Chapter 10: Dungeon Raid Speedrun Streaming
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"Streaming?"
"Yeah! I've read about it online; there seems to be a huge surge of streamers for Fantasy Story Online. The game even provides a unique streaming ability; it includes a chat and even the ability for viewers to subscribe and donate."
"Huh… But why would I ever do that, Chris?"
Chris's brilliant idea ended up being something related to social media's newest craze: the streaming of dungeon raids and battles, which had been increasingly becoming more popular.
The game had been out for barely three days, but there were already hundreds of streams going one very day, and the news reports have stated that streamers that perform the best or give amazing tips to players often get a lot of attention, including subscriptions and donations.
Donations were also made using real-life money, but the streamer could even choose to immediately receive it as credit, which could give them easy money if they entertained the masses well enough.
Naturally, even after hearing that, Paul wasn't really into that.
As an extrovert and someone with absolutely no ability to perform a "show" to entertain the masses, he would probably freeze in place, stutter while talking, and even more, become terribly afraid of potential backlash, stalkers, or online bullying.
So he wasn't into the idea at all!
"Why? I mean, wouldn't you want to earn easy money? Also, you got that amazing trait; you could use it to easily raid the hardest dungeon in town and do a speedrun! I'm sure viewers might be interested in that," Chris said. "I saw that speedruns were becoming pretty popular already. There's a ranking board in every dungeon based on clear time; streamers create content by constantly trying to speedrun it and surpass the previous clear time! It's also common for streamers to do it in groups and parties; not many do it solo at all! You could be unique in that."
"But…" Paul liked the idea, actually, but he wasn't made for that. "I can't, I mean... Um, I have a bit of... Err, I am not that extroverted to act like a streamer that would appeal to younger audiences. I think I would come out as weird or dull.
"Eeeh?! Come on, dude, don't throw yourself down like that! You're pretty cool when you get serious in the game," Chris said, patting his shoulders. "And well, leave it to me anyway! How about this? I'll host your streams and introduce you; you simply have to nod to the viewers and get going! We'll synchronize our cameras together, so I show two perspectives: your first-person perspective and my third-person perspective! Pretty cool, right?"
"Chris…" Paul felt slightly nervous, but he couldn't help but think the cheerfulness of Chris was quite contagious, especially when he called him "cool." It made him secretly happy.
Chris was weirdly really good at praising people, despite his teasing and bratty nature, and despite acting a bit annoying at times, he compensated by acting nice and supportive at the same time.
He had a weird kind of balance.
"Come on!" Chris asked, giving Paul puppy eyes.
"Why are you so obsessed with the idea? What do you gain? I mean, don't you earn good money already, Chris?" wondered Paul. "Or do you just want attention and to become an influencer? I'm not really into that, you know?"
"Bleh, don't be so boring; it's not that." Chris sighed. "I mean, well, don't you want to earn money yourself? It would be a waste to not use your daily OP buff like this. Think about it."
"Hmm…" Paul groaned but then considered that this was a game at the end, so he might as well not care. His identity IRL and his identity in the game were different, and he shouldn't really feel so nervous. "Well, ok… Let's try it once. If I like it and we get some donations, I'll continue, but I won't be a clown that gets no viewers."
"Okay, sure~ I'll assure you 100% you're getting something out of this, bro," Chris winked at him coquettishly as the two made their way to the town square.
Once more, they waited in line to enter the Dungeon Gate, and once they got their turn, they quickly took a look at the available Dungeons.
[Beginner Dungeon Entrance: Recommended Strength Tier 1 ~ 3]
[Available Dungeons]: [Wild Dog Plains (Tier 1)] [Blood Bat King's Cave (Tier 1~2)] [Obsidian Skeleton Lord Lair (Tier 2 ~ 3)]
There were also additional settings that the two had mostly ignored at first.
And that was a difficult option.
[Obsidian Skeleton Lord Lair (Tier 2 ~ 3)]
[Choose a Difficulty]:
[Normal]
[Hard]
[Infernal]
"Before we entered the first dungeon with the Normal Difficulty, each Difficulty increased the number of monsters, their strength, and their hostility, but I think there are higher chances of loot drops," Paul explained.
"Then go to Infernal right away!" Chris clicked on it without letting Paul decide.
"Wait- Agh…"
[You have selected the [Obsidian Skeleton Lord Lair (Tier 2 ~ 3)] at Infernal Difficulty.]
[Whenever you're ready, please touch the Dungeon Gate to teleport inside.]
[Displaying Clear Rankings…]
[1: Starlight12: 1 Minute, 11 Seconds.]
[2: ILikeSmokingWeed: 1 Minute, 16 Seconds.]
[3: KneelandBeg: 1 Minute, 22 Seconds.]
[4: LadyQueenie: 1 Minute, 27 Seconds.]
