Chapter 70: Just a Dream (2)
"Almond has currently survived for up to 15 minutes and counting! He's now in the top 1.2%!!!"
— 15 minutes is top 1.2%?
— Damn!
— Wow man…?
— What kind of monster was JeonJaPa?
— I heard the difference between 1st and 2nd is like 7 minutes.
— Hyung, you're killing me!
Yu Ha-Yeon shouted along with the excited viewers and the chat became dizzying to look at.
[Current Viewers: 67k]
They also reached an impressive number of viewers.
Swoosh!!!
Chaak!
The number of weapons hurling at Almond increased.
Axes, blades, spears, maces, and other dangerous weapons like chainsaws flew at him from different angles. Their movements became more unpredictable, especially the chainsaw that continued to rumble even after landing on the floor. It almost struck Almond.
'The things they made...'
An opening always existed, no matter how small.
The chainsaw didn't fall immediately when it struck the tile. Almond noticed this strange pattern and took advantage of it to survive.
"Alright, we're moving on to phase three since ten minutes have passed!"
Gulp.
Even Almond couldn't help but feel nervous after hearing that because the first pattern was always the hardest.
'I wonder what it’ll be.'?
Phase one consisted of weapons flying at him and the tiles began to fall in phase 2. Then they combined. Phase three would likely introduce a new pattern that would also join the rest.
'I need to learn the pattern before it gets incorporated.'
He got a brief moment to catch his breath and prepared himself to quickly learn the new pattern that would be introduced.
[Phase 3]
Ding.?
The words appeared in the air.
'What the!?'
Just then, he felt a chill down his spine. His instincts kicked in and Almond didn’t even look back. He threw himself to the side.
Bzzzzzzt!!!
Lightning crashed down and burnt the tile he was just standing on.
— What the!
— Do you have to dodge that lightning?
— How the heck did he dodge that?
— How did you do that, you bastard!
— Actually though, how did he dodge the first strike?
— Can he see the future?
The viewers couldn't understand how Almond dodged the lightning because they couldn't feel the static.
"There's like a slight static. The tile rumbles too."
— ??? He's still reading the chat!
— Wow
— A true streamer, Almond!
— Damn, I'm getting chills.
Keeng—?
The strange sound of grinding metal could be heard. He looked around and knew a weapon was coming toward him, but couldn't find it.
'Below!'
Paat!
Almond barely lifted his feet in time to dodge the thorns that came from below.
— Holy shit!
— Wow, there really is some kind of warning.
— You can hear some kind of sound.
"Yeah, like... this!"
Kang!
Almond continued to talk as he busily jumped around to dodge the thorns that popped up.
"It lets you know ahead of time and makes it easier than looking for it. Feels like Fantasia's little trick."
— Why so suddenly?
— Suddenly attacking Fantasia LOL
— Hahahaha!
— LMAO!
— Damn, you got'em!
— You're the first one to read the chat while doing this. You deserve all the praise.?
A loud noise indicated the start of phase three as if Almond angered the system.
Kwakwakwakwang!
The noise almost shattered his eardrums.
— Kya! The warning should be at least this loud!
— What? You can tell beforehand? Then how's this!
— LOL
— Such a dumb pattern.
The loud noise wasn't a bluff as countless weapons flew toward Almond.
Keeng! Kang!
All sorts of traps littered the floor along with the projectiles.
The thorns and lightning were a given, but there were also falling metal bars, burning tiles, and tiles that propelled him into the air when he stepped on them. Countless variations of obstacles got in his way, especially the tile that made him jump higher because it had no warnings.
"Huh?"
A particular tile instantly activated when he stepped on it. Everything below grew smaller as he flew into the air.
— Woah, that looks so fun!
— Damn!
— He's flying!
— He has to dodge in the air???
— That's insane!
— Hyung, it's been 18 mins! Only 13 more to get first!
— That looks so fun!
— Good game.
It looked like fun. Any viewer would naturally think that. Even Almond had to admit the jumping tile felt fun.
'It'd be funner if those weapons weren't flying at me.'
He had to dodge all those weapons in mid-air, which took away all the fun.
“He's in the air! What should he do!? He can't freely move anymore!”
The look in Almond’s eyes turned serious. He didn’t come here to have fun. He came to prove that he deserved platinum!
— How's he supposed to dodge that?
— So this is why no one gets past 15 minutes.
— It's coming!
A battleaxe flew toward him first.
Swoosh! Swoosh!
It flew at an angle that made it relatively easy to dodge.
"Hmph!"
Dodging it in mid-air should still be reasonable. Almond bent his body as best he could.
'Huh?'
Was it too much in mid-air? He couldn’t properly control his body and felt uncomfortable for the first time in full-dive.
Still, he tried his best to bend over and twist his body. He couldn't tell if he was moving left or right, but he could dodge the axe if he just moved slightly.
Chak!
