NOVEL NEXT WORLD Chapter 65 - Ash
This happened some time after the Darkness Deception guerrilla collaboration.
“To be honest, no one can beat our Winter team when it comes to physical skills.”
One day after the stream ended, I gathered my colleagues and said that.
“So, let’s aim to win with our brains.”
“Are you saying we should win by using our brains?”
“Exactly.”
I nodded.
I believe there are three important aspects in games: physical skills, mental skills, and sense-based play.
Among these, “physical skills” refer to reaction speed and control ability.
But it’s impossible to expect such skills from our beginner colleagues.
And “sense-based play” refers to micro-level decision-making.
When the enemy’s attack comes, should you dodge to the left or the right?
Those who are purely fast in reaction won’t care about the direction and will just dodge.
“Sense” is the ability to quickly judge which choice will benefit you the most in a moment of multiple options. For example, dodging to the left because the exit is closer.
But asking that from my colleagues would also be impossible.
So, what remains is mental skills.
Mental skills refer to macro-level judgment.
It’s the ability to set a grand objective and direction for the game, then read the situation and make detailed plans based on that.
“It’s hard to narrow the gap in game experience and skill. The seniors have been playing Labyrinthos much longer than us.”
However, there’s one thing we can surpass them in.
Both our team and theirs have a similar level of understanding regarding Arcade Mode.
That’s because Arcade Mode was only recently patched.
“The only way for our team to win is by thoroughly researching and analyzing Arcade Mode.”
“Thorough research and analysis… doesn’t that sound impossible?”
Sora tilted her head in confusion at my words.
“Arcade Mode has different victory conditions for every match. Plus, the maps change. How can we research and analyze that?”
“We’ll have to rely on collective intelligence.”
“So… you’re saying we have to play Arcade Mode every day until the tournament…?”
Inagika looked horrified.
I shook my head.
“Even if the four of us gather data, how much can we really collect? A true noblewoman should know how to use others instead of doing everything herself.”
“But… we’re not noblewomen….”
“Ask the viewers to send screenshots of Arcade Mode via a Go-gle form.”
Each of us 6th-generation members has at least a four-digit subscriber count.
Of course, not everyone will respond, but it will still be much more than what the four of us can gather.
On top of that,
===
【Labyrinthos VR Gallery】
[Event] Arcade Mode Burger Event
I’m trying to write a strategy guide for Arcade Mode, but it’s hard to gather data.
What are the victory conditions for Arcade Mode? What maps are there?
I’ll be giving out burgers to those who provide useful information.
How to participate: Add [Event] to your post and write a guide about Arcade Mode.
We’ll randomly select 20 participants to receive burgers.
===
With the data we collected from playing the game, combined with what the viewers sent, the information from the Labyrinthos gallery, and watching other streamers play Arcade Mode, we were able to gather quite a lot of data.
It was then up to me to analyze that data.
“It seems it’s possible to solo the Guardian.”
After creating a custom room and defeating the Guardian a few times, I came to that conclusion.
“S-Solo…?”
“Yeah. But not every character can do it.”
Aside from the Guardian, the boss monsters that appeared in Arcade Mode weren’t particularly difficult.
After all, Arcade Mode is a 3v3 game.
The difficulty has to be balanced so that three players can defeat the bosses without much trouble.
That means it just takes time, but even two players can handle it.
And depending on the character, soloing is possible too.
‘A Martial Artist could solo it pretty reliably.’
The Martial Artist is a character with the role of a sub-tank.
The defining feature of the Martial Artist is “Counter.”
When the Martial Artist activates “Counter,” they become invincible for a brief moment, and any attack they receive during that time is reflected back with damage—making it a parry character.
It has many invincibility frames, deals decent damage, has self-healing, excellent evasion, and decent mobility.
It might sound like a broken character when described like this, but it has clear weaknesses. Since it fights with martial arts, it has a limited range, lacks crowd control, and its counter skill makes it somewhat passive.
“Inagika, you should practice with the Martial Artist.”
“M-Me…?!”
I nodded.
I wasn’t asking for much.
Although the Martial Artist is a character that requires skillful piloting, that’s mostly when playing against other players.
When fighting monsters with predictable patterns, it becomes a matter of learning those patterns.
Inagika tends to get nervous during crucial moments, so it might be better to leave her in a one-on-one situation with the boss monster.
Thus, for the first round of the opening match, as planned, I secured the most crucial pick: the Martial Artist.
For the other two, they just needed to pick characters that could draw the enemy’s attention and hold them down.
I assigned Chel to the Hunter, a character with excellent escape abilities.
And Sora took on the Dark Knight, a character with strong disruption abilities, leaving Inagika to defeat the Guardian on her own.
