In reality, someone wearing light leather armor with a bow would move faster than a person lugging heavy plate armor and a shield. However, that was a matter of game balance. At least in LIL, that wasn’t how it worked.

Tanks would be completely useless if they couldn’t catch up to damage dealers. The rule was simple. Anyone who fought up close moved faster, no exceptions. They looked slow under all that heavy armor, but were faster in practice.

Tadadada...

Almond sprinted straight at the enemy.

[Shield Lv. 2]

==== ====

Attack +25

Defense +15

Movement Speed +35

CC Duration Reduction 25%

==== ====

At level two, the shield’s movement speed bonus jumped from thirty to thirty-five. Even if a crowd control ability hit him on the way in, its duration would be reduced by twenty-five percent. This made it much easier to close the distance against a team with three ranged dealers. He could also use the bushes to stay hidden while advancing.

‘This is a perfect angle.’

It was absurdly easy. For someone like Almond, who usually played damage dealers and assassins, he couldn’t ignore an opening like this.

‘There.’

He instantly slipped around behind the enemy formation.

Pa-at!

Almond burst out of the bushes and charged.

Thud. Thud. Thud!

“W-what the hell?! Behind us!”

His heavy armor made plenty of noise, so the enemies noticed him quickly.

‘Too late.’

Almond accelerated.

Even with the same movement speed stat, the time it took to reach a target varied by player, the ground they stepped on, and whether they cut inside or ran wide. These tiny differences mattered far more in LIL than people realized.

Almond was a master in these kinds of details. Even in tournaments, he executed movements down to the frame.

“W-what the hell? He’s fast as hell!”

“Guhk...!”

“Shoot! Shoot him!”

Panicking, the three ranged damage dealers all turned to fire at him instead of his team. Bullets, arrows, and all kinds of projectiles flew toward him.

‘Now.’

Almond snapped his shield up.

Thooong!

He blocked every projectile in a single instant.

[Parry!]

His conditional passive also activated, but it didn’t trigger just once.

[Parry!]

[Parry!]

— DAMN

— ??

— Holy shit

— What the hell?!

— All at once??

He parried all three attacks simultaneously.

[Parry!]

[Stun the attacker for 2 seconds if a projectile is struck down precisely in an unguarded state without raising your shield. Cooldown per target: 18 seconds.]

According to the shield’s effect, all three enemies would be stunned for two seconds. The three ranged attackers all froze in place.

[Stunned]

[Stunned]

[Stunned]

In daily life, two seconds rarely mattered unless a person was sprinting for the bathroom. In LIL, this much time was everything.

“What are you doing?!”

Two seconds was long enough for a team tank to get yelled at or for someone to die.

‘When did he...?!’

The enemy tank, turning back in shock, saw a shield flash up.

THOOONG!!

It slammed straight into the head of Dolphin, one of the ranged attackers.

“Guhk!”

Once the shield started hitting, it dealt damage on par with swords and spears.

[Dolphin]

[HP: 73%]

Tanks were quite strong early game with simply superior base stats.

— Kya

— This is it

— Insane

— Crazy

‘One more!’

Thooong!

Almond relentlessly smashed the enemy. During the two-second stun, he landed three shield strikes.

[Dolphin]

[HP: 32%]

The enemy’s health evaporated.

“The stun is over! Kill him!”

“Urgh! Damn it!”

The others finally recovered and quickly opened fire.

‘On the right.’

Almond angled his shield to the side and blocked casually.

Thudududung!

Sparks burst across the shield’s surface.

— He blocked that?!

— How??

— Kya~

— Captain Almond!

The parry was on cooldown, but he could still block. Their attacks only chipped away a tiny bit of his health.

[LazySoldier]

[HP: 93%]

‘One more.’

Almond lunged forward and slammed his shield straight ahead.

Pow!

He hit Dolphin again.

