The match review went on. The victim on the list was Nia.

  “First of all, your stage-fright,” Yuel said. “It’s a difficult problem and I don’t have a foolproof solution to it. You seem to calm down as the game goes on, which is great, but you still o uand the sequences of this issue.”

  Yuel pyed the video. It showed the time Nia was trying to gank DragonMaster during the first game.

  Back then, stress and ay pilled up on her, pressurio hurry. As a result, she passed near enemy wards and telegraphed her rotation

  “Normally, you stay calm and take the longer route to avoid wards. But here, you ran through areas which are usually heavily warded.”

  “Gufu...” Nia curled up on top of the chair.

  “Perhaps it wasn’t as noticeable, but you had simir problems at the beginning of every game.” Yuel let the video py. “For example, here you messed up your farming routine by taking a bad turn. Here, you rotated to the Griffin while the enemy was farming it. These are all small aively harmless mistakes, but it’s important that they exist.”

  “Yep, they exist.” Nia twisted her lips. She didn’t like what she was seeing but she had no idea what to do about it. Pying on stage was too stressful, too scary.

  “From what I see,” Yuel tinued. “It takes you about five minutes from game-start before you return to your usual self. As I said, I’m not an expert on the subject, so I don’t have a real solution for you stage-fright. But, if possible, I’d like you to try stabilizing your early-game somehow. Small mistakes like this pile up and pce the eeam at a disadvantage.”

  “Ok,” Nia said so, but she had no idea how to actually fix any of that. It was impossible to not feel the pressure of the petitive stage, not when a thousand eyes were focused on her.

  “So,” Yuel tinued. “If anybody here has any tips for dealing with stage-fright, make sure to share them because Nia really hose. And, they might be others too.”

  “It’s ez,” Lars cimed. “I’mma just introduce her to the audience again. It worked like a charm!”

  “Pls no.” Nia hugged her knees and shuddered.

  “Don’t be scared, dude. It totally works! Believe it.”

  “Um, how do I inform the school I want to quit the club?”

  “Haha, don’t be like that!” Lars ughed. “It’s a little extreme, but it gave ya that rush you needed, didn’t it?”

  “No,” Nia objected even though she khere was some truth to it.

  When that bully introduced her in front of the entire audiehat was su embarrassing moment it felt like things couldn’t get any worse from there. It was a terrible experience for sure, but it also made her feel like “the worst” was already behind her. As a result, it was easier to trate on the game after that.

  But, I don’t wanna gh it ever again. Nia gulped. Merely thinking ba it made her spasm in terror.

  “I prefer any other idea instead of this,” Nia said. “Please, tell me somebody has a better one.”

  “........................................”

  There was only silenobody in the room had anything to offer. They were all bullies who wao see her suffer. Sob.

  “You should look into the topic,” Yuel suggested. “I’m sure there are some generic tips for bating stage-fright. I’ll run a search too.”

  “Ok.” Nia nodded. “Tell me once you find something.”

  “Hey now.” Yuel made a face. “You have to search too. It’s your problem, not mine.”

  “I believe in you.”

  “I’m fttered, but it doesn’t excuse you from w hard.”

  “Gufu...” Nia pouted. This ehing sounded like a huge pain. But, everybody is w hard to win. I have to put in some effort too.

  “Now,” Yuel tinued with the match review. “This was only the first problem I saw. There are many more.”

  Many more? Nia wao go home. Like, this very instant. Teleportation initiated!

  “I see you there,” Yuel said. “Get away from the door.”

  “Gufu...” Nia stopped right in front of the exit. She was so close, yet so far.

  “Whoa!” Luke jumped. “When did she get all the way over there!? I didn’t even see her move.”

  “The Vanishing Phantom exhibits her powers once more!” Vi made noise.

  “e back,” Yuel ordered. “Good, now sit down. We’re not done.”

  “Guu...” Nia pouted.

  She really hates criticism, huh. Yuel sighed. Then again, nobody likes it. Some just hate it more than others, and she seems to be one of the worse cases. So, I have to deliver things in a way that won’t make her want to run away.

