Chapter 6
After standing in the kitchen for what seemed like an eternity examining the short sword that had been my partner for so many years, I placed it and its other half into my inventory.
As curious as I am to know how Dad got his hands on these in the first place, it serves almost no purpose interrogating him out of the blue. My first move should be to check his stats and see if he has access to the system. If he does then I’ll just confront him about everything. In the case of him not being a User, my only option is to drop it altogether. No point in harassing him needlessly.
That aside I had been ignoring the newly acquired Skill points obtained from my level-ups. So, I diverted my attention to them. But after searching through all the different options There were no new skills to choose from. Gone was the window I had seen in the void, and nothing like it was to be found in its stead.
Well, that’s strange. You’d figure there should be some way to use points once I’ve gotten them.
The sheer amount of questions I was getting was becoming too many to count. For every one answered another 10 appeared in its place.
Sighing I stretched out my arms and twisted my back which protested with several cracks.
“What to do, oh what to do?” I muttered to myself while continuing to stretch.
The clock that hung above the stove chimed signifying it was now Noon.
I had spent over 12 hours in this new reality and was already starting to get fed up with how the situation was unfolding. Sure, I had leveled up to 45 by simple dumb luck, sure I had obtained not 1 but 4 powerful new weapons. But what had it cost me?
2 couches, a love seat, 2 dressers, my glorious bed, and 2 end tables.
The thought alone brought me back to reality. I had lied and told my brother that I was getting all new furniture. While I wasn’t expecting him to stop by again any time soon it was still a problem that needed to be taken care of sooner rather than later.
My train of thought was cut off by suddenly remembering that I had to stream at 1:00 pm which meant I only had an hour to get ready. There was a ritual that had to be maintained after all.
It wasn’t so much a ritual as it was just a checklist of chores I would do right before every stream. Turning on all my lighting, filling up my Liter water bottle, fixing the settings on my camera which for some reason was always way too bright, checking audio levels and visual displays, opening and organizing all 12 programs I would have to maintain during the stream. After the checklist was finished the hour had flown by and I had hit the “Go Live” button on my streaming software.
It was the brains of the operation; my rig was the ship and I was the Captain. If one thing was out of place the whole quality of the product could be affected. What wasn’t necessary was the way all of the programs were organized. Everything, of course, had to be set up symmetrically.
While the Starting soon screen was open and the background music playing, I got up from my desk and paced while waiting for my community to join the broadcast. I had been streaming for several years at this point and had garnered an impressive 500,000 followers. It wasn’t a number to scoff at anymore. In the business, world numbers talked and I was finally at a point that I didn’t need to have another job. But it's not like it didn’t come with its level of stress.
For some reason, I was always filled with an inexhaustible amount of anxiety every time I went live. I wasn’t putting on an act. What you saw was what you got with me. The on-camera personality was the same as the person you’d meet if you ran into me on the street.
I’d always been upfront about that fact, and to some, it seemed unbelievable. The most unbelievable content I produced was the Story Time with Burbynyke, where I would tell tales of my adventures growing up.
My Community always went bonkers for my storytimes. The worst part about it was when people would constantly ask for them, my response was always the same “Guys Story Time has to be natural and organic or else it’ll lose its effect.
Taking a deep breath and sitting in my computer chair, I positioned myself in line with the camera lens.
Showtime lets see just how crazy skilled I am now.
Activating OverClock, Memorize, and MultiTask I started up the First-person shooter game I had been playing competitively on stream for almost a year now.
And so, the show began.
“What’s goin on guys, it’s your boy Bur-to the B-y-n, coming at you once again hard body karate with some more Bullet-Raid Legends, AND TODAY we are going to make a run at the Tournament Entry Event. The goal is to rank high enough in League mode to place in the top 50 so we can earn a shot at that CLEANNNN Million Buckies.”
What they don’t know is my reaction time has increased 10-fold thanks to my new skills.
Roughly an hour into the stream my first donation came it. Donations could be given to streamers by the viewers if they enjoyed the content or if they were trying to raise money for something. Once the streamer obtained the coveted partner position on the site, viewers could also subscribe to them for a specified amount of money monthly. As a result, the broadcaster would earn 50 percent of that subscription. So, once the streamers community was at a certain size, they could earn a decent living from it.
I could never get used to how generous my community was. But as I was thanking the viewer who had donated 5 dollars and attached a message, I was caught off guard by the triggering of the systems notification window.
