Benefits of an Aggressive Solver

*WHOOSH*

On the field, Irvine was running to the side, trying to lure away the other team's Fielder towards him.

When the Fielder saw the opportunity of cornering his opponent, he pulled the standard black Battle Arena sword on his back and performed an overhead swing as he charged towards Irvine.

If one looked closely at the sword's blade, they would be able to see little bits of crackling electricity running through it.

Seeing that the man had properly gotten baited by him, instead of dodging to the side, Irvine ducked forward and closed in on the Fielder's chest, going past his outstretched hand.

"Shi...!"

At almost zero distance, the sword that was being swung on his hand had become an anchor that prevented him from defending in time during that milliseconds.

'Now!'

Successful in his positioning, Irvine quickly twisted his body and swiping his right foot forward! All the while, aiming at the ankle joint of the Fielder's left leg.

It was his usual precision style [Joint Break], but with one little difference this time...

'And [Blast].'

*BOOM*

The moment his foot got into contact with the opponent's ankle, the small pressurized air he had hastily compressed in front of it burst apart in a forward facing direction from his foot!

The impact, combined together with Irvine's own rotational kicking force had caused the Fielder to spin upside down almost reaching the 180-degree angle from his initial standing position.

[Joint Blast]

Not only could this move stun the opponent for a longer period of time, it could even break their form when used with the right timing and positioning.

Of course, sending them floating in the air like what happened now could only occur if the opponent was totally unsuspecting towards the coming attack.

Not waiting around for the Fielder to recover, Irvine's follow-up attack came just as quickly midway through.

He palmed the abdominal area of the still spinning Fielder in the air and compressed an even denser and larger amount of air compared to the one before.

'1, 2...'

*BOOOOM*

This time, even though the explosion was single directional as well, Irvine's right arm was still forced to jerk back from enduring its own recoil nonetheless.

"Ugh!"

The result though, was very much satisfactory.

With his all-out [Blast], the Fielder was pushed flying back spinning, going past the white lines drawn on the flat training field.

.

*FWEEEET*

"Out of line, out! Next person, in!"

The sound of the whistle from the referee prompted another person to walk into the small, single tower match area inside the training field.

*PANT* *PANT*

Irvine and his two teammates tried their best to catch however much breather they could get during this transitional moment.

Yes, Irvine was currently participating in a single tower match for his 1st day of practice within the 2nd string.

It was the same 3-on-3 he'd done with Grant back when he'd first returned to the past. However, the rules were a bit different this time around,

The teams were formed randomly at the start.

During the game, when a player's HP reached 0 or he got himself out of the match area that was indicated by the white lines, the player would have to leave the field to allow the next person in-line to step in.

The player who was forced out would then be moved to the back of the line waiting for his next turn to come up.

The lines were divided based on the different positions the players held.

Even when one team had finished the other's tower puzzle, the coaches would bring in a new one while taking the dismantled one out and fixing it back up. Creating a neverending cycle of matches.

This would go on for a full hour before all of the players could get their 10-minute break each time.

The coaches and the 2nd string players called it the 'Single Tower Marathon' training.

And it was the current menu for all the positions except Rangers on this first day of training camp.

Of course, just like the new recruits' training, each day would be concluded with a full standard match between themselves that included the Rangers as well.

It was a brutal training schedule that tested one's stamina and mentality to their limits.

.

.

In the first hour of his participation, Irvine had experienced playing with many different 2nd string team members whenever his turn came up for a match.

It was actually impossible to keep playing with the same teammates throughout the cycle of this matchmaking format.

Whether it was from one's teammates getting done in or you yourself losing all your HP because of the continuous game, eventually everyone would get eliminated and gave the others their chance to play with different people every single time they came back in.

But following this random match-ups, at some point in time Irvine had realized that his stay on the field had become longer and longer.

Presently, he and his current team had decimated two different group of 3-man team through gradually changing their composition everytime their players were eliminated.

The amazing thing was, the elimination of those 6 people were done with him being in the same composition of 3-man team himself all this while!

Irvine's current team had endured through the change of two whole team without them getting eliminated even once!

Behind him, Greg Clayton was shaking the sweat off his head after taking out his helmet while to his side, Derrick was calmly regulating his breathing pattern.

The three of them were resting while waiting for the next player to come in.

Because of the frequent change-ups in teams whenever an elimination happened, the three of them were brought together into one single team at some point during the training.

And miraculously enough, their group hadn't been swapped once even after clearing away player after player from the other side!

.

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The entire crowd of players in the line-ups were all looking at the field with various different expressions and thoughts.

