<h4>Season 2: Chapter 105. A Larger Stake (1)</h4>


    <i>‘What?’</i>


    The enemymander surrendered after witnessing just one shot from Almond.


    <i>— Crazy decision LOL</i>


    <i>— Wow, is he a genius? So smart</i>


    <i>— ??? Well, just surrender and it''s over~</i>


    <i>— Crazy LOL What a quick decision!</i>


    At first, everyone thought the surrender urred due to some unknown error. However, the enemymander left after hurling insults like, “Using such an old build, eat this and die.” It didn’t seem like a technical issue.


    “Why did they suddenly surrender?”


    Almond knew the opponent angrily left the game, but didn''t fully understand why. This was typical of yers with less RTS gaming experience.


    “... Wow, an easy win.”


    “Heh. That''s how it is sometimes.”


    “Boring.”


    Thus, Almond''s team of archers ended the game without getting a proper chance to fight.


    <i>[Victory]</i>


    The screen transitioned and disyed those two words.


    <i>Jingle! Jingle!</i>


    The amount of gold earned was tallied, but it wasn’t anything substantial because the ytime was so short.


    “That win was too easy.”


    Had they been unusually unlucky in the first game or was thismander just bad? Almond couldn’t figure it out.


    “Strange, isn''t it? Thismander was ranked much higher than me...” BornToB sounded puzzled too.


    <i>— Themander''s rank was A+</i>


    <i>— This is a victory for Kimchi Warrior, honestly LOL</i>


    <i>— He lost in the build fight and just left LOL</i>


    Kimchi Warrior exined what happened via a message.


    <i>[Kimchi Warrior: They lost too badly in the strategic matchup and left immediately. The opponent wanted to win by quickly advancing to the third era with double town centers and a mass of workers. However, they had no chance of winning because we put everything into an early rush.]</i>


    The opponent had prepared a strategy to endure until the third era, but they gave up immediately after realizing they were up against a fast archer rush that perfectly countered them.


    <i>[Kimchi Warrior: Their only hope was if our archers weren’t up to par, but Almond one-shotted the workers so they just said GG and left.]</i>


    “Ah... I understand.”


    Almond somewhat understood what had transpired now. Although it felt a bit off, it was still their second consecutive win.


    Posts flooded the Embulmunity.


    <i>[Game surrendered before 6 minutes LOL]</i>


    <i>[Those nuts got obliterated LOL]</i>


    <i>[Well, a win is a win~~]</i>


    Despite the site requiring a login, Almond fans could be found engaging in themunity. Did they hack the site? That couldn''t be. Even within Embul, Almond fans simply existed.


    <i>— That guy LOL. Is he part of the Nut Gang?</i>


    <i>— The Nut Gang hatching from hiding!</i>


    <i>— LOL</i>


    The fans had been cautious due to all the unfavorable sentiment toward Almond in the beginning, but started to emerge after the second consecutive win.


    <i>— They''re boasting after just two wins?</i>


    <i>— A 4 drone rush is called a win?</i>


    <i>— Well, it''s technically a win... The game is about winning with strategy and now youin when they don''t win with strategy? LOL, what do you want?</i>


    <i>└ LOL true</i>


    <i>— Fast archer meta, please don''t end~~ don''t end~~</i>


    <i>└ LOL</i>


    <i>— Going blindly for the 3rd era with double town centers without scouting, is that smart? LOL Isn''t that also ame build? Look at the double standard.</i>


    <i>└ True, I was thinking the same. Feels great to see those double town center addicts getting crushed LOL</i>


    Veterans called the builds on both sides naive and hasty. Themanders were ying like gamblers and going through memorized steps without any strategic thought. However, the essence of RTS games was to win at all costs.


    Naturally, the perception among users wasn''t good. Therefore, the debate continued endlessly as Almond proceeded to the next game.


    "I’m moving on to the next game."


    Was it riding the wave? Or had Kimchi Warrior''s hasty retro build strategy hit the mark? From then on, Almond went on an unstoppable winning streak.


    <i>[Victory!]</i>


    <i>— Again LOL</i>


    <i>— Seems like they just give up after seeing one worker get shot</i>


    <i>— LOL</i>


    Although it wasn''t as extreme as the previous game, the next enemymander surrendered after losing about ten of their workers.


    Almond found these games surprisingly quick.


    "Well... that’s three wins in a row? Let’s move on to the next game."


    <i>[Victory!]</i>


    The fourth win came somewhat harder, but the enemymander threatened to report and left after simultaneously losing three spearmen.


