Chapter 111

The reason why the World of Arcelia, no matter how realistic it is, does not feel like reality lies in several aspects.

For instance, when an enemy falls, any gory scenes are automatically mosaiced, and corpses do not remain; they simply disappear after a while.

The same goes for conversations with NPCs.

At first, one might mistake them for real people, but that only applies when interacting on specific conversation topics.

They do not unfold their stories.

When asked what they ate yesterday or who their family members are, they remain tight-lipped as if lagging.

Perhaps that’s why I found the NPC named Adella even more interesting.

Her responses were so vivid that it felt as though I was duo-ing with a real person, and it was difficult to feel a sense of incongruity without delving deeply into the conversation.

Yes, it’s like the difference between a robot injected with memories and a dementia patient who has lost their memories. Adella was closer to the latter.

Once you start to perceive her as a person, that impression sticks in your mind and doesn’t easily fade away.

What exactly determines humanity?

Behaving like a human is ultimately a condition that can easily be fulfilled by imitating humans.

Even I once had an attachment to an NPC named Liri, a fox merchant who sold worn-out boots and potions in Legacy of Legends when I was young.

I have no way of knowing just how advanced the technology of this era has become, but if game NPCs are at this level, it seems that it won’t be long until the singularity of a technological revolution arrives.

Bam para bamm bam-!

[“OVERDOSE” donated 1,000,000 won!]

-What are you thinking about?

At that moment, while I was catching my breath on the battlefield, a fictional trumpet sound rang out, and a glorious donation came in.

-??

-Wowwwww

-What the hell

-Huh?

-Wow, what the hell

-One million??????

-Is this real?

-A big spender has come in, haha

The amount itself wasn’t particularly surprising, but I was a bit intrigued by the phrase he sent.

Once upon a time, in Korea where mana did not exist, there lived a queen.

She wasn’t a real queen in the literal sense; she was an athlete of significant stature.

I still remember the documentary she appeared in when she was young, where a PD asked her the same question.

I remember it vividly. At that time, she answered, “What am I thinking? I’m just doing it.”

Those who can just do things are generally extraordinary people. That’s why I took this as my motto in my first life, as it resonated with me quite a bit.

Was there someone in this world similar to her in the past? I don’t know since I didn’t bother to look.

In fact, I wasn’t particularly thinking anything special while playing the game either.

Her detached answer was something I could somewhat understand.

“Thank you for the 1 million won donation, Overdose. Thoughts… thoughts.”

But saying one has no thoughts would be a lie. That wouldn’t be the answer he was looking for either.

Thoughts are complex and hard to summarize in a single statement.

After a bit of contemplation, I decided to throw down the dual swords I was holding to reset the penalties and give a satisfactory answer to the donor.

“I’ll let you know what I’m thinking while playing the game.”

* * *

Name was smarter than others.

The measure of intelligence is solely a relative concept; it requires a comparison as a basis.

Because of that, having spent a longer time surrounded by the continent’s best experts and legendary heroes in her past life, she had a tendency to underestimate herself.

“It looks like three knights with shields are rushing in from the front. Don’t forget to keep the entire field of view in mind from the direction you’ve checked once. Although they seem to be coming at the same speed, since their strides are different, the probability is high that they will attack either a half-beat faster or slower, so I’ve decided not to respond accordingly and will instead take down the student lurking behind me. After all, dispel works in reverse order…”

As Name predicted, the one who widened their strides was the first to leap off the ground and swing down their sword.

The other knights, having slowed down their pace beforehand, launched additional attacks from the sides.

If she had tried to respond as she saw them coming, she would surely have been trapped and in danger of death with no way to move.

Instead, by forcibly dispelling the boy’s spell shooting electric sparks from his staff, the precious mage was turned into a weak hostage.

-?????

-Cool

-Wow what’s that

-Just as I expected

-Who dispels like that in reverse order!

“First-circle magic is weak in strength but efficient and can drastically shorten casting time. Therefore, instead of casting one spell, using several spells in succession within the limited time of 10 seconds can open up a good opportunity.”

