"Cornelia, do not advance any further after you kill the swordsmen," Fiona instructed. "There is no value in picking a fight here."
"I'm afraid I disagree," Cornelia asserted. "This peasant had the gall to assault me in the previous round, so I must repay him in kind."
"He is merely taunting you. Do not fall for it."
"Hmph." Cornelia scoffed. "He is free to taunt me all he wants. I will make sure he regrets every last bit of it!"
"I would like to remind you that your previous fights against him have not gone so smoothly."
"Hmph. I was still warming up back then," Cornelia argued. "Now, I'm fully ready to put this nobody in his place!"
"Do not do it," Fiona implored. "It is too risky. Your opponent has proven himself adequate, so it is not wise to pick a fight against him without establishing a proper advantage first. You should retreat."
"What's that?" Cornelia raised an eyebrow. "Are you telling me, a noble, to run away!? Blasphemy! Blasphemy, I say!"
As usual, this "noblewoman" was a tough customer. Her pride always took over and made her needlessly engage her lane opponents in combat.
As proven time and again, the enemy Knight was stronger than her in 1v1 exchanges. However, Cornelia insisted on denying that fact with every fiber of her being. And because of the girl's stubbornness, the lane situation in Top went from bad to worse as the game progressed.
It was only a matter of time before the enemy conquered the area entirely. And, it happened sooner than even Fiona anticipated.
"W-What!?" Cornelia exclaimed. "Their Jungler is here!"
"He is...?" Fiona was taken aback. [I was sure he had departed to Bot Jungle by now...]
By Fiona's command, the team had been keeping the jungle warded at all times. As such, she was aware that the enemy Viking had recently finished clearing all the camps in Top Jungle.
From there, the man should have rotated to Bot Jungle. That was the optimal continuation for this line of play.
Instead, it seemed the Viking lingered in Top Jungle for a while. There should not have been anything of note for him to do there while he waited, yet he chose to wait it out regardless.
That was how the Viking managed to appear on the lane out of the blue and gang up on Cornelia along with the Knight. Fiona completely failed to anticipate this development. What a blunder.
『An ally has been killed!』
This message signaled the end for Top Lane. Shortly, the tower followed in Cornelia's footsteps.
『An allied Turret has been destroyed!』
This whole disaster took place while Fiona was in the middle of rotating from Top Jungle to Bot Jungle. Less than a minute ago she was in Top, helping out Cornelia. Then, shortly after she left, the enemy struck.
[Did they wait for me to leave?] Fiona wondered. [Just how long was their Jungler preparing for this play?]
Lying in wait for so long was far from efficient. Fiona did not even consider this possibility due to how suboptimal the idea sounded. And yet, ultimately, the play proved quite effective.
[Then again, this only happened because Cornelia did not tighten her defense as she should have. If she started retreating as soon as I asked her to, the gank would have lost most of its value.]
In that scenario, the Viking would have had to pay the price for all the time he wasted idling. It was a high-risk high-reward line of play. The Viking placed all his eggs in one basket by banking so heavily on scoring a kill.
Sometimes, taking a risk was necessary in order to get a decent payoff. However, this Viking went all-in with this one play, which was not to Fiona's taste.
Nonetheless, the tactic worked for him this time, so he will certainly attempt it again in the future, possibly in this very game. As such, Fiona had to be on the lookout for any similar ideas throughout the rest of the game.
However, the enemy had no intention of giving her the luxury to worry about such small things. After demolishing the Top Turret, the duo launched a coordinated attack on Mid.
From that point onward, the game was thrown into disarray and skirmishes happened across the map. The enemy team had the initial momentum and it carried them the entire way through.
The Valkyries were forced on the defensive. There was no choice but to retreat from nearly every fight, exchanging lane control for survival.
On her end, Fiona did everything in her power to salvage the situation. She assaulted key targets and instructed her teammates on how to best respond to the difficult scenarios at hand. Alas...
『DEFEAT』
The team failed to recover from the negative momentum. They managed to drag out the game for a while by tactically defending against the enemy's pushes, but only defending was never enough to win a game.
