Realize The Difference

Clicks and taps sounded through the room. A man sat in a poor posture with a furrowed brow over a computer screen.

"I really don't understand."

This person was Travis, currently in his room reviewing some footage. He paused, moved the footage frame by frame, reviewed again and again the same still image. Scratching his head furiously he pushed his chair back and swung off it. Moving through his home he poured himself some water and chugged it.

Determined to figure out what Averoth meant Travis had been spending the past week reviewing the footage of Wrock's fight with him. He had managed to record the battle, a lesson he had learned after the loss against Akiol. Since he was unable to review the video he couldn't quite understand how he lost that battle, so he made a mental note to record any encounters against strong enemies.

Wrock was certainly one of such enemies. Travis hadn't felt such helplessness in a long time. Thinking back he could only remember the time before he regressed. If he had his current strength back then, what would be different?

He quickly shook away these pointless thoughts. Half of the opportunities he took were already taken back then. One such example was the Lower Eight swords he had, they had all essentially been found at that time. It was thanks to his obsession he even got this far.

Taking a moment to think back on his journey, Travis thought of his path to his current position. Constantly learning, constantly shattering his limits. Time and time again Travis broke through impossible scenarios with his will. Various fruitful encounters allowed his growth to skyrocket. Reaching higher to heights he hadn't been able to dream of. Further broadening his views he trained under Dimitrin to fully wield his swords. . .

Remembering Averoth's words at this moment Travis frowned. Moving back to his computer he closed the video and rapidly searched on the internet for a specific video. Finding it he quickly downloaded it and searched for another. Upon gathering all available videos he could find he then organized them on his screen to view simultaneously. Pausing at certain pointer, overlapping the videos in editors with various opacity, syncing up some of the moments.

Travis leaned back, "This. . ."

He had found several videos of Wrock and Akiol on the internet, after all they had a sudden spike in popularity a few times. The early war against hundreds of players, the domination in the arena, the professional tournament, the battle against Travis on both occasions. Rather Travis was shocked to find a video existed of the battle between Akiol and him. To think someone recorded it. Sadly the quality wasn't good enough to review, for a lot of the time the two were moving faster than the video could properly show. There was an official release, but that was more of a highlight, and its actual use was limited due to the heavy editing.

Yet taking some of the moments and putting them together, Travis came to a rapid and startling conclusion. Despite their constant evolution, the way they fought stayed relatively the same. Although Akiol seemed to be an exception to the case, there was some stark similarity as he progressed. Wrock's footage only amplified this idea.

It was like they were following some outline. A method of fighting they had already known. To Travis this seemed incredibly odd. Perhaps to others it might be a matter of Akiol and Wrock already training with weapons. Thus they applied their knowledge and adapted with the game. However to Travis, who had witnessed Dimitrin's vast experience, it wasn't the same. Especially since that logic applied to him.

His previous fighting in A World's Legacy, before he regressed, was what he based his combat style off of in the beginning before meeting Dimitrin. Afterwards he adjusted it several times to match with his rapid ascension in power. This logic didn't make sense with Akiol and Wrock. Rather it seemed like they already knew what to do. As if they experienced everything before and were merely redoing a process.

Travis' thoughts began to spiral. Could they also be regressors? After all it happened to him, what about others? But that didn't make sense! Akiol's weapon was never found in his past timeline. There was simply no hiding the presence of a higher ranked weapon. Moreover that blue flame wasn't common among pugilists. Surely an Azure flame fighter would be known somewhere? Especially if it was powerful, Travis spent an unholy amount of time researching for anything to improve the strength of his guild.

His mind began to move closer to more extreme theories. Perhaps they were regressors, but came from a time farther in the future than he? When more of the game was discovered and people rose higher? Armed with more knowledge than Travis they were able to rise to this extent?

No! That can't be right! Their first few meetings Travis was significantly stronger! Surely information regarding the best possible starts was already announced in the future, right? Although Travis was certain his start was the best one in theory, he shouldn't have outmatched them to such a large degree if they had regressed.

"A difference in foundation. . .", Travis murmured to himself.

Perhaps through a stroke of luck Travis managed to brush against the answer to his questions. Fighting like they had an outline. Perhaps this was a wrong look at it. A more correct vision would be fighting towards a specific outcome. From the start they were reaching for this point. Moves designed to be so similar to the other.

"I. . . got lucky?", Travis remembered Averoth's words more.

From the start his style was ever changing. He never worked on a single focused goal in terms of fighting style. As he gained more tools he had to change.

"This. . . is the difference in foundation? It's what allowed him to grow to a higher point than I? How do I fix that. . . ?"

Travis had stumbled across the reason, but was still lacking a clue on how to fix the situation. After pondering it for a while he decided on a different route. Instead of mindlessly bashing his head against the wall until it broke, why not gain some advice?

Thus he logged on for the first time in a week.