"Okay, next on the list is Lars," Yuel continued the meeting.
"Oh boi, here we go!" Lars rubbed his hands together. "C'mon, dude! Hit me with all you've got! My body is ready!"
"For the most part, you performed within expectations."
"Dang." Lars laughed dryly. "When you start like that, I know you're boutta burn me real hard, haha."
"Of course I will," Yuel reassured. "First, the small things. I believe you've realized it yourself by now, but the way you always aim for headshots is turning into a bad habit. Especially, when you're facing somebody like Apprentece, even the smallest inaccuracy can turn into a misplay."
Yuel replayed Lars' major duel with Apprentece. The video showed multiple examples of Lars aiming for the head, which didn't work out for him at all. In fact, he nearly let Apprentece slip away because of this bad habit.
"Yeaaaaah, that wasn't very hot," Lars agreed. "To my defense, I figured it out pretty quickly so I stopped."
"I'd say it took you a while," Yuel corrected. "But yes, you did eventually stop. And, I suppose I'm partially to blame here."
"Wut? How so?"
"I've been aware of this habit of yours for a while now," Yuel confessed. "But, I never said anything until now because it never felt like your accuracy dropped because of this."
"Of course it didn't!" Lars grinned confidently. "I've got 200% accuracy, believe it!"
"Sure, it's 200% until you face a high-level opponent. Then, it's not even 100%."
"Haha! Yeah, that Korean dude wasn't having any of it, was he?" Lars cracked a dry laugh.
"I won't tell you to entirely stop with the headshots, they do deliver good psychological damage," Yuel said. "But, make sure you don't do them against the more mechanically skilled opponents. This mainly refers to Apprentece at the moment, but I think you should stop doing it against Winner too."
"Apprentece, I totally get. But Winner is ez," Lars argued. "Like, dude is strong, no question about that. But, I can headshot him for days no problem!"
"It's fine as long as you're REALLY sure about it," Yuel said. "But, the moment you miss a shot because you aim for the head, immediately change your approach."
"Roger!"
"Okay. Now, onto the main problem I have with your performance."
"Oh lordy, here it comes!" Lars gulped. "Brace yourselves for a lecture, my dudes!"
"I assume you already know what I'm going to say, I hinted about it in the previous meetings."
"Nope! No idea, haha."
"... is that so." Yuel made a face. I hope he was actually listening back then. Or, maybe he has already forgotten everything. Sigh.
Regardless, Yuel continued. "It's about your Elf. It's not up to par and you know it."
"Whatever do ya mean? It's hella tight!"
"It's decent, but it's nowhere near the level of your Trickshooter or Gunslinger. For one, you haven't mastered quickscoping yet."
"Weeeeeelp. No, I haven't, haha..."
"It begs the question: Did you REALLY focus on practicing Elf these past few weeks like I asked you to?"
"Yeah, sure did, dude!" Lars answered. "Like, you saw me pick Elf almost every time we practiced, right?"
"Yes, but what about your solo practice?" Yuel said. "You know, that shooting practice you told me you do every day before bed."
"What about it?"
"Did you focus on Elf there, too?"
"Yeah, of course!" Lars nodded. "I practiced Elf a bunch there, too!"
"Only Elf?"
"... err, nope." Lars glanced aside with a wry smile. "I practiced all three of my mains: Shooter, Slinger, and Elf."
"Right there is the problem," Yuel argued. "I'm pretty sure I asked you to prioritize Elf at the expense of all other classes because you won't get to play them anyway."
"Yeah, I know, dude," Lars said. "But, I just couldn't, yo! Like, what if my Shooter or Slinger becomes rusty because I skip practice!?"
"It was pretty much confirmed that you won't get a chance to use them against the Leopards," Yuel argued. "So, becoming slightly worse with Shooter or Sligner wouldn't have impacted your performance in the scrim. And, even if your skill did drop a little, I'm sure you would've gotten back in shape in no time."
"But, what if not!?" Lars exclaimed. "Imagine if I stop practicing Slinger for a few days and then completely forget how to land headshots! It's like a horror movie, yo!"
"I had no idea your mechanical skill is so fragile." Yuel rolled his eyes. "But, seriously. After so much practice, I'm sure that skill is already engraved into your muscle memory by now. There's no way you'll lose it if you take a few weeks off."
"Welp, guess we'll never know now."
"Actually, I wouldn't be so sure about that," Yuel objected. "After Elf, I want you to master another class."
"Another one!?" Lars's jaw dropped. "Yo, my dude! At this rate, I'll master all the freakin' marksmen!"
"That would be ideal, but it's not realistic for the near future," Yuel said. "But, the more classes you can master for the regionals, the better. If we want to win the whole thing, we need you to be at the top of your game."
"Yo, easier said than done, dude," Lars said. "It's already hella hard to manage just three classes."
"I'd imagine. Nonetheless, you have to do it."
