The Veteran Swordmaster’s Stream (Novel) - Chapter 14

Chapter 14

There was a channel point system on Travel.

Channel points referred to points that automatically accumulated under certain conditions while watching Travel, and usually, a viewer starting Travel for the first time could receive 100 points.

And although rare, viewers who had watched Travel for a long time even accumulated points in the millions.

However, what kind of rewards could be obtained with the points collected in that way varied from streamer to streamer.

This was because it was the streamer who set those rewards.

In broadcasts that did not care about or put meaning into points, no matter how many points were accumulated, there was not much of a place to use them.

However, in the rooms of streamers who actively utilized them, as long as the amount was sufficient, one could start by changing the chat letters with points, acquire or modify emoticons, and even request songs or horror games from the streamer.

But there was another real reason why viewers liked these points.

“Now! I’ve given you plenty of submission time, so place your bets comfortably, everyone.”

It was because of the channel point prediction, in other words, a system of betting points on the broadcast’s content.

[Prediction]

[Within today’s broadcast~]

[He will find one or two of those ‘grain’ things by fluke.]

vs

[No, he will find up to three or four.]

vs

[What kind of nonsense is that? Mr. Unnamed will also return empty-handed just like everyone else. (0)]

vs

[No. Mr. Unnamed is an alien with a third eye that sees the grain! (Finds 4 or more)]

Several predicted scenarios that Alpaca had written in advance popped up.

Now, viewers could check the real-time odds, number of participants, total bet points, and so on, and place their points on one of these predictions.

-Ah lol of course he can’t find them lolol

-Surely there’s no sucker betting on the alien, right?

-I feel like he’ll find one or two, let’s go!

-Hey suckers, this hyung is releasing premium info. A few days ago, it briefly became a hot topic in the community, and hundreds of people tried it, but nobody could find it so it got buried. You get it by now, right?

Of course, since points had no monetary value, were generated solely by watching Travel, and were digital content that could not be exchanged or traded, this prediction system was not gambling.

It did not matter at all even if they lost them.

No matter how many were accumulated, in most cases, the only thing one could do was type a slightly more colorful chat that would get buried in a second at best.

But.

That was just how human psychology worked.

Humans were creatures who felt like they were somehow losing out if they were told to give a comic book they hadn’t read in ten years to their cousin for no reason.

But what if they directly bet and lost their points?

Even if it had no meaning, wanting to win the prediction and gather points was like an instinct.

-Always the safe bet.

-Wow, there are actually kids who believe he’ll see it and are betting lolol

-Crazy underdog betters lolol betting on 1%? lol

“What is a ‘safe bet’ and what is a ‘long shot’?”

Seo-jun quietly watched the chat window and asked what he was curious about.

Alpaca answered kindly.

“Ah. A ‘safe bet’ refers to a bet where you put money on a team expected to win, so the probability of winning is higher, but if you win, you earn less money.”

“Ah. Then a ‘long shot’ would be the opposite.”

“That’s right. It’s usually said about people aiming for a single big jackpot.”

“Hmm. Then that’s strange. Why has ‘I can find it’ become the long shot?”

Seo-jun knew how absurd it sounded to say that he could see the grain if one did not know his past life.

He also understood why the real-time betting ratio of points was 55% for ‘won’t find anything’, 39% for ‘will find one or two’, 5% for ‘will find three or four’, and 1% for ‘he is an alien’.

But for the sake of fun, Seo-jun put on a truly shameless face and continued speaking.

“Everyone. If you bet on me ‘finding four or more’, it’s a hundred-fold return. Trust me.”

-Does that even make sense? lolol

-Why should I trust you and entrust my precious memories?

“Memories? What memories?”

“Ah! Because these points are built up while watching the broadcast, they are sometimes called memories.”

“You’re betting those precious memories on something like gambling? Wow.”

-True lolol

-That was a savage roast lolol

-Yeah, still not betting lol

“Now, now. Then, into the game…”

[‘Assassin of joseon’ made a generous donation of 10,000 won!]

[I trusted Seo-jun and bet all the points I gathered over three years on four or more, am I normal?]

-No

-Kyah! Foreign currency has entered

-What a sucker lolol

-True lol

Usually, when a viewer from another channel placed a bet, it was expressed as foreign currency entering.

“Ah. Congratulations. You’ll win a hundred-fold. Probably.”

Seo-jun grinned.

That was, of course, if the system called the ‘grain’ was the rule Seo-jun was thinking of.

But what if it wasn’t?

Well, then nothing could be done about it.

To be honest, he felt like it existed.

An intuition built up through his past life.

He just knew.

“Now! Then let’s go check it out. We don’t know the result either. It’s just because Seo-jun said he felt like it existed. We can’t take responsibility.”

-Probably lololol

-Soon, three years of memories will fly away

-Truly the heart of a beast shudder

The prediction time ended, and Seo-jun ran Dawn of the Assassins.

“Ah, wait a second!”

Alpaca’s scream of unknown cause was buried as the screen transitioned.

***

Darkness fell over the highland background in an instant, and Seo-jun appeared in the middle of Alteon.

A pipe was held in his right hand, and the half-destroyed theater troupe caught his eye in front.

Seo-jun moved away, turned on the Co-op Assassination feature, wandered slightly, and invited Alpaca from his friends list.

After waiting for a brief moment, a figure slowly slithered up from the shadow.

It was Alpaca.

“Phew. Fortunately, you invited me well. Right after sending you off with the viewers, I went ‘ah, shoot’.”

-lololol

-There has never been such a craftsman until now.

So that was why he had screamed?

They first went to a tavern and opened the skill window.

“Now. The place we’re going to visit is a residential area where the upper class lives, which is one of the four sectors; in the game, it’s called the Northeastern End.”

