Aoko's eye started twitching as she stared at the 'gift' Titor had left for clearing the Tutorial.

"Mi? Mimi ri?" Cute, nonsensical words. A voice that was adorable and an appearance to match.

Aoko took a deep breath and ignored the people pointing and staring at her. Unfortunately, she couldn't ignore her chat.

xxx

[Firebrand_47] Is that a dragon pet?!
[Reinya] Why do streamers get all the gacha luck?!
[Player8420] I bought 100 pet eggs and didn't even get a slime! How did she get a dragon?!

[Aventador_13] As expected of Queen!
[Shadow_Rider] Is the pet part of the sponsor deal?
[Anameaname] Wait! Isn't that one of the rewards for clearing Aoko's crossover quest?

[LootLover_12: 100 USD] Can we get a lootbox opening stream?
[HeavenlyBastardUnderHeaven✓ : 20K Yen] Gacha fund
[GachaGuru_9: 100 CAD] Gacha please?

xxx

Aoko let out a deep sigh and then started walking away from the starting town.

"Miri!" Again, the cute words echoed, followed by a trill that sounded like birdsong. And then the source of it all came into view in front of Aoko.

A tiny dragon with icy blue scales. A Western-style one, not like the snake-like versions that people like her father used as tattoos.

Aoko walked around it and said, "Don't get in my way. It's already hard enough streaming and playing. I don't need something else to draw attention to me-"

"Look! There's Queen!"

"We found her, guys!"

"Over here!"

Aoko froze and then started rapidly cursing under her breath.

xxx

[BlueMonkey] LOL
[GreenParrot] Stream sniped already?
[OrangeOtter] To be fair, Queen sticks out.

[PinkRabbit] Why can't people just play the game and not be attentionw***es?
[BlackBear] Right? Makes everything worse.
[PurplePanda] Well, they chose the wrong person to stream snipe today.

xxx

A mob of players. All of them were new accounts, still dressed in the beginner equipment. Surprisingly, there were about as many guys as girls... at least in terms of appearance.

Aoko wasn't sure if that was because they spent a lot of time on character creation or whatever, but she also didn't care.

The tiny blue dragon landed on Aoko's shoulder and then glared at the mob of players. After that, it looked at Aoko and tilted its head. "Miri?"

Aoko couldn't understand the dragon. She also didn't know whether it was something she owned or just an NPC that Titor sent along to follow her. But what she did know was that it seemed to be on the same page.

[Now leaving Safe Zone.]

A faint blue message appeared as soon as Aoko stepped on the trodden dirt path leading outside of town.

Aoko ignored it and kept walking until she was a fair distance away from the town.

Grassy plains all around, a few boars and rabbits roaming. Some players hunting them down for experience. And then the mob of players who were streamsniping Aoko.

Turning to face said mob, Aoko raised her wooden club like a bat and held it over her right shoulder. After that, she said, "Alright, you bastards. Let this be a lesson for you."

xxx

[Kurumi69] Ooh. They gonna get it.
[ObservantPolygon] Wait. Since they're not in the Safe Zone now...
[Anameaname] OMG. Is Queen gonna PK?!

xxx

"QUEEEEEEN!"

A roar from the crowd along with a small tremor as the mob of players started marching towards her.

Most were doing it just out of obsession and admiration, but there were a few with more malicious intent hidden in that crowd.

But either way...

"Ain't the first time I've smacked some idiots around." Aoko casually stepped forward.

xxx

[HyperHound_17] It's boutta go down!
[BoomerBuster_5] Seriously, where do all these boomers come from?
[Anameaname] Kansai accent?
[Ultimaterror] RIP trash mobs.
[Kurumi69] Become Queen's EXP!
[Tech_TTGames] Wait. What if that was the plan the whole time?

xxx

"Mimi ri!" The icy blue dragon flapped its wings, flying beside Aoko.

Aoko smirked and said, "Let's go teach these idiots a lesson, Draggy."

xxx

[Zylia] Draggy?
[QueenSlime] OMG Queen is so cute!
[Tech_TTGames] What is this naming sense?

xxx

Aoko swiped the chat out of the way and then ran forward, preparing to swing her club around.

And then an icy beam of light swept across the field, freezing the grass and shattering the mob of players.

A soft chime echoed, and then a flurry of messages popped up in front of Aoko.

[You have initiated combat against other players and obtained the <Killer's Mark>.]

