.
.
"...So how did you respond?"
Inside the Head Coach's office within the Ravenville's Arena Facility, Baron was standing straight up in front of the seated Lark who had just asked him the question.
A couple minutes ago, Lark had given the office room to both the newly-arriving Baron and the two people from the pro team, Lambda Defenders, for them to discuss their matters privately.
As he'd known that the discussions would most likely concerns the future of one of his most veteran players, Lark hadn't been so thick-skinned as to overstay his presence between the two sides.
Especially after the Defenders' scout had been curteous enough to contact him first before reaching out to Baron directly.
He had excused himself from the space shortly after Baron had arrived, and had only returned when he saw the 3 people finally coming out of his office some time later.
By then, all that he could gather from the conversations were simply the two's formal tones as they apologized for the inconvenience they'd imposed and how they bade their goodbyes to Baron for now.
(...)
(Troy Dryden... He looks like he's still injured from that last season's match. I wonder if that's the only reason he's accompanying that scout here, or are there others...?)
As Lark saw the departing figures of the slightly tanned guy and the stout-looking middle-aged man, he couldn't help but to have many speculating thoughts circling around his head.
The man that had come together with the Defenders' scout was the one and only all-star starting Guard for the Defenders in these last few seasons,
Troy Dryden, T.D., a.k.a The Trojan Defense.
He was one other famous example of a hidden gem aside from the older and more famous Adrian Crowe.
Both hadn't shown anything too spectacular in college but suddenly burst out with potentials the moment they'd entered the Pro League.
However, unlike Crowe that had regularly used many flashy moves and techniques in his matches, Dryden, at a glance, had seemed like a boring player that had nothing flashy nor eye-catching in his defensive plays.
Usually, a player like him would've been easily overlooked by the fans even if he'd played well, and that was exactly what had happened to him in the Defenders.
That is, at least for his first 2 seasons.
But the moment that his seasonal statistics had been released. The whole Defenders' fanbase at the time had also been turned upside down!
With just his stable and calculative defensive play, he had surpassed the stats of the then Ace Guard of the Defenders by a wide margin!
His successful defense rate, knock-down rate, etc...
To put simply, all of them had been off the charts for a Pro League's newcomer.
His moves were all pretty basic at a glance, but all of them had been polished to the extremes and used accordingly in such a way that had raised him into one of the top rankers of Olympus' Battle Arena.
That kind of player had personally approached his player together with the team's scout. It would be weirder for Lark to not feel curious about it.
"...I've agreed to their terms and conditions for now. We've made some verbal promises with that meeting." Baron eventually replied to the question.
"Of course." Lark nodded in understanding.
Outrightly denying a pro team's interest when one doesn't even have any other solid offer on the table was a foolish thing to do.
For most players, their futures in the Pro League were on a first come first serve basis for the teams.
Except for the most excellent few that're worth fighting over during the draft, a player would rarely have the luxury of choices on their side as to which team they could sign in, if any.
The Lambda Defenders' arrival this time around should only be interpreted as them trying to preemptively build a connection with Baron before the other teams had the chance to. There were no other strings attached.
During this period of time, many other pro teams' scouts had also gone to many other places to show their 'priority targets' some sincerity firsthand. just like what the scout had told Troy previously.
Getting contacted would mean that those players had at least partially fulfilled the criterias that the teams were currently looking for the most in their next draft.
In the end for both Baron and the Defenders, both sides were still in their wait-and-see approach with no further commitment to each other.
Of course, Baron himself knew this and had acted accordingly.
"...And Troy Dryden?"
"He said that he's just tagging along this time."
"Hoo..."
"...There was one thing." This time, Baron took the initiative to speak further.
"Hm?"
"He said that since our match is on Tuesday the 11th, they might be able to afford to spend another 2 days here in the Northern Sector to come watch our match."
"...The Defenders vs. Centaurs is on Sunday after all." Lark nodded, remembering the OPL's schedule in his mind before asking,
"So what do you think?"
"...About what?"
"Well they're going there to measure you, if you want we can revise our strategy to emphasize more on your play in that match." Lark gave a blunt offer.
For a player who's been with his team for 4 years and actively playing for 3, this was the least that Lark felt he could do for Baron's future.
"I object. That's an unnecessary risk." But baron had replied straightforwardly without a change in his tone or emotion.
Of course, Lark understood better than anyone that even if their first enemy was weaker than this, revising a long predefined strategy this close to the match would always carry certain risks.
Those risks might not even just appear for the immediate match, but also on their subsequent matches after that depending on how much they would show their cards to the following enemy teams.
