Genius Archer’s Streaming - Chapter 1246

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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The Genius Archer’s Streaming Season 5 Episode 131
41. The Red Pill (1)
Danmuji watched Almond’s retreating figure leading the way, and for some reason, memories of his professional days came flooding back.
‘My professional days….’
To be honest, they weren’t particularly fond memories.
After all, he’d never won a championship, and his best finish was always second place.
And he couldn’t even maintain that for long.
Danmuji believed that when he retired, no one would remember him.
That’s what second place meant, wasn’t it?
In the end, only first place was remembered, and everything else faded from memory.
Even if it was the second place closest to first.
Fortunately or unfortunately, a back injury exempted him from military service, so he started streaming without any gap in his career.
Danmuji lived as a streamer with the mindset of starting fresh from the beginning.
He deliberately shed most of the memories from his old professional days.
During broadcasts, Danmuji talked about his professional past even less than King Gul, an ancient-era pro gamer.
So why was he feeling this untimely nostalgia for those dusty old days now?
Danmuji stared intently at Almond.
“When should we combine… when….”
Almond’s mind was overflowing with split strategies. They were spilling out of his mouth.
He was that immersed in the game.
To find strategies suited to this team’s victory, he’d even called King Gul for private lessons, and through his own fumbling efforts, he’d discovered something.
Once the Coach acknowledged it, he became even more excited to implement it.
This appearance….
‘I’ve seen it many times.’
It seemed like something I’d seen often during my professional days.
Perhaps it was my own reflection back then.
‘But why can’t I remember….’
The memories were all hazy.
At some point, the game had simply become work.
The emotion I felt on the day I decided to retire….
That much I remember clearly.
‘I just want to finish quickly and go home.’
It was a thought I had even in the finals.
After that, I finished in second place one last time and announced my retirement.

* * *
[Hong-cha: We’re holding off the Turtle right now!]
Hong-cha’s urgent voice came through.
[Danmuji: The Turtle…!?]
[Lemon: Oh shit! Dangerous.]
In Survival Mode, monsters had a set hierarchy of importance.
There were low-tier trash mobs like Abyss Eels and Jellyfish with no special abilities, while there were crucially important monsters like the Red Turtle and Abyss Shark.
Defeating these monsters granted significant rewards, but like life itself, not every team could share these prizes equally.
Only half of the surviving teams could claim them.
The first gatekeeper among these was the ‘Red Turtle’.
[Danmuji: The Turtle!? Weren’t we supposed to hunt the Octopus!? This is a split!?]
The Octopus served as an alternative to the Red Turtle.
The Red Turtle was stronger with greater rewards, while the Octopus was weaker with lesser rewards.
Typically, teams would reach Level 3 before the Red Turtle fight and attempt it.
[Hong-cha: Ah! Forget it! We’re at 3, so we’re going for the Turtle! Come join us!]
The Knight Order had quickly leveled Lemon Tea to Level 3 through the split.
[Danmuji: Hey, that’s your level!]
The remaining three had only looted a low-tier vault and were still Level 2. Instead, they’d made a Contractor.
[Danmuji: Isn’t this being too greedy!?]
Danmuji thought they’d already been greedy enough.
Hong-cha wanted to drag out time and attempt the Red Turtle.
With the split, there were two captains.
If Almond joined in, that made three.
[Almond: I think this is the time to regroup.]
That’s how splits worked.
Everything was full of variables.
[Hong-cha: I didn’t want it to be like this! I just got caught up in this!? If we can’t get past here, we’re dead! Hurry, support! Support! Ahhh! Lemon, Rune Spirit!]
There was nothing to see from here.
All I could rely on was my allies’ voices.
[Danmuji: Insane…! Moving! Running with Lemon! We have a Contractor here! Can you see the angle?]
[Hong-cha: Oh, okay! The angle? Yeah, I see it!]
[Goguma: I’ll go ahead and draw aggro!]
Fortunately, Goguma had contracted with Iron Ball.
Contracting with Iron Ball had been Danmuji’s idea.
Since the merger was incredibly fast, it easily compensated for the dangers of early-game splits.
[Rumble rumble, bang bang!]