[Dolphin]

[HP: 10%]

Only ten percent of the enemy’s health remained. Panic set in. After all, this was the tutorial queue. Everyone here was a beginner.

“W-what the hell is this?!”

Dolphin flailed, unable to aim properly.

Smack!

The final shield strike sent him crashing to the ground.

[First Blood!]

[LazySoldier → Dolphin]

Pop.

Dolphin turned into a rune champion.

— Kya

— Legend!

— Holy shit

— So that’s how it ends

— Spoon-fed murder!

— With a shield?!

— That’s our Lord!

The chat surged so fast that it started lagging. The entire sequence took less than fifteen seconds. It was way too fast for beginners to keep up with.

“Are you serious...?”

“What the hell was that?”

Not just Dolphin, but his teammates froze like deer flashed by headlights.

“Next...!”

Smack!

They were nothing more than easy prey.

“Guhk!”

By the time Almond’s shield slammed into them again, they still hadn’t figured out what to do.

“Shoot! Just shoot already!”

“Aaaaargh!”

Fwoosh! Fwoosh!

They fired wildly in panic, but the shield swallowed up every sloppy attack.

“Go in! Their damage dealer is down!”

Almond’s team hadn’t been idle. They charged the moment the enemy formation collapsed.

“Casting fireball!”

OstrichEgg’s fireball landed perfectly.

Fwoooosh!

Flames erupted and obscured the enemy’s vision.

“I, I can’t see! Damn it!”

“Ugh, aaah!”

Chaos was the deadliest enemy in the beginner zone.

‘One more time.’

Thwack!

Almond’s shield struck again, and Baegi’s spear followed right after.

“Skewer!”

Puuk!

Just moments ago, Baegi had been cursing at the tank that vanished. Now, he was grinning ear to ear.

“Nice one, LazySoldier!” He even gave a thumbs-up. “I knew I could trust you! Best shield ever!”

— Holy shit

— Instant attitude switch LMAO

— LMAO

— Best shield loool

— What exactly were you trusting, though?

— Dude’s having the time of his life

— NPC AI is insane these days

— This is why he really feels like a bot...

The team fight was completely one-sided.

[Baegi → Mutre]

[LazySoldier → Hermit Crab]

[HamPunch → Ouroboros]

[LazySoldier → Sauceka]

It went five to zero, a clean wipe.

[LazySoldier Triple Kill!]

LazySoldier had even secured a triple kill.

— Triple kill with a shield, what the hell

— No way...

— Napoleon is sweating...

— So why did you put a mission on a bot game, huh?

— But why does his face look like that?

Despite the chat’s explosive reaction, Almond looked disappointed.

“Ah... a crossbow.”

None of the enemies had been using a bow.

— ?

— Oh

— ?

— It was a crossbow, huh

— Isn’t that basically the same?

— Contracted champions are similar anyway, just preference.

“How is that the same? They’re completely different.”

Sure, he could use a crossbow instead of a bow.

“Do you want the crossbow?”

He asked YoYoYo, the player using a bow.

YoYoYo refused out of pure spite. “No! I told you I don’t!”

Almond turned to the leader bot. “Hm... Baegi. Do we really need all five members?”

— LMAOOOOOOOO

— WHAT?!

— Thank god there’s no teamkill in this game, seriously

— Unhinged

— They’re bots anyway, who cares

Baegi looked at him like he couldn’t understand why Almond would even ask that. “Of course, we do. Five is better than four. And don’t switch weapons recklessly. Your position is perfect right now.”

Either way, the team had won big and gained some sweet rewards.

[Level Up!]

[Lv. 2 → Lv. 3]

Almond’s team reached level three the fastest.

***

Meanwhile, Almond’s personal Truman Show was being broadcast live on LIL Pro.

[Big: Breaking! Almond thinks real players are bots LOL!]

— For real?

— Isn’t he acting?

— No way! He fooled everyone

— Holy shit

— Acting? “There’s a zero missing” was acting too then

— He’s already proven himself, how is this acting?! So unfair...

