Master Swordsman’s Stream - Chapter 68

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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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Episode 68

A mid-point check.
The current state of each faction’s movements, which rankers had suffered defeats, and what had happened.
How things would develop from here.
It was content where Bang Ju invited notable players and discussed how things might unfold while waiting until 10 o’clock when the rankings would be revealed.
Seo Jun turned on Bang Ju’s broadcast and fixed his view to that screen.
By now, he’d grown adept at adjusting the settings.
Even among the viewers, some were praising this.
He felt oddly satisfied.

[Well, yesterday the Orthodox Faction and Unorthodox Faction traded only light jabs. Things are going to get much more fun from here on out. The rankers have built up a decent amount of Prestige Points by now. The real ammunition is loaded and ready!]

Bang Ju was currently making small talk before the real action started.

[Of course, those hoping to crack the top 16 will still think carefully about which battlefields to fight on. Hehehehe.]

From Bang Ju’s words came the reason he’d met rankers of a certain level many times before, yet never the elite masters ranked within the top fifty.
Of course, the fact that each victory mattered greatly to them didn’t mean they refused to join their faction’s strategy.
If that were the case, it wouldn’t be fun.
Cooperation Among Comrades had no culture of winning through cheap tactics.
This seemed to owe something to the fact that once you connected with one faction, everyone knew who you were.

[Anyway, the real reason I’m streaming today is something else, as I’m sure you know? It’s because today we’re revealing the Contribution Scores! People seem very curious about this right now……]

The main topic came up. Enough viewers had gathered.
Just as important as which faction would win was the question: who would earn first place in Contribution Score!
The rankings displayed the top two hundred players.
And after the rankings came out, which region those ranked players were gaming in was made public to everyone.
Targeting intensified, and massive shifts occurred.
But no matter how much changed, the highest odds of becoming the final victor still belonged to whoever was in first place right now.

[So I’ve invited two people today. First, we have Han Pun Man, who uploaded the most-viewed Prestige Points estimate table on the Orthodox Faction board!]

-Welcome!
-It’s Han Pun Man
-The vagrant’s actually well-dressed in real life lol
-He’s probably not a social butterfly
-With that face? How could he not be popular?
-Why ㅠㅠ You said the Master was antisocial too
-You believe that? lol

[Hello, I’m Han Pun Man.]
[Yes, hello. Thank you for coming.]
[Rather, thank you for inviting me.]

They were currently at Bang Ju’s studio.
The real-world Han Pun Man had revealed himself.
“Who exactly is this person, everyone?”
Seo Jun was seeing Han Pun Man for the first time.

-A regular like Bang Ju, good at analysis
-A named player
-A ranker too, but not one aiming for top 16
-The Orthodox Faction’s strategist

With help from the collective intelligence of the viewers, Seo Jun learned about Han Pun Man and refocused on the broadcast.

[Han Pun Man received the most recommendations among all the Prestige Points estimate tables posted this morning.]
[Oh, is that so?]
[Yes. I suspect it’s because you wrote out all your reasoning in such meticulous detail. It makes sense—those who play the game well analyze it well too.]
[Thank you.]
[But still, there’s no way counterarguments haven’t appeared, right? People can’t all think the same thing.]
[That’s true. What are they?]
[Oh, you don’t know? Do you perhaps not read the comments on your own posts?]
[I don’t.]
[Why not?]
[There’s no point arguing in the comments, and if I don’t need to convince anyone, it’s just easier not to look.]
[Ah, so you throw the post out there, start the fire, and then step back from the whole blaze? That’s pure irresponsible pleasure……]

-lololololololol
-Now that you mention it, he really is a bad guy lol
-Wait, thinking about it… the Great Patriarch controversy started with Han Pun Man too…
-Was he the culprit??? ㄷㄷ

Bang Ju kept the broadcast alive with his sharp wit and skilled hosting.

[Irresponsible pleasure? If there’s a problem, I’ll delete the post and write an apology right away.]
[I see. Well, do keep enjoying that pleasure going forward.]
[……]
[So what Han Pun Man received the most pushback on was this:]
[Yes?]
[It’s about Sky Demon 14.]
[Oh, is that so?]

Seo Jun was caught off guard when his name suddenly came up.
It hit from an unexpected angle.

-Wow! Being mentioned live with 80,000 viewers!
-Our Master is world class! Our Master is world class! Our Master is world class! Our Master is world class! Our Master is world class!
-Han Pun Man rated the Master as first

[The issue is that while ranking Sky Demon 14 first is fine, the gap between first and second place is considered too large by most commenters.]
[I see.]
[In truth, everyone ranked high enough to be in contention has undefeated records and likely secured bonuses as well.]
[Hmm. But do I really need to refute that? I could just say I was wrong……]

-lol he’s the textbook example of “if I refute this I’m right”
-Look at how easily he lives
-Wisdom
-So he chose to be a vagrant? Maybe all the fierce competition in the secular world is meaningless

The small image of Seo Jun at the bottom left of the screen filled with Bang Ju’s broadcast bobbed up and down.
He nodded as if acknowledging the analyst’s good sense.

[Ah, the commenters are saying that’s just contentment in simple living—the grace of withdrawal from the world?]
[Hehe. Thank you.]
[Still, tell us once. Otherwise I’ve wasted my time bringing you here.]
[Hmm.]
[Why did you estimate such a large gap in Prestige Points between second place, excluding the Winning Streak Bonus?]
[Well, for starters, I’d like to point out that Sky Demon—or rather, Seo Jun’s approach to Territory Control Battles is distinctive.]
[Yes?]
[Other rankers need to recover stamina, internal energy, and health, which makes certain plays impossible for them. But blocking the entrance from the start is exactly that kind of play.]
[Ah! Then you mean the Unorthodox Faction is superior?]
[Hmm……]
[Yes! I understand.]