Kiiiiing!
“Here I gooooo~!”
However, Iron Ball turned out to be surprisingly difficult to control as an Avatar.
Though someone might find it hard to believe, Balloon Gum was actually quite skilled with Iron Ball.
“Wh-what?!”
Especially in Ril, one must always keep in mind that this is a virtual reality game.
Every perspective is first-person.
There’s a reason why splits, which were once executed carelessly from above during the PC gaming era, have become the exclusive privilege of only the top teams.
“Uh, where!?”
Crash!
Goguma crashed headlong into a completely wrong location.
“…?”
It was right behind the Red Turtle.
Everything happened so fast that I couldn’t even check the map or figure out where I was.
“Grraahhh….”
The Red Turtle woke up.
[Hong-cha: What!? Who already hit the Red Turtle!?]
Hong-cha screams while fleeing.
“Sigh… This is insane. This shouldn’t be happening.”
Danmuji exhales a long sigh, his shoulders drooping.
‘Everyone’s going crazy.’
Such a reckless split.

* * *
[8th Place]
Doodung.
The results came in.
Worse than before.
8th place.
Practically last place.
We were just lucky that two teams ahead of us got eliminated first.
“….”
Everyone approached the Coach in silence.
She was beckoning us over.
She had multiple screens displayed and was waiting quietly.
Danmuji even considered turning off the chat.
Whenever comments came in saying we were groveling before the Coach, it really irritated me.
‘Why don’t you try it yourselves.’
Standing before the Coach, it was hard to even dare meet her eyes.
This time was even harder.
Hadn’t we just received harsh criticism in the previous match?
“Compared to before….”
The Coach opened her mouth.
“You’ve improved.”
“…!?”
Danmuji and all the other players were shocked.
Almond included.
“There was a mistake in the middle, but your judgment was almost spot-on. The landing position too… it’s not optimal, but it was well-planned. And your reasoning was correct.”
For an 8th-place finish, it was rare to see such things in such a short round.
Yet she continued to identify the points where he had judged well.
“But instead of the turtle, there was a more stable and better option here, right? The octopus would be a bit disappointing, but if you deploy the split well, you could actually crack into a higher-tier vault….”
‘What?’
Danmuji was shocked.
‘I didn’t know that?’
The alternative she presented was absolutely correct.
In fact, it was the stable, high-return design that Danmuji had wanted to execute.
‘I definitely saw the same thing….’
But he couldn’t believe that such a route existed on a map he’d also seen.
How was this possible?
“Abandon your preconceptions, forget everything you’ve known so far, and look at the map as if you’re starting fresh.”
She spoke as if she’d read his mind.
“You have the intention to split right now. But when it comes to choosing a route, you’re picking it regardless of the split.”
That was true.
He was still viewing the map based on a five-person team standard.
That’s why he couldn’t see it.
A world designed for splitting.
“But there were some good choices too….”
Coach points to Almond.
“Thinking that a three-person team would have low levels, you suggested making a Contractor even if it meant creating a lower-tier vault route. That was good.”
Almond’s expression brightens.
“Yes!”
-Yesss kekekekekekekekeke
-So happy kk
-Kyaa
-Ohhh…!
-Lol kekekekeke
“Lemon Tea… meaning you separated the Mage and the ADC to level them up separately. That was good too. Actually, when hunting as a pair, tanking seems important, but most of the time you can’t defeat enemies because the damage output isn’t there.”
-Hmm~
-This too???
-Huh
-Suddenly angel mode
-What’s going on
-Was this round actually good? 8th place though??
Sarang points to Danmuji next.
“Next, Iron Ball would actually be useless if they’re running five people, but since it’s a split composition, switching to Iron Ball was a good call. You broke free from your bias there. The real problem was the pilot—but that’s something practice can fix, right?”
Euk.
Goguma lowered his head without realizing it.
“Any response?”
“Y-yes! Yes, absolutely! It works!”
-Startled kekekeke
-Any response? kkkk
-Lol kekekeke
Sweet potato doesn’t get any compliments ㅠㅠ
“As for the Lemon Tea duo… their hunting synergy is solid. It’s not easy for two dealers to hit level three, so you did well.”
Hehehe.
Lemon and Hong-cha smiled at each other.
“But…”
Coach pointed at Hong-cha.
“Your briefing is too self-centered.”
“…Oh.”
Briefing.
It refers to the method of conveying a situation concisely.
It’s a different concept from orders.
Providing information that supports orders.
“Survival matches have wider maps than siege matches, so there are more variables. Your allies rely solely on each other’s voices out there. That’s why two-person teams need to practice good briefing. Having a loud voice is good.”
“Ah… yes.”
-Having a loud voice kekekeke
-If your voice is loud but your briefing is selfish, isn’t that bad? kkkk
Haha, seriously
My voice is shaking ㄷㄷ
“But are you going to keep going like this? As a two-person team?”
Sarang asked, pointing at Lemon Tea, but strangely her gaze turned toward Almond.
It seemed to be because Almond was the one who made that decision back then.
He was the one who proposed the dealer-focused split composition.
“Ah… no. I think we need to try more to know for sure…”
“Pending?”
“Yes.”
“Hmm…”
Sarang thought for a moment, then added.
“Even if it’s pending, I should say this. Lemon, if you’re going to join as a two-person team, you need to understand that you’re a Mage, not a support.”
“Uh… yes?”
“Why are you playing the Mage like a support? In a two-person team, you’re actually just as much of a main character as Hong-cha. But you’re playing like you’re building Hong-cha up.”
“B-but I’m only holding a staff, so how…”
Lemon was flustered.
How would I know if a staff user who hasn’t even signed a contract yet is a support or a mage?
But I could tell.
If you looked very carefully, it became obvious.
“Spell cast count. Freeze 3 times, Whirlwind 3 times, switched to heal 15 times without using it. Fireball 2 times… Actually dealt damage only twice. Every time switching to heal, checking Hong-cha’s status and then using CC skills. If Hong-cha wasn’t such a skilled damage dealer… a normal person couldn’t hunt together like this. The damage wouldn’t come out.”
-lol
-wow
Are you a stalker? lol
and lol
-Crushing with numbers…
-???
Is there a program that calculates this for you? lol
Gasp, that’s scary.
-Feedback god…
Clap!
Choi Sa-rang clapped once, then looked at everyone and spoke.
“You’re all depressed about placing 6th, 8th. Wake up.”
She was someone who knew how to comfort others.
Everyone felt touched.
“You’re going to perform much worse from now on.”
“…?!”
-?
-??
-Huh?
-What?
Hahahaha
What are you talking about? lol
“We’re completely dismantling and reassembling right now, aren’t we? If you operate it while assembling, would it work properly?”
That was right.
The Knight Order members were teammates playing Ril together for the first time.
Not all members had a high understanding of survival matches.
We were completely breaking it down and rebuilding from scratch.
“The rankings that come out during the process don’t matter. We’re practicing to play the real game well. Tomorrow’s scrim will be tough too. Other teams will all be using already proven tactics.”
Gulp.
Everyone listened intently to her words.
Especially Almond.
His eyes were practically shining.
‘She’s really dedicated.’
Danmuji felt it every time—Almond seemed to trust that woman in a remarkably strange way.
“….”
Choi Sa-rang felt his gaze and looked at Almond for a moment before turning her head away.
“But handcrafted assembled products are far superior to factory-made finished goods. We’ll keep finding the approach that works for this team. Don’t worry about what others say. No one knows your Ril better than you do. (Except me.)”
“Yes!”
Judging by the Coach’s remarks, it seemed practice with her included would end here.

* * *
After the broadcast.
Rilpro was flooded with countless insults directed at Coach Choi Sa-rang and Almond.
King Gul’s shield statements had long since lost their effectiveness.
-Wow, Choi Sa-rang is seriously so arrogant lol
-Those two are totally in on it together
-Lololol but they said it’ll get worse so we’re supposed to be happy???
-What kind of practice is this lol there’s literally a verified strategy but this hipster nonsense
-Damn how are they gonna reassemble in such a short timeframe??
However, a new remedy was injected into their discourse.
[Almond Choi Sa-rang Red Pill feat. King Gul]
A remedy known as the red pill.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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