Chapter 13 - The Day Things Don't Work Out (2)
Since there was only one server in Asrian Online for the whole world, many things beca trending news.
People posted new threads in the communities with different strategies or videos all the ti.
'Asrian Online' was the ga with the biggest audience on most streaming platforms.
Users often recorded their gaplays or downloaded different footage to make a highlight video and post it on YouTube.
Since there was a lot of footage being uploaded all the ti, most videos were buried, but so of them quickly beca a hot issue.
On Reddit's biggest Asrian Community, a video was rapidly becoming a hot topic.
The title of the thread was written to grab any Asrian Online player's attention. In just a few hours, it was on Reddit's main page.
You could see a guild trying to clear the raid in the video.
Since the guild mbers in the video were very skillful, so were relatively famous among the community.
- Two-person clear? Isn't this a 20 people annihilation?
At the beginning of the video, you could see a party of 20 being defeated. That's why many people thought that it was just clickbait.
The video's highlight started when two people dressed in black robes appeared.
Those two moved as if they'd been playing together for many years.
After seeing how they brushed off the nad monster's attack, people felt cathartic.
The most amazing thing was that they could defend themselves against an attack that couldn't even be seen.
It was so incredible that you could even hear the person recording saying, “How did they do that?”
The reason why no one comnted for many minutes was that everyone was watching that scene repeatedly.
- Is this Lattice?
Lattice.
The user that had posted that na had the most upvotes.
Lattice was at level 50 and thus, the number 1 player in the hall of fa.
Even though Lattice was at the top of the rankings, no one knew who the person was behind that character. That was because Lattice didn't make public appearances.
- If one of the two is Lattice. Who's the other person?
- It seems like one is doing all the damage. The other player appears to be supporting.
- But both have an amazing level of control over their characters. How many users are skillful enough to brush off an attack as fast as that with their hands?
- Oh my god. How are they doing that? I've never thought that sothing like that was possible.
It was unfortunate that the video was recorded from a distance. Because of the snowstorm going on, you couldn't see very well what was happening.
- Is that person really Lattice? Because of the black robe, the face can't be seen. Well, it isn't like we know how Lattice looks or anything.
- Are you all stupid? They're obviously NPCs.
People began to take seriously what one user had comnted.
- They could very well be NPCs. Unlike users, they aren't carrying weapons. Not only that, the skills they use are completely different. Their skills aren't among those that a Warrior, Thief, Magician, or Priest has available.
- They could be using hidden jobs, right?
- My friend, getting a hidden job isn't sothing as simple as asking your mom to give you sothing.
Among the replies, there were so nonsensical ones.
- The person inside that robe is a woman! If you look carefully, you'll notice that sothing stands out around the chest area!
Even though that post was written as a joke, it didn't change the fact that he was able to analyze the image with very sharp eyes. Sadly, no one took him seriously.
- loool, it's true that the height of that user is low... But I don't think what you've said is true.
- Go find your waifu sowhere else.
That post had received more than a thousand comnts in just one day.
So people discussed whether brushing off that attack with bare hands was even possible, but most were more interested in the identity of the two people wearing black robes.
After an intense day of debate, most users began agreeing about their identity.
- It seems like they really are NPCs. Considering many things, that's the only possible answer.
- Do NPCs hunt nad monsters?
- Soone else has comnted about that before. This ga's Artificial Intelligence is so advanced that you can't differentiate it from a real human being, so so NPCs act in a very similar way to users.
- Then, what country or organization are they from? Both seem to have jobs related to Magician.
- There's soone in the comnt section that had analyzed both of them. According to that user, they're probably 'Dark Priests.'
- Wow... So they're really NPCs? They're amazing... Will a user ever be able to beat high-level NPCs?
The one that had uploaded that video was Tarr Tarr.
He was sitting alone in the park, on a chair next to a fountain.
"They kicked out..."
It had happened just a few hours ago.
Tarr Tarr was officially kicked out of the guild.
He still rembered the cold gaze everyone directed toward him.
The only one who managed to survive in the fight against the nad monster was Tarr Tarr: that basically ant that he hadn't properly participated in the battle, and that was why most guild mbers had begun thinking negatively about him.
But the main reason why they kicked him out was another thing…
The leader of the guild shouted angrily at him.
"Why did you upload the video?! It took us a lot of effort to get information about the hidden nad monster. Twenty people died for us to get information on this hidden nad monster! But now, the entire world knows about this."
The leader couldn't calm down and began shouting at him again.
"We're not going to be able to get the title for being the first ones to kill a hidden nad monster. And now, a stronger guild will probably take the hunting field from us!"
To be honest, Tarr Tarr hadn't thought very deeply before posting the video.
How both users fought the hidden nad monster was too cool to see alone, and that was the reason why he had uploaded that video.
Seeing the comntaries with the reaction of the people made him excited.
Tarr Tarr, who was still a middle schooler, couldn't think and make decisions like an adult.
"I... I'm sorry..."
He was just a kid. Facing such harsh criticism from the rest of the guild mbers was too much for him.
It was his first ti learning that soone had to take responsibility when sothing bad happened.
Although he had left the guild on his own accord, it was as if they'd kicked him out.
He felt like a criminal, so he didn't dare to face the other guild mbers; that's why he walked out as if he was escaping.
Even though Tarr Tarr was sitting in the park and around him there were many different people, he felt loneliness.
