Chapter 69: Tournament Preliminaries

“I want to develop a new computer. I need research funding.”

“Ah. Yes...”

Karkov was a person who fit exactly with Ras’s image of a dwarf. A stubborn impression, a muscular body, and a shaggy beard. Of course, since this was not the Middle Ages, he wore modern clothing.

“So what kind of product are you thinking of developing?”

“Hmm. First, I’ll definitely make something superior to Hammer 1 Computer.”

Ras could not ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠help looking troubled. Of course, Ras also wanted something superior to Hammer 1 Computer, but that was too vague. Still, when he thought about it, Hammer 1 Computer’s defining trait was its excellent graphics, so it might be a computer with even better graphics, or it might be a product that improved weak points, such as computing power or sound.

“That’s too vague. Let’s first define the direction clearly before moving forward.”

“Hmm.”

At Ras’s words, Karkov closed his mouth and seemed lost in thought. Ras worried that he might have offended this genius, but that was not the case.

Karkov had realized on his own that he had been too impatient. He had only been thinking of making something amazing so he could land a blow against that bastard Victor and the Hammer Computer employees who had insulted him.

He had even forgotten one of his original beliefs: “a product the market wants.”

“Of course, I’ll support you sufficiently. But let’s examine the market flow and trends in new technology first, then begin development in earnest.”

Ras did not want to offend a genius, but no was still no. Fortunately, Karkov quietly listened to Ras and nodded.

“Yes. It seems I was too hasty. For now, I’ll wait while building up our development capability.”

As he said that, he glanced at the Meta Hardware developers standing some distance away.

As Ras left the development room, he thought it had not been a bad meeting. He had wondered if Karkov would be eccentric because he was a genius, but he seemed capable of communication and full of motivation, so Ras felt they might be able to produce a decent product.

At Arcade Game Land branches throughout the Republic of Smite, the two-week application period for the tournament ended. Three days later, the preliminaries began immediately.

Most people joined lightly, thinking of it as a fun event, but there were also quite a few who were serious. And the atmosphere of this event was led by those serious participants.

“Wow! Kale’s good!”

Behind a player who looked like a university student, several men and women who seemed to be his friends called his name and cheered. It did liven up the mood in its own way, but since it could affect the match, a staff member immediately intervened.

“Calling a specific player’s name and cheering during a match is not allowed.”

This was one of the guidelines Ras and the Arcade Game Land Management Team had created and sent out. In truth, since the branches were far from headquarters, they could have ignored it.

However, headquarters had sent an official notice saying they would conduct surprise visits to check. And rumors ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠had already spread that several branches were caught being unprepared for the tournament and had received correction orders and penalty points, so the staff were operating the matches with considerable sincerity.

If penalty points accumulated, their bonuses could disappear, so they had no choice but to stay tense.

As the preliminaries progressed and only skilled players remained, the spectators behind them began to feel as if they were watching a match rather than mere entertainment.

Wow... that actually goes in like that?

Most of the spectators had played Fighters’ Club before. However, the characters controlled by top-level experts felt as though they were different characters from the ones they used.

The sight of them constantly moving back and forth while poking at each other was suffocating. And although casual users could see nothing, in an instant, as if someone had seized an opening, techniques landed one after another.

The movements of the two players became extremely urgent.

“Wow!!”

Some people cried out in admiration at those dazzling movements. The staff member wondered whether he should warn them too, but since they had not specifically cheered for any particular player, he simply kept his mouth shut.

The player driven into a corner used the fact that special moves could be used ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠continuously when his stamina was low, and looked for an opening by spamming special moves with little delay and stiffness.

However, the problem was that he had already been psychologically pressured. Since the opponent still had more than half his stamina gauge left, he calmly avoided the attacks, inserted a counter at the right timing, and forcibly inflicted stiffness.

Then came a simple uppercut. The opponent watched his character fly away, fall, and fail to get back up, then clutched his head.

The staff member grew briefly tense because the defeated player was a sturdy orc, but he merely slumped his shoulders and stood from his seat. Relieved, the staff member thought, with a racially biased assumption, that perhaps he was accepting victory and defeat like a true warrior.

And not everyone who applied casually was eliminated. Fighting games naturally involved some luck, and there were many comeback elements, such as special moves.

Because of that, some people dodged by luck, landed their techniques, and achieved unexpected victories. Among the dozens of Arcade Game Land branches, there were even some who stacked such victories and ultimately won their regional championship.

A male elf named Nograk from Kalkerin City was exactly that kind of person, and the experts who lost to him looked truly wronged.

In truth, the reason experts lost to him was that they fell victim to a kind of psychological warfare.

It was not that Nograk consciously used psychological warfare. He had a very thin build, eyes that seemed to suggest there was something to him, and a handsome face with distinct features. This made him seem as though he was no ordinary person.

But in reality, he was simply an ordinary young man who liked fighting games and only knew the basics to a certain degree.

In some regions, there were also players who created unique techniques of their own. Ordinary gamers only thought of the command techniques written in the manual. But these players combined those techniques and created entirely new ones.

