The night marched on, cold but comforting, the heat radiating from below her desk warmed Enna’s legs and provided protection the freezer that her room had become, she forgot to close her window and the dark winter outside had crept in and made home in her bedroom.

It’s too late to close it now, I might freeze to death if I leave my desk… anyway it’s finally time to play against people! bots are way too easy.

After playing against bots she felt warmed up and ready to tear her way into grandmaster, by her calculations she would have to play twenty games and win each one without a single loss to get in as quick as possible. If a game is lost it’s only going to get harder and harder to get out of master tier.

The looming pressure of her current rank rested like a heavy weight in her chest, she was aware that people in this rank play far worse and you had a higher chance of getting someone on your team who will lose the game for you, it felt like she was in a cage with savage beasts and she was the fair maiden, protecting herself from being ravaged by the monsters who lurked in the dark.

No monster will cause me to fall lower in this game, I will carry every match I’m in, just you wait Champion of Cheers!

Her cursor clicked the “play online” button and she entered into a ranked match, the players began to load in and each of them began to pick their hero, as usual Enna picked the Elf princess Eden, she was a popular character on the game and an even more popular character for cosplayers, her long black hair fell to her hips, bangs resting just above her eyes, she wore a white robe embroidered with gold thread that clung to her body.

Eden’s the best! why would you play a character if they weren’t great to look at…

Enna kicked her legs as she sat in her chair, her excitement building, she loved the heat of the battle, those tense moments in combat where it could be make or break for the game, matches against bots just didn’t scratch that same competitive itch.

Everyone had now picked their hero and the match started, the loud sound of a war drum thudded, indicating the match had begun, her allies rushed off the sandy spawn point, ready to dominate.

Her team consisted off five players, two tanks, two damage dealers and one healer, with one tank sticking near their teams mana crystal to protect it, she had picked the role of healer but still took fireball, after all the best defence is a good offence, she would pick up heal as her second spell as soon as she to enough xp to level up.

Eden charged off the desert stone, moving forth through the dry wasteland that lay before her, her fireball ready to burst as soon as an enemy came into sights, she made sure to stick nearby Alex a tall muscular man wearing little armour that throws giant axes to deal huge damage.

Alex [Deathmaster48]: Try to stay behind me I want to get to the winter forest to the north, we’ll have the advantage there.

Eden [Ennaelf]: No problem, my fireball spell is ready to go, just make sure you aren’t in the way when I fire it.

Alex [Deathmaster48]: We got this, I’ll make sure to stay out the way.

Enna felt confident about this game, if players message in the chat is usually means that they’re good enough to understand that communication is important, most people just use the chat the rage about their loss.

I’ll stick with this guy, he’s typing his message out clearly and seems to have a good plan, I’m sure the rest of the team will be able to fend for themselves.

They both took a long walk around the map making sure to stay away from the centre meeting point of the winter forest and the desert, they were trying to sneak up on the enemy, meeting them for a head on confrontation could result in a quick loss, the element of surprise would give them the upper hand.

In no time, Eden found herself standing on frosty grass, a large wall of trees surrounded her as they broke into a sprint, moving towards to the centre of the map as quick as possible.

It might be hard to get off a fireball in the woods, if I hit a tree instead of the enemy directly they won’t take as much damage.

The air around them began to feel tense, there’s a sort of instinct you gain by becoming a master at a game, you can sense change coming, you can feel when there’s an enemy nearby or when something is about to go wrong.

Eden [Ennaelf]: we should wait here, I think they’re nearby.

Shhhhbloom!

A bright explosion engulfed the area around them, knocking up the snow into the air and taking a quarter of Enna and Alex’s hit points with it, through the wall of flame emerged an enemy hero, a small gnomish wizard who excelled in fire spells named Gillian.

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Alex and Eden were both prepared, there was two of them and they had the clear advantage in this scenario, even if Gillian had snuck in a nasty bit of damage.

They both split up, moving away from each other in a quick dash, Alex threw an axe spinning across the forest into a frosted tree near Gillian.

Damn! he’s not good with is aiming, this might be harder than I though.

Eden pointed at Gillian, a small red bead appeared on the tip of her finger, she lined up the shot, making sure to guarantee a hit.

Shhhhhblooom!

The bead fired off her finger piercing towards Gillian at an intense speed, as it made contact directly with his forehead, a large fiery burst of magical energy devoured the gnome.

[Announcer]: First kill goes to Eden!

Hell yeah, that should be enough to pick up a healing spell now!

Eden moved over to Alex and touched him with a green glowing light, healing up the chunk of damage he had taken, they then started to run their way down to the centre of the map, hoping to heal up any allies or get another kill on the way.

Alex [Deathmaster48]: thanks for picking up that kill, trees are a pain sorry.

