Samurai Hearts – Reaction (3)
"User 'Godtoria' has donated 10,000 won!"
[iTube Video]
"Whoa, Godtoria! Thanks for the ten-thousand-won donation! It's a video donation? Alright then, everyone—let's take a look at this!"
The personal streamer DumDum.
He was a top-tier corporate-level streamer who could casually pull in over twenty thousand viewers whenever he turned his stream on—even without announcing it beforehand.
Like most personal streamers, his main content was VR games, and he was known for having pretty impressive mechanics among streamers.
His channel's popularity was greatly thanks to his standout gameplay skill.
"Oh, this is Samurai Hearts."
And recently, he had been bragging nonstop about one thing.
"Heh, you know, I'm one of the few people the Sword Saint actually said was 'not bad.' And someone sent this video to me?"
What he bragged about was that the Sword Saint in Samurai Hearts had once told him: "Not bad."
-Here we go again, bragging DumDum-Who brought Samurai Hearts into this!?
In the Samurai Hearts tutorial, the Sword Saint Kato evaluates the player's skill with different lines.
If your skill is low: "Pathetic." —the rating Victoria got.If you're decent: "Not bad."If you're exceptionally skilled: "Truly splendid, warrior!"
Naturally, people confident in their mechanics challenged the Sword Saint repeatedly, trying to get a higher evaluation.
And DumDum was no exception.
The difference?One key thing:
The number of attempts.
He challenged the Sword Saint over 50 times, and finally, after all that, managed to get the "Not bad" line.
-Next up, Attempt #50-Bet he ran away the moment he got the rating-Embarrassing, DumDum lol
Viewers who remembered watching him retry the same boss over and over and over had nothing good to say.
But DumDum wasn't shaken by the comments.
He paused the video and spoke with a serious expression.
"Listen, everyone. How many tries it took doesn't matter. What matters is that I did it. Something I couldn't have done if I'd given up—I achieved it."
-Yeah… fair enough-He's not wrong
"In that sense, Samurai Hearts should honestly change its name to Samurai DumDum. I mean, the Sword Saint acknowledged me, so the game can at least do that much, right?"
-No, bro, absolutely not-Even as a DumDum fan, this ain't it-Here he goes again…
DumDum hurriedly looked away from chat and resumed the video.
That quick, smooth escape from criticism—that was the veteran skill of a big-league streamer.
"Judging by the background, looks like the tutorial?"
The video Godtoria sent started at the tutorial hill.
On top of the hill surrounded by Nagamatsu soldiers stood Sword Saint Kato in a black yukata and another figure in black armor, glaring at each other.
A heavy tension lingered between the two.
Some viewers watching with DumDum realized who the armored figure was and gasped.
-Oh, this is that one-This is Kratos' video-? Who the hell is that, you nerd
"Kratos? The guy in this video is Kratos? Never heard of him… Is he famous or something?"
-Not famous-He's Victoria's younger brother. Doesn't stream himself-Wow! It's Sword Saint Kratos!-Can't believe you don't know Sword Saint Kratos
DumDum tilted his head as he read the chat.
He found it strange that viewers knew not Victoria, but her brother.
And even stranger—they were calling him Sword Saint Kratos.
Ever since Samurai Hearts became a hot topic, "Sword Saint" meant Hatsuragi Kato. Everyone knew that.
But as the video played, all confusion evaporated from DumDum's face.
From the initial exchange of testing each other's blades,to the increasingly intense duel,to the finishing blow where he won despite his sword breaking—
"…What… is this…?"
DumDum's jaw dropped as he watched Kratos standing over the defeated Sword Saint.
He, who had challenged the Sword Saint over 50 times, knew very well how monstrous that boss was.
The Sword Saint's swordsmanship combined with absurdly unfair hitboxes had made him seem nearly impossible to beat.
At least, that's how it should have been—
"This isn't an edited video or something, right?"
He said it not because he truly suspected editing, but because he simply could not believe what he was seeing.
-Nope, not edited. It's from a real livestream-VGC went crazy over this-They say it's the world's first tutorial Sword Saint clear
"World's first clear?! That's insane. I can't imagine how many tries it took. I nearly went crazy even after 50 attempts…"
DumDum shuddered as the traumatic memories resurfaced.
'He Is God' has donated 1,000 won!
[Info 1) He succeeded on his first attempt]
"Wait—first attempt? He beat it on the very first try? How is that even possible?!"
-For real? Is that legit?-It's legit lol-He just sliced through him first try lol
And the shock didn't stop there.
'He Is God' has donated 1,000 won!
[Info 2) Before Samurai Hearts, Kratos had never played a VR game in his life]
"Oh come on, that's a lie. You're telling me he never played VR, and yet he did that? He wouldn't even have optimal device settings."
DumDum waved his hand as if telling them not to joke around.
He could barely believe the first-try clear—but someone who had never touched VR at all? Impossible.
As if to rebut his disbelief, another video donation arrived.
'OneHitToHeaven' has donated 2,000 won!
