Chapter 133: Smiles Don't Vanish, They Only Shift
Following Rekka's advice, March 7th and Stelle intentionally threw over a dozen matches in a row. After their win rates had been thoroughly tanked, they found that Overlord-level Aether Spirits were suddenly appearing every few steps they took in the wild—and their combat strength was laughably low.
In fact, during these wild encounters, an Overlord Aether Spirit would come clattering along with a whole entourage of lesser spirits, only to get stomped into oblivion by a single, casual kick from one of their own.
"Can you even call this a game anymore?" Stelle muttered, utterly dumbfounded.
March 7th stared, her mouth slightly agape. "My goodness, the hand of destiny..."
"This is just ridiculous..."
Some of the Aether Spirits were even actively running into their attacks, practically begging to be defeated.
"Think about it," Rekka explained calmly. "To keep new players who are on the verge of quitting after a dozen straight losses, the officials have to offer some benefits to comfort them, right? Those Overlord Aether Spirits throwing their matches is just the system desperately spoon-feeding you a win."
Stelle picked up a freshly minted Aether Coin, her gaze still fixed on the Overlord spirit that had just knocked itself out by running headfirst into a wall. She still found it hard to process.
"But this spoon-feeding is way too obvious! Look at that one; it actually just tripped over its own feet..."
"What else did you expect?" Rekka retorted. "If you were a hardcore player with a high win rate, you'd be seeing it land a critical hit with every punch and violently wiping your entire team."
"True," Stelle conceded. She crouched down, poking the dizzy Overlord spirit with a curious finger before looking back up at Rekka. "So, are we just going to keep pretending to be bad at this? All the way to the finals?"
"Pretty much," he confirmed. "But don't overdo it. You need to win a few matches every now and then, just for show. Otherwise, if the data looks too fake, it'll be easy to raise suspicion."
Rekka continued to instruct the two on the finer points of playing like a complete amateur as the three of them strolled back along the path toward Belobog's Administrative District.
"Well now, if it isn't the folks from the Astral Express?" a familiar voice called out.
Giovanni approached them, a practiced smile on his face. But as his eyes fell on their Aether Spirit lineup, the smile froze.
"Hiss... Eh? A Silvermane Lieutenant, a Frigid Prowler, and... you've only been playing for less than half a day. Where in the world did you get a whole team of Overlord-level spirits?"
March 7th proudly put her hands on her hips. "We're just lucky! We were wandering around in the wild, and these guys just showed up on their own."
Giovanni, ever the professional, casually pulled up their background data for a look. Indeed, the girls' track records were disastrous. The long string of red crosses indicating losses was enough to make anyone feel a pang of pity for them.
Everything was legal and compliant, without a single flaw to be found in the data.
But Giovanni's gut screamed that something was off.
"Fine... alright then," he said, wiping a bead of sweat from his forehead. Was this really possible?
"Yo, Old Gio, good afternoon," Rekka said, appearing beside him.
"It's a pleasure to see you, by the will of the Aeon of Elation!" Giovanni replied, his professional mask snapping back into place.
Rekka and Giovanni shook hands. The grip lingered for a moment, a silent exchange passing between them. Giovanni then shot him a meaningful look, his eyes flicking toward the two girls who were still excitedly fiddling with their Aether Coins, and he let out a pair of knowing chuckles.
He understood.
"On the day of the finals," Giovanni said, his voice dropping slightly, "I'll have to see for myself just how far this 'luck' of yours can go."
Just then, a small figure with a head of bright yellow hair that resembled a turnip bounced past them.
Rekka watched her go, a thoughtful expression on his face. He remembered this one. Hook, the little leader of The Moles, was the darling of Aha, the Aeon of Elation. In the game's original timeline, the final boss of the Aetherium Wars and the subsequent Galactic Power League was, unbelievably, Hook. Most, Hook cheated both times.
The first time, in the Aetherium Wars, she could field four Overlord Aether Spirits. Normally, a team was restricted to just one, but Hook was allowed to bring two full teams, with two Overlords on each.
