Chapter 72
[Phew! I thought they were a bunch of total lunatics! It’s lucky Adella was strong, or you nearly would’ve died on your very first mission too, Forest Keeper!]
Thanks to Adella’s performance, we cleared the observatory in the fourth playthrough with ease.
If anything, it felt easier than when I’d fought alone on the first playthrough.
-Praise be to Goddella, Emperor Adella!
-Nya nya nya nya nya nya nya nya nya nya nya nya nya!
-What the hell, why is Adella suddenly fighting so well?
-Are companion NPC stats random too?
-They seemed the same, judging by the damage they dealt.
Her potential with a dagger was outstanding, but her proficiency had always left something to be desired.
Yet it was obvious at a glance that Adella was growing stronger in real time as she fought.
NPC growth.
Unbelievable, but she was gradually growing in ways beyond her stats as she battled.
“Is the materials warehouse next? Hoo-woong... My stomach kind of hurts too, and I have a bad feeling. How about we just go rob the Admissions Management Office first, nya?”
However, I couldn’t keep progressing the story.
Unless someone skilled taught Adella dagger techniques, there wasn’t much I could do; I had no expertise in knife fighting.
[You have exited the combat situation.]
[A safe zone has been secured.]
[Would you like to pause the game?]
{Accept/Decline}
[▶Accept]
[Would you like to exit the game?]
[▶Exiting World of Arseria.]
Did I need to learn dagger techniques somewhere?
At least until she gained the ability to face the Jin Chronicle on her own, I had no right to awaken this silent, gray-stained world.
[Stream Time - 5:24:11]
[Viewers – 6,299]
‘What time is it?’
It was well past the noon appointment I had with Professor Cheon. It would be one o’clock before long.
I needed to start wrapping up the stream, too.
“I’ll call it a day here.”
-This soon? It’s still lunchtime!
-Lmao
-If you’re talking about lunch, you’re still in the “second division.”
-Then did the first division just wake up?
-I don’t know about the first division, but I just woke up. Why are there so many viewers compared to this room’s subscriber count?
-You haven’t seen this legendary video? You’ll regret it all night today, lmao.
-It was only five hours, but today’s stream was packed (seriously packed).
-First 10/10/10 clear of Part 1 in WOA, and as a priest, and with stacked penalties lmao. I’m witnessing history.
-ㄴThe biggest find was the Adella hair-brushing content.
-ㄴStill no word from the 1,000-strong Nyangster Call squad?
-ㄴGuess so, considering there’s no news in the Discord server.
They were fascinating people, no matter how often I watched them.
In the end, I think streaming is an act of sharing one person’s life.
The viewers experience the same things I see and feel.
It offers a different level of immersion from books or movies—sometimes even a deeper one.
Just as I held my breath while watching a streamer fight a ferocious battle, viewers grieved over Adella’s death.
Sharing the same timeline was a rather embarrassing yet mysterious feeling.
[‘Save the Grad Student’ donated 10,000 won!]
-NoName, can’t you do just-chatting for a bit? Just 30 minutes... no, 15 minutes...
“Thank you for the 10,000-won donation. Since you told me to go to bed early today... I’ll stream until exactly one, then.”
-A first donation thank-you this early? That’s rare.
-A tiny streamer making good money.
-Are you seriously a high schooler? Lmao, “go to bed early” lmao.
After I exited the game, viewership dropped to the 5,000s, but the chat flew by faster than ever.
No matter how good my dynamic vision was, there was a limit to the information I could process.
“My head hurts... I’ll only take questions through donations.”
So what? I didn’t exactly deny that I was a capitalist slave to the bone.
[‘heureusement’ donated 30,000 won!]
-Could I possibly add you as a friend in WOA?
Someone had shown up intent on indulging their ulterior motives without even asking a question with their first donation.
As expected, the chat was swept up in rage, and violence that could be expressed in text poured down in torrents.
“Can you add friends without a multi-account? I haven’t cleared it yet.”
-?
-?
-????
-What are you talking about?
-Is this your first WOA run?
-Come on, say something that makes sense;;
-Is your account genuinely not showing up?
“I’ll remember your name and add you later. But the game is pretty difficult, so I think it may take a while.”
I’d heard kids these days learned pretty much everything at taekwondo academies. I was even a little surprised to see that they taught English too.
If I looked hard enough, I guessed I might even find somewhere that taught dagger techniques.
I didn’t think I’d be able to start the game until I was confident I could properly train Adella.
Wasn’t there even a notice about tomorrow’s performance assessment?
I’d also have a backlog of journals I hadn’t been able to read while I was in the hospital.
