Chapter 185 - Effect of the Strategy Video (2)

"What?!" JaeHoon asked back in surprise.

"Why so suddenly? Noona, you've obtained good results in tournaments, and you were starting to become really popular...!"

Jini was pretty and had good skills, so she was one of Stardust's most popular members.

There were many professional gamers who envied her, but she said she was thinking of retiring... JaeHoon couldn't easily understand.

Although the two professional gamers had watched the same video, they'd felt different things. One felt his desires burn, but the other one felt disheartened.

"I found out I lack something required to be a professional gamer."

"What thing...?"

"Talent."

There were only about a hundred players who received attention in the professional gaming world.

Unlike rankers, skill determined everything for a professional gamer. Even someone with a talent that was one in ten thousand might not receive much attention.

Immediately after receiving Hyun's teachings, Jini reached a peak in tournaments. After that, her results worsened little by little.

Jini was in the middle-upper range among players, but it didn't seem she was going to improve.

She'd watched the video while thinking that her growth had stagnated.

"Quitting..."

JaeHoon soon realized he wouldn't be able to make Jini change her opinion.

It wasn't a decision she'd made lightly.

It was just that the video had cleared up her muddled head, but JaeHoon couldn't help but feel sad about that decision.

"What about changing jobs to being a coach? I'm sure that, if you decide to become a coach, you'll be able to join not only Stardust but any team! That's going to be better than quitting..."

"No. I'm not going to quit Asrian. Although I have to think about what I want to do inside this world..."

The next day, the news that Jini would retire became public.

To people that liked PvP, it was sudden and shocking news.

Although the communities had been turned upside down because of the History Quests, many people were sad about Jini's retirement.

The videos posted on Ain's channel shook up many people's confidence.

The video caused more shock among professional players and rankers than the average users.

'How tiresome.'

Lattice had cleared the second real difficulty quest and emerged from the capsule.

It was then that he saw Ain’s video.

He was about to take a rest when he couldn't help but stop.

A few hours passed.

He wasn't able to take his eyes off of the screen mounted on the wall.

His cigarette turned to ashes and scattered away; the dinner that was brought to him didn’t fare much better.

Lattice kept watching the videos as if he were a statue.

He just blinked sometimes and used the remote control to replay the videos.

"..."

Again, and again… He was frozen in that state.

He didn’t move from the sofa until well after it became morning.

"Haa..."

The silence broke after a while.

Lattice let out a short laugh after an entire day had passed.

* * *

- Woah... So the people in the Heavenly Realm are separate from the rankers.

- It seems like the distance with those at the top is too big. It isn't just a matter of specs... but the things that can't be seen.

- Isn't Ain just strong? Now that I see it, it seems like Lattice lost to her because she's strong.

- But not even 'Ain' can beat that episode. Lol.

- Yes. I'm not sure what they were thinking when they made it. Lol.

The users were talking about the real difficulty quests for a few days.

Not only that but the videos Ain uploaded, which had a higher quality than the ones she usually posted, grabbed the attention of many users.

- Woah... I'm also going to buy all of the stories. I'm going to beat the normal difficulty while watching the story.

- The History Quests have a better quality than most console games.

- Yeah. I came here to watch strategy videos, but I got trapped by the story.

A few people became interested in Asrian's world.

- Woah. So if you do it there like that, it becomes easier...

- With enough specs, I think I should be able to beat the hard difficulty.

A few people were able to beat certain parts they hadn't been able to beat before.

People rewatching the videos numerous times was what Hyun was after from the beginning.

It wasn’t rewatched so much only because it caused a huge sensation, but also because it gave people reasons to rewatch it, so the views went up like crazy.

- Didn’t Ain look different?

- That's right. It's as if she was a completely different person.

- She changed her playstyle to make a strategy video so people could easily copy it.

- It isn't just the control, but her atmosphere is different.

- Her eyes look different from normal. I would believe it if you told me she was a completely different person.

It was understandable that people would wonder about that because no one could imitate Ain's unique atmosphere—not even Hyun.

Many users tried to figure out what it was, and Hyun's name was also mentioned.

- Where's Hyun? They said he was the overwhelming top ranker.

- Yes, that's right. They said that they were both quite close in Asra, so it would be weird if they didn't play Asrian together.

- I think Hyun is playing Asrian.

- Me too. Some people are saying that the other figure that appeared in the Leopard hunting video is Hyun.

Many opinions were exchanged, and people gave numerous hypotheses.

Why had Ain's atmosphere changed 180 degrees?

The first explanation people gave was ID share.

- Maybe Hyun is using Ain's ID? That might explain why her atmosphere changed.

- Woah, that would be totally unexpected...!

In the past, there was a ranker who, in reality, was numerous people sharing an ID. That was how they were able to remain online for 24 hours.

After capsules appeared, those kinds of cases disappeared, but maybe they had figured out a workaround.

Each Asrian account was restricted to one person so if that hypothesis were correct, they would've gone against the TOS of Asrian.

[About a certain user’s ID share controversy.]

「We've checked that user’s login info and have determined that there were no problems.」

That controversy quickly died down after an announcement was made on the official page.