You have received 5 dollars; would you like to exchange it for coins? Y/N
Putting on a poker face and acting as if nothing happened, I swiped the window moving it out of sight of the camera and hit yes. A second window appeared informing me I had received 50 bronze coins.
Good to know, looks like real money can be exchanged for system currency. Interesting 5 dollars = 50 coins
By the end of the stream, 2 things had happened, First I had qualified for the million-dollar tournament and Second, my inventory read 5 silver coins.
The break down was as followed. 10 bronze coins = 1 dollar, 1 silver coin = 1000 bronze coins and 1 gold coin = 1000 silver coins. So basically, I had made 500 dollars in donations.
I had been gifted several donations due to the multiple kill streaks and match wins I was racking up and had, as a result, converted all the dollars earned into coins.
With the stream over and my mind exhausted from 6 hours of OverClock, Multitask and Memorize, I shut down my pc and made my way to the kitchen.
A new goal had been set in my mind. I was going to compete and win a million dollars and turn it into coins, then it would be time to cash in the key I had gotten from the gacha machine and begin my adventure.
The coming weeks went by quickly, I streamed every day using the excuse as training for the tournament and as a result, had garnered a total of 327 silver coins. Thanks to my rank in the qualifier event I was given an all-expense-paid trip to Las Vegas Nevada to compete in the E-Sports arena. The Venue was known as the Most Prestigious places to play video games in the world, and standing outside of the 10-story hotel that housed the arena it was plain to see what it had gained that title. The building seemed to reach the sky on the busy Vegas Strip. BinLind hotel was a popular 5-star hotel before the arena was ever constructed. But now it was a Videogame Mecca. The lobby was plastered with posters promoting upcoming tournaments, and the gift shop held all kinds of Professional E-sports teams merch.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t on any sponsored team so I had to make my jersey specifically for the event. It was a simple black and red soccer-style jersey that was sporting my new logo on the front the Ouroboros depicted on Crim and Syn, and my Stream Name on the back. The only sponsor I had allowed a spot on the jersey was that of the Streaming Site I had been using for years. That logo was positioned on my left sleeve. I finished the outfit with a new pair of black jeans and my favorite red sneakers.
After Giving myself a once over in the mirror I smacked my cheeks to clear my mind of nervousness and left my hotel room on the 7th floor.
The Tournament was broken into 2 free for all games. Each of the 200 competitors would be dropped into a random point in the Tournament exclusive map where they would have to locate weapons and eliminate each other. The last one standing would receive 500 thousand dollars. Since there were 2 games the total prize pot for 1st place in both games was 1 Million dollars, 2nd place would receive 150 thousand dollars and 3rd place would receive 25 thousand dollars. So, in actuality, the prize pool was over 1 million.
Making my way to the staging area behind the center stage I waited patiently for my name to be called by the commentators. Everyone was nervously waiting for their turn except one person who was standing off on her own.
This person instantly put me on edge. Not because she seemed to be calm, cool and collected, but because she was staring directly at me.
If I wasn’t wearing my signature sunglasses our eyes would have met since once I noticed her gaze, I returned one of my own.
A grin spread across her beautiful face which was framed perfectly by her tied back red hair. I recognized her but we had never met before. Like me, she was a popular streamer. However, unlike me, her community numbered in the millions and not the hundreds of thousands. Her pale skin reflected lightly in the bright light as she stepped forward towards the walkway leading to the center stage. She was thin but not too thin, her hip-length hair swung as she moved her hips seducing as she walked, but before she broke the threshold stepping onto the pathway she spun around and faced me from a distance of 40 or so feet.
Making a hand gesture she bowed and swiped her hand towards me. The entranced onlookers all looked from the gorgeous woman to me, in jealously.
But the look on my face was neither charmed or gleeful but instead a look of anticipation was spread across my face, the reason was simple. With her hand wave, A window had appeared before my eyes.
Good Luck…. Newbie ?.
Well, this just may well be a damn a challenge.
Another User had appeared.
I didn’t know her real name but her streamer handle was Naylon. Like me, she played first-person shooters on stream. But the content we put out was completely different. While I focused on dumb jokes and comedy bits, she was focused on being a hardcore gamer. Her content varied but the main goal was to complete every challenge the game offered. Per perfectionist attitude resulted in week-long playthroughs of games to complete every known achievement the game offered. She had seen her fair share of controversies over the years but had managed to make it through each one unscathed, even though there was a whole faction of people who wanted nothing more than to see her banned from every streaming platform.
