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Chapter 173. The Laughing Joker (2)

Chapter 173. The Laughing Joker (2)

Tako was shaking after hearing the shocking statement. It wasn't out of anger. He was afraid.

'Who is this guy?'

Flashy Blade Swift was undoubtedly the embodiment of dual-wielding daggers in combat. In a dazzling and skillful battlefield where two daggers seemed insignificant, they were undoubtedly special weapons that shined in the arena.

This was because the wielder could instantly teleport to where the daggers were thrown and even summon them back into their hands. These two abilities were Swift's main skills. While there was also a lightweight offensive technique, these two skills were the most crucial.

With them, Swift could become the most powerful champion who effortlessly manipulated the battlefield or a buzzing fly that flitted around and eventually met its end. In most cases, players became the latter due to the difficulty of controlling such abilities.

'How is he playing a champion like that with one hand?'

Swift was a champion where even using both hands and feet could still result in being a troll, but to handle such a champion with just one hand? Realizing it firsthand by hearing it from the person's mouth truly astonished Tako.

"Is that... weird? In JeonJaPa's videos, he fought often using one dagger."

Almond was right.

Most of Swift's skills used only one dagger while the other was put away. Tako recalled the uneasiness he felt during their battles.

'He only used his left hand.'

Almond was only using his left hand. There was a difference between switching to a one-handed style and using only the left arm from the beginning.

"Almond, why are you trying to only use one hand? Knowing you, I doubt you were doing it to spite me."

Almond waved his hands upon hearing that.

"To spite you? No way. It's because my playtime is affected."

"... Your playtime?'

It was an unexpected answer.

"What are you talking about?"

"... It's a little hard to explain, but if I use my left arm only, my energy is saved."

"...?"

Tako brushed it off because he felt that Almond didn't want to talk about it.

'What is it?'

Tako thought it was strange. If Almond only used his left arm, shouldn’t playing longer be harder? Instead, it helped him save energy? Tako couldn't understand from the perspective of a regular player.

"Ah, anyways... Almond, if you want, you can use both arms, right?"

"Of course, I always use both hands when I'm playing ADC."

"Then..."

After he checked what he needed to do as a coach, Tako didn't speak on the matter any further and made a decision.

"I think you should go as the substitute for mid."

"...?"

Mid was the most important position in the game. Currently, Miho was playing as mid, but they needed to decide on a substitute in case of unforeseen circumstances.

"Not you or Strawberry?"

"Strawberry's sub position is ADC, and I'll be the jungle sub. You beat me with one hand. How can I go mid?"

"Ah..."

Almond was going to add on, but backed off.

"I think that's enough practice for now."

That afternoon, the tournament roster was officially posted.

Top - Bubblegum / Miho

Jungle - StrawberryShooter / Takoyaki

Mid - Miho / Almond

ADC - Almond / StrawberryShooter

Support - Takoyaki / Bubblegum / StrawberryShooter

— Is Almond subbing mid? Not support?

— Almond must be threatening Tako with something

— Miho has to go mid

— What the?? Did they mistype?

— Is this team trying to lose?

The mid-lane was the most important position in the game. This raised many questions about Tako's situation. He was already receiving criticism for making Almond the main ADC, and Almond had never shown any signs of playing mid. Typically, assassins and mage-like champions appeared in the mid-lane, but Almond never demonstrated proficiency in either of these categories.

— The power rankings are going to have some fun with this.

— Changing positions after the 1 vs.1 was kind of crazy too

— Are all of Tako's brain cells in his hair? What's with his decisions?!

└ Tako was a pro?

└ For real, LOL

***

[This World - Bubblegum]

At 5 P.M., Bubblegum's team gathered in his This World's channel.

"Alright, everyone's turned off their streams, right?"

"Yes."

Tako checked the streams. Their meeting wasn't supposed to be broadcast.

"You've probably already seen the posted roster."

Tako started explaining in front of a hologram whiteboard while the other four looked up like students.

"Everyone's agreed to their main positions, but Almond's been changed to the sub-mid position."

Originally, Tako was the sub for mid-lane, but right before the official roster was posted, his sub position switched with Almond.

"This will be our joker pick."

Everyone would be surprised because Almond only knew how to play ADC. How would he play mid?

"What kind of joker pick are you talking about..?" Bubblegum asked while raising his hand.

"Almond's Swift. Before he did the one-on-one, he kept practicing with me."

The teammates mumbled among themselves, hearing this for the first time.

"Really?"

"They did something like that?"

"H-He beat me while doing that?"

The teammates were shocked to hear Almond was also practicing privately on his own.

"Wow! It suits you!"

Miho was the first one to shout that the champion suited him. However, other than Miho, no one else thought so.

'He's only played ranged champions. Can he do it?'

"Well, he said he's been practicing, so...'

It significantly differed from the champions Sang-Hyeon had shown on his streams. It was a joker pick. Not only would the enemy not expect it, but his allies also had their doubts.

"Oppa! I'll teach you mid! You'll be better than me!"

Miho didn't have any doubts.

Tap. Tap.

Tako tapped on the whiteboard to grab their attention again.

"This is my decision. Since it's swapping myself out, no one has any complaints, right?"

All the teammates nodded. Everyone agreed once already, so the meeting went smoothly.

"Alright, everyone. Then let's all turn on our streams. The others are going to do a power ranking content, kind of like an opening ceremony."