    "What happens if I get reported again?" Almond asked while scratching his head.


    He had already been reported in the first game he yed today.


    <i>— Getting reported again LOL</i>


    <i>— We don''t know either LOL</i>


    <i>— The first person you met was quite persistent</i>


    <i>— Already 4 wins LOL</i>


    <i>— Time to reassess Letgo</i>


    After that, Almond also won the fifth, sixth, and seventh games in a row.


    <i>[Victory!]</i>


    <i>[Victory!]</i>


    <i>[Victory!]</i>


    <i>[Victory!]</i>


    Almond broke through the ranks with his insane winning streak. Eventually, he reached nine consecutive wins.


    <i>— 9 wins in a row???</i>


    <i>— In just an hour LOL</i>


    <i>— Crazy</i>


    He gained a huge amount of points even after the cement matches and finally arrived at the peak of B rank.


    <i>[You have now qualified topete in the A rank promotion match!]</i>


    Almond had already reached a promotion match and skipped past B+ straight to the A rank one. Thanks to his winning streak, he had a chance at a two-tier promotion.


    Even viewers who initially doubted Kimchi Warrior started to change their minds.


    <i>[CMFan has donated 10,000 won.]</i>


    <i>[If you think about it, Almond''s solo win rate was 50%. Considering the current win rate, Kimchi Warrior''s fast archer rush strategy is seriously awesome.]</i>


    <i>— That’s true</i>


    <i>— Kimchi Warrior''s strategy does seem strong</i>


    <i>— Almond had a 50% win rate?? LOL What a luck based trash game</i>


    <i>— Wow, that''s right LOL</i>


    <i>— In a league of mid-openers, there''s the strongest Kimchi Warrior opener~</i>


    Even though opinions varied regarding the fast archer rush strategy, it was a fact that Almond''s win rate had skyrocketed. The viewers acknowledged and epted Kimchi Warrior based on those results.


    <i>[Reevaluation has donated 10,000 won.]</i>


    <i>[He just gave Almond the perfect tactic... What kind of battles were they fighting until now...?]</i>


    <i>[NamingSense has donated 100,000 won!]</i>


    <i>[Kimchi Warrior... Ah... He was the light. The Light Warrior!!]</i>


    <i>— A name that shines LOL</i>


    <i>— Laughed my head off</i>


    <i>— LOL</i>


    <i>— The light is indeed the light</i>


    <i>— Crazy connotation LOL</i>


    Just then, a message arrived from Kimchi Warrior.


    <i>[Kimchi Warrior: Almond, let''s call it a day. We''ve reached our target for today.]</i>


    "Already?"


    Almond felt surprised because they took much less time than he expected due to the fast archer rush strategy that Kimchi Warrior prepared.


    <i>''It''s a strategy that perfectly suits my condition.''</i>


    Whether it was a coincidence or not, Kimchi Warrior had indeed chosen a perfect strategy for Almond.


    ***


    As expected, a video about the nine game winning streak appeared on Almond''s YouTube channel the next day. It was just a one minute short, which could seem odd after having yed so many games. However, this was quite natural considering all nine games the previous day featured the fast archer rush.


    Although Almond yed nine games, they all essentially looked the same from the editor''s point of view.


    Ji-Ah decided to edit everything very briefly and string them together.


    <i>[Unprecedented Growth that Shocked the World! The Miracle of One Shot!]</i>


    This was the title of the video.


    <i>— What a title LOL</i>


    <i>— What''s with the thumbnail? LOL</i>


    <i>— It wasn''t the Han River but one shot LOL</i>


    <i>— Has CM decided on this concept? LOL</i>


    Subscribers startedmenting because of the sensational title. Of course, the video recapped the previous day''s nine game winning streak. It started with Almond observing enemy workers from the bushes. Any scene of him speaking or themander giving orders quickly passed by.


    <i>Swoosh</i>.


    The scene yed at normal speed when Almond suddenly drew his bow and shot.


    <i>Fwoop!</i>


    The video showed a close-up shot of a worker falling helplessly. Then, immediately...


    <i>[The enemymander has surrendered!]</i>


    The enemymander immediately surrendered.


    In the next game, Almond madly rushed in and shot one arrow again. Shortly afterward, that enemymander also surrendered.


    This pattern of Almond shooting and the enemy surrendering repeated. A rank graph disyed Almond skyrocketing past B+ to the A rank promotion match. The video made it look like South Korea''s economic growth graph during its heyday.