"That's Irvine Lang? he was playing a Solver while actively eliminating players too..."

"It's weird as hell, now that I think about it, don't you think he's dealt more damage to the players than to the towers?"

"How many tower sections has he solved since he started playing again?"

"Derrick's getting more proficient with his Ability again..."

"..."

Discussions were sparked amongst the rest of the people off the field.

Currently, even the coaches overlooking the training were having a hard time grading Irvine's results.

"...It's certainly not a bad statistics if you don't look at his position?" One of the coaches commented.

"How can we not look at the position? Because of the way he plays, his solve rate was not high enough while his 'death' rate is higher than our average Solver!" Another one was looking weirdly at him with disapproval at Irvine's unconventional playing style.

"His 'kill' rate's high as well though. Maybe even in the upper ranks among our Fielders and Guards."

"That's what I'm saying! Why not just play as a Fielder the--"

"I think you're missing the point." Suddenly, the coach who had first introduced Irvine to the rest of the team spoke up.

"What do you mean?"

"Have you seen it? In his file, the Head Coach has input his position as a Secondary Solver." He waved his tablet around, telling the other coaches to check theirs.

"As in when the team's composed of 1 Fielder and 2 Solvers?"

"Isn't that a... Uselessly specific position? Even for us, the Illusions with our trick plays, we rarely uses 2 Solvers formation."

"That's not the point," The first coach argued again,

"In an official match with several substitutes available, such a hybrid can have many uses."

"For example, setting aside the 2 Solvers formation, we can put him as the sole Solver when our team is on the defensive behind the halfway line." He elaborated.

"...Hmm."

"The 2 Solvers thing was simply the optimal way to use him when we want to go on the offense."

During defense, usually the Solver who had the least damage output on the team wouldn't be of much use or might even bring danger to the team.

But they still had to be around because the Fielder would need to reinforce the team's strength and overwhelm the enemy with numerical advantage during a defensive battle.

In such times, aggressive Solver like Irvine would prove to be very useful.

He would be valued not for his solving speed but his combat capability. So his focus during the fights would not be to preserve his HP to prepare for offense but to help with fighting and defending the tower.

Since a match would require at least one Solver to be present at anytime anyway, why not just put someone like him in during defense?

"Interesting..." The coach who was bewildered by Irvine's play initially also started to see him differently after such case example.

At the start, the coach who had first introduced Irvine was also confused just like the rest. But after seeing Irvine's plays on the marathon, he was now rather convinced that there's a time and place to use this kind of player.

'It's actually quite revolutionary compared to the current way the sport's played... I really wonder how the OPL teams would react if they saw. Ah, I shouldn't think too far ahead.'

*clears throat*

"And one more thing..." He added on,

"His solving speed and survivability in this marathon may be average compared to the other 2nd string Solvers but... Why don't you check the data again?"

"...Why?"

"He's still far away from the bottom rank. And his 'death' was always because his HP eventually reached 0, not because he's cornered or pushed out of line."

"..."

"Meaning that even with his current playing style, he was still a better Solver than some of the 2nd string players here today huh?" Another coach surmised from the data gathered.

"Exactly."

"Well it's not our decision. We'll just hand over the gathered data to the Head Coach along with our personal observations."

.

.

On the field, the match continued for Irvine, Derrick, and Greg after a new player walked in.

"Let's go!" Greg was feeling great with his plays together with Derrick and Irvine so he hadn't thought about it too much, but Derrick was different.

'His improvement ever since the License Exam is massive!' As someone who'd been analyzing their matches all this while, he was more than a little surprised!

'Even Greg's still not that good with his use of [Blast]. How's he...?'

His thought was interrupted when an enemy suddenly charged into his line of sight.

*SIGH*

'Too direct.' With a thought, Derrick who had been standing still for a while reacted with dashing one single step back!

The player in front of him ended up hitting the empty space on Derrick's previous position.

"!"

After the backward dodge, Derrick didn't waste time to dash forward once more and grapple the opponent using the metal short staff in his hand as the lock.

*GRIP*

"Urgh...!"

"Stay down now."

Suddenly, a crackling electricity run through his grappling joints and into the metal rod in his hands, shocking the enemy!

*BZZZT* *crackle* *crackle*

His Gene Mod Ability was called [Shock].

It was an Ability that allowed one to produce electricity from any joints in their body and direct it outwardly.

Just like how [Blast] was a popular choice for Guards, [Shock] was one of the Abilities preferred by Fielder.

