Virtual Sword God!

As the Group found out what their plan was to beat the Westgate team, they were eager to start out their strategy. Frank would be playing and leading the team on the ground floor, while Alex would be watching the game closely and making micro adjustments as they played game after game.

From playing last time the team had managed to get out of bronze and into silver but were struggling to win in their games before as silver players had better strategy compared to bronze. Even if they were to group up, the players would simply fall back and split push the other lanes.

So Alex had come up with a strategy. The important part when grouping up was the element of surprise. You didn't want to reveal to the team that there would be five of you in one lane. At that moment when your team were reviled, it was important that you killed that player.

Otherwise, the player would do his best to buy as much time as possible waiting for their teammates, the same thing Montem had done against Woo Woo.

It was the first game and the group were trying their best to implement their strategy. Two of Montem's team members had entered from the right side of the forest down the middle lane. While the other two had entered the left side fo the forest down the middle lane.

Then all that was left was for Frank to do battle down the middle path.

The two were engaged in combat and the players were patiently waiting for Frank's signal.

At the right time, Frank swirled around his opponent and barged into him with his shield, causing the player to stumble towards the side of his tower.

At that point it was time for the Montem team to act, Novis came out with his chain blade and managed to hook the person perfectly. Then at the same time, an arrow came shooting out from Scarlett's bow but as soon as Novis hooked the player, he had pulled him towards him causing Scarlett's arrow to miss and hit the ground.

In the end, Novis managed to switch to his long sword and deal with the player but it didn't go as planned.

The strategy was to wait for Frank to barge the player with his shield, when the enemy was dazed then that's when Novis would try hooking the player and Scarlett shooting him. It was clear that they still needed some practice.

But this way if they took out the first person, they would have the advantage as the game went on. The plan seemed to work for the most part managing to win most of their games but there were still some hiccups along the way.

Sometimes when their players would enter the forest they would encounter the enemy team members in their as well, there was also the fact that teams were quick to communicate to the player in mid, informing them that the top and bottom lane were empty, causing the middle player to play more cautiously.

Although these things didn't affect them much currently, that was because they were only in silver.

"Good practice today guys," Alex said as everyone left the Pod feeling pleased. "We need to keep going like this, it may seem easy now but you have to remember you're still only going up against silver players. The Westgate team have a couple of diamond players who will be quick to communicate, react and will be a lot tougher to deal with."

Alex wanted the group to rise up through the ranks as quickly as possible, then this way they would experience more awkward situations when grouping up as a five. It was the only thing they could do for now, to play as many games as possible.

The practice was over for the day and it was time for the group to split up and head home but on the way back instead of heading home. Dan had decided to go down to a nearby river. He carried a heavy bulky bag on his back and had finally arrived just underneath a bridge right next to the river.

"You're here on time," Tony said.

Dan then placed the bag down and opened it to reveal some old boxing gloves and pad's that he used to use when he was in the boxing club.

"You ready for today's practise session?" Dan said with a grin.

The two of them started to practice, while Tony held out the pads Dan would follow his lead. After doing rounds of Pad work. Tony made sure to get in some sparing as well. It wouldn't be intense sparing but more important for Dan to get a sense of timing. Knowing when to attack and not to attack.

Tony was surprised by how Quick Dan was catching onto things. Sure, he had experienced with punching before being in the boxing club but Muay Thai was different. It allowed the use of kicks, knees and elbows.

When kicking it was important to swing your leg out like a whip and pushing through with your hip. You also had to make sure your body wasn't off balance and the distances were different. The reach with a leg was a lot longer than that of an arm.

The boxers Tony had fought with before when learning Muay Thai for the first time struggled for these reasons but Dan was absorbing everything like a sponge. Tony only had to show things one time for Dan to get it.

"Great I think you're ready," Tony said.

"Ready? For what?"

"To fight in your first official Muay Thai match of course."

"What, but we've only practised like two times, I'll be killed won't I?"

"Will you relax, you are doing great, we don't have a lot of time and the quickest way for you to learn is to be thrown into the deep end against people who have fought before. From what I've seen here today, I'm confident you can fight toe to toe against your average Muay Thai fighter."

"Alright when's the first match?" Dan asked.

"Tomorrow, same time as today only meet me at this place," Tony said as he handed Dan a piece of paper.

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Special thanks to Darrel, AsuraNineThoughts and Seshata for the gifts, showing your support really encourages me to carry on working hard for you all.