Chapter 201 : Soaring
Chapter 201: Soaring
In combat, 'speed' is an extremely powerful weapon.
The reason was simple, needing no explanation.
The faster side has a vastly wider range of options than the slower side.
Whether choosing attack, defense, or evasion, the one with superior speed naturally has a much greater advantage over those who lack it.
It could be simply expressed as 'having the initiative.' Though this applied when not being outmatched in other areas, but regardless.
This principle applied identically in the PVP of 'Reverse Planet.'
No matter how dominant ranged supernatural ability builds had become, the abilities themselves inevitably had differences in speed.
In fact, there were research results showing that attribute builds with generally faster ability speeds—namely wind or lightning attribute builds—had significantly higher win rates.
While PVP victory wasn't determined by speed alone, it showed that it had considerable influence.
......Hearing this far, ordinary people typically thought of one question.
'If fast ability builds have high win rates, wouldn't using an extremely fast ability build let you win everything?'—that kind of question.
Naturally, there were reasons why this couldn't happen. Two reasons, in fact.
"First, resource shortage."
-Resource shortage?
-What resource is coming up out of nowhere
-Lolㅋㅋ newbies are cuteㅋㅋ
-The tier shows in chat
Watching the chat clearly divided between those who knew and didn't know about ability builds, Cha Seongcheol began explaining calmly.
"The total amount of resources you can use when making an ability build in RePla is fixed. You can think of all ability builds at max level using the same amount of resources."
"So if you dump everything into speed, the other aspects become too weak?"
"Correct. The elements composing an ability aren't just speed. There's power, range, cooldown, duration, applied effects, and so on. Even if you abandon all that and put everything into speed, it's meaningless."
'Aspiring Builder' donated '1000 won'!
[Resource allocation is the builder's capability itselfㅇㅇ]
-Oh I see
-I always just used premade ones so didn't know ㅎㅎ;
-Me tooㅋㅋ It's harder than I thought
-What's the second reason??
"Second, lack of skill."
-?
-What
-Skill
-"You suck thoughㅋ"
The chat stirred at the second reason Cha Seongcheol revealed. As if they never expected 'lack of skill' to come up.
However, thinking it through step by step, after 'Reverse Planet's' problem of resource shortage, the next thing could only be the user's ability to use the build.
"In 'Reverse Planet' and many virtual realities, speed is determined by the perception of the person handling it. Whether physical abilities or supernatural abilities, it's the same."
"Hmm. So lack of skill becomes a problem. I understand now too."
"Yes. Even if you somehow solve the resource shortage and create an extremely fast ability build, how many people could actually handle it? Without demand, there's no supply."
-Even if it's fast, meaningless if you can't handle it ㄹㅇ
-Try doing 'Blue Lightning'
-Lots of people complain it's dizzying even if it's just a bit faster
-They don't use bullet time to slow down others when expressing super high-speed movement for no reason
No matter how fast the given body is, ordinary people can't react properly at that speed, so they can't reach maximum velocity.
This is because the virtually given physical performance and innate body control sense, reaction speed, and cognitive ability don't improve.
Excessively fast supernatural abilities were the same. That level of speed meant thoroughly cutting away other aspects, and in that case, convenience would be the first thing eliminated.
This was a problem even combat correction couldn't solve. Correction wasn't omnipotent. If that were allowed, it would just be called a legal hack.
[First round, start!]
-"······."
-"Where did—"
[First round end]
[Winner: Baek Woohyun]
[Loser: (Anonymous)]
-"—huh? What?"
-Opponent's expression is hilariousㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-??? : What? What even is this?
-Is this that saying about getting your nose cut off while your eyes are open?
-Hackphysical's sincerityㄷㄷ
The abnormality of the monster called Baek Woohyun was proven right there.
Even World Class pro players gave up on super high-speed movement saying 'this is insane,' yet he was using it like it was nothing.
Moreover, it was even faster than what he'd shown in PVP 'Survival' mode before. As if lightly raised tempo and seriousness were completely different.
No wonder every opponent he faced died in the first round without doing anything, then yelled asking if it was a bug.
[Final record -- Baek Woohyun 2:0 (Anonymous)]
[Final winner: Baek Woohyun]
[Final loser: (Anonymous)]
-"Not human···."
-Not human agreedㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-But ㄹㅇ not human; I'd appreciate if you didn't call this the same human
-We're the same person but why am I?
-That's because you're
But it wasn't like the second round was any different.
How could they block a speed invisible to the eye? By the time they realized, he'd already be behind them leisurely shaking off his military dagger.
If they had the skill to immediately reorganize after being helplessly hit and successfully defend, they wouldn't have given up the first round so easily in the first place.
"That makes 105 consecutive wins total. Terrifying speed."
"If you can't perceive Hackphysical's movement speed, the fight itself doesn't establish···. Huh."
"Amazing!"
-This is real smurfing
-Smurfing in the magma zoneㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-MMR explodingㄷㄷ
-Look at that score climbing speedㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
A series of overwhelming victories!
It was to the point where calling it tyranny would be acceptable.
Master-Grand Master was the tier right below the highest tier of Challenger, yet before the genuine monster called Baek Woohyun, they merely looked like civilians—what more needed to be said?
