The first few games as a team didn't go as planned. Alex had expected for the first few games not to go well but not this bad. They had two new people on the team that weren't used to playing before and even Scarlett and Novis were just a little better than beginners.
The first few games losses could be put down to not understanding how to use skills or warriors but after that, the team was still managing to lose.
Scarlett and Ashley were put at the bottom lane. Although Ashley was a strong fighter she had always fought alone. While she was engaged in combat with the enemy, she kept getting in the way of Scarlett shot making it hard for Scarlett to support her properly.
There was also the use of the ten knights down the lane. The second a warrior attacked another warrior the NPC nights would switch their target to the enemy warrior, this meant suddenly it became a 12 vs 1 situation. And even if Ashley was strong, there was no way she could deal with that.
Although Alex had expected for instances like this to happen. This was the reason why he placed Dan in the forest. At the right time while the enemy team was distracted, Dan would be able to charge in and help, then run to the next person who needed help, Either Novis or himself.
The problem for Dan was the forest was too large and hard to navigate, Dan had gotten lost multiple times in the game, unable to help anyone.
The only two people that managed to do well in the game so far was Novis and Alex. Alex down in the middle lane did well managing to stall or even being better than the enemy sometimes but Alex wasn't the best at one on one fights. He put himself in the middle position so he could help either side when he could.
If the opponent was overpowering him in mid, that was when he would call Dan over to help. The problem was by the time Dan would get there Alex himself would already have lost.
Novis was doing well. Most of the time Novis manged to hold off two against one but Novis still wasn't strong enough to defeat his opponents in just a few strikes. It made it difficult for him because as soon as he would injure one. The other would cover for him and head back to base to heal. Leaving Novis in an endless loop of fighting.
Eventually, Novis would be able to overpower and beat them but by then the rest of his team had been annihilated and most of his towers taken.
Eventually, after playing 10 games together, they had lost every single one as a team. The group decided to take a break from the game and was currently outside of the VR headset in the VSW club.
"Dam it, why don't those guys fight me one on one" Ashley complained.
"Won't it be better if we switch positions, maybe Ashley should go mid, she's good at one on one fights. Then you can go bottom with me and Dan and Novis at the top?" Scarlett asked looking over at Alex.
"It sounds good now and we might win a few games that way, but if we just perfect this strategy I know we can make it far in the tournament."
What Scarlett said made sense and would be what most teams would do. But Alex knew that the opponents they would be playing against in the tournament were strong. Stronger than a bunch of newbies who had only been playing for a week.
This was the strategy that he had come up with to give them a chance of winning this tournament.
Then unexpectedly Novis was the one to speak first.
"I think Alex is right, it's a good strategy, we just need to give a few tips to the others. Dan, you need to study the map. When you go around try leave markings on the trees as you go past. This will allow you to know where you've been and which direction to go in. Ashley, you're strong but your rushing in too much, you need to let the knights head in first. When you see the right moment then attack. Scarlett, Dan's not the only one that can use the forest. If people are blocking your way then move and don't stay still, after every shot with the bow move so the enemy doesn't know your position."
Everyone stood there in silence. They thought Novis had been too busy dealing with the two people on top to be able to see what everyone was doing. Novis was never the type to study or come up with a strategy so Scarlett was wondering where all of this had come from.
Alex was also stunned, Novis had given a perfect analysis of what they needed to do while they were in the game. Alex would have come to the same conclusion but would have had to watch the games back before commenting on anything.
Of course, the words spoken weren't from Novis himself. These words were spoken by Arthur and George and Novis was just currently repeating them.
But with Novis's wise words the team took a quick break and decided to log back into the game.
*****
Meanwhile, Mac had been watching the VSW club closely, he had heard the news of a fifth member joining and was going to do something about their new member Ashley. Until he looked at the team's match history. They had lost every game so far. Mac thought it might be best to just leave them be and let them get humiliated in the tournament in the first place.
Every day after school Novis and the group would play 10 matches together.
The team continued to play games and there was an improvement but still not enough for the team to win a game. They had lost so many games that currently every one of them was ranked Bronze 5 apart from Alex but even he got demoted from silver into Bronze 1.
When the team felt like they were just about to give up. They played one more game and to their surprise, the victory screen appeared. They had won perfectly. Everything fitted in so well. They had won their first game with no one dying.
Finally, they were ready for the tournament that would start in just two days.