Chapter 73

Today, the message boards were once again filled with praise for Jake Browning.

From “All hail Jake-hyung!” to “This is a truly godly patch,” and so on….

Creating over 20 million active users in just one week was a feat that could only be described as astonishingly masterful.

And the fact that most of those users were pulled from the neighboring game, Gaia, was one of the reasons this patch was so supported by casual users.

-If it weren’t for Jake-hyung, this game would have been stuck in second place forever.

-It’s still in second place, though?

-It won’t be long until it reclaims first place ㅇㅇ

-This is how things should be.

-What kind of Pro League in the world feeds a bunch of gold farmers?

-I heard the people running sweatshops in Gaia are furious right now?ㅋㅋㅋ

-Yeah~ like I give a damn.

-Welcome, everyone, to the hotspot, UA! All Skills are free at this establishment!

-ㅋㅋㅋㅋ There’s a game that sells Skills for money?

-fr, what a trash game….

Unlike UA, Gaia had a thriving market for real-money trading to acquire desired Skills or equipment, which created a rather high barrier to entry for new users.

But UA was different.

Skills, weapons, all freely available!

As soon as you completed the Tutorial, you could fight on an even playing field, making the barrier to entry much lower.

The fact that you could transfer and utilize a certain degree of your Skill proficiency from the game you originally played was also a major draw.

I’m a veteran of Gaia, so I’m a pro even in another game I’m playing for the first time?

I’m a newbie, but I can play like a top-tier pro?

These aspects, which stimulated such fantasies, were the main reason for the massive influx of new players.

However, this favorable reaction was limited to the casual user base….

The top tier.

For the high-rankers who were already on pro teams or challenging the Legendary Challenge, it was a different story.

-Jake, you son of a bitch!

The rankers, whose accumulated know-how had been rendered worthless overnight, spewed considerable fury.

The reason was simple.

The changes were more drastic than expected.

In the current Rank Games, it was not uncommon to see users who had played Gaia for a long time and then switched over gaining the upper hand against veteran UA users.

To give an idea of the chaos, Kato Mikane, who was streaming her year-end Legendary run, was nearly caught off guard by a Skill she had never seen before. She then said, “Ahaha~ I’m not in the best Condition today, so I’ll be heading off early~. Bye-bye,” and didn’t stream again after that.

Because of this, the pro players who had to prepare for next year’s Season were fraught with worry.

It was a situation where if they couldn’t adapt to this New Meta immediately, they would be left behind and become the League’s doormats.

To prepare for this, Super Sylph immediately began adapting to the New Meta.

Still, our team was in a much better situation than others.

That was thanks to having Park Chaerin, who had even been called up to be a Gaia National Representative, as our Coach.

“The great me has arrived!”

More excited than anyone, Park Chaerin brought out her Sniper Rifle after a long time and volunteered to be the players’ sparring partner.

In truth, Park Chaerin was already at an excellent level even before this patch.

Sniper versus Sniper.

When she had a one-on-one match with Kim Dain, Park Chaerin’s Win Rate was so overwhelming that it was common for people to tease, “The active player is losing to the Coach~,” and before Jung Yunseul learned from me, she was often wiped out, becoming little more than a moving target.

But now, with the power of the patch added to her strength, how much stronger must she have become?

After actually equipping a few Skills she used during her active days as custom ones and testing them out, Park Chaerin concluded that the Meta was going to change drastically.

“After trying it out, I can create Skills almost exactly like in Gaia. To the point where I wonder if this is even okay. Well, UA doesn’t have gear advantages, so there’s a bit of a difference there, but it’s not a big problem.”

It was a shame she couldn’t use the playstyle of overwhelming opponents by increasing her Mana pool with gear, but Park Chaerin explained that this alone allowed for many bizarre plays that were impossible until now.

“To be honest, Snipers were weak in one-on-one fights. Until now, right?”

“That’s right.”

“But look at this.”

Park Chaerin’s hand flashed, an Effect burst forth, and a consecration effect was activated on her bullet.

It was an Enhancement for the bullet. When asked what kind of enhancement it was, she explained that it had an effect that reduced equipment durability.

“This bullet is a curse bullet that weakens the durability of equipment in stages. It’s a Skill that didn’t originally exist in UA.”

“But it existed in Gaia?”

“If you were a Sniper, you used it often. In UA, even if a weapon is destroyed, it’s only for the Round, and it gets restored when you Respawn, so it might not be a big deal, but in a battle where every second counts, it can definitely be a variable, right?”

Park Chaerin said as much and began firing at Shin Aram.

Exactly two shots.

