Wes dials a number that he seems to know by heart, orders them grilled chicken, potatoes and some string beans from a restaurant. It should arrive in 20 minutes, they say.
Rae opens Wes's french door refrigerator.  She immediately titters.
"What are all of these?" Rae points inside.
Inside the fridge, there were numerous premade meals in plastic containers, at least twenty of them.
"Yeah, that's... those are my dinners."
Rae covers her mouth, eyes big, she is surprised.  She's obviously heard of the premade meals delivered in a cardboard box to your doorstep, but never actually seen them piled up in a fridge,  "Oh wow, I suppose you don't have time to cook?"
Wes scratches his head and ruffs up his hair, "I really don't cook. This is just easier."
Rae is about to say something, but Wes tries to explain more, "I mean, when I order them, I can customize the menu and they make what I want to eat, it's really not that bad. It's not like TV dinners, you know."
Wes realizes it doesn't make it sound any better.  He just sounds like a very single bachelor.
"Did you invite me here so I can make food for you?" Rae jokingly pushes Wes's arm,  "I can, if you want.  But you don't seem to have a lot of ingredients."  Rae laughs.
"Well, we can always order any ingredient you need and have them delivered...,"
"No, no. I like doing grocery shopping. Actually going into the store."
"Do you want to do it now?"
"No, silly, some other day." Rae then sticks her tongue out, "I mean, sorry, I don't mean to invite myself here again."
"That's OK. I am inviting you to come back anyway, " Wes reaches his hand out, touching Rae's hair.
"What?" Rae blinks, she blushes.
"Your hair is a little damp."
"Probably from the rain, ha ha," Rae instantly becomes fully aware of his male presence after he touches her hair, "...um, do you want to sit down?" She was too excited to see this beautiful kitchen earlier that she almost neglected the fact this attractive man is standing next to her. 
"You must be tired from working all day.  What did you do today?" 
Wes wonders if he should approach the topic, that he knew she lied to him. 
"Oh. Same old same old. Nothing exciting. How about you?"
"I met up with my friend, Marina, you saw her the other day, and then just did some grocery shopping and cleaning."
"Do you do anything fun?"
Rae laughs, "You sound like Marina. She always nags me about that, too."
"Well, do you?" Wes moves close. It feels especially intense somehow, because his tall figure is reflected on the silver-colored double door refrigerator behind her; she can catch that from the corner of her eyes.
"I..., in my spare time I just try out different recipes. And I go walk in the park sometime,"  She nervously tries to list as many things as possible, "And I went to a baseball game last summer."
"Oh, you like baseball. That's good to know. We can watch it together in spring and summer."
Rae is flattered that he's speaking in future tense.
"How about you? What do you like to do for fun?"
"I like to cook...," Wes winks.
Rae laughs out loud, bending her upper body, "You're hilarious!"
Wes can't help but laugh, too, "OK, well, I can show you what I like to do sometime.  To be honest, I used to be like you, I don't have much time to do anything else, but now I have earned myself some time to enjoy, I've tried out some different things."
"That's really good to know," Rae tucks a stand of hair behind her ear, "I didn't know you used to work so much.  What did you used to do?"
"Um," Wes thinks on this, but he doesn't answer right away, "Do you want some water?"
"Sure."
"Sparkling or flat?"
"Sparkling if you've got some."
"Alright. You like sparkling, too!" Wes winks and smiles, he moves his body directly into Rae. She tries to take a step to the right so he can open the refrigerator fully but he seems to know she is going to do that already, so he puts his hand on her stomach, while he opens only just one side of the door.  He takes out two bottled sparkling water, hands one to her.
He opens one and drinks it from the bottle.  Maybe because Rae waits tables long enough, her first instinct is to pour the sparkling water in a glass but she likes that he just drinks it from the bottle.  She watches his Adam's apple going up and down.  She also notices that there's some stubble on his neck.
"What?" Wes smiles, wipes his lips with a hand.
"Nothing," Rae quickly opens her bottle, and takes a sip, and then another.
"Thank you. I love sparkling water. The champagne of water," Her lips now wet, and she's also about to wipe her lips with her hand, but Wes suddenly swoops in and presses his chest near her face. He drops his head down to her face, looks into her directly.
"I can't take this any longer. I want to kiss you," his lips only an inch away from hers.
Rae looks up into his eyes, she feels lost again.  A little confused even.  She tip toes a little, and meets his lips.
They started kissing, slowly, just on the lips first. He holds her up off the floor, puts her on the kitchen island.  He sets his water down. 
Rae's heart is beating so fast that she thinks she might stop breathing now. 
Wes stands in between her legs, puts his hands on her waist, and they slide up gradually.  Rae is still holding her drink, and she quickly takes another sip and puts it down because she knows she will drop it if she doesn't. 
Immediately after she swallows that sip, Wes kisses her again, this time, his tongue comes in.  His hands start to stroke her rib cage, and then his right hand goes down, lifts her shirt, and goes inside. 
Rae gasps.  His hand is cold.
"I'm sorry," Wes's face backs away to apologize.  He looks at Rae.  She giggles nervously.
"Wes..., I....," Rae isn't sure what she wants to say. 
"Are you... OK?" Wes's eyes are soft.
"Yes. I'm OK."
Wes then leans in and lightly presses her towards himself.  He starts kissing her wet and passionately, his right hand goes inside her shirt again.  Rae can't help but moans. Wes moves his hand to the small of her back.  She feels a tingling sensation. 
Wes now moves his face on her neck, she strokes the back of his head, feeling his soft hair in her palms.  And she feels the prickly stubble of Wes's chin scraping on her collar bone.  He is now just breathing rapidly right under her left ear.  She can't think anymore.  She doesn't remember being this aroused, this thrilled, in a dream kitchen.
She's never thought of using a big kitchen island like this.
Rae now moves one of her hand onto Wes's muscular chest, feeling it through his shirt.  Wes tilts his head back, and suddenly asks:
"What's my name?"
"What?"
"Just... what's my name?"

A busy "leftover" woman, Rae, has never dated anyone until she accidentally bumps into two very hot CEOs--They are business partners but they become love rivals who are both interested in her.  Rae is also a trial user of a human-like A.I. assistant.  The assistant advises her on dating other guys, leading her to meet her high school crush from years ago.  Now there are multiple men in her life that she can consider.  Who should Rae choose?
**Semi-hiatus / on-hold because I'm writing another novel for the contest.  I will try to get back to this or will start a new one.  I will let you know!
**There is another version of this story, please check my "author's note"  ^_^
** Want to read my other romance story? I have one that's complete and free!  Visit:  bio.link/pageturner

