The Fate-Seeing Genius Streamer - Chapter 18

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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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17. [Infinite War] Um, Is This How You Do It? (2)
Capsule.
I entered the Select Room and accessed the game distribution site, purchasing [Infinite War]… and then a download window appeared.
After waiting roughly ten minutes, a hologram window materialized in my vision, indicating that the download was complete and the game was ready to launch.
Click—
And then.
「[Infinite War] has been selected and executed. After the countdown, you will be connected to the program.」
[3]
[2]
[1]
…
…
…
[START]
The pristine white expanse of the Select Room underwent a dramatic transformation, and as my consciousness flickered—a landscape unfolded before me: towering oriental trees arranged in elegant rows, their nameless petals scattering upon the wind.
「[Infinite War]」
━1. Open Match [◀]
━2. Ranked Game
━3. Practice Range
━4. Shop
━5. Profile
━6. Settings
《 Player ID: {wntjwls} 》
“….”
The game lobby. Standing in the waiting room of [Infinite War], I gazed down at the virtual body rendered before me, letting out a contemplative hum.
Unlike [Night Soul], [Infinite War] materializes the player character’s physical form right from the game lobby itself.
Before I knew it, I was standing beneath a colossal tree, dressed in a simple gray martial robe.
‘Hmm. I should have done at least some preliminary research on what kind of game this is. I know practically nothing about it.’
Ordinarily, I made it a point to conduct some level of advance investigation before starting anything.
Regardless of what it was, beginning with informational advantage through prior knowledge was never a bad strategy.
I hadn’t researched [Night Soul] only because Joo Seo-yoon insisted that for the sake of streaming enjoyment, it was better to know nothing about the game beforehand. That was the exception, not the rule.
However, before starting [Infinite War], I’d experienced an uncharacteristic emotional surge… which led me to act impulsively without any preliminary investigation.
And yet, backing out now felt equally awkward and uncertain.
“Well… games are meant to be learned through direct experience anyway… I’ll figure it out as I go.”
There was no helping it. With that resolve, I extended my index finger toward the hologram window and pressed down firmly—click.
[Infinite War]’s startup screen contained a Practice Range function that offered simulated training rather than actual combat.
My plan was to spend a couple of hours here learning how to play [Infinite War]. Or rather, that’s what I ‘intended to do’—or so it should have been said.
In the end, it proved impossible.
Beep—beep.
A warning sound. Simultaneously, a small red hologram window materialized in my vision… displaying a System Message.
《 Locked 》
━Unlock Condition: Play ‘Open Match’ at least ‘1 time’ in ‘Default’ format
“What?”
…I was dumbfounded. The ‘Practice Room’ feature that should have been available before gameplay couldn’t be accessed until after an Open Match? I couldn’t believe such a thing existed.
Beep.
The same applied to the Ranked Game function below the Open Match section. Essentially, every game element except Open Match remained locked.
I wasn’t sure why they’d forced Open Match to be played first, but… realistically, with no other choice, there was nothing else I could do.
Unfortunately.
‘I suppose I have no choice but to enter an Open Match and play at least one round, whether I win or lose…’
Click—
And the moment I touched ‘Open Match’ on the game start screen, hundreds of rooms appeared in the list.
《 Marshal Skill—Looking for Grand Master-tier or higher, 4+ characters, can practice until morning 》
*Game Format: ‘Infinite War’
《 Diamond-tier or higher, 18+ characters—anyone who can handle them. Real martial artists welcome too 》
*Game Format: ‘Mock Tournament’
《 (*Platinum-tier or higher) Beginners 1:1 match~ I’m really bad so come quick ^^7 》
*Game Format: ‘Default’
…
…
…
Yet—among those hundreds of rooms, there were almost none that I could actually enter.
Most of them had restricted entry based on Ranked Game tier.
A strange atmosphere where only Grand Master-tier or higher—or at minimum Platinum-tier and above—could access Open Matches.
Even among Open Match rooms, very few had the game format set to ‘Default’.
I furrowed my brow at this bizarre landscape and tilted my head in confusion.
‘…Why would they restrict by player tier when they’re asking beginners to play together? That doesn’t make sense.’
It was perplexing. Perhaps they were looking for something like an experienced newcomer—but regardless, it was certainly a difficult culture to understand.
Still, there were at least some Open Match rooms with ‘Default’ format that didn’t restrict player tier.
Among roughly a dozen or so unrestricted Open Match rooms, one caught my eye.
《 (Warmup) [Infinite War] 1:1 tutoring available. Come quick. I’ll teach you really well. 》
*Game Format: ‘Default’
━Room Creator: Crack (skdlemfrltlfgek3717)
━Battle Stage: ‘Mulung Doyeon’
━Max Participants: ‘(1/2)’
━Max Spectators: ‘(0/100)’
“Hmm.”
My destination was decided.
* * *
Mulung Doyeon—atop a vast island-like training ground where peach blossoms drifted, I stood before a blonde man with piercings and offered a light greeting.
“I came because you mentioned you’d provide 1:1 tutoring for Infinite War. I appreciate your help.”
And so, in response to that mechanical greeting, the blonde-haired man with piercings—Crack—found himself nodding along almost involuntarily, his lips parting with a peculiar expression.
“Uh, well, yes… I, um, had a question or two I wanted to ask, if that’s alright with you.”
“Of course. However, if you’re about to ask me to leave the room due to player tier restrictions, you can just tell me directly.”
“Oh! No, no, that’s not it—I just searched my match history a moment ago, and it showed that I’m completely new to Infinite War. So I wanted to confirm whether that was correct.”
“…Yes, that’s correct. It’s impressive that you can even verify such information.”
“Hmm. Just to be thorough, let me ask one last thing—do you know who I am? Ah, wait, no, of course you’d know who I am. What I meant to ask was───”
“I apologize. I don’t know who you are. …All I know is that you’re teaching me Infinite War.”
“”
In that instant, Crack’s body went rigid—as if he’d turned to stone. Absurdly so, at that.
Hahahahahahaha
-?? Crack doesn’t know?? Do you not play Eternal Saga?? Seriously…
-Wow.. that ordinary guy is really handsome.. but he seems to not know Eternal Saga.. there’s no way he wouldn’t know Crack otherwise..
Oh my god hahahahahaha she really looks like a newbie lol that’s so funny hahahaha
-Man.. he’s lucky.. must’ve entered right when the room opened..
Perhaps that’s why all of Crack’s viewers reacted with amazement and amusement.
Eternal Saga—in the ESK, the premier league of Korea, the nation known as the birthplace of esports, Crack was a professional gamer belonging to VEN, a team recognized as one of the strongest.
He’d been active as a professional gamer for nearly a decade, and in the past, he’d even won the World Championship twice consecutively alongside ‘Black Moon,’ one of the living legends of Eternal Saga.
Thus, anyone with even a passing interest in the gaming industry should have been able to recognize his face and think, “Wait, where have I seen him before? Are you a professional gamer?”
And yet…
“Hmm. Are you perhaps a celebrity? I’m not particularly knowledgeable in that area… I apologize.”
“”
Not at all. Joo Seo-jin simply hadn’t recognized Crack at all. Faced with that reality, Crack opened and closed his mouth several times before responding in a hollow voice.
“Uh… well, that’s… fine… Ha, haha. I’m not really that famous anyway.”
“I see.”
“”
“?”
-??..
Nah lol, this is driving me crazy hahaha
Haha, scratching two in a row!
-Hmm, what do you mean by that? Hahahahahahahahahahaha
Lol this guy is so handsome but he has zero social awareness hahahahahahahahahaha
Seeing Joo Seo-jin tilt his head in confusion, Crack offered a bitter smile and attempted to change the subject.
“Well, anyway, it’s true that I’m teaching you Infinite War one-on-one. Haha…”
“I see. But I should mention—I actually know nothing about Infinite War at all… Could you explain that as well?”
“Of course. To put it simply, Infinite War is a game where you pick one character with an ability called ‘Martial Skill’ and fight one-on-one against other players.”
“Martial Skill?”
“Like this.”
Whoooosh───!
In that instant, a crimson light swirled around Crack’s right hand, his figure blurring momentarily before appearing directly in front of Joo Seo-jin.
As if he’d teleported. And then, with a delayed gust of wind, his hair swept across Joo Seo-jin’s forehead.
Shhhhh—
Crack maintained his stance with his right fist thrust forward, then opened his mouth to explain.
“That’s a player character’s martial skill from the ‘Dragon Fighter’—’Flash Attack’. When you activate it with your fist or legs, you dash forward in a brief instant teleport while striking.”
“Ah. I see. …Yes, I understand.”
“Well, besides ‘Flash Attack’, there are martial skills like ‘Dragon Fist’ and ‘Celestial Dragon Form’. Basically, player characters each have three martial skills.”
“Three…”
“Yes. There are some exceptions, but most have three. Beyond the core martial skills, there are common normal skills like ‘Consecutive Strike’ and ‘Guard’. Those operate more like system judgments—do you follow?”
“To some extent.”
I hadn’t completely avoided games, so I could grasp the concept.
You picked a player character and used that character’s martial skills to defeat your opponent—that was how Infinite War, a 1v1 PVP game, functioned.
