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Season 2: Chapter 102. Instruction Manual for Almond (1)

Civil Empire had its own unique community with a slightly unusual name.

[Embul]

Although it didn’t have a large number of users, the amount of posts they generated was unmatched.

Civil Empire still enjoyed considerable popularity despite being less popular than Kingdom Age. During the national competition season, even casual players flocked to the community to find out one thing. Who would be selected for the national team?

[What's up with the national team roster this time??]

[Has the national team roster not been announced yet? Let's reach the main stage this time!]

[The post below is bait. The roster isn't out yet, LOL]

The national team selected as many as two hundred players, so even working professionals with gaming experience had a shot. Civil Empire appealed to individuals juggling gaming with their day jobs, especially since making the national team was possible. This charm was unique to Korea's smaller market.

[Is Cookie going to be the main commander again? He's been around for ages.]

While being in the top two hundred was relatively easier on Korea's smaller server, being a commander was a different story. Each server could only have one main commander and two assistant commanders for the national competition.

— Cookie is unmatched. He’s the youngest to make it to the main stage.

└ That was thanks to his senior team members... He was just an assistant commander then.

Cookie, the current main commander, had experience reaching the main stage of the national competition. This was comparable to reaching the top thirty-two in football and he achieved this at the age of twenty-seven, which was quite young compared to the average age of commanders at thirty-five. Top commanders often skewed older, given their role in leading people and not just units.

There was even a fifty year old winning commander, who was actually a former military officer with extensive real-life experience.

Cookie’s achievement at twenty-seven had been a significant event, marking Korea's best performance in the competition to date. It was almost comparable to their 2002 World Cup placement.

— Wasn’t Cookie's main stage appearance due to the legendary team back then? Just like the 2002 World Cup.

└ That damn 2002 lol

└ It's 2036 now, old man...

└ We've been milking that World Cup for 34 years lol

└ That shows how bad it's been...

Reaching the main stage had been their highest achievement, which spoke volumes. Such a record was disappointing for a nation that once dominated the RTS genre and pioneered esports.

— How did a nation that played StarCraft as a folk game end up like this...

└ LIL ruined everything.

Some blamed the game’s drop in popularity on LIL, saying all their good prospects moved there.

— Isn’t it because Korea kept losing that it lost popularity?

└ Then why is football still popular despite our constant losses?

└ True lol. If popularity is only determined by winning, everyone would be shooting arrows in the K-League and doing short track lol.

However, the prevailing opinion was more straightforward.

— It's just that our civilization in the game is weak. That's all.

Everyone agreed that the game inherently had balance issues.

— No matter what you say, it's pointless if you don't make it to the main stage.

One user pointed out that harboring negative thoughts about the game wouldn't help to achieve better results. Therefore, posts like these began to dominate the forum.

[Same old debate is on fire again lol]

[Feels like I'm in a time machine with these repetitive discussions lol]

[It's the game you chose. Endure it with grit~~]

As usual, the discussions about this topic in the community eventually ended without much result. The community members shifted their attention back to this year's national team roster. Was there any hope this year? Their curiosity persisted despite being let down every year.

Then, the first piece of news came in.

[Breaking: A B rank player made it into the national team???]

— Nonsense. What ridiculous clickbait

— Look at that title bait

— Wow, you should be a journalist. Look at those views.

Nobody believed it with a title like that.

[It's true... I’ve got a clip of the stream.]

The next post included a clip of Almond receiving an offer from Kimchi Warrior.

— ...? How is a B rank there?

— That's impossible due to the system

— Didn’t Kimchi Warrior lead the think tank last year? He was okay then... Has he lost his mind?

They considered the possibility that a B rank could have received such an offer, but expected nothing more. However, the following video further piqued their interest.

[It's really true!!! He's currently rushing to S+ with a B rank commander!?]

The latest clip showed Almond discussing with Kimchi Warrior and entering the game with BornToB.

This led to speculation that the national team was really trying to raise Almond to S+ rank to get him on the national team.

— ...?

— That's the streamer who recently topped the live charts in Civil Empire... It kind of makes sense why they would want him...

— This year is doomed again! LOL

— I'm not watching this crap ffs.

Their community of veterans was quite closed off to outsiders. From their point of view, Almond was receiving special treatment for being famous. It was a misunderstanding, but not entirely unfounded since it was true that Almond was a famous B rank player.

— I think Cookie is trying to make some money off of this.

└ Ah~~ Why else would he be a businessman?

— He's lost the spirit he used to have...

— It's like that drama I used to like, then an idol actor suddenly appears. This is exactly that feeling.

└ Is that drama by any chance The Adventurous Life of a Patch?

└ ... Yeah, sounds about right. Perfect casting

└ You’re talking about In-Ho, right? Everyone thinks the same

└ True, In-Ho's face needed a patch. Please take down this post~~

The misunderstandings and speculations continued to spread. Amid this, someone posted a live link.

[It's live. Almond is currently rushing to S+ rank. He's playing duo with a B rank commander.]

Regardless, it still garnered attention. The normally inactive veterans of Civil Empire started drifting toward Almond's stream.

— I’m gonna check it out

— He might do well, right? LOL

— Let's go

Of course, their numbers barely reached a thousand. However, they were as noisy as five thousand in terms of chatter.

— What is the commander even doing? Just rushing with a fast 2nd era archer rush?

— Feels like both of them are new to this

— Is this the national team?

