Classmancers - A MOBA Esport Story

The Valkyries started the game on a strong note. They caught the enemy off-guard with a hyper-early attack and killed Average, the enemy Jungler. This achievement opened the door to multiple benefits.

First, the trio dived deeper into enemy territory and stole the enemy’s Wraith Camp. "Andria, take this buff and return to the lane," Fiona instructed. "Cornelia, let us clear the nearby wolves as well."

"Gladly!" Cornelia followed the plan with great enthusiasm. After all, she and her allies had just successfully punished that Average plebeian for opposing Cornelia's rule. Now, she was also going to collect taxes from the enemy's lands, as punishment for the whole ordeal. This was very much in line with how a noble lady should carry herself, ohoho!

And so, the two nobles made quick work of the enemy’s Wolf Camp. After that, Cornelia headed to Top Lane, her mainland.

Considering the location she was coming from, she had no choice but to pass through enemy territory as she entered the lane. Nonetheless, she strode proudly through it without a care in the world.

Hmph. Try to lay a finger on me if you dare. Cornelia lifted her chin. I'm already a level ahead of you, almost two. You will not dare.

Indeed, CleanHitter didn't approach her. That peasant knew his place and allowed the noble to pass through his territory without punishing her for it.

Truth be told, the man was very eager to strike this arrogant intruder. However, he was told to stay his hand.

"Are you SURE this is alright, man?" Roi asked again. "This chick is totally acting cheeky! We gotta punish her, right?"

"Yes, and we will," Howard reassured. "But, now is not the time. She's almost two levels ahead of you, and you know how much levels matter this early."

"Yeah, you're right..." Roi conceded. "But, I'm totally going to get back at her for all this! I’ll avenge my bro, ain't nobody gonna stop me!"

"It'd be best if you let it go for now," Howard advised. "The last thing we need right now is somebody acting recklessly and getting killed as well.”

“Yep, true that.”

“So, before you do literally anything, stop to think for a moment about how the enemy’s shot-caller might exploit it. To put it simply, think of her as mini-Yuel who is always out there, trying to find an exploit in anything you do."

"Dang, she's that good?"

"It's hard to tell, so better to assume the worst,” Howard said. “At the very least, that early attack she launched is very reminiscent of Yuel's shenanigans."

"Yeah, true." Roi nodded. "Giving me flashbacks, lol."

"As it should. So, operate under the assumption that if you do anything careless, their shot-caller might punish you hard for it."

"Alrighty, noted."

With that said, Howard himself also had mixed feelings about that turn of events. I hope there aren't any scouts from Utopia here today. If they see us messing up like this against an amateur team, it might be reason enough to disqualify me on the spot.

According to the Utopia representative, leading StormBlitz to victory this year should automatically grant Howard a ticket to their team. But, surely, it was just as important for the team to “look good” while taking the crown. In other words, embarrassing mess-ups like this will be frowned upon.

We have to wrap up this game cleanly without any more mistakes. Howard asserted. But, that early momentum they built isn't anything to sneeze at. I can already see that their Jungler is taking full advantage of it.

After stealing the Wolf Camp, a ward showed that Rosemary headed to the Hyena Camp next. She was fully intent on stealing all the available camps in Top Jungle, quite the bold "princess" she was.

And, that wasn't the end of Rosemary's expedition. After sweeping the hyenas, she already set her sights on the next target.

"Andria,” Fiona called out. “Let us clear the griffins."

"Your wish is my command, milady." Andria bowed theatrically and joined the queen at the Griffin Camp in Top Jungle. This was the only camp at the moment that Fiona could not efficiently clear by herself.

After the Overlord and the Dragon, the griffins were the strongest creeps in the jungle. As such, to properly dispatch them, it was best to team up and also activate a couple of skills.

"AWOOOOOOO!" Fiona's Werewolf howled across the area. The skill revealed all enemies in the vicinity, but that was just a secondary effect. The main benefit of Chilling Howl was the buff it granted, which temporarily empowered Fiona's basic attacks and granted them Lifesteal.

In addition to using Chilling Howl, Fiona also used Grievous Assault. She leapt at the nearby Griffin and assaulted it four times in succession with her razor-sharp claws.

Each slash counted as a basic attack despite coming from a skill, which meant the benefits from Chilling Howl were in full effect. Together with the buffs, this Grievous Assault reduced the griffin to a mere 20% in one fell swoop. From there, it was just a matter of landing two more quick basic attacks to seal the deal.

This quick progress might have made it look as if the Griffin Camp was a fast clear, but that was not the case. After all, there were two griffins in this camp. Fiona’s assault only handled one of them.

