Chương 53: Inherited Skills

The final game between StormBlitz and Leopards began. If StormBlitz can take this game, they'll be at 4-1. That'll guarantee StormBlitz's victory in today's scrimmage right away. Yuel had to win this game, no matter what.

[Have to... win... ugh.] The harder Yuel tried to concentrate, the stronger fatigue beat him down. It was all too much. He had been juggling between supporting, shot-calling and being a captain. He never trained for wearing so many different hats in one game.

Fortunately, he got away with picking Warlock this time. That should lessen the decision-making he had to make during team fights, which were always the most chaotic parts of the game. By simply booting Eldritch Nightmare, he'd blind the entire enemy team at once. It even became a meme in the Classmancers community that Warlock required only one button to play.

Still, Warlock was considered an intermediate difficulty class and the reason for that were his various invocations. The first two spells, Eldritch Blast and Eldritch Field, were straightforward damaging spells. One was a line skillshot and the other was a circle AoE, as simple as mage spells could get.

However, what made the class interesting was the third skill: Invocation. It allowed the Warlock to pick one of multiple bonus effects and add it the next spell he casts.

For example, using Power Invocation made the next spell deal more damage, whereas using Slowdown Invocation made the next spell apply a slow on the target. There were five invocations in total, so the Warlock's kit was very customizable. Picking the right invocations for the right situations was key for playing Warlock effectively.

All these options made Warlock a somewhat complex class, but Yuel knew exactly which invocations to focus on in which scenarios. So, it was a no brainer for him. Once the purpose of each invocation was understood inside out, the decision-making process became rather straightforward.

The enemy was at low HP? Hit them with a Power Invocation. The enemy was fleeing? Hit them with a Slowdown Invocation. Everything was down to simple scenarios like that. In addition, activating an invocation required a mere button press and the effect will apply on the next spell regardless of when that spell will be cast. In other words, there's no taxing mechanical skill involved. Perfect for Yuel.

During the laning phase, Yuel mostly used Power Invocation to help Lars clear the lane faster. He also zoned their lane opponents, ComboBreaker and SkyKnight, by extending the range of his spells with a Radius Invocation. Going back and forth between the two effects, his job on lane required minimal mental effort.

Yuel was tired, but maintaining this basic routine was as natural as breathing. He repeated these actions like a machine, without even thinking much. As long as neither side goes on the offense of all a sudden, Yuel won't have to make any split-second decisions or analyze chaotic situations.

Surprisingly, Breaker really didn't initiate any fights. Did she prioritize farming safely to take full advantage of the Pirate's passive? Or, was she perhaps wary of the dominating display of skill Lars showcased last game?

Whichever it was, there wasn't much fighting going on in Bot. And, Yuel didn't complain.

"C'mon, dude," Lars pouted. "Let's rush them a little."

"No." Yuel retorted. "Stay back and keep shooting from afar. You're playing Elf, your advantage is range. Use it."

"Geh, fine." Lars made a face and continued shooting laser beams from the backline. When using Elven Sight, the range of his basic attacks was largely extended and he could snipe minions from far away. And, not only minions. He also sniped the enemy Pirate and Lumimancer whenever he had the chance.

Even though Elf was a defensive class by nature, it was actually pretty good at exploiting the enemy's defensiveness as well. If the enemy doesn't aggress, the Elf will simply shoot them from afar. Bit by bit, that'd exhaust the enemy's HP.

That's all the more effective when in the hand of a godlike FPS player like Lars. His point-of-view changed to first-person during Elven Sight, becoming like his beloved first-person shooters. Lars felt right at home. His already absurd accuracy was enhanced even further, allowing him to land shots across half the lane even when the enemies were trying to be cautious.

"Tch," Jennifer clicked her tongue as a laser beam hit her. "What's with this guy?" Even though she tried to sneak out of firing range, Gunz somehow landed a shot on her anyway. Freaking aimbot incarnate.

Like, what the actual heck? These snipes were hitting her across half the lane. Putting aside how difficult it was to land shots on moving targets from that distance, Jennifer was specifically trying to dodge these shots. She practiced such scenarios before and knew how to handle Elf's long-ranged shots. Or, at least, she [thought] she knew, but Gunz's shots found their way to her regardless.

