Chapter 138: Game Community

As Bomb Special Forces became popular, Gamers also began publishing plenty of articles about it. There were not only simple stage guides, but also guides for co-op mode and versus mode. Fighting against people required strategy and tactics, so it was different from stage guides with fixed answers.

Strategy articles came out for three consecutive months, but new strategies and tactics kept being discovered.

That meant many people were enjoying it at Game Land and thinking about how to beat one another.

Of course, similar trends had existed before with Fighters’ Club, Tetris 2, and Puzzle Bobble. But there was one decisive difference from back then.

The existence of PC communication, Spirit Space.

There was now an online space where people could talk to one another and share information.

“Phew...”

Chakrad was a fifteen-year-old boy in his second year of middle school. After returning home and putting down his bag, he sat on the edge of his bed and let out a troubled sigh.

If his mother had seen him, she probably would have worried that something was wrong.

But it was truly a useless worry: how to win tomorrow’s Bomb Special Forces match against the class next door. If his mother could see inside Chakrad’s head, she probably would have smacked him on the back instead of worrying.

Still, it was serious for Chakrad. There was the competitive spirit and desire to win unique to children, but he also had to protect the honor of Class 3 as its representative. Of course, if his mother or teacher heard that, they would have nagged him, or rather, brought out the switch and told him to win through grades by studying hard instead of playing games.

But that guy is really good...

Chakrad thought of an Orc boy who was a little short but already had broad shoulders and large eyes like a frog. It was the face of Kukuda from Class 6, whom he had to face the day after tomorrow.

In truth, kids who were said to be good at Bomb Special Forces had usually already played together ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠several times. Being good at the game meant they had played a lot, and since the places to play were obvious, they naturally ran into each other often.

Besides, games were more fun when skill levels were somewhat similar, so a league of skilled players naturally formed among them.

Of course, Kukuda was not an opponent he could never beat. Chakrad felt like they had played together about ten times, and he remembered the win rate being roughly half and half.

But Kukuda’s play was aggressive, and ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠his judgment was extremely quick. It felt like his timing for striking and retreating was razor-sharp, so when Chakrad won, he barely won after a hard fight, and when he lost, he lost emptily.

And since he absolutely had to win the match the day after tomorrow, the pressure was intense.

Ugh. Why did that pig drag me into this after fighting with his own classmates?

Chakrad gritted his teeth as he thought of the culprit behind this match. Apparently, they had been talking among themselves at the school store about who the strongest player in school was, then an argument broke out. Other guys who found it interesting had swarmed in, and things had turned out this way.

In the end, because of his classmates’ momentum, he had ended up having to play the match regardless of whether he wanted it or not. Of course, losing would not make him an outcast, but the other children would definitely look at him coldly, and he would be branded a loser.

And honestly, Chakrad himself did not want to hear that he was worse than anyone.

So he searched for a way to win somehow. Naturally, he also read the strategy articles in Gamers. But how should he put it? They were somewhat obvious. At first, they sounded plausible, but when he read them carefully, they were just techniques he already knew and used.

In truth, that could not be helped. Chakrad was young, but he was still a skilled player competing for the title of strongest in school. Moreover, Gamers had to write articles for as many readers as possible, so rather than strategies for a few top-level players, they had to target ordinary players.

Still, the map guides and map photos were fairly helpful, so even now, he occasionally pulled out the magazine on his desk and looked through it.

But he needed something new. And fortunately, he had heard one clue about that. While playing at the arcade, he had overheard a conversation between young men who seemed to be college students.

It was about the Spirit Space community.

He also knew what Spirit Space was. But he had not been particularly interested. After all, what fun could there be in something filled with nothing but text and not a single picture? It was better to play one more round of a game with that time.

He was also scared because some of his friends had been beaten half to death by their mothers after using Spirit Space and getting hit with a bomb of a telephone ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠bill.

But right now, it was an emergency. He turned on the computer and, instead of launching a game like usual, inserted the Spirit Space diskette he had borrowed from a friend. Fortunately, he already had a communication card because he had begged his mother to buy one before so he could play Spirit Stone network battles.

“Ah. It worked.”

Connecting to Spirit Space was easier than he expected. He had opened the manual he had borrowed together with Gamers, but he did not even need to look at it.

Chakrad clicked through the text one by one and entered Spirit Space.

The Spirit Space Ras created had a few differences from early PC communication on Earth. One of them was that it introduced a hyperlink system early on, allowing users to click with a mouse instead of typing everything manually.

Of course, this was possible because computers in this world had used mice from the early days.

In any case, thanks to that, Chakrad was able to intuitively learn how to use Spirit Space rather quickly.

It’s more fun than I thought.

He entered various boards and read the posts inside, and there were quite a few interesting stories. He felt like he understood why some of his friends kept using this even while getting beaten by their mothers every day.

