Master Swordsman’s Stream - Chapter 230

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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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Chapter 230

Novice.
Beginner.
Beginner Class.
Novice Class.
These words all referred to the state before a player chose a Job Specialization, when they possessed only Common Skills.
‘I like that.’
And it was a word Seo Jun found rather fitting.
Seo Jun had descended from the 7th Floor down to the 3rd Floor via the stairwell.
Since each class occupied one floor starting from the 2nd Floor, the 7th was the topmost.

[Sishik Corner: Beginner, my ass? ㅋㅋㅋㅋ Get your head on straight!!!!! Please!!!!!!]

“Why doesn’t it make sense?”
Seo Jun stood on the stairs and spoke with confidence.
Either way, ignoring that person’s outburst would settle it.
The existing viewers’ opinion overwhelmingly agreed with him.

-ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Is he joking?
-Lmao this kid saying “beginner” ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Wait! The guild leader already decided he’d be the guild leader, so what’s the complaint?
-Facts ㅋㅋ
-Ever heard of an off-pick? ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Beginner works fine, dude! Geomsin wanted this! He said he didn’t like Warrior!
-Back in my day… I’ve seen someone hit Level 200 as a Beginner… terrifying player…

There, see?
“So other people do the same thing, right? I’m not the only one doing something unusual.”

[Sishik Corner: Nah, seriously doubt it ㅋㅋㅋㅋ Beginner can’t find a party, so nobody actually plays like that. Go back right now and pick something! Anything!]

“Give me a reason.”

[Sishik Corner: For public raids, the party leader picks from applicants, right? If you were them, would you pick someone with Beginner as their class? ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ]

A public party was a gathering of random people.
In contrast to that, a fixed party consisted of guild members or acquaintances meeting together.
“Yeah, they wouldn’t pick me in a public party, I guess.”

[Sishik Corner: Ugh]
[Sishik Corner: At least you’ve got some conscience ㅋㅋ]

“But I wasn’t planning to run public raids anyway?”
Wasn’t that obvious?
“So it works out, doesn’t it? Right, everyone?”

-Facts ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Settled ㅋㅋㅋ
-Guild leader’s actually a Seoul National Uni student ㄷㄷ crazy smart!
-ㄷㄷㄷㄷ That’s intelligence?

[Sishik Corner: Ugh!]

Seo Jun smiled at the clearly frustrated person on the other end.
“Well, if you insist, then meet me in person and try to convince me properly.”

[Sishik Corner: UGH!!!!]

* * *

“So, that is to say……”
“What is it?”
“Well……”
“Well, what?”
“It feels like a high-pressure interview……. Save me.”
“Do you realize we’re about three meters apart?”
He kept backing up, claiming it was too much pressure.
“Yes.”
“So where’s the pressure?”

-Are those two doing a comedy skit? ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-???: Oh come on! Just let me explain in chat!
-And meanwhile Dang So ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ heading off to specialize with an excited look ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Fool trio ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ the one saying he’ll specialize as Beginner ㅋㅋㅋㅋ the split-personality who changes the moment he types ㅋㅋㅋㅋ the one who’s always his own way ㅋㅋㅋㅋ

“Go ahead and try to convince me.”
“……In most RPGs, the first criterion for choosing a class is personal preference, but I think differently.”
“Oh? What do you mean?”
“Performance. That’s my first criterion.”
“Performance?”
“Yes. I’m talking about job performance. How strong it is in raids. What tier it is in PVP. Whether it’s trash-tier or not.”
“But there are people who play weak classes too, right?”
“For those people, preference has become a much bigger factor. Do you know what’s characteristic of such players?”
“What?”
“……”
“Not in chat, please.”
For some reason, Seo Jun thought something quite derogatory was about to come out, so he cut it off preemptively.
“Oh. Right. The characteristic is that they’re always screaming for buffs to their own class.”
“Why is that?”
“Because they can’t escape the shackles of performance. In fact, I bet there are quite a few people who’d love to play Gunner right now but don’t because it’s too weak.”