"This is incredible." Siv exclaims, her inner architect rejoices inside.
"It is all thanks to the plans that Goddess Kirja gave us." Eydis tells her.
"Did you also procure the Peridot necessary to activate the portal?" Gary asks.
"Yes, Frode provided us with the necessary gems since there is a mine near the Floa Tribe." The chief explains.
"That is great." Siv can't hide her excitement. Her whole face is lit up. "So you said that each of the other tribes is building a portal as well."
"Except Alc, for obvious reasons." Eydis says.
"Speaking of Alc, have the chiefs decided on a punishment for their traitor of a chief?" Gary asks.
"We have not." The chief answers. "The majority voted to postpone the matter. We fear that taking action against Ove will affect the whole tribe, especially during these times of war."
"I think that is a wise choice, Chief Eydis."
"So, when are these portals going to be functional?" He questions as he watches Siv touching and examining the wooden spheres. 
"Probably in a few days." She tells him. "But we will probably need magic to activate them, and since Siv and Colby will be leaving to the temple, I reckon after they come back."
"I think you should leave as soon as possible." Siv utters. "It is not safe here anymore. In fact, everyone should have left So already."
"I am sure you understand how difficult it is to leave your land." Eydis says, her looking distant. "Especially when almost every able body has left to train for battle."
"Well, Colby and I will make premade spells so you can use the portals even after we leave." Siv tells her.
"Really? That is amazing." Eydis is pleased to hear that.
"This is truly exciting, no need to use the portals that are controlled by Pyama anymore." Siv smiles, proud of the work that everyone has done.
"Shall we go back?" Eydis asks.
"Sure." Gary agrees. "I wanted to go for a swim before breakfast."
"It is freezing, Gary." Siv comments.
"The cold is good for the body, keeps it young and alert." He responds with a sheepish grin.
"You are crazy, I swear." She shakes her head. "I will teleport us back, now." She announces before they jump to Eydis' front garden. 
"What is that smell?" The chief asks with a grimace.
"I do not smell anything." Gary responds.
"Me neither." Siv agrees.
"It is disgusting." Eydis says before gagging. She hurries to the corner and empties whatever was in her stomach.
"Are you alright?" Siv rushes to her, followed by Gary. Eydis nods.
"Just morning sickness." She tells her.
"Morning sickness? You are pregnant?" Siv's eyes widen.
"Did I forget to mention it? my apologies." 
"Oh my God, congratulations." Siv hugs her, not even caring that she smells like vomit.
"Thank you."
"Congratulations, Chief." Gary smiles at her.
"Thank you, Captain." Eydis feels nauseous, still. "I am sorry, but I think I need help getting to my room. I will rest for a bit." She almost loses balance when she takes a step toward the stairs.
"We can take you." Siv offers. "Actually do you think you can carry her, Gary. She does not look too good."
"Of course." Gary picks her up instantly.
"Is this really necessary?" Eydis asks, a bit uncomfortable.
"Of course it is." Siv smiles at her before she rushes to open the doors for them.
They take her up the stairs, all the way to her bedroom. Gary carries her to her bed where she lies down. Siv uses the blankets and covers her thoroughly. 
"Thank you." Eydis utters.
"Do you need anything else?" Siv asks.
"I am alright, you are so sweet."
When Siv turns around, she finds Gary staring at the portraits on the wall.
"Are these your relatives?" She inquires.
"Ah, yes. My family members and the chiefs that lead before me." 
"I do not see any men." Siv remarks.
"Our tribe is a matriarchy. Only women in my family become chiefs." Eydis explains. "I do not even know who my father is, since that is not important in my family."
"Wow, this is amazing." Siv whispers to herself. The closest thing to this was what she read about from Greek Mythology, the Amazons. Not that the chiefs here killed the men after having sex with them, but rather the part where it is a tribe that has been led by women for generations.
"Who is that?" Gary asks with a low voice.
"Which one?" Eydis sits up in her bed to have a better view.
"This one." Gary puts his hand on a portrait with 3 women. An older woman sitting on a chair and two young women standing behind her.
"Ah that is my grandmother, Elin. Behind her are my mother, Noma, and my aunt, Mista." The chief tells him. "I keep all of them here because I feel that they lend me their power, every day, to lead our people as they did." Gary stands immobile in front of the portrait. 
"Gary, are you alright?" Siv places her hand on his shoulder.
"Yes." He says after a moment. "I think we should leave the chief to rest." 
"I agree, I will come back later to check on you." Siv tells Eydis who is touched by her kindness. The two of them leave her room and head downstairs.
"Are you sure you are alright?" Siv stops him in the middle of the stairs.
"I am, love. Do not worry." Gary reassures her. "I just want to go for that swim.
"Still? I was hoping you forgot about it." He chuckles.
"Would you like to join me?" He gently pushes her against the wall and places his forehead on hers. "I would love your company."
"I would love your company too, but it is too cold for me." She tells him. "Plus I need to start working on those premade spells. We are leaving tomorrow, after all."
"Are you saying that you will be busy all day?" Gary inches closer to her, their lips are almost touching. "I was hoping that you can join me for a hot bath after my swim." Siv gulps. His green pools are enchanting her.
"A hot bath sounds great." She says before she captures his lips in a needy kiss. "I think you should skip the swim and go straight to the bath part." He chuckles against her lips.
"I think I am just going to do that." He tells her before picking her up. She yelps. 
"What are you doing?" 
"Getting there faster." He answers as he rushes to the bathhouse. 
***
Dusty and Shelby wake up disoriented, the loud knocking is heard again.
"Shelby, wake up." Aaric's muffled voice comes from the other side. Shelby looks at his wife who already has her dagger drawn.
"Coming." Shelby motions to her to put the weapon away, which she does. He then hurries to pick up his pillow and blanket from the sofa and throw them into the closet. Dusty also untidies the blanket on his side of the bed to make it look like they were sharing a bed. 
"Finally." Aaric sighs when his son opens the door. He walks inside, pale as a sheet.
"What is it father?" After seeing him, Shelby has gotten worried. "Is mother alright?"
"She is, she is." He tells him. "Listen, you need to take your wife and His Majesty and run."
"Excuse me?" He frowns at his father.
"Karl sent word, he told your mother and I to leave the house because he is on his way with the Lions to arrest the man who is pretending to be King Brandt." Shelby looks at Dusty who immediately rushes to the closet.
"I reckon he wants to arrest me as well." Shelby utters.
"He does." Aaric admits. "Take this." He gives him a pouch full of topaz. "Find a safe place." 
Dusty bursts out of the closet, wearing her uniform and carrying her weapons. 
���Change quickly, I will get His Majesty." She rushes out of the bedroom.
"She looks like a very capable captain." Aaric tells Shalby.
"The king trusts her with his life, that is how capable she is." His father nods at him with a sad smile. "Do you believe that the man sleeping in that guest room is the real king?"
"Why would I help you otherwise?" Aaric responds. "I have no idea what has gotten into your brother, but you have been around His Majesty since he was a child, I am certain you would recognize if he were an imposter." Shelby steps closer to his father.
"Please be careful." He whispers to him. "The imposter is the one in the palace, and the queen is the one behind it. She tried to assassinate King Brandt." Aaric's eyes widen.
"You are the one who needs to be careful." He puts his hand on Shelby's shoulder. "I will see you soon, son." He tells him before leaving to join his wife in the carriage waiting for them outside.
Shelby stands there for a moment, dazed. His father has not called him 'son' for years. Then, he snaps out of it and quickly changes his clothes, grabs a few things and runs to Brandt's room.
'You will pay for this, Karl. I will make sure of it.'
*********
If you are NOT reading this on webnovel.com, then you are reading a pirated version.
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What is worse than finding yourself inside the game you have been playing online?
Being a side character who is killed in the first levels of the game.
Gene, or Siv as her character is called, has to find a way to survive in a game where only the smart and powerful remains. Especially when she is engaged to the cold Prince Brandt.