Eden [Ennaelf]: don’t worry about it just focus on the next attack, we’re getting close to the centre.

The trees began to break as they moved closer to their destination, Enna could hear spells being cast, arrows hitting trees and guns bursting.

There must be a fight nearby.

The first sign of other players became apparent, a pool a bubbling acid on the ground, likely left as a trap by one of the enemies, Eden left Alex and moved further south, she spotted two enemies hiding in the bushes, her practice against bots came in handy here, her trigger finger was far quicker than theirs and she fireballed them as soon as they came into view, killing one and heavy injuring the other, Alex followed up from the north striking the surviving enemy with an axe and scoring a double kill for the team.

[Announcer]: double kill!

With so many of the enemy team down, Eden and her allies all moved towards the opponents mana crystal, as they got closer the guarding tank game into view, Alex threw an axe to engage in combat but the enemy tank, a large mutated rat named Brathum, teleported out of way, retaliating by throwing a large boulder of putrid rats at Eden and her allies.

Thud!

The rats burst on the ground attacking anyone standing nearby the impact zone, taking down one of her team mates, Alex threw a second axe landing deep in the chest of Brathum and nearly halving his hit points, Eden threw a fireball with a another direct hit, obliterating the last of his health.

Each of her remaining allies began to hurl their attacks into the enemies mana crystal, they had such a level advantage at this point that before any of their opponents couldn’t even get close, the mana crystal erupted into a plume of blue smoke, indicating Enna’s first victory.

Alex [Deathmaster48]: gg

Red [Thegoodfighter]: gg

Lance [BestLanceWorld]: I carried this game

Eden [Ennaelf]: Good job everyone!

“Hell yeah! First victory down!”

Enna raised her arms in the air, a sweet but determined smile across her lips, she picked up her cup of coffee to take a victory sip but the cup was completely empty with nothing but a black stain waiting at the bottom, she let out a disappointed groan and pushed herself out of the warming comfort of her desk.

I guess I’ll go get drink for the next match, I could use a snack too.

She placed her hand on her rumbling stomach, it had been a few hours since she had finished her breakfast, all the practising against bots made the last few hours feel like they passed in ten minuets.

Enna turned around in her room, the sun was starting to come up but she still had a long day of practice ahead of her, the toasty warmth it brought was a welcome sight, she walked down the stairs humming a happy tune to herself as she went into the kitchen.

At the dining table, chatting and giggling over a pot of coffee sat Eli and Niomi. Niomi is a beloved cosplayer, she dresses up as some of the hero’s from Champions of Cheers and also wears some dressed down version of popular anime characters outfits, she smiled a smile with all the grace of a caring princess, it had a regal air about it but she always seemed so genuinely happy to see you.

“Good morning Enna, cute slippers”

Her smile turned into a joking smirk, pointing out Enna's special white bunny slippers.

“Hey I got these things at my first regional championship!”

“Ohh, I’m just messing with you Enna, I heard that you got demoted to master, you poor little thing…”

“I’ll get it back in not time just you wait!”

“I love that determination you have! How would like to go get some coffee later? You look like you really need to get out the house.”

Eli put her hand out. covering Niomi’s face from Enna’s view.

“She’ll be sat down playing until she gets back into grandmaster, no time for coffee outings.”

“Come on coach…”

Niomi leant over the table getting close up to Eli, lower her eyes lids and softening her voice.

“Pretty please let her come get some coffee with me later…”

Eli closed her eyes and grimaced with frustration, a drop of sweat gathering on her forehead.

“If you get back in your seat she can have half an hour break later…”

“Thank you so much! Coach…”

Niomi looked thrilled, standing from the table and passing Enna, flashing her a cheeky grin as she did so, clearly aware of her persuasive powers.

“Niomi has powers far more powerful than any sorcerer…”

“What are you doing out of your chair Enna?”

“I need a cup of coffee.”

“Go back upstairs, I’ll bring one up to you in a moment.”

“Thanks coach!”

First win of the day, someone to grab my drinks and a coffee date with my best friend, This day couldn’t get better!

Enna left the kitchen, almost dancing up the stairs, she was full of energy at the moment and was ready to win game after game, she jumped into her computer chair landing with a spin, put her headphones on, blasted some music to match her hyperactive mood and clicked straight back into another ranked match.

The game went well, though not as well as the last, Enna managed to scrape the victory by sneaking past the enemy lines and destroying the enemy mana crystal whilst the rest of her team kept them busy, it was a cheap way of winning but victory is all that matters.

Her coffee arrived soon after her second victory, taking the deep warm drink she had been so desperately waiting for.

She decided she would get ready for her coffee date, she assume Niomi had already started to get dressed and she always put so much work into her looks.

Niomi always dresses so well, and she’s so pretty, I better put some serious thought into this outfit, if we take some pictures it might get more followers on Twipper.