First Preliminaries (4)

In this event, the first preliminaries were little more than a bare-minimum filter.

A device to keep the baseline quality intact before the real competition began.

Even the participant database wasn't made public until after the first round had ended.

Both the hosting company and the players themselves treated the second preliminaries as the true start of the tournament.

That kind of preparation was necessary because the second round would be decided by a points system.

Every week, the bottom ranks would be cut, whittling the field down to a final ten thousand.

To survive, you had to rack up points like a racehorse grinding out wins.

Reaching the main stage meant burning a serious amount of time—and the gap between the end of the event and the pro league's opening wasn't long.

Which was why a fair number of pro gamers had already declared they wouldn't participate.

Participation rate was somewhere a little over half, from what I'd heard… well, what did I care what other people did?

Luce was in. That was all that mattered. Everyone else could do whatever they wanted.

The event's popularity was sailing along just fine on its own.

Every single video the algorithm shoved at me looked like this, after all.

Guides designed to vacuum up views like bait.

I'd considered trying that route myself once or twice, but it wasn't my path.

After several attempts, the only thing I'd walked away with was the realization that I had zero talent for teaching people.

A teacher who kept running into the question Why can't you just do this? probably wasn't going to be a great educator.

There was a faint sense of injustice to it, though.

Every skill in Infinity Black was designed to be dodgeable or blockable.

Most of them just required watching and reacting with your eyes—so if someone couldn't manage that, what exactly was I supposed to do about it?

I couldn't even fix my own legs. There was no way I was fixing someone else's eyes.

Anyway, no matter which stream I flipped through, everyone was talking about the second preliminaries.

It was preseason—there wasn't even ranked play to grind—so of course they were.

This heat would carry them straight through until the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠pro league opened.

Some of the research streams had even brought on pro gamers, and the content was solid.

Everyone was carefully tuning themselves up ahead of the real competition.

And I wasn't about to waste this precious time either.

"Hey, how about we clear up the misunderstanding with a conversation? Peacefully."

"I'll think about it later."

The corpse kept talking.

I needed to quiet it down so people wouldn't get startled.

You know how it is—everyone who plays games ends up with one of these eventually.

Some call it a Death Note. Others call it a kill list.

If I run into you in the field, I kill you. If I run into you in ranked, I tank your score one way or another.

A record where you write down the unforgivable names and calmly hone the blade of revenge.

Naturally, I had one of my own.

A memo tucked away in a hidden corner of the interface—that was it.

I usually wiped names the moment they appeared, so the list rarely piled up. But the ones I'd written down recently weren't disappearing so easily.

After all, there was no rule saying your community handle and your in-game nickname had to match.

There were so many posts I couldn't possibly track down every single author…

So I was just dropping by whoever came to mind.

It wasn't a waste of time.

There was no better practice than real combat, after all.

People only fight desperately when they have something to lose.

A fight that ends with a few lost points will never produce the same skill as one where lives are on the line.

Infinity Arena was still PvP in the end. Etching the feel of it into my hands couldn't hurt.

I was absolutely not taking out my frustration over a certain video. Really.

Honestly, once some time had passed, it hadn't even felt that bad anymore.

Because of the brainwave interface's limitations, Ga-wol's physique matched my own body—but that didn't mean that body was mine.

In a way, this was just a form of attention… a slightly wicked little thought had poked its head up now and then.

Thankfully, the footage had been a little blurred, too.

"Still, might as well finish what I started."

"W-what? Why me again?"

Eight hours left.

I needed to spend that time thoroughly enough that I wouldn't be ashamed in front of anyone.

Run for about two more hours, then sleep and get back up.

"A video? Oh, it's Ga-wol's. Yeah, I've seen it. Smaller than I expected—kinda cute, honestly. Have you met them, Traveler?"

Luce let out a quiet snort.

It wasn't just because the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠chat was funny.

Traveler was one of the proudest players in the entire league.

People said he'd mellowed out now that he was past the "rookie" stage… but that wasn't true at all.

He'd simply learned how to hide his anger in front of the public.

When Q Prime lost and the match content didn't sit right with him, Traveler went nuclear.

Anyone in the industry knew that.

The shouting he unleashed in the waiting room was no ordinary level of rage.

The chat was probably getting under his skin right now, too.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

Just imagining him grinding his teeth and holding it in made it hard to keep a straight face.

Was he clenching his jaw, forcing himself not to type for a moment?

Still, she didn't let it turn into mockery.

She didn't want to belittle the effort he'd poured into that single moment of restraint.

"Don't be too hard on him. You all know how good Traveler is. He's already stacked a ton of Arena points, right?"

"I'll do my best. Now that I've entered, I'm definitely making it to the main stage."

"Come to think of it, everyone else seems to run into Ga-wol at least once. I'm the only one who never has."

Luce's eyes scanned her opponent's information.

A sniper. She'd thought they were rare in Arena's one-on-one format.

A few names came to mind, but Luce reached for a solid shield first.

"Ah, our youngest… I heard they met. Said they got their initiation and were actually happy about it. Weird, right? Good kid, though. Strong, competitive. Please love them, everyone."

She spoke lightly, but her fingers never stopped moving.

Swapping traits, predicting the opponent's build, swapping gear.

What had brought Luce this far was entirely the product of blood-soaked effort.

And that effort naturally included studying every existing build and trying to read her opponents.

She might have looked like she was streaming at a leisurely pace, but she hadn't missed a single detail.

If Q Prime's captain Traveler was famous for being good at fighting, Luce was the player who was good at the game.

Front-line guards, super armor, invincibility frames, damage reflection, healing inversion, gigantification—

She was the player who made the best use of every system that existed because Infinity Black was a game.

After a moment of deliberation, Luce finished her setup with a slight variation.

"I'd love to see a video of the two of you fighting, though. Traveler goes without saying, and I've heard Ga-wol is an excellent fighter too. Must've been an incredibly flashy match."

A hitch.

Luce's lips twitched for a fraction of a second.

Her eyes checked the time remaining until combat started.

Unfortunately, there was still room to spare. If the match had kicked off right then, she could have used it as an excuse to buy a little more time choosing her words.

Would dragging out the answer look weird, though?

After a brief deliberation, Luce opened her mouth again.

"Hmm. I don't dislike them. I don't want to badmouth someone I've never even met. But… harassing other players and streamers—I can't look at that positively."

Hopefully that doesn't get wildly twisted.

You could never let your guard down on the internet.

Maybe I should've chosen my words more carefully?

A faint regret settled in Luce's chest.

But only for a moment. One particular chat message caught her eye.

"Can I win? Since when have I only beaten people I can beat? I'll figure something out. Like I always do!"