The group stage of the Three Great Human Nations Tournament was a huge success in and out of the world of Rise Online.
While the temporary city created around the Valkyria Arena was buzzing with partying, socializing, and excitement, the RO community was also very excited as this was the first major internal tournament for this great game. There have been other smaller tournaments, but they were only supported by the company that owns Rise Online, i.e. Hónghé Holdings only provided a server and a part of the prize pool to boost the marketing of the game.
So not only players from the races living in Midgard were excited, but also players from many other races and worlds in Rise Online. After all, this was a chance for everyone to see skills, items, classes, and players they had never seen before.
The Rise Online community was abuzz, with forums and social networks buzzing with discussions about the players, classes, items, and tactics used in the first phase of the tournament. Theories were debated, bets were made, and speculation was rampant. Hónghé Holdings, the company that owns the game, had also invested heavily in promoting the tournament, and expectations were high.
The competitors, including the strongest players in the rankings such as Kaizen, Teshi, and Ryeis, were the focus of attention. Their legendary skills, powerful items, and unique classes were the object of admiration and curiosity for most RO players, as many knew that all of these things were not easy to obtain, even if they were lucky enough to get a rare class or a unique class. Everyone was looking forward to seeing these powerful players battle it out in the playoffs, hoping for some surprising twists and turns.
For Klaus Park, it was only when he walked into his dorm room and found two of his classmates talking over a video of him that he realized the true dimension of what he was doing.
"Look how impressive he is! He must be some kind of professional!" David said to Nathan, pointing to the screen of his cell phone. He was talking about a video of Kaizen hitting an enemy from over 60 meters away with a Fast Arrow.
Nathan crossed his arms and replied in an arrogant tone:
"Man, don't take it so seriously. He could only do that because it's a game. It doesn't necessarily mean that he's a professional or something. Besides, this game must have some kind of aiming aid".
Nathan was not necessarily wrong in what he said. Yes, Klaus could never hit the same shots in real life as he did with his bow and arrow in Rise Online, and he had "aiming assistance," which was the ability to adjust the direction of the arrow in the air with <Psychokinesis>. Still, hearing these things directly from Klaus was like getting punched in the stomach.
"Hehe! What are you looking at over there?" asked Klaus, trying to disguise himself.
David quickly turned around, looking a little surprised that Klaus had overheard their conversation.
"Uh... It's nothing, we were just..." David tried to deflect, because he had the appearance of a bully, but was actually a nerd.
Nathan, however, was much more direct and self-centered, so when he saw the opportunity to prove himself right about Kaizen's video, he didn't think twice and asked:
"Klaus, watch the damn video. We're great archers and I'm trying to explain to David that this guy is not a professional archer just because he shot an arrow in a computer game."
David sighed in disappointment. "It's not a computer game, it's a NeuroGear game, Nathan. Are you smart and you still can't remember that? In fact, it wasn't just one shot, he hit several."
"Whatever, that's not important to the agenda. To me, he's obviously using a targeting aid." Nathan said, approaching Klaus to show him the video they were discussing.
Klaus watched the video on the tablet and realized that it was a compilation of his best shots as a goalkeeper during the group stage. The title of the video was 'Kaizen, The Emperor of the Bow'. He watched the beginning of the video with a smile on the corner of his mouth, knowing that these skills were the result of a lot of practice not only with the ancient bow, but also with his ancient skill called <Telekinesis>. He knew that his skills were above average, and he had worked hard to improve them, but the videos made them look much more impressive than they really were.
The particular stretch and shot that caused the argument between Nathan and David was the stretch of the first arrow he shot from the top of the cable car station into the chest of a warrior who was in the middle of a fight against three other players. This was a controversial shot, one that caused many to criticize Kaizen for being seemingly dishonest, except that this section was cut from the highlights video, which did not show the first two arrows he missed, but only the two arrows he hit to take down the warrior.
After the shot, Nathan paused the video and asked Klaus:
"What do you think? It's obvious he's using some kind of aiming aid, isn't it? I don't know, maybe his own bow shot for him."
This was a risky question for Klaus to answer, because he could simply say that Kaizen had missed two arrows before, but that might somehow lead to his identity as Kaizen being discovered, which he did not want yet. So Klaus decided to give his honest opinion, but with a little lie.
"I think you are biased, Nathan. This player's stance with bow and arrow in hand is very good in my opinion. Besides, I've played Rise Online a few times and I'm sure I've never heard of aiming assistance or anything like that."
"Do you play this game?" Nathan asked.
"Yes, I play it sometimes, but lately I don't have the time, as you can imagine. That's not the point. In Rise Online, when you create your avatar, you don't have a set goal to follow, not even a story, you just have to explore the world and figure out what you want to do, so there is virtually no player assistance.
David agreed and added, "That's right Nathan. I've played Rise Online and I've never gotten any help, and to tell you the truth, the game is very frustrating, difficult, and punishing at times. And the brain-reading technology of the devices even allows us to be good at things in the game that we are good at in real life, like archery itself."
Nathan looked a little embarrassed by Klaus and David's words, but still maintained a defensive posture. "Well, maybe I misjudged without knowing the game," he admitted, looking at Klaus with a slightly more respectful expression. "But I still think it's easier to hit those shots in a game than in real life."
Klaus smiled and replied, "Sure, it's true that skills in a game don't always translate directly to real life, it's just that it's not that easy when it comes to Rise Online.
...
Edited by: DrHitsuji
If you want to see original illustrations of Rise Online characters, consider helping me on pa treon: Pa treon.com/NandoFalske
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