— They should move through the forest. It's a fight with archers...

— Please, the forest...

They already felt frustrated with what they saw and started dishing out advice.

— Why are they lining up like ragtag soldiers? Do they want to die one by one?

— So frustrating...

— If the enemy commander isn't dumb, this is already a win

— Is this the national team!? Is this the national team!?

They didn’t intend to do so, but naturally started bullying Almond with their veteran presence.

— The enemy already has soldiers

— They’re doomed~

— There are soldiers against their fast rush, it's over

Meanwhile, Almond had been running for a while and finally reached the location designated by Commander BornToB.

‘Looks like the backseat gamers have increased...’

Almond glanced at the chat as he walked toward the enemy base. He surveyed the enemy camp and spotted a few enemy soldiers already waiting.

Only their side was supposed to have soldiers according to the original plan, but that didn’t turn out to be the case.

“Darn it... What do we do now?!” BornToBe sounded quite flustered.

Almond took the lead before his commander could make a ridiculous decision in a panicked state.

"Let's just go in."

As he took the lead, the other archers followed as if it was no big deal.

— Really, just like that?

— Sacrifice me!

— LOL

The enemy troops noticed them straight away as they blatantly entered.

"The enemy is here!"

"This way!"

Around three soldiers approached them.

Almond drew his bowstring and thought three soldiers could be easily taken down in an instant. Even more so if they were spearmen.

Creak...

He planned to shoot as soon as they came into range.

‘Huh?’

At that moment, the enemy soldiers stopped and Almond's troops began causing a stir.

"What's going on?"

"There are usually only spearmen, right...?"

"They have archers too? This is crazy."

The enemy also had archers. The fast second era and archer rush strategy normally involved dealing with spearmen who were at a disadvantage. Another ideal move would be to play cat and mouse with defensive towers.

However, the enemy had also prepared archers.

‘Wait. You can’t produce archers without being in the second era.’

Almond thought for a moment. BornToB rushed to the second era like a madman to recruit archers. How could the enemy have archers too? Unless the enemy commander deliberately recruited archers...

‘Were we completely read?’

Their strategy had been completely foiled.

Someone shouted from the back, "Wait, more enemies are coming!?"

An ally was looking out from on top of a rock.

"One... now ten! There are ten!"

The enemy had as many as ten archers.

"Ten!?"

"The difference is too big."

"Is this even possible? They must have realized it was a fast rush and prepared for it!"

Almond thought along similar lines.

‘... Hmm.’

To sum it up, the enemy commander had roughly guessed BornToB's strategy through scouts and unbelievably prepared a countermeasure.

— That’s crazy

— Really? Losing in numbers in an all-in rush?

— This is insane

They had fewer numbers in an all-in rush than the enemy who didn’t go all-in.

‘No, we have more in numbers. They just haven’t all arrived yet.’

Almond's team had more members, but the rest were still on their way.

BornToB was recruiting archers at a fast pace.

‘The problem is the location.’

The distance between the two camps posed an issue. It was quite far to execute such an early-game strategy, which was why this strategy was not generally viable.

Normally, it would be correct to change strategies in this case. However, BornToB had only learned this one strategy from Kimchi Warrior and had no backup plans.

Almond’s side only had five soldiers while the enemy had gathered as many as ten. Waiting a bit longer could increase their numbers to six, but that wouldn’t make much of a difference if the enemy continued recruiting archers after spotting them here.

Expressions of defeat could be seen on Almond’s troops.

“Ah... this is a loss.”

“Let’s just fight.”

“We’re outnumbered two to one and against archers too... Is this even possible?”

“The enemy is approaching! What do we do?”

The enemy archers, who initially hesitated, started advancing after realizing that they outnumbered Almond’s side. They would soon come into range of each other.

Almond's troops began to step back.

‘This won't do.’

Almond stopped them from fleeing and spoke, “Honestly, it's not twice as many, is it? It's just one or two more.”

— ???

— What?

— A nut issue

He blatantly lied to them. Even at a glance, the enemy definitely didn’t have just one or two more soldiers than them.

One of Almond's soldiers grew annoyed and snapped, “If ten against five isn't double then what is─”

Instead of responding, Almond leaped forward and pulled his bowstring.

Pang!

The arrow swiftly flew and struck the enemy's vital point, knocking them down in a single shot.

Thud!

The enemy archers were instantly reduced to nine.

“!?”

Both the enemies and Almond's troops were shocked.

‘At this distance...?’

They all thought no one was in range yet, but Almond’s shot had been too precise.

However, it was too early to be surprised. As usual, Almond didn't shoot just one arrow.

Thump!

More arrows already flew and brought down two more enemies. In an instant, three enemy soldiers had died and left their side with only seven left.

Almond's side still had five archers.

“See. It's just a difference of one or two.”

Eventually, his words proved to be accurate.

— He calculated 1 second ahead?

— Is this what OrangeKing meant by that 1st grade math or whatever?

— 3 seconds later: See, it's just a difference of one or two (now we outnumber them)

Almond's troops suddenly roared in triumph.

“Woahhhhhhh!”

“We can win! Let’s go! Shoot!”

They sensed that victory was already theirs after seeing the capabilities of their leader.

— What a comeback

— At least they’re quick on the uptake

— Lol

It wasn’t just Almond’s troops who suddenly changed their stance.

A new post appeared on the Embul community forum.

[What's with this guy? He's killing three at a time???]

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