  That was easier said than done. Yuel was infamous for being too blunt for his own good, and this match review was rgely about tearing everybody’s performao shreds. So, it was nigh impossible to be “nice” here.

  Maybe I soften the blow by mixing in some positivity too. I didn’t mean to py this vide the review, but...

  “Before we move on to other problems,” Yuel said. “I’d like to py another video Vi prepared in his free time.”

  Yuel opened one of the other videos Vi prepared, titled “The Vanishing Phantom Shows Her Phantasmic Skill!”.

  The video started off with a familiar booming voice. “VanishingFlower is slowly but surely making her way to Top Lane. Is the enemy aware of this ining rotation!?”

  The footage showed Nia sneaking up tonMaster and pulling off an Izuna Drop. “AND IT’S A KILL!!! Six and a half minutes into the game, Stratus draws first blood! Will that bee the first step toward their victory!?”

  “Wow, sick!” Lars jumped and turo Vi. “Dude, you’re like a pro movie director!”

  “Please, you ftter me.” Vi waved his hand as if to imply this wasn’t a big deal, but he heless had an embarrassed smile on his face.

  “Yo, it’s awesome!” Luke excimed. “Did you make stuff like this for other pys?”

  “Not yet, but I’m pnning to.”

  “Bruh, this is pure gold. You better tell me right away if you make one for me.”

  “But of course,” Vi promised. “I’ll make sure to edit a video for one of your most glorious pys as well.”

  “Heck yeah! You’re the best, man! Waiting for it.”

  The usual loud goofs made a lot of noise regarding the video and the girls were impressed as well.

  “It’s... surprisingly well-made.” Kai almost choked as she said these words.

  “Ah, such fttery!” Vi held his chest as if experieng a stroke. “To think that even the cold-hearted amazon would ftter a peasant like me!”

  “Well, it’s not THAT amazing.” Kai already started backpedaling. “Your voice is way too loud and the cuts are a little too much.”

  “Indeed, indeed.” Vi nodded as he jotted down the criticism on his tablet. “I’ve received simir pints before, so I shall adjust it posthaste!”

  In the end, despite the visible reluce, even Kai praised the video. Before long, the entire room was hyped up.

  Even though the meeting was so serious and teil now, a single positive video was enough to ihe eeam with energy. And, it’s not like this video added much to the discussion or helped anybody improve.

  No, it was just a nicely cut video with overhyped entary, that’s all. Yet, it invoked more reas from the crowd than Yuel’s informative matalysis.

  I feel somewhat defeated. Yuel hung his head. But, I guess it’s only natural. Nobody likes criticism. They rather watch their best moments, not their failures.

  Unfortunately, watg moments of success wasn’t going to help them improve. If anything, it might give them the false impression that they performed extremely well and had nothing to improve. That was the worst-case sario Yuel had to avoid no matter what.

  With that said, it couldn’t be dehat showing a few good pys did woo everybody’s tration. Suddenly, they saw something positive and wao rave about it. It was a good breather in an otherwise suffog atmosphere.

  Iure, I should prepare a couple of positive videos for every match review. Yuel took a mental note. Oh, wait. I almost fot why I even showed this video in the first pce...

  The positive video was indeed very effective. The goofs celebrated it and even Kai praised it. But, what about the star of the show? The entire purpose of showing this video was to ence Nia to bear through the criticism.

  “Ah...” Nia was sitting there with her mouth hanging.

  “Did you like it?” Yuel asked.

  “Y-Yes! Very much!” Nia suddenly jumped. “ we watch it one more time!?”

  That’s the most eic I’ve ever seen her. Yuel was taken aback. Looks like she really liked Vi’s video. I use that to my advantage.

  “Sure, I py it again.” Yuel smirked. “But first, we o discuss your other pys.”

  “Gufu...” Nia slumped as quickly as she raised. But, wait! This was no time to give up!

  She grabbed her bag and flipped it upside down. An avanche of chocote poured from within.

  “I’ll trade you all of these. So, py the video again. Please.”

