38 Early Decisions

On Tuesday.

Needless to say, the talent that Medea possessed didn't go unnoticed when the first and second day of the latter half of training camp came around.

Unlike the Single Tower Marathon that the Fielder, Guard, and Solver trio had to do. The Ranger's first and second days evaluations were a bit more peculiar.

The coaches needed multiple quick matches done rapidly to be able to collect comprehensive data on a player.

And for this, the marathon fit well with the coaches' scheduling and schematic, but single tower matches didn't include a Ranger position.

As such, the only way for the coaches to be able to see actual live performances from the 2nd string Rangers would be at the end-of-day's closing matches that were mandatory for everyone.

But the pace and results from such full match also couldn't fit-in well with the 2-day schedule for data collecting. Furthermore, they would only end up inconveniencing the rest of the positions.

And so, they had to resort to different means.

.

When the rest of the positions in the 2nd string were doing their Single Tower Marathon, the Rangers would also be doing their own non-stop matches in the adjacent field.

These matches only included 2 Rangers at a time, but unlike the single tower match, they would be using the whole wide training field as ranged-weapon users.

They would be accompanied by several high-speed moving targets roaming about the field as substitutes for actual players.

These targets couldn't actively attack each other and only move in formation patterns that simulated real players' positioning on the field.

Through this, each Ranger would be required to find the correct actions and timings to shot them down themselves by viewing the flow of the enemy targets' movements while protecting their own.

It was a fast-paced training that was used by many college and even pro teams when they were trying to collect comprehensive live match data from their Rangers.

With her long-range shooting style, Medea's ideal positioning and comfort zone was a bit behind the line than the rest from the team, but in turn, she also produced an abnormally accurate shots for a freshman.

This was especially true when she was shooting the 'Guard' targets behind the enemy's halfway line.

Most of her points were collected from these long-range shots.

.

.

Inside the Ravenville Arena Facility's conference room.

As usual, the coaches and the regulars were currently watching the early results of the 2nd string's final week of training.

"Critical long-range shootings... Just like Lang, she's got her own weapon figured out alright." Clint gave a meaningful nod at a video recording of Medea's plays.

"Regrettably, her observation and commanding skills still need a bit of work from what the full match has shown us." Coach Thompson added.

On the first day's closing match, Medea had been randomly teamed-up with Irvine while Greg and Derrick were playing on the enemy's side.

Unfortunately, even though it was a hard fought near-tie battle, Irvine and Medea's team ended up losing the game with 3-2 scores.

In that match, Medea's main weakness as a Ranger was made quite clear by the recordings to all the people present in the meeting today.

"Hnng, it's not exactly non-existent for sure, but..." The Captain of the team, Renee, grumbled a little while feeling slightly annoyed.

"It's not non-existent only because she was supported by Irvine Lang." Clint analyzed the match objectively.

"...That's true."

It had seemed that in these few days, their standards for freshmen players had skyrocketed like crazy because of that one guy.

It was even more so for Medea Dormer because she was also a Starseed.

'But as I thought, Irvine Lang is an exception even for a Starseed. At least in terms of match experience...' The Head Coach, Lark, noted in his mind.

All the regulars and coaches present here had all seen each and every one of the training camp's closing matches.

And in those few times, they had come to notice that Irvine had always made it much easier for his Rangers to call their plays each and every time.

In Battle Arena, all exosuits had built-in comms inside for the players to interact with each others.

But battles and fights were inherently messy, especially for uncoordinated teams.

That's why it had become an unspoken rules of old that in Arena matches, unless absolutely necessary, only the Rangers with better views of the field should turn on their comms at all times to speak with the rest and lay down commands.

Irvine also followed this rule to the letter.

But often during matches, when his Ranger made a bad call like circling to the side when they should've stepped back. He would usually overrule the command.

He would influence his teammates' movements either by pulling his mark and blocking the supposed pathway, or by stepping in himself to block by seemingly repositioning his fights against his enemy.

Sometimes he would even corner or push his enemy in specific directions to redirect the flow of the fight and create a situation where it'd be clearer for the Ranger to make the right call.

Although most of it was achieved by simple blocking and positioning, the main point was that he was doing it so subtly such that even his Rangers didn't notice that his earlier command was being overwritten by new developments.

Most of the time, they just thought it to be a fortunate turn-out on the frontline that allowed them the chance to adjust their commands of the team when in fact it was Irvine's doing.

But that's not all!

The other astonishing feat was his timely supports to his teammates.

With his subtle positioning during fights, he would always put himself in places where he could intercept his teammate's battle whenever the other got into slight disadvantage.

Other times, he would anticipate his Ranger's position and made the view of the enemies' bodies more exposed for them to target by circling around his mark.

In any case, Irvine's existence on the team often bring about drastic increase to his team's overall performance with his plays.

.

"...His is not just a simple combat sense, it's something else entirely." Even Clint couldn't fathom the limit of Irvine's tactical awareness from just the 2nd string's matches.

"Silver's correct. That's not combat sense at all actually, it's his awareness of the field and his control over it." The Head Coach simplified Irvine's feats for everyone to understand,

"If one didn't watch his positioning carefully, his pushing and pulling of the enemy, nobody would notice how the flow of the matches always seem to favor his team."