***
"That's him."
"That's him?" Aaron asks Ivy as they eye a middle-aged man on the other side of the bar counter, smoking dried tobacco leaves, his shades covering his eyes while he picks up a drink of whiskey on the rocks on his right hand. Many people approach the man while he reluctantly ignores all of them. After a while, a gorgeous woman walks towards the man, while she wears a sleek outfit with wavy hair and red lips. The woman sits beside the man's stole, gripping slowly on his shoulders.
"Mr. Eric, what brings you here?" The woman asks the Mr. Zhang as he tries to scoff of the lady beside her. Ivy's eyes boggles as she looks at the lady beside Mr. Zhang.
"Aaron, I'm no match for that lady." Ivy complains as she promptly covers her overly expressed breasts with her bare hands.
"Why? You look good, and I personally curated you to be of Mr. Zhang's taste."
Ivy rolls her eyes. "Look, see that woman beside Mr. Eric Zhang? That's Lessandra."
Aaron's brows furrows. "Who's Lessandra?"
"Have you been living under a rock?" Ivy snaps at Aaron. "Don't you know Lessandra?"
"Well am I supposed to know her, then?"
Ivy clobbers Aaron's head slowly. "You should! She's literally on every billboard sign in this city! Lessandra's the lead actress on one of the country's most famous soap operas! Don't you watch TV or something?"
Aaron sighs cheaply. "Well, TV's not really within my interests anyway—"
"And that's not the point, Aaron!" Ivy castigates as she shrieks silently. "The point here is that I'm no match for her."
Both Aaron and Ivy continue to stare at Mr. Zhang and Lessandra. The two seemed to exchange pleasantries. Lessandra eerily swipes an instruction card over to the bartender.
"Please make my drink on exactly the same manner  as the instructions inside this card please," Lessandra asks the bartender, the latter nodding and proceeding to do his job. Lessandra then faces Mr. Zhang while he continues to sip on his whiskey.
"Glad to see you here, Eric. It's been a while."
Mr. Zhang fakes a smile.
"I was told that you were here for a business trip? Am I right?" Lessandra brushes Mr. Zhang's suit as she leans closer to his tux. "You smell good today. New perfume, I guess?"
Mr. Zhang puts of his drink as he faces Lessandra and smiles. "I see that your nose is still very keen on these things, Lessandra. Anyway, Christian's Dior's latest collection, about seven thousand dollars per bottle. I had it premade on Paris a few weeks ago."
"Still very generous when it comes to self-care, I see, Mr. Zhang." Lessandra smiles, leaning, showing her cosmic-blue sapphire earrings. Mr. Zhang smiles as he sees the gemstone on her ears.
"Still wearing it, eh?"
"Of course."
Mr. Zhang looks at her, annoyed. "Why? I gave that to you a few months ago. I ought to think that you should have bought better ones already."
"Well, I ought to wear it as I've heard you were in town, Eric. I take these precious Burmese gemstones as a remembrance of our rainy night escapade on Tokyo a few months back."
Mr. Zhang's smile drops. He clears his throat and proceeds to inhale his tobacco stick, ignoring Lessandra. He looks away to the direction of the bartender.
"I loved that night, Eric. I wish we could do that again." Lessandra asserts, biting her lips and showing some skin on her collar bone. Mr. Zhang clears his throat again and drops his tobacco stick.
"I'm happy that you loved my company that night, Lessandra."
Lessandra smirks. "But Eric— you did more than just keep me company. You had me inside and I had your lips torn. You were especially great that night, Eric—"
"And I believe that we agreed to not talk about that night, Lessandra."
"But something as memorable as that should be talked about more often, especially when you—"
"Yes, Lessandra. It was memorable." Mr. Zhang nods his head. "But it was not memorable because of what happened between the two of us. Rather, it was memorable because of what happened on the utility room that night." Mr. Zhang arches his brow.
"But that was the past, Eric. I believe that something as small as that should not be talked about anymore." Lessanda objects. "That was a minor detail of the night. That was dessert, and you were the main course, Eric, I—"
"So you made that bellboy your dessert? Why couldn't you just eat the pastries on the café? Why eat the bellboy instead? And I can't believe you called me your main course. I'm not a meal, Lessandra. I'm a person. And believe me— the taste of the dessert lasts longer than the main course."
"But I'm sorry!"
"Running out of money again, Lessandra?" Mr. Zhang stands up from the stole facing away from Lessandra. Lessandra tries to follow him. But before she could continue, the bartender brings the drink over to Lessandra.
"Here's your drink, miss."
Lessandra swipes it away. "Not now, you—"
Mr. Zhang slightly eyes the drink. He slips a credit card over to the bartender. "Use this card for her drink." He smirks. "And by the way, Lessandra. You still drink the same drink every single time, do you? Sex in the driveway, a blue cocktail drink with quite an ironic name. It should have been named sex in the utilities room to fit your fetishes, but oh well—" Mr. Zhang continues to walk away, going forward to Aaron's direction. Aaron panics and pinches Ivy. Ivy leers at Aaron while she takes another sip of flavored beer.
"What?"
"Look in front of you, it's Mr. Zhang."
Ivy drops the bottle of beer and straightens herself out. She sighs and tries to approach Mr. Zhang.
"Hello Mr. Zhang, may I interest you in some special service tonight?" Ivy smiles brightly while she leans to him, her cleavage clearly showing and her legs peeking out of the loli outfit. Mr. Zhang looks at her from head to toe. He smirks, nodding.
"Maybe next time, miss."
"But sir, I think it's nice if you'd try our special service. It's curated especially for you." Ivy asserts as she presses her legs on his knees. Mr. Zhang's eyes drift away for a moment, stunned by the woman's determination and demeanor. Ivy continues grinding her body to his. He closes his eyes. After a moment of contemplation, he replies.
"I'm really sorry miss, but I've got to—"
"Ne ne, onii-chan…"
Mr. Zhang flinches. "E-excuse me, what?"
Ivy continues to portray a cute, seductive look. "Onii-chan, aishiteru."
Mr. Zhang sighs heavily. He looks at the lady, wearing a very short blue and white skirt with knee-high stockings and a crop top that's almost bursting because of her chests. After a minute of contemplation and ogling, he finally sighs heavily. "Fine. Name your price, lady."
Ivy smirks as she then proceeds to speak in a cute, high-pitched tone. "Nii-chan, imoto-san wants six thousand dollars."
***

"Aaron, didn't you know that curiosity killed the cat?"

***
Aaron Miles decided that he had enough. He needed to make Jude Elaine talk to him. That's why, when Aaron Miles, a geeky, politician's child, had to make a plan for Jude Elaine fall in love with him, he decides to gather intel. He stalked her for one fateful night and realizes that Jude Elaine has her secrets and an alter ego. In the daytime, she's Jude Elaine, power athlete, and school beauty. In the nighttime, she's Jude Elaine- famous escort and top-grade hooker.

When the past decides to intervene, and the future starts to get a tad bit problematic, will Aaron Miles be able to keep the secrets and dodge the bullets? Or will everything crash down with a swarm of dead bodies? With the influential people involved, the law disturbed, and relationships intertwined; will Aaron Miles get Jude Elaine out of this giant mess?

***

After dinner, Hiroyuki didn't forget to bring up his idea.
"Would you like to go to view the cherry blossoms with me this year?"
Jiro smiled, "I would like it very much."
"There is a great spot near here.  I've never been there before, but I walk by it every day when heading to work."  Hiroyuki suggested a nearby park.  The park was small, created only to increase the property value in the area.
Thinking about the cherry blossom viewing, Jiro imagined all the things they would need to bring.  From a blanket for sitting on to food and beverages.
"Then should we pack our own bento box or order a premade one?"  Recently, because of Jiro's income, they bought premade bento boxes more often when Hiroyuki returned late from work.
"I think we should make our own.  It's more authentic if we do it this way."
Jiro agreed.  "I can help you."
"How?" Hiroyuki teased.  They both knew Jiro didn't know how to cook.
"I can help pack the food."
"Oh yes," Hiroyuki smiled as he reached out to gently rub Jiro's stomach.  "You can pack it in here."
Jiro's face stiffened.
"I'm sorry," Hiroyuki said right away.  "I was just being silly.  I didn't mean to offend you."
Jiro shook his head.  His ears turned bright red.  Jiro was more sensitive than usual.
"Are you feeling well?" Hiroyuki asked.  "Your face is turning red."
"I just need to use the bathroom," Jiro answered as an excuse.  Then he shot out of his seat and into the bathroom.
As he closed the door behind him, he wondered if Hiroyuki had discovered the truth.  But he shouldn't know right?  Hiroyuki isn't like him.  He wouldn't think it was a strange reaction.  No, he definitely couldn't tell.
Even after leaving the bathroom, Jiro kept wondering about the situation earlier.  He was worried, so he kept quiet and sat a bit further away from Hiroyuki while they watched a movie together.
Then at bedtime, Jiro turned to face the wall, while he slept.
In the future, he would have to be more careful.  If he wasn't, wouldn't Hiroyuki discover his secret?  Jiro foolishly fretted for most of the night.  He didn't know Hiroyuki was sleeping peacefully next to him, not having a single clue.

What happens when you invite a homeless stranger to live with you?