Chakrad wanted to explore Spirit Space more. But now was not the time. He forced himself to resist clicking on boards that caught his interest and, as he had heard before, searched for and entered the Bomb Special Forces community board.

Unlike its earliest days, Spirit Space now had all sorts of boards added. The game board, which had once only contained Spirit ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Stone, now had boards not only for newly released games but also for older games, such as Land of Adventure 1.

It was a game released quite some time ago, but surprisingly, many maniacs still remained. If one entered the board, one could see all kinds of dead souls doing strange things in a game they had already cleared completely. And one of the most common types of posts was demanding that the third game be released quickly.

In any case, Chakrad slowly navigated through the detailed categories. As the number of boards increased, they had begun to be organized in this way.

Ah, found it.

He quickly found a board titled “Bomb Special Forces.” It felt somewhat fascinating. In this strange and unfamiliar space, he had found a board for a game familiar to him.

When he entered, there were even more boards inside.

Free Board, Strategy Board, Local Experts, Information Sharing Board...

Chakrad read each name and clicked the Strategy Board.

Oh... there’s so much!

The monitor lagged briefly, so he wondered what was happening. Then, a moment later, an enormous number of posts began scrolling down. In Gamers, there had only been a few strategy articles. His expectations rose sharply.

But as he read the posts one by one, they were different from what he had expected.

They’re sloppy...

First of all, there really were strategies inside, but they were very different from the strategy articles in Gamers. They were not well-organized pieces of writing. They were more like the neighborhood older brother explaining things verbally. The explanations felt somewhat roundabout.

Still, since there were so many posts, there was plenty to read, and there were things worth taking. In particular, there were genuinely usable tips that scratched at directions he had never considered.

“Oh!”

He stared at them, then hurriedly pulled out a notebook from his desk and began copying them down.

And as he read through several strategy posts, the writers’ names also started catching his eye. In particular, the posts written by someone with the ID [Prepared Champion] were high quality.

Among his posts, the scenario strategy series was truly amazing.

It predicted how the game would progress and prepared strategies suited to each situation. Honestly, it made Chakrad wonder who played a game this seriously. And Chakrad himself could probably be called a heavy gamer.

That was why he unconsciously nodded at one of the comments that said, “Isn’t this guy insane?”

In any case, Chakrad burned with a passion for studying that he had never shown even during exam periods and began memorizing the strategies.

If that effort had allowed him to seize victory, it would have made for a thrilling story. But two days later, he lost.

It was not exactly because he played badly.

“Ugh! What am I supposed to do if you plant bombs there?!”

“Ugh...”

The problem was his teammate. It was a skinny Elf named Janman, whose hands and feet were the only big parts of him. Normally, his skill was not bad. That was why Chakrad, who was considered the top player, had teamed up with him.

But the situation of this match placed a heavy burden on Janman.

Because of that, even though Chakrad fought hard with his upgraded skill, they ultimately lost 3–2. Fortunately, however, he was not blatantly branded a loser.

“Hey. You’re really good.”

After the match ended, Kukuda said this with a surprised expression. Since he already knew Chakrad’s skill, the surprise was even greater. Honestly, Kukuda had thought Chakrad was slightly below him, but the skill he showed today was not like that.

If that Elf hadn’t messed up, we would’ve lost.

Especially in the second round, Chakrad had taken down both Kukuda and Plchi by himself. The technique where he lured them into a corner and cleverly planted bombs was enough to give him chills.

“Well. I lost anyway.”

Chakrad scratched the side of his head and said this in response to Kukuda’s praise, but his expression had already completely relaxed. And even from the perspective of the other spectators, Chakrad’s skill had clearly been amazing, so although the winner and loser had been decided, people instead began saying that Chakrad was the real strongest player in the school.

But because the conclusion ended somewhat unsatisfyingly, the topic of who was the strongest in school continued. Some said Kukuda was the strongest because he won, while others said Chakrad was better in terms of real skill.

And this discussion would later be settled on another stage.

In this way, the Spirit Space community gave people an opportunity to share information and improve their skill, but it also had many other effects.

Literally, it strengthened the community.

In the past, even if people enjoyed games, they only talked about them with people they knew. But now, they could share that enjoyment with countless others in the network world.

This further revitalized the hobby of gaming itself. It no longer ended with simply playing games. People talked about games and created clubs for them.

At first, these were merely organizations inside Spirit Space. But as people talked and grew closer even there, they naturally began saying that they should meet sometime and play games together. After meeting a few times like that, they naturally formed friendships in reality as well.

Through that, many people came to realize something.

There were this many people who liked games, and they were more sincere about it than expected.

And as a result, society’s perception of games itself gradually began to change.