  “ow!” Luke jumped. “Look at all this gold! Don’t mind me if I grab a few hundreds of these!” He shoved his hand into the ountain without reservation.

  “Dude, where do ya get all this stuff?” Lars also grabbed one bar.

  “She is the Chocote Phantom!” Vi made noise.

  The entire meeting turned into a mess. The mountain of chocotes pletely distracted everybody. It was like a shiny pile of treasure that grabbed everybody’s attention.

  “I don’t hat many.” Yuel sighed and also took one bar of chocote. “Fine, I’ll run the video one more time. But, after that, we’re back to reviewing yamepy, okay?”

  “Ok, ok!” Nia nodded repeatedly.

  And so, Yuel pyed Vi’s hyperventited video one more time. Even the sed time, it invoked maions from the crowd. From loud ughs to hype shouts and everything iween.

  trary to all that energy, the star of the show was very quiet. She was just sitting there like a rock, glued to the video without blinking.

  She really likes it, huh. Yuel smiled wryly. It was rare for Nia to ever show strong i in something, but this video successfully grabbed all her attention.

  “AND IT’S A KILL!!!” This loud annou was like the curtain drop of the show. The Nia on-s successfully executed DragonMaster and scored the game’s First Blood.

  It was undoubtedly a great achievement at the time, but there were more important matters to discuss right now. Namely, the less impressive pys Nia made-

  “Again!” Nia requested.

  “No,” Yuel objected. “We had an agreement, remember? I pyed it one more time, so now we’re back to the match review.”

  “Here.” Nia shoved a fistful of chocote bars in Yuel’s face. “Again.”

  “No.”

  “Gufu...” Nia hung her head and pouted.

  “You watch it as many times as you want after the meeting. But, right now, we have to keep moving on with the match review.”

  “Bully...” Nia pouted.

  This girl... Yuel sighed. “Anyway, ba topic.” He cleared his throat auro the main video, the one showg the pyers’ failures instead of their moments of glory.

  “So, we were talking about Nia.” Yuel turo the girl iion. “Other than the gring issue of your stage-fright, you performed well for the most part. But, I do have a few things to say about your jungling.”

  Yuel skimmed through segments in whiia delivered suboptimal jungling.

  “For example, here.” Yuel paused the video. “Why did you rotate to farm the wolves in Top? It was better to farm near Bot first. There were more camps there.”

  “B-But, that’s the jungling uides advise.” Nia pouted. She probably reized it as a mistake by now but she still argued. “Even Tipmancer reends it.”

  “Tipmancer again.” Yuel sighed. “Yes, under normal circumstances, it’s better to rotate to Top during this time in the game. But, the enemy Jungler cleared our wraiths and hyenas in Top. We had the camps warded, so we caught him red-handed.”

  “Right...”

  “So, you khat two out of the three camps were missing in Top while everything was about to respawn in Bot. That’s why pig Bot is better in this particur situation, even if goes against the guides.”

  “Hm, yeah.” Nia nodded. She seemed to uand what Yuel was saying, but she had trouble fully agreeing to it. It was easy to uand why.

  “o worry about straying from the reended jungling routes. There will always be ued developments during a match. Your job as a Jungler is to adapt to these ges and find a way to maximize farm. Jungler is the only role that has to make such difficult decisions when it es t, but it ’t be helped.”

  “Ok.” Nia nodded.

  It looks like she at least uands what I’m saying. Yuel thought But, I don’t think she has any idea how to improve in that area. She probably only practices the reeipmancer routes. Sigh.

  Tipmahe popur app that supplied newbies with advice about every facet of cers. Su effective, yet wicked, app.

  The advice was generally on point but it was too surface level. As such, Tipmancer was a great tool finners who hadn’t experiehe game enough yet.

  For those willing to learn, the app was no doubt a great panion. However, relying on the app too much could be detrimental to the pyer’s personal development.

  Unfortunately, Nia was one such example. She trusted everything Tipmancer fed her as if these were the words of God. So, no matter how many times Yuel lectured her about the importance of thinking for herself, Nia still often found herself relying on Tipmancer’s teags. Especially, during teches or when she wasn’t feeling fident.