With just two shots, a cracking sound came from the Shield, and it became completely useless.

“In a real match, it would probably hold up better. We also have to consider that I hit the same spot twice just now. The opposing Defender might use a thicker Shield. But in any case, a means to effectively strip away a Defender’s Shield, the biggest obstacle for a Sniper, has been created, so you have to see the value of Snipers as having gone up a lot.”

A Sniper’s enhanced bullet means death if it grazes you.

The only position that can physically withstand it is a Defender with a Shield, but now, Snipers had gained a way to deal with Defenders to some extent.

“Then what about a duel with an Attacker?”

“Well. I think the dynamic will change a bit, don’t you?”

“Let’s give it a try.”

Yunseuli stepped forward, warming up.

Ever since she started receiving game lessons from me, Yunseul had often gained the upper hand against Park Chaerin.

But Park Chaerin set up the Battlefield with a look that said, “It won’t be so easy now~.”

The test Battlefield was Boundary.

As they took their positions for the one-on-one, the other team members decided to watch from a short distance away.

The moment the hot wind of the ruined city brushed past her cheek, Jung Yunseul began her Attack with Acceleration.

When both players have reached a certain level of Physical ability, the consensus was that the Attacker had the advantage in a fight between an Attacker and a Sniper.

Acceleration, limiting Vision with a Smoke Screen, Blink, and so on.

This was because there were many ways to evade a Sniper’s attacks.

While an Attacker could unleash multiple attacks with Rapid Fire, a Sniper was a position that put power into each and every shot, so if a single attack missed, it was very difficult to cope.

A standard strategy: Smoke Grenade Toss, then closing the distance by using Blink the moment the opponent’s shot flies in.

Against Park Chaerin, Jung Yunseul executed a textbook play.

Even I felt that the flow was very good.

That is, until I realized it was an outdated textbook that needed revision.

“Ugh!”

A groan that said, “This isn’t right,” escaped Jung Yunseul’s lips as she was attacking, and her body came to a sudden halt.

She had been caught in mid-air while using Blink.

It was a sensation I had never felt before, and just as I was wondering, “What is this?” a loud bang echoed, and Park Chaerin’s shot struck Yunseuli’s head.

Downed in a single attack.

Rubbing her head, Yunseuli got up and asked what on earth that Skill just now was.

“It’s a Teleport Barrier.”

“A Teleport Barrier?”

“Ah, that’s what it was called in Gaia. Here, I guess you’d have to call it a Blink suppression Skill.”

My goodness.

Suppressing Blink.

According to Park Chaerin, if you set up a Teleport Barrier, no one could use Blink within the Barrier’s active range.

This meant that the Pattern of getting behind someone with Blink was completely blocked.

“Then if you set up this Barrier and take a position, it’s become even harder to break through, right?”

“That’s right. Still, you can’t have it up all the time; it consumes a lot of Mana.”

An explanation followed that it was a Skill you could profit from by applying it in a way that you set it up at the Timing you expect the opponent to charge in with Blink and aim for a Counter.

“Other than that, I’ve tried most of the Skills I know, and almost all of them work.”

Park Chaerin, a Gaia Veteran Player, shared a few Main Force Skills, besides the Teleport Barrier, with her teammates that would lead the New Meta.

The first were Skills that greatly increased Attack Power in exchange for an opportunity cost.

“There were a lot of Skills over there that raised Stats by paying a price or imposing a restriction. For example, Berserker Skills.”

Berserker.

Skills that enhanced Attack Power or movement by consuming one’s own health.

“Look at this,” Park Chaerin said, giving a demonstration.

She took her Sniper Rifle and got into position.

But the strange thing was that her Stamina started dropping rapidly even though she wasn’t being attacked at all.

“My Health Bar, that is, I’m paying my own life force as a price to increase my Attack Power right now.”

What would happen if the Attack Power of a Sniper, whose attacks were already strong per shot, became even stronger?

If blocked incorrectly, it would have the destructive force to pierce even a Defender in one hit.

“And these kinds of Skills usually have application Skills. I raised my Attack Power just now, but I could also enhance my movement, or maybe replenish my Mana.”

“You cut your Stamina to replenish Mana?”

“It’s the concept of paying a price to convert Energy into Mana. There’s no reason it wouldn’t work. It was fun customizing a few Skills.”

Saying so, Park Chaerin bounced on the spot and then performed a footwork pattern, and in that instant, her body seemed to split into left and right.

We, who were watching, were all startled, as we couldn’t distinguish which one was real at all.

“What Skill is that?”