As always, regardless of victory or defeat, the scoring screen showed up at the end of the game. Here, each player received or lost rank points based on their performance.
The amount of points varied widely based on player rank. For example, Cornelia was only at Gold II, therefore a loss like this did not affect her rank too much. On the other hand, Karen lost plenty of points as a Diamond II.
Fiona was Platinum I, so her punishment should have been rather harsh as well. However, she managed to earn some extra points to mitigate the losses. The game rewarded her handsomely for the amount of kills and assists she scored, in conjunction with how she had the highest GPM in the game despite being on the losing team.
These bonuses were never enough to completely erase the penalty of losing, but at least they mitigated the damage to Fiona's rank. It was thanks to such repeated mitigations that Fiona was still climbing up the ranks even as her team was stuck at a 50% win rate.
This was both reassuring and concerning at the same time. On one hand, it proved to Fiona that her performance was solid. On the other hand, it implied her team was struggling in this Diamond league.
[Was this outcome my fault in any way?] Fiona re-ran the details of the match in her head. [Were my shot-calls not good enough? Did I make any glaring mistakes? Or, was it our teamwork? Of course, it could also be a difference in our teams' skill levels, though I do not want to believe that.]
These were difficult questions that always popped up. Most likely, the truth was somewhere in between all these possibilities.
It was undeniable that Fiona's teammates needed a lot of polish, but she had plenty of room to improve as well. Not to mention, their teamwork was not nearly as solid as it could have been.
In chess terms, there were two main issues with the current team. Firstly, the pieces at Fiona's disposal were mostly pawns and knights' they were in desperate need of an upgrade. Secondly, Fiona's tactics for these pieces were far from optimal.
[Worst of all, these two issues feed into each other.] Fiona had realized that a while ago. It was difficult for her to come up with good tactics when her teammates were only at this level. The more they improved, the better Fiona could utilize them with her shot-calls.
However, her teammates could shoot a similar argument back at her. It was harder for them to improve and build confidence when their shot-caller was providing a subpar strategy. However, nobody ever leveled such complaints against Fiona.
"FIN!" Andria announced the end of the tragic play. "This was a rough one. I was sure we were the heroes, the underdogs who'd come back from behind in the second half. Alas, we failed. Such a twist ending!"
"It's all because of Cornelia," Karen accused. "I mean, it all started when she died and let the enemy push."
"Excuse me!?" Cornelia retaliated. "Do you intend to blame everything on me!? I don't recall YOU achieving anything in Bot!"
"Yeaaaaah, it wasn't my best performance, that's for sure," Karen admitted. "But, the situation was pretty even, right, Lua?"
"E-Eh!?" Lua jumped. "Um, well, yes. We did okay, I think..."
"You see?" Karen turned to Cornelia. "We were doing just fine in Bot, so this is clearly all your fault, haha!"
"Y-Y-You darn plebeian! You dare to accuse me!?" As usual, Cornelia and Karen started passing the blame around. It became a predictable routine at this point.
Fiona used to step in but she stopped bothering after a while. The girls used these fights to blow steam, so they were entirely without merit.
[Besides, Karen's analysis is correct.] Fiona thought. [The enemy's momentum indeed started with the kill they scored in Top. However, as to whether this should be blamed on Cornelia, that is a separate issue.]
As a newcomer to the world of video games, Cornelia was naturally the weakest link in the team. Even Fiona had more months of experience under her belt, and she further boosted her skills through professional coaching.
[I believe she has the knack for it, just as she does for other sports. However, as always, her skill tends to be unrefined...]
Cornelia was always a difficult player, no matter the sport. In volleyball, her serves and spikes were intense enough to instill terror, but their aim was all over the place.
In addition, she was quick in responding to developments and converting tosses into attacks. Alas, her selfishness often got in the way of teamwork, and she also lacked concern for her fatigue, often burning herself out to the point of collapse.
Similarly, in tennis, Cornelia was the type to mindlessly dash from corner to corner to return the ball. She was quick on her feet and her returns were solid, but she exerted all her energy without thinking twice.
To win against her, all Fiona had to do was make the girl run around. No matter how strong Cornelia's strokes were, it was all moot once she ran out of steam.