Also, what's with that stupid sci-fi skin? Gunz's Elf wore a helmet and was dressed in futuristic armor. He also wielded a laser gun instead of a bow, which fired green laser beams instead of arrows. First Trickshooter, now a freaking StormTrooper. Always "Gunz", huh. [A cool skin there, dammit.]

Skins were inconsequential, but this irritated her. Here she was, COMBO-Breaker, playing a NON-COMBO class. It's like she gave up on her identity, just because it was a little hard to play combo against Gunz. Grrrrr!

"You sure you don't want to aggress?" Albert asked. "That Elf is too good of a sniper. We keep losing HP from trying to dodge his shots."

"I know, dang it." Jennifer hissed. Yeah, they were kinda getting rekt at the moment. Gunz's snipes repeatedly punched their HP bars, forcing them to retreat after a while. Running around and doing sudden dodge rolls hardly affected that aimbot scum, so sticking with defense clearly didn't work that well for them. Going on the offensive didn't sound like a bad idea, but...

"Nah," Jennifer shook her head. "Let's keep farming for now. Once I get enough gold advantage to outbuild them, we'll rush these scrubs."

"Well, playing Pirate safe during the early game is good and all..." Albert didn't finish that thought. The Pirate's early power was relatively weak, but it compensated for that with Plunder, a passive which granted extra gold upon last-hitting. Therefore, by framing effectively, eventually, Jennifer will earn substantially more gold than Gunz and will be able to finish an Lv.3 item faster.

But, as a fellow player who knew how to play Carry, Albert felt that Jennifer's approach was too lax. Farming safely was good and all, that's the standard strategy for Pirate. The current situation called for action, at least in his opinion.

Elf wasn't a particularly strong Carry for 1v1 and 2v2, so Jennifer should be able to overpower Gunz in a fight. If she takes the fight to Gunz, she should be able to either kill the guy or injure him enough to force a retreat. Either result would be great.

But, what did Albert know? Jennifer was the best player on the team, so she surely had her reasons. He decided to keep quiet and let her do her thing.

[She's playing it safe.] Yuel concluded after observing Breaker's playstyle for five minutes now. She never pushed hard or initiated fights, she'd rather stay in the backline and keep dodging Lars's snipes. Even when Yuel asked Lars to move a little forward, Breaker didn't bite and insisted to play defense. This experiment proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that Breaker had no intention going on the offensive for now.

As far as Breaker's build was concerned, it was standard so far. Solid, but standard. Yuel was half-expecting to see something as absurd as combo, but there were no surprises. Between how Breaker prioritized farming safely and her orthodox build, it didn't seem like she was planning to do anything out of this world. Was she going to play standard meta Pirate? Really? It was a bit disappointing.

Perhaps that's how she played when she wasn't using combo. In fact, that's more in line with the general image Yuel had of the Leopards: they all played by the book, best at piloting and countering meta classes. Until now, Breaker's niche combo playstyle was an anomaly in this strictly meta-oriented team.

Did their coach force her to change styles? Not surprising, considering how Lars outplayed her combos last game. If Yuel's hypothesis was correct, then Breaker was really going to play a standard meta Pirate this game, possibly something she didn't quite enjoy. A bit unfortunate, but Yuel didn't have the luxury to complain. This increased StormBlitz's chances of winning, so he was thankful.

The situation in Bot remained unchanged for a long time. Every time both sides finished clearing minions, they retreated to their backlines and waited for the next wave. Lars managed to sneak a few snipes on the enemies during these downtimes, but otherwise not much was happening.

After enough minion waves, this routine depleted enough of the enemy's HP to force them to retreat to base. This made Breaker occasionally miss on some exp and gold, but she made up for it by earning extra gold from her passive, Plunder. As a result, she maintained a gold advantage over Lars.

As the game started shifting toward the mid-game, Yuel rotated to help in Mid. Gilbert was in a deadlock against the new Mid Laner who was subbed in, so Yuel hoped to turn the tides in their favor.

"Don't try pushing," Yuel warned Lars before leaving the lane.

"No problem, mom." Lars chuckled.

The enemy Lumimancer was removed from Bot thanks to a gank by Dan, so with Yuel rotating it'd become a 1v1 in Bot between Lars and Breaker.