Alpaca pretended to explain to Seo-jun while naturally beginning to deliver information to the viewers.

The place they were going to was the Northeastern End.

It was a place where commercial and cultural facilities such as luxury shops and entertainment facilities for the upper class were developed, and townhouses were lined up.

Going to the outskirts, it was the undisputed center of Alteon, where the grand mansions of nobles stood.

“To put it simply, it’s the wealthy district of Alteon.”

The place where Ettore used to reside was also this Northeastern End.

There were many plazas and parks here, and there was also a straight street called the Noble Path that connected the residences of the great nobles to the royal castle.

The difficulty of assassinating key figures was just below that of the royal castle.

Unlike the crowded Sector 4, the Northeastern End was easy to get detected due to its wide and open space, and there was a guard patrol that went around periodically.

The reason they came here.

“We’re here.”

While walking along the street, a scream was heard from beyond a grand mansion.

Alpaca climbed over the wall, and Seo-jun followed suit.

Because action correction was applied, they could easily scale a wall that was over three meters high.

As they crossed the wall like assassins, the sight of a young man, who looked like a noble’s son, tormenting a child dressed in tattered rags by stabbing them with a rapier caught their eyes in the garden.

“That kid is Lewis Neville, the son of Richard Neville, the Ruler of the Northeastern End.”

He was also the protagonist of the video where the weapon was destroyed.

“We should first verify your skills, right?”

“Sure.”

Seo-jun nodded and stepped forward.

Then he pulled out the sword he had received from Alpaca from his inventory.

This was because it was difficult to target precise areas with a pipe. Though in truth, it did not really matter to Seo-jun.

From behind, Alpaca began to commentate.

“Now, everyone, even if you know where to strike to cause destruction, replicating it accurately is a difficult task. I believe that simply recreating the video is a level of difficulty higher than parrying. Of course, with Seo-jun’s skills, he will succeed quickly, but still, a few failures… Huh?”

The matter was finished in an instant.

As Seo-jun approached, Lewis Neville smirked and suddenly thrust his sword, and Seo-jun lightly dodged to the side as if he had expected it, then drew a diagonal line across the blade of the thrust rapier exactly as he had seen in the video.

At the exact position and with the same speed as the video.

Even though it was a sword he had just held, he adjusted the distance as if it were a part of his body.

Seo-jun’s indifferent expression, looking as if it were no big deal, was reflected, and Lewis’s estoc cracked wide open and was destroyed as if the grain of a tree had been struck by an axe.

-Eh? You said it’s difficult?

-A few failures, my foot lolol

-Wow, a craftsman is indeed a craftsman.

-Are the safe-betters starting to get nervous?

[Spot Weakness]

[Unlock Condition: Destroy weapons through the grain 10 times (1/10)]

Seo-jun’s skill window updated.

“Kyah. You finished it in one go. Something really is different between you and us.”

Alpaca repeatedly voiced his admiration.

Even after replaying the video dozens of times, he had only managed to succeed after tens of attempts.

Even if the enemy’s sword was still, drawing a line at the exact location was harder than one would think.

But hitting it in the middle of combat, and succeeding in one go at that, was definitely an amazing feat.

However.

Alpaca approached Seo-jun.

“Still, you know it hasn’t been proven yet, right?”

-It’s so annoying seeing the long-shot betters getting all cocky just because he succeeded in that one thing lolol

-Please wake up

-True

-In the first place, if it was something he could find so easily, wouldn’t other people have found it long ago, you long-shot betters?

“Well, that’s true.”

Seo-jun nodded and finished off Lewis Neville.

Then he recalled the sensation from moments ago.

“But. I became sure just now.”

“Yes? Of what?”

“That the rule I thought of is correct.”

For someone who had only destroyed one weapon through the grain just now, it was an incredibly arrogant remark.

-ㅋㅋㅋ I’m sure you did

-Kids who fall for this should be careful of pyramid schemes, for real

-It’s been days since the game was released, and there’s only one case that’s come out so far

“Well, seeing is believing, so I’ll show you right away.”

Just then, a soldier could be seen running over this way after hearing the scream of Lewis, whom he had finished off.

The shield and sword they were holding.

He had to find the weakness that could break those.

An acquired vulnerability created by a crack in the object, or a minute distortion in the shape and structure, just like the grain of wood.

‘The developer implemented that.’

A vital point.

‘I think a former Shaolin Abbot who obtained the Mind’s Eye said he saw something similar.’

Regardless of whether it was an object or a martial art.

Was it a similar concept?

He had not obtained a Mind’s Eye like Shaolin’s Abbot. His enlightenment in martial arts was definitely higher in his past life, but the insight and understanding regarding physical objects were higher in the eminent Shaolin monk.

Therefore, he actually could not see what was called the grain. No, he did not even know it.

Both in the past, and even now.

But.

‘In the end, the grain of this game is something planted by the developer.’

It meant that there was no need to recite scriptures and realize the Dao to understand the enlightenment of objects.

He only had to grasp the enemy’s intention, that is to say, the developer’s intention.

And that kind of fight was Seo-jun’s specialty, having accumulated vast combat experience.

Seo-jun closed his eyes with his sword raised high.

The guard’s movements were obvious anyway.

-lolol

-Did he give up?

-Why are you closing your eyes, mister lolol

Inside Seo-jun’s head, numerous diagonal lines were drawn on the shield and sword held by the guard.

At various angles.

There were two cases of the grain that he knew of. Even then, only one was directly experienced.

But this alone was enough.

Among the countless diagonal lines drawn as an illusion, those that did not align with the developer’s thoughts were erased.

And.

Seo-jun’s arm slowly began to descend.