The moment Nightwalker entered Silver Tier, the world felt louder.
The queue hadn't even finished updating before the system announcement appeared across the server.
[System] Congratulations!Player "Nightwalker" has advanced to Silver Tier.
World Chat lit up instantly.
"Holy Crusader? That's rare.""Wait, someone climbed out of Bronze with Crusader?""Probably lucky matchmaking.""Silver Crusader… yeah, good luck with that."
Daniel glanced at the scrolling messages and closed the panel.
Silver players talked more.
Too much, sometimes.
They had just enough knowledge to believe they understood the game—and just enough confidence to argue about it.
He queued up again.
The match loaded.
Before the timer even hit zero, voice chat came alive.
"Uh… Crusader?""Are you tanking or what?""No offense, but that class kinda sucks in Silver.""Just don't feed, okay?"
Daniel's Holy Crusader stood quietly at spawn.
He said nothing.
He never argued.
Arguments wasted time.
The opening was messy.
Silver players liked to test themselves. They overreached, then blamed others when things went wrong.
Top lane traded too aggressively. Mid missed a skill and panicked. Bottom lane pushed without vision.
Daniel adjusted.
He didn't babysit.
He positioned.
The enemy jungler showed top.
Daniel moved bottom instantly.
No warning. No call.
Just movement.
The gank came fast.
Shield raised.
He stepped into the narrow angle between brush and wall, forcing the enemy carry to hesitate.
Half a second.
That was all it took.
The enemy support mistimed a stun. The carry burned flash early.
Daniel didn't chase.
He body-blocked.
The kill went to his ADC.
First blood.
Voice chat paused.
"…Okay.""That worked."
Daniel was already rotating away.
The match slowed.
Then sped up.
Silver fights were chaotic. Players committed halfway, then second-guessed themselves. They chased kills and forgot objectives.
Daniel exploited every hesitation.
He stood where people didn't expect tanks to stand. He entered fights not to engage—but to interrupt. Every shield bash landed on the wrong target, breaking combos before they began.
At one point, mid lane erupted into a full skirmish.
Three enemies collapsed.
Numbers disadvantage.
Daniel arrived first.
He didn't charge.
He waited.
The enemy assassin committed.
Mistake.
Daniel stepped in, shield slam canceling the burst mid-animation. He turned sideways, blocking retreat paths, forcing awkward spacing.
The enemy team stumbled over themselves.
Two down.
The rest fled.
Voice chat exploded.
"Wait, did he just stop everything?""That timing—holy crap."
Daniel didn't respond.
By mid-game, the tone had changed.
No more complaints.
Only short, cautious callouts.
"He's here.""Wait for Crusader.""Don't engage yet."
They were following him now.
Not because he told them to.
Because it worked.
The final fight happened near the enemy base.
Silver players loved one last desperate push.
Daniel let them try.
He stepped forward, shield glowing faintly, standing at the exact spot where retreat stopped being an option.
The enemy hesitated.
Too late.
The engage was clean. Controlled. Ruthless.
The base collapsed soon after.
VICTORY
The post-game lobby was quiet for a few seconds.
Then someone typed:
"Okay, I take it back.""That Crusader's legit."
Daniel left the match.
The Silver emblem remained steady on his profile.
Holy Crusader wasn't popular.
It never would be.
But popularity had never mattered.
Only results did.
He queued again.
Somewhere on the server, people had started remembering the name Nightwalker.
They just didn't know why yet.