Chapter 174

CHAPTER 174

The cluster of pure white light gradually took on the shape of a person.

Within the Training Ground system, it was an existence that only those who had defeated the Level 9 AI were permitted to stand alongside.

That's right.

The being before him now was quite valuable.

[unknown]

A name appeared above the summoned silhouette's head.

It wasn't Seojun.

He hadn't entered the Training Ground in quite a while.

Naturally, his position had been taken.

Because of the limitation of the AI mentioned earlier.

If they had simply injected the greatest combat skill a computer could calculate into the Level 10 AI, then perhaps no one would've ever defeated it.

It might have become the ultimate, impregnable "Cheolsu" (for the record, Seojun had also named his AI Cheolsu).

But that wasn't how it worked.

The Level 10 AI learned from the movements of the users who fought it.

Because of that, unless it had fully learned everything about a person, it could never surpass that person.

'Back then, Shin Hayeon beat the AI in just one week, and I even praised her for it.'

Thinking about it carefully, Shin Hayeon hadn't really struggled because she couldn't beat the Level 10 AI.

The AI at that time wasn't strong enough to force her into days of hardship.

Yet it still took her time.

'She probably used it as a sacrifice for improving her own skills.'

As expected.

A frightening woman.

Of course, Seojun had more or less guessed that, which was why he'd immediately reclaimed the throne afterward.

Not because he wanted to take back something that had been stolen.

And definitely not because it was the perfect opportunity to show off.

It was purely for the sake of future generations.

Afterward, though, he'd only entered occasionally before eventually stopping.

There were limits to the system.

And there wasn't really any reason to maintain the position.

Apparently, the only person who had actively tried to keep the throne until now was Shin Hayeon.

Though she had the skill to back it up.

'Still, her personality...'

Wow.

Even Seojun had to admire how nasty it was.

Anyway, the being before him was male.

Just one glance was enough.

A man.

The information was hidden, so it wasn't possible to identify the person precisely.

But distinguishing between male and female was naturally possible.

Though honestly, they could've designed it to look more androgynous.

Regardless—

It reminded him of the first time—

Well, not the first time.

The first time after returning to virtual reality seven years later and picking up a sword in the Training Grounds.

Back then, he never would've imagined he'd come this far.

To reaffirm his beginnings, he decided he'd defeat this opponent.

He didn't know who it was.

But the skill level would certainly be higher than before.

That was simply how the system worked.

"Hyung..."

"Hm? What? Want me to wait? I think it'd be fun to fight this thing first. It's been a while."

Maybe it was because he'd been thinking about his beginnings.

His blood wasn't exactly boiling.

Rather, he simply wanted to see how much it had improved and gather some information.

Whatever the case, the throne of the Training Grounds was an interesting concept.

"Ah! That's right!"

"We should see our ace's real skill first!"

"But after seeing Seojun-nim, our own skills are going to look pathetic."

See?

Even his teammates were interested.

The viewers seemed excited too.

• Oh? LOL. Going for the throne again?
• Who's Level 10 right now?
• All we know is it's "unknown" lol.
• Info: For a while it was Shin Hayeon, Baek Doyul, and Taker constantly trading the throne. Then Shin Hayeon suddenly hid her information, and the other two copied her. So nobody knows whether it's Baek Doyul or Taker right now.
• Why isn't it Shin Hayeon?
• You serious? LOL, idiot.

Reading Yoonho's chat, Seojun gathered information.

'Huh?'

Weren't both candidates participating in Rios right now?

'As expected. Spectators never miss things like this.'

If anything—

Even better.

The smile on Seojun's face deepened.

And Dongsu, who had read the exact same chat messages, was horrified once again.

'Ah! Taker!'

He'd only been paying attention to Baek Doyul.

And he already knew the Unknown AI belonged to Baek Doyul.

The reason was simple.

He wasn't particularly interested in the Training Grounds.

The only thing he'd ever wondered was who had ultimately been sitting on the throne when everyone stopped competing for it.

When he'd asked Shin Hayeon about it, she'd mentioned Baek Doyul.

