A week and a half before summer break ended, Howard called Yuel to his house. He wanted to discuss topics related to managing the club in the upcoming year, especially the club’s entrance exam. The exam will be held shortly after the school year begins and, this time around, Yuel will be largely in charge of it.

It felt like a waste traveling all the way to Howard’s house just for that. Yuel had to take two buses to get there. He suggested meeting at a more neutral place like school, but Howard insisted. “Captain’s orders.” What a lazy tyrant.

But honestly, Yuel was a little interested too. After all, Howard’s older sister was a Classmancers pro. What kind of person was she? She went by Ignis and played for the Sweepers, a B-League team. Yuel saw some of her matches because he knew the name, but otherwise, she wasn’t exactly a very well-known pro.

Still, a pro was a pro. She participated in official tournaments, which came with large crowds, professional commentary and everything. Compared to StormBlitz’s members, her skill was nothing short of impressive. She’d probably even mop the floor with somebody as strong as Roi in a Top Lane duel. So, meeting such an amazing player would be like meeting a celebrity-

“Too bad,” Howard said. “Sis isn’t home.”

“H-Huh?” Yuel was taken aback. He hasn’t even mentioned her.

“You’ve been ogling the place from the moment you entered. But, too bad. Being a pro means working like any other person, so she won’t be home until evening.”

“Oh, I see...” What a bummer. Yuel hoped at least one good thing would come out of wasting time and money on two buses to come all the way out here. Oh well.

“Heya, Yuyu~” A familiar voice greeted him as he entered the living room. Oh no, it’s Ellen.

“You were practicing together?” Yuel asked.

“Nope, we’re on a date and you’re interrupting it. Hmph~” Ellen pretended to pout.

“She’s just freeloading here,” Howard said. “She’s like a bunny, she dies from loneliness. So, I have to take care of her. It’s quite the pain.”

“My, Wardy is such a bully. And here I am, gracing him with my presence.”

“More like, here you are breathing down my neck the whole summer.”

“Tehe~”

So, Ellen spent much of the summer at Howard’s place? Well, there’s nothing odd about a Support and Carry training together. Unlike other roles, Bot Lane was about playing as a duo, so pairing with random people online was nothing short of frustrating. Especially for the Support, who was helpless when the Carry was an uncooperative self-centered dimwit.

Besides, Yuel already heard about Howard training with the first string throughout the summer. Training in secret without informing anybody else, not even Yuel.

“Doing secret training?” Yuel asked.

“The truth is,” Ellen giggled, “We’re eloping~”

“.....” Howard didn’t answer right away since he must have caught the accusation in Yuel’s tone. He studied Yuel for a moment, then replied. “What do you mean?”

“I heard you’ve been training with the first string and that’s why you don’t show in the clubroom.”

“Yeah,” Howard nodded. “I just invite everybody here. As you can see, I got a lot of space.” He stretched his arm, presenting the big living room.

Indeed, this space was well-tailored for gaming. It had three desktop computers, two laptops, two game consoles and two wide TVs. Ellen was currently in the middle of trying out various skins on the Ultra HD TV, which almost looked like she was dissecting some with a microscope. That TV was huge.

From what Yuel could tell with a glance, this living room could host at least 7 players across the different platforms. This was some amazing setup.

“Do live in a gaming center or something?”

“Heh, I get that every time. Sis brings everything she can get for cheap.”

“I see.” Thinking about it, these consoles looked like they were from the previous generation. The laptops weren’t very wide, they probably didn’t support an amazing resolution and possibly couldn’t even handle most modern games. Also, only one of the computer monitors looked modern. The other two were CRT, reminding the relics at school. These things belonged in a museum.

“Still,” Yuel said. “That’s an amazing setup you got. I’m surprised your parents allow all of this in the living room.”

“Oh, they don’t live here anymore. They ran away.”

“Ran away...?”

“Yep,” Ellen interjected. “And they left poor Wardy with a huge debt too. Such a tearjerker story, sob.”

