Chapter 69: Just a Dream (1)

Slam!

The sharp axe split open the floor that Almond stood on.

"Woah..."

He quickly dodged to the side and seemed relaxed even after the fast attack.

Almond muttered to himself like when he streamed, "A little rude to start as soon as the lights turned on."

Swoosh!

A long spear flew toward him in an attempt to break his confidence.

"Urk!"

Fwip—?

Almond threw his body to the side and dodged it.

Slam!

The spear also split the ground and landed next to the axe. It didn’t end there.

Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh!

Multiple blades flew toward him at the same time.

"...!"

Almond froze for a moment.

'Where's the blind spot?'

The projectiles flew together, but a blind spot always existed. The video showing JeonJaPa's gameplay always had an opening like any video game.

'Over there.'

Chak—?

Sang-Hyeon discovered the blind spot and threw himself toward it. He rolled to the spot.

Kaang!

The blades sparked as they collided in mid-air.

He successfully dodged them and a burst of laughter could be heard above him.

“Wow! As expected from Almond, you're not backing down easily!” A voice loudly echoed. Yu Ha-Yeon became so huge that she looked down at the stadium.

— Wow!

— Yu Ha-Yeon, so mean!

— So suddenly? Without a word?!

— As expected, stay alive!

— She's so big... and beautiful!

— LOL

— So cute.

— So big!

— What's JeonJaPa's record?

— JeonJaPa's record?

“Many people are asking for JeonJaPa's score... Here!”

Slam!

The giant Yu Ha-Yeon lifted a sign that read:

[30 minutes 39 seconds]

JeonJaPa had survived for an impressive thirty minutes. It felt insane even after seeing his time again. To dodge flying things like that for thirty minutes?

— Damn.

— Hoho.

“How is it? Isn't it crazy? Sorry Almond, but JeonJaPa's score is out of reach, right?”

Almond busily dodged the weapons flying at him as Yu Ha-Yeon provoked him. He lightly moved on his feet.

Thump! Thump!

The weapons didn't even brush past Almond as they shattered the floor around him.

“Wow... you sure are different! 71% of users would've been knocked out already.”

Almond felt surprised that 71% of users would already be knocked out.

'From this?'

He couldn't fathom players being knocked out from just this. This was nothing compared to what he watched in the videos.

As expected…

“Alright, the easy part is over now!”

It seemed like a new wave would begin.

— Ezpz

— LOL

— Just the easy part?!

— Kumph

— Poor Almond...

— Noooo

— ??? Noona!! I'm really going to die!!!

“It’s the real test now! Phase two! Let's go!”

***

After Yu Ha-Yeon shouted…

Kukukukung!!!

The floor Almond stood on began to rumble. The shattered square floor fell apart due to all the attacks and an empty void was revealed underneath. A player would inevitably die if they fell down.

— Woah, the floor is coming apart!

— Nooo!

— Don't die, Almond!!!

— Wow, that's crazy.

— Oh, it's different from when JeonJaPa played.

This hadn’t been in JeonJaPa's gameplay video. They added a variation so players couldn't memorize the patterns.

— How is he supposed to suddenly dodge them?

— Oh shit, the floor is coming apart!

— Is there a rule?

— Damn!

It looked like some tiles suddenly disappeared, but this was also a hint.

'There's a small warning.'

Only the tiles struck by weapons disappeared. Secondly, the tiles slightly rumbled before disappearing like a controller vibrating.

“Let's do it for real!” Yu Ha-Yeon's bright voice rang out after some tiles fell into the void.

Brrr...

'It's coming!'

Almond quickly dodged after feeling the vibrations.

Slam! Slam!

The tile Almond stood on remained even as others chaotically fell apart.

— Wow, did he memorize it from somewhere?

— How is he doing that?

— Memorize from where? This didn't even exist when JeonJaPa played it.

The audience grew suspicious because he kept perfectly dodging onto tiles that didn't fall.

Yu Ha-Yeon quickly chimed in, "He didn't memorize anything! We didn’t give him any information before the test at all! Anyways, Almond is amazing! He's dodging everything! He's like a movie character on a bridge that's falling apart!!!"

— Lmao, the comparison.

— LOL

— For real.

— The main character never dies!

Yu Ha-Yeon exaggerated a bit, but she wasn't wrong.

Brrrrr!

Almond easily found and hopped to the normal tiles even as several fell apart in waves. He didn’t show a hint of panic on his face.

Rather, Almond seemed bored as the floor beneath him fell apart.

— Damn.

— Wow, he's so relaxed.

— Bubblegum would’ve already died five times.

— I'd be screaming if it were me.?

Five minutes passed like that.

'The pattern changed.'

Now the tiles that hadn’t been damaged by weapons also fell apart.

Kugugung!

He couldn't predict which tiles would disappear anymore. He had to act solely on the vibrations he felt. Almond's steps became a little slower.

Three more minutes passed.

“Amazing! Eight minutes! He's easily survived for eight minutes! He's already in the top 11%! Are you sure it's only been three weeks since you first used a capsule?!”

At that moment…

Swoosh!!!

An axe precisely flew toward Almond as he maneuvered around the disappearing tiles.

'It's starting to combine with the flying weapons.'

