With the start of the battle decreed, Kaizen, with his agility and dexterity, quickly equipped the Graham Bow and began firing arrows at Teshi, who defended himself with his heavy sword.
Teshi activated the <Will of the Indomitable Bear> skill and moved forward vigorously with his sword, trying to shorten the large space of the arena and get closer to Kaizen to deliver powerful blows, but this would certainly not be easy as Kaizen was fast, skillfully dodging the attempted thrusts and keeping his distance with accurate arrows that hindered and annoyed Teshi.
The battle was intense, with both warriors displaying remarkable skill and impressive strategic awareness from the start.
Kaizen was no fool and knew that he would be giving Teshi an advantage if he allowed him to close the distance between them, so he used his speed and agility to move around the battlefield, firing arrows in rapid succession like spam, while Teshi used his strength and endurance to try to get closer to him.
The two were in a fairly even match, and the crowd was vibrating with every move.
This was undoubtedly the most watched live broadcast on the entire planet at the moment, with more viewers than any TV show, soccer match, or live streamer. Virtually every fanatical Rise Online player was glued to their monitors, not wanting to miss a second, and the game's biggest fan, Charles Richards, who was also one of the developers, could not miss a fight like this.
Even from his improvised office in a small jet that flew a few miles high, Charles watched intently. Next to him was his trusty operations secretary, Hollie Rees.
"He looks even better than yesterday." Charles Richards commented, impressed.
"Yes, Teshi is truly a player who knows how to make the most of his items and abilities. He blends them together like few non-evolved players can." Hollie Rees replied.
"I'm not talking about Teshi, Hollie. Obviously he is a fabulous player, but watch Kaizen in this moment. He recognizes the strength of his opponent and knows exactly why he keeps his distance. It is amazing that he has this perception from the beginning of the match, he must have studied his opponent a lot.
Hollie Rees had his usual tablet in hand, where he had all the information on every Rise Online player or NeuroGear user, so he disagreed with his boss:
"Actually, sir, from Klaus Park's profile, I don't think that's the case. He was not a good student in school, despite his average grades, with low class attendance. I think the reason he was so cautious from the beginning is because of his class skill called <Analyzing Eye>."
"Um. That inference makes sense. What level is Teshi at?"
"Level 233, sir."
"And Kaizen is at what level?"
"He moved up to level 91 yesterday."
Hollie Rees' answer made Charles' eyes widen in surprise. It was extremely impressive that a level 91 player could handle the overwhelming power of a level 233 player so well. The difference was 142 levels in total, and the difference in strength between them should be the same as a level 10 facing a level 100. Yet there Kaizen was, alone, facing a player with a much higher amount of attributes than he had.
For many, this would come as a shock, as it meant that Kaizen's avatar was broken, and Hollie Rees herself thought that Charles Richards would finally realize this as he considered all the information, only his reaction was the opposite of what was expected. Instead of being outraged, Charles smiled briefly and then started to laugh, leaving his secretary extremely confused.
"Why are you laughing, sir?" She inquired. "I warned you that the psych class could break our systems, especially after the incompetent Klaus Park unwittingly abused an attribute duplication bug."
Wiping the tears from the corners of his eyes from laughing so hard, Charles looked at Hollie reassuringly and replied:
"Don't you get it yet, Hollie? If this is happening, it is because the supercomputer Odin wants it to happen. You remember what I told you at that meeting a few months ago, don't you? Odin doesn't make mistakes, it has evolved to be virtually immune to them. What Odin can do is force mistakes into the system itself, aiming for the maximum of its capacity, and I believe that's exactly what he's doing now."
"How so?" She inquired, confused.
"I spent hours and weeks going through Klaus Park's and Kaizen's files, looking for a reason why he was chosen as a Psyker class carrier. The truth is, I found not just one reason, but several, and one of the most important characteristics for Odin to have chosen him was that Kaizen has an amazing natural talent. His brain works differently than most of us, and so do his neurons."
"I still don't understand."
"All right, I'll explain it better. Have you ever heard of the mental exercise to improve memory called the Mental Palace?"
"Yes, of course I have. This exercise suggests that we humans are better able to store information if we associate it with a physical place, like a palace where we can store memories in different rooms."
"Exactly, except Kaizen does something similar in a different way and for a different purpose. Instead of imagining himself in a physical place where he can store memories, Kaizen is unconsciously paying attention to his surroundings all the time, which means his brain is not straining to think about the palace and the hundreds of doors, but about the place he is in, creating what we call the zone."
"Are you talking about the trance-like experience that high performance athletes claim to have and sometimes experience at certain times in their careers?"
"Yes, that's right. I don't think Klaus Park is in the zone all the time, but Kaizen definitely is during most of his fights, so he always manages to get the most out of himself, his opponent, and the terrain, even though he's at an obvious disadvantage."
"Are you saying that Odin took that into consideration when he 'randomly' chose this class for Kaizen? That's crazy."
"It's not crazy if you stop and consider that Kaizen transferred his Myth2 account, and that his PR is the highest any player has ever received. Kaizen wasn't randomly chosen by Odin to be a Psyker like a player is chosen to be a bard, he was hand-picked..."
...
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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https://discord.gg/bpqq9u4gS8
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