  I thought I’ve already taught her to think more for herself but looks like we still got a long way to go. Yuel sighed.

  Back when they first met, it took Yuel a couple of days just to vinia to rebel against Tipmancer’s advid start ganking Dark Knight in the early-game. So, how long will it take to teaia to think for herself during juations?

  Looks like I’ll have to form a loraining pn...

  Moving on, the opic of i was Game 3. That’s when the infamous trio ade, StormMonster, and Lapce subbed in. It was the game in which Stratus suffered its first devastati of the day.

  So, what was Nia doing during that game? Not a whole lot, and that was the problem.

  “In this game, you didn’t seem to attempt any ganks,” Yuel analyzed. “You just farmed camps and joihe defense efforts. I know you like pying defensively in Duel, but that’s not how an assassin should be pying in the MOBA mode. I’m sure you know that as well, so why?”

  “I couldn’t gank anything.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “There were no openings.” Nia grumped. “Those three kept an eye on each other. They’d spot me if I came close.”

  “By ‘they’, you mean to the three pyers who subbed in, right?”

  “Mhm.”

  “I see,” Yuel said. “So, you felt like the Triangle wasn’t showing you any openings.”

  “But of course it didn’t!” Vi interjected. “For it’s The Invincible Bermuda Triangle of Certain Doom! It has no openings!

  He must’ve shouted that just to remind everybody of the unnecessarily long niame he made for the Triangle. Also, didn’t the longer si time...?

  “Too long. I’m not calling it that,” Yuel said.

  Putting that nonsense aside, this was an iing discovery. It seemed like Nia naturally sensed how airtight the Triangle’s formation was. This robably a part of her talent as a walking stealth mae. After all, in order to be stealthy, she first o have a good grasp of the enemy’s attention span.

  It just goes to show how good the Triangle really was. Yuel thought. Even after reviewing the eany times, I still couldn’t find a good way to ter the Triangle. Even now, I still think it’s best to py around it. Anyway, back to Nia...

  “Okay, I uand why you didn’t gank the Triangle,” Yuel said. “But, why didn’t you gank any of the other pyers instead? You could’ve focused on their Mid or Top.”

  “I thought about that, but...” Nia twisted her lips. “I wao find a way to gank that ‘Triahey felt too dangerous. Too scary.”

  “So, you focused on the ungankable Triahe entire game instead of ganking literally anybody else?”

  “M-Maybe.” Nia shifted her eyes away.

  “I see.” Yuel sighed. “Say, did you watch the two games you slept through?”

  “Mhm.”

  “Did you see how we dealt with the Triahere?”

  “You dealt with it?” Nia cocked her head. “I don’t remember that part.”

  “Of course you don’t because it does. Until the very end, we’ve never really ‘dealt’ with it. We pyed around it and focused on other things.”

  “Oh, smart.” Nia nodded.

  “That’s what you should’ve done as well,” Yuel expined. “Instead of challenging the impossible, you should’ve focused on ganking on other nes.”

  “I-I po gank other oo, ho! But, right when I decided to give up oriangle...”

  “I see.” Yuel didn’t o hear any more. With how Game 3 pyed out, it was clear what happened.

  In short, enlighte struck too te. By the time Nia decided to give up on ganking the Triahese guys had already pulled the game-winning move. They killed Kai in Bot and teleported to gank Top. That threw the entire game into chaos.

  From that point onward, Nia couldn’t find many good opportuo gank and that’s how she ended up pying defense for the rest of the game. She missed her the early-game and the rest was history.

  I should’ve realized her struggles sooner. Yuel thought. I always leave her alone during the early-game because she has her own way of doing things, but maybe it’s a little careless of me. Future matches will only get harder from here on out. She won’t always be able to py in her fort zone during the early-game.

  With all the smaller problems analyzed, it was time to address the elephant in the room. There were tw issues that were Nia’s biggest fws at the moment.

  These problems were impossible to capture on video, so they had to be expined upfront. Hopefully, Nia was willing to listen...

  DarkestCymore