[Considering all that, I thought a video game would be the perfect sport for her as it does not place as much burden on the body. But...]
Even in Classmancers, Cornelia's issues found a way to surface. Like always, she poured her absolute everything into the fights and exhausted herself, both mentally and physically. Apparently, she did not know the term "self-restraint".
Fortunately, her stamina usually lasted until practice was over. And, as far as competitive games were concerned, Cornelia could play three games in a row without much issue.
However, five competitive games was a stretch for her. In the scrimmage against the Leopards, Cornelia's performance dropped sharply from the 4th game onward. It was hard to even call it a "fair match" at that point. Cornelia was actively dragging the entire team down by insisting she was "fine" and pushing herself to try plays that she clearly could not execute in that state.
However, that was still a relatively trifle issue when it came to Cornelia's skill in Classmancers. The biggest problem was her neverending eagerness to "prove herself".
Unlike in ball games, where a player could only make a big play when the ball was headed their way, in Classmancers everybody had the freedom to act as they pleased at all times. For example, a player was always free to aggress on their lane opponent and push for kills to assert dominance.
Unfortunately, Cornelia was drunk on this very concept. The game allowed her to be assertive and aggressive at all times, so that was exactly what she did.
Frankly, it was a headache to keep this "wild animal" at bay. Fiona frequently had to warn Cornelia about not overextending, but it was never enough.
[In this game, the enemy must have figured out what kind of player she is.] Fiona analyzed. [That was why they targeted her specifically with the gank. They lured her in to turn the tables on her. She is that easy to read.]
Cornelia was the obvious weak link in the team. Even random opponents in Ranked could figure her out and strike accordingly. It was quite disheartening…
[This will only get that much worse in the competitive scene.] Fiona thought. [Analysts like Yuel Fermond will come up with a hundred different ways to exploit a glaring weakness like this.]
In general, any opponent with access to the Valkyries' replays would figure out this obvious weak spot. It was a critical issue for the team to resolve, but Fiona was at a loss here.
[The most I can do is keep pointing her in the right direction during matches and lecture her about any mistakes. But, that is easier said than done.]
Team sports were always a headache because of situations like these. It was impossible to form a proper team strategy when one of the pieces was malfunctioning.
[This is not chess, I knew that much when I started out.] Fiona thought. [Even now, I cannot think of a proper solution for this. I can only keep honing my shot-calling skills in the hope of mitigating such issues.]
While she was busy analyzing all these important topics, Karen and Cornelia kept bickering like children. Sigh. Was nobody going to stop them?
[I suppose I have to do it myself, after all…] Fiona sighed and approached the raging battleground. But, just as she got closer, she heard a blunt WHAM. It was the familiar sound of a hollow object hitting the floor.
"You two, cut it out." A woman scolded them as she entered the room. She was armed with a shinai, a type of bamboo sword used in kendo.
This should have made it a very bizarre picture, especially out there in the West. However, the sword somehow complemented the woman's Asian looks.
… or, perhaps the club members simply got used to it by now. After all, this woman was the club's coach: Ms. Kei Nakajima.
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"For God's sake," Nakajima said. "I've just arrived and you two are already at it. If you have so much energy to spare, then pour into practice!" WHAM! She struck the floor with the tip of her shinai! "Is that clear?"
"Yes, ma'am..." Karen and Cornelia quieted down and awkwardly glanced away. Unfortunately, this weak response was not enough for the coach.
"I don't hear your voices!" WHAM! Nakajima struck the floor again like a hardcore drillmaster! "Was I clear?"
"Y-Yes, ma'am!" Karen and Cornelia awkwardly raised their voices.
Honestly, rather than actually drilling in the coach's message, this whole military-like routine only caused embarrassment for them. Though, that was effective in its own way.
"Good." Nakajima nodded in satisfaction. "Now, what are you waiting for, girls? Move on to the next game!" WHAM! This stirred the entire club into action. They dropped whatever they were doing and returned to their seats.
"You don't have even a second to waste," Nakajima lectured as usual. "You must play as many games as humanly possible if you want to have any chance of doing well in the regionals!" WHAM! "Understood?"
