The Search for Knowledge

Yuel and Julia finished the one kilometer race without any trouble. Surprisingly, Gregory passed it with flying colors as well. Yuel and Gregory were among the least athletic kids in the world before summer break, yet they both finished this race within the top 10.

"You sure can run." Yuel squinted his eyes.

"So can you, kek." Gregory smirked.

"Looks like your prediction for the first round was off. I'm still in the game."

"Yeah, so it seems. Where did you learn of this exam anyway?"

"Nowhere. Lars dragged me to jog with him during the summer and that's the result. But you trained because you knew about the structure of this exam, didn't you?"

"Who knows." Gregory shrugged and averted his eyes. Yuel wanted to pursue this topic further, but Julia's high-pitched voice interrupted him.

"Eeeeh!? You lost!?" Julia nearly fainted from shock.

"Haha, yeah." Lars scratched his head. "I was so close too! Tai did some super special training in the summer, I'm tellin' ya."

Lars lost? To Taison? That's all the proof Yuel needed. Taison and Gregory definitely knew about the structure of this exam. Taison trained to steal first place, whereas Gregory trained to not get eliminated.

"It's thanks to Taison's brother, isn't it?" Yuel deduced. "I heard he's playing competitively in high school. Assuming he also attended this school before and tried to join the Classmancers club, he surely remembers the unusual structure of this exam."

"Yes, yes. You're so smart. Much genius, such amazed. Jeez." Gregory got fed up with the interrogation, falling right into Yuel's trap.

"So, you know what's coming next, don't you?"

"I don't remember."

"Didn't you predict Lars will fail the 2nd round? I'm sure you have some idea."

"You really like nitpicking, don't you?" Gregory sighed. "Okay, I'll tell you. There's nothing you can do about it anyway. It's a quiz."

"About Classmancers?"

"Mhm. You pick a role and they give you a quiz about it. Like the first round, you're out if you score low. Good luck getting that idiot thought this one, kek."

Once everybody gathered in front of Howard again, the results of the first round were announced. A total of 15 players were eliminated. Taison won first place, so he instantly passed the entry exam.

"We'll do the second round tomorrow." Howard announced. "You must be pooped from all this outdoor activity, right? Get some rest for today. You'll be given the details tomorrow, but here's a small hit: you better come prepared for some intense brain work."

From the hint, it was almost certain Gregory didn't lie. The next round was going be a Classmancers quiz or something similar. The questions would probably test game knowledge and decision-making. Terrible news.

"Can you two come over today?" Yuel asked Lars and Julia.

"I planned to, but my freakin' body is falling apart, haha." Lars produced an awkward laugh.

"I'm not coming either." Julia said. "I wanna take a shower and stuff."

"It's important." Yuel explained the situation. "It'll probably be similar to the quizzes we get at school, except about Classmancers. I'm confident about passing, but what about you two?"

"Depends on how hard it is." Julia shrugged.

"L-Like a school quit?" Lars twiched. "H-Heh. Haha. Hahahahaha! No problem, yo!"

"Really?" Yuel squinted his eyes. "How much do you usually score on exams?"

"Heh. Welp. Ya know."

"No, I don't."

"Haha! No problem!"

"So it's that bad. I see." Yuel frowned. Gregory was Lars's classmate before, so if he evaluated Lars like a lost case... sigh. "I'm not sure how much we can cover in one day, but we should study some basic Classmancers material. According to Gregory, you can pick a role to be quizzed about, so let's study about Carr-"

"See ya tomorrow!" Lars was already all the way at the school gate.

"Huh, you sure got there fast. I thought your body was falling apart or something?"

"Haha, how weird! I feel amazing all of a sudden! Agh, y-yeah! All recovered!"

"Great, it means you've lost your reason for not coming over."

"Geh! Oh, I totally forgot! I had something to do today-"

"Come on." Yuel dragged Lars away.

"Nooooooooo! Anything but studying!!!"

"What about you?" Yuel turned to Julia.

"I'll think about it after I rest a little." Julia answered. As expected, she came over an hour later. Good, everybody were assembled for a studying session.

