Chapter 105
CHAPTER 105
Shin Hayeon had defended the throne of the Training Grounds' Level 10 AI for five years.
However, that didn't mean nobody had ever defeated her AI.
An AI gathers accumulated data and imitates a person.
But it was impossible for someone's full skill level to be perfectly reproduced from merely two hours' worth of newly gathered reaction and movement data after they defeated it.
Of course, as ownership of the Level 10 position continued changing hands over the years, the accumulated data had gradually raised the Level 10 AI's standard to a point approaching that of top-ranked professional players.
That was why even ordinary people capable of defeating a Level 9 AI found the Level 10 AI almost impossible to challenge.
But what if elite professional players devoted themselves to fighting it repeatedly?
They could win.
And whenever that happened, Shin Hayeon reclaimed her position.
"Without a single exception over the past five years."
Baek Doyul recalled a habit of hers that he had heard about from one of her former teammates.
Apparently, whenever a new person appeared, Shin Hayeon enjoyed sparring against their AI as practice.
During the data registration process, the AI would select reactions it considered important, and whenever she felt like it, she'd enter the Training Grounds and learn from them.
In a way, it was the ultimate training machine.
Directly facing the actual player would be ideal, of course, but there was no one around at a similar level who would fight her as much as she wanted.
Especially if it was a pure swordsmanship duel.
"Swordsmanship..."
He had some expertise in swordsmanship himself.
It wasn't because his family ran a swordsmanship academy or because his parents were martial arts masters.
His parents simply operated a small business.
However—
"My first game was For the Sake of Chivalry."
Baek Wigang.
An NPC who evaluated your skill after watching you perform a technique.
The first NPC Baek Doyul had met after entering a virtual reality world was Baek Wigang.
And he had found great enjoyment in demonstrating techniques and receiving evaluations. For several weeks, he stood before Baek Wigang, experimenting with various moves and unconsciously deepening his insight into swordsmanship.
Then, one day, he obtained the server-first achievement and earned the title of Grandmaster.
(He never actually equipped the title.)
As he became more serious about the game, he realized he possessed overwhelming talent.
Later, he was discovered by his current team coach, entered the professional scene in earnest, and eventually won a championship.
[Shin Hayeon: No.]
Recently, however, he had heard that the Grandmaster title he thought he possessed had reappeared.
So he logged into For the Sake of Chivalry for the first time in ages and discovered that his title had been taken.
How?
Wasn't it a title that only one person on the server could possess?
If so, had that streamer really performed a technique so extraordinary after seeing it only once?
Even though he hadn't played For the Sake of Chivalry for years, it was difficult to accept.
He challenged Baek Wigang again in an attempt to reclaim it, but the Grandmaster title never appeared.
Even after watching the video of the streamer obtaining the title, he couldn't understand it.
What exactly was different?
[Baek Doyul: You fought that streamer in the Training Grounds too, right?]
His curiosity had been piqued, so he summoned the Level 10 AI and fought it.
And the moment their swords collided, he realized something.
The depth contained within each and every move was different.
How the AI parried.
How it extended its arm.
How it secured advantageous positions in advance.
It parried in situations where parrying seemed impossible.
It thrust in situations where thrusting should have invited a counterattack.
He learned moves that, had he been alone, might have taken him a very long time to comprehend.
As a result, he found himself regularly visiting the Training Grounds, a place he normally wouldn't even glance at.
[Shin Hayeon: So what do you want me to do about it?]
[Baek Doyul: Why are you so angry?]
[Shin Hayeon: Because you're interrupting my free time.]
[Baek Doyul: lol]
After sending only two Korean consonants, he smiled.
Was this the composure of a champion?
There was a reason Shin Hayeon seemed so irritated.
His team had been lucky this tournament.
Her team had been unlucky.
The meta had favored them.
Their teamwork had clicked better.
Countless minor coincidences had accumulated, allowing them to win.
If they fought again, they might very well lose.
But wasn't that true of every competition?
That still made them legitimate champions.
And with victory came a certain weight—
And confidence.
[Shin Hayeon: Ah, this is annoying. Blocked.]
[Baek Doyul: Wait.]
[Baek Doyul: .]
[Baek Doyul: STOP!!]
[Baek Doyul: Just a moment.]
[Baek Doyul: Did you seriously block me?]
[Baek Doyul: No, you're reading this, right? If I'd been blocked, I couldn't send messages.]
[Baek Doyul: Hello?]
His composure vanished instantly.
He had nearly irritated her so much that he wouldn't be able to ask anything.
[Shin Hayeon: Just get to the point.]
The thing he was curious about.
Normally, Shin Hayeon reclaimed the position within a day or two.
Even at the longest, it never took more than a week.
So why was it taking so long this time?
To be fair, he had already figured out part of the answer.
There was simply that much to learn—that much to extract.
Even he had started entering the Training Grounds during every self-training session.
What he was truly curious about was something else.
The famous player who had been there from the beginning was none other than Shin Hayeon.
A living fossil.
Even if she was young.
Even if he himself was older because he had started gaming later.
Regardless, Shin Hayeon was a fossil—an elder.
[Baek Doyul: Do you know anything about that guy? Since you've been playing since the very beginning of virtual reality, maybe you'd know something.]
Not just since the early days of professional tournaments.
Since the birth of virtual reality itself.
[Shin Hayeon: Why?]
[Baek Doyul: Just looking at him, there's no way that's the skill of someone playing games for the first time.]
[Baek Doyul: Does Surface ever give alternate accounts to ordinary people or something? If not, then he has to be a returning player. I feel like you'd know who he really is.]