Its strong point was how it was able to deal continuous damage in-place, even while one was grappling down an enemy.

After Derrick had finished securing his target for a while, he looked back towards Irvine's direction and found that the enemy's Guard had also been pushed back and knocked down.

Irvine himself was currently solving the middle section of the tower while avoiding the desperate attack from the enemy's own Solver.

*click* *clack*

'His solving speed's average but he makes my job easier because he takes care of himself on the field... Ah, I should probably introduce myself to him during the next break.'

At this moment, Derrick was already convinced that Irvine was no less of a player than him or Greg even as a freshman.

He thought that someone like Irvine also had the same amount of chance to get into the 1st string as them.

Derrick himself was not the analytical type and hadn't really considered the fact that Irvine was a different breed of Solver.

Right now, he was simply thinking that with Irvine's performance, he had a good chance in taking one of the spots on the 1st string as well.

.

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The matches continued on for a while longer between the three of them.

And although all three could be considered some of the top players in the 2nd string just from their performance today, they still weren't the only ones with great statistics in the whole of 2nd string team.

Combined with the fact that their HP had been slowly getting depleted as the match went on, in the end, Irvine had become the first to fall to 0 HP after another bout.

*FWEEEET*

This was partly because he'd been targeted more often by the enemies, be it the Guards or the Fielders, but nevertheless.

With Irvine gone, Derrick also got eliminated not long after. Leaving Greg as the one who ended up staying on the longest between the three of them.

When he'd been taken down following Irvine's elimination, Derrick had once again realized the significant role Irvine had played for their survival thus far.

Unlike normal Solvers who only hoped to not drag down their Fielders when defending, there'd been many occasions where Irvine had instead intercepted his 1-on-1 fights to change the flow of the match.

Although in the end, their solve rate was rather low when compared to the time they'd spent surviving on the field. When it came to defending their tower, their grades as a group was by far at the top of the ranking based on the coaches' calculations.

.

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*GLUG* GLUG*

"Phwah!" Greg let out a satisfied groan after chugging down almost a gallon of water from his bottle.

It was their last break time, the 2nd string team were closing in on the end of their first day of training.

"Irvine Lang! So good, as expected of a Starseed!" Greg shouted.

"Yes, it was surprising how much you've improved in 3 months..."

Both Derrick and Greg greeted the approaching figure of Irvine from the sideline.

"...Thank you. Derrick Wallace, Greg Clayton."

"Why so forma-- Ah, right!"

"We haven't really gotten acquainted with each other yet huh, Hahah!" Greg just realized how weird it was for him and Derrick to suddenly greet Irvine like that.

Both of them had literally never spoken a proper word to Irvine until right now.

The only thing they'd ever spoken to each others were shouting commands during their single tower marathon matches.

"But you know our names?" Derrick was rather curious.

For the two, they only knew Irvine because he was a renowned Starseed of this year. But how did Irvine even remembered them?

"Haha, yeah well. You two are the top scorers of the April exam, and I've also come here once before today for a tour when I saw the two of you again." He smoothly explained,

"And I must say, your plays are really inspiring." From his eyes, Irvine could see the resemblance of the two's future figures playing in the Pro League within their current forms and skills.

Especially Derrick, one of the famous speed demon of the Centaurs.

"You're inspiring, that good and still a freshman. That's just crazy unfair."

"But still not enough. Especially if I wanted to play in the 1st string and win the Warrior Crown this semester."

"...Great ambition."

"Actually, I think I might ask one of the coaches if I could use the training facility after hours, you think they'll let me?"

"..."

"Hah! Derrick, he's one of those training crazy muscleheads just like our current Vice Captain!"

"He'll kill you if he hears you say that Greg..." Derrick shivered involuntarily,

"Anyway, our improvised teamwork's really good back there, don't you think?"

"Yes. Hm, it could be better, but..." Irvine replied seriously to Derrick's casual talk as he fell silent trying to analyze the previous matches.

"See, a training crazy musclehead." Greg laughed smugly at the scene.

.

Seeing Irvine already blending in with some of the promising 2nd string players, the coaches themselves were also immersed in their own discussions about the near future.

"Those three hold the longest time record of holding down as the same team in the marathon today."

"Might be interesting to see them in the 1st string right?" One of them gave a friendly comment.

"I don't know about interesting, but... Irvine Lang. I think I can see what the Head Coach was expecting of him when he's sending him our way."

"An entirely new card to play for the tournaments?"

*nod*

"A wild card indeed. But a single day of practice can't decide that just yet."

"But you know what they say, Starseeds are on a league of their own."