Preparing the Game Board

Before Ronald loses his motivation, it was necessary to rekindle the flames of passion in him. The fastest way to achieve that was to convince him that his lane opponent was, in fact, competent.

"You may be thinking Blackhole isn't all that because of his 5/10 mechanical skill," Cato said. "But don't ignore that 8/10 decision-making. That's rather high and implies he's capable of being shrewd."

"Eh, it's not that high," Ronald insisted to write Blackhole off. "I think the guy did pull a couple of tricks in the previous scrim, but overall, he didn't leave much of an impression."

"Let's also not forget that he's backed up by their shot-caller, whose decision-making even the ever-harsh Sonya rated as 10/10."

"Correct," Sonya said. "He stands at 7/10/10 at the moment."

"Dang, two 10s!?" Ronald exclaimed as if he saw this data for the first time. "And even his mechanical skill isn't too shabby. Bruh is an absolute unit, what the heck."

"It's just an estimation based on the few games he showed us," Sonya said. "His decision-making as a shot-caller is definitely top-notch, even if it looks questionable at times. And, assuming he's the one who single-handedly handles the drafting phase, then his drafting ability suggests that he's extremely knowledgeable about the game."

"My, he's almost as accomplished as me~" Cato smiled from ear to ear.

"Actually, his stats are a little better than yours."

"Say what!?" Cato gasped. "Since when!? In which area is he better??? I demand to know right in this instant!"

"I demoted your score to 7/9/10 for now."

"M-Me? A 9/10 in decision-making? Surely you jest."

"I admit I'm not 100% sure about this demotion yet. Maybe you do qualify for 10/10."

"But of course I do! In fact, I'm preeeetty sure that the last time I saw my stats they showed a 10/10 in there."

"That was a long time ago," Sonya said. "You never really ask me about my up-to-date evaluation of you, so I assumed you don't care even if something changes."

"I didn't ask until now because I was rather satisfied with the score." Cato pouted. "May I please know how I got demoted from godhood to this peasant level of 9/10?"

"You should know that yourself," Sonya said. "It's because of the way you drag out games unnecessarily."

"Oh, that's all?" Cato sighed in relief. "And here I thought I had some glaring weakness I wasn't aware of."

"Your glaring weakness is that you don't realize that dragging out games IS a glaring weakness. You write it off as if it's nothing but it's actually a huge deal."

"Nah, not really. It's just something I enjoy doing, but I always know when to stop myself."

"Yes, you sure knew how to stop yourself in the first game today."

"My, as merciless as ever, aren't you..." Cato smiled wryly. Maybe his self-control really wasn't as flawless as he thought it to be.

In that sense, he shared a small similarity with Ronald. Both of their scores were influenced by how much they underestimated their opponents.

If Cato knew that the enemy team was weak, then he dragged out the game to torture them and break their spirits. On the other hand, when he knew he was going up against a strong team, then Cato cut down on that bad habit.

[Yikes, just the idea of comparing myself to that brat makes my skin crawl.] Cato shuddered. [Anyway, I've learned my lesson from the first game, so I'm not planning to drag out anything anymore against Straus. In other words, I'm in my complete form with that godly 10/10 decision-making! But, this brat on the other hand...]

Ronald might've started out this game as a 10/7/8, but he was soon going to decline into a sorry state of like 8/5/6. Yes, even his "game knowledge" would plummet. It's like his entire brain rotted once he started underestimating his foes. He would forget to take into the simple things that even Bronze players knew. It could get really hairy.

[So, I have to put him back on track. I'm not into babysitting but nobody else is going to do this for me.]

"Back on topic," Cato started. "I believe we've now established that Blackhole is decently smart and that he receives advice from somebody even smarter than him." [But not smarter than me.]

"Yep." Ronald nodded. "It sounds like they got a bunch of smartasses on the team."

"That's why I insist it's very possible that Blackhole plays the way he does in order to throw you off. They've probably figured out by now that you're an expert at losing focus."

"What? C'mon, I'm not that bad! Everybody makes mistakes, bruh."

"Yes, but some do that more than others."

"Bleh, you gonna keep painting me as a scrub, aren't you?"

"That's the plan."

"Dang, these levels of disrespect, haha." Ronald laughed dryly. "Anyway, I dunno. I doubt these guys are really planning anything. Pretty sure that's just Blackhole's level."

"Maybe it is, but it's best to exercise caution. I think we've all done more than enough underestimating for one day, don't you agree?"

"Yeah, guess that's true." Ronald smiled wryly. Nobody had to remind him how and why they lost the previous game. "Okay, fair enough. I'll treat this guy as a semi-potential threat for a couple more waves."

"Not a [semi-potential threat] but a [very likely threat]."

"That's asking for too much, bruh. There's a limit to how much you can ask me to fool myself. I know for a fact that this guy ain't that good."

"Fair enough," Cato conceded. "Just please, for the love of god, don't you dare lower your guard and get yourself killed. They have a Dark Knight on their team and we have to make sure we starve it to death."

"Oh right, there's the DK too. That bruh is dangerous for sure." Ronald nodded. "I bet they gonna call him over here soon since Blackhole is clearly struggling against me. So yeah, I can actually see Blackhole trying to lower my guard so that the DK ganks my arse."