"First, let's go over all item stats and effects." Yuel opened a web page listing all the items in Classmancers. "After you memorize this, we'll-"

"H-Hold on!" Lars cried. "I can't do that! Memorize all that stuff? Dude, I've never got more than 40 on an exam! My brain isn't made for these things!"

"Surely you jest. Nobody could possibly be [that ]stupid."

"Actually, I think that's not far from the truth." Julia averted her eyes. "At least, I've never seen him score higher than 37."

"That's..." Yuel rubbed his eyes, taking his time to process this mind boggling reveal. "How is that even possible? Just what have you been doing during class?"

"Doing Class... mancers! Haha."

"Hilarious." Yuel sighed. He already knew Lars was the type who could only learn things via practical experience, but he had no idea things were this grave. Ugh, if only Yuel could load the web page onto a disc and shove it into Lars's brain.

"So anyway, let's forget about that boring stuff and play some Classmancers!" Lars grinned and took out his tablet.

"No." Yuel snatched the tablet. "We need to figure out how to teach you these things, or else you're going to be eliminated this round."

"Hey, give it back!" Lars latched onto the tablet and pulled it.

"Ugh, let go. You won't be able to focus with the tablet beside you."

"You let go, dude! It's my tablet!"

"I'm doing this for your sake!"

"Thanks, but no thanks!"

The played tug of war with the tablet, both refusing to yield.

"Seriously, are you five or something?" Julia stared at them.

"You're right, this is stupid." Yuel let go of the tablet.

"W-Wah!" Lars crashed into the floor.

"If you don't want to study, then you can leave. The door's over there."

"C'mon, dude. Stop being such a stuck up." Lars forced a smile. "You wanna play too, right, July?"

"I..." Julia paused. Her eyes shifted back and forth between Lars and Yuel, each expecting a different answer from her. It was tempting to support Lars so she could look good, but she wanted to do the right thing. "I'm... I'm going to study. W-We may be able to play later, though!"

"Eh? You too? Stop being so boring and let's play, my dudes!"

"Play solo if you want to play that badly." Yuel retorted. "Unlike you, we're trying to get into the Classmancers club. If you're fine with failing the entry exam, then go ahead. Go play to your heart's content."

"Of course I also wanna get in." Lars insisited. "Who knows, maybe the exam is actually real easy and I'll ace it. Yeah, I'm feeling it, yo! I gonna score full marks for the first time in my life!"

"But, if it's not an easy exam, you're going to fail hard."

"Welp, can't do anything about that." Lars shrugged. "If that happens, I'll just wait until high school to get into a club."

"Oh, right. You wanted to get into Ivy High to play on the strongest team in the region, didn't you?"

"Yup, that's the plan."

"I hope you know they only accept students with an average grade of 70 or more."

"Eh?" Lars blinked. a dumb smile hanging on his face. "N-No problem! If I study from now on, I'll eventually make it!"

"Yeah, I'm sure." Yuel sneered. "If you can't even sit down to study Classmancers, you'll never bother studying anything else. You're a lost case."

"Don't worry, I'mma study. There's just no point doing it today, nothing gonna change in a single day anyway."

"You sang a very different tune when you practiced Headhunter's headshots from morning to evening. You told me that every single day of practice made a huge difference, remember?"

"Welp, that's... ya know..."

"To think you were such a quitter. Honestly, I'm disappointed." Yuel turned away from Lars. He couldn't stand looking at that idiot anymore. "If that's as far as you're willing to go for Classmancers, then just leave."

"C'mon, dude. Don't give me that. Who knows how the exam gonna turn out! I may pass with flying colors!"

"Or fail miserably, which is more likely. Then, you won't be able to play in the competitive scene for the next three years."

"Welp, that'll suck, but it's okay. The middle school competitive scene isn't a huge deal anyway. Only in high school things get serious for real."

"Ugh!" That was the last straw. "Just get the hell out!" Yuel roared.

"Eh?" Lars froze. "H-Haha. C'mon, no need to be like tha-"

"GET THE HELL OUT!" Yuel tossed Lars's bag across the room. Heavy silence descended on the room.

"Tch, okay." Lars picked his bag and stomped out of the room. The silence persisted until Lars passed through the exit and slammed the door with all his strength.

