Chapter 61
Around noon the next day.
『’Falcon Eye’ has started streaming.』
Falcon Eye had begun his stream.
The title of the stream was ‘Blue Zone Tournament Review’. The stream screen displayed a still image of an eagle. Viewers began entering one by one.
-Open the door, boss Falcon@@@
-Fal-hi
-Fal-hi
-Knew this was coming lol
-Success with the straw!
The waiting time was just about 5 minutes. During that time, roughly 8,000 viewers entered. This was around the usual number for Falcon Eye’s streams. Considering the rising trend, he could potentially secure twice as many viewers.
Pop—
“Fal-hi! Hello everyone!”
The stream began. The falcon image disappeared, and Falcon Eye appeared on the screen. Even though it was his first stream in a while, the communication time didn’t last very long.
– Review!
– Review!
– Skip the game, let’s go!
– Come on, just get to the review, teacher~
Falcon Eye’s stream was a review show. Though there were fans who watched solely because they liked him, today was an exception.
In a flash, the viewer count surpassed 10,000. Most of them tuned in to see Falcon Eye’s review of the fight between Lee Suhyuk and Schneider.
“Aw man, feeling a little underappreciated here, folks.”
『’FeetWiperFalconEye’ has donated 1,000 points.』
『Review』
“… Of course, you guys get me. You know, right?”
Before starting the review in earnest. Falcon Eye checked a post that had recently heated up the community.
“Okay, first. Let’s take a look at the public opinion up to the day before yesterday.”
A post with over 50,000 views and 800 upvotes. It was an analysis piece comparing Lee Suhyuk and Schneider.
▶Fake Suhyuk vs. Schneider◀
『There’s no chance Fake Suhyuk wins. Even if he got the lightning, that premature guy can’t beat Schneider. Banban, you’re totally right.』
– lolol premature
– True facts
– That lightning is kind of a premature skill haha
– Honestly, that guy just makes it a self-destruct weapon
– Premature Hyuk lol
Reading the post along with the viewers, Falcon Eye grinned.
“Here’s a legendary post. It’s the top comment.”
One comment caught his eye.
– (Best) The only way to win is probably to go for a one-shot knockout lol
– Came here for the pilgrimage.
– Please make me win the Players Super Bowl
– Hmm~ It’s sweet, so sweet with a 4x win
– Did you regress? How did you know
Comments that implied his premature strategy had actually predicted the tournament’s outcome accurately.
“That’s right. It was a one-shot. But it wasn’t premature.”
Click-.
Falcon Eye played the prepared video.
Boom-!
With a clap of thunder, a lightning spear appeared in Lee Suhyuk’s hand. Schneider’s surprised expression.
“See this expression? Even Schneider was taken aback. He thought he’d win for sure, but his opponent was stronger than he expected.”
And the next moment. Suhyuk’s provocation followed.
“Then let me ask you one more thing. Are you going to run away?”
Tap-.
Falcon Eye paused the screen at that moment and said.
“It might seem underhanded, but I think provocation is a skill too.”
It just feels like you’re sucking up to Lee Suhyuk
“It’s true that I have a soft spot for Lee Suhyuk. No, not that kind of soft spot. Anyway, I don’t let personal bias affect my reviews. You guys know that, right?”
– Agreed
– Agreed
– Seriously, you ripped Roymon apart when you did that joint stream with him
– Roymon lol, he wasn’t even that bad tbh lol
Falcon Eye’s streams are known for their harshness. Even promising players groomed by guilds rarely receive his approval.
Streamer Roymon had the “skilled player” persona.
A long time ago. He did a joint stream with Falcon Eye and had to endure being torn to pieces in Falcon Eye’s review the next day.
“Please refrain from mentioning other streamers. Mods, handle those crossing the line ASAP. Anyway, back to the main topic.”
Quickly managing the chat, Falcon Eye returned to the review.
“Schneider responded to the provocation. It was a foolish move. I mean, just look at it. Doesn’t it look insane? Instead of attacking, shouldn’t he have thought of dodging?”
Even as he said this, Falcon Eye wasn’t overly critical.
“Well, there’s a certain romanticism to it.”
– Agreed
– So true
– Schneider… passed the romantic trial
– Honestly, Schneider won this one in my book. As a man lol
– No one laughed at Schneider for his recklessness.
In fact, many viewers admired Schneider more for his actions. People tend to like honest fools.
But.
Boom-!
“Still, romanticism doesn’t feed you. The result of clashing with that is this.”
Click-.
The video paused, showing Schneider on the floor and Suhyuk standing.
“The important part here is this. The spear Lee Suhyuk created.”
Rewinding the video, Falcon Eye showed Suhyuk when he first formed the spear.
“Doesn’t it look familiar?”
– Where?
– Isn’t it the one Lee Suhyuk used to use?
– No, that looks different. I watched all of Lee Suhyuk’s matches.
– Isn’t that the one he used to kill the Giant?
Snap-!
Falcon Eye snapped his fingers and shouted at a particular chat message.
“Exactly, that’s it! The lightning spear!”
As soon as the awaited answer came up, Falcon Eye presented a prepared image.