[5: NomoresSufferingplz: 1 Minute, 29 Seconds.]
[…]
Paul noticed the rankings were all quite close; it has been tough competition. And he could also imagine that these were all probably high-level players that had just come here to do this; low-level players could never compete with these people.
But perhaps Vlad, with his ten-minute buff as the Heavenly Demon, might be able to...
"Alright, let's begin the streaming before going inside~," Chris said, quickly managing things. "Let's create a partner between the two channels and start streaming together."
"Okay…" Paul nodded, just clicking "yes" to every single new status window that appeared.
Eventually, the stream began, and there were obviously zero viewers. Chris was left as the "manager" of the entire thing, making the stream's title and everything.
Paul was nervous, standing there in silence, looking at the Dungeon Gate while tightly grasping his fists. The stream had two different points of view: one was of Chris looking at Paul, and the other was of Vlad in first person.
"Is it finally here? Yep, it is! Alright! Hello everyone~!" Chris immediately greeted the two viewers who had randomly appeared.
[RandomGuy: Huh? Did I click the wrong video? This is not Queenie's stream...
[LOLOLOLOLL11: Woah, cute girl…]
Chris smiled fascinatedly at the two commenters; this was just the beginning!
"Heh, thank you~ But my avatar is male, haha! Thank you for coming! This will be a short stream; we're going to do a speedrun and break the current record in the [Obsidian Skeleton Lord Lair] Dungeon! Are you excited? We'll totally demolish it~!"
[3 more viewers have joined the stream.]
[RandomGuy: Demolish it?? What is he talking about lol]
[LOLOLOLOLL11: You're a dude???]
[Pigster1009: whats this]
[Lostinthesauce: can someone tell me what's going on…]
[5 more viewers have joined the stream.]
[2 more viewers have joined the stream.]
[Queeniafan1: whos is this whore lol]
[Queeniafan1] has been automatically banned by the chatbot.]
[1 more viewer has joined the stream.]
[Cluelessguy1: breaking a ranking record? Yeah sure, you're a bunch of noobs anyways…]
[7 more viewers have joined the stream.]
[Handsomebastard69: came for the cute femboy]
[Husbandomaterial33: Wait, it's a femboy??? Yoooooo]
[LOLOLOLOLL11: gay]
[4 more viewers have joined the stream.]
[3 more viewers have joined the stream.]
[5 more viewers have joined the stream.]
Chris and Paul were quickly shocked; not even ten seconds had passed, and over a dozen viewers were coming! Was it Chris's cuteness in the thumbnail that was click-baiting everyone into entering?
No matter, it was a good opportunity!
"Everyone's calling me a femboy now." Chris thought quickly, deciding to ignore the comments and start. "So many viewers! Thank you so much for coming, everyone! Now, let's begin! Vlad, are you ready?"
"Yeah," Vlad said with a calm tone of voice, his aura quickly shifting into one of gold, red, and black.
FLUOSH!
[The Character Background Trait: [Heavenly Demon's Soul (Legendary Grade)] has been activated!]
[For 10 Minutes a day, you'll receive 50% of the Heavenly Demon's former strength and abilities. And all debuffs and status effects will be canceled.]
[However, your mind and body will be possessed by his unending rage, charisma, and personality!]
"I'll show all of our dear viewers… a good show," he smiled, his transformation giving him a tremendous confidence boost.
[Handsomebastard69: bruh who is that guy?]
[Husbandomaterial33: That's some strong buff; it even has shiny colors and everything.]
[LOLOLOLOLL11: I don't care about him]
[RandomGuy: interesting]
[Pigster1009: mmm]
[Lostinthesauce: what's going on]
Paul decided to completely ignore the annoying comments. His eyes glaring with golden light, Chris quickly flew towards him, touching his shoulder.
FLASH!
And both teleported inside the Dungeon.
They immediately found themselves at the entrance of what resembled a dark and ancient castle. In front of them, there were already monsters moving to attack them.
Over twenty Obsidian Skeletons were all Tier 2 monsters of tremendous strength, whose black bones were almost as hard as steel!
To make things worse, they all came equipped with weapons made of bones and rusty armor.
"Graaah!"
"Let's begin, Chris. Try to catch up with me; I won't slow down for you."
"Okay~"
RUMBLE!
Before Chris could see anything, Paul had already begun, rushing towards the skeletons like a ray of golden light and clashing against them with his single fist.
{Blood Dragon Arts}: {Infernal Onslaught}!
Activating his unique Martial Arts, Vlad combined his ancient powers as the Heavenly Demon with his Blood Power, as crimson and golden energies converged into one.
His Aura surged like a ferocious dragon, engulfing all twenty enemies in a huge explosion.
BOOOM!
The Obsidian Skeletons were all torn to pieces, dying on the spot.
The bad thing about the undead was that most of them wouldn't yield any Blood or Life Energy for both Vlad and Chris to grow stronger.