As expected, the axe brushed past his hair and flew by him.
— Wow!
— Damn!
— He dodged it!
— That's insane!
It was too early to celebrate as another one came flying.
— Huh? How's he supposed to dodge this one!?
— This one is merciless
— Ugh.
— Fantasia, go easy!
— Oh man...
Almond could see two giant projectiles beyond the chat. A long spear and a sword came towards him at a fierce speed from different directions. He had been launched so high in the air that he'd have to dodge them before landing.
— Dodging both seems a bit much.
— Isn't this checkmate?
— Unfair!
— Do you still live if you get hit? What are you supposed to do?
Swoosh!!!
At that moment, the large sword almost struck Almond's chin. Almond willed his body to tilt in limbo.
Shak...
It slightly scratched the tip of his nose. The simulated blood splashed beneath his eye.
— Woooah!
— Shit!
— He dodged it!?
— What about the other one?
Next, a spear came flying straight at him. The first one had been dodgeable, but this one flew to where he had just dodged.
Even Almond couldn't see a way out of this, but he saw something else. Almond struck the sword's handle with his arm as it flew across him.
Tak—?
— !?!?
— Ho…?
— Huh?
“Ohhh! A-Almond!! The sword handle???” It happened so quickly that Yu Ha-Yeon couldn't finish her sentence.
In that instant, Almond's arm perfectly circled around and gripped the sword.
Kaaaaaang!!!
The sword and spear collided with a loud clash and a spark.
— ???
— !!!
— Damn
— Ho...!?
He caught the blade in mid-air and deflected the spear flying toward him. Instead of dodging, Almond used the weapons in his favor.
Tak.
Almond could hear someone shouting after he landed on the ground again.
“H-He deflected it!!!” Yu Ha-Yeon excitedly shouted. “He caught the blade in mid-air and deflected the spear! Wow!! Incredible! I can't believe it even after seeing it with my eyes!”
The chat exploded as well.
— DAAAAMN
— Boss, now I'm scared!
— Wowowowow
— Hooooly! Mooooly!
— Mom, I wanna be Almond! I wanna be Almond! I wanna be Almond! I wanna be Almond!
— Look at me Almond! Look at me Almond! Look at me Almond! Look at me Almond! Look at me Almond!
— Woah, woah! You're crazy, Almond!
— You're too good Almond! Too good! Too good!
***
"What does that mean?" Ju-Hyeok asked the engineer.
"I'm curious how he did his image training. I think it'll help with the overall research..."
The engineer told Ju-Hyeok about Almond’s image training, but Ju-Hyeok only heard about this for the first time.
"He doesn't do image training."
"Huh?"
"He doesn't do that. He said in the interview earlier that he was just a normal salaryman."
"..."
The engineer became speechless.
'His brain is just like that?'
By his standards, only the boring conclusion remained. What scientist would conclude that God made Almond that way?
Ju-Hyeok was full of suspicion and asked the engineer, "Why are you asking that?"
"My overall research and calculations say these statistics are impossible to reach unless he’s done image training. The theory isn't baseless..."
Ju-Hyeok listened to the engineer’s explanation, who hypothesized that Sang-Hyeon had done image training for over ten years. Not just any training, but extreme training that would exhaust anyone. With all his effort, Sang-Hyeon would've repeated very specific image training.
"No one would usually do that because they would just physically train at that point..."
Everything finally made sense to Ju-Hyeok after he heard that explanation.
'Ah.'
He knew what kind of image training the engineer was talking about now.
"I think he was training for something in reality, so we're just curious what his special training methods were..."
Ju-Hyeok finally realized how Sang-Hyeon shot so naturally the first time he played in a capsule and why he cried so much afterward. Now he also understood how Sang-Hyeon could concentrate so much in virtual reality.
The puzzle pieces started to come together.
'He was... dreaming.'
Sang-Hyeon did image training in his dreams. He always dreamed and desperately hoped. He never let go of his desire for archery. He dreamt about it for over ten years in the only reality he had where his right arm still worked.
This created the current Almond who was unstoppable in the virtual world. It wasn't because god blessed him with luck. His own downfall made him into who he was today.
Almond was the small diamond that formed in the pits of darkness.
"A-Are you okay?" the engineer asked Ju-Hyeok in confusion.
Ju-Hyeok's sleeves became wet as he wiped his eyes.
"Ah... It's..."
Ju-Hyeok was about to make up an excuse when…
“It has now been 30 minutes! JeonJaPa's record is in front of him!!! Will history be rewritten today!?”
All eyes were glued to the screen.
Thankfully, Ju-Hyeok could wipe away his tears without any embarrassment.
'What are you, Sang-Hyeon?'
Ju-Hyeok purposefully frowned and turned to the screen.
"He doesn't do any image training. He's just a genius."
"Ah... Alright."
This 𝓬ontent is taken from fre𝒆webnove(l).𝐜𝐨𝗺