Season 2: Chapter 194: The Cautious Hunter (2)
The official purpose of The Avatar of LIL program was to introduce newly released champions and explore them with pros, but there was also another purpose behind it. One would immediately understand while listening to the production team members who came to watch today's filming.
"This one needs to sell well."
"Exactly. The last champion was a complete failure with poor performance and an unlikeable appearance."
"At least this one looks pretty. It might depend on taste though."
"I don't know... In my opinion, both the appearance and performance are... somewhat ambiguous, aren't they?"
"Well, it's not necessarily true that only the pretty, handsome, and strong ones sell well. First, they have to look interesting."
"Right, but I don’t know if this one is interesting... She's just an archer shooting arrows from the back. And she even shoots them slowly..."
"Ugh..."
His superior couldn't refute his words and groaned in frustration.
"In this case, the performance should at least appear to be good."
In fact, whether the character’s playstyle or appearance looked appealing were all secondary issues. In LIL, where victory was everything, performance had to be the best.
If word got out through this broadcast of The Avatar of LIL that the champion was ridiculously overpowered, it would sell like hotcakes. Of course, they couldn't actually make the champion's performance too good. That would disrupt the balance. The champion had to look good, but didn’t necessarily need to be good.
"It all depends on how today's guest performs."
The guest testing this champion out was crucial.
“Sigh,” the employee sighed after catching a glimpse of today's guest.
'Will it go well?'
Although OrangeKing confidently asserted it would be fine, casting well-known pros would have honestly been more comforting. After all, streamers played worse than pros.
'But he's known for being skilled...'
The employee knew who Almond was. He had a considerable reputation in and out of LIL during his active days.
The employee somewhat knew Almond’s level of skill, so he pinned his hopes on that.
"Mr. Almond has entered. Let's start."
The show officially began.
"First, please log in with the special account provided by the production company..."
***
Almond soon met the new champion Sori after logging in with the special account.
"Mr. Almond, let's first go to the Field of Exchange to meet the champion."
As the host instructed, Almond headed to theField of Exchange. Only one champion was there. It was Sori.
“Are you my new partner?”
The female champion Sori exuded vitality. She radiated confidence with skin that looked like soft chocolate and her vermilion eyes contained an exotic beauty.
She suddenly grabbed Almond's chin and pulled him closer.
“I like you. Partner.”
— ??
— Here we go again! Face ID!
— WTF, lol.
— Is this her concept?
— Damn, she’s going for it.
"Everyone, in case you misunderstand and file for an exchange or refund, it wasn't like this for me," OrangeKing explained.
— What the heck? haha.
— So true.
— WTF, hahahaha.
— I might be the one getting refunded by her.
"The character concept is that she only likes handsome men... Didn't they say something about Ran?"
"Ah, yes. It was a one-sided love affair. Sori has been following Ran around."
The production team displayed an animation. It was a cute cartoon of Sori hiding in the bushes and observing Ran.
"Ah, so the Cautious Hunter... is it about hunting in terms of dating?"
— Lol yeah, that's the true hunting
— LOL
— Ah ha~~?
— Hunter of emotional bars, haha.
"Yes. And she doesn't seem very cautious, does she?"
Sori kept talking to Almond. She was almost clinging to him.
"Anyway, Mr. Almond. This is just another day for you, right? You seem the calmest among us?"
"We’re the ones making a fuss right now while Almond is so calm over there."
The chat scrolled by at its fastest pace since the program started. Almond didn’t seem to care much.
"Mr. Almond? Now you can enter practice mode."
Almond nodded and headed into practice mode.
***
In practice mode, Almond tried to read the skill descriptions thoroughly first. However, he soon gave up.
‘Why is this so complicated?'
The skill mechanisms had become increasingly complex for recently released champions, making it difficult to read and understand without knowing anything. It was even harder for Almond since he hadn’t played LIL for that long.
OrangeKing's assistance was required here.
"First, what's the passive?"
OrangeKing already familiarized himself with the champion and could easily explain as an official commentator and a former professional gamer.
"Sori starts the game with only four arrows in her quiver."
"Huh? Just four arrows!?" the host reacted in shock.
"Yes, that's correct."
"What happens when all four are shot?"
"Then it recharges. The recharge time is two seconds."
"What!? That's deadly, isn't it?"
Two seconds was quite a long time in LIL. With the help of attack speed items, a player could attack over three times in a second in LIL.
"There must be some reward for that, right?"
"Ah, of course. Each shot is very painful. Why? Because this champion’s attack power increases by percentages instead of attack speed!"
"Ah...! So the attack speed doesn't increase?"
"Yes, it only reflects the user's base speed and nothing beyond that."
— Woah.
— So this is why she's called The Cautious Hunter.
— She really has to shoot cautiously.
Base speed referred to the speed at which a user swung or shot a weapon. It was the speed that was possible in reality. This was the base speed.
If a player increased their attack speed with items or skills, this exceeded what was possible.
"So Sori can only shoot at the speed of a human and only has four shots in total."
"Oh... this seems like a big handicap. We still need to see the damage output though, right?"
"Yes, that's why we invited our guest here today."
OrangeKing called for Almond, "Mr. Almond, are you ready?"
Almond made an OK sign to indicate that he was ready.
Then, a dummy appeared.
[Practice Dummy]
A practice dummy could only be used in practice mode. Not only did it have infinite health, but it also automatically calculated various indicators like the instant highest damage and DPS.
"Mr. Almond, shall we shoot now?"
Almond nodded and took out Sori's bow.
'A wooden bow...'
It looked the most rudimentary among all the bows he had seen. Indeed, the quiver only had four arrows. All of them had to be used before recharging.
