Chapter 180

CHAPTER 180

"Then shall we move on to checking your fundamentals regarding synchronization?"

Synchronization.

A term used in virtual reality.

It referred to the act of controlling a new body or intangible special energy that didn't exist in reality.

Naturally, it felt somewhat different from what people would normally imagine.

At the same time, it wasn't quite the same as moving one's physical body either, so a separate term had emerged to describe it.

And the factor with the greatest influence on synchronization wasn't imagination.

It was synchronization rate.

• Ohhhhh.
• The controversial topic is here.
• It's not controversial, what nonsense are you talking about?
• Still controversial LOL.
• So how does the streamer have a synchronization rate of 10??
• LOL. He said he's even better at hitting people in real life.
• Honestly, I am curious whether he's actually good with a sword in reality.
• KIKIKIKIKIKI Maybe his synchronization rate is just bugged or something.

Even after Seo-jun had proven it himself, viewers were still curious.

After all, comments like these appeared every game.

[LOL Is His Synchronization Rate Really That Low? This Makes No Sense.]

[He's sandbagging!]

[He literally verified it already, you idiots.]

[I don't care LOL. How is he that good?]

Most of Seo-jun's gameplay involved very few synchronization-related elements.

Of course, even using skills could technically be considered synchronization.

But its influence was minimal enough that people could begrudgingly accept it.

Even so, people kept bringing it up.

[The one and only exception proving you don't need a high synchronization rate to be good! I'm rooting for him!]

• Your sync rate is low too, isn't it?
• You caught me. (Original Poster)
• He's not literally the only exception.
• Under 20? Honestly he is. LOL (Original Poster)

That's because the perception was deeply ingrained.

Why was it so ingrained?

No special reason.

Because it was usually true.

Ask any highly skilled player about their synchronization rate, and it would almost always be high.

"How do you test synchronization fundamentals?"

Lumi raised a hand and asked.

"Well, first we should probably hear everyone's synchronization rate. What are your numbers?"

"Ten."

Seo-jun proudly answered first.

At this point, there wasn't a single viewer here who didn't know Seo-jun's synchronization rate.

• LOL
• What if he's actually bluffing? He says it so confidently.
• Saying he sounds proud is a stretch LOL. He seems completely indifferent.
• That's our streamer.

"Well, aside from Seo-jun hyung. What about the rest of you?"

"I'm around seventy-eight."

Babamgeom answered.

"Oh! That's quite high!"

"Haha, compared to Coach Lee, though..."

Most professional players openly revealed their synchronization rates.

Because they weren't particularly important.

Having a high synchronization rate didn't automatically win games.

Of course, having a high number did give people a bit of confidence.

And there wasn't much reason to hide it.

"It was ninety-eight, right?"

Seo-jun said while searching his memory.

He hadn't heard it from Lee Dong-soo directly.

He thought he'd seen it on a community forum somewhere.

"Haha, that's right."

Lee Dong-soo scratched his head awkwardly.

• Damn!
• 98 LOL That's insane.
• That's real talent.
• Everyone blessed with 90+ ended up becoming a pro. LOL
• So jealous!
• Streamer, if you're jealous you've already lost.

Seo-jun chuckled after reading the chat.

"Why would I be jealous?"

As long as he could play the game, that was enough.

• Still, you should be a little jealous.
• LOL. Says the guy who's fine with a sync rate of 10.

"What about the rest of you?"

"Fifty-six."

"Alpaca hyung is average. What about you, noona?"

"Forty-seven!"

Also average.

"And Yoon-ho hyung?"

"Eighty."

At that moment, Seo-jun, Lee Dong-soo, and Babamgeom all turned toward Ha Yoon-ho.

None of them had heard his synchronization rate before.

"Seriously?"

It was quite high.

No—

It was extremely high.

Players like Lee Dong-soo were exceptional cases.

For an ordinary person, a synchronization rate of 80 was already among the very best.

Lumi, Alpaca, and the viewers, who already knew, clicked their tongues.

Kikiki. Everyone doubted it at first... but Ha Yoon-ho had turned it into content and proven it beyond question.