He was angry with his timid and stupid self.
'I should've let the boss kill with the rest of the mbers. Then, I wouldn't have been able to record the video... No, maybe I'm just not fit to be part of a high-ranking guild.'
He kept blaming himself for a while, and then he rembered the guild mbers with whom he had a good relationship.
Especially Arneng and Hell Dust.
He felt sorry.
They'd always told him that they were expecting great things from him, but in the end, he was just a disappointnt.
He had hid and watched them being killed at the hands of the nad boss.
'I showed them a pitiful side of until the end.'
He was thinking lots of depressing things when soone tapped on his shoulder. He was able to awake from the negative thoughts.
That sensation seed familiar. Who was it?
Tarr Tarr turned his head around.
"Why are you making such an expression?"
"Yeah, a man needs to be able to deal with situations like this."
It was Arneng and Hell Dust.
They had treated him like their little brother when he was in the guild. Those two were standing right behind him.
Tarr Tarr began crying.
Translator - Daniel Shin
Proofreader - ilafy
* * *
Maybe he just needed soone to spoil him.
"I... I'm sorry... Because of , the guild... Coff...?!"
The hand hitting his back, like always, made his mouth stop moving.
"Why are you sorry?"
"Because I survived alone..."
"You should try to live, of course! If it were either of us that was in your situation, we would have grabbed the guild leader by the collar after coming back alive. He pushed us into the enemy's hand without giving us proper information!"
"Oh, and about the guild."
Hell Dust imdiately replied.
"We also left it."
"What?!"
"Gaming is how we make money to live... So rather than being tied to rules, we feel more comfortable by being free to do whatever we want."
"Yes, that's true."
Arneng agreed to what Hell Dust said.
"But still..."
Arneng suddenly changed the topic and didn't let Tarr Tarr finish his sentence.
"About the video you posted, I think it could cause you trouble."
Tarr Tarr shrugged.
"About that... I'm sorry. Because I've uploaded that video, everyone ca to know about the information on the nad monster. I didn't intentionally leak information. Because of , the guild..."
"You're not part of the guild anymore! So it's as if they were strangers to you."
"Huh? Then..."
Tarr Tarr couldn't hide his surprise. Arneng kept talking.
"Uploading the footage of another user without their permission is wrong. You can generate inco through YouTube, so it could create problems for you."
"Another user?"
Tarr Tarr was surprised.
"Weren't those two NPCs?"
On Reddit, most people had concluded that those two were actually NPCs. They'd given a very good explanation about why they thought that, and Tarr Tarr had agreed to what those people had comnted.
Because he had seen that fight with his own eyes, he still rembered the excitent he felt while watching that battle.
Especially because Asrian had been barely online for a month, how those two fought was on another level from the rest of the users; that's why Tarr Tarr thought from the beginning that they were NPCs.
"I also thought that they were NPCs in the beginning. I've never seen anyone use the equipnt or skills they had. Also, how they were able to move."
"I almost overlooked it, but once I watched closer, I noticed sothing. Take out the unedited video."
Tarr Tarr opened the footage of that battle as a hologram.
While smiling, Arneng pointed to a certain part.
He could clearly see footage that didn't make the video's final cut.
"See? When one of them froze, the other one lted the ice using a fire attack. I'm sure NPCs couldn't do sothing like this."
"Ah... Now that you say it...!"
"They're party mbers! You can't apply damage to another mber of the sa party. This ans that those two are users."
Tarr Tarr rembered another similar scene.
He had seen the battle happen in real-ti.
Not only that, he had seen the video over and over again—so he rembered every single scene.
There was definitely a scene where one party mber lted the ice covering the other person.
The fact that they could use the party system ant they were users.
If he had put that scene on the edited video, the conclusion of Reddit users would've been different.
"Then, is that Lattice?"
Tarr Tarr asked with a serious expression.
"Well, it could be... But I don't know why, but I think it's another person," Hell Dust answered.
"I also think so. From what we know, Lattice is soone that likes playing alone... Even if one of the people that appeared in the video was Lattice, what about the other one?"
"They're probably users that haven't registered in the hall of fa. This world is definitely bigger than what we thought."
"Amazing... There are people on top of the rankers?"
Arneng and Hell Dust were imrsed in their conversation, but Tarr Tarr was beginning to feel anxious.
If what they said was true, he had uploaded footage of another player to the internet without their consent.
"W... What should I do?"
Tarr Tarr was about to cry.
Using the ga footage of another person without their consent was a cri. They could take you to court because of it.
If they used that footage and sued him, he would definitely lose.
"You need to talk with those people. Since the video has gained quite a lot of popularity, maybe they'll contact you first through YouTube."
"It wasn't your intention to earn money from another person's work, so I'm sure you'll be okay."
"You didn't even turn on monetization... So you really haven't earned money at all from the video."
"But if you get to et these people, at least say sorry to them."
Arneng and Hell Dust talked to Tarr Tarr in a an way to scare him a little bit, but deep down, they knew that he wouldn't get into trouble for sothing like that.
Since gaming was their livelihood, they knew a lot about streaming or uploading gaming footage. They also knew from what point things could get serious.
Not only that, if trouble were to arise, they were willing to help Tarr Tarr deal with it.
On the other hand, Tarr Tarr was frightened. He thought he should try to find the people on the video as soon as possible.
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