NOVEL NEXT Chapter 31
I asked Professor Cheon not to have high expectations about the academy.
In fact, I thought I wouldn’t be too upset if I didn’t get in because the admission officers seemed so underqualified. This wasn’t a mental victory; it was my genuine feeling.
The professor also told me not to worry too much, and I decided not to dwell on the past results anymore.
While he was doing the evening dishes, he asked me if I was okay, mentioning a report about children getting hurt on the playground yesterday according to the apartment announcement.
I had no choice but to pretend I didn’t know, feeling a bit guilty for no reason.
“Anyway, I’m glad to hear that. Accidents can happen anytime and anywhere, even when things look safe on the outside.”
“Yes, you’re right. By the way, it seems there won’t be any Nature Journal this week?”
It was better to change the subject quickly at times like this.
“This week, they said they would be holding their 181st or 182nd anniversary event. It seems they’ll be publishing everything next week.”
“I see. That’s unfortunate.”
“I heard that once you enter the academy, even elementary students are busy. It’s good to have fun while you can.”
“I said not to expect too much. Well… I’ll keep that in mind.”
Seori and Ji-hye must have gotten home safely, but I was still a bit worried about Laura.
It seemed like her parents were either divorced or had her out of wedlock.
I suspected that the person who might be her father lived in this complex.
Her mother must be leaving Laura at the playground for her father to pick her up.
Such a typical and common story.
But reality is never like a drama; such Cinderella stories are rare.
It seemed that her grandmother had trouble moving around, so how could Laura continue living in that house?
As Seori said, I had no choice but to visit her often to check up on her.
‘Should I try streaming again after a long time?’
Even though I didn’t need to earn money through streaming anymore… I start feeling uneasy if I stop doing something I used to do habitually.
‘Huh?’
Come to think of it, didn’t I use magic today? Not just 3rd circle, but a whopping 4th circle!
[Streaming starts: 0:00:01 – NoName]
First, I turned on the stream and decided to look up how much mana tax roughly was on the internet.
In this dimension, mana didn’t exist at all.
However, in this peculiar world where mana could be borrowed through the Ideaverse, using magic in its natural state was quite tricky.
To put it metaphorically, the sea is vast, but you have to fill a big bucket with just a small shot glass.
Because of that, developed nations installed base stations all over the country to improve mana access efficiency, allowing the agreed-upon bandwidth per nation.
The Korea Magic Corporation was a government-run market-type public enterprise responsible for mana tax collection, and excess tax revenue was used to promote the advancement of magic in the Republic of Korea.
“Korea Magic Corporation February 1, 51st year mana tax comprehensive… Type (D) casting… 4th circle…”
The mana tax structure was really complicated.
Some were progressive taxes, and some were regressive. Various fees like base fees, mana quantity fees, and magical environment adjustment fees were all crammed together, with different tax rates applied even to the same circle of magic based on classification.
Unless you run a program, you wouldn’t know until the bill came.
However, when I looked for summarized information on Tree Wiki, I found out that, generally, most taxes were exempt for magic below 1st circle, and starting from 2nd circle, it was 10,000 won per use for single casting, and 100,000 won for 3rd circle, increasing by tenfold.
Magic of 6th circle or above was managed at a national level, so it couldn’t be used in the usual way.
[Broadcasting Time – 0:03:51]
Of course, there were special exceptions for the lower strata in the mana tax system.
Especially the exemption for magic of 2nd circle and below stood out. I thought teaching Laura healing-type magic like ‘Organ Regeneration’ would be perfect for her.
Kids often get hurt and need to go to the hospital.
But many times, they hold off due to not having money, leading to serious issues.
If they received some healing magic beforehand, wouldn’t they be able to grow up healthily, even if just a bit?
[Broadcasting Time – 0:06:42]
[Viewer Count: 1482]
[Welcome to the chat room! (Cooldown will be lifted after timeout.)]
-11111111111
-Mom, I can’t breathe!
-Why is this chat room frozen?!
-I rushed in as soon as I heard the notification, what’s going on?!
-About mana tax payment structure… This is rare.
-NoName! NoName! NoName! NoName!
Was this what it felt like when the Soyanggang Dam collapses?
Chaotic texts poured down from above.
“Looks like a lot of people are here today.”
