Chapter 41: A Hands-On Demonstration

“For an Alchemist, you have to drink a movement speed potion at the very beginning.”

[Absorbing Swiftness Potion!]
[Movement speed increased by 100%.]

“And you have to lower the opponent’s movement speed.”

[Throwing Sticky Potion!]
[‘Male3’’s movement speed has been reduced by 25%.]

“When you throw, a parabola appears below, and a red bar appears, right? There’s a white throw line in the center of the bar, and that’s the line that shows the hit rate when you throw. You just need to watch this and only throw when the line turns red.”

[Throwing Bomb Potion!]
[The potion has hit its mark again!]

“Wow….”

I found myself getting more and more drawn into the cool sight of Ban-ye calmly winning, landing every hit on Male3 while giving a complex explanation.

At first, Male3 seemed off-guard, thinking I was the one playing, but then he suddenly got angry.

[Guild][Male3] Stop

[Guild][Male3] What is this, you’re cheating lol

[Guild][Male3] Ban-ye is playing for you, isn’t he?

[Guild][Ban-yeStorage] ㅋㅋ

[Guild][HugMeRaiseMe] Now he’s openly using his lover’s privilege ㄷㄷ

“Wh-What are they saying….”

Seeing the guild members’ teasing, I snuck a glance at Ban-ye, but he calmly overwhelmed Male3 without any particular reaction.

And in the end, Male3 lost the first round.

[Guild][Male3] You couple of swindlers

[Guild][Youngmyeong] ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

Male3 was angry, but the other guild members found it rather amusing.

“Do you want to try now, hyung?”

“Huh? C-Can I?”

“It’s fine to lose one round anyway.”

Ban-ye stood up as he said that.

I dazedly sat down in the seat Ban-ye had just vacated.

A new round started, and I did as Ban-ye told me….

[Absorbing Swiftness Potion!]
[Movement speed increased by 100%.]

I followed along well up to this point.

But….

[Throwing Sticky Potion!]
[‘Male3’ evaded!]
[Extreme Shot!]
[Bleeding amount increased due to headshot effect!]
[Vision decreased by 20% due to excessive bleeding.]

“U-Uwaaah!”

There was no way I could do it as skillfully as Ban-ye.

This time, I got hit by a barrage of Male3’s skills, ultimately failing to lower his movement speed and creating the disaster of not landing a single one of the remaining potions.

However, Ban-ye didn’t say a word as he watched me play.

It was only when it was all over and I looked back at him that he was making a “tsk tsk” expression.

“I didn’t have high expectations in the first place, but….”

“…”

“Putting everything else aside, hyung, you’re really tense.”

“…That’s mean.”

“It’s not mean, you’re holding your shoulders like this.”

As he said that, Ban-ye slickly raised his own shoulders.

It was a somewhat ridiculous motion even when he did it.

‘Am I doing that?’

But before I could say anything, Ban-ye suddenly grabbed the back of my neck.

Startled, I flailed.

“Wak! Wh-What!”

“To release the tension.”

“Let g-go and talk… Uwaaang….”

Then he suddenly started massaging me, and the feeling was electrifying. The tense, knotted muscles began to loosen up refreshingly, causing a strange sound to escape me.

Ban-ye dug his fingers mercilessly into my shoulders and sneered, “You’re totally loving it.”

I couldn’t even answer and just melted into a puddle.

Squeeze.

“S… Stop.”

I begged Ban-ye, feeling my ears turn red.

But Ban-ye kept pressing on my weak spots.

I eventually squirmed before going limp.

“Stop now…. It’s too much….”

“I already took my hands off.”

Startled by Ban-ye’s words, I sat up.

Just as he said, Ban-ye had taken his hands off me at some point.

Feeling needlessly embarrassed, I scratched my cheek.

Ban-ye looked at me and said calmly.

“Try to be a little calmer for the third round.”

“O-Okay….”

“Male3 is a ranker, but he’s not that good at combat.”

“R-Really?”

“Yes. You can definitely win too if you just stay calm.”

In the meantime, Male3, having won one round against me, was getting cocky and taunting me relentlessly.

[Guild][Male3] ㅋㅋ

[Guild][Male3] Is that it?

[Guild][Male3] Are you forfeiting, Ah-ang?

I pressed my lips together and hit the [READY] button for the third round.

We moved to the combat map again.

[Absorbing Swiftness Potion!]
[Movement speed increased by 100%.]

‘Shoulders down, shoulders down….’