The tournament wasn't the only content for the in-house event. The preparation for the tournament itself was content as well. This further excited viewers for the event, adding a layer of satisfaction for the eventual victors. The process had to be streamed too. This was agreed upon with the event planners beforehand.

'It's my first time streaming with so many people at once.'

Almond was no exception and turned on his stream. He felt strange since it was his first time streaming as a group of five.

[Stream is starting.]

The intro music skipped, and the viewers came in.

— AlHa, AlHa!

— AlHa!

— Mana stream, ON!

— Is this the stream? Where silver = master?

— Welcome to the world of opposite ranks!

— AlHa!

The chat was still throwing around memes about StrawberryShooter. Making fun of his rank... Making fun of his name, etc.

— The father of all silver players! Almond!

— Our hope! Almond! Every Korean needs to watch him!

Meanwhile, Almond’s fanbase among the lower-ranked players grew.

[Current Viewers: 18k]

As soon as the stream started, he had close to 18,000 viewers. The tournament's influence was immense. Almond scratched his head.

"Alright~~! You guys waited a long time, right?"

At that moment, a voice with a commanding tone interjected. It was a voice that seemed to resonate throughout the entire This World.

"Hello, Treevy streamers! Everyone who's participating in the in-house tournament, welcome!"

Wooong.

A large hologram materialized above Tako. It was the caster in charge of hosting this tournament.

"My name is caster Kim Sang-Hoon!"

Kim Sang-Hoon was an official tournament caster. It was expensive to hire him, but they could cast him because the official tournament was in their off-season.

— Ohhh!

— They spent some money on this tournament.

— As expected of Treevy!

— Sang-Hoon is the best!

— He's heating up the atmosphere!

— The temperature is rising!!!

His loud voice and strong movements. He definitely knew how to lead the stage.

"The power rankings, aka the opening ceremony, is about to begin."

Ting.

As he flicked his finger, a large screen appeared.

"Our trustworthy casters and analysts are going to assess everyone's skills! Don't be disappointed with the power ranking results, and continue as normal please!"

It sounded like the analysts were quite cold.

"It's fun to see what happens after the practice and actual matches as well! Above all, the in-house is for fun, right?"

— Yes~~!

— That's right!

— Hehehe

"I think I hear the shouting from the chat as well. Alright, let's watch it together!"

***

The person appearing on the screen was caster Lee Jin-Hyuk.

“Hello! It's OrangeKing!”

His nickname was OrangeKing. Beside him were two other casters and analysts. The camera captured all three of them.

“I'm honored to be invited to this in-house tournament for the power rankings.”

— OrangeKing is bsing again

— Shut your orange mouth

— You liar...

— Honored my ass!

Despite his light remarks, OrangeKing was infamous for his cold judgments. The players were quite nervous.

“Well, let's get to the main topic. Let me ask you guys directly. Who do you guys think is the strongest team?”

The three simultaneously lifted a hologram panel that read, [High Protein].

“As expected, team High Protein is the most anticipated.”

“I believe it deserves the unanimous decision.”

“That's right. They have SweetRadish, who just retired as a pro. And he's playing mid as well.”

“If the mid is good, the game flows much easier.”

“Other than SweetRadish, the other amateur players seem slightly better than their respective ranks.”

“That's right. Even if they're Gold or Silver, they feel like reliable Gold and Silver players.”

“That's right.”

The team only received compliments.

“I hear AcornJelly is Platinum rank. He's also one of the best in Platinum, right?”

“That's right.”

'So AcornJelly is on that team.'

Sang-Hyeon finally realized this was the team AcornJelly was playing on. He heard the news that AcornJelly was participating, but it felt new to learn that he could see him again.

“Whoever faces this team needs to watch out for their mid. Unless they have a joker pick, they won't be able to beat them.”

“That's right. There's inevitably a massive difference between a pro and an amateur. Even by looking at the average VNS…”

‘VNS?’

He hadn't heard the term in a while. Almond recalled trying to beat the record.

“Ah, wait. Since we're talking about VNS, I just remembered…”

Lee Jin-Hyuk changed the topic.

“There's a player I wanted to mention. In terms of VNS, no one comes close to him.”

“Ah... That person.”

“Right! That person! He's pretty popular these days, right?”

Lee Jin-Hyuk brought a player card and put it on the whiteboard.

'Almond.'

It was Almond.

— Kya~! World class!

— Wow, he's the first to be mentioned out of the amateurs.

— Lee Hyun-Seok's pick!

— We still don't know what he got picked for, LOL

— Of course, they have to mention him when they're talking about VNS!

Almond's viewers were excited to hear his name being mentioned.

“The Silver who beat the Master. Master-beater. It's none other than Almond.”

“Master-beater? What's that?”

“It's just a term the people gave him.”

“Hahahaha,” the people laughed.

“Damn. People come up with some weird terms.”

“These people are quite smart.”

“Do we need to start calling him that too?”

“Haha, maybe. That's how much of an impact it has these days.”

OrangeKing came back to the main topic.

“Alright. Let's go back to the topic of Almond. He's registered as Bronze, but he's now Silver. Is this okay?”

“Ah, yes. The rule was the player's top rank of the season counted, but Almond's rank went up after the registration. There are no problems.”

“Ah. The problem is that some people could purposely lower their rank and raise it up, right?”

“That's right. Improving throughout the tournament itself is no problem at all.”

“Alright. Then we can hear about Almond with no worries.”

Lee Jin-Hyuk lifted Almond's card and asked, “If we give him a score, what should it be? S, A, B, let's give him a letter rating.”

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