Chapter 4 – First Stream

A white flash burst, and his vision changed.

Clang! Crash!

"Arrgh!"

Loud sounds of metal met with the others, and screams filled with pain echoed in the surroundings.

'What?!' Max looked confused. His ears rang from the loud sounds that suddenly attacked him.

What was it? The world around him looked real. Many people were fighting using swords, spears, and bows in the distance.

"Wake up, knight! Move! Don't lose your mind at a place like this!" A middle-aged knight shouted near his ears, causing him to be surprised.

'The game has started?'

Max had finally realized it as his mind began working again. The graphic looked similar to the real world; that was why he froze for a few seconds.

Horses went back and forth. Screams echoed once again, and a sound of metal clashing echoed all over the place.

This was a battlefield.

'Is this war?' He wondered.

It felt real.

He couldn't see much due to the smoke rising and dust kicked by a lot of knights running around to beat their enemies.

"Get up! Pick your weapon, or you won't survive!"

The knight from earlier pulled him up from the trench and pointed at a pile of weapons on the side.

At that moment, the world froze still, and a blue window popped up in front of him.

[Tutorial!]

[Pick a weapon of your choice!]

Four weapons lit up with a blue light as the surroundings turned black and white.

Facing the strange phenomenon, Max actually calmed down instead of panicking.

He sighed in relief and muttered, "Phew… This is truly just a VR game."

Ding!

— Ah! Fresh blood! His account was just made a few minutes ago.

— No way. You're right!

"…!"

Suddenly, another window beside the game announcement popped up at the corner of his sight.

It surprised Max and caused him to flinch slightly. He quickly glanced and noticed it was a chat window.

'I have a viewer already?' He thought, not expecting him to get a viewer this fast.

In fact, there was a number at the corner of the chat window.

[4 viewers]

'Woah! This is a great start.'

Max couldn't believe it. In just a few minutes, he got 4 viewers. This was the power of a clickbait title that gave the chance for trolls to make fun of a noob.

Those 4 viewers baited by his title were important, especially that person who sent a chat. He used this chance to test something.

"Test test, hello? Can you hear my voice?"

— Hahaha! We have a real newbie here!

— Voice test, really?

"Ah, so you can hear me. That's good." Max smiled at the floating camera above the pile of weapons.

He set the camera in a 3rd PoV right now to let the viewer see his character. After making sure it pointed at him, he looked at the pile of weapons and held his chin.

"Which one should I choose?"

There was a sword, a spear, an axe, and a pair of bow and arrow. A player was only allowed to choose one of them in the tutorial, and they were just crude weapons.

Max had to admit he felt conflicted. Never in his life did he hold a weapon, but at the same time, he was also excited.

No man in the world didn't like weapons!

He had seen many streamers choose a sword as their weapon. It was easy to use, and some people had trained in sword techniques in real life.

However… That wouldn't make him unique.

'Let's choose this one.'

"I have decided."

He approached the pile and took the weapon of his choice.

— Really?

— This newbie has guts! He has guts, I said!

— I bet he will die in the tutorial. Three times, minimum!

— I said he would change his weapon soon!

Because of his choice, the 4 viewers he had began to mock him. What he chose was the most unusual weapon, only used by some people.

"What's wrong? An axe is a good weapon, no?"

Yes, he chose an axe.

A knight who used an axe was never heard of before.

— Yeah, it's good lol.

— That weapon is the best! (img=lol)

— Pfft! Yeah, that's a good weapon.

The chat played along. They weren't here to watch a good player but a funny newbie streamer.

So Max's choice amused them.

'Great.'

Max wasn't discouraged at all. Instead, he was happy with their reaction.

'What's left is for me to finish the tutorial with a flying color.'

[Axe selected!]

The game announcement rang again after he decided to use the axe and returned to where he was before.

"I see you have chosen your weapon! Now, let's dep– Duck!"

Max didn't even spend a second after hearing the older knight's words. He immediately rolled on the ground, using his old knowledge of parkour, and evaded a flying arrow.

He was lucky. Due to his reaction, he managed to dodge the surprise attack.

However…

THUD!

"He's dead?!"

The tutorial knight's fate wasn't good enough. Another arrow coming from the same direction pierced through his head, killing him immediately.

— Wow! That newbie is lucky!

— I thought he would die from the silent arrow. Tsk! I was wrong!

— Hahaha, he looks so flustered!

Chat was moving rather fast, and Max noticed that some new viewers had joined his stream. He now had around 9 viewers watching him, expecting him to be bad at the game.

He wanted to talk to them, but there was no time. The game couldn't be paused unless he was in a cutscene!

The knight near him was killed one by one, leaving only him. An army of barbarians appeared in the distance, holding various crude weapons in their hands.

At that moment…

Clap clap clap!

A knight on a horse charged in by himself while holding a silver sword from the distance. His figure looked so gallant, and there was a name above his head.

[Knight Captain Hutch]

He noticed Max lying near the trench and shouted.

"Follow me, soldier!"

— Ooh! Hutch appeared!

— That damn handsome knight. I want to punch his face! Even his voice is so good!

— Agreed! I hate him, but I love him!

— Newbie! What are you doing? Follow that person!

"Ah!"

Max was too stupefied by the sudden death of the knight in front of him and forgot that he was still in a tutorial stage.

The Knight Captain's shout and chat nagging saved him and snapped him out of his thoughts. Another game mission appeared in his vision.

[Tutorial!]

[Help Knight Captain Hutch and eliminate the barbarian army!]