Moreover, no matter how short the 'Duel' mode's time was, finishing a game in mere dozens of seconds, and that continuing for dozens of matches, was simply shocking.
Baek Woohyun, who had been Master tier when he started, was now on the verge of Grand Master tier.
This rapid tier rise was like clear evidence of how quickly he was stacking consecutive wins.
-"Uwaaaa!"
-"Here! [Piercing Shadow]!"
-"[Thorn Curtain]! [Crown of Thorns]!"
Of course, even though they were being smurfed by Baek Woohyun, the users in this tier bracket were among the top-tier powerhouses, so they weren't going down helplessly.
Those who had helplessly lost a round to Baek Woohyun, or encountered information about Baek Woohyun through the community, brought out various countermeasures.
Someone desperately shouted trying to seize the first strike, someone attempted a counterattack through prediction, and some just wildly spammed area attacks right from the start.
Responses that made even the watching panels and viewers unconsciously think 'oh, what about this?'
-"······."
──But all of it was meaningless.
Their actions were merely futile struggles before the superhuman who had sincerely declared he would aim for the peak.
The monster wearing human skin didn't even let out a battle cry, let alone conversation, only silently crushed opponents.
How could they defeat him who seized first strikes with unimaginable speed, attacked beyond prediction, and couldn't even be grazed by area attacks?
Moreover, the terrifying fact was that blocking his swift strike was merely the minimum condition to stand against Baek Woohyun.
It meant Master-Grand Master tier users were being cut down relentlessly because they couldn't meet the minimum threshold for combat to establish.
Viewers who belatedly realized this truly experienced what 'being on a different level' meant.
[Final record -- Baek Woohyun 2:0 (Anonymous)]
[Final loser: (Anonymous)]
[You have been promoted to 'Grand Master' rank]
-"Hmm."
"Wow- he finally reached Grand Master tier! This is Hackphysical's sincerity!"
"Has it been about an hour since he started? Even though 'Duel' mode has fast tier climbing, I didn't know it could be this fast."
-You guys know?ㅋㅋ Right now Hackphysical's stats site is hilariousㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Looked and holy shitㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-The score graph that was still shot through the skyㅋㅋ
-Most terrifying is it shot up like that in just one hourㄷㄷ
'Gajua' donated '1000 won'!
[Graph going upward then suddenly hitting limit upㄷㄷ]
Finally, Baek Woohyun succeeded in raising his tier from Master to Grand Master in just over an hour.
This thoroughly proved just how unobsessed with tier and relaxed he'd been until now. That's why he'd stayed at Master tier so long.
······The fact that time was taken by story progression, disciple training, and additionally SSR Cup team training no longer existed in the viewers' minds.
"Could he really succeed in climbing to Challenger rank 1 today?"
"No way─ ···no way?"
-"That meme"
-'No way' kills people
-If he really commits time it might be possible
-Seems possible because it's Duel mode ㄹㅇ
[PVP 'Duel' mode game matching succeeded]
[Moving to dueling grounds]
-"Oh, it's really Hackphysical."
-"···?"
-What, stream sniping again?
-Ugh those stream sniper bastards are chasing even to Challenger now
-Info) The opponent caught right now is a pro player
-In Challenger you just meet them without sniping;
It was the matching system that matched even Grand Master right below Challenger as opponents when Baek Woohyun was Master tier.
Now that he'd risen to Grand Master tier, the matching system was blatantly matching him with Challengers based on his rapidly increased MMR.
And in 'Reverse Planet' PVP, especially in 'Duel' mode where individual skill mattered most, the Challenger tier was essentially a playground for pro players.
Which meant.
-Wow now he's sniping pro players too?
-Willheㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Uh um there actually is a pro player who sniped him;;
-? Why does that exist ㅅㅂ
'DH Empire Fan' donated '1000 won'!
[Right, why would that exist, why would that be our team's ace]
"Ahaha···."
"It was fun so isn't it fine?"
-ㄹㅇㅋㅋ
-It was fun so let's have a drink~
-In Challenger you meet pro players anyway even without snipingㅇㅇ
-They say they're all familiar faces
It meant everyone Baek Woohyun would face from now on were pro players, or had equivalent skill.
It also meant the process of breaking through the Master-Grand Master bracket and reaching here was merely a preliminary battle for the climb to the peak.
The difference between ordinary people merely tempered through actual combat and pro players created through proper training was that vast.
[3 seconds]
[2 seconds]
[1 second]
[First round, start!]
Jjaeng!
-"···Hm?"
-"You're really fast."
-They blocked it?
-As expected, pros are different
-I got hit once before so ㅎㅎ;
-??? : Want to get hit by Blue Lightning?
Should I say as expected?
For the first time since declaring sincerity, by blocking Baek Woohyun's attack, the opponent proved they had the qualifications to be a pro player.
Since some monster had once rampaged at insane speed in the past, pro players had to master how to respond to opponents moving at super high-speed.
-"······."
However, as mentioned earlier.
That was merely the minimum threshold for combat to establish.
Baek Woohyun, raising his lips with an expression saying 'look at this?', instantly retreated backward, then disappeared from that spot again.
Even though they were watching clearly, it was truly a rush that could only be expressed as 'disappeared!'