Almond sped up to dodge the axe.

Kwakwang!

The tile fell with a strange noise.

'Now the tiles struck by a weapon will instantly fall.'

Almond quickly realized the new pattern.

'Dodge the weapons, the rumbling tiles, and the tiles struck by weapons.'?

He repeated those three rules in his head and learned the projectiles’ patterns while moving around the falling tiles. This wouldn’t be possible in reality, but it was possible thanks to full dive.

“Ten minutes have passed! Almond is now in the top 9%!”

'It feels disgustingly long.'

He had only reached one-third of JeonJaPa's thirty minute record.

***

Meanwhile, in the engineer's room that kept track of Almond's data…

"

Uh...

Sir? Is this the right calculation?" one of the assistants asked the engineer.

Stay Alive wasn't a test to measure how long the player could survive. It was supposed to show a player’s capabilities in virtual reality by calculating their VNS as they survived various obstacles.

However, a problem occurred. One of their graphs for the test was off the charts.

The engineer felt confused too, "

Uh...

I'm not sure. That’s really high, but there's nothing wrong with the machine."

The graph displayed the player’s level of concentration and was almost maxed out on the screen.

The engineer began rubbing his chin.

'Everything else should be high as well if that’s high.'

Concentration controlled everything in the world of full dive. A player’s physical abilities would also be high if they possessed a high concentration. Most skills and abilities in virtual reality could be measured from this.

Of course, concentration wasn't everything. Other minor factors mattered as well.

'If it's like that, the VNS should be over 250.'

He calculated a rough number in his head, but it didn't make sense. He had only seen a number like that for one other person.

'He's on the same level as JeonJaPa?'

The country's number one virtual gamer, JeonJaPa. Not only was he the best in the country, but he also dominated the world.

JeonJaPa’s charts matched what the engineer was currently seeing.

The assistant asked again, "Is it possible to have stats so high?"

"

Hmm...

It's not impossible. JeonJaPa was also like this."

"

Ah...

I-I see."

"There's no way you'd know since you weren't there. It's such a rare case, so we don't even train people on it."

The engineer put his face right up to the game screen.

"But... I can't believe I'm seeing this number again. This is interesting."

Almond continued dodging the projectiles and falling tiles on the screen. He perfectly dodged them without a single mistake.

Dodging well wasn't strange because most pro gamers could survive up to this point. However, something else was different. Almond displayed another level of confidence. The way he dodged seemed much smoother.

'Interesting.'

The engineer became fascinated at how smoothly Almond could move. Almond didn’t have any excess movements and he evaded as if he knew the projectile's trajectory.

No other tester made the engineer feel this way except JeonJaPa. It felt incredible to watch Almond’s gameplay up close.

'Will he really be JeonJaPa’s successor?'?

It wasn't unusual for another genius to appear since JeonJaPa existed. However, being good at this test didn't qualify them as a genius just like someone with a high IQ couldn’t automatically be called a genius.

"But isn't that person 29 years old?"

He was 29 and turning 30 soon. How was a man close to 30 showing this level of concentration?

JeonJaPa had been 23 years old when he took this test. He was already a pro gamer and in his prime, but someone who just started playing was showing these numbers?

It didn't make sense. What did this guy do in the past?

"Yes, he's 30. Is that possible?"

"

Hm.

Well, it's happening in front of our eyes right now."

He didn't want to admit it, but he couldn't deny what he was seeing as an engineer. What was happening was real. It was part of the statistics.

Then he had to find a reason. How or why was it possible? That was his job.

The engineer faced a predicament.

He muttered something after a while and reached an epiphany, "Image training."

"Sorry?"

"It's possible if he repeatedly did image training."

The assistant seemed confused.

Image training? Of course, image training helped out in full dive.

However...

"No way..."

Image training wasn't significant enough to influence performance to this extent. If that were true, every pro gamer would practice image training.

"Let me finish. Ten years."

"Sorry?!"

"You would have to image train for at least ten years if you want to achieve that reaction speed in full dive. It's a simple calculation."

"Ten years?!"

"Yeah, every single day without missing one… at the same time, the same routine, every day. You almost have to dream about it as well. Then, it would be possible in theory… to achieve that level of concentration."

Of course, the engineer knew best that it wasn't possible. Full dive hadn’t even been released for ten years. Only eight years had passed since full dive became public.

No one could possibly have trained for full dive two years before its release. Even if they could, why would they?

Almond used to be a salaryman in a big company. Why would he do image training every day for ten years? Not only that, it would have to be a very specific and challenging type of image training.

Training at the highest level every day for ten years? An average person's will couldn't handle that. It was beyond the normal spectrum. It was close to insanity. One would rather just move their body instead of image training to that extent.

'Why?'

Why would Almond do such a thing?

To do well in virtual reality? If so, then that answered the question of why he only did image training.

"No way! Who does that! Maybe their brain works differently from birth. Maybe they're a genius!"

"

Hmm...

That's possible, but..."

"But?"

"That's not a very fun answer. He's like that from birth. From the beginning. The brain is like that. It's illogical."

"

Ah...

Right."

Meanwhile…

"

Ooh...

15 minutes have passed."

Almond had already reached halfway towards JeonJaPa's record and his eyes were still full of confidence.