"Dammit!" Yuel dropped on his chair and slammed on the table. Even he didn't knew he could snap this hard. But seriously, what was that idiot thinking!? The middle school competitive scene "wasn't a huge deal"? What happened to the Lars who always pushed forward and overcame every obstacle in his way!?

["Yo, dude! You and me! Let's conquer the world of Classmancers together! We'll form the strongest Carry and Support duo!"]

These words were burned into Yuel's mind and had been driving him to work his hardest. Despite how terribly unathletic he was, he exercised every other day for the sake of achieving their goal. Weren't they practicing so they could play competitive Classmancers on the same team? How could Lars quit so easily just because of some stupid quiz!?

["Conquering the world of Classmancers"? What rubbish. ]He didn't feel like it anymore. What quiz? What Classmancers? What competitive scene? Screw all that.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Yuel noticed to the tapping sounds coming from the sofa. Julia was still sitting there, typing away on her smartphone as if nothing happened.

"You didn't leave?"

"You want me to?"

"No, I didn't mean that."

"Is that so." Julia didn't even spare him a glance. She was absorbed in her phone, switching throughout a multitude of deep and complicated expressions.

"Thanks for sticking up for me back then." Yuel said. "It must have been hard for you to oppose Lars like that."

"Hmph, it's not like I did it for you."

"I know. But thanks anyway."

"So, you chilled out?" Julia put down her phone and looked at Yuel. "You sure blew a fuse there."

"Yeah, I... went a bit overboard." Yuel averted his eyes. Now that he thought back on it, the way he snapped was so uncharacteristic and embarrassing. "But you agree with me, right? He's the one in the wrong,"

"You also weren't exactly a shining example of righteousness and stuff., you know"

"Yeah, I'm aware. Yelling and kicking him out was immature."

"That's not it. You gave up on him too easily."

"Too easily? I tried to convince him for over an hour."

"Let's get something straight, okay?" Julia said. "Not everybody can sit in front of a text scroll and study for hours. I'm an okay student, but even I find your suggestion dumb. Sit down and read all item descriptions? Like, are you stupid or something?"

"That worked fine for me."

"Wanna hear a little secret? Not everybody is like you. Instead of forcing him to do something that wouldn't work, you should have figured another way to go about it."

"Another way? Like what?"

"I dunno. You're the 'genius' here, remember? Figure something out, dumbface. For example, there are apps like this." Julia flipped her phone, showing a Classmancers quiz app. She cleared 16 questions in a row on her previous run, pretty impressive. "You can even win some gold and skins if you link your account. It's really dope."

"Yes, that really sounds neat." Yuel nodded. "But, you saw how he is. How long do you think this app can keep him motivated?"

"Not for too long, I guess." Julia shrugged. "But that's just an example, I'm saying there are alternatives and stuff. You just gotta figure something that works for Lars. Didn't he pull your sorry ass when you tried quitting jogging?"

"That's... Yes, you're right." Yuel completely forgot about it. When he just started jogging, it was exhausting and painful. He wanted to quit so many times. But, Lars was always there to pull him back. No matter how much he ranted or tried to run away, Lars never gave up on him.

Because of that, Yuel upheld his jogging routine to this very day. That's the only reason he passed the first round of the entry exam, with flying colors no less. He only passed because Lars refused to give up on him, no matter.

Everybody had an Achilles' heel or two. For Yuel it was exercising and for Lars it was studying. What kind of friend would he be if he abandoned Lars now!?

Yuel jumped from his chair and rushed toward the door. "I'm stepping out for a moment, please look after the house for me."

"If I feel like it." Julia shrugged, already absorbed in solving more quiz questions.

"Thanks, for everything. I almost commited an unrecoverable mistake there."

"Hmph. Just go already, dumbass. If you don't bring him back, I'mma kick you in the balls."

"Heh, deal." Yuel darted out of the room. Lars left a few minutes ago, so Yuel would have chase. Hopefully, Lars didn't get too far-

"Ah." Yuel was dumbfounded after opening the door. Lars was right there, he never left.

"Y-Yo! Haha..." Lars waved with an awkward smile on his face. "Long time no see, haha..."