What was his true identity?
Baek Doyul could confidently say that there was absolutely no way Seo Jun's skill came from someone who had just started gaming.
Sure, his streaming concept seemed to be that he remembered a previous life.
Fine.
Let's grant that possibility.
Even if you made a hundred concessions and assumed he genuinely remembered a past life, then perhaps his skill level could be explained.
But remembering a past life?
Even after making a thousand concessions, that was impossible to believe.
One thing was certain, at least.
He definitely wasn't a professional player.
Even with full-body plastic surgery, he didn't think someone that handsome could exist.
No matter how advanced modern medicine became, that seemed impossible.
That part was a little enviable.
Anyway, that was why he assumed Seo Jun was an ordinary person—more specifically, someone who had played games in the past.
His old avatar would have looked different from his real appearance.
"Honestly, it doesn't really matter."
There was another reason he was truly curious.
[Baek Doyul: ??]
[Shin Hayeon: Not telling you lol.]
[Baek Doyul: ...]
[Shin Hayeon: I don't know his identity either.]
[Baek Doyul: That doesn't sound true at all.]
[Baek Doyul: Anyway, I need information. If we test him and his game skills are good enough, we're thinking about trying to recruit him.]
[Shin Hayeon: Pfft.]
As expected.
She definitely knew something.
But why was she laughing?
[Shin Hayeon: Anyway, I really don't know, so bye.]
[Baek Doyul: lol]
Tsk.
Maybe he'd just enter the Training Grounds one more time.
It was 7 PM.
Free training time.
The tournament was over, so things were a little more relaxed, but even so, a professional gamer's daily life was filled with practice.
Practice.
Practice.
And more practice.
Yet it was enjoyable.
Partly because it was gaming, but also because competing and winning were fun.
His competitive spirit.
That was the real reason he had asked about Seo Jun.
"It's a little irritating."
Baek Doyul's pride had been wounded by the fact that, at least in terms of pure swordsmanship, he was inferior to Seo Jun.
The character he was most confident with in The League also wielded a sword, and swordsmanship was his strongest area.
Perhaps because of the influence of the first game he had ever played, swords had naturally become both his primary weapon and greatest strength.
Yet now someone had appeared who surpassed him in swordsmanship alone.
How could he not be curious?
"As for overall game skill, I'm probably better."
Combat in virtual reality games wasn't limited to cold weapons.
There were countless other methods of fighting.
After becoming a professional, he had trained not in swordsmanship specifically but in all aspects of combat.
That was probably why he lagged behind the streamer in pure swordsmanship.
He had too many other things demanding his attention.
Most professionals were probably the same.
That was what made Shin Hayeon unusual—spending so much time in the Training Grounds.
"I heard some people even go to gyms and learn actual martial arts. Hah."
Knock. Knock.
Someone knocked on the door to his room.
"Come in."
Creak.
The person who entered was the team's coach.
"Doyul, how's your training in the Training Grounds going?"
"It's going well."
"Good. Anyway, we got a reply regarding what you asked for."
"Ah, it finally came?"
Sending Seo Jun an email proposing that he take the team's evaluation test.
That had been Baek Doyul's request.
The coach hadn't seemed enthusiastic about it, but he'd agreed after deciding there was no harm in trying.
The head coach had also instructed him to.
"Yeah. That streamer said he has no intention of taking any test."
"Oh. Got it."
"Right."
Having said everything he needed to say, the coach left.
Alone in the room once more, Baek Doyul opened the streamer's broadcast.
His team was currently the champion.
Their was excellent, and everyone had already renewed their contracts.
That was why the coach hadn't been particularly enthusiastic.
Baek Doyul felt the same way.
It wasn't that he wanted to recruit the streamer to his team.
His true motive was—
"I just wanted to fight him once."
Would he lose if they fought in the Training Grounds?
He didn't know.
Ironically, after fighting Seo Jun's AI, he had absorbed a tremendous amount and improved dramatically in a short period of time.
That was why he wanted to face him.
"I wonder if he's ever played The League. It'd be nice to know."
That was why he had tried probing Shin Hayeon.
But he hadn't gotten any information, and getting Seo Jun to take the evaluation test had also failed.
Baek Doyul had no intention of pursuing it any further.
That would be too much trouble.
"If I stay in this world long enough, we'll meet eventually."
That was the biggest reason.
If he was a streamer, it would be difficult not to play The League at all.
With skill like that, it was obvious he'd climb to Challenger—the highest tier—in no time.
And when that happened, they would naturally cross paths.
"Ah. Or maybe I should just contact Movie Soft directly?"
A rather entertaining scenario came to mind.
Heh.
['Real Heavenly Demon' donated 2,000,000 won!]
[Let's fight for the title of Heavenly Demon!]
Surely he'd need to offer at least this much money to get Seo Jun's attention.
"Let's find out who's the real Heavenly Demon."
It reminded him of the roleplaying he used to do in For the Sake of Chivalry.
[Oh... so the true Heavenly Demon has finally appeared. Then I shall now return to my homeland, the Orthodox Faction.]
Acting on impulse, he sent the donation during Seo Jun's stream.
- You're quitting Chivalry anyway
- Orthodox Faction? Who's actually believing that?
- Today's stream title literally says "Final Chivalry Review Stream" lmaoooo
- This guy hasn't even logged into the game and is just sitting in his chair collecting donations. What Orthodox Faction? LOL
- LOL if you spent 2 million won, we should respectfully wrap up the Heavenly Demon title and hand it over to you LOL
Wasn't this how it was supposed to work?