Hard Carry Support

JaeHoon murmured in a low voice after taking a look around.

"The rumors say specs will be less relevant."

"What? If specs aren\'t important anymore... Professional gamers won\'t need to level up characters, right?"

"Not exactly. You can\'t ignore experience and proficiency. The number of skills is going to be different, too."

"Hmm... Are they going to distribute stats fairly and make people duel?" SeoHyun asked while thinking about Ain and Bishop Man\'s duel.

"I don\'t think it\'s going to be that simple. It seems like each match is going to last around 30 minutes... Nobody knows what format they\'re going to choose."

"That sounds hard..."

The more he heard JaeHoon\'s explanation, the more complicated his mind became.

SeoHyun shook his head.

He was glad he wasn\'t a professional gamer.

"They\'re going to announce it tonight?"

"Yes, and the first match will take place tomorrow."

"You won\'t have time to prepare."

"Although it isn\'t an official match, if you have time, come and see it. I\'ve been chosen as a player."

"Okay."

He didn\'t have much time to talk with JaeHoon.

Professional gaming was the kind of job that didn\'t let you relax, even at festivals like that.

SeoHyun didn\'t want to take time out from a busy person.

A tournament system...

Hyun didn\'t understand what he meant when he said specs would lose importance.

\'I guess I\'ll soon find out.\'

SeoHyun and Ain began wandering around other places.

There weren\'t many things that bothered them…

Except for the staff member that came running toward them.

How had they managed to find Ain in such a big place?

The staff member asked her with a deep bow, so Ain had no choice but to accept being interviewed.

But even things like that were funny to Hyun.

They became hungry after playing around for a while, but thanks to Ain\'s VIP invitation, that didn\'t matter.

Something special happened when they were having dinner together…

Hyun suddenly felt that people who were eating began mumbling.

As he looked around, he saw that everyone was looking at their phones.

At that moment, Kwon DaeHo was about to make an announcement.

"What... Did something happen...?"

"It seems like something important happened!"

Ain noticed that the people around them were looking at internet news sites.

All websites were full of news related to Kwon DaeHo.

—It was the same for foreign sites.

\'Kwon DaeHo...?\'

Even Hyun, who wasn\'t interested in studying, knew that name.

He was someone with the ability to draw the attention of everyone around the world.

SeoHyun seemed confused. He wasn\'t sure why DaeHo’s name was being mentioned alongside NFM.

"What... Wasn\'t the important announcement related to Asrian?"

"Yes! It seems like he\'s the one responsible for Asrian!"

"What?!"

SeoHyun was surprised.

There wasn’t a single user who knew about the fact that Kwon DaeHo was the person behind Asrian.

Why was the person called the genius of the century developing games?

The details about that were being discussed in the next building’s seminar room.

* * *

"Asrian isn\'t a world created with gaming as a purpose."

It was a giant seminar room that nearly a thousand people could enter.

The most important academics, presenters, and reporters were gathered there.

Even big news channels could only gain access for two people at a maximum to enter the seminar room—the number of people inside was strictly controlled.

That\'s how big Kwon DaeHo\'s announcement was.

Kwon DaeHo\'s low voice spread through the room while everyone was alert.

"Asrian is one big simulator. Not only is it composed of elemental particle levels, but it also represents the strong force, weak force, electromagnetic force, and gravity. Although a fifth force called magical power was added... that\'s just an extra option."

Kwon DaeHo had put all the variables from the real world into the game.

In other words, it was a world that was exactly like the real one.

If those words were true, it was something astonishing.

Many people had copied the world, but there hadn\'t been anyone capable of recreating the world.

From a certain point of view, wasn\'t that just like being a god?

"Our team has successfully managed to do 1049 important modern scientific tests inside Asrian. The results of those were identical to the ones that were conducted in real life."

Only Kwon DaeHo’s voice could be heard in the seminar room.

The audience was silent.

Translator - Daniel Shin

Proofreader - ilafy

* * *

Those who understood Kwon DaeHo\'s words were shaking.

"Then, we changed our goals to tests that are impossible to do in real life... For example, recreating the origin of the universe! Although it was harder to do than the ones before it, we also succeeded in completing that as well."

Kwon DaeHo began explaining how they\'d built the world of Asrian.

—They\'d used the simulator to cause a big bang and create the universe.

Creating life forms similar to human beings was hard to do, so they’d recreated only part of the universe and set the conditions of NPCs separately, and that\'s how they were able to create the current world.

Save for those who specialized in the field, the audience had a hard time understanding the explanation.

"After the big bang test, our scientists used this giant simulator to do more new tests. The results were incredible. Many theories that we considered as truth were wrong, but the number of new things we discovered was even greater."

"Oh my god..."

One person that was in the front row couldn\'t hide his surprise.

—He was one of the most prominent figures in the physics field.

Since he understood Kwon DaeHo\'s words, he knew how incredible what he said was, so his reaction was even bigger.

"But many people here probably are having a hard time understanding this..."

Kwon DaeHo put something on the screen.

A video that most people had probably seen was being displayed on the screen.

Iluna\'s Quest!

S user called Salon was running through the city with a girl wearing a white robe.

It was one of the most famous scenes from the quest.

"This is a place inside the game where there\'s always an eclipse going on, but the most impressive thing is that none of the developers set that place up for that to happen."