Truthfully speaking, the more Lark thought about it, the more baffled he was on how Irvine achieved such level of control in matches.

'It couldn't be talent, one would need to experience not only numerous matches but also high-leveled ones to cultivate such awareness...'

To him, talents were always clear to see. It was the one or two things a person had reached a high level on because they needed less effort to train in them.

What Medea had, her long-range precision shots and senses, that was talent!

But Irvine's feats were an accumulation and combinations of different little skills and HOW he utilized them.

Even if some of them could be attributed to talent, it wouldn't make sense for all of them to be the same case!

'Even that subtle positioning and support... Only Silver had an inkling that the matches' flows were weird when we watched the videos.'

"So he's the tactical type right? Like you Silver?" Renee asked straightforwardly at him.

"Maybe, I'm more strategic than tactical though, won't know for sure until I play him myself. Ah, but I will say one thing..." Clint answered,

"What's that?"

"Underdeveloped Rangers who play with him will either be too pampered to improve or learn to synergize with him well enough to create great plays. There won't be any middle ground, I think."

'He hit the nail on the head...' Lark also agreed with his viewpoint on the matter.

Irvine's consideration for his Rangers might even be detrimental to their development if they simply took it for granted.

"Which one do you think you'll be?" Renee asked him again without much thought.

"Oho, as I said I won't know until we play together. It'd be great if I am the latter though, right Captain?"

Clint didn't give a definite answer, but the relaxed and confident look on his face hadn't changed one bit from the question.

"Sure, though depending on the result, we might have to rethink our whole formation when using him in a match."

Lark had noticed that at some point, the regulars had become more and more used to talking about Irvine as if he's already fixed for a spot in the 1st string.

'Maybe I myself am too obvious huh...' He smiled wryly before moving on,

"Going back to Medea Dormer." Lark pointed back towards the video of her still playing on the screen, "Thoughts?"

"Should still be alright, skill-wise." Dan Young simply shrugged while to his side, his twin Dennis also nodded.

"With regards to potential for growth, it would make sense to put her in." Renee also agreed,

"Currently, although there are other Rangers in 2nd string with more stable and balanced skillsets, none of them have developed their own unique 'weapons' like her yet."

"Exactly, from the start our team has always prioritized strong individuality rather than stability." The Head Coach grinned at his team who at some point had already started thinking like him.

"Silver?"

"Mm, The Illusions' core competency is in the range of plays we can deploy at any situations." Clint muttered,

"2 polar opposite Rangers and 2 polar opposite Solvers will give us that I suppose. Of course we still need our safety players."

*CLAP*

"Then I guess the rest of this week will pass by rather uneventfully unless something unexpected happen. Though that wouldn't be bad as well..." Lark concluded their meeting up to here.

The Head Coach didn't say much, but everyone could already pretty much guess that with this meeting, all the spots in the 1st string had more than likely been reserved in full, albeit unofficially.

Lark's final remark had meant that the only thing that could change the line-up now was if some players suddenly displayed exceptional growth or developed certain merits that surpassed his newly chosen 1st string players.

But if something like that happen, that could also only mean a good thing for the team.

"DISMISSED."

Coach Thompson ended the meeting with a loud shout. The 3rd and 4th years regulars all stood up one-by-one without minding the results very much.

.

.

And just as calculated, the rest of the training days blew past quickly after Medea's assessment meeting on Tuesday.

The schedules for the second week were identical to the first one in terms of structure.

Though the content of the specialized training and specific break times had changed slightly, most of the 2nd string players had mostly gotten used to it following the rest of the weekdays.

And on Saturday,

.

It was the final weekend before college officially started.

Irvine had arrived in the Arena Facility's 2nd floor training room just like usual for his own additional training.

Aside from the unplanned 2nd string gathering to the Facility on the first day of training, Irvine had never actually invited anyone else for his evening self-practice.

He wouldn't want to disrupt everybody else's plan with his own. And plus, the only menu on these evening practices for the past week had only ever been about tower solving.

It was an individual activity that required a lot of focus, so he wouldn't be able to even converse during practice anyway.

But today was a bit different,

*YAWN*

"..."

"Seriously? You spend your weekend training too?" Derrick grumbled after his struggle of getting up early this morning.

"Good morning, thanks for coming to help out today." Irvine greeted cordially.

"...Don't tell me when you refused to join the new recruits' welcoming party last weekend--"

"Ah, I'm here too yeah. I told them I'd come if they hold it here though."

"Why would we hold it here??"

"Isn't the entertainment room here pretty good?" Irvine asked innocently.

"That's not the point-- Agh whatever! What is it, asking for me to come here suddenly?"

"I'm trying to completely develop that defensive technique I told you about before, thought I'd need your help this time around."

"That--" Derrick suddenly remembered the neutralizing blast Irvine had used to stop the enemy player's ambush during one of last week's matches.

"That thing huh..."

"Yep. Your [Shock] is probably the most incompatible Ability against it, and I don't know anyone else who have the Ability."

*sigh*

"Just my luck I guess... Let's do this then." Derrick started to stretch