Then people began talking about a second possibility.

- Maybe Hyun is a girl? Maybe they set their appearances to be exactly the same and are moving as if they were twins.

- This!

- Lol.

- Is this person a genius?

Surprisingly, a nonsensical theory became really popular among people.

- Maybe Hyun is controlling Ain's body?

- Is Ain a robot? Lol.

If Hyun had read that guess, he would've been surprised, but that opinion didn't get much reaction.

On the other hand, people began thinking that another theory was the most likely answer.

- The most likely answer is that he used a skill to look like Ain.

- Woah, that actually makes sense.

- I think this is the answer.

- This is the only possible answer unless Ain has bipolar disorder.

Users kept mentioning different theories, and Hyun's name was mentioned numerous times.

Hyun hadn’t revealed himself in Asrian yet, but his name was always mentioned when people talked about users that hadn’t registered in the Hall of Fame.

'How strong would Hyun be if he was playing Asrian?' Threads like that always received hundreds or even thousands of replies.

- Anyway, I don't think Hyun has quit Asrian.

- If he hasn't, there's a chance he's close to Ain.

Thanks to the History Quests, a few users became aware of Hyun's existence.

At the same time, they became expectant. When would he show himself?

* * *

As Hyun expected, the video got a number of views they had never seen before.

Not only that, but it seemed like the video was going to keep constantly receiving views. The secret behind the success was that, unlike before, he'd made it as a 'Strategy Video.'

'But...'

Hyun smiled while looking at all the views that soon would turn into money. He couldn't help but click his tongue while looking at the community boards.

'No one noticed?'

While recording the video, Hyun thought «Assimilation»'s existence would be revealed.

After all, the Ain in the video was completely different from her usual self.

The reason why he'd uploaded that video was that he had already used «Assimilation» in front of the Returner's Guild, so he thought that the effectiveness of keeping «Assimilation» hidden had run out.

'Everyone's worse at guessing than expected.'

Users began mentioning numerous possibilities as if they were bragging about their creativity.

'Still, it’s not like nobody knows.'

Darkness and Returner's Guild members knew about «Assimilation», and so did Stardust.

He was sure Practice and Jini wouldn't tell other people, but he'd decided to leave all possibilities open.

Besides Returner’s and Darkness, he would have to face numerous enemies in the future.

'I'll have to deal with them differently depending on whether they know about «Assimilation» or not.'

To users that didn't know about «Assimilation», it would become a secret card, and to those that knew about it, he would be able to bluff and fake.

For example, he could make enemies give up by just having Ain go alone to certain places.

Not having competition would make his portion bigger.

'Good.'

After deciding on how he was going to react, Hyun began thinking about how he was going to move after the patch.

The golden time after the patch…

From a user's point of view, it was a time of supreme opportunity.

There were many ways to profit in a land users hadn’t touched for five years, after all!

Of course, one couldn't monopolize everything, but everything left after just a day would probably be trash due to how fast users and guilds moved.

'What should I get?'

Hyun quickly began thinking about his Asra knowledge.

What were some important things in that period of time?

The achievement for being the first one to discover Acresia, monopolizing the Mythril Mountain, hunting a famous criminal wandering around the north area and increasing his fame, taking control and becoming lord of a weak country’s castle…

'Any choice should have great benefits. Then...'

He remembered something he'd missed in Asra.

If he was going to make a choice, he would rather get control of what he'd missed in the past.

'Demonia Gorge.'

He wasn’t able to monopolize that place in the previous game because he was in the middle of an important quest. He reached it later after other users had profited from it.

Hyun had regretted missing out on it for a very long time back then.

He had benefited at that same time in other ways... but the other person’s food always looked better.

'Okay. I'll make sure to monopolize that place this time.'

Demonia Gorge… The land where souls die.

The silver fog that sometimes appeared on the land devoured all souls within.

Travelers were afraid of death, so they avoided Demonia Gorge. Beasts were also instinctively afraid of it, so they didn't get close to it.

It was a land where there weren't any NPC, monsters, or undead!

There was one reason why Hyun was so interested in such a cursed land…

'If I take control of that place, I won't have to worry about Sacred Stones.'

That was one of the few places where you could get an ingredient with Divine Power.

'I can't understand why I didn't know about this before.'

It had a weird-looking terrain that looked as if a giant had torn it down, and a deadly fog swept over the ground at regular intervals.

He could understand how Demonia Gorge was formed.

He'd just completed the Darkness's Land quest, so it was easy to understand.

'It's probably traces of Darkness's Heart that separated from Darkness's Land.'

Hyun remembered the last part of the Main Quest—how a giant portion of the Symmetrical World moved toward the surface.

Demonia Gorge was probably the part that connected with the land that ascended from Darkness's land, which could explain the Gorge's weird terrain, why Sacred Stones could be gotten there, and why deadly fog appeared from time to time.

'Since it's a restricted area, I won't be able to get close. Okay. I'll go there as soon as the patch is done.'

Ting!

While Hyun was thinking that, he suddenly got a notification asking for a personal conversation.

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