How was Breaker going to play in this scenario? Honestly, part of the reason Yuel wanted to rotate from Bot was to see what'd happen next. Breaker's performance in the upcoming 1v1 scenario should determine whether she had something up her sleeve or was really just playing a standard Pirate.

"Their Warlock is missing," Jennifer warned. "Gotta be rotating to Mid."

Finally, she was left in a 1v1 situation against Gunz. The pesky Support player, who had been getting in her way every damn game, was out of the picture. This was the opportunity she had been waiting for!

Gunz was untouchable while supported by Chessmaster because that pesky Chessmaster was a freaking expert at finding openings in the enemy's offense, he probably even had a diploma and everything. But, in a straightforward 1v1 , Jennifer was gonna kick Gunz's ass!

Still, she didn't act right away. First, she confirmed that the Warlock successfully reached Mid. That sneaky bastard liked playing mind games, so Jennifer could never be too safe.

Next, she confirmed that the enemy Chronomancer was still jungling in Top Jungle. Awesome! Nobody was gonna interfere with this 1v1. This was her moment! Showdown time! She had been holding back this whole time, eating countless snipes to the face, just to endure until this very moment!

Her gold advantage already kicked in, letting her get one item ahead of Gunz. She clearly had the DPS advantage now. As long she delivers the first strike - she was gonna kick his ass for sure!

Right before the minion waves were fully cleared, Jennifer initiated her assault. The opening attack was none other than her ult: Release the Kraken! Landing this opening strike would give her more than enough advantage for the rest of the fight. She gonna destroy this Gunz dude!

"Release the-" The Pirate's familiar sound cue resounded.

"Dan," Yuel called out. "How fast can you get to Bot? I suspect this 1v1 won't end up nicely."

"Hmm," Dan pondered. "I can get there pretty fast if I use Haste with quadra Accel, but that's quite the investment."

"Please do. If we get a kill on their Carry as a result, it'll be huge for us."

"Okay, I'm on it."

Meanwhile, in Bot, Lars had to confront Breaker's assault. "Release the-" A sound cue he had heard countless times in his Classmancers career. The big tentacle dude was coming!

[Crap!] Lars had to dodge! Fortunately, Elf had Elven Backflip, so he should be able to jump out of the Kraken's range. Easy, no sweat! He watched Trever dodge his Krakens many times before, just like that. He also dodged some of Trever's Krakens... Wait. Wait, wait, wait!

His finger was about to press on the Q key, but it froze. No, it was too soon. Until the Pirate finishes shouting "Release the Kraken!", it's still possible to cancel the ult and cast it again right away. Trever tricked Lars countless times like that, so he not gonna fall for it again! He gonna wait until the very last nanosecond, yo!

[Not even dodging?] Jennifer sneered. With the reaction speed Gunz showcased so far, she expected him to at least dodge the incoming Kraken. She already played out the next couple moves in her head from there: she cancels her ult, closes the distance with Backfire Cannon and casts Kraken again, this time hitting for sure!

But, turned out Gunz's defense was utter crap. He couldn't even dodge the Kraken, just because she caught him a little off guard while minions were still on lane. What a disappointment. [Fine by me, eat the Kraken right in the face! Makes it easier for me, hmph.]

"-the Kraaaaaaken!" Her Pirate finished the dramatic shout. The legendary sea monster erupted from the ground, emerging on the surface to destroy everything in range. That StormTrooper Elf was totally done for- ... or not!?

Right as the Kraken was to crash Gunz, his jetpack lit up and launched him into the air. It had a stylish animation, but it was the same skill Jennifer had been anticipating all along: Elven Leap! Except, it came way later than she thought.

So, Gunz waited for the very very VEEEEEERY last moment before dodging. Fuuuuuu! Was that even gonna work? Jennifer had no idea! She had never seen Elven Leap cutting it so close against Kraken. Normal people would dodge as soon as they can, not wait a light year first. Dang it.

And, it worked. Gunz just barely slipped away from the emerging Kraken. It was such a close call that it almost looked like a lucky dodge. No, it HAD to be a lucky dodge. No way Gunz knew that shit would work. Just no way...

[When did he learn to dodge like that!?] Yuel's eyes almost popped out of their sockets when Lars somersaulted through the air and dodged the Kraken's tentacles by a hair's breadth.

