SWNOVELXO Chapter 204
“So what I want to say is that we have to eliminate luck as much as possible in order to secure a favorable position. It’s like gradually changing the ‘coin toss game’ into a ‘Baskin-Robbins game.’ So, Shia, what are some probabilistic elements in League?”
“Opponent’s jungle placement?”
“That’s right. Of course, there are limitations on where the opponent’s jungle can be, but it’s still not certain, right? So we draw a virtual dotted line around that candidate area. If the enemy jungler is outside that zone, it means they’re losing more from ganks than they’re gaining.”
“But… what about when they’re in that zone?”
“When they’re inside it, you have to be good at tightrope walking, and when they’re outside, you need to play conservatively. Oh, and what if the zones overlap? After 14 minutes, you just have to observe the movements of the main forces. During the lane phase, we should carefully watch the top and mid lanes to determine how aggressive the enemy laners are or if they’re feeling anxious—read their psychology—”
The narrow space between the tables had suddenly transformed into a game battlefield.
Na-me flitted back and forth with her short legs, fervently giving a game lecture.
Chocolate-covered tanghulu made for an excellent bribe to inquire about her winning secrets.
“See? It’s really simple! You don’t have to check all the time; just take a quick glance when things seem uncertain.”
“I… didn’t understand any of it!”
“Hey! We can’t even look at the minimap properly!”
“Do we really have to go that far to play a game?”
Even if she attempted to explain, it was an area they couldn’t replicate anyway.
Na-me blinked her cat-like eyes, shrugging her shoulders as if to say, ‘Why can’t you understand this?’
“NoName, so you were actually watching our top and mid lane live while playing your lane? Were you seriously saying to watch out for ganks?”
Min-jun asked in shock, suspicious of Na-me’s uncanny knowledge of the enemy jungler’s location.
“No way, that’s like map hacking! Isn’t that cheating? Hurry up and give us back our finals trophy!”
“Even pros wouldn’t go to that extent. Do you think they have time to watch someone else’s lane?”
Other streamers who had previously met as enemies protested vigorously.
“Oh, nowadays, the damage? That’s way too easy! I can almost predict the damage, but if I’m unsure, I just do a rough calculation assuming the coefficient is 1.25.”
As soon as math entered the game, people started bubble-spitting and collapsing.
Even after the short lecture, streamers began to flock towards Na-me’s table.
In the end, Na-me made a direct visit to assure she could appear on each streamer’s broadcast at least once.
“Do an impression of Asteria for us, Na-me!”
“Huh? Asteria…?”
Na-me twisted her body nervously, opening her small lips. She looked quite embarrassed.
“Asel, Riva.”
“Not that! Do something longer!”
“Do I really have to?”
Streamers nodded their heads vigorously, up and down, twenty to thirty times.
“Selena’s revenge…!”
Na-me made a fierce face and raised her finger in a dramatic pose.
AAAHHH!
“Do your ultimate ability too!”
“L-LA Astelia Shuiha Ta Phailum… is that enough?”
Gone was the charismatic Asteria, replaced by a kid’s lisping voice.
“Totally satisfied!”
With enthusiastic reactions, Na-me’s blushing face regained its original color.
– KYAAAHHH!!! Igguoquedeng! LOL!
– “From now on, Asteria is 8 years old!”
– “Adorable! LOL!”
– “Gamdasal!”
– “She leaves the second you make her do something weird!”
– “LOL! The room leader’s going to have a nosebleed!”
As they moved to the next destination, streamers brought out a tablet and held it in front of her.
“What’s this?”
“A reaction speed test! Want to compete with us?”
The male who demonstrated first touched the screen as soon as it turned green.
[193ms]
“This is how it’s done.”
Na-me nodded.
The double-folds drawn heavily on her eyelids had no sign of movement.
The first attempt was 150 milliseconds. The second attempt was 138 milliseconds.
– “Whoa, that’s crazy fast! LOL!”
– “Totally insane!”
– “Seriously professional level?”
