Scary. Nia thought as she watched Lars declare war on the enemy’s strongest fighters. How can he just walk up to them and say all these things? He should be dubbed “Lars the Million Guts”.

Nia could only dream about being this assertive in her communication. Though, it sounded very scary so she probably wouldn’t have done it even if she could.

Nonetheless, it was undeniable that she shared many of Lars’s sentiments here.

I… I also wanna beat this monster. Nia glared at the alien abomination that was posing as a middle schooler. That thing was definitely no human kid! He was probably a pro player posing as a kid! Scary.

Yes, it was very scary. Even now, thinking back on the battles with that Korean monster sent a chill down her spine. That guy simply seemed invincible.

But, we did kill him once. Nia thought. And, I'm pretty sure I caught him off guard at least twice.

She failed to convert either gank into a kill, but she came very close both times. If her execution was just a little better, she would’ve sealed the deal there all by herself.

There were good ganks. Nia thought. I should've been able to convert them.

Yet, she couldn't. A gank like this would’ve led to a kill at least 9 times out of 10 in Ranked, and quite effortlessly too. Alas, things worked differently in the competitive scene.

I always thought the Ranked games we play in the club were very high level. They even have scary Challenger players show up every now and then. Nia shuddered. But, turns out these games are nowhere as scary as the actual competitive scene.

Ranked had scary opponents every now and then, but the Leopards pretty much had an entire lineup of those. And, they had one player that was scarier than all of them combined.

They also came prepared. They’ve been blocking me out almost the entire time. Nia grumped. I don't know who it was, but somebody among them must’ve been stalking me 24/7. Sus.

In Ranked, Nia generally had no trouble erasing her presence and striking from the shadows. However, that barely worked against the Leopards.

They knew I was the champion of hide-and-seek so they focused on me from the get-go. Because of that, the element of surprise was completely gone. Scary. Nia gulped. As Yuel said, everybody in the competitive scene spends a lot of time researching each other. I guess this means we're not the only ones who have to suffer through long review meetings...

Yuel held multiple such meetings in preparation for today's scrimmage. At the time, it felt really overbearing, with way too much analysis and information to go through just to beat one team.

I somehow stayed up until like 3 am rehearsing all that stuff, just because the tyrant kept saying how we absolutely must know EVERYTHING no matter what. Then again, it’s probably my fault I procrastinated with this homework until the last moment…

All that preparation seemed beyond excessive, but Yuel kept droning about how absolutely crucial it was. And in the end, he was right. Knowing the quirks and attributes of her enemies made a big difference in how Nia approached her decision-making today.

Unfortunately, the same applied to the enemy. These guys definitely studied Stratus, and especially Nia. Them stalkers. They were super prepared for Nia’s strats.

This is something randoms in Ranked can't do. Nia thought. They have no idea who they’re up against, so they don't know they gotta keep tabs on me. And, Taurus didn't know that either, that’s why it was easier against them at first.

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The first scrim of the year was an anomaly in that sense. Both teams weren't particularly prepared for each other, so it almost felt like Ranked.

Nia thought that scrim gave her a good feel for the competitive scene, but she was dead wrong. Today's scrim was the real deal. It was a world apart from Ranked.

It's scary. But, also challenging. Nia was surprised at herself for thinking this, but that's just how much today's game impacted her. In particular, her three failed attempts to kill Apprentece seriously triggered her.

I'm not sure yet, but I think I might be starting to understand why everybody cares so much about competing on this stage. Nia thought. It's scary and stressful, but it's a unique experience.

In the past, Nia always said that she didn't mind if Luke played on the competitive stage instead of her. But after today’s match, Nia realized it was actually… kind of fun. The competitive stage showed a facet of Classmancers that Nia couldn't experience anywhere else. It was very interesting. Scary, but interesting.

Of course, she'd gladly do away with the audience because that part added absolutely nothing as far as she was concerned. Alas, that was the cost everybody had to pay in order to be on the stage.

The next team we’ll play against probably also researched me. Nia speculated. So, I have to improve a lot, to the point their data is super outdated. And, I also have to make sure I can actually participate in all the games next time...

As enlightening as today's scrim was, Nia actually only played two games in it. Or well, three games if she were to count the absolute disaster that was the first game where she was super sleepy.

I want to be able to play all the games. Nia asserted. I have to always be ready to play, or else I might miss some interesting matches.

This already happened against Taurus, where Nia tuned out right as things got interesting. Sure, she was also scared of the enemy's “Bermuda Triangle of Certain Doom” and kinda wanted to flee, but in hindsight, it would’ve been a valuable learning experience for her, one that she completely missed.

I shouldn't have dodged it. Nia realized that now. If I properly faced them, then maybe I would've realized earlier that scary competitive games can actually be fun. But well, I was too sleepy to think straight back then anyway…

Sleepiness was like an app installed in her system. Its main function was to drain Nia’s battery around noon and force her into sleep mode.

I’ve always thought it's a comfy app, but now I suspect it might be malware. So, how to uninstall pls?

Unfortunately, this habit wasn't going to go away on its own. Nia had been taking regular naps around noon for years now, it was part of her genes by now.

So, would ould she even go about fixing a deeply rooted problem like this? It was totally different from practicing some specific skill in Classmancers for which the path forward was clear.

Well, Yuel did suggest a few options, like exercising... Nia shuddered at the mere thought. D-Do I really need to do stuff like that? Does it even help at all?

Yuel talked many times about how he also used to have stamina issues. Supposedly, exercising on a regular basis helped him resolve the problem.

As such, the alien robot was very passionate about selling this solution to Nia as well. Whenever he talked about it, he sounded like a cult leader trying to initiate a new member. Scary.

But, if it worked for him, maybe it could work for me too. Hmm. Maybe. Nia twisted her lips. D-Do I really have to do something like that? Do all competitive players use this hack?

She still wasn’t sold on the idea, but at least now she was more open to trying it out. Well, a little more open. No promises!

But, I really do want to become better. A lot better, even. Next time, I want to be able to kill Appretence with my own two hands without goofing.

With that goal in mind, Nia steeled herself for the upcoming training regime. She’ll probably regret it, but she was finally going to ask Yuel for advice for real.

Most likely, that alien robot will suggest some hellish training routine. Until now, Nia had dodged multiple of those without giving them a second thought. However, this time, she was more motivated to give it a try. It was going to be a scary and painful experience for sure, but the same was also true for today’s scrimmage anyway.

Between going through hellish training or experiencing hellish competition, I prefer the former. I don’t want to feel salty like this after a scrim ever again.

If she participated in every single game, then today’s result might’ve been different. This frustrated her to no end.

I could’ve done better. I WANT to do better. Nia asserted. I never knew it was so frustrating to not be able to play whenever I want to…

In fact, it was more frustrating than the defeat itself. Nia didn’t mind losing so much. She cared much more about the fact she failed to participate in all the games that led up to this defeat.

This couldn’t go on anymore. Something had to change.

And so, as the exchange of pleasantries came to an end, Nia braced herself for the harsh training ahead…