Season 5: Chapter 91. The Calls? (3)

Almond knew he hadn't particularly shown any tactical play. Many reasons existed, but the most fundamental one was this.

‘I don't really know the game.’

Almond, the streamer, had originally risen to fame by playing without any knowledge of the game at all. Despite not knowing anything, he performed brilliantly in his own way. This was Almond's selling point.

Most of the strange off-the-wall plays that came out in the process were just him trying hard in his own way, and things happened to work. The issue came as his career lengthened.

Now he was starting to understand the game, bit by bit. He'd learned dozens of champions in LIL. Now he knew about laning and split-push management. He understood what countered what.

Almond even put in study time here and there, so he began to see things like when enemies were afraid or moments that enemies didn't anticipate.

‘What can I do?’

He found plays that only he could make. When those three elements came together...

Boom!

His arrow perfectly struck the enemy team's vitals.

[Team 7 Eliminated!]

Another enemy team had been obliterated.

[LazySoldier has gone Berserk!]

It had worked again.

‘There it is again.’

Almond's path clearly existed, which was why Almond couldn't help but wonder. What would happen if he led the team proactively? What if the whole team walked Almond's path?

‘I've tried it...’

Right, he'd tried it before.

‘As the Smart Young Man.’

Even after winning the Civil Empire championship, a similar thought came to him. After creating the Smart Young Man commander ID and playing with it, he felt like he could do what Cookie and Best Yi Sun-Shin did. He believed that an Almond-like path existed there too.

— Dumb Young Man...

— What is this?!

— I think I'm going to be sick lmao

— Wow...

— Legendary lmaooo

The results came out exactly the opposite of what he wanted. The Smart Young Man title had been dragged through the mud, but Almond never gave up. Look at him now!

He barely said anything and just quietly cleared his throat. "Ahem~"

The praise came on its own.

— The calls? Smart Young Man~!

— Smart Young Man! Smart Young Man! Smart Young Man!

— "If you personified strategy, the result would be Almond."

— by the Smart Young Man cult

— This is it~ lmaooo

This was the result of his efforts... or so Almond believed.

***

[LazySoldier has gone Berserk!]

The Knight Order saw that the enemy team had been completely wiped out while on their way to the Vault.

[Team 7 Eliminated!]

An entire team had instantly disappeared from the game.

"WHAT?! He wiped them all?!"

"That unhinged strategist Almondoyle..."

Clunk.

The Knight Order said these things while unlocking the Vault as quickly as they could.

Black Tea managed to crack the Vault. "Got... it!"

They'd been talking about smashing through the wall, but the lock puzzle had been easier than expected. She just solved it.

— Oh

— Wow

— Black Tea is good

— For a first attempt, this is impressive?

— The puzzle is hard though...

— Lock duty winner~

Each Vault featured some kind of puzzle that was often harder than expected. Most people just smashed through the wall and dealt with the risks. The fatal downside of that approach was having to fight all the monsters inside. Since the Vault value was all about time to completion, it was usually worth it.

Sweet Radish urgently checked behind them and waved everyone forward for the same reason. "Get in! Get in!"

‘We're falling behind in levels.’

Even after killing quite a few enemies, they would probably still be behind in experience. In the early game, monsters gave far more experience than players. Killing uncontracted players was barely better than killing minions.

The longer the vault took, the more it undermined itself. In Survival mode, time equaled experience.

‘Hm?’

Someone ran toward them quite fast.

"Bro~!" Sweet Radish waved at Almond. "Hurry in!"

***

The entire Knight Order filed into the Vault.

Clunk.

Sweet Radish shut the door behind them. From outside, it looked like the Vault hadn't been touched yet.

He watched through a small crack in the door and breathed a sigh of relief. "Phew. Everyone, quietly open one box each."

The Knight Order spread out and opened the rune boxes. Not every rune box yielded something good. At this tier, even if a legendary rune appeared, there would only be exactly one.

Ting!

"Oh!"

[Rune of Enlightenment]

[Tier: Legendary]

[Effect: Gain enlightenment and awaken one of your contracted abilities.]

This rune enhanced a skill. On top of that, three more runes had come out, enough for two people to contract at once.

Sweet Radish felt they needed to contract immediately. "Alright then..."

They were already behind in levels. Getting more contractors online would help close the gap.

"Sweet Potato, and..."

By the book, starting with the tank was the most strategically sound move. However, the legendary rune couldn't go to the tank. Legendary runes went to the ace.

‘The problem is this is a skill-enhancement type.’

Skill enhancement runes were tricky. They were undeniably powerful, but one needed the know-how to maximize what they offered. Normally, the contracts here would have gone to Almond or Black Tea. That would give them a balanced setup of one carry and one tank.

‘Oh no.’

Almond's eyes were shining too brightly. He'd literally just single-handedly wiped out an entire enemy team with his archery. Black Tea, whether because of that or for some other reason, wasn't showing any urgency about contracting first.

‘Ah... this rune needs to be used well to be worth anything...’

This rune enhanced and transformed a skill. It would be the ultimate generator of variables, but utterly wasted if applied to a strange skill on a strange champion or handled by a player who didn't know what they were doing.

‘Honestly, a flat stat rune is the best thing for Almond.’

Sweet Radish’s head ached. Despite all of this, it was too hard to ignore what had just happened.