– “I’m older now, I can’t stay under 300ms anymore.”
As Na-me’s competitive spirit perked up, she requested a short timeout.
She pressed her index and middle fingers together, channeling aura at their tips.
A glimmering light flickered faintly.
Slowly, she moved the two fingers, carefully hovering them above her closed eyes.
When she opened her eyes again, her once pitch-black pupils now burned with a golden glow.
“You… you! How did you do that? Your eyes are glowing with aura…!”
“Tablet.”
“Here!”
Na-me sharply focused her enhanced sensations solely on the tablet.
Converting red and blue to yin and yang, the whole world turned black.
[Ready: Please click when the background turns green.]
In the realm of ‘Void,’ all senses are unified into one.
Yin and Yang, or 0 and 1. It’s all in how each person defines it.
A virtual nervous system made of aura connects sensory and motor functions.
In the bifurcated world, unnecessary information is filtered away, provoking only information that fulfills its purpose.
[Click: Please click.]
[First attempt: 53ms]
[Second attempt: 65ms]
[Third attempt: 49ms]
[Fourth attempt: 47ms]
[Fifth attempt: 46ms]
[52ms: Your reaction speed is in the top 0.05%!]
“This can’t be right, can it? Is there lag on the tablet?”
Na-me shared the results screen with a slightly dissatisfied expression.
– “Uh… how did she do that?”
– “No cheats were used, how’s this record even possible?”
– “Did she use aura enhancement? 
”
– “Does enhancing your eyes with aura change your reaction speed? Are you stupid?”
– “Sounds like just her eyeballs got stronger! LOL!”
“Wow, that’s incredible! How’d you do it? Share your secret!”
“Want to know? You can learn it on V-tube.”
“What should I search for to find it?”
“I don’t remember the title, but just search for synapse cleft or neurotransmitter, and a video made at Indian Institute of Technology should pop up first. The one with the eyes really wide open.”
“Neuro… wow, thank you so much! Appreciate it, bye-bye!”
Once Na-me left, streamers started exploring the video she had pointed out with their viewers.
“Is this it?”
“Seems like it?”
– “This person’s eyes are massive! LOL!”
– “Are they a frog? LOL!”
– “No way that term is coming up, right?”
– “Indian videos never go even a bit off script, do they?”
[Topic # 10.3 – Neuroaurology: advanced design methodology for CNS (English)]
“I hope this is right? The eyes really are big, but… let’s watch it anyway.”
[Hello everyone! Today we will talk about…]
With the Indian accent, unintelligible English poured forth.
*
As the sun set, the alley thought to be dark was instead filled with an even brighter twilight.
Looking at the bright streetlights and colorful neon signs, it was like a scene out of a cyberpunk movie.
It was both different from and similar to the world I knew, but ultimately, it was just another world where people lived.
The only slight change was that fashion was more diverse in the multicultural society of the Republic of Korea.
“Are you okay? Not tired?”
Bo-reum came up behind me and put her hand on my shoulder.
“Where have you been? I hasn’t seen you around our floor.”
Maybe because it was boring just standing still, she started swaying my body side to side.
“Ah ha ha, I went to meet Yogurt for a bit…”
“Wow, my manager? You went to see another streamer? I’m a bit hurt.”
“Why? Are you upset? How can I make it better?”
“What are you talking about? I’m not upset at all.”
“Hehehe.”
Today was definitely not an easy schedule.
Maybe I overexerted myself at the end, since my muscles felt tight here and there.
“So, could you massage my shoulders a bit?”
“Sure! I’d love to!”
Originally, I hadn’t planned to stay this long for the after-party.
Soju bottles half full in ice buckets and a few slightly tipsy people were around.
Since this was a gathering meant for drinking, it seemed right for kids to bow out at this point.
My hands were empty, and out of habit, I pulled out my phone.
Adella’s text demanding to come back to virtual reality and throw a birthday party before it gets too late caught my eye first.
[Adella: When are you coming?!!! I’m dying!!!]
[NoName: I’ll be there soon.]