"My, I'm glad you finally developed a brain and started thinking about the bigger picture."

"Dang, the sheer amount of shade this guy throws at people." Ronald shook his head. "But yeah, I see what you're saying. The DK's presence makes everything about this situation more exciting. These guys are cooking something up, I just know it!"

With that, the flame rekindled once more in Ronald's eyes. With that, Cato's work was done here.

[Phew, finally.] Cato sighed in relief. [My, sometimes I feel like a babysitter here. But, I suppose that comes with the role.]

As the captain, it was up to him to polish his chess pieces. He had to make sure all of them were clean and shiny so they could bring out their true potential on the playboard. The process of getting there was tedious but the reward was usually worth it.

[There is something rather satisfying about manipulating my own teammates into performing better~] Cato grinned. [It's like I'm a trickster overlord, one who even fools his own allies for the sake of obtaining victory! Muhaha!]

As he continued to indulge himself in such thoughts, the game moved on to the fourth wave. It was time for Blackhole to face Ronald once more.

Will the enemy do a better job this time? Did Yuel and Blackhole already come up with a counterplan?

[If they're going to try anything, surely their plan will involve the DK.] Cato deduced. "Hey Will, I suspect their DK is going to gank Top in this wave or the next."

"I figured as much." William nodded.

"Good, since we're on the same page here, I'll leave this to your judgment. Do what you can during your jungling routine."

"Got it."

Perhaps these instructions came off as wishy-washy for a shot-caller, but that was for the best in this case. William was competent enough to make his own calls. In fact, in terms of decision-making ability, William could've easily become the shot-caller if he so desired. Even Sonya rated his decision-making as 10/10.

[Problem is, he's a tiny bit too self-centered.] Cato shrugged. [But well, that made it much easier for me to get recognized as the sole shot-caller of the team, so I'm not complaining.]

Surely, if William had any interest in calling the shots for the team, then he and Cato would have run into many conflicts. After all, their game philosophies clashed rather hard at times. Cato promoted eternal defense whereas William advocated swift elimination. Needless to say, these two approaches were as incompatible as they could get.

For the better and the worse, William mainly cared about his own performance, so he had little interest in telling others what to do. For example, this self-centered mindset was the reason that William didn't say anything to Ronald despite how obvious it was that the brat's fighting spirit was diminishing.

As the older brother who played with Ronald more than anybody, surely William was aware of just how badly Ronald's performance suffered when the kid started losing interest. And yet, William didn't say a single word on the matter. Instead, Cato had to be the one to step forward and say something.

But, why was it like that? Did William really not care about his teammates' performance? Well, not quite.

It's all because William was heavily preoccupied with his own matters. He was planning his jungling routes in advance, weighing the pros and cons of various alternatives, trying to predict the enemy's movements, etc. In short, he had no time to babysit other players, not even his own baby brother.

[Perhaps it comes off as a little cold-hearted, but at least I know I can trust him to make the best calls for himself. After all, he's preoccupied with himself like 150% of the time. My, what a narccisit~]

While Cato was busy checking on everybody and analyzing the entire board situation, William was far better focused on his own affairs. That fact, combined with William's solid decision-making, allowed the guy to often make superior calls for himself than what Cato could provide him.

[Well, perhaps "superior" is too strong of a word here.] Cato objected to his own thoughts. [They're just somewhat "better optimized", I suppose. Yeah, that sounds better.]

Either way, with all of that in mind, it was generally safe to let William do his own thing in the jungle. Not only did this have the potential to lead to better plays than what Cato could come up with, but it also took a load off Cato's shoulders. After all, making shot-calls for the Jungler was very taxing, so it was nice to have a competent Jungler who could handle that part by himself.

But, what about the enemy Jungler? Was LegendaryMemer also that kind of self-sufficient Jungler who made Yuel's life easy?

[I can believe he is, but I also feel like strongly denying it. My, I'm so fickle~]

A player who boldly brought memes to the competitive stage was obligated to be self-sufficient at least to some extent. The entire premise of winning with memes was ridding on Memer's class mastery, so the guy had to know what he was doing.

But, to what degree was Memer really self-sufficient? How much was Yuel involved in the decision-making process for the Dark Knight's actions?

[I felt like Yuel's tactics were ever-present throughout the previous game.] Cato thought. [Many of the DK's big plays felt like moves that Yuel would come up with. Of course, it's always possible that Memer just had similar ideas himself, but many of these shot-calls just screamed "Yuel" to me.]

If any of that was correct, then it implied two things. Firstly, unlike Cato, Yuel was burdened with monitoring his Jungler and calling the shots for the Dark Knight. Secondly, this meant that whatever the Dark Knight was going to pull next will likely be a very "Yuel style" move.

[In other words, I have to be on the lookout for hints of an incoming unorthodox attack.] Cato concluded. [Then again, I believe I've advised my minions sufficiently, so I'll just have to trust them to do their job from there.]

Cato properly fueled Ronald's fighting spirit, as well as warned William about the potential of an incoming gank on Top. From there, it was up to the two pieces to handle any unexpected situations to the best of their ability.

So, what kind of bizarre move will Yuel pull in the upcoming wave? Or, was he planning something big for the wave after the next?

With all these big questions hanging in the air, the game proceeded to the fourth wave...