That was all he remembered.

'One mountain after another.'

Either way, that clone was Baek Doyul.

But what if Seojun started drawing attention?

Hahaha.

Surprisingly, Dongsu was weak against controversy and criticism.

The only reason he'd survived as a professional player despite all the attention and drama was because he simply ignored it.

He didn't look.

Internet comments usually hurt the reader more than anyone else.

There was far more colorful abuse than constructive criticism.

So he avoided it.

He'd wanted to try streaming because he thought he'd see more genuine and positive reactions.

But if Seojun started attracting attention the way he usually did?

That was terrifying.

Dongsu watched enough streams to know.

When had Seojun ever been normal?

It probably wouldn't happen.

But even if only Seojun got criticized, it still felt burdensome.

A reasonable amount of attention was nice.

Excessive attention wasn't.

"Hyung..."

Please.

'I can't explain it properly on stream. Damn it. I never expected him to instantly sniff out an opportunity for attention and summon the Level 10 AI right from the start.'

Normally his instincts were ridiculously sharp.

Couldn't he read the situation this one time?

Dongsu stared at Seojun desperately.

Of course—

'If it's him, he'll probably read exactly what I'm thinking, grin, and do the thing I don't want him to do.'

Still, he had no other option.

The only saving grace would be if Baek Doyul and Taker acted like rational adults and ignored it.

'But if they were those kinds of people, they wouldn't have had a pride battle with noona Shin Hayeon in the Training Grounds.'

His eyes met Seojun's.

Please.

Don't do anything.

Just stop.

That was the best-case scenario.

The second-best scenario was reclaiming the throne without provoking anyone.

Seojun grinned.

Then he nodded as though he'd completely understood what Dongsu was trying to say.

Dongsu's anxiety doubled.

Meanwhile, Yoonho handed Seojun a sword.

"Then shall we see it? The swordsmanship everyone says is so incredible."

Wind Sword chimed in.

"I never played United for Cooperation, but he was insane there. I still watch Sword God highlight videos sometimes."

• TRUE.
• The Heavenly Demon-nim's swordsmanship is seriously...
• Come to think of it, I've never seen Streamer fight in the Training Grounds.
• Isn't United for Cooperation basically the Training Grounds anyway?
• Shut up and watch.
• Holy shit LOL. A recently evolved Level 10 AI versus Streamer? I can't miss this.
• You guys can never miss anything.
• Learn some self-control!
• Then again, there aren't any public videos of the pro players in the Training Grounds either.

Lumi, who had also been reading chat, added:

"Wow. Now that I think about it, that's true. There are barely any videos of the champion changing hands, right? Maybe some from the early days. After Player Shin Hayeon started monopolizing the throne..."

There were no videos.

This was after the early days, when the AI hadn't yet reached such a high level.

These were the videos from after the barrier had formed—when even people skilled enough to defeat Level 9 could no longer touch Level 10, and only professional players were capable of challenging it.

"Hehehe, let's see it."

Alpaca had seen it before.

Taewoo had shown him a video once.

Even so, he couldn't help but be excited.

"So that's how it is?"

At some point, Seojun had read Dongsu's worries right off his face and casually spun the sword a few times.

Dongsu could only nod.

He couldn't bring himself to stop him.

• Damn.
• He's really showing this.
• Videos of people beating the Level 10 AI are ridiculously rare.
• I heard the rumors and came running.
• He hasn't even won yet and you're already calling it a rare victory video LOL.
• Honestly, it's just an AI. Why wouldn't he beat it? He's done it before.
• Who knows? Do you think the other two pros would've stopped competing for it if it were easy? The level has definitely become insane.
• Compared to before?
• Probably not even comparable.
• Isn't Seojun streaming though? I'd rather have multiple viewpoints. Watching from afar is easier to follow.

"Seojun-nim, do you want to start your stream now? The viewers seem to want it."

"Sure."

[Starting Stream.]

[.]

Normally, Seojun might have put some provocative title here.

Maybe bait viewers.