"Almond, go ahead and take it."

Almond nodded and received the legendary rune. "Sure."

‘Oh...’

This was his first time using a legendary rune that changed skills.

"Bro, actually, it's best not to play Raina to use that rune well."

Crash!

Light poured down onto Almond, and long golden hair appeared.

“Of course it's you, Almond.”

"Pfft!?"

"What was that? I'm hearing things, right?"

When contracting for the first time, the champion's voice rang out for everyone to hear.

— "Of course it's you, Almond" lmaooooo

— It's me~ Almondoyle!

— lmaooooooo

— Face card lmao

Sweet Radish waved his arms and shouted, "Th-that's not the problem!"

— ?

— ??

— Why is he like this

— Hm?

He finally said what he'd been holding back, "Raina has no skills worth enhancing! She's... a garbage character! A waste of a legendary rune!"

A moment of silence followed. Even Almond scratched his head.

‘Is it that bad?‘

Sweet Radish knew Survival mode so thoroughly that if he said so, Almond had to believe him.

— Oh

— Wow

— What

— lmaooooo

— I mean, that's fair...

— lmaooooo

— Her skill transformations can go badly wrong lmao

— fr lmao

— We're in trouble...

Regardless, Almond's body began to glow red.

[The Rune of Enlightenment allows you to gain strong enlightenment in one of two abilities:

1. Mana Explosion

2. Roll

Please note: the skill may be transformed differently than intended.]

Every Knight Order member's eyes turned to Almond, but Almond's eyes remained fixed on the skill window.

‘Mana Explosion is the better skill by far. Enhancing that would make sense.’

The Smart Young Man had an uncharacteristically conventional thought. Raina wasn’t known for the Roll skill, but Mana Explosion. This combo-driven skill delivered explosive burst damage. This would obviously be the skill to enhance.

However, Sweet Radish urgently tried to intervene. "B-bro. Don't pick Mana Explo..."

Dun dun!

[Gaining enlightenment in the skill, Mana Explosion!]

Sweet Radish was always one step behind Almond.

— Too slow man

— LOL

— lmaooooo

— Almond just picks what he wants!

— What a disappointment

— lmaooo

— Alpha male decision-making

— The selection? Almondoyle

“Pfft.”

Everyone else burst out laughing, except Sweet Radish.

"Noooooo!"

Thud.

He collapsed to the floor.

— LOL

— lmaooooo

— Sweet Radish sobbing lol

— Hahaha

He didn't handle it well when his strategic plans fell apart.

Almond genuinely looked baffled. "Wait. Is this really that serious?"

This was just a team-ranked match, not even a scrimmage or practice game.

— lmaooooo

— Criminal mindset lmao

— I mean, fair

— Hmm is it that bad?

— Sweet Radish has a bit of an obsession

Sweet Radish wanted to win this tournament because of his awful pro days, where he'd only place second over and over without ever winning. Even at the streamer tournament and national tournament, hadn't Almond cost him the win there too?

‘This is really bad.’

Sweet Radish thought finally teaming up with Almond would mean winning. He assumed things would just come together easily.

‘But playing alongside this person... Honestly, he's not that different from Bubblegum.’

Almond was just a Bubblegum who was good at games. Sweet Radish had no idea how a Bubblegum who was good at games could exist, but that was the absurd existence called Almond.

"Tako hyung... he was something else..."

— LOOL

— lmao fr

— And now we're learning to appreciate Tako

— lmaooo Sudden Tako tribute

“Pfft.”

Almond, thinking Sweet Radish was genuinely overreacting, started reading his newly enhanced skill.

‘Hm?’

His expression slowly stiffened too.

***

Sa-Rang tilted her head.

‘Hmm.’

Almond had picked Raina's Mana Explosion for enlightenment.

‘The Rune of Enlightenment has so many variables. Using it on a core skill like that for a champion like her is problematic.’

Mana Explosion was Raina's lifeline. Her unique passive, Sharpshooter's Pride, created targets. Stacking a combo of three or more hits would detonate them. That was where the big damage came from.

The more combos that stacked, the higher the damage. Without this, Raina was reduced to just dealing marginally more damage per target hit without the explosive stacking. If the transformation went wide, it could render Raina almost unplayable.

‘But... if the result is good?’

On the other hand, if the enhancement came out well, the destructive output would be extraordinary.

— Wow

— What?

— Hm?

— ?

— lmao

The transformed skill appeared.

‘Oh, this turned out interesting.’

Sa-Rang didn’t care whether they won or lost this game. She just wanted to check the team’s synergy.

‘Right now, something else is the bigger issue.’

Sweet Radish was furious while Almond looked puzzled.

‘Almond and Sweet Radish aren't working out.’

It wasn’t a question of who was right or wrong. They just possessed completely different personalities.

This hadn't shown at all in Survival Craft because the hierarchy had been clear. Almond had been the Lord while Sweet Radish was the strategist. That was the ideal structure, but LIL was different. Sweet Radish's knowledge and skills were simply too strong, which was why Almond had been urgently asking to call the shots.

‘Those two clearly both want to settle the pecking order.’

They needed to establish who ranked above whom.

‘But that's not going to be easy.’

Sa-Rang smiled bitterly. Looking back at her own past, that process had never gone smoothly.