"Yes, ma'am!" Everybody answered in unison despite how awkward it felt. No matter how many times they had gone through these drills, it never got any better…
And so, the team moved on to the next game.
Just as Ms. Nakajima said, they had no time to waste on petty in-fighting. The team was severely lacking in experience. Though the team members were skilled to one degree or another, they did not have sufficient experience as a team to make the most out of their individual talents.
Not to mention, the club only had five members, so everybody had to participate in competitive games regardless of their skill level and experience. This was very different from other school clubs, where the first-string was generally composed of seniors with plenty of experience under their belt.
Truly, on all fronts, the Valkyries were lagging behind the competition. Therefore, they had to work harder than anybody in order to catch up.
Unfortunately, even though Fiona was sufficiently talented and motivated, the same did not necessarily apply to the others. After all, they were only middle schoolers. Most girls their age spent their free time idling about, posting photos on social media, or gossiping about the latest reality shows. They did not have a shred of competitiveness spirit.
Fiona was well aware of the issue when she formed the club. Therefore, she went out of her way to hire a coach. There simply had to be an adult with authority in this club to put the girls in line.
At first, Fiona requested Fernando Rodriguez to be the team's coach. Naturally, she offered a salary that respected the fact Mr. Rodriguez was viewed as a legendary coach in this region.
Rodriguez expressed interest in taking on the job but there were two obstacles.
First, Rodriguez was a man. St. Mary's was a prestigious all-girls school, so inviting a male coach did not sit right with the board. The number of male teachers in the school was practically zero and nobody was interested in increasing it.
The other obvious obstacle was the conflict of interest. Having the same coach for two different teams from the same region was highly unusual.
The administration of the regionals debated the topic at length. They ultimately decided to allow only one registered team per coach, which meant the Valkyries would not be able to participate under Rodriguez's lead.
And so, the deal did not come to pass. But fortunately, Rodriguez found them a suitable substitute, one who easily sidestepped both obstacles.
This other coach candidate was a woman, so the school board had nothing against her. In addition, she was currently coaching a high school team in this region but not a middle school one, so there was no conflict of interest.
The woman in question was Ms. Kei Nakajima. She was an acquaintance of Rodriguez, as well as the coach of the Aces, the Classmancers team of Hamilton High.
The Aces were considered the second-strongest high school team in the region, just a little behind the prestigious Venom from Ivy High. As such, Ms. Nakajima definitely had a convincing resume.
Furthermore, the woman seemed extremely motivated about the whole arrangement. It felt like she was personally invested in the idea of making an all-girls team win the regionals. It was almost like she wanted to prove some kind of point.
On top of that, Ms. Nakajima had a history of bitter rivalry with Venom, who was considered just as uncontested as the Leopards in the high school scene. In other words, the Aces were the "underdogs" in comparison, yet none of that ever discouraged Nakajima from aiming for the top time and again.
Since she knew the struggle and bitterness that came with challenging the uncontested regional champions, she would do anything in her power to deliver her team to victory even against impossible odds. This was exactly the kind of attitude Fiona was looking for.
And so, Ms. Nakajima became the Valkyries' coach. This was an important step toward establishing a proper club. Frankly, Fiona might have given up on the entire ordeal if they could not secure a fitting coach.
[A newly formed club has practically no chance of catching up to the competition without a coach.] Fiona believed. [Especially, in our region, just having a coach already puts us leagues and bounds ahead of most teams.]
For some ungodly reason, it was rare for Classmancers teams in this region to have a coach. These clubs usually had a random teacher from school as a supervisor. Needless to say, that arbitrarily selected teacher rarely knew anything about the sport.
A sports club without a coach was unheard of. Young athletes needed all the guidance they could get in order to properly develop as players.
To Fiona's knowledge, no other sports club in the region had a situation like this. Soccer, basketball, volleyball, tennis - every sport had a proper coach assigned to it.
On rare occasions, schools could not afford a fully-fledged coach for a particular sport, so they settled on having a PE teacher. Arrangements like this were far from ideal, but they were still leagues ahead of what Classmancers clubs had over here.