Shen: [Sword of The Occult! You're committing a crime against medical officers!] He was filled with righteous indignation as he had Shen's Surgeon skin on. 
Chen Mu: [Am I supposed to surrender myself to be operated on by a surgeon from a women's hospital even though I have no symptoms?] 
Shen: [I get it. You need the little nurse who takes care of men-related diseases.] After typing that, Shen disappeared from the chat. 
Chen Mu was not going to care about it. He hurriedly cleared off the enemy minions and started chipping away at the turret. He was ready to roam after demolishing this turret. 
Much to his surprise, their mid laner, Akali, suddenly popped out from the side. She was clad in her nurse outfit. Akali: [Dear little brother, I'm here to give you your shot.] 
Chen Mu thought, 'Aww, they know that I love her nurse uniform.' As Chen Mu thought about the most iconic saved file in the deepest part of his hard drive, he recalled the grief he felt in his heart when the System deleted everything. 
Chen Mu would not go easy on Akali just because she was a girl. The moment hey came face-to-face with one another, he cast his Dragon Strike, making her feel his speed, strength, and length. 
Chen Mu's opponents had the right idea and their strategy was definitely correct. Their top lane was being utterly destroyed, and in such a state where their jungler could not rescue it, their next best choice was to switch lanes. Under normal circumstances, their mid laner would not have a level-disadvantage, and sending their mid laner to deal with the overpowering top laner would at least give them a fighting chance. 
Despite being a melee champion, it was not easy for Shen to control the minion wave in mid lane. He could still somewhat farm CS and avoid getting suppressed. The main reason for that was mid lane was not as crazy as top lane. There were not many monsters that had a win rate of ninety percent on the Chinese server. 
As an example, a premade team of three like Shen's team consisted of players who played in solo queue games of one thousand and eight hundred ELO points. They had looked up plenty of professional player IDs before this and knew most of their blind pick win rates were at an average of more than seventy percent. Nevertheless, those players had sat through two to three hundred matches to reach that win rate. If this Prince's win rate remained at ninety percent even after he had played two hundred matches, he solidly qualified to play the game professionally. 
To win that many matches in solo queue blind pick matches was not as easy as most people thought. Firstly, there was a chance on would find themselves with teammates who were noobies that simply played champions available in the weekly free champion rotation. After all, what better time to practice a champion or troll people than in blind pick matches. Additionally, a high win rate would increase a person's chances of matching up against premade teams of five. 
The teamwork of a premade team of five could never compare to the teamwork of five solo queue players who were strangers to one another. Certain League gods would play in premade teams to increase their win rates. Therefore, when Shen, Varus, and Akali saw Chen Mu's ninety percent win rate, investigated his match history, and realized that Chen Mu had not played any games as a premade team, they agreed to call Chen Mu a monster. They were not exaggerating at all. 
In Akali's fight against Prince, she was able to sneak in some CS by being invisible with her W. Meanwhile, her bot laner had just destroyed the bot lane turret and was ready to swap to mid lane. 
When one had an advantage in a particular lane, the right way to proceed was to expand one's control to other lanes. By destroying turrets and capturing drakes, players of the enemy team could help aid the poor Shen economically. 
Although Prince was fed, his items fully revolved around damage output. The moment he was put under heavy crowd control, it would be possible for him to be instantly killed with a full combo of abilities. 
Chen Mu got Chen Yifei to farm in bot lane and get fed slowly. He also told her to buy items that focused on armor penetration so that she could concentrate on securing kills using her ultimate in team fights. 
With Chen Yifei's skills in League, she would never be able to compete against Varus that had an immaculate CS score, accurately cast his skillshots, and had rather impressive damage. If Chen Yifei wanted to push the lane, she would lose the opportunity to get fed. 
Everyone else on Chen Mu's team was a mediocre player. Therefore, the burden fell on Chen Mu's shoulders. If he died—even once—the effects of his Sword of The Occult would be rendered useless. 
Yet, Akali remained naive to the peril she was in. After observing her movement patterns whenever she turned invisible twice, it was clear to Chen Mu that Akali would always walk toward a low-health minion after turning invisible and then kill it before retreating. 
Just as Akali was about to repeat the same technique, Chen Mu cast his EQ blindly and knocked her up while she was still invisible. Then, Chen Mu followed up with a basic attack, Ignite, and Cataclysm. Akali was instantly killed. 
"Such good luck! It definitely had to be a lucky guess!" Akali exclaimed to her teammates. By 'lucky guess', she meant to say that Chen Mu was merely lucky; that he had not killed her with his own skill. 
"What if he predicted your movements? Think of his win rate. It would make sense," replied Shen. The stress he had felt while playing against Chen Mu was too great. Normally, Shen was easily able to escape the oppression of players with more than two thousand ELO points. However, when he encountered Chen Mu, he was harassed so much he ended up falling two levels behind the latter. Not even switching lanes might have made things worse. 
"It all depends on Varus now. Cover him when he attacks." Akali felt helpless. What was the monster doing, bullying noobies in blind pick matches when he should play ranked games? 
It was not until after the Akali got knocked up into the air and killed instantly while she was still invisible that she finally believed—her movement patterns had been completely within Prince's prediction! 
Simultaneously, Chen Mu destroyed the enemy top turret. Chen Mu started to fool around after that. It would be stupid if he were to head for mid lane right away. His opponent in mid lane was a champion with four abilities. Not counting his opponent's passive, Chen Mu would have to fight against sixteen abilities. They might not have had enough damage to kill Chen Mu instantly, but they could spam their abilities to beat Chen Mu to death. It was common for players to blindly pick fights against multiple champions in a lane they had an advantage in. 
Such a mistake was often caused by a player's overconfidence from being at a high level and possessing good items; it gave them the impression that it was fine to not calculate the difference in combat strength between them and their opponents. They would leap into battle, kill a squishy champion, and deliver their own head to their enemies. Of course, they would get a lot of hate from their teammates for allowing their enemies to get fed, or simply because they should have fought against the enemy top laner, etcetera. 
Chen Mu glanced at the game duration and went straight to the Red Buff that respawned every five minutes. Assuming that his opponent had killed the Red Buff at the two minutes and thirty seconds mark, the Red Buff should respawn each time at the seven minutes and thirty seconds mark, thirteen minutes and thirty seconds mark, and the eighteen minutes and thirty seconds mark. 
The same calculation applied to the Blue Buff too. If one figured out the jungle camp their opponent started with at the beginning of the game, one could roughly estimate the respawn time of the buffs. 
Initially, Chen Mu used such analogical reasoning—when the Red Buff on his side respawned, his opponent's Blue Buff would respawn too; his Blue Buff's respawn time would be that of his opponent's Red Buff respawn time. 
Soon, Chen Mu came to realize that some of his teammates did not always attack the Red Buff immediately even after its respawn. Therefore, he resorted to memorizing the respawn times with his brain. 
As he had predicted, the Red Buff was waiting quietly for the knight that would take its head. 
In less than five seconds, Sonic Waves blasted out from behind the wall and a bald head emerged. 
The Blind Monk was clad in an Acolyte skin as he happily slammed away at the Red Buff. 
The more skillful a player was, the more importance they placed on the buffs. They could earn the most number of buffs if they rushed over to defeat the buffs the moment they respawned. 
Chen Mu stood and waited patiently in the brush near Blind Monk's top side. Chen Mu waited for the white shield from Blind Monk's Tempest to disappear and for Blind Monk to exhaust his dash ability. Such things would make it easier for Chen Mu to score a kill. 
A qualified assassin had to take his opponent's abilities into account, especially abilities that allowed them to dash. 
The moment the Blind Monk used Tempest, Chen Mu knocked the Blind Monk up at almost light speed with his EQ combo. He leaped at him and then followed up with basic attacks. 
Chen Mu had just slaughtered Akali, thus, the cooldown his ultimate had not yet been refreshed. More was required of the assassination. 
Seeing Prince, the latter's soul left their body. With the Blind Monk's item build, Prince's EQ combo ended up reducing his health into half. With his W still on CD, the Blind Monk attempted to kick his way to escape. 
Nevertheless, Prince did not fly as far as Blind Monk had expected to and instead stopped by the Red Buff's wall. The wall was too thick and Prince could not go through it. 
Chen Mu positioned himself in a way that he could manipulate the angle in which the Blind Monk could kick him. If Prince flew too far away, he would not be able to catch up to the Blind Monk. After carefully taking all of Blind Monk's abilities into account, only then could Chen Mu assassinate the Blind Monk without fail. 
Prince's Golden Aegis slowed down Blind Monk. Chen Mu killed Blind Monk after performing a few more basic attacks. Additionally, he snatched away the dying Red Buff. After doing so, Chen Mu retreated hurriedly. It was nothing but common sense to experienced players to approach the previous scene of a fight. The higher the level of the match, the faster backup would arrive. Certain players were even capable of magically predicting the occurrence of teamfights. 
Prince's current combat strength did not allow him to fight 1V3s yet if he took them all at the same time. That was especially true if he had to deal with Varus who had insanely high damage as well. 
After escaping from Baron pit and disappointing his opponents who had come over to provide support, Chen Mu returned to his lane and cleared the minion wave. Usually, top laners had to choose a suitable recall time in order to avoid missing CS. Otherwise, the enemy minions would be wasted and die to the turret. The resources found in the game were constant and wasting them meant becoming less rich. 
Sometimes, Chen Mu noticed that when a top laner who was ahead only focused on ganking other laners, they would soon realize that their enemies had leveled up more than themselves after a few minutes. They would only be able to cry over split minions by then. 
"It's fine. We'll split push. Let's avoid Prince altogether for now," instructed Varus. 
Prince's Sword of The Occult had six stacks to it! 


What if you could become the best League of Legends player of all time, overnight? Chen Mu was a high-flying student who only cared about two things: scholarship money and his exam results. However, his life was upended one day when a system visited him and threatened to turn him into a vegetable unless he played League of Legends. The system promised to lift his family out of poverty as long as Chen Mu complied and played along with the missions assigned by the system. Little did he know, that the system was building him to become the Unkillable Demon King. How will Chen Mu balance his studies alongside becoming a gaming prodigy? Or will he be able to leverage his mathematical ingenuity to raise the bar?