***
===
【Virtual VTuber Gallery】
[Live Broadcast] Labyrinthos Tournament) Why is Winter Team winning?
What the heck…
[Comments]
– Looks like they prepped really hard lol.
– I never expected Sora to pull out the Dark Knight.
ㄴ For real…
– Isn’t the Martial Artist broken? Soloing is ridiculous.
ㄴ Only possible in Arcade Mode.
ㄴ Can’t be done in Gate Assault.
– Spring Team is getting destroyed lol.
===
[Broadcast] What’s with the secret room?
Was there a secret room in the ruins????
[Comments]
– First time seeing it.
– There was a post about it on Labyrinth Outvent yesterday.
ㄴ (Author) So A-Grade Virgin is lurking on Outvent just to win? lolol
ㄴ It’s not the first time A-Grade Virgin’s been a Labyrinth demon.
– How do they even find stuff like this?
– Winter Team’s analysis is next level lol.
===
[Broadcast] Wasn’t Spring Team the favorite to win?
They’re about to lose 3-0! You idiots!!!
[Comments]
– No signal from the losers’ radio?
ㄴ (Author) Screw you.
– Spring Team is way worse than I expected.
– This is why you don’t bet on favorites lol. You gotta bet on underdogs like me.
ㄴ (Author) Who the hell bets on Winter Team…
===
[Broadcast] Inagika’s victory interview is hilarious lol.
(Highlight clip)
[Inagika, you did amazing with the Martial Artist. What’s your secret?]
[S-Secret…? Well… when I performed the “Pa-moon,” oh, that’s short for Destruction: Moon Rail… I think it’s because Clara and Yunli are fully maxed…]
[Wait… what? Fully maxed?]
[T-They’re both counter characters! I-It’s really fun! You should try it! Also, I played a bit of GodEmpired when I was younger, and… I think that unexpectedly helped…]
[Comments]
– What’s “Pa-moon” lol.
– So if I start “Pa-moon,” I’ll get good at Labyrinth?
– Inagika should just spend money instead lol.
– Haven’t heard GodEmpired in forever.
– Wait, how old is Inagika?
ㄴ She’s an elf who’s lived for a thousand years.
– Inagika’s so quirky lol.
===
[Broadcast] What’s with Chel’s Berserker pick???
She let Anna go Mage and then picked Berserker??
[Comments]
– Berserker’s the counter pick to Mage.
ㄴ (Author) For real?
ㄴ Even with Mage’s optical camouflage, Berserker can track them with Blood Scent.
– The map’s narrow, so she probably let the Mage go on purpose.
– A-Grade Virgin is smart lol.
===
[Broadcast] Winter Team wins!!!!!!
(Screenshot of poll)
Victory for the 6% gang lol.
===
[Now we’ll interview the winning team! Winter Team, please come up!]
With Veronica’s shout, the 6th generation members walked up to the stage.
Aurora moved with graceful steps, followed by a flustered Inagika and an expressionless Chel.
[Huh? Where’s Sora?]
[Oh, um… Sora is…]
[Sob… hic… I’m sorry…]
Inagika’s trembling voice overlapped with the sound of Sora crying.
[Sora cried… and got auto-logged out of the VR capsule…]
[That’s odd. I didn’t know you could log out from crying.]
[You know how if you need to pee, the VR capsule logs you out automatically? Tears are kind of similar…]
[That’s rather unrefined. Try not to use words like ‘pee’ too bluntly.]
[S-Sorry…]
And so, during the victory interview, the 6th generation members were chatting like that.
Watching this on her phone, Rinco chuckled.
“Ah, youth.”
Come to think of it, didn’t they name themselves AoiS?
Since the 6th generation members all had fantasy world backgrounds, I thought AoiS didn’t really fit as a group name. Many of them didn’t even have blue as their image color.
But looking at them like this, they all seemed so young and full of passion.
I guess the group name was well-chosen after all.
‘I’m envious.’
It’s just a friendly tournament, but to be so moved that they cry after winning.
Surely, there was a time when I was that passionate too.
Even during last year’s Labyrinthos Streamer League, I was full of passion.
But now, it feels like all that remains is ashes, and my sensitivity has withered away.
“They really worked hard. Sora put in a lot of effort, Inagika worked hard, and Chel did too.”
And Aurora has star quality.
It feels like this was a stage that proved a lot for the 6th generation.
It feels like I’ve been replaced.
It wasn’t such a bad feeling.
“Well, I guess I’ll go out with a bang for my last act.”
Rinco struggled to get up from her bed.
A new VTuber who defeated EYEAI’s flagship VTuber.
Starting today, Aurora would be known by that title.
The fact that she looked forward to it was proof of her own weakness.
After all, she really wanted to live in a martial arts world.
As she prepared for the upcoming one-on-one event match, Rinco suddenly thought that.