'There's also the fact that the Defenders' people might catch on to what we're doing if we employ a Baron-centered strategy from the get-go.' Lark nodded in his mind before replying,
"...Understood. Then I guess that's that for now." He exhaled,
"It's a good thing being approached by a pro team this early in the season, but focus on the Warrior Crown first. They won't do you any good if you perform badly before the actual draft."
"Yes, sir."
"...Also, I heard you're teaching Lang the [Air Pistol]?"
Baron simply nodded at the question.
"What are your thoughts on him? Or maybe on his progress with the technique?" Lark was a bit curious in this aspect.
"..."
"He could keep up with the rest of the team well enough, He's good at reading the flow of battles, and he has also shown that he can take charge in unexpected situations." Baron started sharing his thoughts honestly.
"The things that he's currently lacking; it would be his still weaker Physical State, his solving speed, and a sharp offensive move in his arsenal of techniques, but... I think the person himself is already very aware of all these."
Up to here was Baron's own opinion regarding Irvine from what he'd seen during matches and practice,
"Hoo, is that why you've decided to advise him?"
"Yes." He didn't beat around the bush with his answers,
"Regarding his control and proficiency in [Blast]..." Only at this point did Baron stop for a bit before continuing,
"He is already better than me during my late sophomore year." He stated,
"In his case, it doesn't really feel like he's growing, but more like--"
"...No. Nevermind."
He was about to say that it felt more like Irvine's waiting for his physique and mental strength to catch up to his proficiency rather than them growing together. But baron thought that saying this was too subjective on his part so he decided against it.
Lark, on the other hand, was astonished at the other party's evaluation.
It was very rare for Baron to give high or even good evaluation of others because he often used himself as a point of reference, but in this case...
'Baron's gotten his Gene Mod mid freshman year, which means, in his opinion, Irvine Lang's proficiency after 4 months of having his Ability is already equal to over 1 year of his!'
Unlike others, this was a comparison against Baron. An elite player very close to a Starseed level in terms of potential!
In fact, the current Baron might've already surpassed some of the Starseeds from his generation.
'I doubt this guy's being subjective, but... It's unbelievable!' Lark kept his pokerface on while tapping away at his desk.
*sigh*
"You think he'll master the [Air Pistol] by game time?"
"I don't know." Baron shook his head, "But..."
"But?"
"If I have to place my bet..."
"--Alright, I get it." Lark put his hand up, "That'll be it for now, return to practice."
"Yes, sir."
"..."
After seeing Baron off, Lark could only swivel his chair around, trying to look at the scenery beyond his back window before sighing again.
'Fast growth...?'
.
.
After that day, the rest of the week continued on in a brisk pace.
Days passed, Irvine's daily routine also continued to consist of morning practice, classes, afternoon practice, and evening self-practice.
Being laid out like this, it had sounded worse than it actually was, but most of the players from the 1st string also followed the same schedule minus the evening self-practice.
In some particular cases, it's even minus the classes as well.
At least this time, Irvine was not alone in his evening self-practice.
Right now, Irvine was currently standing in the middle of the stadium field's halfway line with no other people in sight except for some audience above,
He stayed calm with his exosuit on, closely observing his surroundings, waiting for the inevitable moment of an oncoming attack.
And sure enough,
*SWISH*
The wind to his side suddenly created a sound of being cut through as an arrow flew almost straightforwardly towards him without any arc to it.
Irvine readily reacted to the projectile by putting his right arm up and forward as if holding a shield.
Currently, the front side of his lower arm had already been wrapped with an evenly spread compressed air floating close to it that he had prepared at some point in time beforehand!
*WHOOSH*
As he gradually let out the pressure on the air with the swing of his hand, Irvine successfully created a strong gust of wind that blew away the oncoming arrow to his side!
[Impact Armor]
'blocked!'
Irvine was just about to put down his stance after that successful parry when he suddenly noticed that a second arrow had been following closely behind with almost the same trajectory as the first one!
'!!'
Because the second arrow had even less resistance from the wind by flying behind the first one, its acceleration speed was also considerably faster at the moment that it almost reached Irvine's head.
Left with not enough time to prepare any proper maneuvers, Irvine could only put as much power as he could onto his left feet before kicking the ground at an angle.
The kicking force was enough to propel his body out of the way from the arrow's trajectory and towards the hard ground next to his standing position.
He rolled away once before finally ending up in a kneeling pose a couple paces away from where the second arrow had landed.
"..."
*hufth*
.
.
*clap* *clap* *clap* *clap*
Shortly after that showcase of skills, sounds of claps could be heard from various locations in the audience seats.
