Elijah woke to pale morning light filtering through his curtains. The system's newest prompt glowed on his phone:
"Quest: Facilitate Mentor-Mentee Scrims."
Stats hovered in his mind—Focus 11, Stamina 1, Confidence 10, Teamwork 20. Flow and Game Sense remained locked. Today's mission was clear: stage capstone scrims that would test every lesson from aim drills to mindset resets.
By mid-afternoon, Elijah had organized the workshop in their private channel. Five mentees were scheduled, but one—PixelMage—sent apologies: internet outage. That left four eager trainees. Elijah grouped them into two teams of three, each guided by a mentor:
Team Zero7: Elijah, MiniZero7, AriaBlade Team Voidpix: Kayzen, RotorRush, HexDrift
Ghostkit assumed the role of observer and technical referee, streaming the matches and recording key moments for post-game analysis. The system displayed a sub-quest:
"Sub-Quest: Host Two 10-Round Mentor-Mentee Scrims."
A countdown began—teams would queue in one hour.
Elijah transformed his desk into command central: dual monitors streamed each team's POV, a shared stopwatch timed each round, and a whiteboard app tallied scores. At 4:00 PM, Team Zero7 loaded Tower Ruins in custom mode. A hush fell over the voice channel.
"Mini, hold lower arches. Aria, support mid-catwalk," Elijah instructed. "Any tilt resets? Remember: breathe, review, queue."
MiniZero7's voice quivered with excitement. "Got it." AriaBlade replied more confidently: "Ready."
Ghostkit counted down: "3…2…1…go."
Round 1–5: Learning the Rhythm Round 1: Team Zero7 won 6–3 as Elijah's smoke cover allowed Aria's entry frag. MiniZero7 secured two trades. Round 2: Team Voidpix won 6–4. HexDrift overran B-ramp solo and was punished, but RotorRush's clutch rotate sealed the bomb plant. Round 3: Team Zero7 lost 5–6. MiniZero7 pushed too aggressively, triggering a crossfire. Elijah paused the match to interject a mental-reset break. "Stop, breathe, name one mistake." Mini identified mispositioning; they queued again. Round 4: Team Zero7 bounced back 6–2. AriaBlade's pre-aim saved the round. Round 5: Team Voidpix 6–5. Kayzen's timely flashbang secured a narrow plant. Encouragement pings popped in the HUD as Ghostkit typed, "Great calls, Voidpix."
At the halfway mark, Team Zero7 led 3–2. The system logged progress:
"Sub-Quest Progress: 25% complete."
Round 6–10: Testing Resilience
Elijah shifted to more complex drills—mid-cat splits and delayed smokes. He instructed, "Use mental-reset drill if you die early. Breathe, review, then requeue within ten seconds."
Round 6: Team Voidpix won 7–4 on Tower Ruins (extended mode). HexDrift nearly choked but used the reset drill, recovered for two final trades. Round 7: Team Zero7 lost 3–6. Aria got caught peeking early. Elijah muted the comms and whispered, "Focus on spacing, not speed." A quick replay showed the error, and they queued for Round 8. Round 8: Team Zero7 won 6–1. MiniZero7 landed his first five-kill round, confidence surging. Round 9: Team Voidpix lost 4–6. RotorRush misread the rotation call. Kayzen offered immediate feedback: "Next time, I'll ping earlier—acknowledge your call." Round 10: Team Zero7 closed the scrim 6–5 in a nail-biter, with Elijah's Coordinated Strike timing giving them the edge.
When the second scrim ended, they tallied scores: Team Zero7 won 6 rounds, Team Voidpix won 4. More importantly, every mentee had practiced resets, advanced map awareness, and maintained composure under fire. The system dinged triumphantly:
"Sub-Quest Complete: Two Scrims Facilitated."
Rewards: +1 Teamwork (21), +1 Focus (12).
Post-Scrim Analysis
Ghostkit joined their channel as a moderator. He played back key rounds on the whiteboard, tagging critical moments:
MiniZero7's Recovery in Round 6: used breathing drill to land four trades. AriaBlade's Pre-aim in Round 4: saved B-ramp push. RotorRush's Disconnect in Round 9: improved ping calls by 1.2 seconds. HexDrift's Mental Reset in Round 6: recovered clutch potential.
Elijah facilitated a group discussion. "What was your biggest takeaway?" he asked.
MiniZero7: "Resetting after death saved my focus."
RotorRush: "I learned to trust the ping early."
AriaBlade: "Spacing matters more than raw aim."
HexDrift: "Map control beats rushing every time."
They exchanged high-fives in the voice channel. The system prompted:
"Quest Complete: Mentor-Mentee Scrims."
A final quest notification blinked:
"New Quest: Evaluate Mentees and Issue Skill Badges."
That evening, Elijah drafted personalized feedback for each mentee:
MiniZero7: Awarded "Calm Clutch" badge for using resets. AriaBlade: "Precision Pre-aim" badge for consistent headshots. RotorRush: "Tactical Caller" badge for improved comms. HexDrift: "Patient Lurker" badge for defensive play.
He messaged the badges into their channels, prompting cheers and virtual hugs. Their gratitude felt as rewarding as any stat boost. The Interface stat bar glowed: Focus 12, Teamwork 21, Confidence 10, Stamina 1.
Before logging off, Elijah reviewed the next quest—"Public Coaching Seminar"—and smiled. Mentorship had proven as thrilling as any championship. As mentors and mentees alike drifted offline, he leaned back, envisioning a future where every spark he'd ignited would set new worlds aflame.