“Oh. It’s a Skill called Doppelgänger, and this one was really expensive. It was something that was hard to get even with money, you could say?”

“Isn’t that a totally broken game…?”

Hwang Jua, who was listening to the explanation, muttered.

It was strange enough that you had to buy Skills with money, but it meant you couldn’t even get them at all if there were none on the market.

When asked if it wasn’t too disadvantageous if you met a team that used better Skills and better equipment, Park Chaerin said that was the whole point of the game.

“That’s why everyone tried to get into the Upper Bracket teams with strong sponsorship. Because they provide good Support.”

Seo Dami covered Hwang Jua’s mouth, who was about to point out, “That really is a broken-ass game,” and continued with a question.

“What’s the second one? Besides the opportunity cost Skills, what other Skills will appear often from now on?”

“Ah. Next, you have to be careful of synergy-type Skills.”

“Synergy…?”

“It’s simple, like this.”

Park Chaerin wiggled her finger, and water shot out from her hand, soaking the ground.

Water then spread over a fairly wide area, and the ground beneath our feet was soon sloshing.

Next, Park Chaerin quickly made sparks fly from her hand and cast a lightning bolt onto the ground.

A single bolt of lightning.

But the lightning traveled through the water that had been spread, dealing an effective blow over a wide area.

“Get the feeling?”

“Wow! This way, you can get the effect with less Mana consumption, right?”

“Besides this, there are a few simple synergies, like combining wind and fire.”

Jung Yunseul, who had been listening intently to Park Chaerin’s explanation, said.

“Aren’t we just a total hodgepodge now?”

“But the number of users has increased~.”

Park Chaerin shrugged and defended the update, saying that this was how a game should be.

“Anyway, you guys are in for a tough time. It won’t be easy to adapt to this.”

According to the patch notes, this update wasn’t just about increasing the freedom of the Skill Custom System.

The truly important item was the enhancement of the Skill Advanced Mode effect.

Players who were already good at handling Advanced Mode could achieve better Mana Efficiency compared to other players, and now that gap was set to widen even further.

What did this mean?

It meant that the Skills I thought I had honed to the extreme throughout my life as a Pro Gamer, and the Skills I thought I had passed down well to the kids, had to be honed again from scratch.

<Can the kids do this well on their own, without me?>

Seo Dami and Jung Yunseul.

Whether these two could better optimize their Skills on their own, without me, was a matter I would have to wait and see.

“Try to research what Skills suit you. There isn’t much time. The Season opens in four months, and you have to consider that you’ll need to do Stamina Training as well,”

Park Chaerin said.

She added that the freedom of the Skill Custom System had increased so much that it was now possible to create signature Skills, that is, one’s own unique Skills.

It seemed we would have to focus entirely on figuring out which Skills we had a Talent for in the remaining time.

That evening.

Dami came to me with a gloomy face.

“The Front Office wants me to do some streaming.”

<The Legendary Challenge?>

“Yes….”

Dami said.

She said she didn’t think she could stream with high energy without Oppa.

She’d rather be doing Skill Practice to prepare for the next Season, but the higher-ups kept asking her to do some personal streams.

In response to Dami’s words, I told her that the Front Office’s request was by no means excessive.

<Dami. Think about it. The group spends 2 billion Won on you a year. Wouldn’t they naturally expect you to do some streaming and promote the team to the fans?>

The team’s Ace communicating with fans through streams was a common sight on any other team.

If anything, Seo Dami, who was reluctant to stream while receiving a high Annual Salary, was the one who was mistaken this time.

<Don’t think of it as a bother. Think of it as doing it for the fans. Always remember. A Pro Gamer is nothing without their fans.>

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

Dami quickly realized her mistake, apologized, and replied that she would try her best with the stream.

Hearing Dami’s answer, Yunseuli told her Unni to get going already.

It seemed she was annoyed at having to constantly relay my answers to Dami.

But Dami held onto Yunseul instead.

“Yunseul.”

“……?”

“Want to stream with me?”

“No thanks.”

“You used to like streaming with me.”

“That was then. Now that I know your sinister intentions, the situation is different.”

“Don’t be like that, please do it with me. We’re teammates.”

“Then grant me one favor.”

“What is it?”

“If you let Oppa stay with me next year too…”

“That’s not happening.”

As if she had expected such a request from the start, Dami swiftly cut off Yunseul’s request.

“I’ll grant you something else instead.”

“Sigh. Forget it.”

“I’m serious, I’ll grant it.”

“I can’t think of anything right now, so I’ll tell you later.”

“Nothing related to Oppa…?”

“Whatever, just turn on the stream!”