageable. Jin thought. In Korea, elementary students play at a higher level than this.

Seriously, all of this was like a sad joke. Even the so-called "champions" of the region weren't anything to write home about. The only member of the Leopards who stood out from the bunch based on older footage was Fenrir, the captain of the previous year.

That was a real player, with genuine skill and experience. He was somebody who dedicated much of his life to the game, and it showed. That guy was on a whole different level than these amateurs.

Alas, it turned out that players like him were few and far between in this region. This year, the Leopards didn't have anybody of that caliber, and neither did StormBlitz. And, naturally, Stratus didn't have anybody like that, either.

If I had to say, Aegis, Chessmaster, and Gunz stand out from the rest a little. Jin admitted. But, each of them is flawed in different aspects. So, right now, they're no good.

Aegis paid a lot of attention to his teammates and helped them cover nearly all their weak spots, which was impressive. However, his overall approach to shot-calling was too passive, the same issue Cato suffered from.

Unlike those two, Chessmaster was a creative shot-caller who delivered unexpected attacks from unusual angles. However, many of his tactics were borderline gambling with a high chance of failure. It’s just that the players in this region weren’t good enough to expose that con artist, that’s all.

And finally, there was Gunz. This guy undoubtedly had the best mechanical skill in the region, possibly rivaling even Jin’s. However, that godlike mechanical skill seemed to be limited to a handful of classes. In short, the guy lacked the necessary experience and finesse to consistently dominate games.

He has a lot of talent, but he hasn’t been through the hell I was. Jin thought. That’s why I’m sure I can go toe to toe with him in battle, despite how impressive his coordination and reflexes are.

If it were possible to fuse Aegis, Chessmaster, and Gunz into one person, then that player would undoubtedly be very strong, most likely even stronger than Jin.

But, as it stood, the trio’s impressive talents were scattered around, buried under piles of flaws. Therefore, none of them was a player Jin saw as a threat. Subsequently, his overall interest in the region was nonexistent.

So, Cato was spot on. It’s not the team’s image or the region that Jin really cared about.

I’m more concerned with my own reputation here. Jin thought. There are probably people who are going to monitor my performance in this joke of a competitive scene. If I don’t deliver impressive results, I won’t be able to score any points.

The Leopards had already lost two games against Stratus, the former "weakest team in the region". To make things worse, one of the defeats was at the hand of a Dark Knight Jungler meme, which was inexcusable no matter how Jin twisted it.

I wasn't present in either game, but for some people that’ll be just details, Jin sighed. I can already imagine that ignorant old man saying nonsense like "How could you allow this to happen!? I thought you were a Chinese wonderboy!"

Ronshfelt wasn't the kind of man who bothered to understand the entire picture. He only picked out the few things that stood out to him and either hyped them up to death or nitpicked them with a passive-aggressive approach.

I have to make sure he can’t do anything like that with this game. Jin thought. I’ll run Stratus into the ground so that Ronshfelt’s reaction will be “Wow! The Chinese wonderboy destroyed the competition!” … I’m Korean, though.

Unfortunately, it was probably a bad idea to share this reasoning with the rest of the team. As such, Jin had to handle this topic carefully and feed them some politically correct answers.

"I just want to leave a good impression this scrim," Jin finally responded Cato's inquiries.

"Good impression for whom, I wonder~?" Cato smiled meaningfully. "Surely, not just for the audience over there, right? You have very little reason to care about them, I wager."

"Good impression for everybody."

"Heh, let's leave it at that." Cato decided to not pursue the topic any further, mainly because they were running out of time for the last ban. I'm sure he's just trying to score some points with the Sweepers' higher-ups. I’m definitely not a fan of his idea, but I'm sure the Emperor knows what he's doing. He's not Ronald, after all.

In reality, most of Cato’s concerns regarding the Orc pick were probably irrelevant. After all, the Emperor played on a whole different level. No matter how good Stratus was, Jin was certainly going to crush them.

I'd say the only real danger is if Yuel can come up with some nasty strategy against Jin, but I doubt that can happen in one game. Cato thought. I mean, Yuel doesn't have the faintest idea of just how strong Jin actually is. By the time he realizes it - the game will already be over. My, how dreadful~

"Alright, fine,” Cato conceded. “You can have your Orc."

"Good." Jin nodded in satisfaction.

"Are there any particular Top classes you want me to ban?"

"Unnecessary. Let them pick whatever. I'll win regardless."

"Such boundless confidence…" Cato smiled wryly. He wanted to argue back, but the timer was ticking. There wasn’t much more time for picking the final ban, so he had to settle on something ASAP.

"In that case, I was thinking of banning Ninja." Cato turned to Sonya. "What does my secretary say about that?"

"How would I know? Ask ‘your secretary’ yourself once you hire one."

"My, the denial is strong with this one~"

"Yeah, sure." Sonya made a face and pushed up her glasses. "I like the Ninja ban. It'll be informative to know what's the next class on her list, and whether she can play it as well."

"It's probably Drow, right?"

"Yes, most likely.” Sonya nodded. “She played it once against Taurus, but she didn't leave much of an impression that game."

"Hard to say if that was her fault, though. That game was hard for Stratus in general."

"True. That's why seeing it in action again can be informative."

"So, we're of the same mind here." Cato nodded. "Glad to know that my secretary always has my back~"

"Yes, I'm sure your imaginary secretary is all over you.”

"Oh, she's quite real, I assure you."

"Yes, she's real alright. In your dreams."

"Heh, cheeky."

And so, Cato finalized the last ban. He sealed Ninja, Vanishing's primary class.

Will the sneaky girl pick Drow next? Will she perform well with it? Only time will tell...