The second time, during the Galactic Power League event, she held a special card in her hand: "Ecirotsac." Castorice, spelled backward. Reverse Castorice. It granted its user Pierce, Follow-up Attacks, Counter-Attacks, a Force Field, Unyielding, and a staggering 99 HP. They might as well have just handed her the trophy at the start.
"Hey~ Look, it's Hook," March 7th chirped, oblivious. In her eyes, Hook was just an adorable kid.
"When did you meet that little girl?" Stelle asked Rekka.
"I ran into her back when I was opening Space Anchors all over Belobog."
"...Alright."
March 7th chatted with Hook for a moment before the little girl skipped away, humming a tune.
"That little one," Rekka said, turning to the girls with a grin. "Are you two confident you can beat her?"
"Beat her?" March 7th tilted her head in confusion. "Isn't Hook just a child?"
"Guess how many Overlord Aether Spirits she can fit on her team," Rekka countered. "Guess how many spirits she can field in total."
"Hiss—" March 7th sucked in a sharp breath as the implication dawned on her. "Then what do we do? Is she like... a special, officially sponsored player or something?"
"Of course, I have a way," Rekka said, his confidence radiating.
"What way...?"
"Simple. You're going to use your Thunder Pigs to solo her. As long as you beat little Hook, you win."
"Thunder Pig... You mean a Warp Trotter?!" March 7th exclaimed, slapping a hand to her face. "That's a Dimensional Trash Heap!"
What kind of name was 'Thunder Pig'... It was impossible to take seriously.
"You'll field four of them," Rekka explained, ignoring her protest. "A Destruction Trotter, an Abundance Trotter, a Preservation Trotter, and a normal Trotter."
'Destruction handles the revenge counters, Abundance handles the healing, Preservation handles the shielding, and the normal Trotter handles action advancement and supplementary healing. With that setup, there's no way to lose.'
The strategy was undeniably effective, but it was also a deep insult to any serious player.
"This lineup... are you serious?" Stelle asked, her expression skeptical.
"Of course I'm serious," Rekka nodded. "This is called the Wheelchair Strat. And who are the four Trotters protecting? They're protecting themselves. You just slowly grind the opponent down. I guarantee it'll make you smile."
"Then... then what about the opponent's smile?" March 7th asked hesitantly.
"It's fine," Rekka waved a dismissive hand. "Smiles only shift. If the opponent won't let you smile, can't you just take their smile for yourself?"
The image of a group of Warp Trotters oinking and scurrying around the arena while the opponent's team was slowly pummeled into dust, unable to land a single point of damage...
It was actually quite an interesting thought.
"It's like talking about characters without considering their power level—I! CAN'T! DO IT!" Rekka declared, spreading his hands dramatically. "No matter how cool a character looks, if their power isn't up to snuff, they'll be labeled as trash tier. But if a character looks wretched and is absurdly powerful, then they're the coolest character in the game—"
'That's right,'he thought to himself,'I'm talking about you, Shield Mushroom. You'd better keep your back to me; I feel a bit more secure that way.'
"So are we really going to use this to fight Hook?" March 7th asked, still conflicted. "She's just a child, after all. Using four pigs to bully her... isn't that a bit much?"
"Then do you want to be crushed by her Overlord lineup?"
"Let's go with the pigs, then," she decided instantly.
The rest of the competition progressed much more smoothly than they had expected. When their opponents in the qualifying rounds saw them pull out four Warp Trotters, their expressions would morph from confusion to stifled laughter, and then from stifled laughter to a deep, existential questioning of their life choices.
One after another, their carefully crafted, meta-defining lineups retreated in the face of the Trotters' incessant oinking. The Destruction Trotter's counter-attacks struck with uncanny precision, always hitting the enemy's weakest link. The Abundance Trotter's healing, though not massive, was constant and unending. The Preservation Trotter's shields were outrageously thick. And the normal Trotter just skipped around the field, advancing actions left, right, and center.
With every victory, March 7th felt her conscience ache just a little bit more.
Before long, the "Thunder Pig" lineup became one of the trendiest strategies among Aetherium Wars players.
Because this ridiculous team had one obvious quality: it could always make the person playing it smile.
The person being played against, however, was not so happy. After each match, they would stare at the defeat screen in stunned silence, before inevitably choosing to...
Join the Thunder Pig army.
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