Therefore, just by having a coach, the Valkyries were already a step ahead of the competition. This allowed them to develop at a faster pace compared to other teams, which will hopefully make up for their lack of experience.
Furthermore, Ms. Nakajima was very invested in the team's success. She wanted this underdog team to topple the undefeated regional champions. This challenge mirrored her ongoing war against Venom in the high school league. She bore a clear intent to kick the kings off their throne, regardless of whether it was in middle school or in high school.
While the team played Ranked, Nakajima closely watched their performance and provided timely critique, in her usual drillmaster-like tone.
"Cornelia, what do you think you're doing?"
"Huh? Going to farm the wolves, obviously."
"And, you think this is a smart move when you have less than 30% HP remaining?"
"Yeah, why not?" Cornelia asked. "I exiled the Viking peasant from the lane by showing him my noble might, so now I'm free to farm in the jungle, am I not?"
"It's a waste of time," Nakajima explained. "Your opponent recalled because he was below 20%, and you're about to hit the same threshold as well."
"How is that a problem?" Cornelia asked. "I can just recall once my HP falls to these levels."
"No, you should recall now. Do it."
"What? But, my hard-earned lane advantage...!"
"It only exists in your head," Nakajima argued. "There isn't that much difference between 20% and 30% in situations like this. In both cases, it's too dangerous to be on the lane for too long unless you want to be ganked."
"I see…" Cornelia didn't have anything smart to say to this, but she insisted on having her way regardless. "In that case, I can recall after I take care of the wolves."
"It'll take too long," Nakajima asserted. "It'd be one thing if you could clear the camp in a few seconds. But, this is the early-game and you're not the Jungler, so any camp is going to take you a while."
"That's… true, I suppose…" Cornelia twisted her lips in protest. In her head, she understood there was some logic to the coach's explanation, but in her heart, this felt terribly wrong.
Cornelia went through so many trials and tribulations to finally kick that lousy peasant opponent out of the lane. Now, this entire land belonged to Cornelia von Galen! At least, it should've.
The owner of the land was supposed to be free to do whatever she wanted in her domain. This included collecting taxes in the form of farming the enemy's jungle camps.
And yet, the consultant was telling Cornelia to abandon this land prematurely without capitalizing on it at all! It was simply unacceptable! But...
"The master's advice is on point," Fiona said. "You have to recall as soon as possible in order to return to the lane in time for the next wave."
"Precisely." Nakajima nodded. "Rather than being fixated on the current situation, imagine how your lane will look like half a minute from now."
"Hmm..." Cornelia knotted her brows as she tried to imagine that hypothetical future. Frankly, even though she was a prestigious noble of many talents, this sort of forethinking was one area she didn't quite excel in.
B-But, it's not like she couldn't do it, okay? When Cornelia properly focused all her noble brain cells on the task, her forethinking ability could reach the level of divine revelation!
And so, following the coach's instructions, Cornelia tried to think ahead of the current situation. She imagined what would happen if she were to clear the wolves first and then recall.
Frankly, it was difficult. She could not properly estimate how much time it would take her to clear the camp, nor how long it would take her to return to the lane. But, as the layers of uncertainty piled up, she started to feel unsure about that direction.
Will she make it in time to the lane? How many of her soldiers will still be standing by the time she gets there? Could it be she'd lose lane control…!?
[No way.] Cornelia shook her head. [Of course I will make it back in time. Some of my soldiers may perish by that point, but that won't stop me from mounting a comeback!]
"Ohoho!" Cornelia laughed confidently. "I may arrive on the lane a bit late, but I shall smite down the intruders and exile them from the lane once more!"
"Arienai..." Nakajima sighed. "The confidence of this girl is off the charts."
No matter how many times Nakajima stumbled upon this realization, it managed to surprise her every time anew. There was something inherently wrong with how Cornelia reasoned about most things. It seemed almost impossible to fix that part of her.
"Listen and listen well," Nakajima said. "If you don't recall right now, you'll lose lane control. By the time you return to the lane, your opponent will already be done with the wave. In fact, you might already be too late because you've wasted way too much time arguing on this point."