A gnome named Ede from Jannisi was one of them.

He used the Ali character and created an approach technique by repeatedly using forward ducking, Ali’s special command jab that began with the forward key, and the preparatory command for the lower knockback uppercut.

He would check the opponent with the jab when they reacted to the ducking and tried to counter. Then he would perform a crouch-and-rise motion as if preparing to use an uppercut. If the opponent guarded, he pushed them away with the uppercut, then caught up again with ducking, repeating this while looking for an opening.

Of course, if the opponent flinched, he would simply throw a low punch.

Since this repeated almost without gaps, the opponent would either keep blocking and lose to guard damage, or become psychologically pressured and try to do something, only to get hit and fall into a combo.

Hehe.

Ede won match after match through this. Because of that, the gamers of Jannisi thought it looked like an invincible technique, and many of them practiced by imitating it.

But it was not truly invincible.

“Huh?!”

In the preliminary semifinals, Ede flinched in surprise when his opponent endured his jab and came straight in. The opponent’s character was Golovkin. The opponent had used this character’s special skill that ignored hit stun and counterattacked while taking the jab head-on.

This was the weakness of Ede’s approach technique. Of course, on his way up so far, it was not as if he had never faced Golovkin or other characters with hit-stun-ignoring techniques.

However, this approach technique cycled so quickly that it was hard to find an opening. And Golovkin’s charge technique also had a command that was not especially simple, so Ede had dealt with it without much difficulty before. But this time, the opponent’s mastery was different.

“Waaaah!!”

The surrounding spectators erupted. They felt catharsis at seeing Ede’s seemingly invincible technique broken and watching him hurriedly run backward. There were many people cheering for Ede, but there were also many who had grown tired of seeing him win with such a one-pattern approach.

The opposing player was a slender boy who seemed to be in his mid-to-late teens. He kept focusing on the screen, but apparently he did not dislike the cheers, because the corners of his mouth rose.

Ede saw that and felt anger surge.

Damn it!

If Ede had responded calmly here, the outcome might have been unknown. But he panicked too much. Moreover, because his approach technique was not an easy technique, he had not had enough time to go all in on it and was still immature in other techniques and overall play.

In the end, he lost to the dark horse who appeared right before he could become champion, and he had to slump his shoulders.

Aside from this, there were many players in each region who used unusual techniques and strategies. However, since the game had not been out for long, their completeness was not very high, so not many of them reached champion level.

Most of those who advanced were players with solid fundamentals.

Another interesting point was that preferred characters differed by region. In the simplest cases, the racial composition differed from city to city, so players preferred characters of the same race as themselves.

In other cases, people copied the characters used by outstanding players. The case of Jannisi, where Ede was, was like that.

Although he ultimately lost, even before the tournament, he had repeatedly shown himself easily defeating opponents with the dark elf Muhammad Ali character. Many people imitated him because of that, and in Jannisi, the true selection rate of Ali approached forty percent.

In some regions, many people used the power character Foreman, while others preferred the defensively solid Mayweather. On Earth, so much information was shared that even at world tournaments, only the same characters often appeared, but here, it was truly varied.

In any case, the preliminaries held all across the Republic of Smite proceeded smoothly. The enthusiasm was tremendous, and although it was not on public television, it was introduced quite often in regional newspapers.

“Were there no interview requests?”

“No. It could be worth covering, but it seems they still don’t take games very seriously.”

It was just as Utaro said. Then again, even twenty-first-century Korea, where Ras had lived, still had many negative perceptions about games. This world was only around the early-to-mid twentieth century, so there was no need to even mention it. There was little chance they would think of a game tournament seriously enough ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to come cover it.

Still, Ras had hoped that someone might come film it as an interesting curiosity, like when it briefly appeared on the news before, so he felt somewhat disappointed.

For the event to succeed, many spectators needed to come, and while they would advertise separately, in this era, there was no means as effective as appearing on TV.

Of course, considering the popularity of the game itself and the enthusiasm of the preliminaries that had just ended, a certain level of success was more or less guaranteed. But because Ras also had the ulterior motive of using this chance to increase the social influence of games, he wanted to draw as much attention as possible.

In any case, Ras and the Arcade Game Land Management Team were fully occupied preparing for the main tournament.

They decided to rent an indoor gymnasium in Ranchelt’s Eastern District as the venue. Originally, there had been a plan to buy a building or build a new one and create a dedicated arena. However, it was not easy to predict how many spectators would come, so they decided to hold the event a few times first and then build an arena based on that.

All but two of the finalists declared their intention to participate.

The finalist list did not include photos, only names, ages, genders, and races, but Ras felt even from this alone that they were truly varied.

There were fifty-three branches that had held preliminaries, so it was a tournament with fifty-one participants. The Management Team even established a department related to events and worked on writing the event scenario and handling the tasks.

One month passed after the preliminaries ended.

Ras and the Arcade Game Land Management Team scheduled the event over two days, choosing dates when Monday was a holiday in consideration of workers and students.