• The points I lost back then...
• Donations were flying everywhere too. Who would believe a Bronze player had 80 sync rate?
• They should just swap numbers.
• Honestly, Yoon-ho having 80 fits. But the streamer should have over 100. He beat pros.
• Though synchronization rate barely matters in the training grounds.

"Haha. This team really has two unusual cases... actually, I like that."

After a moment of thought, Lee Dong-soo said that.

"Huh? Why is that a good thing? Does that mean I still have lots of room to grow?!"

Ha Yoon-ho repeated his usual line.

His desperation to improve was beginning to show.

Unfortunately...

"No. It's just a good example of how synchronization rate has limitations when it comes to judging talent. It proves you don't need to obsess over it. Sure, it's nice if it's high, but having a low number doesn't mean you should place limits on yourself."

"Urgh..."

Lee Dong-soo looked at Ha Yoon-ho warmly.

The teammates' gazes naturally shifted back and forth between Seo-jun and Ha Yoon-ho.

Then they nodded.

"Looking at Seo-jun and then looking at Yoon-ho, I've realized synchronization rate is nothing more than a mirage."

"Hey, that's kind of insulting, Alpaca."

"Thank you, Team Leader!"

"Didn't I just say that's insulting? And Babamgeom hyung is only two points below me!"

"Yoon-ho! You give me hope!"

"Argh!"

• I gained hope too!
• Hey, having a high number still helps though.
• LOL, seriously.
• Alright, let's do the real test now.
• We all know what the second test is going to be, right?

They entered The League.

Afterward, they were invited into Lee Dong-soo's Memory Tower.

The Memory Tower.

The Hall of Heroes.

It served as The League's lobby, shop, training ground, and event venue.

In other words—

It was basically The League's client.

Anyway.

"One of the famous sayings about synchronization rate is this: 'Synchronization rate measures how closely you can move in virtual reality the same way you move in real life.' You've all heard that before, right?"

"Yes."

"This wasn't said for no reason. In the end, synchronization rate is about the loss of information between the signals sent by your brain and the signals sent by the capsule."

"Oh, is that so?"

• Ohhh.
• First time hearing this!
• You're acting impressed over information you can find on iTube.
• Then go watch iTube instead of listening to Lee Dong-soo LOL.
• Facts.

"Of course, I don't really understand the details either. It's complicated and I have no clue. The science guys can figure it out."

Seo-jun was impressed.

This guy's actually good at streaming.

• Science people, please invent a wireless Bluetooth shower!
• What the hell is a Bluetooth shower?
• Water comes out without a hose.
• LOL. Humanities major, have you completely lost your mind?

"Anyway, I said information loss, but what it really means is that your brain and the capsule don't sync very well. Nobody knows the exact cause yet. Even Surface is still researching it, so let's leave that to the scientists. The important thing is that higher synchronization rates absolutely make visualization easier. Information gets transmitted more smoothly."

That much was true.

Which was why Seo-jun had never been particularly confident when it came to visualization.

Seven years ago, he had needed to consciously perform visualization-related actions and amplify his thoughts just to activate skills.

Though that was pretty fun in its own way.

Regardless, as Lee Dong-soo said, nobody knew the exact cause.

"So what I'm going to test now is how well each of you can perform visualization relative to your synchronization rate!"

The Memory Tower had a hollow center that extended all the way to the ceiling.

A spiraling ramp climbed upward along the walls.

Most of the rooms were built into the walls rather than occupying the center of the tower.

The spiral ramp that led upward began on the first floor.

Beside its entrance was a training ground.

Instead of entering it, Lee Dong-soo continued climbing the tower.

The others followed.

As they climbed, rooms appeared along the walls.

They were exhibition halls.

Each room displayed the equipment of heroes belonging to a particular faction.

The room they had just passed contained heroes related to the God of Light.

Seo-jun had briefly noticed Kael's sword.

Eventually—

After passing four rooms, they arrived at the fifth.

Lee Dong-soo entered.

The fifth room.

The fifth floor.

"This is the unaffiliated section?"

"That's right."

It was the room dedicated to heroes without any faction affiliation.