Before she finished speaking, Name snatched the boy’s staff and immediately synchronized it with her laurel.

Skipping the stages of recording and injection.

Five magic circles generated with a hum behind her and shot sharp rays of light in every direction except the one in front of her.

-That’s creepy hahaha

-How did she draw that without looking at the magic circle?

-Does it even make sense?

-The kid whose staff was taken looks like he lost his country hahaha

-Is this skill…?

“I judged that there’s a risk in taking down someone with a long weapon like a reach and decided to target the swordsman in knight’s armor first, who is relatively restricted in swinging his sword because of the shield.”

The flash bombs scattered in five directions destroyed the knight’s lower body, disorienting him.

He frantically swung his arms and tried to fight back, but Name crouched low to dodge and placed her left hand on the ground.

Then, her right leg traced a large arc. With a sharp sound of wind, a groan escaped the knight’s mouth.

“Ugh…”

“When losing balance, I shouldn’t die to a blind arrow while trying to land a follow-up hit.”

Whoosh-!

Once again, she ducked to avoid an arrow flying towards the back of her head.

From a first-person view, the arrow that came from a place invisible to her struck the ground with a crack.

It wasn’t a simple lead arrow but an arrow with a fuse scroll attached.

She strongly stepped on the rolling shield to spring her body into hiding.

Boom!

“A necessity to keep a broad view was demonstrated in a situation like just now, allowing me to dodge the archer’s aim, who was targeting me from behind the first knight without any damage. When attempting to hide, I compressed the possible situations that could target me into six major categories and prepared my stance in advance to respond to the most dangerous attack at any time.”

-Why is she so calm? Hahaha

-I was watching in first-person and thought my heart would stop…

-So that’s how foreshadows are retrieved?

-She’s a master, a master

Dense smoke swirled and fluttered in the wind.

But refusing to give any time to catch a breath, a heavily armored knight swung his great sword and swept through the space towards Name, who was hiding behind her shield.

Clang!

She turned the shield to block the heavy attack, but the impact caused Name’s body to sway violently. A heavy mass attack always brings a recoil.

Immediately, the reclaimed great sword aimed for rapid successive slashes horizontally.

[Spell: Preliminary Damage Adjustment]

“Quickly responding to the attack that we couldn’t initially block with the magic I had previously prepared, I received the opponent’s attack with little to no damage and managed to get a good weapon immediately.”

[Acceleration lv.4]

Name rushed in close to the knight who lost grip of his handle and delivered a punch to the face, then spun around to strike a blow to his stomach with her elbow. The knight seemed to have good endurance, for Name struck his forehead with her fist, landing a solid hit.

“With dispel, I can cover the healer’s not-so-efficient mana recovery, so I thought it’d be best to use the skill whenever the cooldown is up, and I used the acceleration for a sure kill catch instead of healing.”

Despite being a weapon with excellent reach, the time it could be used wasn’t long.

“The great sword is more vulnerable to angles than a one-handed sword, but if you change the direction recklessly, it could become more susceptible to diverse attacks, so I decided to take the time to assess the situation. For instance, like now—”

Clang-!

A sharp metallic sound rang out across the battlefield.

The heavy great sword swung over her shoulder shattered the swift short sword that came stabbing from behind.

“The advantage of standing with my back against the lamp post is that, just like just now, I can capture the shadows entering my field of vision and prepare for the enemy’s attack in advance.”

* * *

[Streamer Gallery]

[Unspecified: Declaring a lawsuit for the Youth Protection Law, hahaha][51]

Promising hope by saying they’ll let me off if I win one-on-one, but then winning like a dog, hahaha.

And revealing her death note (a.k.a. lawsuit document).

(Writing the viewers’ nicknames in the death note, Unspecified.jpg)

(Manager stabbed alone, intrusion.mp4)

This girl is legendary at every moment, hahaha.

-Is the top rank in the influx streamers her?

└ Yeah, it’s probably Unspecified.

*(Rising popularity streamer)

-I can’t handle the broadcast because the communication isn’t much, and it’s too calm.