I stand in the middle of Target, pushing the cart while Oak and Vivi pick out bedsheets and lunch boxes, skinny jeans and sandals. Oak looks around in mild confusion and pleasure. He keeps picking up things, puzzling over them, and then setting them down again. In the candy aisle, he adds bars of chocolate to the cart, along with jelly beans, lollipops, and chunks of candied ginger. Vivi doesn't stop him, so I don't, either.
It's odd to see Oak with his horns glamoured away, his ears looking as round as mine. It's odd to see him in the toy aisle, trying out a scooter with an owl-shaped backpack over one arm.
I expected that it would be hard to persuade Oriana to let him go with Vivi, but after Cardan's coronation, she agreed that Oak being away from the Court for a few years was for the best. Balekin is imprisoned in a tower. Madoc woke in a rage, only to find that his moment for seizing the crown was past.
"So he's really your brother, right?" Heather asks Vivi as Oak kicks off on the scooter, flying through the greeting card aisle. "You could tell me if he was your son."
Vivi laughs delightedly. "I've got secrets, but that's not one of them."
Heather wasn't thrilled about Vivienne showing up with a child and a half-baked explanation about why he had to live with her, but she didn't kick them out. Heather's sofa pulled out into a bed, and they agreed he could sleep there until Vivi found a job and they were able to afford a larger apartment.
I know Vivi isn't going to get conventional work, but she will be fine. She will be better than fine. In another world, given our parents and our past, I would have kept on encouraging Vivi to trust Heather with the truth. But for now, if she feels like she has to keep the deception going, I am hardly in a position to contradict her.
As we stand in the checkout line and Vivi pays for her haul with leaves glamoured to seem like bills, I think again of the aftermath of the banquet-turned-coronation. Of the blur of the Folk eating and joking. Of everyone marveling over Oak, who appeared both pleased and panicked. Of Oriana, clearly not sure whether to congratulate me or to slap me. Of Taryn, quiet, considering, holding tightly to Locke's hand. Of Nicasia giving Cardan a lingering kiss on his royal cheek.
I have done the thing, and now I must live with what I have done.
I have lied and I have betrayed and I have triumphed. If only there was someone to congratulate me.
Heather sighs and smiles dreamily at Vivi as we load our purchases into the trunk of Heather's Prius. Back at the apartment, Heather takes some premade pizza dough out of her fridge and explains how to make personal pies.
"Mom will visit me, won't she?" Oak asks as he places pieces of chocolate and marshmallows on top of his dough.
I squeeze his arm as Heather sticks the food in the oven. "Of course she will. Think of being here with Vivi as an apprenticeship. You learn what you need to know, and then you come home."
"How will I know when I've learned it, since I don't know it now?" he asks.
The question sounds like a riddle. "Come back when returning feels like a hard choice instead of an easy one," I answer finally. Vivi looks over, as though she's overheard. Her expression is thoughtful.
I eat a slice of Oak's pizza and lick the chocolate off my fingers. It's sweet enough to make me wince, but I don't mind. I just want to sit with them a few more moments before I have to fly back to Faerie alone.
 
When I dismount from my ragwort steed, I head to the palace. I have rooms there now—a vast sitting area, a bedroom behind latching double doors, and a dressing area with empty closets. All I have to hang in them is what I took out of Madoc's estates and a few things I got at Target.
Here is where I will live, to keep Cardan close, to use my power over him to ensure things go smoothly. The Court of Shadows will grow beneath the castle, fed on being both the High King's spies and his keepers.
They'll have their gold, straight from the king's hand.
What I have not done, not really, is spoken with Cardan. I left him with only a few commands, the familiar hatred in his face enough to make a coward out of me. But I am going to have to talk to him eventually. There is no profit in my putting it off any longer.
Still, it is with a heavy heart and leaden steps that I make my way to the royal rooms. I knock, only to be told by a prim-seeming manservant with flowers braided in his blond beard that the High King has gone to the great hall.
I find him there, lounging on the throne of Faerie, looking out from the dais. The room is empty except for us. My footfalls echo as I move across the floor.
Cardan is dressed in breeches, a waistcoat, and another coat over that, fitted in his shoulders, tapered in sharply at the waist and falling to his midthigh. The cloth is uncut velvet in a deep burgundy, with ivory velvet at the lapels, shoulders, and waistcoat. Stitching in golden thread covers the whole, matched by golden buttons and golden buckles on his tall boots. At his throat is a ruff of pale owl feathers.
His black hair falls in opulent curls around his cheeks. The shadows bring out the sharpness of his bones, the length of his lashes, the merciless beauty of his face.
I am horrified by how much he looks like the King of Faerie.
I am horrified by my own impulse to bend my knee to him, my own desire to let him touch my head with a ringed hand.
What have I done? For so long, there was no one I trusted less. And now I must contend with him, must match my will to his. His oath does not seem enough of an antidote against his cleverness.
What in the world have I done?
I keep walking, though. I keep my expression as cold as I know how. He's the one who smiles, but his smile is colder than any stiff face could be. "A year and a day," he calls out. "Blink and that will be over. And what will you do then?"
I draw closer to him. "I hope I can persuade you to remain king until Oak is ready to return."
"Maybe I will acquire a taste for ruling," he says coolly. "Maybe I won't ever want to give it up."
"I don't think so," I say, although I've always known that was one possibility. I've always known that removing him from the throne might be harder than putting him there.
I have a bargain with him for a year and a day. I have a year and a day to come to a bargain for longer than that.And not for one minute more.
His grin widens, shows teeth. "I don't think I will be a good king. I never wanted to be one, certainly not a good one. You made me your puppet. Very well, Jude, daughter of Madoc, I willbe your puppet. You rule. You contend with Balekin, with Roiben, with Orlagh of the Undersea. You be my seneschal, do the work, and I will drink wine and make my subjects laugh. I may be the useless shield you put in front of your brother, but don't expect me to start being useful."
I expected something else, a direct threat, perhaps. Somehow, this is worse.
He rises from the throne. "Come, have a seat." His voice is replete with danger, lush with menace. The flowering branches have sprouted thorns so thickly that petals are barely visible.
"This is what you wanted, isn't it?" he asks. "What you sacrificed everything for. Go on. It's all yours."

THIS IS NOT MY STORY.
IT WAS WRITTEN BY HOLLY BLACK. Please read and enjoy.

"And we now return to our regular scheduled news, today's headline is about "The Detective who has murdered an entire village, a streamer, and his partner", a month ago the detective was caught on black turtle island walking aimlessly by tourist with a bloody knife and a gun with an empty magazine, the tourist called the cops and Victor Fewer was caught, he was put on trial for mass murder where he screamed it was ghosts and specters, the jury thought he was pretending so he was sent to a psychiatrist and now for our real report, he was found to be mentally unstable and the jury has come to the decision of sending the criminal to City [Redacted] Asylum, even though he was not rightfully punished but at least we now know that we are safe as he has been placed in a heavily guarded padded cell, now for the weather..."

The television was shut off as fēng líng got her stuff and left her home, it was now her shift on the convenience store she worked in, she was a night shift employee and her position was a cashier.

Fēng Líng was a tall girl as her height was 178cm and she was 25 years old, her figure was not eye catching but she had curves on the right places, she had black hair and had a natural bed hair that covered half her face, she had a cute nose but her skin was pale which influenced her lips making them eerily pale, her eyes had a dark color but it had a diluted red coloration which she covers with brown contacts, below her eyes were dark eye bags that developed from many days of nightshifts and novel addiction, if she didn't wear her contacts and didnt smile she would exude an eerie vibe around her and terrorized many, her outfit currently composed of a polo shirt with the stores logo and denim pants.

She walked out of her home and locked the door behind her, she lived on an apartment at the 12th floor of a residential building, she took the elevator down to the first floor and she had it all for herself since every time the elevator door opened the passenger from that floor would begin backing up upon seeing her while breaking in cold sweat, the elevator arrived on the first floor and fēng líng got out from it, she then proceeded to wait at a nearby bus stop so she could take it to her job.

15 minutes later a bus arrived and opened the door, the bus was automatically driven by an AI and the passenger only needed to announce their destination and pay the ticket price which was at 4Rmb, fēng líng entered and paid for her ticket before stating her destination, her voice was cute but it had a cold aura as he spoke causing the passengers to break in cold sweat again.

"Nine Petals street..."

"Destination has been registered, please find a seat and make yourself comfortable"

The AI stated before closing the door and driving away, she found a seat and looked at the mirror where she began to practice her smiles that she would use at her job.

The bus arrived after 20 minutes on Nine Petals street where Fēng líng exited, she then walked a few more meters and arrived at a convenience store, she exhaled and hen put on her best smile as she walked into the store, she greeted the day cashier and went to the employee room where she waited for her shift while sipping a cup of coffee and eating a premade lunch box from the store.

"Haa maybe I should go find a day job to atleast get a bit of rest at night... never mind I'll keep this job it suits me more unlike the factory and it pays better as well"

She took out her phone and opened the screenlock, her phone background was a photo of three people two women and a man, fēng líng was the girl in the middle that looked like a ghost, these people were fēng líng's friends named fù mèng and jiā fū.

Fù Mèng was 25 years old just like Fēng, her height was 165cm and she had an eye catching curvy figure, she had fair skin and beautiful pink lips, her face was adorable and her eye color shined like a pure green jade, her hair color was a beautiful light brown, she was also fēng's rich friend but Fù mèng won't admit she is rich even though she gets 250k every month from her father.

Jiā fū was 26 years old and his height was 178cm just like fēng, his face was quite handsome with a nose that made him look foreign and his body had an athletic build that would cause many women would confess to him, he would've accepted them if he wasn't an homosexual, he preferred men that were buffer than he was.