-The god of hosting lol
-Guest almost got put on the spot
-Phew
-Han Pun Man didn’t say he likes the Unorthodox Faction. He really just speaks the truth lol
-Total opposite from someone who sells lies somewhere

[Well, let’s bring out the next guest! This person is a representative example of someone who says Han Pun Man is wrong. It’s Cheon Sal Seong!]

He’d heard that nickname somewhere before.
Cheon Sal Seong was a star governing death, and while he wasn’t one to talk given he’d chosen the Sky Demon nickname himself, it struck him as incredibly juvenile.
Only after reading the chat could Seo Jun pull the details from his memory.

-Oh, a top master’s here
-Not an analyst, but he was #1 in the last battlefield
-ㄷㄷ Bang Ju’s recruitment power
-Insane

[Yes. As some of you may know, Cheon Sal Seong is the former Heavenly Champion!]

People called whoever ranked first in Contribution Score the Heavenly Champion until the next battlefield opened.

[In the last battlefield, you earned that position through truly exceptional skill and masterful targeting.]

Masterful targeting, indeed.
By the way, after the rankings went public, a system that actively encouraged targeting had made sniping skill one of the important qualities.
Though targeting by bribing enemy teammates was frowned upon.
Of course, the talk was that this happened too.

[Who do you think will be highest this time, Cheon Sal Seong?]
[Obviously……]

Seo Jun leaned in with interest, eager to hear what came next.
The words of the last battlefield’s champion were worth listening to.
He’d know many competitors Seo Jun didn’t, and have rough estimates of their numbers, accumulated knowledge from years of competition.
Above all, unlike Seo Jun, he’d know roughly what his own Prestige Points were.

[The highest will be me. Not that streamer with the flawed concept.]

Hmm.
Had I gotten my hopes up for nothing?

-???
-He’s being provocative
-This just got really fun lol
-Trash talking begins
-Curious how the Master will react
-His expression is calm though?

Seo Jun watched without comment.

[Whoa! A flawed concept? I’d appreciate it if you’d refrain from provocation.]
[Haha. Sorry. But Sky Demon is inevitably a flawed concept.]
[Really? Why is that?]
[Well, originally when people say Sky Demon, it refers to someone at the highest place, the strongest boss-like figure, right?]
[Yes, that’s correct.]
[But today, from the actual start of proper competition onward, you’ll be losing to me. So how can you use the name Sky Demon? Don’t you agree?]
[Ah……]

It was a fair point.
If Sky Demon lost, he wasn’t Sky Demon anymore.
Seo Jun chuckled, remembering the Sky Demon of his previous life.
But when he laughed, the viewers seemed to interpret it differently.

-Oh, the Master looks irritated
-Crazy
-That laugh… it’s not just a laugh
-Is he about to challenge him to a duel???
-I’m scared…
-Chilling.

Independent of the misunderstanding happening among the people in his room, Bang Ju’s chat was used to this level of provocation and was laughing.

[Hahaha! Is that so?]
[Yes.]
[You sound confident.]
[I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t.]
[I must reiterate that Cheon Sal Seong’s remarks have no relation to me whatsoever.]

Bang Ju laughed, and Han Pun Man on the left shook his head.
They seemed to have a friendly relationship.

[Well then, before we hear Cheon Sal Seong’s reasoning, let me first give you viewers a brief explanation of Prestige Points.]

Prestige Points served as a system to match players with similar point values against each other.
However, because that layer wasn’t thick or uniform, it was impossible to match only players of similar skill who’d accumulated many Prestige Points.
That would make targeting easier, certainly, but ultimately that wasn’t what mattered in a Territory Control Battle.

[The real importance of Prestige Points is that you earn Attack Points and Contribution Score equal to that value. Wouldn’t you say, Han Pun Man?]
[That’s correct.]

The number of Korean players participating in at least one Territory Control Battle was close to 300,000.
But the number who participated every single day was roughly 10,000 per faction—10% of the total.
That might sound small.
But these 30,000 were users who went into capsules without fail every day for twenty-one days straight and played four matches.
Virtual reality games now held far more players than they did in the PC era, and concurrent players had grown.
But the growth wasn’t proportional to the expanded player base.
The reason was that VR games carried far greater fatigue than PC gaming.
Accessibility was also lower.
‘Probably why the streaming market for vicarious satisfaction exploded so huge.’
In this context, 30,000 core users was a sufficiently high figure.
Yet more than half of them never earned as much Prestige Points in a day as rankers did in one.
You earned 30 Prestige Points per match by doing your fair share.
If we say the win rate was 50%,
over nine days with 36 matches total, winning 18 of them earned you 540 Prestige Points.
Of course, if you got lucky with a winning streak, you accumulated more.

[The Winning Streak Bonus is calculated and reset each day. Starting from a two-win streak, it multiplies by four. For example, a two-win streak alone nets you 50 Prestige Points before the next day starts, while a four-win streak adds 200, giving you 250 the next day.]
[Everyone gets that, so there’s no difference.]
[Yes. Tomorrow might be another day for streak farming and give different results, but up to now it’s equal.]
[So the deciding factor is ultimately what matters most: those Prestige Points that get calculated and awarded after each match ends.]

The conversation between Han Pun Man and Bang Ju flowed smoothly.
It seemed they’d prepared this beforehand.

-Clean explanation lol
-So that’s how the mechanic works. I didn’t know
-I don’t know either but I’m living fine. Look at the Master
-Classic case of having a good body so you get to have a relaxed mind lol
-For real lol

—————
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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