Unbelievable. Lars was a glass cannon, so his defense should be terrible. No, it actually WAS terrible. That's a fact.

Yet, Lars somehow beautifully dodged that Kraken. He didn't take the bait and patiently waited for the very last moment. He leaped away only after Breaker could no longer cancel her ult. It almost looked like a pro level play.

Elven Leap being capable of dodging Kraken in the last split-second was very specific knowledge. Even Yuel didn't know how close Elven Leap could cut it until he saw Trever pull off such clutch dodges against Lars's Pirate. Whether it was Elf, Seraph or any other Carry with a dodge skill - Trever always knew the best way to dodge Kraken. If he lived in a fantasy world, people would use him as an Anti-Kraken ward for sure.

After fighting against Trever on a daily basis, Lars must have absorbed this knowledge and made it his own. Trying to teach that goof about these interactions would be a waste of time, but after seeing Trever abuse them in action against him - the knowledge was burned into Lars's mind. Literally "monkey sees, monkey does".

Even though Trever was booted out of the team, a part of him was still here and pushed the team forward. Thanks to the experience acquired from Trever, Lars could stand his ground against Breaker's Pirate! It's a matchup he experienced at least a hundred times by now!

[Tch, think I gonna let you get away!?] Jennifer roared internally. That damn scrub, leaping away in the last moment like that. This shit ain't over! Perhaps her initial plan was ruined, but she still had more tools in her arsenal. She won't let this golden opportunity slip from her! She'll get this kill, right here and now!

Jennifer turned around, showing her back to Gunz. Then, she fired Backfire Cannon, blasting herself toward the spot Gunz where was gonna land!

Unfortunately, the knockback alone wasn't strong enough to get her all the way across. Therefore, she extended her travel distance with a timely Blink, activating it right after the knockback. With this advanced maneuver, she reached Gunz right as he was about to hit the ground!

[How's that, sucker? Yo ass is mine!] During this quick move, she swapped her gun for a saber through "Wield Cutlass", the Pirate's second skill. By sacrificing her attack range, she gained increased attack power, penetration and speed. She gonna wreck Gunz from close quarters!

[Girl is nuts!] Lars's eyes popped as Breaker darted across the lane like a bullet, seamlessly chaining Backfire into Blink. Damn, that was sick! She closed all that distance in an instant! And he was still in the air, so he couldn't do anything about it! Yo!

[Oh boy, she switched to cutlass too?] Lars noticed the saber in Breaker's hand. Yeaaaaah, she gonna wreck him good if this turns into close combat. He hafta get outta her range as fast as possible!

Elven Leap was cancelable into a roll as soon as the Elf's leg touches the ground, Trever pulled that stuff many times before. Dude always dodged Lars's shots in a nick of time like that. So, Lars could do it too!

What angle did Pirate's cutlass swing have again? Geh, there's no time to think! He just had to trust his instincts, honed by the countless dodge rolls he performed against Trever.

As soon as his Elf hit the ground, Lars rolled to the side. The Pirate's cutlass came straight at him, thirsting for blood. Breaker swung it down at lightning speed, but... it whiffed.

Just barely, very barely, Lars evaded the attack by diving underneath the blade. If the sword swing was just a little lower, it would have slashed right through him. But, it missed! He dodged the attack without a scratch! [Woooooohoooooooooooo! Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!]

[W-Wha?] Jennifer froze. She... She missed. She freakin' missed. Her slash just... How. What. Bullshit.

Unfortunately, it really happened and she had to deal with it. So, what's next? Should she keep pressuring Gunz and try beating him in a 1v1? Or, was this a good time to retreat?

Her build was one item ahead of Gunz and said item was even at Lv.2 already. So, she had the DPS advantage, right? She should able to deal with a mere Elf.

Um, how did Pirate compare to Elf at this stage of the game in term of power, again? Pirate was weaker than most Carries during the early game and needed gold advantage to compete. Was her one item advantage big enough to overwhelm Gunz's Elf?

Gaaaah! Processing this shit required too much brain power. She tried painting a flawless picture of victory in her head, but it always came out smudged. It wasn't clear enough. She wasn't whether she had the necessary strength to kill Gunz right now.