“Stop making shit up,” Howard chuckled and patted Ellen’s head. This special technique always turned her on mute.

“I didn't mean they abandoned us,” Howard explained. “They just moved to a newer house. They badgered sis to move out because as you see she has been redesigning this living room into a gaming center. But, sis kept doing whatever she wanted until my folks got fed up and moved out instead. Hilarious, right? Haha.”

“That’s quite the story...” Yuel didn’t even know where to begin. It's like Ignis kicked out her own parents so she can keep playing Classmancers. Scary. “Your sister must be really something.”

“Right? Right?” Ellen acted proud for some reason. “Sis Ignis is so cool~”

“Who are you calling ‘sis’?” Howard pinched her cheek.

“C’mon,” Ellen leaned against Howard’s arm. “She gonna be my sister too.”

“As if you get to decide that.”

“Tehe~”

Why am I here again? Yuel averted his eyes from this embarrassing romcom. The specifics of their relationship has never been quite explained, but it's clear they had something going. They also apparently spent much of the summer together and now Ellen was hinting at marriage... Weren’t they still in junior high?

“That’s enough,” Howard tapped on Ellen’s on the head and created distance. “You’re making our guest uncomfortable.”

“My,” Ellen winked. “Sorry, Yuyu. Forgot you’re still green to all this love business.”

“.......” Yuel just narrowed his eyes.

“Return to your dress-up, Elly,” Howard said. “I called him here to discuss club matters. But if you really want, you can join in.”

“No way.” Ellen hopped away and continued messing around with skins.

“Sorry about that,” Howard said. “Let’s get down to business. As I said, the main thing I want to prepare for is the entrance exam. This time you’re the vice-captain, so you’re going to be in charge of everything.”

“Of ‘everything’? Isn’t that the captain’s job?”

“I told, the captain is responsible for the first string while the vice-captain handles the menial stuff. I gonna work you to the bone.”

“Sounds like fun...” Alas, Yuel couldn’t retort. Last year, during his entry exam, it was Howard who handled most of the operation. He’s the one who presented the exam on stage, the one who answered questions and so forth. Despite being presented as the vice-captain, he was registered as the actual captain in everybody’s minds.

“Of course,” Howard said. “If you run into any trouble, you can talk to me. But, don’t run to me for every little thing. I expect you to handle everything from start to end.”

“I understand.” It’s going to be a big job and honestly quite the hassle, but Yuel had no choice here. Howard did it last year and Yuel will do it this year. Step by step, Yuel was walking down the same road which Howard traversed.

“Here,” Howard handed over a USB stick. “It got everything you need for the exam. There are examples of opening speeches, test questions, how to grade players and so on. Make sure you study all of it before the new year.” Howard grabbed one of the laptops and went over the contents of the flash drive.

This is great. Yuel nodded to himself. Most of the planning process was already handled for him in these documents. He only had to execute the instructions.

“The plan is the same as last year,” Howard explained. “It’s something of a tradition. A three-part exam: First we make them run, then answer a quiz and finally we test how good they are.”

“I see.” It’s a weird feeling. Just a year ago, Yuel was among the examinees who struggled through this intense exam. But in a couple of weeks from today, he’ll be responsible for putting others through the same hellish test. On one hand, he felt like he came a long way and was no longer a “rookie”. On the other hand, he was going to torment new rookies and possibly crush the hopes and dreams of many kids who wanted to play Classmancers competitively. It’s rough.

“Do we have to follow these instructions to a T?” Yuel asked. “Or, we’re allowed to innovate?”

“It’s a tradition, but not a hard rule. As I said, you’re in charge of the exam this year. You can change whatever you want, as long as it makes sense. I’ll have the final say, but I won’t make your life hard as long as you don’t suggest anything dumb.”

“Did you update anything last year?”

