Chapter 105
Shin Ha-yeon had guarded the throne of the level 10 AI in the Training Arena for five years.
However, this did not mean that no one could defeat Shin Ha-yeon’s AI.
The AI compiles accumulated data to imitate that person.
But it is impossible for the full extent of that skill to be transferred just by accumulating data on the reactions and movements of a new winner for only about two hours.
Of course, thanks to the accumulated data as the owner of the level 10 spot kept changing, the current level 10 AI is indeed close to the level of top-tier players.
Therefore, even for ordinary people who have defeated the level 9 AI, the level 10 AI is a challenge too difficult to even attempt.
But what if top-level professional players set aside a day and fight it repeatedly?
They can win.
And whenever this happened, Shin Ha-yeon reclaimed the seat.
“Without a single exception in the past five years.”
Baek Do-yul recalled a habit of hers that he had heard from Shin Ha-yeon’s former colleague.
Shin Ha-yeon had said that if a new person appeared, she enjoyed fighting that AI to practice.
During the data registration process, she would go in whenever she remembered and learn the reactions that the AI had selected as necessary on its own.
In a way, it was the ultimate practice vending machine.
It would be best to face the person directly, but there was no one of a similar level who would fight as much as she wanted.
Especially if it was a pure swordsmanship battle.
“Swordsmanship, huh.”
He also had a knack for swordsmanship.
It wasn’t that his family ran a swordsmanship dojo or that his parents were martial arts masters.
His parents were ordinary self-employed people.
However.
“My first game was For the Swords.”
Baek Wi-gang.
An NPC who evaluates the sword techniques you show him.
The first NPC Baek Do-yul ever met in the virtual reality world he entered was none other than Baek Wi-gang.
And he found it fun to demonstrate techniques and be evaluated, spending weeks in front of him testing various sword techniques and increasing his insight into swordsmanship in an instinctive realm.
Then, at some point, the server’s first achievement popped up and he obtained the title of Grandmaster (though he didn’t equip the title), and as he played the game seriously, he realized he had overwhelming talent.
After that, he was scouted by the current team’s head coach, plunged headlong into the professional world, and ended up seizing the championship.
[Shin Ha-yeon: That’s not it]
But recently, upon hearing that the Grandmaster title he alone knew about had appeared, he logged into For the Swords after a long time and discovered that his title had been taken.
Why?
Was it a title that could only exist once per server?
If so, does that mean the technique that streamer performed after seeing it only once was that outstanding?
Even though he hadn’t logged into For the Swords for years, it was hard to accept.
He challenged Baek Wi-gang again to take it back, but the Grandmaster title did not appear again.
Even after watching the video of him receiving Grandmaster, he couldn’t understand.
What on earth was different?
[Baek Do-yul: You fought that streamer in the Training Arena too, right?]
Because of that, he became interested in the Training Arena, which he normally wouldn’t even glance at, and summoned the level 10 AI to face it.
And the moment swords clashed, he realized.
The depth of swordsmanship contained in each move was different.
How to parry and counter, how to extend the arm, how to preoccupy an advantageous position.
He parries when it seems impossible to parry, thrusts when a counterattack is certain.
He mastered moves that might have taken him quite a while to realize if he had been alone.
[Shin Ha-yeon: So what do you want me to do about it.]
[Baek Do-yul: Why are you angry?]
[Shin Ha-yeon: Because you’re interrupting my free time]
[Baek Do-yul: lol]
He typed just two consonants and smiled.
Was this the composure of a winner?
There was a reason Shin Ha-yeon was annoyed at me.
In this tournament, they were lucky and the other side was unlucky.
The meta, the teamplay, meshed a bit better.
Countless minor coincidences came together and they won.
It was a match they could have lost if they fought again.
But isn’t this a concept that applies to all matches?
So they are indeed the rightful winners.
The weight and composure that victory brings.
[Shin Ha-yeon: Ugh, annoying. I’m blocking you.]
[Baek Do-yul: Wait]
[Baek Do-yul: .]
[Baek Do-yul: Stop!!]
[Baek Do-yul: Just a moment.]
[Baek Do-yul: Are you really blocking me?]
[Baek Do-yul: No, you’re watching, right? If you were blocked, you wouldn’t be able to type.]
[Baek Do-yul: Hello?]
His composure vanished in an instant.
He had almost rubbed her the wrong way and nearly been unable to ask anything.
[Shin Ha-yeon: Just get to the point quickly]
What he was curious about.
The time it usually took for Shin Ha-yeon to reclaim the seat was typically a day or two.
No matter how long, it never exceeded a week.
But it was taking this long?
In truth, this question had been resolved long ago.
Because he too felt there was so much to learn (or suck out), and he was entering the Training Arena every voluntary training hour.
What he was really curious about was.
[Baek Do-yul: Don’t you know anything about that person? Since you’ve been playing since the very beginning of virtual reality, I thought you might know something.]
Shin Ha-yeon was a famous user who had started not from the early days of game tournaments, but from the very early days of virtual reality.
Truly a living fossil!
Even though she was young, and even though he who started gaming late was older.
In any case, Shin Ha-yeon was a fossil and an elder.
[Shin Ha-yeon: Why?]
[Baek Do-yul: At a glance, his skills definitely aren’t those of someone playing a game for the first time, right?]