Silence lingered for a while. They avoided looking into each other's eyes, both embarrassed about their earlier conduct. In the end, it was Yuel who broke the standstill.

"Sorry, I snapped back there."

"Nah, I also acted like a prick." Lars scratched his head. "I talked all big about playing competitively, but look how I bailed out. So lame."

"It's fine. Everybody have a weakness or two." Yuel stretched his hand. "We'll just need to figure something out together."

"Y-You..." Lars raised his hand for a handshake, but his whole arm trembled. "You... You're the best dude ever!"

"Ugh!?"

"Thanks for sticking around with an idiot like me!" Lars wrapped his arms around Yuel and gave him an intense hug.

"Y-Yeah, I got it already. You can let go now." Yuel tried to wiggle his way out, but he failed to free himself from Lars's strong arms. His ears burned. Ugh, it's so embarrassing! And his bones were going to be crushed at this rate! Uuuuugh!

"... what are you two doing, exactly?"

"Ugh! N-Nothing!" Yuel pushed himself away from Lars. "W-We just made up, right?"

"Yep, we're best buds again." Lars grinned and wrapped his arm around Yuel's shoulders.

"Hmmmm." Julia squinted her eyes and stared at them. She stared at Yuel in particular, as if saying "I'll kick you in the balls for this, retard!"

After they made up, Lars returned to Yuel's room. However, the main problem was still unresolved: How was Lars going to study for the quiz?

As Julia pointed out, no matter how much determination Lars mustered, it wouldn't matter as long as the studying method wasn't right for him. For Lars, learning things by reading wouldn't do anything. It'd be a miracle if he didn't fry his brain after just 2 minutes.

Things had always been this way with Lars. No matter what Classmacners advice Yuel gave him, it always went in one ear and out the other. Words alone didn't mean much for Lars, he was all about practical experience.

Therefore, whenever Lars got killed due to something silly, Yuel poured salt on his wounds by pointing out his mistakes. Likewise, whenever Lars made a strong play thanks to prior preparation, Yuel mentioned the fine details which made that play possible. Only like this, step by step, Lars gained his current level of game knowledge and decision-making in Classmancers.

"Let's go into practice mode." Yuel said. "Instead of reading about the items, just try them out yourself."

"Oh, that's smart! I'll het to both study and play Classmancers! You're a genius!" Lars grinned and grabbed his tablet.

The three of them prepared for the quiz until late into the night. They played around with item builds, simulated interesting combat scenarios, tried quiz apps and much more. As long as Lars was stimulated by the activity, he managed to pick up new things.

In the end, they mostly studied material related to the Carry and Mid roles. Yuel didn't have any time to go over anything related to Support, but that's fine. He was certain he'd pass the quiz, so his top priority was to pull Lars and Julia through.

On the next day, the quiz was announced just as Gregory informed them. Each candidate picked a role to be tested on and had an hour to answer 20 multiple choice questions. The 15 candidates with the lowest score would be eliminated, whereas the candidate with the highest score would immediately pass the entry exam. In case of a tie for first place, the tied candidates would have to duke it out in a 1v1 Classmancers match.

"I hope you studied well." Gregory smirked as he picked up a quiz sheet for Support. "You won't beat me If you don't get a perfect score, kek."

"I assume so." Yuel shrugged as he also picked a quiz paper for Support. "What matters most is that Lars and Julia survive this round."

"Kek, trying to play the nice guy? I know you only care about getting first place yourself."

"Is that so." Yuel turned away and took his seat. He had no intention competing with Gregory here. Of course, he wanted to get first place if he could. But, that wasn't the most important thing on his mind right now.

[What's with him?] Gregory grumped as he dropped on his chair. The Yuel he knew from before summer break would had grabbed any opportunity to compete in Classmancers' game knowledge. Yuel knew virtually everything there was to know about the game and always found it necessary to shove his superior knowledge into others' faces.

Gregory wasn't a mechanically skilled player, so he relied on strategy and game knowledge to get results. He learned various strong synergies between classes and played them with Taison. It worked great. Taison was a skilled Carry, so Gregory only had combo with him to win.

