Classmancers - A MOBA Esport Story

Vol.4 Ch.1: The Regionals Without Me

The competitive stage. The place where each player puts their everything on the line for the sake of victory. An arena where gladiators fight relentlessly through blood and sweat, displaying their strengths and conquering their weaknesses.

In today's scrimmage, Yuel got a taste of this glamorous stage. It was a ruthless war zone, but a glimmering one. Today's battle just ended, yet he already dreamed of playing here again.

"Hey dude," Lars called out. "Match is over. How long ya gonna stand there?"

"Oh, right." Yuel returned down to earth. What did just happen, again? Right, they had a handshaking ceremony and the Leopards left. Everything was a blur. He vaguely recalled Breaker talking about something with Lars and Roi, but he completely out of it at the time.

"You okay? You look like a zombie, haha."

"Just tired." Yuel slowly turned toward the exit. Ugh, his legs felt like lead. Each step felt like pushing a car that ran out of gas.

"Dude, you look pooped." Lars walked up to him and offered a shoulder. "C'mon."

"I'm not that tired- wah!" Yuel stumbled, almost diving into the floor. So much for acting tough. Ugh. He felt his cheeks heating up. "... guess I'll take you on that offer." He wrapped his arm around Lars's shoulder. "This is embarrassing.."

"Totally." Lars nodded. "You gotta exercise more. You've been slacking lately, right?"

"I still jog, at least once a week."

"Laaaame. You gotta jog every day, yo."

"Pretty sure that'll break my legs."

"Nah, it'll be fine! Trust me, you'll have more MP than ever! Can cast yo Tactics Shmactics spell all day."

"Heh, I'll think about it." Yuel smiled wryly. Body fitness directly contributed to mental fitness, so it's not like Lars was wrong. However, Yuel's fatigued stemmed primarily from the abnormal circumstances of today's match,

First, he inherited the shot-caller role amidst a helpless situation in the first game. He had to squeeze every last bit of brain power to overcome that ordeal. And since then, he had been the shot-caller every game. That's extremely taxing when combined with playing Support, a role which required sharp-decision making.

However, all of that was still up his alley. Things started getting out of hand once the issue with Trever hit the fan. Yuel was stressed out by the team falling apart and he desperately tried to find a solution, which led to confronting Trever face to face and asking the team captain to step down. An absurd situation. Yuel never dealt with that kind of drama before.

And if all that wasn't exhausting enough, he also became the captain. That loaded further pressure on him, since he had to act like a role model for everybody and hold the team together. Yuel never trained to bear such heavy responsibility during a match. It was nerve-racking.

So all in all, there were too many unforeseeable circumstances and too many roles forced on him. No wonder he was exhausted. No amount of daily exercise could have prepared him for something like this. Even running twenty marathons every day wouldn't build the necessary mental fortitude to deal with that sort of rollercoaster ride.

The only relief he had today was when Lars joining the team. Lars was a high maintenance player, so Yuel had to babysit him a little. But in exchange, Lars steered the momentum in StormBlitz's favor, making it that much easier to win the two games.

"You played well today," Yuel said.

"Whoa," Lars jumped. "You really praising me? That's rare! You sure you okay? Don't die on me, dude!"