Fēng líng looked at the date on her phone and it showed November 15, 2133, she was born on November 16, 2133 so the date actually made her think of celebrating her birthday but then she denied herself immediately.

"Nah I need to rest in the morning and then work at night, theres no room for celebrations"

"Fēng líng, I'm gonna go clock out now, its your shift time"

Fēng líng nodded with a smile on her face and stood up, she then walked out of the employees lounge and took her place behind the counter, she took a peek at the time on the  clock and saw it was 7:30 pm, her shift ranged from 7:30pm till 6:30 am where she will swap with another day cashier, she pulled out a thick metal sheet that was connected to the right wing of the counter and propped the hidden legs below it, she then sat down and began to service the customers.

One after another each customer paid for their items and walked out, a few minutes later the day cashier finished clocking out and left wbathroom"e customers dwindled over time until she was the only one remaining.

30 minutes later no customers arrived and out of boredom she opened her phone and tapped a streaming app to watch videos and an video ad played.

"The world has forgotten of supernatural fear, forgotten of the thrills and spills that ghosts brought them, the feeling of eyes staring at you from behind, the sensation of being followed and the eerie noise that come from your bathroom"

"They were hidden for far too long its about time for them to return, to fill the city with screams and to fill the empty voids of fear in peoples hearts, ghosts, specters, and murderers come one come all lets spread terror and nightmares for them all!!!"

"Releasing this december " The Forgotten Thrills", buy the gaming capsule and get the game as a freebie"

The title appeared on screen ending with a console deal.

"Hmm a new horror game huh, 
 might go and play i could use a scream looks pretty high end and expensive though, ill need to think this through"

The ad finished and she immediately looked for gaming videos to enjoy a good laugh, she went and got a canned drink from the fridge and scanned it on the counter before she scanned a QR on her phone to pay.

The store owner didn't buy an AI computer for a cashier since they were stingy but they made up a fake reason to explain why and that was 'I don't trust those AI's, what if the government uses them to extort my profits!"

Fēng líng sat down once more and sipped the drink whilst watching videos that entertained her, unknown to her that there were two people entering her home.

The world has forgotten of supernatural fear, forgotten of the thrills and spills that ghosts brought them, the feeling of eyes staring at you from behind, the sensation of being followed and the eerie noise that come from your bathroom.

They were hidden for far too long its about time for them to return, to fill the city with screams and to fill the empty voids of fear in peoples hearts, ghosts, specters, and murderers come one come all lets spread terror and nightmares for them all!!!

The panel moved back and revealed a feminine hand holding a phone wrapped in a black bunny phone case.

From phone "Releasing this december " The Forgotten Thrills", buy the gaming capsule and get the game as a freebie"

 title appeared on screen ending with a console deal.

"Hmm a new horror game huh, 
 might go and play i could use a scream looks pretty high end and expensive"

Behind a convenience store counter our M.C. waited for a customer, she was watching a trailer for a game, but she didnt know it was a trailer for her life.

*Adam's room, Holy Spirit Village*
Lying on his bed Adam ponders.
<Adam's pov>
According to the information I got from this ring it originally should be only a World Tree Seed somehow bound to me but thanks to the Spirit Power found in the Douluo Dalu world, it evolved and became one of my material spirits. The World Ring transmitted to me basic information about its own abilities. There are 3 in total and every one of them is quite interesting.
The first ability is <<Sacrifice>>. It's similar yet different from my meditation method. I can <<Sacrifice>> anything that contains life force to the World Tree, meaning that I have to kill something and give it to the World Tree. In doing so World Tree absorbs everything (body, blood, bones, spirit rings, spirit bones) and converts it into pure life force. Afterwards, depending on my choice it either stores the life force or uses it to passively nurture everything inside World Tree Dimension and when we talk about <<Sacrifice>> there is actually more than one way of sacrificing Spirit Rings. The first one just converts Spirit Rings into even more life force, pretty simple right? But it is the second one which gives me a headache. In most simple terms, I can sacrifice said Spirit Rings to upgrade World Tree's own Spirit Ring. Yeah, from this I can deduce that World Tree simply won't accept any Spirit Rings aside from the <<Sacrifice>>, meaning that it should have its own unique growth path and exactly this is the cause of my headache.  I don't have any information about how many Spirit Rings I need to sacrifice to get 1 White Ring on the world tree. Exchange one for one definitely wouldn't be called a <<Sacrifice>>.
Coming back to abilities, the next one is <<Life Force Manipulation>>. Thanks to this ability I can use the Life Force to heal myself, it seems extremely similar to my meditation method where I absorbed life energy from plants around me but this time it is an active skill, aside from this with enough practice, I should be able to heal others. This ability looks quite overpowered but it has a major drawback, I can only manipulate the life force I absorbed through meditation or already stored inside the World Tree.
The third one though is really useful, it's a <<World Tree's Domain>>. This ability doesn't need any Spirit Power to maintain it.  Its only requirement is having World Ring summoned. This domain lets me sense and interacts with things inside of it. 
For now, Domain covers the World Tree Dimension and a radius of 5 meters around me.
With it, I can easily sense things around me and this include plants, till now I had only a vague feeling that some plants are stronger than others but now? I can now sense the exact amount of life force, aside from this. I can roughly sense things around me. 
It is not very useful because I need to use an extreme amount of Focus even for sensing these rough images. I still believe that with time and proficiency I will be able to use it in battle.
When it comes to interacting with things, it gets even harder. I can't really send my Spirit Power out of my body, yet, so the only things I can actually use with the World Tree's Domain are its own abilities. 
In short, I can use Sacrifice on anything that I killed as long as it's inside of the Domain which can definitely increase my efficiency during hunts. And lastly, I can use Life Force Manipulation inside of World Tree Domain. 
Becoming a healer suddenly seems an even greater idea, doesn't it?
'Nah, with Rose in my hand I definitely don't want to become a healer'
And here comes a surprise, because I originally had only one material spirit and the other is somehow artificially made, I can use both of them at the same time. 
The World Ring should be a gift mentioned by R.O.B. in that flashback. And Black Rose my prized weapon from my first life.
Thinking so I once again look at the black beauty of the weapon in my right hand.
'Netherworld's Black Rose'
*Sigh*
'Although I don't know exactly why looking at it I get such melancholic feeling it's definitely a great weapon'
Now now, this weapon is great it isn't powerful at all. It just has great potential and versatility. On its own, it has only one ability, <<Bullet Creation>>. This one ability is divided into two.
The first part is <<Automatic Bullet Creation>>, every time I pull the trigger it will take a bit of my Spirit Power to create a bullet. The power of this bullet depends only on the purity and Rank of my Spirit Power which means that they will get stronger alongside me.
The second part is actual <<Bullet Creation>> where I can prepare up to twenty bullets with different effects. Although this sounds very ordinary, according to my few memories of the fight with Black Rose, it is extremely powerful. 
As long as I spend some time and find the right way I should be able to create <<Explosive Bullets>> or <<Piercing Bullets>> and even <<Homecomming Bullets>> are possible. At least these were the examples I could see in that pack of memories.
And when it comes to the limit of twenty premade bullets, this limit should also grow alongside the number of Spirit Rings bound to it.
But even after saying all that I think that without using <<Explosive Bullet>> or <<Piercing Bullet>> I would be unable to deal any kind of damage to people at my Rank, not to mention people stronger than me or Spirit Beasts.
"Adam! Are you are finally awake!"
Old Jack's voice brings me out of my thoughts. After a second or so I dismissed Black Rose which was currently in my right hand.
"Finally? How long was I out?"
Jack hesitates a little before answering.
"It's already the third day, if you haven't woken up by now I would go to Nuodong Academy only with Tang San."
Hearing so I was extremely startled. Missing out on enrollment would mess up a lot of my ideas.
"So I almost missed the enrollment date?"
"Yes but don't worry even if you don't go with us today you can still apply for next year. At least that's what master Su Yuntao said."
Missing out an entire year at the academy and staying at this village without any prospects for upgrading my skills? I really didn't want to think how bored would I be now that I could easily find any herb perhaps in a few weeks I would have emptied the entire forest.
For now, I don't have any idea how to improve myself or what kind of rings should I choose for Black Rose, not to mention that in the last 1,5 year of my adventures I meet only one ten-year-old Spirit Beast.
I really need to attend the Nuodong Academy, a few question for Grandmaster Xiagang could easily answer many of my problems.
"No, Im fine. Can you give me a few minutes to pack up?"
"Are you sure? Y..."
Before he could continue I cut in.
"Yes, I'm fine, you don't have to worry about me Old Man."
My words definitely didn't do much against his worried gaze but eventually, he agreed. Before setting out he asked me to meet with him and Tang San at village gates in 15 minutes.
Now that I was once again alone I stood up and went towards the table. I don't own much, three sets of poorly made clothes, one pair of boots and this metal case containing my little fortune.
In the spur of the moment, I decided to place the case with around 70 gold coins inside the World Ring only to dismiss it afterwards.
After packing my clothes into a bag I picked it up and tied it to my left arm.
'It's time to check if my gold is still there'
And so I once again summoned my World Ring only to smile afterwards.
'Sure enough, it retains items after being dismissed, it would be quite weird if it had such restriction'
Fortunately, my little experiment went well otherwise I would have lost all of my gold coins.
'Curious, was I a gambler during second life?'
Thinking about it I left my room and headed towards village gates.