Lars was already an incredibly strong player with any class he played. But, on average, he was just a little better than Winner. It was only when he picked one of his top classes that he became a true force to be reckoned with. That's when his mechanical skill skyrocketed to superhuman levels, making him unstoppable.
With a monster like that on the team, Stratus had a real shot at beating Storm and Leo. Therefore, Lars had to master more classes, no matter how difficult it was.
"There's also another topic I'd like to bring up," Yuel continued the meeting. "It's about the way Lars sometimes… 'enters the zone', so to speak."
"Oh, that thing!" Lars jumped. "Yeah, I was totally in the zone against the Korean dude at the end there! I nailed that difficult killing shot, yo!"
"Indeed, it was a splendid performance!" Vincent made noise. "I had my suspicions about that ability of yours for a while now, but after that marvelous execution, I was convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt: you have the Mind Bankai ability!"
"Heck yeah!" Lars pumped a fist. "What's a 'bankai', tho?"
"It represents awakening, transcending one's self to attain a higher level of skill!"
"Heck yeah, let's gooooo!"
"Anyway," Yuel interjected. "The point I wanted to discuss is how we should approach this seemingly random occurrence. That trance state happens pretty much out of the blue and has a lot of consequences."
"Yep." Lars nodded. "Them consequences being me kickin' some serious butt, yo!"
"And, also getting very tired after the fact," Yuel added. "That's the part that concerns me the most."
"Me? Tired? Naaaah," Lars said. "I'm always full of energy, yo!"
"It seems you already forgot how you were nearly limping after the fifth game."
"Welp, it was a long game," Lars said. "But okay, yeah, I guess that whole zone thing tires me out a little more than usual. Not a problem, tho!"
"I see how it is," Vincent commented. "In other words, in exchange for gaining immense power, the zone also depletes the user's stamina! The law of equivalent exchange at its finest!"
"Heck yeah!"
"... I seem to have missed the reason why any of this is exciting," Yuel said. "The way I see it, that's a liability and nothing more."
"Hey, it's not that bad, dude," Lars argued. "I'm tellin' ya, the zone just always happens when I'm already tired anyway. It ain't anything special, trust."
"Admittedly, I have only a handful of samples to go by," Yuel said. "It's probably not enough to form a proper conclusion just yet."
"Ya see? It ain't no problem!"
"But," Yuel continued. "At the very least, every time I've seen you in the zone, you were completely spent afterward. We even had to cut our practice short a few times because of this, something we never do otherwise."
"Oh, is it that bad?" Vincent asked. "I see, I see. Clearly, this is a forbidden technique that can only be activated once a day!"
"It's worse than that," Yuel argued. "If it happens in the middle of a match, it might leave him too tired for the rest of it."
"Dear lord! The downsides just don't stop!" Vincent held his head theatrically. "All of this makes it a super forbidden and super secret technique that can only be unleashed at the very finale, do I read that right!?"
"Yes, and it has to be late enough into that last game to not interfere with anything else," Yuel added. "I hope now you see why I'm not thrilled about having Lars practice it. If he starts entering the zone willy-nilly while the fatigue requirements stay the same, he'll constantly be too tired to play his best."
"Indeed, indeed. That is a scary possibility."
"Nah, dude," Lars objected. "Ya just worrying too much. I can totally handle it, believe it!"
"Maybe I'd 'believe it' if you didn't look like a zombie every time you exited the zone."
"Dang, so harsh! Haha." Lars scratched his head. "Does it really look that bad every time? Honestly, I think I usually don't even remember what happens afterward."
"It just goes to show how tired you get," Yuel said. "It exhausts you to the point you almost fall asleep afterwards. It's like you got hit with the Nia Syndrome."
"Dang, scary!" Lars laughed. "Okay, okay, I hear ya, dude. This whole 'zone' thing does sound a bit sketch when you put it this way, so maybe I shouldn't mess with it for now."
"Good," Yuel approved. "You have to focus on your Elf, and then hopefully on another class. There's no time to waste on a questionable 'forbidden technique' like that."
"Hehehe!" Vincent cackled sinisterly. "This is the kind of thing the mentor always tells the hero in the first episodes, isn't it? To not use the forbidden power and all that. However! Since the hero already possesses the cursed power, he is destined to run into situations that will force him to unleash his Noble Phantasm!"
"For the sake of us all, I hope you're wrong about that," Yuel said. "If Lars's performance drops in the middle of a critical match, our regionals will be over right there."
"Indeed, it will be a rather tragic ending."
On this note, they finished discussing Lars's mysterious "zone". It was an interesting ability that Yuel would have gladly investigated further to broaden Lars's potential, but it came with a price that was too hefty at the moment.
Will Lars really end up relying on this "forbidden power" at some point during the regionals, as Vincent predicted? Hopefully not, but he activated it once during the Leo scrim, so the possibility wasn't entirely off the table...