"We came here to look at this orb. I'm sure most of you figured that out already."

Lee Dong-soo assumed everyone had guessed his purpose the moment he mentioned testing visualization fundamentals earlier.

This was how most people tested visualization.

However—

"Huh?"

Seo-jun remained as clueless as ever.

"Ah, then I'll explain this too. There's a hero called Id. He's the hero who uses this orb as his weapon."

The orb inside the display case glowed brightly.

It was about the size of an apple.

The outer surface looked like a perfectly ordinary sphere.

Inside, however, countless mechanical components meshed and rotated together.

[Id, the Abandoned Automaton]

"One of Id's skills summons these orbs. He can summon up to four at once. The thing is, summoning them is actually pretty difficult. As you can see, the interior structure is pretty complicated, so you have to recreate it perfectly."

Ah.

"So the test is seeing whether you can summon four of them at once through visualization?"

"Well, it goes beyond that. Do you know about the special trials every hero has?"

"Ah."

"Oh? You know about them?"

"No."

• The streamer is a baby! He doesn't know anything!
• LOL.
• Hahahaha.
• Now that he didn't roll Magical Girl, he doesn't even study beforehand anymore. So annoying.

To be precise, Seo-jun had heard of them before.

He just didn't really know what they were.

"Every hero in League has simple mini-game-style tests."

"Simple tests?"

"Yeah. For example, with Kael, there might be a test measuring how many seconds it takes you to land twenty strikes on the weak points of Kael's afterimage. Things like that. The system records the results and ranks players based on the specific abilities that hero requires."

"And what do they do with those records?"

"If you get first place, Surface recruits you."

"...What?"

"If you've looked into League's lore, you've probably noticed a lot of its history and worldbuilding are still unrevealed. Do you know why?"

"No."

"Because they haven't been decided yet."

What kind of nonsense was that?

"League's history is created by the players."

Hmm.

That definitely required further explanation.

• Seriously, streamer, at least learn the lore.
• I'm telling you, he's the type who skips all story scenes. Tutorial too. LOL.
• KIKIKIKI. But story skippers are unforgivable.

"For example, let's say this year they reveal a historical conflict between the God of Light and some nation on the continent."

"If they reveal it?"

"Surface selects representatives from the relevant heroes and literally takes them in real life, then throws them directly into that conflict."

"..."

"Dozens of players at once. Each playing their own hero."

Ah.

"Then they watch the outcome. Who wins. Whether the conflict gets resolved. Based on that result, the next year's patch changes. New heroes, new skins, things like that. And the method they use to select representatives is..."

"These special trials?"

"Exactly. No related event has happened for Id yet, but the trials are always available. Records are permanently stored. If you're rank one right now and Id becomes relevant to the next event, you'll represent him."

• Literally, the past hasn't been decided yet LOL.
• Schrödinger's League.
• Let's just call it Cat League. Cats are better.
• A game where players actually create the story instead of the developers. Holy crap.
• The competition for those rankings is insane. It's global.
• LOL. If the God of Light faction gets an event next, the streamer is basically guaranteed to participate because he has Kael.
• Honestly, if the streamer becomes a representative, I'm worried League's story is going to turn into a complete disaster.

Dozens of players fighting.

And the outcome determining history itself.

• Surface even provides food and lodging for representatives during the event!
• That's just an excuse to control information LOL.
• Kidnapping + confinement + gaming. What a bizarre combination.

"Then let me ask something."

"Yes?"

"What happens if someone gets rank one with two different heroes?"

"Uh..."

That had never happened before.

People from all over the world competed for those rankings.

It was already difficult enough to reach first place with a single hero.

Trying for two and getting both?

Ridiculous.

"Could I just wipe out all the top players on the opposing side and then refuse to participate? Wouldn't that make winning easier? Just curious."

And yet—

• YOU PSYCHOPATH LOL.
• Streamer wants the entire world to hate him now LOL.
• LOL. He's saying he'd stop the other side from even participating.
• As expected. The God of Strategy who wins without fighting!
• Do you really think Surface would allow that?

LOL.

Why did that sound strangely plausible?

"Please don't do that!" said Lee Dong-soo.