And just as Ban-ye said, I decided to lower my shoulders a bit and try to be calm.

Once I did, I was no longer getting helplessly comboed by Male3 like before.

[Extreme Shot!]
[Evaded!]

“Good job. He can’t dodge while he’s shooting that, so try throwing and hitting him.”

“Okay!”

[Throwing Bomb Potion!]
[The potion has hit its mark!]

“Ooh!”

I was so excited after hitting Male3 for the first time that I consecutively threw potions to lower his movement speed.

[Throwing Sticky Potion!]
[The potion has hit its mark again!]
[‘Male3’’s movement speed has been reduced by 25%]

“Waaah!”

I was awesome just now!

I was so thrilled by the two consecutive successful attacks that I was now completely immersed.

But it seemed Male3 had also calmed his excitement, as he dodged all the potion throws I attempted after that.

I gradually started to get anxious again, and I got hit by Male3’s [Turn Over Shot] twice.

“Ah, no, no, no, no… aahhh!”

And when I had just a tiny bit of health left, I was trying to run away but ended up getting hit by a [Cool Shot] and dying.

Ah…! If I had just done a little better, I could have beaten Male3 in that round!

I was so disappointed that I let out a long sigh.

Just then, Ban-ye patted my shoulder and said.

“You did well.”

I said with a pout.

“…What do you mean, I did well.”

“Still, hyung, you did as I taught you in the beginning.”

“…”

“That’s good enough. You could have won.”

“You think so….”

Hearing Ban-ye’s encouragement melted my heart a little, and my disappointment subsided somewhat.

But then, Ban-ye suddenly came closer and pressed the F12 key.

“Huh? What’s that?”

“I was recording.”

“Whaat?”

I was dumbfounded by the fact that he had been recording a video of me getting beaten just now.

But Ban-ye just retorted, “You told me to work hard as a streamer, didn’t you?”

“H-However… what I meant by working hard was for you to show off your skills….”

“It makes me look even better when compared to you, hyung.”

“That’s so mean!”

I shouted, thinking that Ban-ye definitely didn’t like me one bit.

Ban-ye, of course, didn’t even flinch.

Ban-ye edited and uploaded the video he took that day.

First, it showed me trying to imitate him, and then it immediately showed Ban-ye’s successful attempt….

Just as Ban-ye said, the comparison had the effect of making his already good skills shine even brighter.

It was a pretty well-made video, so it got a lot of views.

It was a good thing for Ban-ye to do well as a YouTube streamer… but I was embarrassed.

And there was one other victim besides me.

[Guild][Male3] You should’ve told me if you were going to filmㅡㅡ

[Guild][Male3] If I had known, I wouldn’t have gone easy on you and would’ve properly wiped the floor with you;; Hah……

[Guild][Neda] You’re being pathetic, Male3

[Guild][ImSoCute] ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

[Guild][Ban-yeStorage] sry I didn’t know he was filming either…

I made an excuse, worried that my losing video had been uploaded for no reason.

Of course, I had gotten his permission before uploading and blurred his nickname, but I couldn’t help but be concerned.

[Guild][Male3] ㅋㅋ It’s fine, I’m just sad I couldn’t show my real skillsㅋ

[Guild][Male3] This hyung-nim will consider it as me going easy on you

[Guild][HeyYam] But you’re not good at combat, Male3

[Guild][Male3] Shut it

[Guild][Male3] I’m just a pacifist……

[Guild][Ah-ang] Want a revenge match for this?

Male3 was silent for a moment.

Then, he slyly changed the subject.

[Guild][Male3] Anyone for Pantheon?

[Guild][HeyYam] He’s running away

[Guild][Male3] Lilith is OP, I tell you ㅡㅡ

[Guild][HeyYam] ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

[Guild][HugMeRaiseMe] Did you see Sisi’s video?

Just then, Aki, who had suddenly appeared, said something out of the blue.

My mood soured, and I immediately typed [ㅡㅡ].

[Guild][Ban-yeStorage] Is Sisi’s male fan here?

[Guild][HugMeRaiseMe] No, did you see the new video he uploaded?

[Guild][HugMeRaiseMe] It’s a complete diss track on Ban-ye.

…What did he say?

I immediately went to Sisi’s YouTube channel.

And there, I saw a video that the guy, who usually didn’t upload Alchemist guides, had brazenly posted.

[Common Misconceptions of Novice Alchemists]

The title alone gave off a really bad vibe.