So, what it gonna be? Attack or retreat? She had to make the choice- PEW. The sound of a laser beam firing off.

Gunz fired as soon as he recovered from the roll. The green beam pierced through Jennifer's shoulder, erasing over 10% of her HP. FUUUUUUU!!!

That's it, the choice was made for her: she had to get the hell outta here! In a battle between squishy players with high DPS, whoever landed the first blow had a huge advantage. Her chances of winning tanked after this hit, so her only option was to get outta here as fast as-

"Nuuuu!" Jennifer slammed on the table with her left hand, which now became useless. Why? Because freaking branches appeared under her feet and rooted her in place. It was Nature's Embrace, Elf's ult.

Gah! Of course Gunz used that shit! Jennifer should had expected it and rolled aside or something! Dang it!

This sucked hard, but she had to make do with the hand she was dealt. She swapped her cutlass for a gun and turned toward Gunz. She couldn't move from this spot, but at least she could still rotate n place. This allowed her to shoot Gunz until the root wears off.

She took aim and fired, but her bullet didn't reach. Of course it didn't, considering how far Gunz stood. Pirate's shot couldn't fly across half the universe like that.

Nevertheless, Jennifer was hit by a laser beam in response. She was hit, despite the distance. Gunz's laser beams had no trouble reaching her.

That's the nasty combo of Nature's Embrace and Elven Sight. By itself, a mere root effect was pretty damn underwhelming for an ult. However, combined with the range extension of Eleven Sight, Gunz sniped the rooted Jennifer from afar, as if she were a practice dummy. Dang it!

72%. 60%. 48%. Her HP plummeted with the speed of light! And she couldn't do shit about it! Gaaaaah!

She had to get out. As soon as these damn branches evaporate, she'll dash for her life. Gunz didn't have Elven Leap anymore, so he won't be able to chase. Once she gets outta the range of his Elven Sight - she'll be in the clear! The mental image of her successful escape was painted clearly in her head.

As soon as the branches vanished, she rolled forward. [Ha! Take that, sucker!] Her quick roll made Gunz miss a shot, leaving her with over 20% HP. Gunz needed at least two more hits to finish her off. She gonna make it out alive!

"Weeeelp," Lars smiled awkwardly. He landed one more hit on the fleeing Breaker, but it wasn't enough to finish her off. She was outside the range of his Elven Sight and he didn't have any means to chase her. "She got away. I was so close, yo!"

"No problem," Yuel said. "We got her." While he was saying that, Breaker already got all the way back to her Turret.

[Yeah! I'm fast as fuck, boi!] Jennifer grinned. The Turret's area was right in front of her. Once she crosses the line, she'll be- Oh shit. A wild Chronomancer appeared!

"You serious!?" She thundered. Where did that fucker come from!? He was like on the other side of the map last time she checked! Sure, Chronomancer had a movement speed buff ability, but was he THAT fast!? [Chronomancer? More like, Sonicmancer!]

Well, shit. There's no getting outta this one, so she just fired at that Sonic a few times before getting dead.

『An enemy has been killed!』

"Man," Lars twisted his lips. "I didn't get an assist on that."

"You still did well." Yuel nodded in approval.

"Oh?" Lars's eyes sparkled. "Haha, I did, didn't I? That was some intense stuff right there! I showed her how this is done, yo!"

"Yes, yes." Yuel nodded, already regretting uttering words of praise. Feeding this goof with the smallest hint of approval was bound to put him on the high horse.

Still, Lars truly did well. He tapped into the experience he acquired from Trever and deflected Breaker's attack, even turned the tables on her. It wasn't a stretch to call it "good defense". Brr, the mere sound it gave Yuel the chills.

What's even more interesting about this exchange were Breaker's plays. She started well with "Release the Kraken", a rather meta opening. She undoubtedly planned to cancel it after baiting Lars's Elven Leap

However, that idea backfired. Lars didn't take the bait and ended up baiting the Kraken out of Breaker instead. The Kraken was summoned, but it couldn't land a hit. A total waste of an ult.

Still, Breaker recovered quickly and closed the distance with Backfire Cannon + Blink, aiming to overwhelm Lars in melee combat. The beautiful Blink extension for her travel distance was on the wilder side, but the idea of taking the fight to close quarters was a standard approach against Carries.