"Hmph. In that case, I'll farm the wolves as I originally planned and then face my opponent in the lane!" And so, the discussion came a full circle…
[This girl…] Nakajima rubbed her temples. "I'm sure you understand that he'll attack you right away to kick you out of the lane?"
"Hmph. He'll try."
"And he'll most likely succeed. Just think about how hard you had to work to get him to 20% and how you dropped to 30% in the process. You're evenly matched you two."
"Evenly matched? Hmph. Maybe that was true for the old Cornelia."
"Excuse me?"
"The Cornelia from a few minutes ago struggled a little against that lowly peasant," she explained. "However, I'm no longer the same I was before! My noble powers have doubled since the last time I dueled that commoner!"
"You make absolutely no sense," Nakajima asserted. "Players do not improve that fast in the middle of the game."
"Hmph. Perhaps such growth is impossible for a common player, but it's par for the course for a noble such as myself, ohoho!"
[… I'd really like to have a talk with whoever was responsible for her upbringing.] Nakajima sighed in exhaustion. [If we had Ranked for parenting, then her parents would be stuck in Bronze hell.]
Out of the numerous pupils Nakajima had coached over the years, Cornelia was proving to be the most difficult one yet. And, the worst part was how the girl actually had some talent for competitive gaming, it was just buried underneath countless personality problems.
[Honestly, if this club was bigger, I probably wouldn't have bothered with her so much.] Nakajima admitted. [I know it sounds awful, but I don't have the time to babysit troublemakers. I'm here to make a winning team first and foremost.]
Ideally, Nakajima would've wanted to guide every pupil into becoming a star. This was the innocent mentality she started this job with. Unfortunately, she soon came to face reality.
There were many students but only one teacher, so it was impossible for Nakajima to focus on everybody equally. Time didn't wait for anybody and she was no exception.
And so, over time, Nakajima learned to prioritize certain students over others. She found the ones who showed more promise and focused on building a strong team around them. That was the only way for her to keep bringing results and improve her standing in the school.
So, a problem child like Cornelia would have had to take a backseat in a bigger club. That whole "noble" roleplay she did, probably to overcompensate for some inferiority complex, was too much of a headache. Nakajima was no psychotherapist so she wasn't qualified to resolve complex issues like this.
Alas, this club had only five members. Therefore, everybody was part of the first-string. Everybody's performance was critical for the team's success.
Nakajima swore to bring this newbie team far in the regionals and she refused to back down from the challenge. Slowly but surely, she will find a way to get through to that noble thickhead.
"Cornelia, listen. No matter how highly you think of your combat skills, there's no way you can contest that Viking with 30% HP. It's just not happening. Right, Fiona?"
"Absolutely," Fiona agreed. "Judging by the data so far their combat skills are on about the same level. So, with the Viking at 100% HP, it will not even be a competition. Not to mention, he has access to his ultimate."
"Exactly." Nakajima nodded in approval. "Now THIS is how you should be analyzing the situation and thinking ahead."
"Grrr…" Cornelia grimaced. She lost some of her obnoxious persistence once Fiona stepped in.
[Seriously, this girl is a handful.] Nakajima sighed. She wasn't a fan of double-teaming a kid like this, but it was really hard to deal with this troublemaker otherwise. There was no choice but to resort to ugly measures against this blockhead.
Cornelia sort of idolized Fiona even if she refused to admit it. As such, Fiona's words carried far more weight for her than any of Nakajima's advice. even though the master was supposed to be the figure of authority here…
[Youngsters these days have no respect for their elders!] Nakajima grumped. [But anyway, this is not the time to worry about my pride. I have a lesson to teach this blockhead and she's finally willing to listen, so I better get to it.]
"If you were to confront the Viking," Nakajima said. "He will either kill you or force you to recall in the middle of the ongoing wave. Just think about how much farm you'll lose in either scenario."
"Hmph. As I said, that peasant wouldn't possibly…" Cornelia tried to argue back but stopped herself once she noticed the fed-up expressions on Fiona and Nakajima's faces. They were both looking at her like she was some lost cause. So rude!