Even after Lars surpassed Taison in mechanical skill, Gregory and Taison kept defeating him, no matter who was his Support. That is, until Yuel came into the picture. Even though Cryomancer had good synergy with Lars's Trickshooter, Yuel opted for Paladin. An unremarkable pick, at first glance.

However, said Paladin shut down Gregory's Cleric and Taison's Pirate. Single-handedly, thoroughly and without mercy. They were stripped of all their advantages and were handed to Lars on a silver platter. It was so triggering,

"The hell was that shit!?" Taison raged hard. "You totally fell for his crap, yo!"

"And so did you, when you summoned Kraken into his Aegis, kek." Gregory sneered.

"Damn! What we gonna do against that shit!?"

"Relax, man. Don't lose your shit over a cheap trick like that." Gregory shrugged. "He caught us off guard, but now we know how he plays. We just gotta kill him before the next team fight, or at least bait Justice Strike outta him."

After agreeing on their countermeasure, Taison focused on Yuel while clearing minions. Yuel already went out of his way to tank Taison's shots to prevent last hits on minions, so he was an easy prey. Taison merely had to play a little more aggressively than before and land more hits on that pesky Paladin.

"Alright, I almost got that bastard!" Taison grinned once Yuel's HP fell below 20%. "Now I'mma make him retreat with one cannon shot, yo!"

"No, wait-"

It was too late. Taison fired Backfire Cannon to finish Yuel off, except it didn't work out as he planned. As if waiting for this exact moment, Yuel activated Divine Shield and absorbed the cannon shot. Not only did Divine Shield completely negate the absorbed skill shot's damage, but it also restored HP proportionally to the the absorbed skill shot's power.

With that play, Yuel regained a large portion of his missing health and continued harassing them on the lane. No matter how hard they tried, they couldn't chase him away. He retreated to his Golem a few times, but soon returned after healing up with potions and his high HP regeneration stat.

That pesky Yuel was prepared for anything they threw his way. It's as if he knew from the begining how they were going to fight him. Nah, that was impossible, right? Gregory refused to believe such nonsense at the time.

The second team fight started outta nowhere, with Yuel hitting Taison with Justice Strike. Shit! They didn't play around it at all! They were so sure Yuel was gonna keep Justice Strike as a counter for Arise after how the first team fight went down.

"Damn! What the hell!?" Taison roared. He found himself right in the enemy's face, with his escape tool sealed. And if that wasn't shitty enough, Lars followed up with Trickshow and totally owned Taison.

"Wait, that's actually good for us." Gregory pointed out. "You died, but you baited Justice Strike out of him. Now I can just revive you like usual."

"Oh, right! Yeah! Do that, bro!"

"Sure." Gregory activated Arise and fired a magical ball of revival toward Taison's dead body. This team fight started with a hiccup for them, but they could still turn it around once Taison returned. He still had Kraken, so they could... wut?

For some reason, Yuel stepped in front of the approaching ball of revival. What, he tried to bodyblock it or something? Pft, that shit didn't work. What a scrub, any noob knew that... Huh? Divine Shield? Why did Yuel waste his Divine Shield here, without any damaging skill shots flying his way?

Then it happened. The magical ball of revival hit Yuel's Divine Shield... and got absorbed into it!? The freakin' hell!? It actually worked that way!? Sure, Arise was technically sorta kinda a "skill shot" in a sense, but... but it wasn't a damaging skill shot or anything! Why was it blocked like this!?

"You gotta be shitting me..." That's when Gregory lost it as well. Yuel played them for fools twice in a row, as if they were some nobodies who tried Classmancers for the first time.

Gregory studied tons of shit related to Classmancers, but most of it was about the strongest class synergies. Classmancers was supposed to be all about class synergies and teamwork, or so he thought until now. But it's wrong, he was forced to learn that the hard way. Countering enemy classes was just as, if not more, important.

Gregory's whole world view was flipped on its head that day. There was much more to the game than he initially thought and Yuel realized that way sooner than him. As a fellow player who relied on game knowledge to deliver results, Gregory felt inferior to that walking encyclopedia in every way.