[When branded with the <Killer's Mark>, you will grant increased experience and drops to the player who kills you.]

[You have killed over a hundred players in a short time period. <Killer's Mark> has reached the maximum level. <Killer's Mark> has evolved into <Path of Slaughter>.]

[When embarking on the <Path of Slaughter>, all items will be dropped on death. The player who kills you will obtain a full level up. You will gain one stat point for every unique player you kill until your death.]

Aoko read the messages and then froze. Immediately after reading them, an ominious crimson light shone around her body, along with the faint image of a crimson dragon coiling around her body.

xxx

[ExcitedEagle_23] YOU CAN DO THAT?!
[AsterSainte] Quick! Login and feed Queen kills!
[LoyalLion_11] For Queen!
[EnviousElk_6] Someone kill her and steal that dragon!
[Zilfallion] Kill the P2W player!
[Anameaname] Screw sponsored deals! You're breaking the game balance!

xxx

"#$@#$@#%@#$!"

Aoko spun towards the floating dragon and jabbed a finger at it. "This is your fault! I just wanted to beat them up a bit, not blast them into oblivion!"

"M-Mi...?"

Aoko dropped her club and reached up to scratch her hair, messing it up. "Why can't I have a normal stream without people wanting to mess with me?!"

Back at the village, white lights started flashing as new players started logging in.

"Argh! Screw it!" Aoko picked up her club and said, "You guys asked for it!"

xxx

Fony Headquarters.

John parked outside in the VIP parking garage before glancing in the back seat. "...Are you sure you're fine, 'Hana?'"

Hana looked up with a strained smile and said, "I'm fine! Really! Just... um..." She fidgeted with her orange ribbon and said, "...You aren't really an alien bodysnatcher coming to take over Earth, are you?"

John snorted and said, "Of course not. If I wanted to take over Earth, I wouldn't need to do something as silly as that."

Hana let out a relieved sigh and nodded. "Right. You wouldn't need to- Wait!" She pointed at John and said, "That brings up even more questions, Mister John!"

John laughed and said, "Just joking with you, Hana. Really, I'm just an ordinary human, you know? I bleed red just like you and can be killed."

Of course, just because you could be killed didn't exclude immediately coming back to life, but John decided he was already on thin enough ice as it was considering Hana's mental state.

Hana furrowed her brow and said, "That's really suspicious, Mister John. Most people wouldn't respond like that..."

"Fine, fine." John unbuckled his seatbelt and said, "The truth is that I'm a returnee from an isekai who got a super OP cheat. Since I was super strong there, all I want to do now is relax with my family and have fun on the internet... Oh, and helping you girls of course."

Hana rolled her eyes and smiled. "Who's the one who's been reading too much manga now, Mister John?"

John smiled.

Hana unbuckled herself as well and then hopped out of the car. She reached up to do some stretching and then muttered, "This still feels weird. I'm only wearing a headset, so how come it feels like this is my real body?"

John walked out of the car as well and then locked it. After that, he said, "It's complicated, but you can think of it like super advanced hypnosis."

Hana's eyes widened and she pointed at John, saying, "So you *ARE* trying to brainwash people!"

John let out a deep sigh.

Hana giggled and said, "Sorry. Was that too much?"

John checked his appearance one more time in the reflection and said, "As long as it helps you relax. Titor and I didn't expect it to be so jarring, so whatever helps you cope with the weird is fine with me."

Hana checked on her clothes as well and then said, "Well excuse me for not being used to seeing my lifeless body sleeping on the bed." She looked at John and then puffed her cheeks. "How come you only play mean tricks on me? Like that time you made me think there was a ghost at my house?"

"That was necessary to save my reputation-"

"Aha!" Hana pointed at John and said, "I knew it! So it *was* you!"

John blinked and then said, "...Oh. I guess I forgot to tell you? Kudos for catching me though?"

Hana frowned and said, "Hmph. You're no fun..."

"We *are* here on business, Hana. Remember that."

"I know, I know."

"As long as you do. Now..." John smiled and held out his hand. "Let's take the next step to you performing on a big stage, shall we?"

HappyVainGlory

The blank spots are up for grab until the next chapter update. I'll fill them in with something random later. Thanks for reading! Slowly getting back into the flow of the story... though I might need to do a full reread soon. That 700K word count is so daunting though... :sweat: