Chapter 69

### Chapter 69 of "The Genius Archer's Streaming Season 1"

#### 25. A Dream Only (1)

*Bang!*

A massive axe slashed down with a ferocious force.

The floor cracked open.

It was the floor where Almond's avatar had been standing.

"Whoa..."

Almond had already slipped to the side, looking calm despite the sudden ambush.

"Turning on the lights right away is a bit much, isn't it?"

He muttered, as if it was a habit from his streaming.

*Whoosh!*

As if to shatter that calm, a giant spear flew at him again.

"Ugh!"

Almond dodged by throwing his body to the side.

*Bang!*

The spear only split the floor, missing him.

But it wasn't over yet.

*Swish, swish, swish!*

Swords flew from all directions.

"!"

Almond hesitated for a moment.

'There must be a blind spot. A blind spot.'

Even in the videos where Electromagnetic Wave played, there was always a way. There was always a method.

'Right there.'

*Crack—*

Finding the blind spot, Sanghyun launched himself, sliding and rolling to the ground.

*Clang!*

Three swords clashed and sparked in the air where he had been.

He had dodged.

A cackling laugh erupted from above.

[Wow! As expected, Mr. Almond. You're not going down easily, are you?]

A loud, resonant voice.

It was Yuhayeon, who had grown so large that she could now overlook the dome arena.

- Wow hahaha

- Yuhayeon is despicable!!

- Just suddenly, without any warning?

- ㄷㄷ As expected, this is "Survive"!

- G, gorgeous...!

- Hahaha, wow hahaha

- So funny ㅋㅋㅋ

- It's huge ㅋㅋㅋ

- Show us Electromagnetic Wave's record!

- !Electromagnetic Wave's record

[Many people are asking about Electromagnetic Wave's record... Here it is!]

*Bang!*

The giant Yuhayeon held up a large sign.

[30 minutes 39 seconds]

It was a staggering 30 minutes.

- Crazy, he's a monster even when you watch it again

- Dodging those for 30 minutes?

- ㄷㄷㄷㄷ

- Wow

[What do you think? It's no joke, right? Honestly, reaching Electromagnetic Wave's record is impossible, Mr. Almond?]

Even as Yuhayeon grinned and taunted Almond, weapons continued to fly at him.

Almond moved his body lightly again.

*Bang! Bang!*

Every weapon missed him, only smashing the floor.

[Oh... As expected, you are different. 71% of the players who played here failed.]

71% of the players failed at this point.

Almond was puzzled.

'Because of this...?'

It was hard to imagine anyone failing because of this. Compared to what he had seen in the videos, this was nothing.

Sure enough.

[Now, the preview is over!]

It seemed a new phase was about to begin.

- God, really

- Hahaha

- It was just a preview

- Wow

- Poor Almond ㅠㅠㅠ

- Poo ㅠㅠ

- ???: Sister!! I'm really dying!!!

[This is the real deal! Phase Two! Let's go!]

* * *

After Yuhayeon's loud voice echoed.

*Boom!!!*

The floor where Almond stood began to shake.

A few square tiles that had been broken by weapons sank into the ground.

At a glance, the empty spaces where the tiles had disappeared were dark abysses. It was clear that anyone who fell in would not survive.

- What, the floor is collapsing?!

- ㄷㄷㄷ

- Almond, don't die ㅠㅠㅠ

- Wow, it's intense

- Oh, it's different from when Electromagnetic Wave played.

This was a method not seen in Electromagnetic Wave's videos.

If the same method was used every time, the test subjects might memorize it, so they added variations.

- How does he dodge that suddenly?

- ㅅㅂ Haha, the floor is just collapsing?

- Is there a pattern?

- ㄷㄷㄷ

The tiles seemed to disappear suddenly.

However, there was definitely a hint.

'There are warning signs.'

First, the tiles that had been damaged by weapons disappeared.

Second, they vibrated slightly before disappearing.

Like how a gamepad vibrates to warn of danger in console games.

[Let's get serious!]

With Yuhayeon's cheerful voice, the tiles began to collapse in earnest.

*Shake...*

'Here it comes!'

Almond dodged by feeling the vibrations in advance.

*Boom! Boom!*

Despite the tiles falling noisily one by one, Almond's spot remained intact.

- Wow, did he memorize it?

- How does he do that?

- He couldn't have memorized it, it wasn't in Electromagnetic Wave's video ㅋㅋㅋ

Because he always chose the safe spots, some even suggested he had memorized it. Yuhayeon quickly addressed this.

"It's definitely not memorized! There was no prior guidance about today's pattern! Still, it's really impressive! Almond! You're dodging everything! It's like a Hollywood movie, the hero running on a collapsing bridge!!!"

- The analogy is crazy ㅋㅋㅋ

- Haha

- Really ㅋㅋㅋ

- The hero never dies, you know!

Yuhayeon's analogy, though exaggerated, was accurate.

*Boom...*

Almond dodged the collapsing tiles like a ghost, always landing on the safe ones.

There was no trace of tension on his face.

- Almond looks a bit bored?

Indeed.

His expression was closer to boredom.

Even as the floor collapsed in front of him.

- Haha

- Wow, he's so calm

- ㄷㄷㄷ If this were a balloon, he'd be dead 5 times

- I'd be screaming my head off

About 5 minutes passed.

'The pattern has changed.'

Now, tiles other than those destroyed by weapons also began to collapse.

*Boom!*

It was no longer possible to predict which tiles would disappear. He had to feel the vibrations and move.

Almond's movements slowed slightly.

Another 3 minutes passed.

[Amazing! 8 minutes! He's calmly enduring for 8 minutes! That's already in the top 11%! Is it really only 3 weeks since he first used the capsule?!]