└ You call constantly falling for stuff “proof?”

└ Holy shit “proof.” Proof of being dumb show-and-prove~

└ That word is killing me LMAO

— Honestly, I thought the tutorial was bot-only too

└ Same

└ Don’t you realize once you’re inside?

— Legendary

— They’re so bad compared to Almond that it just reinforces his belief they’re bots

— Breaking! Shield triple kill officially confirms them all as bots now!

└ At this point, they have to prove they’re human

└ LMAOOOO

— Getting this much aggro from a tutorial... pure streaming GOAT

└ For real lmao. Pure raw talent

Just playing a tutorial was enough for Almond to land on the front page. Comments piled up at an absurd rate. Some posts tried to keep his influence in check.

— Damn... the Nut Squad’s firepower is insane

└ If he starts practicing for the Platform War, LIL Pro will get occupied

└ But Zelo is in it too

└ Only Zelo? Paprika streamers are all in too

Once a stream caught fire, there was no stopping it.

[Big: Breaking! Almond gets a shield triple kill!]

[Big: Title changing in real time from “LazySoldier” to “DilligentSoldier”]

[Big: Almond disappointed after a five-zero team wipe.]

Every tiny action made it to the board. With each post, Almond’s live viewership climbed.

[Current Viewers: 118,000]

After a long break, just streaming a LIL Survival tutorial reached nearly 120k viewers.

Ju-Hyeok smiled in satisfaction. “Good start.”

Sure, one could say this was far below Almond’s peak during the Treevy days.

‘That was during the Cheese Village event.’

It couldn’t be compared to the era of Lord Almond when he became the centerpiece of a massive collaborative event.

‘And the platforms splitting in two matters a lot.’

Treevy’s dissolution had clearly affected viewership. Many major streamers had moved from Treevy to Paprika, so Cheese couldn’t expect the same numbers as before. Even Cheese Village, which eventually exploded in popularity, had started with painfully low viewership.

‘Meanwhile, Paprika cashed in hard.’

Click.

Ju-Hyeok opened the Paprika platform.

‘They’re doing great. Damn it.’

Paprika had benefited immensely from the influx of Treevy streamers. Once neck and neck with Treevy, it now stood as the undisputed number one.

‘Nothing we can do for now.’

Cheese was still a new platform. A conglomerate backed it, but it needed time.

‘In the end, the Platform War will matter most.’

That would be the turning point. When streamers clashed, the winner often absorbed part of the loser’s viewership. Why it happened was hard to say. Ju-Hyeok could only guess.

‘Do people want to follow the stronger side?’

Hardcore fans tended to identify themselves with who they supported. Following someone stronger made them feel stronger too. The same applied here in Almond’s LIL Survival run. Didn’t players want the strongest champions?

‘Still... With a shield, who will he contract with?’

That question alone was oddly exciting. Ju-Hyeok understood why Survival mode was popular now. Even the tutorial was entertaining. Starting without a contract and choosing a champion mid-game, the randomness added tension. A bit of randomness always made games more fun. Then again, life wasn’t much different.

“Huh...?”

Ju-Hyeok had both Cheese and Paprika open on dual monitors.

“The timing is the same.” 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

The two screens overlapped strangely.

“They got matched in the same queue?”

[Current Viewers: 197,000]

A massive Paprika streamer and former LIL Challenger, Omelet, was in the same game as Almond.

“Ah... Survival is actually pretty decent.”

— Traitor, shut up

— I can’t believe I’m watching Omelet play survival because of the platform war

— He’s really playing survival?

— No-root game, damn

Omelet was famous for playing only Siege mode. He had never touched other modes, but played Survival for the first time today because of the upcoming Platform War. This attracted enormous attention.

Now, he and Almond were in the same tutorial.

“Wow... this is huge.” Ju-Hyeok grinned without realizing it. “I wonder if he thinks they’re bots too.”