-Sishik’s right, what he’s saying makes sense ㅋㅋㅋㅋ That was me
-I’m also looking up class tier lists to pick one like the guild leader ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-I’d probably just go with something consistently good unless it really hits my tastes ㅋㅋㅋㅋ

“Geomsin.”
“Yes?”
“RPGs are incredibly sensitive to balance patches and class balance disparities. Raven has all these weak counters and whatnot……Ugh.”
Seo Jun found it interesting that the person who seemed to be enjoying being at the forefront of those battles was showing such disdain.
“Listen carefully. You spend tens or even hundreds of thousands of won raising gear level just to get 1% stronger. But if you pick your character right, you can start 10 to 20% stronger right off the bat.”
‘Now that’s actually convincing.’
“But. Wait? Beginner? Beginner? Do you really think that makes sense? Do you know how weak it is!”
So Seo Jun asked.
“How weak is it?”
“That’s……”
Figured.
“You don’t know?”
“Honestly, who’s ever actually measured the exact damage cycle numbers for Beginner?”
“So you don’t know, then? Then why are you opposed?”
“No……It just makes logical sense……”
“I don’t follow.”
Seo Jun chuckled.
“Ugh……”

-ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ The guild leader’s a newbie! You gotta teach him common sense!
-The thing is, when we try to teach him common sense, we end up being the ones taught ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Sign here! The blunt sword is broken! Kael can do 5-man! The guild leader is Geomsin!
-Ugh……. The guild leader remembers his past life. Either way, he remembers

“Anyway, you’re going to raid. You want to rank first in that party. So you absolutely can’t ignore class choice.”
Naturally, Seo Jun did have common sense.
He understood perfectly what Sishik Corner was saying.
So he had asked the question.
He wanted to know the exact numbers for how weak it was.
But ultimately.
“Even if those are measured numbers, wouldn’t they necessarily differ from actual combat?”
It would be meaningless.
He knew this as well.
“Oh. You’re hitting the core point.”
“Right?”
“Yeah. You’re right. Usually measurements are taken against dummies or calculated from listed numbers, but in actual combat, the damage never comes out exactly as listed.”
Usually tests give the most ideal values. Numbers measured without any interference whatsoever, where skills are used perfectly on cooldown and all hit, listing the jobs accordingly.
But could that ever happen in real combat?
The cycle breaks down, or the boss moves far away, or a mechanic starts and by the time the cooldown ends you can’t use the skill, or you miss a critical hit, and so on.
“So I can’t measure it numerically. But Beginner is still weak! Really weak! No, it’s obvious!”
“Oh!”
“Not ‘Oh’!”
For the first time, his voice seemed to rise in pitch?
“Then let’s check for ourselves.”
“How!”
“That Min Proof thing you mentioned—that’s related to raiding, right? So there should be some kind of standard for it.”
“Hah……. You really have sharp instincts.”

