Classmancers - A MOBA Esport Story - Part 3

Vol.16 Ch.28: Preparing the Game Board

Before Ronald loses his motivation, it was necessary to rekindle the flames of passion in him. The fastest way to achieve that was to convince him that his lane opponent was, in fact, competent.

"You may be thinking Blackhole isn't all that because of his 5/10 mechanical skill," Cato said. "But don't ignore that 8/10 decision-making. That's rather high and implies he's capable of being shrewd."

"Eh, it's not that high," Ronald insisted to write Blackhole off. "I think the guy did pull a couple of tricks in the previous scrim, but overall, he didn't leave much of an impression."

"Let's also not forget that he's backed up by their shot-caller, whose decision-making even the ever-harsh Sonya rated as 10/10."

"Correct," Sonya said. "He stands at 7/10/10 at the moment."

"Dang, two 10s!?" Ronald exclaimed as if he saw this data for the first time. "And even his mechanical skill isn't too shabby. Bruh is an absolute unit, what the heck."

"It's just an estimation based on the few games he showed us," Sonya said. "His decision-making as a shot-caller is definitely top-notch, even if it looks questionable at times. And, assuming he's the one who single-handedly handles the drafting phase, then his drafting ability suggests that he's extremely knowledgeable about the game."

"My, he's almost as accomplished as me~" Cato smiled from ear to ear.

"Actually, his stats are a little better than yours."

"Say what!?" Cato gasped. "Since when!? In which area is he better??? I demand to know right in this instant!"

"I demoted your score to 7/9/10 for now."

"M-Me? A 9/10 in decision-making? Surely you jest."

"I admit I'm not 100% sure about this demotion yet. Maybe you do qualify for 10/10."

"But of course I do! In fact, I'm preeeetty sure that the last time I saw my stats they showed a 10/10 in there."

"That was a long time ago," Sonya said. "You never really ask me about my up-to-date evaluation of you, so I assumed you don't care even if something changes."

"I didn't ask until now because I was rather satisfied with the score." Cato pouted. "May I please know how I got demoted from godhood to this peasant level of 9/10?"

"You should know that yourself," Sonya said. "It's because of the way you drag out games unnecessarily."

"Oh, that's all?" Cato sighed in relief. "And here I thought I had some glaring weakness I wasn't aware of."

"Your glaring weakness is that you don't realize that dragging out games IS a glaring weakness. You write it off as if it's nothing but it's actually a huge deal."

"Nah, not really. It's just something I enjoy doing, but I always know when to stop myself."

"Yes, you sure knew how to stop yourself in the first game today."

"My, as merciless as ever, aren't you..." Cato smiled wryly. Maybe his self-control really wasn't as flawless as he thought it to be.

In that sense, he shared a small similarity with Ronald. Both of their scores were influenced by how much they underestimated their opponents.

If Cato knew that the enemy team was weak, then he dragged out the game to torture them and break their spirits. On the other hand, when he knew he was going up against a strong team, then Cato cut down on that bad habit.

Yikes, just the idea of comparing myself to that brat makes my skin crawl. Cato shuddered. Anyway, I've learned my lesson from the first game, so I'm not planning to drag out anything anymore against Straus. In other words, I'm in my complete form with that godly 10/10 decision-making! But, this brat on the other hand...