*I'm writing this for practice*

Reincarnation- Check.
Unique material spirit/soul - check.
Author with no idea how to go forward - check.
Feel free to point out any mistakes I made.
Thanks for your time.

Yuel spread the word about practicing at the club and invited others to join in. Roi, Dan, Gilbert, Taison, and Gregory all dropped by from time to time to help with the grind. It was a huge boost, since playing with a five-man premade was a world apart from playing as a three-man premade. No more praying about being matched with decent teammates. Everybody in the club were skilled players and they all cooperated with Yuel's shot-calling, so the team was consistently strong in every game.

In particular, Roi and Dan were the most welcome visitors. They filled in the need for a Top Laner and a Jungler, and they were the best in the club at these roles.

Though, Dan was a little problematic sometimes. He was a good player, but his desire to master every Jungler class in existence made him pick an unconventional Jungler from time to time. Bottom tier classes like Rogue, complex classes like Chronomaster and even outright memes like Cryomancer.

Needless to say, these experiments didn't always go well. No matter how well Dan played, classes like Rogue were bottom tier for a reason and the Challenger division wasn't one to mess around in. Everybody who played at this level came a long way from the bottom, so they knew how to deal with memes and gimmicks. Still, Dan-of-all-Trades insisted.

"Can't you experiment in Casual?" Yuel asked after they suffered another defeat, in part because Dan played Druid Jungler. Why would anybody even do that...

"I experiment in Casual too," Dan said. "But, there ain't anywhere better than Ranked to test stuff for real. You know the matchmaking in Casual is clown fiesta."

"I suppose that's true." Yuel didn't like it, but he didn't have any good retorts. The matchmaking of Casual indeed worked in mysterious ways unbeknown to humankind. It supposedly matched players based on level, playtime and estimated skill. But in practice, there were huge skill gaps and games often snowballed. It may be because people used Casual to try new things, but bottom line it made Casual very unreliable and uncompetitive.

There's no choice, Yuel had accepted Dan's dedication to playing a billion different classes in Ranked. It surely slowed the team's progress on the ladder, but it was still leaps and bounds beyond playing in a three-man premade.

All in all, Roi and Dan greatly helped. Thanks to that, Yuel and Lars climbed to Challenger V by the end of the first month. Just one more rank and they'll catch up to Howard and Ellen!

Unfortunately, there were also some slowdowns the way. Unlike Roi and Dan, Taison and Gregory weren't as helpful. They insisted they were "da best" Bot duo and demanded to play Support and Carry. As a result, Yuel and Lars had to take turns playing their main classes.

"Saw this shit?" Taison pumped a fist after scoring a kill. "We're da best duo, yo!"

Admittedly, Taison and Gregory weren't terrible. They lagged behind on ranks because they didn't play Ranked as often, but they were definitely around Challenger level in term of skill.

Still, Taison wasn't Lars. He lacked the explosiveness and snowballing threat. The best thing about Lars in Ranked was how difficult it's to stop him once he starts rolling. At least 20% of the time, matches were single-handedly decided by Lars snowballing to victory. It crushed the spirit of the enemy team and led to an early surrender. Easy rank grinding. Everybody wanted Lars to carry for that reason.

But, Yuel agreed to entertain Taison and Gregory because a five-man premade was that valuable. Having Taison and Gregory in Bot was still better than not having them at all. So, Yuel and Lars altered between playing their main roles and playing Top and Jungler. It was an alright arrangement for Yuel, but not so much for Lars.

『An ally has been killed!』

"Gah!" Lars exclaimed. "I almost got him! Sneaky dude."

"That gank was a terrible idea." Yuel shook his head.

"But he was about to get away with no HP! I had it, yo!"

"The result begs to differ," Yuel pointed at the defeat message. "You have to keep in mind whether your target has its ult ready. You can't just attack everybody who has low health."

"But, how was I supposed to know whether his ult is up? I can't keep track of that stuff when I'm not even on lane."

"You can ask others."

"Oh, didn't think of that. Smart!"

"Literally basic logic." Yuel sighed. In term of mechanical skill, Lars's ganks were amazing as expected. However, his lackluster map awareness and subpar decision-making were fatal for playing Jungler. Therefore, as far as playing Jungler was convened, his skill was stuck somewhere in Gold rank. Yuel ended up played Jungler instead most of the time, leaving Top to Lars.

There was also the option of letting Julia play Jungler, but that was an even bigger disaster. She was already struggling to balance her offensive and defensive sides, so adding the complexity of jungling on top of that didn't do her any favors.

However, Julia was decent as Top so Lars sometimes got to play Mid, his second best role. With access to burst damage, he managed to snowball and carry the team to victory from time to time. Still, he wasn't nearly as effective as when he played Carry. Ugh, such a waste...

Fortunately, they only had to deal with this whole headache once in a while, because Taison and Gregory didn't visit the club that frequently. These troublemakers were also fine with playing Jungler and Top at least half the time, and they were actually decent at these roles. In particular, Taison's aggressive jungling dominated in some games. Even though it wasn't his main role, he was likely among the top three Junglers in the club, second only to Dan and Ellen.

The seniors who graduated also caught wind of this summer camp and paid a few visits.

"Hey there!" Trever invaded the clubroom and smacked Yuel on the back. "Heard you're throwing a party! Lemme in."

"Ugh," Yuel massaged his KO'd back. "Who called you?"

"Roi said you were having fun here, so I decided to check on ya. You're throwing a party and don't even invite your dear seniors. So cold, man."

[Okay, so it's Roi.] Yuel nodded to himself. Now he knew to whom to send a medical bill in case his back breaks from repeated smacks over the summer.

"Yo, dude," Lars greeted his older self with some fake gangsta moves. "The Carry role is already taken."

"Seniors get priority, kid." Trever puffed his chest. Gangsta negotiations began. "I came here to help ya grind, so you better be thankful."

"Yeah, it's awesome," Lars nodded. "We're missing a Jungler today, so you came at the best time, dude."

"Heh, you think you can carry better than me? Don't forget I'm already Challenger IV."

"It's because you're a geezer, so you grinded for a billion years."

"Wha-!? I'm only two years older!"

[And yet you call us "kids" all the time.] Yuel retorted mentally.

"Okay then!" Trever thrust a finger at Lars. "Let's settle who gets Carry with a 1v1!"

"You're on!"

Aaaaand they went to fight each other for the next two hours. Sigh. This summer sure was going to be noisy...

In the end, every time there was competition for the Carry role, it was decided with a 1v1 between the two goofs. On some days, it was a 1v1v1 with Taison in the mix. Fortunately, Taison never came on top in 1v1v1, so it was always between Lars and Trever. On the other hand, in 1v1 Taison won a lot. Sigh The team was supposed to spend this summer grinding, but somehow these blockheads turned it into a 1v1 tournament...

The good news: Trever's performance as Carry was more than satisfactory. In fact, as long as he maintained his cool, Trever was even better than Lars thanks to his robust experience and superior decision-making. Trever even sometimes displayed the same snowballing potential as Lars, but only when he was "on a roll", as he called it.

Based on statistics, on average it took longer to win a match with Trever as Carry than it took with Lars as Carry. The difference was about five minutes, nothing to sneeze at. On the other hand, the win ratio with Trever was higher by almost four percent, so hard to say which of the two was a better Carry for grinding ranks.

One thing for sure, Trever was a better Carry than Taison and Yuel always played Support for him, so it worked out fine. When Trever wasn't Carry, he was usually a very competent Jungler, so all in all, they steadily grinded rank points with his help. Eventually, they hit Challenger V.

"This is where the grind begins for real," Trever said. "I've been stuck at Challenger V for like a year."

"A year is too long." Yuel clenched his fists. Challenger IV was the goal. Once there, he can rightfully challenge Howard for the Support spot. It was just one rank away! [It can't take a year. No, I won't let it.]

The first half of summer break ended, but there was another half to go. By the end of it, they'll reach Challenger IV. They had to. To accomplish in a month what took Trever a year... Ambitious, to say the least. At their current level, it was borderline impossible.