-(This chat is blocked – 600 seconds)
-(This chat is blocked – 600 seconds)
-What’s going on now?
-(This chat is blocked – 600 seconds)
-Moving
-(This chat is blocked – 600 seconds)
-(This chat is blocked – 600 seconds)
-(This chat is blocked – 600 seconds)
-(This chat is blocked – 600 seconds)
“Oh, so there’s a way to freeze the chat window too.”
Having letters rain from the sky felt overly dystopian. It was like a scene from a movie where hamburgers and meatballs rain down.
[‘HoyaMuyaHo’ donated 1,000 won!]
-Wait, Room Leader! You can control the chat effects and size!
-Oh wow, did someone really do that alone?!
-Lol crazy dude, I thought I got banned when I came in!
-Asteria’s master-level block mad movie, wowwwwwwww!
-What’s up with the person who dodged that? LOL!
The chat window really is more psychologically comforting when it’s small and rectangular.
People keep pouring in now, a level far beyond the 10-20 people I’d have when I used to stream alone.
Most of them were saying they came after watching a V-tube video.
Was it called a mad movie?
I compiled and edited the great moments from the 50 matches I played alongside Shia and Master.
The viewers bombarded the chat with links, making it impossible not to notice.
[View Count 1.56 million · 2 weeks ago]
I thought there were many people, over a thousand of them, in my room, but compared to this number, it was a clear difference.
[The stars are so bright, my hometown is burning – Asteria Mad Movie]
The video played with a somewhat embarrassing title to say aloud.
It began with grand music and dialogues from Asteria. Despite failing in balancing, Asteria’s story received positive reviews, and the outline of her journey for revenge against the empire unfolded briefly.
The girl who fueled her fighting spirit with one thought of avenging the empire.
Asteria gradually disappeared into darkness, followed by various people’s dialogues.
[TK Pathos]
[Who is this person? NoName? I’ve heard so much about him. This bro is really good!]
It began with an evaluation from a young man.
[Anaconda]
[There’s no way to win. The design is just flawed for this champion.]
A deep sigh followed with a voice of resignation.
[LB Control]
[Isn’t this a bug? When he catch Asteria, it feels like he hits twice as hard as others.]
The volume increases, and the atmosphere rises.
[Miroking]
[Aaahhh!!! I want to quit LOL! I’m seriously going crazy, I feel like I’m losing my mind!!!]
… And then, the mad movie begins.
The video, which lasted around 8 minutes, felt long yet short.
I had something I wanted to convey to the viewers before the stream, but since my mind wasn’t sorted yet, I decided to watch the mad movie until the end for now.
It started with a moment of achieving a pentakill in Bronze 3 in the first game.
I remembered fighting while considering the sword-like possession rate and range calculations.
It seemed the video creator analyzed all my plays, highlighting when I used my W and E skills.
The video then skipped the continuous wins typical of Silver and Gold and went straight to the Platinum bracket.
Featuring one of Asteria’s capture skills at level 11, [R-Q-Attack-W-R-(R level up)-rrrrrr], a moment widely known in the community.
At level 11, I didn’t evolve my ultimate skill and instead executed the usual level 6 ultimate combo.
The principle was that with the last 10th R and evolving the skill, I could use the added 5-star pieces in sequence, and the star piece activation of the 11th would turn into the 10th, dealing a total of 16 supernova damage.
The creator even displayed portraits of the famous opponents I faced above my champion’s head.
Anaconda, Miroking, and various pro LOL players.
Whenever these figures appeared, the viewers cheered, and I felt a bit shy about looking at the chat window.
[8:30/8:38]
The video was nearing its end, and the screen began to fade out. I was about to turn it off.
[The stars are beautifully pristine. It’s always humans who give them meaning.]
“Huh, what?!”
Suddenly, my voice appeared at the end of the video, and I couldn’t help but be shocked.
-LOL!
-This is some self-inflicted cringe!
-What a karma!
-LOL, the stepmom of the star abandoned them!
-If only they had given me a strategy stream back then, how nice that would have been!
“…”
Thinking about when I said that made me realize it was during the last stream with Shia when I awkwardly read Asteria’s lines to the viewers who came in.
I just casually read them from the top.
Sequentially.
Dully.
But seeing that line separated like this was quite embarrassing.
