Going Viral

Within one of the various planets scattered throughout the universe, a being that had a human body and a face made out of tentacles sat in front of what looked like a hologram. At the moment, he was absentmindedly scrolling through the various platforms on the universal network. Eventually, the being stopped on a platform that showed all of the ongoing livestreams from various Worldrunners throughout the universe.

"I wonder if there's anything interesting to watch at the moment," murmured the being in his planet's language as he scrolled through the list of livestreams available. For some reason, he had gone past the livestreams that had thousands of viewers concurrently watching, thinking that it would be better to change up what he watched for a bit. "I should probably check out the livestreams with the least amount of viewers."

With that, the being changed the order of the livestreams, being set to show all of the livestreams that had the least viewers watching at the top of the page. At first, he could not help but be a bit disappointed as most of those livestreams tackled three star achievements at most, a far cry from the seven and eight star achievements the top Worldrunners often attempted. However, as he scrolled down for a bit more, his attention was instantly focused on a certain livestream that had a title he could not ignore.

Seeing how the number of beings watching the livestream did not even reach the double digits, the being could not help but think, 'I guess this livestream is just using clickbait to garner more viewers. Surely, such a rookie Worldrunner wouldn't be so stupid to attempt such an achievement…'

'…right?'

May it be the fact that he just wanted to look at the stream out of curiosity or look at it to see whether he was correct about his thoughts, he went ahead and clicked on the livestream, showing what the Worldrunner saw from a third person perspective.

Watching the stream for a bit, he could not help but think that his thoughts were correct, thinking that the livestream was just using such words for clickbait. Though, as he watched for a bit later, he could not help but get the feeling that there was something peculiar about the stream. At the moment, it was showing what the Worldrunner was going through, with the current age of the Worldrunner being shown on the lower left of the stream. "4 Earth years…"

Eventually, allowing his curiosity to get the better of himself, he checked the account that was hosting the livestream before accessing the public database that had all the information on who the Worldrunners were and what achievements they were currently attempting. Then again, it did not take him long to find the Worldrunner behind the account, the information he obtained shocking him.

"You've got to be kidding me, right?" The being could only utter such words.

Ding!

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Name: Corius Valtrezar

Planet of Origin: Levius (Themis Star System — Type 1.5 Civilization)

Age: 20

Worldrunner Rank: Junior Worldrunner

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Previously completed achievements: First Step%, Death%, and 7 others

Achievement being currently attempted: Immortality%, Planet Earth (Progress: 4 Earth years)

————

Reading through the information he had just collected, the being could not feel like what he was reading was a lie. Deciding to really make sure if the information he got was true or not, he unhesitatingly made a trip to one of the branches Worldrunners in their planet could access and asked one of the attendants there for information regarding Corius Valtrezar.

"Corius Valtrezar is indeed currently attempting the Immortality% achievement on planet Earth," said the attendant to the being, which indeed removed all doubts in his mind as the Worldrunner was a transparent organization when it came to asking certain information like that.

Or it was probably because he had spent a great amount of money to get that information from the attendant.

…

Returning back to his home, the being looked at the livestream he had forgotten to close before he left, noticing that the number of people watching the stream was now in the double digits. Seeing that, the being could not help but think to himself, 'I guess other people have also started to find out that this Worldrunner is actually attempting such a hard speedrun with such a low rank.'

'Well, I guess it doesn't hurt to spread the word out to my friends,' he continued as he moved the livestream to the side, opening up another platform that acted like a social media website. 'It would definitely be an amazing thing to see such a rookie Worldrunner complete such an impossible achievement.'

As he said this, he sent out a post through the social platform, which was viewed by a few people the very instant it was posted. Closing it, he then returned his attention back to the livestream, now finding it interesting that a rookie Worldrunner would even dare to attempt something near impossible at his rank.

"Then again, he's also incredibly fucking stupid to attempt such a thing."

…

Back on Earth.

With the festival over, Corius now had no choice but to attend school. At the moment, he was already on his third day of school, gazing out of the windows as he absentmindedly listened to the teacher in front of them sing a nursery rhyme.

'Although I tell myself that I only need to go through two years of this before I proceed to elementary school, I still forget that two years is still a long time,' he thought to himself, wondering if any changes had occurred to the livestream feature.

Ding!

However, before he could even ponder over the question any further, a notification sound resounded in his mind, prompting him to shudder for a bit before trying his best to make sure that he did not catch the attention of the teacher. After listening to the teacher talk a bit more, he inwardly let out a sigh of relief as he commanded the system to show his list of notifications. 'Well, the only reason why the system would send me a notification is when it has something important to tell me.'

Checking the screen that had appeared in his mind, he was left at a slight loss for words as the notification somewhat confused him. 'What kind of notification is this?'

————

You have obtained the livestream achievement: Concurrent Viewers (1).

————

Checking the description of the achievement he had received, Corius could not help but command the system to show him the livestream, which it did an instant after. After navigating through its various settings, he finally saw what the achievement was trying to tell him. However, rather than be at ease after looking at his stream, his nervousness instead shot through the roof as he looked at the number of viewers concurrently watching his livestream.

'Over 900 concurrent viewers…' Corius could not help but have a worried frown on his face as he saw this. 'But the achievement told me that I've only achieved a hundred concurrent viewers?'

Ding!

As if the system was telling him that it was just waiting for him, another notification sound resounded throughout his mind, finally allowing him to realize what was happening as he felt tears brimming around his eyes in panic.

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You have obtained the livestream achievement: Concurrent Viewers (2).

————

'What the hell…' At that point, he could not stop himself any longer, allowing the tears to finally stream down his face as he silently cried. Unsurprisingly, the teacher stopped teaching as she noticed Corius crying all of a sudden. Coming closer to him, the teacher went ahead and asked him what made him sad. As he was allowing his emotions to take control of him for once, Corius told the teacher, "I don't even know what I did… what did I do to get that much?"

Naturally, the teacher was confused as to what he was trying to say, so she asked him to calm down before telling him to explain it as thoroughly as possible. However, with how overwhelmed and confused he felt from his livestream getting that much people, he could not respond to the teacher properly, instead repeating the same words over and over again. "I seriously don't know what I did…"

…

Fortunately, with a bit more talking from the teacher and a few words of encouragement from the other kids that were in the school, Corius eventually stopped crying, taking in a deep breath as he apologized to everyone that he made them worry. With that, class eventually returned to normal as Corius paid attention for a bit before focusing his thoughts back on the screens still in his mind.

Even though only around ten minutes or so had passed, the number of concurrent viewers in his livestream was now nearing two thousand, which elicited a bit of panic from him. However, with the help of a few deep breaths, he quickly returned to normal as he thought about the current situation.

'I don't know how many concurrent viewers the top Worldrunners have, but I'm definitely sure this number is a lot. Like, popular a lot,' he thought to himself. 'However, I'm pretty sure that all of these viewers think that I have a plan in mind… which I do, but I still don't know how to execute it properly. Of course, there's also the possibility that they're here to watch me fail. After all, it's incredibly stupid for a Worldrunner at my rank to attempt such a difficult achievement. Even I know that.'

'In any case, I guess it's time to actually take a look at the shop and buy something from there for once.' With that, he closed the two screens in his mind before commanding the system to open up the shop. Looking at the number of Worldrunner Points he now had at hand as the screen popped up, he finally understood how Worldrunner Points were made, placing the realization at the back of his head as he looked through the list of available items he could buy.

'According to the shop, I only have one attempt to buy something from the shop every month. If that's the case, then…'

'I'll choose you.'