As for the other griffin, here Fiona had to employ Andria's help. The Sage cast a fireball that erased 30% of the griffin's HP. After that, Fiona and Andria ganged up on the legendary beast with basic attacks. This was the unfortunate part of this clear that was impossible to speed up, at least not to Fiona’s knowledge.

“Thank you for the help,” Fiona said.

“You may call upon my services at any time, Your Majesty.” On that note, Andria returned to Mid. On the other hand, there was no lane for Fiona to return to, therefore she had to carefully decide on her next destination.

There were two attractive options. She could either rotate toward Bot Jungle to target the other Griffin Camp, or she could return to her side of the jungle and clean up all the camps she skipped on during the opening.

After running a quick calculation in her head, Fiona concluded it was best to sweep through Top Jungle first. The biggest consideration was the fact the Wraith Camp was still online on Fiona's side. This camp provided decent farm and a buff to boot, which together were more valuable than the Griffin Camp.

Furthermore, heading to the Wraith Camp would put her closer to Top. In other words, she would be in a position to gank the lane if an opportunity presents itself.

Better yet, the enemy would be completely unaware of that fact. After all, the Valkyries struck Average down before he placed his wards, so it was safe to assume the majority of Top Jungle was currently unwarded.

Thus, the only outside party who could monitor Fiona's movements in detail was the audience. In particular, Yuel and Vincent.

"Oh, so she chose to head to Top!" Vincent exclaimed. "Interesting, interesting indeed! What is your take on this, Chessmaster?"

"It's a solid decision," Yuel said. "This will net her more exp and gold in total than going after the griffins, not to mention the buff. Also, bonus points if she has any plans of ganking Top, which I feel she does."

Based on the games thus far, it was apparent Fiona was a pragmatic Jungler. She almost always made the right call for her rotations, prioritizing efficiency above everything else. In fact, her jungling was so well optimized it was hard to believe she had less than a year of experience.

She might very well be the best Jungler in the region right now. Yuel thought. I'd say the only one who gives her real competition is Winner. And, maybe StormMonster too, but he hasn't been on the stage ever since our scrim, and neither has the rest of the triangle for that matter.

As unfortunate as it was to admit, Stratus' Junglers didn't measure up at all. One was a memer and the other was an unreliable sleepyhead, though she has been getting much better in that department ever since the Leo scrimmage.

Nia has potential but she needs more polish. She’s too inconsistent right now. Yuel criticized. So yes, all in all, I'd say that probably makes Fiona the best Jungler in this region, surprisingly enough.

Vincent seemed to agree on the matter. He has been singing praises to Fiona's performance ever since her debut.

"She is indeed the Pragmatic Scheduler, just as I thought!" He already dabbed her such based on the Leo scrim, and now he was more convinced than ever she deserved the title!

In the same way the Landberht Princess subjected herself to an inhumanly packed daily routine, she also knew no rest as the Jungler. She rotated nonstop from one objective to another with maximum efficiency. There were no breaks, no rests. It’s almost as if she was allergic to the mere idea of having any “dead time” in her life.

Even now, as she rotated through the camps in Top Jungle, Rosemary was surely thinking about how there’d be some dead time on the way to Bot Jungle. Therefore, it was almost certain she’d try to pick up a fight in Top if the enemy gave her even the slightest of opportunities!

She’s like a living example of a textbook Jungler. Yuel thought. She doesn’t do anything too special most of the time, but each of her plays is polished and well-timed. She’s like a meta incarnate.

This efficient meta playstyle was very reminiscent of Fiona’s approach to chess. She was the type of theory player who studied countless openings and arrangements, allowing her to swiftly defuse complicated board positions.

Back in elementary school, Yuel considered himself a fairly strong theory player as well. But, he didn't hold a candle to the renowned Landberht Princess. When he had to face her on the stage, he came to realize just how much ahead of him the girl was.

Is she going to be the same way in Classmancers, too? Yuel wondered. Can she really pick up the game's theory so quickly and reach a competitive level? I've worked hard for two years to get here, and yet this girl...

Perhaps Fiona was really one of the very few people out there who actually deserved to be called a "genius". Yuel generally frowned about how thoughtlessly others threw this term around, but it felt fitting for somebody like Fiona who always found a way to excel no matter which sport she dabbled in.

With Fiona on board, maybe the Valkyries will end up being another team we’ll have to look out for at the regionals.

And indeed, they have been playing a very solid game thus far. There was Fiona, who zigzagged from one corner of the jungle to the other with efficient scheduling, but the other members also fared decently in their respective lanes.

In particular, the most interesting lane was Mid, where Julia played...