37 New and Improved Ranger
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When Medea arrived on the plot, the gazes that were put on her by the 2nd string players were filled with curiosities.
It was pretty similar to the time when Irvine had first joined their group on the first day.
And just like his case, Medea's joining of Ravenville and subsequently, their practice, had actually been briefed to the rest of the team even before her actual arrival here.
Back then, the surprise reactions from everybody were even more intense than the time when Irvine was announced to join the university a week ago.
It was understandable.
The reason was not just simply because of her popularity,
Getting a Starseed was always a great win for any colleges, but for a school to acquire two of such prospects on the same year,
Needless to say, they'd certainly become the center of attention and the main target of observations for many other top colleges the world over.
At the very least, all Tier-1 schools that had even the littlest to do with Battle Arena would put their sight on Ravenville and become more on-guard now that such a thing had happened.
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For the people who had remembered her performance back in April, the news of Medea coming to the university was the source of both excitement and anxiety.
On the one hand, the development of Ravenville Illusions within the following years was sure to flourish with the existence of two extremely talented players in this year alone.
But on the other, her presence within the 2nd string's training fields right now had also meant that there would be one more very strong competitor aiming for the spots on the 1st string team against them!
And judging by the monstrous performance of Irvine that they had become more familiar with in these past few days, Medea was most probably not going to be some half-baked freshman either.
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Nevertheless,
With the team's schedules being what they were, the people on the team couldn't really stay stunned for too long and delay their training for the day.
Eventually, the initial surprise slowly quieten down on that morning's breaking news.
Or at least it did for most of the players on the team.
With regards to the reactions by the public and other schools. Frankly speaking, it was not really their primary concerns at the moment.
When Medea had finally arrived on the sidelines of the 2nd string's training fields, What's left of those reactions had turned into the calculative looks of the players who're trying to measure her skills now that some months had passed from her License Exam.
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"Two Starseeds... with you and Dormer here, I can just see that at most a few years from now, every powerhouse will be gunning for our school first in tournaments." Derrick could only grimaced at the thought.
"By that time, I assume you'll also be one of the regulars too if not our Ace Fielder. I'll be counting on you then too Wallace." To his side, Irvine simply threw a friendly smile at him.
"Come on now, one season at a time please."
Currently, they were all in the middle of a warm-up exercise after the morning briefing regarding Medea's enrollment to Ravenville had been announced.
"You two know each other right? I think I saw you talking together during the exam." Greg suddenly chimed in.
"Yea, we go to the same gym."
"...You guys a thing?" He asked with suspicious eyes while gesturing with his finger.
"No."
"Hoho, then--"
"--If only you could put all that active mind into Arena Greg..." Derrick interjected before the conversation got derailed any further. Which caused Greg to retort,
"I always put my all in practice damn you."
"Anyway, it's a good thing none of us are Rangers really." He glanced on the direction of Medea's figure overlooking their practice from afar. He somehow got the feeling that she's also looking over their side right now.
"Hmm, but the numbers of each position on the 1st string team are still undecided right?" Irvine asked to confirm.
"T, that's true too..."
There would always be a total of 15 players in the 1st string.
Although in general, Fielders and Guards would take up most of the space, there're also more older students in those positions who're still inside the team from last season.
The Young brothers, Dan and Dennis, were prime example of this.
"Most of the time there would only be 2 Rangers though. With Clint Silver taking 1 of them, there's only 1 open spot left for a new Ranger whether Dormer's here or not." Derrick speculated.
"True." In the end, the three of them concluded their conversation up to here.
Whether or not Medea had what it takes to secure a spot in the 1st string could only be seen during these 2 weeks of practice.
Unfortunately, their schedule for the fifth day of training camp was not really fit to showcase a new player's skills.
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If the first and second day were used to gather data for the coaches, and the third and fourth day was the implementation of the specialized training created from said data...
The fifth day was dedicated to review the result of their specialized training through the players' practical display on the topic.
For Medea who hadn't been present for the majority of the first half of training camp, there were not much activity that she could participate in today.
It seemed that after watching from the sidelines for a while when she'd first arrived, Medea had quickly been called by the Head Coach to settle some paperwork for her enrollment to both the university and the Arena team.
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On the other side of the field, Irvine was currently feeling ecstatic with himself.
After the morning warm-ups, his group which consisted of him and the two other Solvers of the 2nd string, were tested on their pure solving speed after the 2 days of specialized training.
And to his pleasant surprise, his average completion time of a tower section had decreased by a few seconds!
A few seconds! It was a visible improvement for him!
He chose to believe that this result was not only brought about by the special training but also because of his own personal night practice inside the Arena Facility these last few days
Furthermore, he could somehow feel that this was still far from the limit he could reach even without a solving-related Ability.
'I had almost forgotten this feeling before my return... The feeling of not hitting walls in your training.'
During the later career in his past future, Irvine had often frustrated himself to near depression on how he'd been the only one to not improve as much as a Guard or a player amongst all his colleagues.
That's why he would never dare to take the experience he'd been feeling now after his return for granted.
'I will exhaust all possibilities to become the best I can be as an Arena player.'
Changing positions to play in was only the start of it all for him.
"...Speaking of which, how's that girl doing?"
After thinking about the future for a bit, Irvine had inadvertently thought about the news of Medea he'd heard this morning. Which caused him to look for the signs of her figure on the field, but to no avail.
Of course, getting to be on the same team as her in the end spelled nothing but good news for the university and him personally.