That's why he planned to win against Yuel by getting into the Classmancers club. Yuel was supposed to be eliminated in the first round, while Gregory was gonna ace the quiz and get instantly admitted into the club. Kek, it'd teach that know-it-all scrub a good lesson.

However, shit didn't go as planned. By a stroke of luck, Yuel survived the first round. To get first place, Gregory now had to beat Yuel's score in this second round. What a pain in the butt.

But, it actually wasn't all bad. It was Gregory's chance to show how much he improved over the summer. He researched counter picks, counter builds, farm denial tactics and every goddamn counter bullshit that existed in the game. Everything for the sake of surpassing Yuel's level of game knowledge.

And if all that effort wasn't going to do the trick, Taison's brother also printed him some quiz examples for this second round. On top of everything else, Gregory thoroughly studied the topics covered in these quiz examples.

Therefore, there was no chance he'd be beaten. Rather than running away from the challenge, he wanted to test himself against that walking encyclopedia. That's why he tipped Yuel about the quiz. He was certain that, even with one day of studying, Yuel wouldn't be able to ace this quiz.

[Kek, I'mma win this shit for sure. ]Gregory finished the quiz before everybody else and handed it over, brimming with confidence. Most of the questions appeared in the prints he received from Taison's brother, this shit was a walk in the park.

On the following day, the results of the quiz were posted. As expected, Gregory grabbed first place. Nobody rivaled his perfect score of 100 points, so he instantly passed the exam. He did it, he surpassed everybody. He surpassed Yuel!

"Kek, I take it you're second place?" Gregory asked.

"Yes." Yuel nodded. "It seems I've made two errors."

"Huh, you even had a whole day to prepare. The heck you've been doing?"

"I didn't have time to review things myself, had my hands full with teaching Lars and Julia."

"Huh? Lars? You seriously think that monkey can pass this quiz? I'm telling you, dude hasn't gotten a passing mark from the day he was born, kek. You wasted your time."

"Yeah, he was a handful alright." Yuel nodded with a wry smile. "But, we'll see whether it was really a waste of time."

"And you're okay with that?" Gregory frowned "You may have tied me for first place if you studied more."

"Perhaps, but it's alright." Yuel said. "I'll just pass the rest of the exam and the result will be the same."

"Kek, don't tell me you were too scared to go up against me."

"Go against you? Never even crossed my mind. No matter how much I study, it'd be difficult to beat somebody who prepared for this exam for months.".

"Making excuses now?"

"Not really. I'm just saying that even a monkey could ace this exam if it had all the answers ahead of time."

"Wha-!?" Gregory's face contorted. That shithead was totally looking down on him! And, worse of all, Gregory found it difficult to retort. After all, he really solved most of these questions before he even got the quiz. He really had a shit ton of advantage in the quiz.

"Tch." Gregory clicked his tongue. "So, you aren't tilted at all after losing to me, is that what you're saying?"

"Yes, because it doesn't matter. We'll know for sure who is the superior Support once we compete for the role in the club."

"Heh, that's fair." Gregory found himself genuinely smiling, not just sarcastically smirking like usual. Even though he originally wished for Yuel's elimination in the first round, he realized that wouldn't had given him a true closure. Even after beating Yuel in the second round, he still felt hollow due to his unfair advantage. That wasn't what he really wanted.

"Heh, make sure you pass the next round then." Gregory said. "Otherwise, we can't settle this shit."

"Of course." Yuel nodded. "Anyway, I'm off to see how Lars fared."

"I'll tag along. Wanna see how hard he failed, kek."

They found Lars in the crowd and approached him. His head was hanging and his shoulders trembled. Oh man, he totally blew it, didn't he?

"I... I got last place..." Lars mumbled. After all his hard work yesterday, that's as far as he got. "I... I got last place outta everybody who passed! I did it, yo! You're the best teacher, dude!"

"Alright, I got it already." Yuel dodged an incoming hug with an irritated look, but he secretly smiled. He may had missed the opportunity to secure his place in the Classmancers club, but he didn't regret it. More so than just playing competitively, what he truly wanted was to play competitively together with Lars. Lars's success in the exam far outweighed Yuel's failure to score first place.

With that, the second round was over. Yuel, Lars and Julia proceeded to the third and final round of the entry exam.