The viewers expressed their opinions and wishes chaotically, but for the most part, there was a common focus.
Strategy stream.
They consistently wanted to know how I handled Asteria.
But I never had a knack for teaching anyone.
The reason I previously read those pointless lines from Asteria was partly because I disliked it, but also because I lacked confidence from the beginning.
“Asteria is a newly released champion.”
-ㅇㅇ That’s right.
-She did come out on January 18, but considering the PBE server, it was last year.
-So?
“The mastery is greatly influenced by time. But isn’t it strange? Even among newly released champions, some become masters appearing on V-tube regularly within just a week, while others become wait-for-strategy ordinary players.”
-Aren’t there innate talents for each champion?
-Paysoos was a Samira master even as an amateur, right?
“Talent. The term talent undermines the person’s temperament and effort. If you want to use the term talent, you should refer to specific champions. It should be about reflexes and judgment, not talent per se, right?”
How is a champion’s talent determined?
“Let me use my Asteria as an example. Reading the skill manual for Asteria for 10 hours a day won’t make your skill rise. Even if you use each skill a thousand times daily, it’s the same.”
The core that pervades the game League of Legends is relativity.
“My actions alone won’t guarantee an outcome.
Just like someone who played 10,000 matches against bots cannot outperform a Master who has played 1,000 normal games.
“Asteria’s most essential three factors are position, skill accuracy, and lane phase, in that order. Conversely, skill allocation and kill calculation are relatively weaker aspects compared to other champions. That doesn’t mean they’re unimportant.”
In the end, I thought explaining it in words wouldn’t be enough, so I decided to rewind to watch the mad movie again.
“What’s the importance of Asteria’s level 11 ultimate capture skill?
The average health of a level 11 champion falls within about 2200 to 2400 for top bruisers. Why would you risk manipulating level-ups just to add 80 damage? It’s a waste of time.
And that’s why I dislike this mad movie.”
It’s better to think about landing an additional regular attack during the standoff.
Humans are easily swayed by what they see.
Just as the ignorant admire dark magic.
“The reason I was able to win this team fight is that the range of the opposing five champions isn’t long, and rather than maintaining possession at nearly 100, I hastened to poke their health at about 60.
Look at the minimap; even in this situation, I’m managing the lane and pushing against the enemy’s top base.
Asteria isn’t Nar or Shyvana. She isn’t a champion that goes all-in with her ultimate.”
With the possession rate system applied to champions, everyone thinks it’s advantageous to boost possession to cycle the ultimate ability in team fights.
The common mistakes of ignorance and false causality.
“Everyone knows that Asteria’s R is non-targeted, so skill accuracy is already crucial.
Next is the lane phase. Many players with champions weak in the lane phase are trying to hold through the lane and resolve things in team fights, but the contradiction needs to be solved that having a weak lane means needing to influence the game primarily through the lane.”
It’s natural for champions strong in the lane phase to win lane and shift their influence across the map.
As a result, players using such champions will execute lane mechanics mechanically, leading to improved map reading skills.
“Contesting the lane phase as Asteria and maintaining balance: that’s key.”
At this point, I displayed a clip from around 6 minutes and 20 seconds, where I was engaging with Miss Fortune and Jereus in Diamond 2.
“The opponent’s skills are non-targeted but hard to dodge, and they both have Comet runes. Theoretically, that’s a disadvantageous match-up.
How can we either win or keep the lane phase half-and-half?”
I rewound the footage again.
I dodged Jereus’s Q and W skills with simple diagonal moving.
Miss Fortune targeted me with an E skill I couldn’t dodge and triggered the Comet rune for additional damage.
“The Comet shoots in the direction we are moving. If we apply this, you can dodge by moving forward just before it hits, and then you can backtrack to evade it.”
Even after that, Miss Fortune aimed her E skill several more times, but I managed to dodge all Comets.
“Dodging skills alone won’t win the lane phase. It doesn’t fundamentally change the situation.
However, if we mislead the opposing skills, prevent our soldiers from getting hit, force them to waste mana, and then push the lane ourselves.”
The anticipated scenario changed drastically as Miss Fortune and Jereus found themselves pushed to their base and perished in a glorious dive kill along with the jungle.
“You can win games.”
Because League of Legends is a simple game where you kill, gather resources, and destroy buildings based on the advantages gained.