Prologue
These days, there are many children being called prodigies.
A 5-year-old that can do calculus, or a 12-year-old kid is called the Korean Messi at the Barcelona youth
academy.
But among them, there are only one or two true geniuses. Most are just precocious children.
I was one of them.
Just because I was good at the game of Go[1] as a child, adults put me on a pedestal they created.
'Isn't that the case? Kids who are good at Go are truly geniuses!'
'If you were born in the past, you definitely would have become a famous general!'
'That kid is really smart. His dream for the future must obviously be to become president?'
I was overwhelmed by the pressure of adults' excessive expectations.
From the age of six, I had to read useless literature like Sun Tzu's The Art of War or The Prince, and only
say things to meet the adults' expectations.[1.5]
Of course, there was no way that could work out properly.
Soon, I revealed the limits of being a fake prodigy.
When I became a middle school student, I gradually couldn't beat other kids at Go, which was my main
pursuit, and the dream of becoming a professional Go player grew more distant.
I defected to chess, where I really did have talent and made it into the top 10 in the country, but who
cares about chess in this country.[2]
It wasn't until I was a high school senior that I hurriedly had to start studying for the college entrance
exam.
I did have a knack for studying, so after about 8 months I was able to get into a top university in Seoul,
but at this point, the pedestal the adults had put me on had turned into a bed of nails.
'Tsk tsk, I thought you would go to medical school.'
'I knew you'd turn out like this. That's how kids are these days.'
'Genius, my ass. Look at this. In the end, our Kyung-min got into a better university, didn't he?'
Adults set unreasonable expectations and then unreasonably feel disappointed.
Well, I had received some benefits from the halo of being called a prodigy, so I can't complain, but I couldn't help feeling disgusted.
And so, the child once called a prodigy ended up becoming an ordinary office worker.
He got a job at a well-known major company, envied by his colleagues, but my life had become barren,
with neither a shell nor a kernel.
My parents, who had quarreled over my education, divorced, and I lived alone in an officetel near the
company.[3]
A life with no sense of fulfillment or accomplishment.
My only refuge was gaming.
The game I was hooked on was a mobile strategy RPG called 'Athena War Tales', which was quite
unique.
While the story itself was a typical male-oriented game, the combat system in the game was profound
and highly polished.
The results varied greatly depending on how intelligently the player moved, making it a game of skill.
It didn't quite fit the current trend of mobile games where you could play automatically by throwing
money at it, so it wasn't explosively popular, but it had a fairly substantial fan base.
I was one of those fans, known among users as a god.
The free-to-play god, Wade.
When I posted free-to-play strategy guides on the community, dozens of comments would come
flooding in, and people would line up for deck and tactics consultations.
To meet the users' expectations, I poured all my time outside of work into studying this game.
I even read military strategy and tactics books that I had once thought were useless, finding methods on
my own.
In the end, living up to someone's expectations and doing something was the same as when I was a
child, but unlike then, it didn't feel bad.
- LightingPipe: Wade sir, when will you post the Karrlax battle strategy? Free-to-play players are waiting
in tears ㅠ
- CrackedMandarin: But I heard even the whales were struggling with the Karrlax battle. Is it really
designed so that free-to-play can clear it? I only trust you, Wade.
- Wade: Just wait a bit. Working on the strategy.
- MacauBuck: Ooh! As expected of the free-to-play god!
- LightingPipe: Wade! Wade! Wade!
Pure enthusiasm, different from the selfish expectations of adults.
Well, I guess it's enjoyable since I'm doing it because I like it.
- MacauBuck: By the way Wade, wouldn't it be better to let go of allergic reaction at this point? If you
invest even one more UR card asides the allergic ones, it would be much easier.[4]
- LightingPipe: True. These days even free-to-play players have one or two UR cards. It's a bit much to
focus only on SR or SSR cards.
- CrackedMandarin: That's why Wade posts strategy guides for both decks with SSRs and real trash
decks.
- MacauBuck: But he posts the trash deck strategy first lol. To be honest, it's hard to follow the R card
deck strategy. But whatever, it would be better if you just remove the allergic reaction.
- LightingPipe: True that.
Allergic reaction refers to the aura character card, Ars Elaine given at the start of the game.
Like any free starting card, its rank and performance were pathetic, hence the name allergic reaction.
Yet he had a high presence in the story, appearing in most battles.
Would you say that he is a narrator who leads the story on behalf of the taciturn protagonist?
While significant in the story, he was an extra that no actual user utilized. That was Ars.
But I always included Ars.
I tended to prioritize consistency between the game's story and actual gameplay over performance.
For instance, if at war with the B Kingdom, I'd hesitate to use characters like the B King or general from
the gacha. That just wouldn't make sense.
In that context, I always included Ars since he was always on our side.
"Okay, cleared it. Phew!"
After countless trial and error, it took 13 hours to succeed with the strategy. This stage was definitely
difficult enough for users to cry over.
Free-to-play users would struggle to clear it if they couldn't find the hidden quest within the story.
"Who would've thought there'd be a hidden Ars power-up quest here."
Through this quest, Ars was promoted from an existing SR character to an SSR. Considering he started as
an R card, he grew according to the story.
With this, his tier should rise as well.
From what I felt, it might not reach tier 1, but at least tier 2 should be possible with this power-up.
"Whoa, it's already 3 AM. I should post the strategy after sleeping."
I dived into bed and fiddled with my smartphone.
- Wade: Cleared it. Will tidy up and post the strategy tomorrow.
- CrackedMandarin: 5252! I believed in you!
- Wade: And I also discovered a hidden power-up quest. Seems like I might be the first to find it. Will
include it in the strategy post later.
- Dr.Park: What the hell. Whose power-up quest? The paying users who cleared it didn't mention
anything like that.
- Wade: Of course they wouldn't lol
There's no way any of the paying users would be using Ars as their main.
Moreover, the Karrlax battle was just updated three days ago.
"Ars' recruitment rate is going to skyrocket tomorrow."
Somehow, Ars had become my favorite character. So I looked forward to his tier rising from the power-
up quest the next day.
But I never got to post that strategy.
When I woke up, an unbelievable sight was unfolding before my eyes.
Footnotes:
1] Go is an Asian game similar to chess but also has its own rules. Fun fact, Go has 3 different names
(Baduk-바둑 , Paduk-바둑판 棋盤, and sometimes Gi)
1.5] Sun Tzu's The Art of War and The Prince are popular books about strategy and war.
2] Go is more preferable to koreans.
3] Officetels are specifically designed for living and work space.
4] The Card Rarity will be better explained in the next chapter.