Overall, until that point, her game plan was orthodox enough and she executed it perfectly. There's no doubt she practiced these plays enough to pull them off in any situation. That was in line with her pitch-perfect execution throughout the day and the Leopards' overall mastery of meta classes.

However, missing the slash with her cutlass threw Break off balance. It's the second time things didn't go her way. She seemed puzzled, bewildered. For a brief moment, she just stood there in shock.

This suggested she didn't know this match half as good as Lars did. She knew how to play Pirate in general, but she didn't know how to specifically pilot it against Elf. It was a very specific matchup and understanding it required experience, the kind not easily obtained from normal practice. Especially, not from practice which focused entirely on the meta, for Elf was a mid-tier class.

In other words, Breaker learned and practiced the meta plays, but she lacked the "streets knowledge" for niche and specific scenarios. That pointed to a lack of experience, in a similar, yet different, way from Freezer. While Freezer seemed rusty, Breaker was outright inexperienced. She covered it up by effectively executing orthodox plays, but she couldn't hide it from Yuel's eyes.

After Breaker missed her saber slash, she froze for a moment. Even though Yuel was busy in Mid at the time, he couldn't tear his eyes away from Lars's monitor. He saw it all. It was just a small freeze, but he saw everything in that moment. In that brief period, Breaker's true nature revealed itself.

The ever-confident Breaker was at a loss about her next play. For a second, she hesitated. That never happened when she played Pyromancer, aside from maybe truly extreme scenarios.

Until now, she has always bounced back from any unfavorable situation and immediately went for the next best option. It's like she was guided by instincts honed over thousands of battles. But, that didn't happen with Pirate. She didn't know what's the next best move, so she stopped to consider her options.

Honestly, Yuel didn't know either what was the "right" choice for her at the time. She most likely pondered whether to continue the attack or retreat, as these were her only logical options at the time.

In term of strength, Pirate had an advantage over Elf in that scenario. Pirate was a relatively weak Carry at its base, but the same applied to Elf too. The same way Pirate compensated for its weakness with gold advantage, Elf compensated for it with range.

Therefore, when forced into a 1v1 at close quarters, Elf would lose its main advantage and would fall back into being a subpar Carry. With Breaker's gold advantage, which already pushed her ahead by one item, she clearly had the upper in term of stats. But, apparently, she didn't quite see it.

The only real consideration left for her in that scenario was whether she could match Lars in a 1v1 in terms of mechanical skill. Maybe it's the concern she had, but that's unlikely. Breaker didn't seem like the type to fear her opponents without a good reason. It's true Lars displayed some amazing plays as Trickshooter, but there was absolutely no reason to believe he could do the same as Elf.

So, no matter Yuel twisted it, Breaker's momentary freeze was most certainly a result of her inexperience. And, this one freeze cost her the whole fight. It Lars to sneak the first hit on her.

Even after surrendering the first attack, Breaker actually still had the upper hand in term strength. But, she didn't see that. As soon as she was hit, she backpedaled and retreated.

With Breaker's course of action decided, the situation fell back into familiar territory for her. Besides the hiccup of getting easily caught by a predictable Nature's Grasp, she overall did a solid job escaping from there alive. If Yuel hadn't asked Dan to head to Bot ahead of time, Breaker would have gotten away scot-free.

The more Yuel went over the facts, the more convinced he became - Breaker wasn't a big threat this time around. She wasn't going to be an easy opponent by any means, but she didn't stand a chance against Lars, who experienced countless Carry matchups throughout the year. Every time Lars fought Trever, it was a simulation of real high-level combat. Lars accumulated plenty of experience of fighting classes which Trever liked and Pirate was among them.

In fact, Lars fought Trever so much, he barely did any other type of practice. It would be frowned upon for anybody else, but for Lars that was probably the perfect form of training. With Trever's knowledge supporting Lars from behind, there's no way Lars would lose to Breaker's inexperienced Pirate. As far as "streets knowledge" was concerned, Lars was the mafia boss right now.

As long as Breaker doesn't change her approach, this final game will be in StormBlitz's hands. That's the conclusion Yuel reached after seeing that one exchange between Lars and Breaker. They had this game in the bag! Probably!