Curious indeed. So, she’s a user. I wonder if she has OverClock and MultiTask. It would make sense how she was able to qualify but I don’t remember her ranking.
I hadn’t paid much attention to the other competitors who earned spots in the tournament because I had simply assumed that I’d be coming out with both 1st place trophies no matter who was my competition. What I hadn’t expected was that another cheat user like myself would appear.
Pulling out my smartphone I quickly pulled up the tournament website and scrolled through until I found her stats from the qualifying rounds. 8 separate qualifiers were held over a week and unlike me, she hadn’t attempted them until the last day. I won my entry on the very first day but she earned hers on the final qualifier and her stats weren’t something to ignore.
Damn. Looks like she got 48 kills, that beats me by 6. She’s definitely the only one who should be able to give me a run for my money. I need to be careful there’s no telling what kind of cheat skills she has. She’s the only one I need to be on the lookout for. If I run into her, I can’t be sure that I can win.
She was already out of eyesight so I couldn’t check her level and stats. So, there was no way for me to figure out what tools she was bringing to battle. The only thing I could do was wait for my name to be called
As if saving the best for last I was the last competitor introduced.
When I broke the threshold of the stage the audience went wild. The chants from my community rose above the applause and brought a smile to my face.
“BURBYN, BURBYN, BURBYN”
I waved at the crowd, clicked my heels to attention and gave a graceful bow. That made the crowd lose it.
“AYKE GOOD LUCK YOU BASTARD.”
My brother's voice seemed to pierce through the droning cheers. He was easy to spot since he was in the front row and like me, he was sporting the same jersey. I had made a matching one for his Fiancé Lily as well.
Tossing a salute to him I walked over to the head commentator whom I had known for several years.
“Well, now who knew this audience could be this loud aye Ayke.”
The man’s name was Cezar, he stood a good head and a half taller than me. His long black hair was tied neatly into a ponytail, and his short beard was groomed neatly. Unlike his normal stream attire, he was currently sporting an expensive-looking blue suit.
“No Kidding Ceez, I knew it was gonna be nuts here but this is extraordinary” I replied clapping him on the shoulder.
He leaned away from the mic and spoke directly to me
“Bro I’ve gotta get your workout routine, you’re in damn good shape compared to last time I saw you”
The comment made me laugh
“I got you don’t worry”
He began interviewing me with basic questions like what I had done to train, how many hours I had put into the game, was the different gear going to affect my play style. But when he game to the final question I couldn’t help but smirk.
“Who placed in the top 3 in the qualifying rounds who do you think your biggest threat is?”
My eyes scanned the cluster of 200 competitors until I finally found her. Without thinking twice, I activated Stat Scan.
Status Window
Name: Renay Lyon
Age: 22 (Appearance 16-17)
Level: 62
Race: Human
Job: Re-Life
Gender: Female
Since Stat Scan wasn’t a high enough level, I only got her name, age, level, and some more useless information. My expectations weren’t that high but at least some basic stat info would have been nice.
Taking off my glasses and using them to point directly at her my smirk turned into a fierce grin.
“Naylon”
The crowd lost it again, cheers and jeers spread throughout the room.
Glancing at my brother he was laughing his ass off while Lily was trying to calm him down.
I could assume what he was thinking. It was something to the extent of “OF COURSE HE CHOOSES THE HOT GIRL AS HIS OPPONENT!”
In response to my declaration, she should up and Glared directly at me in a confrontational manner.
One of the stagehands hurriedly made his way to her with a microphone and deposited it into her outstretched hand. So, in response, I snatched the mic from Ceez ready to begin bantering.
“What makes you think you’ve even got a chance? I’m sure you know my stats.”
Her words were annunciated by placing on hand on her slender hip.
“I don’t need a chance its already been written that I’m the sole winner of this event, just be a good girl and sit back down lest you make the boys around you faint due to your beauty.” My words were met by laughter and more jeers, and of course the howls of my younger brother.
“Excuse me?” Anger began to radiate from her.
“Oh, my bad, I didn’t realize that I shuddered.” This time I met her intensity with my own. “I’ll repeat myself one time. Sit down before you slay all the guys around you with your extravagantly good looks.” I finished the statement with a seducing smile of my own catching her off guard with my venomous compliment.
With that said I gave the mic back to Ceez and made my way to my station. This tournament was already turning out to be way more entertaining than initially foreseen.
To Be Continued