Player character martial skills were provided up to three at maximum, with rare exceptions, and everyone could fundamentally use the normal skills ‘Consecutive Strike’ and ‘Guard’.
“Since ‘Consecutive Strike’ and ‘Guard’ operate like system judgments, you can use them by launching continuous attacks or taking a defensive stance and signaling your intent.”
“I see.”
“When a ‘Consecutive Strike’ judgment triggers, the opponent temporarily launches into the air or moves sluggishly, giving you an advantage for follow-up hits. A ‘Guard’ judgment reduces knockback or decreases the damage you take.”
“Mm.”
“The crucial part is that during a ‘Guard’ judgment, the knockback effect—specifically, suppressing the force that ‘pushes’ you—matters. Infinite War has out-of-bounds rules.”
“Out-of-bounds?”
“There. See it? That cliff over there. If you go out there, health bars mean nothing. It’s just over—finished.”
“Ah—”
I turned my head to gaze at the outer edges of Mulung Doyeon’s training grounds, or more precisely, at the ‘nothingness’ that lay beyond.
Certainly, falling from such a place wouldn’t allow survival. If a player character fell there, they’d definitely be K.O’d.
It wasn’t difficult to understand.
“And… it seems Joo Seo-jin was randomly assigned one of the player characters… You’re the ‘Anonymous Monk’.”
“Anonymous Monk?”
“Yes. Well, the Anonymous Monk is one of the exception cases with only one martial skill… That player character’s martial skill is called ‘Temporal Flow’, which lets you preset accelerated movement patterns.”
“To be precise, I don’t quite understand what you mean by presetting accelerated movement patterns.”
“Essentially, you vaguely think in your surface consciousness—’I should move here, this way, at this timing’—and when you resolve to use it as a martial skill, the player character moves extremely fast.”
“That sounds… quite good. Being able to move exactly as you’ve planned beforehand.”
However, Crack didn’t immediately agree with my assessment. It was the opposite. He chuckled and shook his head.
“Haha… Does it look that way? No. That’s a garbage player character. Trash tier, really.”
“Why is that?”
“───Because it lacks adaptability. You have to trace the preset movements, which means you need to calculate your opponent’s movements and construct your actions with counters in mind. That’s not easy.”
“Mm.”
“Exactly… once you reach around Diamond rank, there are plenty of people who can respond to predetermined movements with instant reactions. You can’t pull that off. No matter how fast.”
“Hmm. I don’t think it would be that limiting… Strange.”
I always ‘see’ fate beforehand and move accordingly. Therefore, I simply trace my movements to match the ‘desired answer’ I’ve preset. It was worth tilting my head in confusion.
“Hey. Once you spar with me, you’ll understand. It doesn’t work the way you think. Since the explanation’s done, how about we go a round and you get a feel for it?”
Of course, Crack, unaware of this fact, offered advice not to be overconfident—then, as if remembering something, he made an “ah” sound and spoke.
“Right. Now that I think about it, I’m running a participation event. How about you spar with me and include that as well?”
“That— a participation event? What is that? I’m not really interested in…”
“If you manage to win even a single match against me, UG Corporation will provide you with one of their newly released Ultra Capsules. I’m a professional gamer, you know? I understand you might not have heard of me, but that’s how it is.”
“….”
“Haha. Even if I say so myself, I’m genuinely quite skilled— well, if it feels too burdensome, we could make landing even a single hit the condition for victory…”
“───Very well. You said winning even a single match— no, landing even a single hit would suffice? You mustn’t go back on your word.”
“…Pardon? Uh, what did you just say—”
“Let’s start the game now.”
The next instant.
“Then. I look forward to this.”
“….”
A small spark ignited in Joo Seo-jin’s eyes, blazing with such intensity that my competitive spirit began to boil over visibly.
Pfft.
Yet Crack found that seemingly confident competitive fervor of Joo Seo-jin’s rather endearing… and then, with a casual flick of his hand, he settled into a relaxed stance.
“Heh. Well, that’s fine by me. Just don’t make excuses after you lose, alright? I’ll let you have the first move. Come at me—”
* * *
And then.
* * *
The next instant.
Whoooosh───!
Joo Seo-jin’s body hugged the ground as he slid forward in a sweeping motion, his hand braced against the floor as he launched an upward kick from below— and his right instep connected directly with Crack’s face.
Crack───!
Crack staggered backward, coughing and spitting blood, bouncing across the training ground floor like a rubber ball multiple times.
Boom───!
-???????????????????
-..What? What??? What????????
-What is happening…???????
What the hell? How did you just do that????
…Brutally enough.

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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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