Around this time.

*Whoosh!!!*

A familiar whistling sound, and a massive axe flew in.

Avoiding the vibrating tile, it aimed precisely at Almond as he moved to the next one.

'The weapons are now part of the pattern.'

Almond quickly ducked to avoid the axe.

*Crash!*

The tile behind him fell into the abyss with a loud noise.

'Tiles hit by weapons now disappear immediately.'

Almond quickly processed the new rule.

'Avoid the weapons, avoid the vibrating tiles, and avoid the tiles hit by weapons.'

He firmly ingrained the three elements to avoid in his mind.

Dodging the terrifying projectiles and collapsing tiles, he also figured out the pattern.

In the real world, this would have been impossible in such a short moment.

But in full-dive virtual reality, it was possible.

[10 minutes have passed! Almond's record is now in the top 9%!]

Now, 10 minutes had passed.

'This is ridiculously long.'

He had only reached one-third of the goal.

Electromagnetic Wave's record of 30 minutes was still far away.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the engineer's room where Almond's test was being conducted.

"Um... Engineer? Is this reading normal?"

An assistant asked the head engineer.

The "Survive" test was not just about survival time.

It also measured the performance during that time to quantify his potential and abilities in full-dive games.

To measure the virtual reality skill value, VNS.

However, this was becoming a bit problematic.

One of the graphs was about to go off the chart.

The head engineer tilted his head.

"Well... It's quite high. There doesn't seem to be any machine malfunction."

The concentration graph was almost at the edge of the screen. The engineer stroked his chin.

'If this reading is high, it means all other readings will be high on average.'

Full-dive is a world driven solely by the mind. High concentration means high mental stamina.

This implies that most skills and abilities in that world would be high.

Of course, concentration isn't everything, and there are many other subtle factors.

'If this continues, his VNS will be over 250.'

He visualized the expected number in his head.

It was unbelievable.

He had never seen such a reading before, except for one person.

'At the same level as Electromagnetic Wave?'

Electromagnetic Wave, a recognized top-tier virtual reality gamer.

A dominant presence not just in Korea but globally.

His readings were like this.

The assistant asked again.

"Can this reading... be this high?"

"Hmm... It's not impossible. Electromagnetic Wave was like this."

"Oh... I see."

"It didn't exist back then. It's natural you wouldn't know. And it's such an exceptional reading... we didn't even teach it."

The engineer leaned in closer to the game screen.

"But... to see such a reading again. It's surprising."

On the screen, Almond was dodging the flying weapons and collapsing tiles.

He was doing well, without a single mistake.

Dodging wasn't unusual.

Even without being Electromagnetic Wave, pro gamers generally survived this part well.

But something was different.

There was a bit more room to spare.

Even dodging the projectiles, he moved much more smoothly.

'Interesting.'

The engineer was intrigued.

How did he achieve such smooth movements?

Without much effort, it seemed he knew exactly what was coming.

No one had ever dodged like this.

Except for Electromagnetic Wave.

Even visually, he reminded the engineer of Electromagnetic Wave.

'Maybe a successor has really appeared?'

Given that Electromagnetic Wave existed, it wasn't strange for another genius to emerge.

However, being good at this didn't necessarily mean he was a genius. Just like a high IQ doesn't make someone a great person.

"But isn't he 29 years old?"

He was 29 years old.

Now, he was 30.

How could a 30-year-old man show such a high concentration level?

Electromagnetic Wave was 23 when he took the test, already a pro gamer in his prime.

But a complete beginner showing such a reading?

It was unbelievable.

What kind of person could do this?

"Right. He's 30. Is this possible?"

"Hmm. It's happening right in front of us."

Reluctantly, but the engineer couldn't deny what was happening. That's what made him an engineer.

A phenomenon is a phenomenon. It had to be recorded statistically.

So, he needed to find a reason.

A reason or cause for this ability.

That was his job.

The engineer fell into deep thought.

A moment later.

"Image training."

He muttered, as if something had clicked.

"Excuse me?"

"If he had consistently done image training, it's possible."

The assistant's face was a question mark.

Image training? It was a well-known method to help with full-dive.

But...

"Come on... that's a bit..."

Image training alone couldn't have such a decisive impact.

If it did, all pro gamers would do it.

"Listen to the whole story. 10 years."

"10 years?!"

"To achieve such reaction speed in full-dive, it would take about 10 years. Just a rough calculation."

"10 years?!"

"Yep. Without a single day off. At the same time every day, consistently. To the point where it appears in your dreams. Then, theoretically, it's possible. To achieve such a concentration level."

Of course, the engineer knew this was unrealistic.

10 years was longer than the existence of full-dive.

It had been 8 years since full-dive was commercialized and became popular.

How could he have done image training 2 years before that?

Even if it were possible.

Why? The question remained.

He was a corporate employee. Why would he do image training for 10 years?

It must have been very specific and intense training.

High-intensity training for 10 years?

It was beyond normal human will. In some sense, it was outside the realm of normalcy.

Almost a mental illness.

If he could do image training, he would usually just move his body.

'Why?'

But why did Almond do this?

To be good at virtual reality games?

If so, why only image training without actual practice?

"Come on. Who would do that! Maybe he's just a genius with a different brain structure from birth?"

"Hmm... It's possible. But..."

"But?"

"Such a conclusion is a bit boring. It's just that he was born that way. His brain is just like that. It's not a mathematical conclusion."

"Ah, right."

Meanwhile.

"Oh... 15 minutes have passed."

Already, half of Electromagnetic Wave's record had been surpassed.

And Almond still looked calm.