Most people were able to understand that explanation.

"It means that this place appeared by itself while the world was being created."

They hadn\'t used the simulator to program anything.

Everything in Asrian changed and evolved by itself thanks to the flow of time.

One reporter suddenly raised his hand.

As Kwon DaeHo nodded, he asked a sharp question.

"I\'ve heard that Asrian Online was created with the game Asra as a base! Isn\'t it contradictory that the settings of the world that were generated by chance are exactly the same as in the previous game?"

"Woah, that\'s a good question."

Instead of Kwon DaeHo, Kang SeongCheol answered that question.

Kang SeongCheol was one of the leading specialists in the field of AI.

"That\'s because the initial conditions were the same. Do you know what a Transcendent is in Asrian?"

"Yes..."

"Then the explanation is going to be easier! We brought the settings of the Transcendents, the highest entities of the world, from the previous game. That\'s also the reason why both worlds are so similar!"

They had been troubled by the sheer amount of calculations they needed to make while initially developing Asrian.

Creating a world from zero was almost impossible, even for a supercomputer.

They gave them the initial settings of NPCs to reduce the calculations needed.

The Archangels and Great Demons…

The Transcendents were entities that acted as the pillars of the world.

According to Kang SeongCheol, because they’d given them the same settings as the previous game, the story of the world flowed in a similar direction.

Artificial Intelligence technology was already very advanced before Asrian came out.

The action patterns of artificial intelligence NPCs following a linear path was common.

Since the world of Asrian was recreated with the knowledge of the Transcendents as a base, it was understandable that the world was similar to the previous one.

"But both worlds aren\'t exactly the same. There are some differences. For example, the fact that the world is much bigger is one of those differences."

Robert Connor continued the explanation while making a subtle smile.

Since he spent most of his time monitoring Asrian, he knew more secrets than the rest.

He knew more about the world of Asrian than Kwon DaeHo!

"Although there are many users, most aren\'t even aware of even half of it. From what I know, there are only... Three users who have seen more of the world than that."

"That means that, while creating the world through simulation, the world got bigger and more complex on its own?"

"Yes. Because the world of Asrian is a simulation, it converges to the most stable state. We didn\'t touch or add anything except for the duel arena."

Then someone else asked a question.

Robert pointed to the person who had raised his hand.

"Yes, over there. Oh, we have a very famous user this time."

Robert smiled after checking out the face of the chubby young man.

That man was the leader of the Darkness Guild, XL.

Although around a hundred users had received a VIP invitation, only one user had used its power to enter the audience.

"I\'ve heard that the same physics apply to both Asrian and the real world."

"Yes!"

"Does that mean it\'s possible to create weapons like guns inside the game?"

Unlike other people, XL\'s question was related to the gameplay.

"Well, creating one is possible..."

Robert hesitated a little bit before answering.

"You shouldn\'t expect a lot of damage. The laws of physics that apply to users, monsters, NPCs, and a few other beings are different from the ones in real life."

"Is that because of magical power?"

Robert smiled bitterly.

XL\'s question was very sharp.

The world of Asrian was more similar to a game than real life on the outside.

Levels, stats, skills, HP, the physical defect that happens once you receive 1/3 of your HP as damage in one place, on top of that, movements like the ones Hyun and Ain showed that would be impossible to do in real life.

The reason why those things appeared and were possible to do was a force called \'magical power\' that didn\'t exist in real life.

Magical power, which the life forms of the world of Asrian had, was one of the many things that differentiated the world of Asrian from the real world.

The reason why they had added the fifth force was to make Asrian more popular, but it was also to cover a few fatal errors in the simulator.

"Anyway, we\'re going to give more details at the conference tomorrow."

Kwon DaeHo quickly grabbed the microphone.

There was no need to give more details about magical power right then.

They could give more details about that once Asrian became more established worldwide.

"Our team of researchers used the simulator and created 232 theses. Starting tomorrow, we\'ll hold presentations all over the conference hall for four days, so we hope you attend!"

"Wait for a second, please!"

Someone shouted before Kwon DaeHo put the mic down.

"I understood that Asrian is a state-of-the-art simulator, but why have you turned such an important investigation tool into a game?!"

Everyone focused their attention on the reporter who asked that.

That was the question everyone was wondering the most about.

After hesitating for a little bit, Kwon DaeHo answered with an awkward smile.

"We need to make money to fund our investigations."

"What?"

"Projects that use simulators require spending an astronomical amount of money, which is why creating a company was the best way for us not to starve."

Hahaha, everyone began laughing at Kwon DaeHo\'s joke, but some people weren’t laughing.

A small group of people understood the real reason why Asrian was released.

\'They launched a game to earn money to fund scientific investigations?\'

They were sure that was probably one of the reasons, but there was no way that was the only one.

A video game was the most effective way to use a giant simulator.

It was as if everyone playing Asrian had received a high-performance device for free.

Something similar to the Internet... No, it was as if something greater than the Internet had been born.

\'Maybe this was an ark wearing the mask of a game!\'

Save for a few of the elite, most people hadn\'t realized the potential of Asrian yet.

—But those elite were the people who were leading the world.

They were sure…

The ark that was going to navigate to the unknown territory of the future was Asrian, and it was going to become humanity’s greatest invention.