[Baek Do-yul: Is there a case where Surface gives alt accounts to ordinary people? If not, then he’s a returning user, and somehow I feel like you’d know his identity.]
Who could it be?
He could guarantee it was definitely not the skill of a first-time gamer.
Well, it seems like he’s going with a streaming concept of remembering a past life.
Alright, fine.
If I concede a hundred times, I can accept the fact that if he really remembers a past life, that skill might be possible.
But even if I concede a thousand times, I can’t accept that he remembers a past life.
First, it’s certain he’s not a pro.
Even with full-body plastic surgery, I think it’s impossible for someone that handsome to come out, no matter how advanced modern medicine is.
That’s a bit enviable.
Anyway, so I’m inferring he’s an ordinary person, and among them, someone who played games in the past.
His past avatar would have looked different from reality.
“Actually, it doesn’t matter.”
The real reason he was curious was something else.
[Shin Ha-yeon: I’m not telling you lol]
[Baek Do-yul: ...]
[Shin Ha-yeon: I don’t know his identity either]
[Baek Do-yul: That doesn’t seem like it at all.]
[Baek Do-yul: Anyway, I need information. Our side is thinking of testing him and scouting him if his gaming skills are decent.]
[Shin Ha-yeon: Pfft]
[Baek Do-yul: ??]
As expected. It’s clear she definitely knows something.
But why is she laughing at him?
[Shin Ha-yeon: Anyway, I really don’t know, so goodbye]
[Baek Do-yul: Ok]
Tsk.
Should I go into the Training Arena one more time?
Time: 7 PM.
It was voluntary training time.
Though it’s a bit relaxed since the tournament ended, a pro gamer’s schedule is still plastered with practice.
Practice, practice, and more practice.
Yet it’s enjoyable.
Maybe because it’s a game, but still, competing and winning is fun.
Competitive spirit.
That was the reason he asked about Seo Jun.
“It stings a little.”
Baek Do-yul’s pride was wounded by the fact that he was inferior to Seo Jun in sword techniques alone.
Because his most confident character in The League also wielded a sword, and his specialized field was swordsmanship.
Probably thanks to the influence of his first game, that naturally became his main weapon and his unique strength.
But an opponent appeared who surpassed him, if only in swordsmanship.
How could he not be curious?
“I’m sure my gaming skills are superior, though.”
Combat in virtual reality games isn’t just about cold weapons.
There are far more varied ways of fighting, and after becoming a pro, he trained in all other comprehensive combat instead of swordsmanship.
That was surely the reason he was worse than that streamer.
He had many other things to focus on.
Probably most pros are like that too.
That’s why Shin Ha-yeon, who does that in the Training Arena, is a somewhat unusual case.
‘Some people say they go to a gym to learn martial arts. Hmm.’
Knock knock.
Someone knocked on the door of the room he was in.
“Come in.”
Creak.
The door opened and the person who entered was the team’s coach.
“Do-yul, is the training in the Training Arena going well?”
“Yes.”
“Good. By the way, the reply about what you requested has come.”
“Ah, it finally came?”
Sending an email with the proposal for Seo Jun to take the team’s test.
That was Baek Do-yul’s request.
The coach seemed a bit reluctant, but still agreed, thinking it couldn’t hurt to test him.
Also because the head coach had instructed him to do so.
“Yeah. That streamer says he has no intention of taking the test.”
“Hmm. I see.”
“Alright.”
Having said all he needed, the coach left, and alone in the room, Baek Do-yul turned on that streamer’s broadcast.
Their team was currently the champion.
The treatment was good and they had already renewed their contracts.
That was why the coach wasn’t particularly keen.
He felt the same.
He didn’t want to recruit that streamer into the team.
His true feelings were.
“In the end, I just wanted to face him once.”
Would I lose if we fought in the Training Arena?
I don’t know.
Ironically, by fighting Seo Jun’s AI, he absorbed a lot in an instant and grew tremendously.
So he wanted to fight him once.
“Has he played The League? It would be nice to know that.”
That’s why he had probed Shin Ha-yeon.
But nothing came of it, and getting him to take the test also failed.
Baek Do-yul had no intention of going further than this.
It was too much of a hassle.
“If I stay in this world, I’ll meet him someday.”
This was the biggest reason.
Because if he’s a streamer, it’s hard for him not to play The League at all.
With that level of skill, he’s bound to climb quickly to the highest tier, Challenger.
And then we’ll naturally meet.
“Ah. Or maybe I should contact Movie Soft?”
A picture of something fun was forming.
Heh heh.
“Let’s see who the real Heavenly Demon is.”
He remembered the role-playing he used to do in For the Swords long ago.
Impulsively, he donated to Seo Jun’s stream.
[‘Real Heavenly Demon’ donated 2,000,000 won!]
[Let’s fight for the title of Heavenly Demon!]
The amount of money had to be at least this much to get his attention, right?
[Oh……. The true Heavenly Demon has finally appeared. I shall now return to my home, the righteous faction.]
-You’re not even playing For the Swords anymore anyway ㅠㅠㅠ
-Do you really believe he’s from the righteous faction?
-You put in the title today that it’s the final review broadcast for For the Swords, and then lololol
-This dude isn’t even logging into the game, just sitting in his streaming chair collecting money, what righteous faction lmao
-Ah lol if you spent 2 million won, you gotta neatly wrap up the Heavenly Demon title and hand it over lololol
Wasn’t this it?