It was the Leopards’ turn to pick again.

  "Looks like it's time for the grand reveal~" iled from ear to ear, imagining the sho his oppos' faces. It was going to be so delightful to hit them with this super ued pick!

  With that said, deep down, Cato's feelings about this pick didn't ge. Every fiber of his being still disagreed with it.

  "Are you absolutely sure you want to go with Orc?” Cato asked o time. “There are so many ressive csses you could pick."

  "I think I answered that enough times,” Jin said. “I'm going Orothing else."

  "I see. A shame." Cato sighed in resignation. Till the very end, he was uo sway the Emperor's mind. Oh well.

  "Then, seeing as Bishop is banned, I'll go Cleric,” Cato said. “A se is very valuable to have against a Drow, and we might he revival as well, seeing as our lineup is abnormally aggressive."

  "ick," Jin criticized.

  "Oh? How so?"

  "Too defensive. Not needed."

  “Well, and I'm saying your Orc pick is too aggressive and not needed as well. Does that make us even?"

  "Hmph." Jin scoffed and didn't say anything more. This pick makes it easier to ter-pick both of us. Whatever.

  There was o take this drafting phase too seriously anyway. No matter how good Stratus' picks were going to be, Jin will crush them regardless.

  In the end, the Leopards’ final picks were Clerid Orc. The first pick didn’t leave much of an impression, but the sed pick sent shockwaves across the stadium.

  "Huh!?" Kai excimed. "Are they being serious?"

  "I guess they are..." Yuel eechless as well. That Orc pick came out of left field. It was in plete trast to everything the Leopards stood for.

  Howard mentiohat Apprentece favors offense, but I didn't think it was to such a high degree...

  Orc was about the most aggressive pick for Top Laner, sed only to Dark Knight. And, since Dark Knight wasn't sidered viable at the highest level of py, Orc was essentially the representative of hyper-offense for Top.

  Is he making a statement? Yuel wondered. It almost feels like a taunt.

  For one, Kai had already exhibited her irritation. And, the rest of the team was taken aback as well.

  "Scary." Nia shuddered.

  "I think this is going to be rough, haha..." Ben smiled dryly.

  Even though they all knew how risky the Orc pick was, it heless mao shake them up to one degree or ahey all uood that the enemy was deg their superiority and fideh this pick.

  If any other team went for a pick like this, then nobody would’ve batted an eye. But, these were the Leopards, the regional champions. What’s more, they were normally the heralds of defense, which made this aggressive pick even more absurd.

  However, one goof was pletely unfazed by any of this.

  "Yo, finally a cool pick!" Lars excimed. "I swear these dudes have been pying defense 24/7. It's about time they picked something more iing, yo."

  "I think this goes a little beyond 'more iing'," Yuel said.

  "Yeah, they kinda went off to the deep end with that one, didn't they?" Lars chuckled. "Gonna be fun to face this aggressive dude! Let's see what he brings to the table!"

  "That’s right," Kai agreed after reposing herself. "If he thinks he get away with a pick like this, theter show him what we're made of. Let's crush him!"

  "Y-Yeah!" Ben tried to join the hype, though his voice was still a little shaky.

  "Scary, but doable." Even Nia expressed ued bravery.

  Despite the initial shock, the team rebounded quickly. Their mental fortitude was much better than expected.

  I suppose I have Lars to thank for that. Yuel thought. They hat iion of positivity in order to overe the shock. I wish I could do things like that.

  Even though Yuel also maintained his posure in front of the enemy's bold pick, he wasn't able to express that as loudly as Lars did. As such, he failed to ihe team with the mueeded positivity shot. This was one of the tless unication issues on Yuel's eODO list. Sigh.

  Anyway, now that the team is ba order, I focus on the pick.

  The enemy’s Orc pick had the potential to be nasty for multiple reasons. Its strong early game was one part of it, but there was also Orc’s ultimate that turned his allies unkilble. It was one of the best tools in the game for seg risky pushes or turning the tables around during unfavorable team fights.

  heless, normally, Yuel wouldn't necessarily sider pying around an Orc pick. However, this Orc pick assuredly beloo Apprentece.

  I imagine Challenger pying Orc too, but he was subbed out. Yuel thought. Aside from Challehe only other suspect I think of is Winner, but I doubt he would py Orc as a Jungler, or even as Top. His offense seems to be more on the calcuted side, so Orc shouldn't be among his favorites.

  sidering how defehe rest of the Leopards were, there was nobody other than Apprentece who would possibly pick Or fact, Cato's Cleric pick further reinforced that impression.

  I suspect Cato isn't a big fan of that pick. Yuel thought. That's why he's trying to cover all the bases.

  Cleric was aremely defensive pick, so much so its defensiveness severely hurt its pt oier list. Among the "beginner" csses of the game, Cleric was the only one sidered viable, but it wasn't popur due to its limited array of utilities.

  Down to it, the only reason to pick Cleric was its revival ult. ust’ve picked it to make sure he’ll be able to salvage the situation in case his teammates get carried away during aggressive pys. More specifically, it robably to keep the Orc alive in case something goes wrong.

  The Or turn his allies unkilble, and the Cleri revive the Orc. Strong options. Yuel nodded. But, Aquamancer ter both of them.

  Befoing through with the pick, Yuel expined his reasoning to his teammates in the hope of iing them with further fidence. He couldn't leave all the hard work to Lars on that front.

  "Sounds awesome!" Lars gave a thumbs up. "These dudes be trying to spook us with their picks, but ya gonna show them!"

  "Damn straight," Kai reinforced.

  In the end, it was still Lars and Kai’s voices that lifted the team’s spirits. Yuel only shared the dry theoretical expnation of his decision, which didn’t sound very “hype” all by itself.

  Well, it doesn't matter who exactly improves the team’s morale. Yuel thought. It's the result that matters. Though, I should really try getting a little better at this...

  And so, the drafting phase of the final game came to a close.

  ===Stratus===

  Yuel (Chessmaster): Aquamancer

  Lars (Gunz): Elf

  Ben (EnduringPhoenix): Druid

  Kai (Beat): Sorcerer

  Nia (VanishingFlower): Drow

  ===Leopards===

  Young-jin (Apprentece): Orc

  William (AbosluteWinner): Viking

  Sonya (TheTheorist): Aeromancer

  Cato (Rook): Cleric

  Matthew (Merlin): Pirate

  DarkestCymore