    Even the end of the video featured the national g as the national anthem yed.


    <i>— Iughed so hard at the end LOL</i>


    <i>— This is it! This is South Korea! Understand!?</i>


    The video received quite a lot of attention in a different way thanst time with Nani-san, where the video was funny because of its content.


    <i>— FYI: Almond has to reach S+ rank within a month to join the national team.</i>


    <i>└ Is that so??</i>


    <i>└ No wonder he was ying so many games in one day...</i>


    <i>└ Really?</i>


    News of his challenge to reach S+ rank had spread.


    YouTube users now realized he was aiming for S+ rank to join the national teampetition. The news inevitably traveled slower throughmunities and on live tforms. Amid this, another person just learned about it.


    "Everyone, don''t be so upset that we didn''t win the LIL World Cup this time... Ah, that''s right. Even our officials... really didn''t know how to exin it."


    It was OrangeKing, the officialmentator of the LIL Championships (the national LIL professional league).


    On his personal stream, he made a not-so-sincere apology about the unprecedented situation regarding all the Korean teams being eliminated in the quarterfinals of the recent LIL World Cup (LIL World Tournament, officially named Worlds Championship).


    "Well, what can we do? Ah... First of all, congrattions to the two teams that made it to the finals, MEDG and G4..."


    <i>— Losing to a team like MDG...</i>


    <i>— I’m still dizzy from it. Is this a dream?</i>


    <i>— Those G4 guys had insane bracket luck.</i>


    <i>— It was just bad luck...</i>


    Anything less than victory would be criticized in the LIL World Cup, which was akin to archery or short track in the Olympics.


    Shockingly, all their national teams had been eliminated in the quarterfinals. Considering the times when all four semifinal teams belonged to Korea, things had drastically changed.


    "Let''s look forward to the next one..."


    For the first time, all teams had been eliminated before the finals. OrangeKing could only mutter about looking forward to the next one, seemingly out of his mind.


    "Ah, I''m notmentating the finals. It''s not my turn... and well... do I really need to?" heughed it off with a joke.


    <i>— LOL</i>


    <i>— That''s a relief LOL</i>


    <i>— Respectful bow</i>


    <i>— Oh, you''re not doing it LOL</i>


    <i>— Impressive move.</i>


    Trumpets sounded amid the somewhat gloomy atmosphere.


    <i>Ba-bam!</i>


    <i>[JejuOrange has donated a whopping 100,000 won!]</i>


    <i>[Congrattions on the birth!]</i>


    OrangeKing''s expression instantly brightened.


    "Ah, JejuOrange! Thank you for the 100,000 won! Thank you! It will help with the baby''s diaper expenses!"


    OrangeKing had recently weed a child with his beloved wife, making him a family man now.


    Meanwhile, he had lost much content for his stream with the Korean teams'' disastrous performance at the LIL World Cup.


    <i>— Will you take a break frommentating for a while?</i>


    <i>— Commentate on other games too~</i>


    <i>— OrangeKing doesn''tmentate on other games though.</i>


    The viewers felt concerned about him taking a hiatus.


    "Commentate on other games? Ah... you know I''ve only done LIL World, right? Commentators usually do various games, but I''m not ready for any others yet..."


    He had been a part of LIL World since his youth as a yer in the early days before capsule games until now as amentator. It wouldn''t be an exaggeration to say he dedicated his life to it.


    However, the prestige of national teams in LIL World had waned. Interest in the tournament also seemed to have decreased.


    It would be one thing if he didn''t have a child, but he couldn''t just do what he wanted as a family man.


    "I should probably get some insurance. What''s popr these days...?"


    OrangeKing checked the trending video rankings and saw Almond''s video with Whiskey.


    "Uh... Almond?"


    He remembered Almond from the <i>LIL</i> tournament that Balloon Stars won. Viewers in the chat also shared updates about Almond.


    <i>— Almond is joining the national team for CivilEmpire</i>


    <i>— Long time no see, Almond LOL</i>


    <i>— What''s with Almond''s channel growth???</i>


    <i>— Isn''t that the guy who ditched Raina? ??</i>


    <i>— The Federation remembers...</i>


    Viewers spoke about Almond abandoning Raina, his channel growth, and more. One thing caught OrangeKing''s attention.


    "Almond is joining a national team?"


    He focused on the news of Almond joining a national teampetition.


    "<i>Civil Empire...</i> It''s not a game I don''t know."


    It piqued OrangeKing’s interest.