The group chat was still very active, filled with all sorts of spam messages.
As I scrolled down, I paused at one specific message.
An unread message.
It was from ‘Korea Magic Corporation’ to ‘NoName.’
Well, it was time to make the payment. Didn’t today’s expenses go through?
[A bill has been sent to NoName by Korea Magic Corporation. Please make payment within the deadline.
– Purpose of billing: Unauthorized emergency sub-circle (3) -hallucination- magic composition*
– Amount due: 13,849,293 KRW*
– Payment deadline: 2051/09/31*
For inquiries regarding the billing details, please contact the billing company. +Click for more]*
“What? Ten million won?”
“AHH! What’s going on?!”
I couldn’t believe it. I used a 3-circle spell, so why did it cost me as much as a level five circle?
[Detailed billing regarding the 3-circle spell ‘Musashi Mole-Ibote Mt. Composition’ and use of one unpublished thorn magic (6)]
The base spell was fine.
The issue lay with the thorn magic.
There shouldn’t have been a significant mana cost, so what on earth was happening?
Thorn magic is ultimately subordinate to the main magic circle, consuming almost no mana.
In the end, I got tired of reading and gave up on deciphering the mana tax law.
I finally found a line halfway to the very last clause.
[Article 248 (Exceptions of unpublished thorn magic): Unpublished magic as mentioned in Article 24, Section 3, or magic prohibited by presidential decree according to Article 26 of the same law shall not be subject to mana proportional tax and shall be regarded as independent magic according to Article 14, Section 2. [Revised 2024.12.24, 2025.12.31, 2027.12.28, 2044.12.29.]
What on earth is Article 14, Section 2?
It twisted the already complicated laws and made it so difficult to understand.
Regulations on the minimum unit of mana usage?
Isn’t this only supposed to be for 1-circle spells?
A spell that costs me a few thousand won at most is designed so that if I abort the casting or cast it imperfectly, I shouldn’t have to pay merely a penny or two.
This was to prevent abuse of spells since communication fees with the base station were much higher.
But if I treated it as independent magic, my unique magic “Medusa” would be a level six spell. The minimum standard would be 1%.
Thus, the amount naturally exceeds ten million won.
“What kind of nonsense is this?”
“What’s wrong? Is it serious?”
“Not that serious, but… it’s annoying! They’re totally robbing us!”
I felt like I was unusually happy today.
Is there a law of total happiness in this world? It seems incidents that dampen the mood always occur at the worst times.
“Why taxes? Why is it so high?”
“Exactly.”
I was expecting maybe a hundred thousand won, but suddenly the units changed completely.
It was no longer a question of whether I could pay or not.
It felt like buying a bad roadside chicken skewer for a hundred thousand won.
“Cheer up. It’s a good day, Na-me.”
“…”
“Should I cover it for you?”
“No, it’s not that I don’t have money…”
Looking briefly up at Bo-reum.
I realized she was the daughter of a wealthy family.
“Are you really going to pay for me?”
“Of course! Do you think I lack dignity just because I lack money?”
From Bo-reum’s pink wallet, a black card popped out.
“Annual fee of three million won.”
“Really? Annual fee?”
“We can do that much for your birthday present, right, Na-me?”
“I feel guilty taking it for free.”
“You don’t seem to be refusing, huh?”
“It’s just that I don’t want to feel like I have to spend my own money on this.”
I pondered what I could possibly offer Bo-reum in return.
What could a rich kid need?
“Bo-reum, Samyeon Group, manager, Cat Church…”
Cat?
“How about I introduce you to Adella later? We didn’t have time today, but we can next time.”
“COUGH…! S-Seriously? Are you for real?”
“Yup.”
“I’ll give you this black card! I don’t mean you should actually take it! But… thank you so much, our adorable Na-me!”
I sold my beloved cat for ten million won.
“To think I’ll see Adella up close…!”
I didn’t feel too guilty about it.
“What could the tail possibly taste like?”
Now that I thought about it, it seemed a bit off…