But their steel-like bones, big beast cores, and the armor and weapons they always dropped were good enough to make some money.
Or for Paul to craft stuff later.
But for now, he was fully concentrated on the game.
"Wait, Vlad, don't leave me behind! Holy shit guys, did you see that?!"
Chris talked to the chat as she saw Vlad already rushing forward.
The Dhampir immediately started massacring anything in his path.
His fists moved at lightning speed as explosions of golden flames and crimson energy engulfed everything.
The entire Lair was structured as an old castle.
Currently, there are 100 enemies, including the boss.
Paul had already investigated the dungeon's entire layout online; there were five rooms before the boss, each one in a zig-zag order.
With a single kick, he broke through the gate of each room, demolishing the skeletons with ease and making them explode into pieces.
Chirs made sure to store everything as quickly as possible, following Vlad using his flight skills.
CRASH!
With a single punch, he opened the gate of the boss as the Obsidian Skeleton Lord greeted them.
The lugubrious atmosphere and the cold air became even thicker as the entity stood up, its crimson eyes shining brightly.
"So a new challenger has appeared," it said. "Now come and-"
{Blood Dragon Arts}: {Heaven Splitting Fist}!
Vlad didn't wait for the boss to finish its words before his fists caved through the Skeleton Lord's head, blowing it up and shattering the rest of its body.
BAAAM!
The boss collapsed immediately, without even being able to fight back.
The entire chat was going insane, but Vlad ignored that.
"D-Did you see that?! He one-shotted the boss so easily! What?! And he's not even high-level! He's only Tier 2!!!"
Chris pointed at Paul in amusement and fascination.
"What's my record?"
Vlad looked at the system message.
[You and your party have successfully cleared the [Obsidian Skeleton Lord Lair (Tier 2 ~ 3)] on Infernal Difficulty!]
[You have made a new Clear Record!]
[Clear Time: 54 Seconds.]
[You have obtained the First Rank in the Dungeon Clear Record!]
The viewers kept increasing; it went from fifty to a hundred, then two hundred, five hundred, one thousand...
There were already some big shots looking at the stream, their faces full of disbelief.
"W-We did it! I told you guys, hehe!" Chris winked at the chat. "54 Seconds! New record! All the other losers could only do it within one minute, lol!"
"What are you doing? Don't provoke the big shots!" Paul muttered.
"It's fine~ it's just a game after all~" Chris shrugged.
"Is… that so?" Paul didn't think so much.
Some people were already dedicating their entire lives and time to this game.
If they were mocked for their efforts, wouldn't they retaliate?!
But that wasn't something that went through the little and cute head of Chris.
"Well, let's do it all over again!" Chris said. "Hey everyone, we're doing the same with the other dungeons, so stay and see us break every record~"
And just like that, the pair quickly entered the two other dungeons, clearing them in less than 40 seconds each, breaking records once more.
They were unable to enter the same dungeon right away due to the 10-minute cooldown, but that was more than enough to quickly entertain the chat for this short stream, which only lasted fifteen minutes.
"I'll edit this and reupload it as a video later~ Thank you for coming, everyone- Woah!"
[Handsomebastard69] has Donated $3: "That was awesome dude"]
[Husbandomaterial33] has Donated $2: "Really cool stuff, you actually did it… femboy is cute too!"]
[LOLOLOLOLL11] has Donated $10: "Take my money! Please do more streams together!"]
[RandomGuy] has Donated $2: "You two make a good team NGL"]
[Pigster1009] has Donated $3: "holy shit the other top players are probably shitting themselves out of frustration, lmaaao"]
[Lostinthesauce] has Donated $20: "cool as shit"]
"So many donations?!"
"Eh? Really?!"
Vlad and Chris looked at the chat numbers as they gasped.
They had no idea it would become THIS popular!
At most, Chris imagined they would get a couple dozen viewers, but they were soon to surpass three thousand.
[LadyQueenie] has Donated $50: "You have potential… Want to do a collab together later?"]
[NomoresSufferingplz] has Donated $15: "I'm shocked… But glad that starlight idiot was overtaken"]
[ILikeSmokingWeed] has Donated $5: "TF was that??? Are you using hacks???"]
[KneelandBeg] has Donated $50: "Honestly, quite impressive"]
[Starlight12] has Donated $100: "Well done! That was incredible! I wonder what Vlad's build is?"]
"Wait all the top rankers appeared? H-Hi!" Chris muttered nervously. "T-Thank you for the donations… I am overwhelmed by your generosity. We'll make sure to do more! Right Vlad?"
"Eh? Y-Yeah…" Vlad nodded.
The two didn't know what they had gotten themselves involved in!
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Remember to join my Patreon to get 17 chapters in Advance! You can check it here: https://www.patreon.com/pancakeswitch