Chapter 10 — Middle Road Rules

"Since I can't demonstrate actual combat anymore, from today, we'll switch to learning theory."

Hải Đăng stood in front of the only whiteboard in the computer room, holding a blue marker in his left hand. The recurrence of his injury the day before forced him to completely change his training method. If he couldn't improve their individual skills (Micro) in a short time, he was forced to raise the team's tactical thinking (Macro) to a professional level.

Đăng quickly drew a 3-way map diagram of the game on the board, marking large target locations with red circles.

"E-sports is not a simple fighting game where whoever punches harder wins," Đăng tapped his pen on the board, his voice quiet but powerful. "E-sports is a game of chess. And the ultimate goal is to destroy the opponent's base, not to get the most kills. You have to learn how to control the game."

Four members sat neatly below, eyes shaped like O and mouth shaped like A, looking at the messy drawings on the board. Bảo Châu sat in the corner of the room, diligently taking notes without missing a single word.

"Hùng," Đăng called his name. "You like playing Gladiator top lane. But Gladiators don't always need to rush in and kill. Your ultimate mission at the beginning of the game is 'Absorb pressure'."

"What do you mean by absorbing pressure?" Hùng scratched his head.

"That means you have to play hard enough to attract the enemy Jungle's attention to your area. If the enemy Jungle wastes time ganking you without killing you, it means our Jungle - i.e. Tuấn - has space to steal resources or gank the bottom lane. Your successful escape is sometimes worth a kill."

Hùng blinked, as if he had just realized a new truth. He was always angry every time he was questioned by Rung, but now he realized that it was a tactical advantage if he knew how to take advantage of it.

"Next, Tuấn," Đăng turned to the boy wearing glasses. "Your road blindness cannot be cured with medicine. So from today, you don't need to go looking for the enemy Forest anymore."

"So what do I do?" Tuấn was bewildered.

"You go find vision. Your mission is to know where the enemy Jungle is without encountering him," Đăng circled a red circle in the riverbank area. "You just need to place a Control Ward at this intersection. If you see him appear on the map, immediately notify Bottom Lane to push harder. You don't need to fight, you just need to be a radar to alert the whole team. Understand?"

Tuấn nodded and quickly took notes in the notebook.

Đăng turned to Kiên and Nam in the Bottom Lane. "Kiên, you're afraid of lag, right? So instead of trying to fight at tight angles, you have to learn how to manage wave management. You only deliver the finishing blow when the enemy soldier is almost dead, keeping the soldiers on both sides fighting right in front of your turret. If the enemy wants to attack you, they have to take damage from the turret. Absolutely safe."

"And Nam," Đăng looked at the shy Support boy. "Are you afraid of death? Good. Cowardice can sometimes be an advantage if used in the right place. You don't need to rush to open a fight. You just need to choose generals with long-distance protection skills, standing far behind Kiên. Whoever dares touch your Gunner, you throw all the protection skills at Kiên. You are the last shield. You live, Kiên lives. If Kiên lives, we will have damage."

The entire engine room was immersed in the silence of contemplation. Concepts such as "Absorbing pressure", "Vision radar", "Managing soldier positions" are inherently too expensive for students who play recreational games. But through Hải Đăng's logical analysis and close attention to each person's weaknesses, everything suddenly becomes clear and strangely easy to apply.

"E-sports is about assembling imperfect puzzle pieces into a perfect machine," Đăng concluded the theory session, throwing the brush on the table. "Hùng is the shield. Tuấn is the eyes. Kiên is the tip of the spear. Nam is the outer armor. Just do your duty, don't try to be a superhero. And if someone makes a mistake..."

Đăng looked at the four faces looking up at him, his eyes shone with hidden pride. "...I, as Mid, will be the one to correct that mistake."

An electric current ran down the spines of all HD E-sports members. The confidence of the former king "Shadow" is extremely contagious. They suddenly realized that standing in front of them was not a lazy student wearing a notebook, but a real general.

"So wonderful..." Bảo Châu muttered, dropping the pen to the floor. She looked at Đăng without blinking. In that moment, she felt the image of the glorious Shadow on that big stage appearing more clearly than ever right in this rickety engine room.

In the following days, HD E-sports thoroughly applied Hải Đăng's "Macro Lesson Plan". Although their individual skills were not yet on par with professional teams, their movements were less chaotic. Hùng knows how to retreat when he loses sight. Tuấn knows how to signal instead of blindly rushing into the forest to rob the forest. Nam knows how to use protection skills instead of Flash and run away.

The bond begins to form. The curses gradually subsided, replaced by short and decisive "Call team" sounds.

A week passed as quickly as the blink of an eye.

Saturday morning, the deadline for the "Ultimatum" from Inspector Trần arrived.

Bảo Châu wore the club's uniform T-shirt (which she had just hastily printed yesterday with her own money), holding a stack of competition registration documents, taking a deep breath in front of the District Electronic Sports Arena.

Behind her, Hùng, Tuấn, Kiên and Nam were also enthusiastic, although everyone's faces were a bit pale with nervousness.

Hải Đăng went last, still wearing his familiar black hoodie, his right hand wrapped in a blue medical bandage hidden under the long sleeve. He walked up and stood next to Châu, gently patting the trembling little manager's shoulder.

"It's time to show them how the bottom team of Hoàng Diệu school plays E-sports with their brains," Đăng said softly.

The National Student Electronic Sports Tournament (NHEC) qualifiers had officially begun.

In front of the Stadium gate, Bảo Châu stopped for a moment, looking at the large sign hanging across the gate with the name of the tournament written in bright capital letters. A month ago, she didn't even dare to dream that HD E-sports could step foot here as a team qualified to compete, let alone have a chance to win any matches.

"Do you still have time to change your mind?" Hùng joked, although his voice was still a bit shaky.

"There's no more time," Đăng replied for Châu, his voice calm as if he was talking about something obvious. "We've already signed the roster. Now there's only one way left: step in and prove that the name 'Mobile Score Store' belongs to the past."

Tuấn took a deep breath, adjusted his backpack containing headphones and a separate mouse on his shoulder. "That sounds a bit like a line from a movie, Mr. Đăng."

"Then act well," Đăng smirked, rarely revealing a hint of humor. "The audience is waiting to see a bad movie turned into a memorable story."

All five people walked through the security gate together, registered, received their registration number, and then found their team area. None of them knew for sure where the road ahead would lead, but for the first time, no one in the group felt alone as they entered the big stage.

In the waiting area, they happened to be standing next to Le Hong Phong school's team - the opponent who beat them to a pulp in the first scrim. The festival captain recognized Hùng and smirked.

"Hey, does the 'Mobile Point Warehouse' team dare to officially register for the competition? I'm planning on coming here to learn more about losing experiences."

Hùng clenched his fist and was about to respond, but Đăng stepped forward and blocked him. "Thank you for the scrim match the other day. Thanks to it, we know where we are lacking. Looking forward to learning more from everyone in the inner circle."

The surprisingly calm, even polite answer made the festival captain pause a bit, unable to find a suitable harsh response. He snorted and turned away.

When they were gone, Hùng turned to Đăng, his expression still filled with resentment. "Why don't you let me give him a quick answer?"

"Because your energy should be spent smashing opponents on the field, not arguing in the hallway," Đăng replied, looking straight towards the playing area. "Let the results on the scoreboard answer for us."

Hùng nodded, feeling reasonable, although in his heart he was still determined to prove to the festival team that they had wrongly perceived HD E-sports.