Chapter 17
Chapter 17
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 17
Chapter Title: Promising Newcomer
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Challenger ADC and today's daily mentor, Agni, brushed aside her brief frustration and taught me all sorts of techniques.
"Oh. This is kinda neat."
"Right? Super useful when you need to escape later but don't have Flash."
Techniques like rubbing against an unclimbable wall in first-person view to hop over it were definitely handy.
Kind of like the parkour you see a lot in FPS games.
"Th-then, I'll teach you some more of these!"
For reference, Agni was much older than me, so after we got properly acquainted, she'd been speaking casually to me.
Technically, I shouldn't be the one saying this based on age, but whatever—I'm a middle schooler right now anyway.
"When auto-attacking, mixing in top-down view like this speeds it up just a tiny bit, right?"
"Mixing skills and autos like this seems pretty good."
It worked sometimes on the first try, sometimes not, but even hitting autos in first-person and casting skills in top-down still gave skill range corrections.
'Eh, whatever.'
Just needed more practice.
Anyway, that tech looked really useful for hit-and-run situations where you need to check the map after.
"Exactly! That's why it cuts down deaths from poor map awareness a ton."
"Do you struggle with map reading by any chance?"
"...B-bot laners just need to farm minions well!"
Obviously a joke.
At Challenger level, she knew full well you couldn't win as an ADC on physicals alone.
I knew it too, since I'd hit Challenger on every lane before.
"If you have any questions about macro or concepts later, come find me anytime, sis."
"For real?"
"Of course."
"True's the only one...! Viewers, reflect on yourselves!"
I went around trying out the random tricks and tips she'd taught me again.
"...Ugh."
Of course, my practice dummy wasn't some bot—it was the perfectly fine Agni right next to me.
Well, not perfectly fine anymore. She'd just been force-sent home.
She respawned right away, though.
"Wh-what's with this?!"
"If you step forward for one more auto there, your body's gonna lean in."
"Even if it leans, the angle's fine..."
"Not when you're in front of me."
"I'm not old! I still hit Challenger mid-season!"
"Ah, then pause me dying for a sec and let's do this?"
She waved her hand in the air for a moment, then a window popped up in my view.
"True, you know the reaction speed test?"
"Yeah. Tap when the color changes?"
From what I remembered, on PC, under 150ms was top-tier.
"What's your best?"
"Me? Around 140? 125 on a good day!"
"That's fast?"
"For normals, yeah? Pros supposedly hit double digits sometimes. Not many, though. Most are around the same."
Makes sense since no keyboard/mouse lag—averages higher.
I hit start without thinking.
The blue panel lit up, and suddenly it flashed red.
—Tap.
I just thought about touching the panel with my finger, and the timer stopped.
I wanted to ask if that was good—but Agni's shocked face said it all.
"ST3 that rough?"
All I heard sounded like horror stories.
Sure, after reincarnation, 2nd/3rd leagues became proper divisions like soccer—promotion aside—with official winner records. But still, it's ST.
Made me doubt just how broken it was.
"I'm a big ST fan, so I know! Basically..."
TL;DR from Agni: Academy overhaul transition, so this season's basically abandoned. Just five solo queue amateurs slapped together.
"And while that's happening, other teams poached their prospects, so ST has no new signings."
"And that's where I popped up outta nowhere?"
"Something like that?"
Might explain why Coach An Jae-hoon clung to me so desperately.
"Guess I'll find out when I get there."
"Don't forget me when you do? You'll shout me out, right?"
A natural laugh escaped me.
I'd learned too fast, but that didn't change how much she'd helped today, so I answered without hesitation.
"Of course. Hit me up if you need me later. I'll make time once for sure."
"Win LOC Worlds and I'll call you, so work hard too, True!"
She hugged me tight the second she heard.
VR gear must be top-notch—the hug felt real.
"You don't sleep more than me. Bro."
"You here?"
Proud, who always poked around the practice room even in personal time, handed coffee to An Jae-hoon, still glued to opponent analysis late at night.
"ST3 mid solved? Was giving you headaches."
Didn't matter other roles—in LOC, midlaner's caliber was absolutely crucial.
ST3's promising mid got called up to Grand League—2nd div—then academy sweep turned up no one satisfactory.
Last season, ST3 finished dead last out of 12. Doomsday results.
Not just mid—rest couldn't even get youth labels—but look at ST's results, mids' presence dwarfed other lanes. Importance was real.
So finding the biggest puzzle piece let An Jae-hoon grin ear to ear.
"Head hurt a bit, but better now. Analyzing games instead of scouting offers says it all."
"Who'd you get?"
"That mid Ji-hwan showed us from youth? The True nick one."
"...The one using True nickname?"
Proud's reply made Jae-hoon double-take in surprise.
"You remember that?"
"You said she plays like me."
Proud's eyes changed in an instant.
Less cozy vet spotting talent, more predator eyeing prey.
"Already signed?"
"Contract done. Kicked academy kids, revamped team—got budget, went big."
Jae-hoon grinned, flashing all five fingers.
"That much to an amateur?"
"Yo, without me, Milky Way might've snatched her. Phillydog was scouting her."
"Good grab."
Didn't matter elsewhere—better overpay than lose to Milky Way.
"Wanna meet her."
"Don't crush another kid prospect's dreams. Behave."
Legends like him in front wrecked big prospects routinely—even ST2/3 mids.
"Let's raise this one gently, yeah?"
"Don't got much time."
"......Tch."
Knew it wasn't just busy schedule, so he sighed and sipped coffee.
"Meet on signing photo day then."
"When?"
Restarting analysis vid, he added:
"Tomorrow."