Almond slowly took out an arrow and nocked it on the bowstring. It didn’t feel bad. It felt like the most realistic bow he had used in LIL.
"Ah, Mr. Almond. Before you shoot, there's something you should know—"
OrangeKing missed something from the script and quickly added, but…
Bang!
Almond had already released the arrow.
The arrow pierced right into the center of the dummy's forehead.
Thump!
In quick succession, three more arrows struck right beside the first in the dummy’s forehead. A total of four arrows neatly lined up as if afraid of hitting each other and going astray. It was truly a feat of masterful skill.
"...!"
Everyone was speechless with gaping mouths.
— ??
— Is that... the base attack speed?
— ?
— Wow, am I looking at it right? Look at the accuracy!
— Did he intentionally line them up?
— Insane.
— All four shots??
"That’s insane! As expected! I thought something flashed by, but they all hit!?"
"Wow...! I'm breathless!"
"The enemy would really be breathless!"
While everyone was amazed, Almond seemed unsatisfied and tilted his head.
'What was that last thing?'
He saw a strange afterimage when he shot the last arrow, so he paused momentarily because he didn't know what it was. As a result, he shot the fourth arrow slightly off tempo.
He found out what that was shortly afterward.
Whoooosh!
The last arrow he had shot suddenly caught on fire.
Boom!!
Flames spread to the left and right of the dummy.
"Ah ha! The fourth arrow will always be an elemental arrow! I meant to tell you this earlier, but you shot them all at once!"
— Lol yeah, he was too quick, hahaha.
— All 4 shots were instantly gone.
— Sorry, but this was the basic attack speed, everyone. - Almond.
OrangeKing continued explaining, "You can choose one of three elements when you shoot the fourth arrow: ice, fire, and wind. I believe you can choose one of these three."
‘Ah ha.’
Now Almond understood the afterimage he briefly saw when shooting the last arrow.
'So that was about choosing an element.'
He had been given the choice to select an element.
"Wait, OrangeKing! Let's check the total damage first!"
"Right. Yes."
"The total damage just now was 450!"
— Wow, 450 with 4 shots??
— That’s good damage, right?
— That much damage at level 1?
— Holy moly.
— Is that high?
— DPS is what matters the most.
"Ah, let me explain for viewers who don’t know. The average health of level one tanks is about 1000. For damage dealers, it starts at 670," OrangeKing clarified for the confused viewers in the chat.
"So 450 damage means... if all four shots hit, damage dealers are almost dead!"
"Yes! A little help from a supporter and they're basically dead!"
"So, has the slow attack speed been compensated enough?"
"Hmm. We need to check the DPS for that."
"Ah, right. Damage per second is important. Actually, 450 damage over a year would mean nothing, right? Haha."
— A year? WTF hahahaha.
— A year, lol. That’s insane.
— Suddenly changing the units, lol.
— This OrangeKing, smh.
"Yes... The world champions wound change in a year. Only 450 damage by then would be problematic."
"Ah, but what's impressive about this champion is the last elemental arrow's damage."
"How much is it?"
"It's 180. Including the flames that spread to the sides, all of it totals to 180."
"Wow?"
— This champ is very strong.
— So the elemental arrow is really strong
— The damage is decent.
— Wow?
Everyone seemed to acknowledge the respectable damage, but…
"Huh?"
The host hesitated for a moment after discovering something interesting.
"There's something interesting here. Do you want to guess the damage within the first second?"
"Just in the first second? It wouldn't be much..."
Given the considerable damage from the fourth arrow, the damage in the first second couldn’t be that great when calculated.
"It's 270."
"?!"
Those quick at math already knew what the number 270 meant.
— Oh... not bad?
— What? That’s quite high
— Hmm…
— ?
— Why are you all so surprised?
The chat still didn’t catch on to what the number 270 meant.
"Wait a minute."
OrangeKing, quick with his calculations, realized what the number meant.
"So... you're saying three arrows hit within one second?!"
The high damage wasn't because of the champion's performance.
— ??
— 3 arrows?
— Huh?
— What the heck? lol
Three arrows had accurately struck the dummy’s head in only a second. This performance was due to Almond.
"Right? A total of 450 minus 180 is 270. The normal arrow's damage is 90, and three arrows make 270. Exactly three arrows hit within the first second."
"Ah, isn't hitting more than three basic attacks within a second usually only possible with some items?"
"That, that's right."
"But Almond just did it, didn't he? Then what's the use of a handicap?"
— For real, hahaha.
— A human with a base attack speed of 3 hits per second, lol
— This guy is just fast.
— Today's living tip: If you're limited by attack speed, just shoot them faster.
— WTF, lol.
— What kind of human shoots 3 arrows in a second?
"So the handicap is useless, isn't it?!"
"Let's proceed with the next part. We'll teach you how to choose the elemental arrow. Mr. Almond, try shooting something other than fire."
OrangeKing suggested that Almond try shooting another elemental arrow.
"If you hit the target with the first three arrows, the last arrow becomes an elemental arrow. You can choose the element by slightly rotating your wrist.”
Almond nodded and shot again.
Bang-bang-bang!
Three arrows instantly flew out.
Then...
Click.
The last arrow was imbued with the wind element.
[Wind]
It was an exceptionally fast arrow specialized for assassination with percentage damage.
Boom!
The arrow immediately pierced right in the center of the dummy's head.
Again, the damage appeared on the screen in large numbers.
"...!"
"!?"
A few officials even stood up from their seats and murmured. The scene beyond the camera grew noisy. The production team seemed surprised at Almond’s performance.
"Ah, no. Is this the DPS? I mean, is this the correct number for damage per second?"