Maybe stir up attention.

If he claimed the thought never crossed his mind when he heard about the pro players, he'd be lying.

It would've been fun.

But Seojun decided to be considerate toward Dongsu.

Because—

'What if something happens here and he decides not to participate next time?'

Seojun saw the future.

The future after League of Streaming ended.

Just like back in United for Cooperation, receiving help from someone as skilled as Dongsu wasn't easy.

'A shame, but...'

He adjusted his grip on the sword.

His body leaned forward.

"I'm going."

[Viewer Count – 15,000]

At the same moment—

Seojun and Cheolsu charged at one another.

The rules were simple.

Whoever landed ten successful hits first would win.

CLANG!

Metal collided and separated.

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

Each exchange was deeper than before.

Cheolsu—

Had grown.

The sword thrusting toward him was like a swift hawk diving for prey.

Simple.

Fast.

Whose style was it?

Baek Doyul's?

Taker's?

He didn't know.

But—

'That actually makes it easier.'

When two fighters possessed equal speed, being fast usually meant being aggressive.

It meant seizing timing half a beat earlier.

But when it came to mind games—

This AI,

And Baek Doyul,

Or Taker—

Could never beat Seojun.

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

While the swords danced continuously,

the AI's stamina was rapidly draining.

Meanwhile, Seojun's remained untouched.

'Let's just end this quickly.'

It wasn't like he could taunt anyone.

Couldn't even make use of it.

That was why Seojun had intended to finish things cleanly from the beginning.

• What am I watching? LOL.
• Did only those two activate some hidden speed boost?
• Since when did Level 10 have a feature like that? LOL.
• Your eyes are just too low-level to keep up. Mine are even worse, so I understand absolutely nothing!

Previously, Seojun had experimented.

Punches.

Kicks that didn't register as damage.

Various unusual movements.

But now—

Everything was focused on ending the match as quickly as possible.

So—

[HP 3]

[HP 2]

[HP 1]

[HP 0]

About a minute later—

[You have won the duel.]

The opponent's health had been completely exhausted.

"Whoa!"

"Huh? What was that? Why was it so smooth?"

"Wooooow! That was amazing!"

Seojun turned toward his teammates.

[The Level 10 AI wishes to copy the user.]

After Seojun pressed Accept, his name immediately appeared on the Level 10 throne.

"Huh? Doesn't it need time to build up data or something? It changed instantly."

Yoonho asked curiously.

"My data was already learned long ago. It probably only needed today's match data. Simple enough."

Seojun shrugged.

"So from now on, I'm Level 10 again."

Then he smiled and looked at Dongsu.

There.

That was restrained, right?

No taunting.

No provocation.

Just a clean victory.

If people called that bait, then the world was simply persecuting Seojun unfairly.

'Now I can just coach people.'

But—

Dongsu's face had gone stiff.

Why?

What now?

***

Meanwhile, Mental's chat had become completely flooded with discussion about Seojun.

Honestly, that was expected.

Normally it'd be a brief topic before everyone moved on.

But—

• Wait, why didn't he get hit even once?
• Winning is one thing, but he literally didn't take a single hit.
• Forget that. The time is the insane part. It didn't even take a minute.
• I went to check and it was already over LOL.
• Is it because it's just an AI? He beat Level 10 way too easily.
• No seriously, what is that?
• Aren't the pros all capable of doing that?
• Maybe Level 10 is just overrated LOL.
• Their streamer is a professional bubble manufacturer. First he made the Orthodox Faction look overrated, now the AI.

"..."

"Haha... everyone's talking about that, Coach Baek Doyul. Should we watch the video too?"

Mental carefully asked while watching Baek Doyul's reaction.

If this had been his personal stream, he would've already rushed over to watch.

"Hmm..."

Baek Doyul narrowed his eyes.

"Let's take a look."

And in that moment—

'He beat Level 10 in under a minute without getting hit once?'

Ha.

'Interesting.'

The bait had worked.

And Baek Doyul wasn't the only one.

The same bait had hooked the other professional players as well.