Classmancers - A MOBA Esport Story - Part 3

Vol.19 Ch.4: The Volleyball Club as a Bargaining Chip

"I have some interesting news for you~" One day, Cato showed up in front of Fiona with a smirk. Of course, he practically always wore a smile, but this one was bigger and more sinister than usual. Fiona was almost wary of hearing this news.

And, in a way, she was correct. The tale Cato told her was something that probably was best left untold.

"You won't believe who I just saw the other day. My Classmancers club had a scrim against another school, and guess who I saw playing on the other team? None other than your most beloved chess rival~"

Yuel Fermond. Yes, it was him, playing for StormBlitz, the team that supposedly posed the greatest threat to the crowned regional champions.

Despite being but a freshman, he actually participated in that important scrim as a second-string. What's more, according to Cato, the man performed quite well for such a young player.

At the time, Fiona was not familiar with that "digital sport", so she did not have a strong opinion on Yuel's performance either way; she had to trust Cato's narrative on that.

However, what did intrigue her was the fact Yuel Fermond didn't show up to the regional chess tournament, yet he did show up to that Classmancers scrimmage. And, based on Cato's words, the man played very competitively.

So, did Yuel abandon chess in favor of that video game? Is that how it was?

In fact, he did mention something to this effect back in grade school as well. When Fiona confronted him about the match he lost to Cato, Yuel mentioned he was busy with "other matters" that had higher priority for him.

Could it be he was talking about Classmancers back then? Was that the "higher priority" matter he prioritized over chess?

At the time, Fiona did not consider video games to be a legitimate competitive field, therefore her reaction was quite bitter upon hearing Cato's news. But at the same time, she was curious as well.

Why did somebody as talented as Yuel Fermond choose to abandon chess for a video game? And, there was Cato, too. He also competed in Classmancers. Though he continued practicing chess as well, it was clear where his priorities lay.

On top of that, Karen also played that video game. She did not seem as serious about it as the two boys, but she nonetheless raved about it every now and then. She even invited Fiona to join her on occasion, but naturally, Fiona declined the invitations.

Interestingly, on some other days, Karen ranted about the game nonstop and told Fiona to stay away from it instead. It looked like an interesting love-hate relationship.

Ultimately, as all these curious factors accumulated, Fiona's curiosity finally got the best of her. She folded and decided to venture into this unknown world of video gaming.

Though, to be precise, she only focused on Classmancers. The few other games she tried before it was just a gateway for getting used to the medium.

The more Fiona learned about competitive Classmancers, the more appreciation she developed for the video game as a legitimate sport. It was definitely very different from conventional competitive sports, yet its core was very much the same.

Knowledge, skill, and experience - these three pillars were as important in this esport as they were in any other sport. Not to mention, there was a lot of meta information to unpack here.

Before all of this, Fiona thought video games only existed to pass the time in leisure. However, competitive Classmancers proved her wrong.

In many ways, learning a MOBA game proved to be more taxing than picking up most real-life sports. There was tons of data to unpack and process. There were so many classes, so many items, and some many terms to learn.