[iTube Video]
The donated video was short:
Victoria and Kratos appeared on screen, then it showed Kratos' game history:"No records found."
And that was it.
But a short video didn't mean a small impact.
Even after the video ended, DumDum said nothing.
He just stared, mouth hanging open, replayed the video once more, but of course—nothing changed.
"Is this real…?"
-Does that even make sense?-And yet—it actually happened-Ah yes, that thing called "talent"
DumDum, who had been staring blankly, hurriedly pulled himself together.
It was shocking, yes—but the world occasionally produces people who defy common sense.
The kind we call geniuses.
If Kratos was one of those types, then maybe it wasn't so strange.
'Hmm… No. Even then, this crosses the line by a lot.'
What were the odds that someone touching a VR game for the first time, choosing Samurai Hearts as their first game, and meeting the Sword Saint for the first time there, could defeat him that perfectly?
You didn't even need to calculate it to know the probability would be absurdly low.
After thinking for a moment, DumDum's eyes sparkled sharply.
'This is my chance.'
His channel was popular partly thanks to his impressive mechanics.
But talent alone wasn't the reason he became a big corporate streamer.
There were plenty of people with better mechanics who never reached his level.
DumDum had one weapon that set him apart.
"This won't do. As Collab-Machine DumDum, I can't just watch this and sit still. Time to push for a collab."
A collab.
-CollabDumDum Mode ON!-Honestly yeah, this is the perfect time for a collab-Been a while since we got a collab!
A "collab" meant two or more streamers broadcasting together, usually playing the same game.
DumDum was a streamer who aggressively utilized collabs.
To the point he had nicknames like "Collab DumDum," "Guardian of Collabs," "Collab Machine."
And now, he had chosen Kratos as his next collab target.
"I'll need to get permission, of course. Anyway, shall we start the actual game now? Today's game is…"
And it wasn't just big-streamer DumDum who had become interested in Kratos.
Many other streamers who received the video donation—or saw the video themselves—became interested too.
Samurai Hearts was already a hot content category, and now there was the added hype of the world's first Sword Saint clear.
Naturally, everyone wanted to talk about him.
One of those streamers was Kang Yeonwoo.
He specialized in guides that were easy for anyone to understand, and he dedicated his entire broadcast content that day to an in-depth analysis of Kratos.
"Okay, look here. This is where Kratos does his first thrust."
Yeonwoo paused the VR footage right at Kratos' thrust and approached the Sword Saint in the game.
Sword Saint Kato was lifting his sword with an uncomfortable expression.
Yeonwoo highlighted it for the viewers.
"See his expression? Looks bad, right? It looks like Kratos just stabbed randomly, but he actually read the Sword Saint's breathing and cut into it. Kato was exhaling, and Kratos stabbed right into that timing. That's why Kato said 'Not bad' on the first exchange."
-Wow, that makes sense-So it wasn't a random stab after all-I can't believe that was a calculated thrust
"It wasn't calculated. Kratos' swordsmanship in the early Sword Saint duel is really rough. He's basically swinging however he feels like. But it still works. Why? Because raw talent is behind it."
-First time I've seen the word "talent" feel so terrifying-? Swinging randomly results in that level?-I cry because even my "random swinging" is worse than his
"Even so, at this point, I thought Kratos would eventually lose. Instinctive swordsmanship based on talent alone has limits. But then…"
Yeonwoo resumed the VR footage.
The duel between Kato and Kratos continued until he paused again at the height of the battle.
"From this moment, Kratos starts to awaken. His random sword swings begin to mix with Sword Saint Kato's sword techniques. You know what that means?"
-He learned while fighting?-Is Kratos the protagonist of a manga?-This is actual nonsense-tier talent
"That's exactly it. He learned the sword techniques during the fight. This was the most shocking part when I reviewed the video. Look at this."
Yeonwoo zoomed in on Kratos' face in the footage.
Then slowed the playback to 0.05x speed, showing Kratos' wildly trembling eyes.
"His eyes are shaking like there's an earthquake, right? That's him scanning Sword Saint Kato—absorbing his swordsmanship. Meaning Kratos could SEE all of Kato's techniques."
-Crazy dynamic vision -Seeing is one thing, but how do you learn it on the spot?
Yeonwoo snapped his fingers when he saw that comment.
"Great question. Even if you can see the moves, how do you learn them instantly? Well…"
-So?-How does he do it-I'm dying to know
Yeonwoo let his voice trail off… then smirked.
"I have no idea."
-???-?-???
An avalanche of question marks filled the chat.
But Yeonwoo stood confidently.
Because he truly didn't know.
"If I knew that, I would've beaten Sword Saint Kato like Kratos did. Didn't I say earlier? It's simple. That's just pure talent. Kratos is a genius. And geniuses can do that."
In the end, everything returned to the same conclusion:
Kratos is a genius.
"I really want to invite Kratos to a research stream someday. I sent him a message, but I'm not sure what'll happen. If you're watching this, Kratos—please collab with me!"
Such was the ripple effect born from a single livestream.
And at the same time, this marked the true beginning—
of Kratos' legend.