Genius Archer's Streaming

Season 5: Chapter 125. There's No Way He's Smart (1)

Imagine if the subway and roads had an owner who could set toll rates however they pleased. That owner would have an enormous influence over everyone’s lives. That was how platforms made money.

Streamers could theoretically broadcast from anywhere if they had fans. In practice, the places they could stream were fixed.

For most streamers, the platform could shake the very foundation of their existence. If a platform made a request, streamers found it nearly impossible to refuse, especially when it was a planned broadcast event.

"Who ordered this!? The t-tournament organizers... or the platform itself!?"

It was natural to assume the official notice that Zelo brought came from the platforms.

"No."

The laws of the world didn't work so simply, and there was no permanent top dog. For a streamer at Zelo's level, the platforms were actually below him. If they wanted to change anything, they had to seek his understanding. They couldn't control him with some notice.

"Higher."

Of course, it came from higher up. Other streamers were like ordinary people compared to him. They felt flustered, even Bubblegum.

"... H-higher?" Acorn Jelly was even trembling like an ancient theologian hearing about geocentrism being denied for the first time.

Other stars and even galaxies existed beyond this solar system.

"Th-that kind of thing exists?"

"What the? Did the national audit office show up?!"

— lmaooooooooo

— National audit LOL

— Makes sense for the Platform War

— lmaooooo

— Where is he going with this Bubblegum lmaooo

Surprisingly, ForeverAlone got it right. "Is it... Police?"

Being a dedicated LIL streamer, he understood immediately. Only Police could make even a platform-level streamer like Zelo tremble.

"... Po-Police?"

Acorn Jelly and Bubblegum repeated it like a confirmation.

Zelo's head sank under the weight as he nodded. Police was the developer and operator of LIL. They managed countless related games and tournaments. Platforms could be switched out, but for most streamers who had built their fanbase around LIL, they were mere specks before this entity.

Even if they permanently banned accounts or filed a broadcast prohibition request, streamers could do absolutely nothing since the copyrights belonged to the game company. Of course, such things didn't happen easily. Almost no precedent existed, but they could execute it if the conditions and justification were met.

This was no different from the world's nuclear powers, who had not yet launched a nuclear weapon. Just because they hadn't exercised their power didn't mean the power had disappeared. If anything, the power only grew stronger. Police's position was the same.

— Wow

— I see

— What

— Wow

— Fair enough lmaooo

— That's genuinely higher

— Wow...

— It's divine decree...

— You received an oracle, Zelo?

Viewers all understood as well. The basis for this notice was clear to begin with. They were game developers, but also the largest sponsor of the Platform War. Controlling the unspecified details of this tournament's operation was well within their purview.

***

"From now on, we'll be running scrimmages only within Cheese."

Sa-Rang finished explaining in the Knight Order’s channel.

"S-so, we can get into scrimmages now?" Sweet Radish asked on behalf of everyone.

"Yes, a channel for coaches was opened. We'll rotate and coordinate through there."

"Wow~."

Endless stories always circulated at these multi-streamer tournaments. Who gave more scrimmages, and who deliberately withheld them? The source of all that was being blocked.

"Once we're past the qualifiers, ten teams from each platform will remain. From then on, scrimmages won't be an issue at all."

They'd have matches against fixed opponents each time.

"Amazing." Black Tea was pleased too.

Though she didn't look like it, she also had difficulty asking for scrimmages elsewhere.

"But... how did you know about this before us, coach?"

"Oh." Sa-Rang smiled. "I just happened to get it first. The reason I was late today was because of that. It'll probably be sent to all the other teams soon."

"Ah..."

It wasn't particularly hard to accept. Even if it came from Police, the ones distributing it would be the platform representatives. She just happened to hear about it first while contacting the representative about something else. That was what everyone else thought.

Sweet Radish was different.

'Hmm.'

He stared at Sa-Rang's face intently.

'What is she...?'

He couldn't shake the feeling that she had orchestrated the situation.

'Right when we were struggling to find scrimmages, this major restructuring happened.'

Usually, rules like this were announced together with the official declaration that tournament practice was beginning. He'd participated in a lot of big and small streamer tournaments. Not once had Police defined the rules of practice sessions this way. Even for a major content event where platforms competed, this was a special case.

If it were a special case, they would’ve specially thought through it and announced it in advance. No matter how much Police was the top authority, they didn't exercise that authority carelessly.

‘Hmm.’

Sweet Radish scratched his head.

'Is she the daughter of someone important somewhere?'

From the atmosphere she exuded, she was clearly from old money. Not just money, but some kind of power. Usually, those households didn't let their kids play games.