“Not really,” Howard shrugged. “I decreased the number of questions on the quiz to make our lives easier when grading, but that’s about it. I like this filtering system, that’s one reason I went to Riverstock and not to Leo. I knew the Leopards are a strong team with a coach, but I believed this entry exam would do a good job picking the best players. And well, going to Leo requires two buses every morning. Not fun, right? Haha.”

Says the guy who forced me to come here with two buses. But it’s true, there’s some merit to this hardcore exam structure. It was creative and kept the examinees on their toes from start to end, which made it feel like a meaningful experience.

But, as to whether the exam did a good job selecting the “best players” for the club... Yuel had some objections. “The way I see it, the last part where we test their Mancer skills is the most important part of the exam.”

“True.”

“So, what if we skip the first two parts and only do that?”

“Had a feeling you’ll go there,” Howard smiled wryly. “A cool idea, but impractical. There are like a hundred freshmen who apply every year. You really want to privately test each and every one of them? You’ll have to host at least 50 test matches.”

“That doesn’t sound too bad. If we assume an average match lasts half an hour including preparations, then 50 matches are about 25 hours. Last time, the exam lasted for four days, so we need about six hours a day and we’ll be good.”

“That’s some quick math you did there.” Howard nodded. “So, you’re saying six hours a day, every day for four days, is nothing?”

“I wouldn’t say ‘nothing’, but it’s not that hard. I’m sure I can manage.”

“Yes, you maybe can manage. But don’t forget you need 8 examiners, which is almost everybody from the club. You really think they’re going to be fine with this routine for multiple days in a row?”

“Well, that’s...” Hard to say. There’s a good chance some will be worn out, especially the likes of Gregory and Taison who were always the first to complain when they weren’t having fun. In theory, the idea of playing test games rookies sounded like fun, but...

“I’ll tell you from experience,” Howard said. “Everybody thinks it’s fun and games at first, but it doesn’t take long till you hear sighs and complaints.” He provided some of the reasons behind it.

The examiners often had to play their secondary roles and follow some specific instructions to maintain balance. Sometimes, they also had to stray from their game plan to not overwhelm the examinee or to create various scenarios to test the rookie on. The more often these things were needed, the less the exam felt like playing a real game. It started becoming a chore.

“Also,” Howard added. “There’s another reason to filter so many players before this stage. There’s a huge difference between grading a hundred players or just twenty. With twenty, you can more or less remember who is who and how they impressed you in the test. With a hundred? Good luck.”

“Yeah, memorizing a hundred players isn’t easy. I think I can pull it off, though.”

“Yeah, maybe you can. A guy who can recreate full chess matches from memory can probably handle a hundred players. But, others can’t. So, you won’t be able to get much valuable input from them since they won’t even remember who they tested.”

“I see. You’re right, we need some filtering,” Yuel admitted defeat. If it was only him handling everything, he could have pulled it all off. However, to stage real test matches, he needed everybody’s help. It’s unfortunate, but he couldn't demand too much from them.

“You’re really adamant about skipping the first two tests. You hate them so much?”

“The ideas themselves aren’t bad, but some skilled players may fail the exam because of these tests,” Yuel explained how he and Lars barely made the cut during the entrance exam. The one-kilometer race test would have failed Yuel for sure if not for jogging he picked up over the summer. Similarly, Lars almost failed the quiz test and barely scraped by in last place.

And, there was another problem: cheating. By learning about the contents of this exam ahead of time, it’s possible to prepare for the first two parts in advance and gain an unfair advantage. Taison trained all summer for the one-kilometer race, whereas Gregory got his hands on a list of quiz questions from previous years. Yuel didn’t mention any names, but he brought up variations of these cheats as examples.

“I get what you’re saying,” Howard nodded. “Question is: do you have better alternatives? Exams are never perfect, so it’s easy to pick them apart. But once you’re in the shoes of the examiner, for the first time you realize how tied your hands are.”

“I have to agree.” Yuel knotted his brows. Even though the current exam structure had many problems, it was a necessary evil for filtering candidates. It was upheld as a “tradition” for a reason. It's not like everybody was satisfied with it, it’s just that they couldn’t think of better solutions.

