The Zone... Or Hyperfocus?

『You have killed an enemy!』

The message flashed on Lars's screen, but it was merely a confirmation of something he already knew the moment he pulled the trigger. He had absolute confidence his shot will hit the rolling target, and it really did. There were no surprises there.

Nonetheless, this occasion called for a celebration! Alas, the moment was ruined by an arrow that pierced his back soon after.

[Oh, you dudes are still here.] Lars turned around and shot the bowman straight in the forehead. It was an immediate shot with zero time to aim.

But if so, then how did Lars nail it, let alone score a headshot? Well obviously, his 500% accuracy would never miss a shot.

... wait, 500%? Was his aim always like that? Honestly, he felt a little out of it right now.

His body moved just fine as it sniped down the bowmen one by one. Nonetheless, his head just felt… empty. Even more empty than usual.

But, it was not the bad kind of emptiness. On the contrary, by erasing all the irrelevant thoughts, he felt like his brain concentrated 500% on his surroundings. 

In short, Lars had transcended thinking at this very moment! His brain was concentrated on the game to the point that "thinking" was too slow. Only scrubs had to "think". Real pros gotta "feel" it, yo!

Unfortunately, this state of drunkenness didn't last long. As the situation around him calmed down and the lane became empty, a switch flipped off in his mind. After that, a wave of fatigue washed over him.

"Phew." Lars exhaled weakly as he leaned back. This gaming chair was very comfy. So much, so that he almost wanted to take a short nap on it…

However, that improper desire was shortly interrupted by the team's celebration,

"Y-You finally did it!" Ben exclaimed. "You killed that Korean player!" 

"Great job," Kai said. "Finally, you showed him who's boss."

"Yes!" Even Nia pumped a little fist, though she tried to keep a low profile about it.

However, unlike the rest of them, Yuel paid more attention to something else.

"Are you okay?" Yuel asked. "You're oddly quiet about all of this."

"Oh, yeah, I'm fine. 100%, dude." Lars tried to smile as always but his voice clearly lacked its usual vigor.

"I expected you to jump around and boast about how you've just killed Apprentece. After all, this is the first kill we've managed to score on him in this game."

"Oh yeah, you're right. I totally did that dude in, didn't I? Hehe." Lars snickered. "Ain't I awesome, yo!? I showed him the business!" He pumped a fist for a moment but it soon fell off.

[He looks a little out of it.] Yuel thought. [As I thought, it's "that" thing again.]

Though the condition was extremely rare, this wasn't the first time Lars exhibited these symptoms. In the heat of a critical moment, the goof would sometimes go quiet and exhibit an unparalleled level of concentration on the task at hand. For a few short moments, it was almost like watching a completely different person play the game.

During those times, Lars's execution was even more flawless than usual. In fact, it was almost accurate to call it superhuman, even more than his regular execution was.

On top of that, even his decision-making seemed to skyrocket during these times, though that aspect of the state was much harder to reach proper conclusions on.

[The whole thing never lasts long enough to draw proper conclusions.] Yuel thought. [He just turns like this, wins some fight or another, and then goes "back to normal".]

Except, on the way back, Lars didn't exactly return to the same "normal". After going through that odd trance state, Lars usually came out oddly exhausted. It's as if a huge chunk of his vitality was drained from him within the span of seconds.

[The whole thing has only happened a couple of times in the past, but it stuck in my mind because we always had to cut practice short after that.]

After coming out of the trance state, Lars was in no condition to continue practicing. It's not like he played terribly per se but he was clearly dragging his foot compared to his usual performance, so it didn't seem efficient to let him continue playing like that.

[Honestly, I still don't quite understand what actually happened to him.] Yuel admitted. [My guess is that this is what people refer to as "being in the zone", but to me, it doesn't look nearly as impressive as some make it out to be.]

There was no question that Lars's performance skyrocketed every time he was "in the zone". Even in this game, the way he nailed that last shot on Appretence was nothing short of incredible.

Sure, there was a gamble in there. Still, it was nonetheless a brilliant play that took everything into account: Appretnece's skill level, the cooldown of his Dodge Roll, and even the guy's desire to quickly get back to the tower area.

Normally, the goof wouldn't be able to consider this many factors all at once in such a short period of time. So, the "normal Lars" would've likely fired toward the center of Appretence's body. That would've been a straightforward shot that Appretence's Dodge Roll would've countered.

So, in that sense, entering this "trance state" definitely helped Lars out. However, this great power came with a cost.

The whole affair lasted less than a minute, yet the signs of fatigue were already clear as day on the goof's face. It seemed as if going in and out of that hyperfocus state threw his systems off balance somehow.

[Maybe he's just not used to it yet.] Yuel thought. [But, I'm not sure we have the time for him to practice this. Not to mention, I'm not even convinced that this thing is really helpful in the long run.]

For a short moment, this state truly granted Lars unparalleled power. However, after that, his performance dropped sharply. So, if something like this were to happen in the middle of an ongoing match, the consequences could be severe for the following games.

There was a lot of vague information online on this topic, so it was hard to discern the exact nature of what Lars experienced. Was it really a case of "being in the flow"? The answer wasn't clear cut because the symptoms were remarkably similar to another less desirable state of mind: hyperfocus. 

The two were similar in many ways, but one was believed to boost performance while the other simply led to a fixation on a particular topic.

[I've never figured out how to tell the two apart.] Yuel thought. [After reading so much about them, they feel like almost the same thing. In fact, maybe the difference is just in how each subject operates during the state.]

For some, focusing a lot boosted their performance, while for others it caused over-fixation. It was very much possible that this was the only difference, hence why it was almost impossible to tell the two conditions apart.

Anyway, as Yuel's research didn't yield any conclusive answers, he shelved the topic for now. It was a rare phenomenon, so it shouldn't affect Lars's performance too often.

[But it happened here, on the competitive stage.] Yuel frowned. [Only once but during an extremely critical moment. It might strike again during the regionals.]

If exhaustion randomly strikes Lars in the middle of a decisive match, it'll likely spell doom for the entire team. There was no guarantee that whatever "temporarily enhanced performance" he'd get in exchange would make up for any of this.

[At least, I refuse to gamble on something uncertain like this.] Yuel thought. [Still, now that I know it can happen during competitive games, it might be a good idea to better understand what triggers this state. Then again, Lars also has to practice his Elf, and we have a lot of practice to do as a team as well. Sigh…]

Unfortunately, time was a finite resource. It was impossible to deal with every single topic before the regionals.

Likewise, time was merciless when it came to the game's progress.

『DEFEAT』

The fifth and final game of the day ended on that predictable note. Stratus has lost the game, and the match as a whole.

Even though Lars scored one kill on Apprentece, that didn't do much to improve Stratus' overall situation. In the end, they just treaded a kill for a kill in that situation, so it was barely even an advantage in the first place.

After that incident, with Lars feeling out of it because of the questionable trance state, the team was unable to mount any strong attacks. They already had very little chance of making a comeback in the first place, but Lars' suboptimal condition pretty much sealed the deal.

And so, the curtain fell on the long scrimmage between Stratus and the Leopards.