└ You must definitely watch it again; that’s not the case at all, hahaha.

└ It’s seriously hilarious right now, hahaha.

└ Naturally, she’s a broadcasting genius.

[Name: Unspecified, teaching in Nightmare 10/10/10][31]

(Full audio 3-minute mad movie.mp4)

Do the celestial beings consider this much detail while playing ranked games? Truly admirable.

-Unspecified isn’t from the celestial realm though, haha.

└ Then what is she?

└ She’s still a newbie who hasn’t even played a single normal game.

└ Don’t talk nonsense.

-Are you playing a game or studying, hahaha? My head is spinning.

-She’s a Grandmaster user playing the sword knight as her main in World of Arcelia, so about half seems like she follows the thought process closely. One-on-one situations don’t often occur in Haikyuu, but timing attacks while measuring strides is crucial.

└ Was that game this complex? What about the other half?

└ Do you think it makes sense to play while considering shadows in such tension-filled situations, gamer?

-Why is this not an Unspecified post?

└ It seems like everyone’s watching the broadcast, hahaha.

└ If you know, then comment a bit!

[World of Arcelia Gallery]

[Concept Article]

[If you acknowledge ranked games in tournaments, thumbs up, hahaha][286]

(A team kill of six from a solo ranked challenger game.gif)

(A player wasting four mobility skills trying to jump over one wall.gif)

(Unspecified vs 1000.gif)

Whether in tournaments or solo ranked, I can’t handle it well enough to make my eyes bleed, and yet you’re comparing what? Hahaha.

Just memorize it. Story >>> Tournament = Solo Rank.

[Recommended] 607 [Not Recommended] 13

-Hahahahahahahaha

-What is this again, hahaha?

-Now it’s to the point where even story-charged streamers are making complaints, hahaha.

-Is it downward standardization or upward standardization?

-Did it take three times to jump through the wall in a tournament, hahaha? Are they pros?

└ They must’ve been in a hurry~

└ Triplets, whoa.

└ I found the six-person self-detonation more amazing; is it not abusing?

└ Surprisingly, the challenger ‘Avenue,’ who just trolled, is a dedicated celestial being who plays sincerely every game.

-You can see that World of Arcelia is on the decline.

└ A legendary game certification has come out, hahaha.

└ If these words don’t come out, I would be disappointed.

└ Yeah, it won’t be dead~ FPS fans cut!

└ The Regis fans are crafty, hahaha.

[Recently, it seems like World of Arcelia Gallery has returned with overwhelming potential in Season 2][103]

I left the gallery after seeing the League Gallery kids holding a World Cup every day without fail and trash-talking pro players.

But recently, I’ve been touched after coming back to find mentions of World of Arcelia popping up one by one in VTubers, and everyone is just talking about games.

[Recommended] 386 [Not Recommended] 8

-This is a game gallery, but actually talking about games gets you treated weirdly, haha.

└ The abnormal has become the normal, and the normal has become abnormal.

-I don’t know anything; I just find Unspecified really cute.

└ For real, haha.

└ For real, haha.

└ I can’t resist Unspecified with a cute smile, hahaha.

[I just wish Unspecified would remain trapped in Act 1 forever and play the game with Adella][90]

I’m too scared about what will happen if this talent goes into ranked games…

What if she tops the ranked game in a week, debuts as a pro, wins the Champions title, and runs for president with an approval rating of 1800%?

[Recommended] 82 [Not Recommended] 116

-Why is Unspecified running for president, hahaha?

└ It’s a long-standing template.

└ Then please don’t pull this kind of stuff out.

-I think she could likely be ranked first, if she has the right champions.

└ Is that the evaluation level?

└ After seeing her playing a solo match and pulling things off, it’s not something to be so alarmed about.

-What is her identity? It’s a bit fascinating that she suddenly popped up.

└ Nobody knows?

└ It’s just known that she’s a high school girl who dropped out of the academy and went dark.

└ That’s just speculation.

└ If one more Korean high school girl goes dark, the earth might collapse, haha.