And honestly, Yuel couldn’t either. At least, not practical ones. The one-kilometer race tested the person’s resolve, whereas the quiz tested their game knowledge and how invested they were in Classmancers. Though imperfect, they had the right ideas and achieved their goals to some degree.

“Alright,” Howard said. “If you’re not satisfied, try improving the parts you don't like. You’re supposed to be some kind of genius, right?”

“Only others call me that. I don't think I'm that special.”

“Anyway, try and see if you can fix it. No need to reinvent the wheel, though. Take the current structure and tweak it until you’re satisfied. Or at least, more satisfied than you are right now.”

“I’ll try to figure something out.”

“It’s an important topic for the club, so I’ll listen to any ideas you have.” Howard stood up. “But first: I wanna eat. It’s already three and we haven’t done shit yet. We’re sure taking our sweet time with this. I don't suppose you brought lunch?”

“No, I didn't think I’ll stay this long.”

“Okay~!” Ellen joined out of nowhere. “I’ll whip something up for you-”

“No.” Howard shot her down. “Just no. We still want to live, thank you.”

“My, so mean. You don’t trust my cooking skills?”

“Oh, I trust them. If they existed in the game, I’d level them up first because they can one-shot people.”

“Meanie,” Ellen hmphed and returned to the TV. “There’s nothing to eat in this house anyway.”

“Yeah, I really need to do some shopping already.” Howard sighed. “But hey, there’s always sis’ favorite: insta noodles!”

“Bleeeeh. You call that food?”

“Hey, they’re not that bad. You get used to them... after a while.”

“Poor, poor Wardy. I better level up my cooking skills soon so I can save you from this torture.”

“I can’t tell if ‘level up’ means anything good in your case. I can make stuff myself, alright?”

“Yeah, when you’re not too lazy to shop for them.”

“Right, when I’m not too lazy to shop for them,” Howard nodded with a sigh. “I swear sis can live off insta noodles 24/7,” He turned to Yuel.” Anyway, you heard it. There are only insta noodles. You in?”

“Sure,” Yuel nodded. “I kinda like them, actually.”

“You whaaaaaat?” Ellen thundered. “They don’t feed you at home?”

“My parents work around the clock, so sometimes there’s nothing to eat when I’m home. Instant noodles are the best for times like these.”

“I know the feel,” Howard said. “When you know you ain’t getting shit for dinner that day, then you remember there are insta noodles. Instantly makes them taste a hundred times better.”

“Exactly.”

“You two are a lost case,” Ellen shook her head.” Anyway, what about lil ol’ me? I also want lunch.”

“Then, should I make noodles for you too?”

“No way! Gimme something decent.”

“The fridge is empty. Like, real empty. There’s only sis’ beer.”

“Then let’s order something. Ple~as?” Ellen made puppy eyes.

“You’re such a pain sometimes.” Howard crossed his arms, threw a glance at Yuel and then sighed. “Alright, fine. I’ll order pizza.”

“Yeeeepie~! Wardy, you’re the best~”

“Yeah, yeah.” Howard pushed Ellen away while she was trying to wrap herself around him. “You alright with pizza?” he asked Yuel.

“Yeah, but what about the price? We’re going to split it?”

“Nah, I’ll just use sis’ cash. I’ll order some for her too so she doesn’t complain. I mean, it's her fault we don't have anything to eat in the first place. Just whose house she thinks this is? We can’t even feed a guest.”

“I see,” Yuel didn’t say anything further to not interrupt this flow of events. He did say instant noodles were fine, but a pizza topped that a hundred times over. It was actually TASTY food. Junk food, but tasty. It’ll serve as reasonable compensation for having to take two buses to get here on this beautiful sunny day which he could have spent grinding Clsssmancers at the club.

The pizza arrived shortly. Apparently, there’s a shop nearby and the delivery guy already recognized Howard as a regular.

After they finished eating, Yuel and Howard returned to discussing the structure of the entrance exam.