'No... even if something like that existed, would they really use it on a small event tournament like this...?'

Maybe she was genuinely invested in gaming? Speculating further, was she the daughter of someone important in the gaming industry? Various thoughts mixed together.

Tap.

Sweet Potato tapped his shoulder. "Hey, this is good news. Right?"

"Oh, well... I guess..."

"Getting scrimmages was such a stress."

"Yeah, yeah."

Slowly nodding, Sweet Radish then suddenly smacked Sweet Potato on the back of the head.

Thwack!

"OWWW! What!"

"You there! Why are you suddenly speaking casually? Forgot you lost the bet!?"

"Oh... oh! Sorry! But it's been so long since we made that bet..."

"You talk too much! The condition was until this whole thing is over!"

Thwap thwap!

Sweet Radish proceeded to stomp on Sweet Potato repeatedly.

— lmaooooooo too much

— Only a Lu Bu against Sweet Potato LOL

— lmaooooo

"Alright, practice on your own until today. All the other teams are in the same boat anyway. I'll go to the coach channel, sort out the schedule, and come back."

Sweet Potato jumped and saluted. "Yes! Loyal to the end!!"

Whoosh!

Sa-Rang disappeared.

"So..."

The Knight Order members looked awkwardly at each other. Without the coach leading, they needed to practice on their own for now.

Black Tea dropped the bomb from the very start. "Who's calling the shots?"

"!"

— LOL

— That still hasn't been decided??

— Isn't it set to Sweet Radish?

— Don't tell me the Dumb Young Man...?

— Oh no

— Is this Tsukuyomi

— Just take turns calling

— Whoever dropped the hamburger bun should be class president~

***

Tortilla, Sweet Radish's old friend and coach, was also relaying the news to his team.

"Therefore... Paprika will be scrimmaging among ourselves. We'll have to rearrange the schedule."

Everyone had puzzled expressions, except their team ace KnifeSlash.

He clapped and looked visibly pleased. "Oh. That's actually good."

Everyone wanted to ask why.

"Do you have to ask? The Cheese teams are in bad shape. What good is it for them to practice among themselves? Kukuku!" KnifeSlash laughed excitedly.

— lmaooooo fr

— LOL

— KUKUKU

— A few teams do have most of the strength

— lmaooooo true

— fr...

"It's a basic truth in ranked games. You become like those you play with."

No matter how skilled someone was, if they stayed in Platinum rank for too long, they'd start absorbing that level's habits. Maintaining as high a rank as possible each season was how someone maintained their actual skills.

"That's true."

"Oh... so our average skill is higher. We almost had a serious disadvantage."

KnifeSlash's teammates all agreed.

"True to his rep as a solo queue warrior."

KnifeSlash had been great during his pro days and never dropped below the top ten rankings even after retiring. His reputation was the same in Survival mode. He truly represented the skills-first streamer.

"And what makes this even better? This is a Platform War, after all. There's the winning team prize, but there's also platform prize money and benefits. In a sense, our entire platform is basically one team?"

KnifeSlash was clearly quick at reading structures. He analyzed even the tournament's rules like a game.

"We can just share strategy and tactics from the back, and teaming with certain teams is possible too. It's nowhere in the rulebook. That kind of thing, right?"

Tortilla nodded at that. "Yeah, true. It actually looks like they're encouraging teaming. The whole scrimmage separation thing suggests it too."

At this, streamer Flatfish made a surprised expression. "Wow... damn... so it's 25 versus 25 in Survival mode?"

They called him Flatfish because he looked like a flatfish. He used to get misunderstood as having named himself after KnifeSlash. After he revealed his face, everyone understood that it was indeed a misunderstanding. His main position was tank.

— The expression lmaooo

— fr he's literally a flatfish

— Swam into an aquarium wall;

— lmaooooooooooo

— His face is just a cheat code

Tortilla corrected Flatfish's thinking. "I'm not sure it would be that simple. In an extreme case, that kind of situation might be possible."

Pretzel, a streamer who mainly played assassin, asked, "Coach! But do the hidden mystery players also participate in scrimmages? I heard they're on Paprika?"

"Oh..." Tortilla looked carefully at the notice. "There's no mention of that... but there is one more team added to the Paprika count."

"Hm? What's the team name?!"

"LIL Classico."

"!?"

— Wow

— Curious

— Hm?

— LIL Classico?

— Are these people from the old days?

— Classy people showing up insane lmaooo

— Could be ironic LOL

— Aren't they washed?? Lmaooo

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