But, maybe they had a point. That Viking was a peasant, but a peasant with a big HP lead over Cornelia. Under such circumstances, even a noble such as her might struggle.
Was the risk worth it? Perhaps not. As such, Cornelia gave up on arguing any further and recalled to the base as advised.
But, it's not like she was running away, okay? Sometimes, it was a good idea to listen to the teacher's advice, that's all there was to it. Cornelia could've easily stomped that Viking if she tried! Hmph.
Upon seeing Cornelia finally follow through, Nakajima nodded in satisfaction. "Good. Better late than never." Cornelia only scoffed in response without saying anything.
After that, Nakajima approached Fiona. "I'm glad you picked up quickly why I involved you in that conversation. Nice follow-up."
"Thank you, master."
"Aside from that," Nakajima continued. "You immediately realized why my advice was on point, which is good. But, keep in mind that I won't be there to advise you like this during real games. As the shot-caller, you should've been the one to advise Cornelia once she started heading into the jungle."
"Yes, I understand." Fiona nodded. [Frankly, this is asking for a lot when I have so many other things to keep track of. But, it is something I have to learn how to do.]
Ms. Nakajima delivered her advice to Cornelia in a speedy manner to prevent a disaster, but the contents of the advice were not that advanced. Ms. Nakajima merely considered a few steps ahead, something Fiona had no problem doing herself once she got involved in the discussion. As such, the only problem here was Fiona's attention span.
[Why was I not able to see it?] Fiona wondered. [I thought I was keeping a close eye on the entire map, yet this particular incident escaped my attention.]
In retrospect, the answer was simple. While that event was taking place in Top, Fiona was on her way to gank Mid. As such, all her attention was concentrated on making the gank succeed. She had no leftover attention to spare to any other lane at the time.
[This is tough.] Fiona thought. [I am required to divide my attention between my personal game plan and my responsibilities as a shot-caller. No matter which one I prioritize, the other will be neglected to some extent.]
Finding the balance between the two was key. Surely, Fiona would get better at it through practice, but the job will forever remain a challenge. After all, a fellow piece on the board could not perfectly command the other pieces all the time.
Ideally, there should be a sixth player whose entire job is to command. Somebody who observes the entire game from outside like Ms. Nakajima and can provide timely instructions.
Alas, for whatever reason, in MOBA games the strategist had to be one of the five players on the board. It was painfully suboptimal.
[I know that Cato is not a fan of this either.] Fiona thought. [But, what about Yuel Fermond? Does he also find this arrangement problematic? Or, could it be this is somehow to his liking...?]
Anything was possible when it came to that man. He was the type of player whose thought process was sometimes alien to the norm.
[Thinking of it, a setup like this might benefit his playstyle.] Fiona reason. [The harder it is for the enemy shot-caller to control everything, the more weaknesses there are for Yuel to exploit.]
The man's entire playstyle revolved around striking the opponent's weak spots, Fiona learned as much from analyzing his chess history, as well as his father's. A playstyle like that was far more effective in sports like Classmancers than in chess.
For starters, Classmancers had five opponents to deal with, which meant five times more potential weaknesses to discover. Yuel could simply focus on one weak link in the enemy's formation and bully them to oblivion.
Furthermore, the enemy's shot-caller was distracted by default, leading to potentially sloppy team formations that could be exploited. On top of that, even the best commander could never command humans as flawlessly as chess pieces. Poor execution of orders and insubordination like Cornelia's were like treats for Yuel Fermond.
[In a real game, if I failed to advise Cornelia in that situation, I am certain Yuel would have taken advantage of it. So, I must be more vigilant about such things.]
Fortunately, this time around, Ms. Nakajima was there to tell Cornelia to recall. Despite how long it took Cornelia to ultimately follow the order, the worst-case scenario was averted.
Next time, Fiona should be the one to issue that kind of timely advice, even if her instructions happen to arrive a little late. Better late than never in cases like these.
So, after making a few mental notes following this incident, Fiona reinforced her map awareness. She aimed to keep track of what all her teammates were doing to advise them against mistakes. Alas, it was easier said than done...
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