* * *

Suppression.
A raid where a field boss appearing once per field, empowered by some mysterious force, is defeated by parties of up to four players.
Users engage these bosses once as they progress through the continent’s story.
However, when entering Suppression content, the monsters appear far more enhanced than they do during story progression.
“Most notably, it’s their health. You have to wail on them for a long time.”
“I see.”
Sishik Corner’s performance was better than expected.
“And Thunder Bear Tygo, which we’re about to hunt, is something you can challenge right at Gear Level 250. And it’s quite difficult.”
“What does that have to do with Min Proof?”
“It just means that defeating it marks you as a true user of Racle. You need accurate understanding of both the game and your own class to defeat it.”
He understood.
In short, it was a good opponent for a newbie to learn from.
That’s why users who defeated it were congratulated with the Min Proof joke.
“Understanding of your class……”
As Seo Jun murmured while moving toward the Adventurer’s Guild for the Suppression content, Sishik Corner took the initiative to ask this time.
“So why do you want to play Beginner anyway?”
He was genuinely curious now.
The guy’s skill seemed genuinely impressive, and he could clearly perform Counter and Dodge adequately with other classes.
So why insist on Beginner?
He’d even said he wanted to check its actual performance and agreed to run Suppression for it.
“Well.”
“Well?”
“Warrior’s weapons didn’t appeal to me.”
“But you can change weapons with Avatars……”
Seo Jun pretended not to hear.
His voice was too quiet anyway.
“Assassin feels too chaotic, and Mage isn’t my taste.”
“Why don’t you just say the rest aren’t your preference either.”
Oh. Even in that quiet voice, he said what he needed to say.
“That’s right. That’s the point.”
“Fine, fine. Once you actually get out there and feel how weak it is in real combat, you’ll switch on your own anyway.”
“I don’t think I will.”
“You’re relying on Counter and Dodge, aren’t you?”
“Yes.”
Accurate.
If Counter and Dodge could let him match or pull his own weight like other classes, then there was no reason not to play Beginner if it appealed to him.
Seo Jun entered the Adventurer’s Guild building and tapped the activated Suppression icon.
And before clicking to enter the Thunder Bear Tygo Suppression, he quietly removed Dang So from the party without a word.
“I feel like I’m forgetting something……”
That would be Dang So.
You can forget it.
“Entering.”
Seo Jun and Sishik Corner, with about five seconds of wait time, found themselves standing in the field where Thunder Bear Tygo awaited.
“Ah. That’s the one we saw on the way here.”
“Yes. And this is the map we passed through.”
“I like that the monster’s right in front of us.”
The spawn point was far enough from the boss that aggro wouldn’t be pulled immediately and combat wouldn’t begin right away.
Seo Jun stood on two legs at a distance and watched the muscular white bear standing upright and staring at them menacingly. He thought:
“Cola would suit it well, wouldn’t it?”
“What kind of polar bear is that? It’s got armor and a helmet too.”
Sishik Corner looked at Seo Jun as if to say he was ridiculous.
“You’re right. For a polar bear, it’s completely devoid of any cute factor.”
See?
Sparks even crackle around its muscles.
“Let’s get closer.”
“Shouldn’t I explain the attack patterns?”
“No. Just explain the mechanics, please.”
Learning attack patterns by observation was fastest and most effective.
“For now, Tygo has a Thunder Buff active, so its attack speed is among the fastest of all monsters.”
“The fastest?”
“Yes. It’s hard even to Counter, and Dodge is nearly impossible. Since its attack speed is only slightly faster than ours, how would you even time it?”
“So Suppression content is this difficult?”
“No. That’s why there’s a way to slow it down. If you resolve the mechanics, you can remove one Thunder Buff at a time. The difficulty decreases that way.”
“I see.”
When their distance closed to about ten meters, the standing Tygo bent its body, planted its front paws on the ground, and began charging toward Seo Jun.
“Geomsin. You came ready to rely on Dodge, right?”
“Yes.”
“The Four Heavenly Kings probably still has Tygo’s attack speed at default. And you still want to play Beginner with just Dodge?”
Hmm.
Sishik Corner added more and stepped back slightly.
“Earlier, the Stone Statue—honestly, its piercing attack speed is slower compared to other raids.”
And a shadow fell over Seo Jun, who was now alone at the front.
The bear, as massive as a stone statue, lifted its front paws to crush him beneath them.
At that moment, Seo Jun let out a soft laugh.
In other words.
‘You’re worried about me, aren’t you?’
Even though you lost that bet?
That could happen.
It was difficult for people’s thoughts to transcend their own experience after all.
It just helped when a reasonable justification was added on top.
Like, say, the Stone Statue’s attack speed being slower or something like that.
‘Then I’ll just have to show him once more.’
The front paws that had been blocking his vision finished their aim and dropped.
At high speed.
Crash!

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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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