I needed to make money quickly too... With all these circumstances piling up, my head hurt.
[‘Rehu Bastard’ donated 10,000 won!]
-How old are you, streamer?
“I’m seven years old.”
-Seventeen?
-They said seven, lmao.
-What’s with this random character concept now?
-As long as they’re cute, who cares about age?
-ㄴI hate those creepy simps.
Ah, was WOA Nightmare rated for ages 15 and up?
I needed to correct that quickly.
“No, actually, I’m fifteen years old.”
-Yeah, yeah.
-Looks like they don’t want to answer.
-Does that mean we’re supposed to bring our rates up to match?
-Even if they say they’re fifty-seven, just go, “Oh, okay,” and move on.
-Just spam “real lmao.”
-Real lmao
-Real lmao
I was caught off guard by the sharp comment that had suddenly appeared.
[‘Rikail’s Greatsword’ donated 1,000 won!]
-Streamer, is this really your first run of Arseria?
“No. As I said, I played through the prologue with a younger acquaintance some time ago.”
-That counts as your first run, you bastard lmao.
-Why is this real? Why is this real? Why is this real? Why is this real?
-Is this the difference talent makes?
-This isn’t gameplay you can explain with talent alone;;
[‘Veixel’ donated 100,000 won!]
-Could you teach us the strategy for Valum Venaons? What spell did you use in phase two that made Valum’s attacks ineffective?
[‘OVERDOSE’ donated 130,000 won!]
-Please explain the counter-formula you used during the Jin Chronicle battle.
[‘Nyangster Call’ donated 300,000 won!]
-Please tell us how to brush Adella’s hair!
Even requiring donations couldn’t keep the viewers’ mouths shut.
I immediately closed the donation window and decided to answer only the last few questions.
-ㄴUs poor people with no money—are we supposed to live in misery?ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ
-These amounts are seriously insane lmao.
-If he can pull it off, it’ll be a world-first all-10 clear, so of course they’re losing their minds.
-Honestly, even 100,000 won feels like too much just to tell us.
-Even if the secret to brushing Adella’s hair cost 300,000 won, I think that’d still feel too expensive lmao.
-ㄴNot at all?
-ㄴYou think 300,000 won is too much????
-If I could’ve just topped up my account, I would’ve donated a million won.
-ㄴThe whole world really is full of cat fanatics...
“For the first question, I implemented a three-circle polarized array spell using an advanced first-circle casting. The second was based on a counter-formula for water molecules, since the boss kept firing water cannons. It’s nothing special once you know how it works.”
And the last one...
“The last one, I don’t know either. Thank you for the 300,000-won donation, Nyangster Call.”
* * *
I wiped back my sweat-soaked hair.
Even my pajamas were no exception; my back stung from the prickly heat.
Without turning on the lights, I went to the kitchen and opened the refrigerator.
Ice. Or water, at least, if there was no ice.
As luck would have it, I spotted a bottle of cold barley tea near the door.
“I’m exhausted...”
Every single game was wearing me out.
It was different from League of Legends, whose roughly half-hour matches were consumed like instant food.
Cold liquid ran down my throat, cooling my body, heated to the core.
Since the chat had been flooding with accusations that my final statement was a scam-and-run job, before ending the stream I read aloud every viewer nickname who had donated even once that day.
That quieted them down a little.
The collective intelligence of my stream’s viewers must have been made up of fully grown adults, but they were emotional and impulsive like five-year-old children throwing tantrums.
Yet at the same time, they were pure-hearted and vulnerable to goodwill.
From the first donor, ‘Save the Grad Student,’ to the 101st donor, ‘Nyangster Call.’
There must have been duplicates mixed in along the way, so there were actually fewer than 101 people, but they were genuinely happy just to hear their usernames called out.
Those whose names were called, and those whose names weren’t. They all acted and thought as one body.
That was why, whenever bad sentiment formed here and there, they instantly joined in, like black paint dropped onto a white canvas.
They cursed Adella, and sometimes even harassed her, as if they had harbored such malicious intent from the beginning.
Children needed manners education pitched at a level appropriate for children.
I resolved to prepare more properly next time I started the stream, and put the water bottle back in the refrigerator.
“Are you finished now?”
Just as I was about to return to my room, Professor Cheon came rustling out of the master bedroom.
“Ah... You’re awake?”
“We agreed you’d only play until midnight.”
“Yes... We did, didn’t we.”
“And?”
“It’s one o’clock. I’m sorry...”
But I was the one who ended up being taught a lesson.
In the end, I couldn’t go to my room until Professor Cheon’s nagging struck me squarely in the head.