The promotion from Diamond to Challenger wasn't reflected only in the amount of grinding, there was also a noticeable difficulty spike. They came across more and more opponents with golden names, either pros or fellow competitive teenagers. Especially, when playing a five-man premade, almost every game was against a premade team of golden names.

The games became fiercer than ever. Enemy teams had airtight defenses and even when Yuel found a way to break through - they weren't rattled at all and immediately adapted. These enemies also never missed a chance to punish Lars's extensions and risky plays, making his dominating snowballs much rarer.

So, Yuel and Lars not only had to grind more points than before to rank up, but they couldn't even grind as quickly as before. Even if given a year, was it even possible to reach Challenger IV at this pace...?

One day, Aron dropped by the club along with Trever. Howard mentioned how Aron used to bring members to the clubroom over the summer, so it wasn't THAT surprising. Still, Yuel couldn't believe somebody as strict and by-the-book as Aron would sneak into school without permission, especially now that he graduated. He technically wasn't even a student here anymore.

"I had my conflicts about it at first," Aron explained his side of the story. "When I became the captain, Trever and Howard nagged me about how we should use the clubroom instead of meeting at others' houses."

"You used to arrange group meetings over the summer?" Yuel asked.

"Oh yeah," Trever laughed. "The good ol' days. We picked a victim every time and raided their place, haha."

"A 'victim' is a bit extreme." Aron frowned. "But yes, we gathered a group of five every time and practiced at somebody's place. It wasn't optimal, I admit. But, I couldn't possibly let them slack off for two months. We played online too with voice chat, but it wasn't quite the same."

"Yeah," Trever nodded. "Because you couldn't lecture us for hours after every game. Everybody just muted you without telling, haha!"

"Reviewing games is as important as playing them."

"Yeah, yeah. Anyway, that's when The Great Trever came up with a brilliant idea: Let's use the clubroom!"

[Reminds me of a certain goof.] Yuel smiled wryly.

"I had my concerns," Aron admitted. "But, he kept begging and got Howard and others on his side, so I gave it a shot. Turns out nobody cares about us using the room, so I just went along with it. The first couple of days I was still on the fence, but after a week it became a routine."

"I know the feeling," Yuel nodded. On the first day, he and his accomplices infiltrated the school as if it was mission impossible. A few days forward and it became as natural as going to school every day. The few teachers at school were occupied with other matters, so nobody was interested in policing students who illegally visited their clubs without a supervisor. Clubrooms were locked, so it's not like unauthorized individuals could easily get in. Besides, they didn't come here to cause trouble so it's not a big deal.

"I heard you're stuck at Challenger V?" Aron said.

"Well," Yuel crossed his arms. "Not stuck, but it's sure tough. We overall move forward in points, but it feels like we're crawling."

"I know that feeling," Aron nodded as a proud Challenger IV who overcame this great obstacle before. "The surefire method is to play with the same coordinated team and with a game plan in mind."

"So, like a competitive team."

"Yes, like the way Howard is training with the first string right now."

"Huh...?" Yuel's brain short-circuited for a moment. "Like the way Howard is doing what?"

"He takes the first string online and makes sure to practice with the same lineup all the time. Why the surprise? That's the most logical thing to do."

"Well, sure..." [Except, I heard nothing about it!] Yuel clenched his fists. Neither Howard nor Ellen paid a single visit to the club so far, so Yuel thought they were lazing around because it's a vacation. But, they were actually practicing hard too? And with the whole first string!? No wonder Gilbert, Roi and Dan only showed their faces at the club on rare occasions. And, their visits became rarer and rarer as time went by.

Why Yuel hadn't heard any of this? Was it supposed to be some sort of secret training? A ploy by Howard to rise to Master rank before Yuel could catch up to him!? Yuel had to know the details. He had to know everything!

The next time first string members came to the clubroom, Yuel interrogated them.

"Yeah," Dan said. "We've been meeting at Howard's place to practice every now and then," he admitted without the slightest hesitation.

"How comes nobody ever mentioned it?"

"Hmm, I guess because Howard asked to not talk about it too much."

"Wha..." So, there was something fishy after all! Howard told Yuel to chase his rank, then proceeded to abuse his position as captain to grind rank points faster than Yuel with the strongest lineup! Ugh!

"So," Yuel said, holding back his irritation. "You grind online a lot?"

"We grind, but I wouldn't say 'a lot'."

"Really? Then what [do] you do?"

"Howard comes up with the menu, so we just go along. Practicing stuff, reviewing matches and... Well, you get the idea."

"I see," Sounded like standard first string training. Maybe there's nothing to worry about after all? He thought there was some huge secret, but it sounded very normal.

Still, as the vice-captain, Yuel would have liked to be informed about the club's activities. But, Howard probably didn't deem it necessary. After all, Yuel was just a second string player. Howard made his stance clear when Yuel became the vice-captain: ["I can't babysit everybody. My job as the captain is to bring the team to nationals."]

That's fine, for now. Yuel was in no position to overthrow Howard, not yet. But by the end of this summer, Yuel and Lars should have enough experience to do so. They'll seize their spots on the first string and get to play in tournaments, no matter what.

But first, they had to actually get said experience and grinding ranks was the most straightforward way to go about it. With Aron joining the summer camp, their win ratio fired upwards. He was StormBlitz's former Jungler and one of best Junglers in the entire region, second only to the Leopards' Fenrir. Aron's consistency, knowledge and decision-making were top-notch.

On top of that, his late game was brutal. He deconstructed enemies to the tiniest bits throughout the match, gathering even more data than Yuel. Then, in the late game, he unleashed all that knowledge and decimated every opponent on his path. He became a killing machine, without a single flawless move.

His effectiveness was further enhanced with Trever on the team. When Trever picked a Carry like Ranger with good jungle clear, the two of them played a "Two Junglers" formation. Trever strolled throughout Bot Jungle, whereas Aron focused on Top Jungle. That way, they greatly optimized jungle farm.

In addition, they used coordinated pincer attacks. They ganked their prey from two opposite directions, leaving no chance to escape. When the target through they escaped Aron's gank, they ended up running into Trever instead. An elegant and powerful tactic.

If Yuel and Lars get into Ivy High as planned, they might get a chance to face Aron and Trever in the high school regionals. Shivers danced on his skin from the mere thought. How would Yuel counter Aron's unstoppable late game? How will Lars's skill compare against Trever's by then? Sadly, there were still two more years ahead of them before any of that can be answered.

Before long, the summer break was approaching its end. They made huge progress with everybody's help, but... Yuel and Lars didn't make it. They were still stuck at Challenger V. Trever didn't joke when he said it took him a year to get to Challenger IV. The grind was REAL.

Did Yuel and Lars get any closer to overthrowing Howard and Ellen? It's hard to tell. They needed some sort of opportunity to test their mettle against Aegis and Athena. The chance will surely come once the school year begins. Worst case, Yuel will have to create one himself.

A week and a half before school resumes, these were everybody's standings:

Challenger III - Aron

Challenger IV - Howard, Ellen, Trever

Challenger V - Yuel, Lars, Roi

Diamond I - Julia, Gilbert

Diamond II - Dan

Diamond III - Taison, Gregory

Imagine a shonen sports story. But, it’s not about baseball or soccer. No, this one is about playing a MOBA video game!

And no, it’s neither League of Legends nor DotA. A BRAND NEW ORIGINAL MOBA, the one MOBA to rule them all - Classmancers!

The game has become so big, that even schools recognize it as a sport. They even allow students to participate in Classmancers clubs and compete against other schools! Who will be the one going to nationals!?

-------------------------------------

For Yuel, a team sport is like a chessboard that comes to life. There’s no greater fun than deconstructing every opponent and predicting twenty of their moves in advance.

And, Classmancers is the ideal stage for such psychological warfare, for it’s a sport in which game theory reigns supreme. At least, usually, it does.

There are also goofs like Lars, who got -200 IQ, yet boast godlike mechanical skill that triumphs against all odds. He’s like your typical OPMC which a cheat, except the cheat does nothing for his intellect.

Yuel and Lars are like water and fire. In other words, 100% compatible! That’s why they form an unlikely duo and set out to dominate Classmancers’ competitive scene!

However, to challenge their OPness, the two will run into rivals who are just as OP! Some of them will turn their teammates immune to Yuel’s psychological attacks, while others will redirect Lars’s almighty strength against himself.

In this harsh environment, the two will keep struggling, struggling, and struggling some more, following their promise to reach the pro scene.

-------------------------------------

NOTE: Since the site doesn't support italics yet, I'll be using [text] tags for thoughts in this version of the story.

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RELEASE SCHEDULE: Monday and Thursday. Two chapters a week.

GAME WIKI: https://classmancers.wikia.com/

HOMEPAGE: https://darkclaymore.wordpress.com/classmancers/

PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/darkclaymore
You can read up to 3 chapters ahead on Patreon.

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