Genius Archer’s Streaming - Chapter 706

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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 3 Episode 176
58. Pandora’s Hope (2)
What was she trying to say?
In a way, the Doctor—who always operated on instinct—suddenly apologizing made me anxious. I couldn’t help it.
There were several things that nagged at me, and suddenly countless possibilities flashed through my mind.
I even resented my brain for only working this efficiently at times like these.
However, what Hana Song was trying to convey had nothing to do with what I was worried about.
“I feel I’ve made several verbal mistakes.”
Verbal mistakes?
I tilted my head without thinking.
‘What is she talking about?’
I looked the Doctor up and down.
‘Is she reading from a memo?’
Her speech seemed slower than usual, and she was staring at some piece of paper she’d pulled out.
Most likely, it was a memo note she’d written beforehand with what she planned to say today.
The Doctor wasn’t someone who stammered or struggled to speak. If anything, she talked too much.
But the fact that she was reading from written notes meant this was some kind of serious apology.
Though it wasn’t about the research results.
“I became excited about the research results… and, and… without considering the current situation, I spoke far too optimistically and hopefully about many things… I didn’t realize what that would mean to all of you.”
As I processed her words, it seemed she had given false hope at some point, and she was apologizing for that.
She was saying she hadn’t realized it would become a wound.
“Ah, as I mentioned before… I’m not really a doctor who treats patients, but more of a Research Director…”
I’d known for a while that this person wasn’t like a typical doctor.
‘Does she think I didn’t come because of her optimistic remarks?’
To be precise, I had no memory of being hurt by this Doctor.
I just hated facing the memories of this situation every time I went to the hospital.
I didn’t want to harbor useless hope in myself.
Because in the past, the consequences of that useless hope had been irreversibly tragic.
“…I’m telling you this hoping that if you acknowledge I have problems in this area, it might ease my heart. I’ll make an effort too. I’m sorry.”
I nodded and accepted her apology.
“That’s not why I didn’t come. Anyway, I understand.”
My gaze naturally shifted to the side.
It was Choi Sa-rang.
She also gave a slight nod, seeming to accept the apology.
But the atmosphere felt like Choi Sa-rang and Hana Song had already finished their conversation, and the apology was only coming to me.
So the reason Hana Song suddenly apologized was probably because of her? I’m not sure.
“Still, I am conducting one research project sincerely.”
Hana Song folded up her memo and added, ‘So please come to the hospital,’ before bringing up the main topic for today.
“What I’m going to tell you today is also related to this kind of research.”
She gave a slight cough and looked at the man beside her.
The man pulled out a thin pad and began to manipulate it.
He seemed to be trying to show me something.
[Wavelength-Modulation Graphic Implementation]
Huh?
Though it was clearly difficult technical jargon, I felt something oddly familiar about it.
“Wavelength-modulation refers to how the capsule implements graphics for gamers. It interferes with brainwaves to have the brain create images on its own, and based on that, they collide with each other….”
Ah. Right.
Hearing the doctor’s explanation, I remembered.
「There was a good hypothesis.」
It was the voice of the woman sitting right beside me.
「The hypothesis that my neurological deterioration might improve.」
She watched the new game demonstration with a bitter smile and eyes that seemed excited.
「Well, it’s like alchemy.」
She had spoken as if that hypothesis had failed.
But she had also said this.
「But since it’s never been tested in such a large-scale online game…」
Wavelength-modulation wasn’t particularly suited for online games.
Taken to extremes, it was essentially the same as each gamer implementing the game graphics through their own imagination.
So when different gamers made contact, it was difficult to have them collide exactly as the developer intended.
It was no different from multiple people putting their heads together, each creating rules from their imagination, and running through a TRPG-style game.
Instead, there was a game master.
An AI-based system played that role.
Therefore, it would be much easier than the example above, but imagine if the number of participants reached thousands or tens of thousands.
Implementation wasn’t easy.
Yet there were some developers who insisted on this method, and this time, a certain game had created a large-scale online game through this approach.
That was….
“Legend Tale. This game.”
The game the doctor was showing a demonstration video of right now.
Legend Tale.
An RPG game set in Ril’s world, made by Ril’s production company.
‘I didn’t catch a single word.’
Only then did I realize I hadn’t properly heard a single thing the doctor said.
But for now, I stayed quiet.
“To put it bluntly, I’d like you all to try this game.”
I stared at the Legend Tale making video for a moment.
‘Play that game?’
That’s an online RPG game.
The kind I’d never played before.
But setting that aside, play a game? Earlier they said to do it in moderation.
Now they’re telling me to play?
‘What is this?’
Sanghyeon sensed instinctively that a major turning point had emerged here.
Doctor Hana Song’s expertise was beyond question.
Every major capsule company wanted to employ her as a technical consultant.
She had even participated when creating his custom capsule.
Yet she had completely reversed her position.
‘There’s something here.’
There was definitely a reason for this. A significant one at that.
Something was happening right now.
He glanced at Sarang’s reaction beside him.
Even if he hadn’t understood, wouldn’t Choi Sa-rang be different?
Sarang was staring intently at the Doctor, more focused than ever.
“It might sound strange to tell you to play a game. Honestly, it would be ideal if we could create this kind of stimulus through our own production for you all, but…”
The Doctor drew a circle in the air and scratched her head.
It meant money.
“Creating something like this requires astronomical funding. Shamefully, our research budget isn’t at that level, and besides, when someone else has already created something this well, there’s no need to spend money on it separately, right? And…”
She pulled up some data.
“No matter how I think about it, this environment where other players enter together is the core. So even if we create a separate model and experiment among ourselves, we might not get the results we want. We’d probably only get data equivalent to the Zombie School single-player version.”
Zombie School?
It seemed the Doctor had mentioned Zombie School earlier during a moment he wasn’t paying attention.
“You remember Zombie School, right? When the SKED values didn’t deteriorate and remained stable…”
The Doctor looked at Sanghyeon like a professor who had noticed a student’s waning concentration.
“Ah… yes.”
He remembered.
Back then, the deterioration had slowed and then stopped at some point.
The cause was unknown.
“We’ve gotten results on that. It’s because of wavelength conversion. When you enter a new map or new environment in Zombie School, you experience this wavelength conversion to an extreme degree. Because you have to implement a new world.”
She pulled up more data.
Honestly, Sanghyeon had no idea what she was talking about.
At least there was a brain diagram, which sparked some interest.
“So do you remember? On the second playthrough, we didn’t get results. It came out just like a normal game.”
“!?”
What?
Sanghyeon flinched at this point.
“Why? Because spaces that are already implemented use existing data as is. The wavelength conversion phenomenon doesn’t occur.”
That sensation.
He remembered it.
Sanghyeon had been remembering that trivial feeling all this time, and now it suddenly came back to him.
When he first entered Zombie School, and when he entered a completely new space.
He had experienced an indescribable, strange stimulus.
However, that wasn’t the case during the second playthrough.
That was the difference.
“It’s a kind of optimization. The brain optimizes too, right? When you walk, do you think about it? Do you consciously decide where to move and how?”
No. That’s impossible.
Walking is just walking.
“Actually, walking itself—going uphill and downhill—isn’t easy at all, right? Robots still can’t walk exactly like humans, yet we do it as naturally as breathing. That’s the brain optimizing itself. That’s what makes the human brain terrifying.”
Neuroplasticity.
It’s the characteristic of the human brain that allows humans to adapt to any environment.
When you need to learn a language, every part of the brain concentrates on language and optimizes that algorithm. Once that optimization is complete and you need to do something else, the brain develops accordingly and proceeds with new optimization.
You might think that’s always good, but it wasn’t.
“Optimization is the human brain’s greatest weapon, but it’s our enemy. Right now, our brains are using optimization to discard unused areas and reallocate them to other departments for additional tasks, yes? This is called the brain’s ‘plasticity.’ To reiterate, it’s not a good phenomenon for us.”
Once optimization is complete, the brain no longer attempts to modify that algorithm.
That task is already concluded to be done this way.
This is why you can’t suddenly change how you walk when you’re older, and why it’s harder to acquire language as you age.
Right now, both Sanghyeon and Sarang’s brains have already abandoned their lost neural regions and are nearing the completion of optimization.
There was a possibility that even the remaining neurons could gradually die.
So I had to dismantle and restructure this algorithm the brain had perfected.
But the brain, having already judged its own optimization as perfect, refuses to allow it.
Understanding that permission threshold as the SKED value made things easier.
“Instead, what happened when Zombie School’s multi-mode came out? This multi-mode was the first time the SKED value showed improvement.”
In single-mode, deterioration stopped, and in multi-mode, there was very slight improvement.
“When other people enter, it’s not just the stimulus of drawing map information—the collision between other players’ actions and my character also becomes a stimulus.”
After conducting further research on this, the doctor finally reached a conclusion.
“The conclusion is accepting new information through the wavelength-alteration method. That’s the key.”
The wavelength-alteration method, which had been implemented primarily through single-player games, had limitations.
After finishing a playthrough and replaying, the brain enters an already-optimized state.
In short, the game volume was insufficient.
It’s like needing to take three years’ worth of medicine but only giving three days’ worth.
“Then a game called Legend Tale came out. It uses the wavelength-alteration method, and….”
But Legend Tale was─
“An open world. And it’s online.”
Fundamentally a vast open world, plus countless other players.
The perfect conditions.
I finally understood why the doctor didn’t need to spend money creating his own model.
There was no reason to.
Someone had already created it.
However, Sanghyeon found it hard to believe.
‘Right now, this….’
Did my brain understand correctly? Doubt crept in.
The data shown during Zombie School’s multi-mode could be continuously implemented….
‘It really will heal…’
To put it simply, I’d found a way to actually heal my real arm.
I didn’t know how much it would improve or whether it would fully recover, but there was definitely a method to make it better.
‘Finally?’

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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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