At the time, Irvine and Medea had finally finished with their practical on-field training and were now gathered together at the center of the field where Irvine had previously been receiving her arrows.
Unlike the week before, these days, there were always some groups of people who were hanging around on the audience seats whenever the Illusions were practicing.
They always stayed for a rather long time to watch and hang out.
Even now that the regular afternoon practice had just been concluded and Irvine was doing his own training with Medea, some people still hadn't left their seats and continued to enjoy the performances.
At first, Medea had felt rather awkward about all this, causing it to even slightly affect her performance.
But these days, she had at least learned to ignore their presence completely to some extent.
*step* *step*
Medea walked closer towards Irvine's side with her helmet off and carrying her long bow. She was wearing an almost unnoticeable pout and frown on her face.
"...You still dodged."
At her words, Irvine could only look at her with a bewildered look.
"You want me to take the arrow head-on?"
"You said the [Double Strafe] thing would catch most people off-guard."
"Yeah, but I'm the one suggesting it to you... I am surprised that you managed to pull it off this quickly though..." Irvine replied with a wry smile.
It had barely been 4 days since he had suggested the technique to her and she had managed to apply it perfectly, at least within a contained practice environment.
[Double Strafe] was a rather famous move that had been done by some [Overload] using Rangers in the past and even in the present time.
It made use of the partially overloaded forearm muscles that could move like a fast-forwarded image to pull a bowstring twice in quick succession. Creating a troublesome effect that's just like the one Irvine had to deal with previously.
Although the speed still couldn't really match-up with the output of a dual hand crossbow, this move had several variables that the weapons aside from bow wouldn't be able to achieve.
First was the range, angle, and control of the shots that couldn't be achieved by the crossbow's automated release mechanism.
And second was the faster accelerating second shot that followed the same trajectory as the first one.
These two elements had allowed the [Double Strafe] technique to still be able to maintain its importance for bow users even within the Pro League.
"It's a perfect technique for your current situation. Not only does it increase your firing rate, it also give you a stronger offensive move to use during your ambush of the enemy."
"You're right," Medea nodded in understanding, "...As usual."
There're two tricks in mastering this move that Irvine had heard his past future's Ranger teammate in the Pyro Red Dwarf had mentioned during his interview after a match.
The first one was obvious enough,
Even though the two arrows were released in succession, the two would, of course, still need to be prepared at the same time beforehand so the user didn't waste time pulling out another one from the quiver.
And the second is,
"You've tightened your bowstring to the maximum limit of your power beforehand?"
"Yeah... Just like you said, with a tighter hold, the time it took for the string to return to its shape for me to pull the second arrow decreased significantly. It's just--"
"The technique still takes a toll on your arm muscles?"
*nod*
"It's natural for Stage-2 Human like us, It'll get better overtime, but until then, don't overuse the strafe past your limit." Irvine adviced the Starseed in front of her like a veteran coach.
"...I know."
"Let's quickly go back to the Facility then. I still need to go the training room too."
"M, me as well." A rare stutter had appeared in Medea's words.
"Nn? Why?"
"...If you train and I don't, I won't ever be able to catch up." She reluctantly confessed.
"It's best not to overtrain especially with your right arm as it is now. Unlike you, my specialized training these past few days didn't have much to do with physical activity."
Irvine's continuous use of [Blast] only put a strain on his mind and not his body.
"Ugh..."
.
.
Eventually, the two of them got out of the stadium after they'd changed back to their normal clothes.
But just after a couple of steps forward into the lounge, Irvine and Medea suddenly noticed that on the ground in front of the glass door to the stadium's main entrance, there was a bottle of sports drink being placed on top of a piece of paper.
"Hn?"
As the two slowly approached the items and picked them up, they discovered that the piece of paper was actually a sealed letter addressed specifically to Medea.
'Oh!'
"...What's this?" Medea turned the item backward and forward a couple of times trying to figure out who's it from, but to no avail.
To her side, Irvine had already started to grin the moment he'd seen who the letter was actually addressed to,
"What, you've never received such a thing before?" He asked with a bit of teasing tone in his voice.
"No... Who uses letter in this day and age?"
"Some things must follow traditions after all." Irvine shrugged at her skeptical question.
"I'll open it later then. What do you suppose the letter's for?" Medea asked curiously.
'Seriously...?' Irvine had a very baffled look as he looked on at Medea's expression, "..."
*sigh*
"Well, there're two possibilities." He decided to give the girl a bit of a clue.
"Which are?"
"...Best you figure those out yourself."
"Haa?"
Of course, Irvine knew that the content of the letter could only be either a fan letter or a love letter.
On the other hand, he still couldn't believe how Medea could completely miss out on such clear implications.