“Remember this? Ah, some of you might be seeing it for the first time. This is the legendary item Lee Suhyuk acquired during a trial, the Lightning Spear.”
Legendary.
Excluding the few mythical items, it’s practically the highest grade. A legendary-grade item typically nullifies any level restrictions for use.
Moreover, the Lightning Spear is a single-use item. Given that single-use items possess greater power compared to other items of the same grade, its strength wasn’t in doubt.
“But look closely. Doesn’t it resemble something?”
– Does it?
– Looks just yellow to me
– Somewhat similar
– Yeah, it does. The original one used by Real Suhyuk didn’t look like that
Among Falcon Eye’s regular viewers were many who enjoyed analyzing details. Those who understood what Falcon Eye was getting at started making a fuss.
– ?? No way, lol
– Did he throw it once to trial?
– Thwack?
– Creating a legendary-level item~
The skill Suhyuk wielded was lightning. And the legendary item from the Lightning Trial was named ‘Lightning Spear’.
Both shared the same fundamental property. So theoretically, creating a Lightning Spear using lightning wasn’t impossible.
However.
“So, this is my point!”
It was possible only ‘theoretically.’
“Of course, it’s not as powerful as the spear he threw back then. This is merely an imitated copy. But that’s because his stats are still lacking.”
If Lee Suhyuk were given more time and his level and stats increased. He would eventually be capable of throwing the actual Lightning Spear that severed the Giant’s lifeline.
『’AlwaysCritic’ has donated 10 points.』
『Is it really that amazing?』
A donation message appeared. The nickname suggested a critical stance towards Lee Suhyuk, but the question was quite fitting for the current discussion.
“Is it that amazing?”
Falcon Eye, perplexed, rephrased the question.
“If you taught someone to walk and they started flying, wouldn’t you think that’s amazing?”
*
Ting-a-ling—
With a pleasant bell sound, the door opened. Inside the bar, sitting alone like he had reserved the whole place, was Schneider.
“You’re here? Take a seat.”
“Why are you drinking alone?”
“You’re buying. Didn’t you win a pricey prize?”
“Look who’s being shameless.”
Worried about how expensive it might be, Suhyuk glanced at the menu. Thankfully, it wasn’t an expensive place. Suhyuk sat next to Schneider and said.
“I’ll have the same.”
“Cheers.”
The bartender, with a scruffy beard, soon brought out some cheap vodka. Only 100 points per bottle, it was the cheapest drink in the house.
“Why not splurge on something expensive?”
Suhyuk asked, puzzled as to why Schneider was drinking such cheap alcohol. Schneider let out a soft chuckle and tilted the bottle to take a swig.
“Back then, I had many people to buy me drinks.”
His gaze swept across the empty seats of the bar.
“So I couldn’t drink anything expensive. Too many mouths to feed… my wallet would have emptied if I bought for everyone.”
“You weren’t the only one paying, right?”
“I was. Back then.”
As Schneider looked at his reflection in the bottle, he continued in a nostalgic voice.
“It was because of my stubbornness that everyone challenged the Thunder Cave.”
At those words, Suhyuk’s hand, which was opening the vodka, paused. Schneider was talking about the first time he challenged the Thunder Cave.
“What are you doing? Let’s talk while we drink.”
“I don’t really like alcohol.”
“Just drink enough to not get drunk. If you really can’t handle it, use your magic to dissipate it.”
Clink—
Saying so, Schneider forcefully clinked his bottle against Suhyuk’s. Seeing the number of empty bottles, Suhyuk realized Schneider was quite drunk.
‘This isn’t something you talk about sober, I guess.’
To match the mood, Suhyuk drank the vodka as expected. As if he had been waiting, Schneider began to speak.
“Everyone was poor back then. I was too. We didn’t have the backing of a huge guild, nor were we skilled enough to confidently hunt.”
It wasn’t just that. In fact, most players were like that. Now, Suhyuk could easily earn thousands or even tens of thousands of points thanks to his stream. But third-floor players constantly struggled for points.
“You need points to take the trials. And if you die in the trial, you lose even more points.”
Schneider murmured as he finished the rest of his drink.
“Life was such a grind… You probably can’t even imagine it.”
“Probably not.”
Though Suhyuk wanted to hear about the Thunder Cave as soon as possible, the atmosphere wasn’t right to rush him.
“What can we players do to earn points? Only hunting. That day was the same. We went hunting to earn trial fees and level up even a little.”
“That day?”
“Yeah, that day.”
Sadness flickered in Schneider’s eyes.
“We met the Sky Serpent.”
“Sky Serpent….”
Just a few days ago. It was the monster whose scales Suhyuk had hunted and sold. It was also the encounter where Schneider and Suhyuk first crossed paths.
“At that time, it was way out of our league. Seven inexperienced players couldn’t even touch it.”
Schneider now might be different. But twenty years ago, he was just an ordinary player climbing the third floor. And for someone like Schneider and his companions, the Sky Serpent was.
“Do you know what happened?”
As if resigned to his fate.
He let out a bitter smile and lowered his head.
“Four of them died. My comrades… no, my friends.”