But still, being the friend that they were now, he wouldn't know what to feel if her choosing of this school was partly because of him and might affect her future development negatively somehow.
There's also the fact that Irvine himself couldn't be sure of what her actual college had been during the first timeline.
'...No. For a player of her caliber, it wouldn't have mattered which college she ultimately choose to attend with her talent.'
Thinking for a while longer, Irvine shook his head with firmness.
In his life, he had admired many different players from both the past, present, and future. And even amongst all those players, Medea Dormer could still be placed within the top 10 every time.
When he'd thought about it like this, worrying for her future while he himself was still merely at this level had seemed like a foolish thing to do.
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The practical reviews went on a while longer from morning till noon for all the players on the field.
By the time they got their first break, it coincided perfectly with their lunch time at noon.
Many people took their leave from the field to rest and eat. But since in Irvine's case, his morning review was purely on tower solving, he hadn't accumulated as much fatigue as the others.
Standing on an empty field, he was just about to go for one more round of solving when a familiar figure slowly approached from behind.
"...Still working hard even after being that good?" Medea's voice resounded behind him.
"With you here, all the more reason to." Irvine replied without turning back from his solving.
*click* *clack*
"..."
"So, picking Ravenville in the end?" Not hearing a response, this time Irvine turned his head a little bit and asked another question.
"Actually, I had already given my OK to Eastern Zeta before the Head Coach invited me here."
"Huh?"
"This is me making a last minute decision. Otherwise, why would I only arrive today?"
"Why the sudden change of mind?"
"The Head Coach convinced me. New information dictates that I come here." She glanced meaningfully at Irvine.
"Sounds like a shady deal if I've ever heard one. Well, Eastern Zeta or Ravenville, the college you pick will have two Starseeds in the end."
"True, but here the two Starseeds will stay the full 4 years."
"Uwah, Mister Rex must be furious right about now..." Irvine remembered the monocled old man and continued after stopping his dismantling for a bit,
"You know the Starseed title's no longer gonna be much of an advantage now that we're playing in the college League right? It's whether or not you can get the Crowns here."
"...I know, that's why I came." Medea's face turned serious in an instant,
"I'm betting my sponsorship with Orthos on the line as well, I just feel that somehow the Crown will be a lot closer playing with someone like you."
"Mm." Irvine simply assumed that in her contract somewhere was the requirement for her to get individual awards or a Crown of some kind for her to continue the sponsorship.
"So it is that... Seriously, I'd rather not become your target of an ideal player, it should be the other way around."
"You know, it's funny that you always say stuff like that and yet I've never actually beaten you in anything else but my shooting skills..."
"Use it well and your precise shooting can dominate everything else. Me? I'm playing like this because this is the only way for me to reach the highest level."
"..."
"I don't believe that, with your skills, you can still go pro while becoming a Fielder or a Guard."
'...Going pro is not the end goal though.' Irvine mumbled in a low voice after hearing Medea's reply.
"What's that?"
"Nothing." He shook it off, not intending to explain further.
"..."
"Well, I do agree with what you say about my shooting." As she had expected, Irvine always seemed to know the best path for her to take as a player.
The thing he'd said about focusing more on her archery to reach higher level was a conclusion she had also come to after nights of pondering.
Though covering her shortcomings with close range fights when enemy closed in on her, or increasing her repertoire of trick shots could increase her usefulness as a Ranger.
The more Medea thought about it, prioritizing her talent in critical and precision shootings across long distance would make her shine more on the field.
The rest of the Ranger-related techniques she'd learn should all complement this aspect of her.
For example, rather than close-range combat skills, she'd be better off learning how to distance herself properly and remove her tracks to disappear from her attacker and assume another sniping position.
All these were things that she had reached the conclusions with on her own through frequent trials and errors, learning about her own aptitudes in many different fields.
She still had a little help from her dad in the end, but Irvine had pointed this out casually while they were chatting as if it was the only right thing to do.
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"You're right, I WILL dominate everything with this." Medea slowly whipped out her bow and nocked an arrow on it.
She subtly activated her [Overload], giving her the perception of a slower world, and aimed at one particular target in the distance. Immediately pulling her string after aiming.
From an outsider point of view, Medea hadn't taken anytime to aim at all because of her Ability to think faster during [Overload].
Irvine gave a look of approval as he watched.
But what turned out surprising for him was not that first usage of [Overload] but the second one after that.
After pulling the string almost to its max tension, Medea suddenly forced another [Overload] on herself, this time on her pulling arm's muscles to give it another burst of strength!
For her, it had felt as if she was moving her right arm at normal speed even in the slowed-down environment. But to the onlookers...
That final burst of pull had looked as if it was done using a fast-forward button in real life before the eventual release of the arrow.
And then... The arrow flew.
*WHOOSH*
It was not flying in a high arc but rather a shallow one. However, even with that it managed to reach the faraway target and pierced it all the way through the material before stopping on the ground!
Only,
The target she had aimed towards were not on the same field where she and Irvine stood.
It was placed on the other side of the adjacent training field normally used for the Ranger's specialized training.
Medea had crossed the length of two training fields diagonally with her arrow.
"I will become the Ace Ranger of the Illusions within this year." She declared.
Irvine simply looked on with admiration of her speedy gradual growth after that perfect shot.
"Well your target would be the 3rd year's Clint Silver for that." He nodded,
'Though... Your Ranger styles are the polar opposite of one another.' Irvine remembered the type of player Clint was in the future and couldn't help but smile.
