READ NOVEL ONLINE Chapter 79 - Who Are You?
Recently, the number of people trying out Alchemist had significantly increased.
The last time there was an update to Arcade Mode, there had been a balance patch. Puppeteers, Technomancers, and Alchemists all received buffs.
In the case of Alchemists, there were buffs related to item crafting, damage output, and their ultimate skills.
Compared to more straightforward support characters like the Saint, Alchemists weren’t as intuitive. Conversely, this meant that the Alchemist was a versatile and challenging character to play.
It was said that higher-ranked players preferred Alchemists more than lower-ranked ones.
A little difficulty was something a skilled player could handle, and their versatility, along with their high offensive power for a support class, made them quite appealing.
The point I wanted to make was that playing the Phantom Thief put me in an ideal situation.
“
I approached the Alchemist from behind and activated my skill immediately.
The bombs and reagents created by the Alchemist through their skills were treated as items.
This meant they could share them with their teammates, but enemies could also steal them.
It was possible to steal them with the
‘Fire Attribute Bomb.’
One thing I learned from facing Alchemists was that most players didn’t know much about the Phantom Thief.
It wasn’t a popular character, to begin with, and it hadn’t received any balance updates in quite some time.
It was what you might call a ‘specialized’ character. Because of that, people rarely encountered it, and even fewer knew how to counter it.
‘If they made a bunch of Water Attribute reagents, they could counter me, but…’
But what I stole was not a reagent—it was a bomb.
After confirming which type of bomb it was, I immediately hurled it into the enemy camp.
Boom!
A loud explosion echoed, and the smell of gunpowder filled the air.
The enemies caught in the blast were flung in all directions, and I seized the opportunity to grab the Alchemist by the neck.
The Phantom Thief had a powerful perk—its skill cooldowns reset upon scoring a kill. However, the problem was that the Phantom Thief’s skills were limited to auxiliary ones like
In other words, the character needed to make kills, but lacked direct damage-dealing skills, making it harder to finish off opponents.
There was no other choice. I had to break the Alchemist’s neck.
Crack!
Beep.
Skill cooldown reset.
– “How the heck do you break someone’s neck barehanded?”
– “Is the host ex-special forces?”
– “Those movements don’t seem like those of a noblewoman.”
– “That’s no lady…”
– “Was the Marine Corps theory actually true?”
I could hardly believe the chat comments flashing by. Marine Corps theory? Since when did that rumor start? Sorry to disappoint, but it’s absolutely not true.
Anyway, with my skill cooldown reset, I activated
Thanks to the cooldown reset mechanic, the Phantom Thief had a slight snowballing effect, though it wasn’t entirely optimized for that style of play.
As I kept fighting, stealing the enemy’s weapons one by one, the word “Victory” suddenly flashed in front of me.
【Your teammates have defeated the Gate Boss.】
【Victory for your team.】
“Oh my.”
While I had been stalling the enemies, my team had apparently taken down the boss. This time, luck was on our side.
A satisfying victory.
A satisfying gain in rank points.
But there was still a long road ahead.
I returned to the waiting room and eagerly prepared for the next queue.
[Visitor’s here.]
Well, I was about to queue up for the next match, but…
Chel’s voice rang out.
– “Is Chel still at Laura’s place?”
– “Are they living together now? lol”
– “Why is she always there, though?”
【”ChelSumeragiIsHere donated 1,000 won.”】
【”Ask her when she’s gonna start streaming, Your Grace.”】
“The viewers are getting annoyed that you haven’t started streaming yet.”
[Can I stream from here at your place?]
“You really don’t plan on leaving, huh? So, who’s the visitor?”
[Yeah.]
Chel answered curtly.
She didn’t explain who the visitor was or why she hadn’t dealt with them herself, which was very much like Chel.
Chel’s strength was her quiet dedication to her work, but her inability to communicate was definitely a weakness.
‘If I were to hire a housekeeper, I’d much prefer someone like Rion or Sora.’
Both of them tended to nag, but I was starting to realize that having them talk was far better than Chel’s silence.
“I’ll go out, so wait a moment.”
– “While you’re at it, go and get some sleep.”
– “We want to see you stream for longer!”
– “Please end the stream before you go.”
Ignoring the viewers’ comments, I switched the stream to a waiting screen and stepped out of the VR capsule.
As soon as I came out, the one waiting for me was none other than Sora.
“Oh my, isn’t this Sora?”
“Why is Chel here?”
That was the first thing Sora said.
“Chel’s been sticking around my place for a while now.”
“I’ve been busy lately, so I haven’t been able to check your stream.”
“Busy, huh?”
“There’s been some stuff.”
Sora sounded strangely shy. What’s going on?
“…Well, anyway, haven’t you been streaming for way too long? Did you know it’s been over 100 hours straight?”
“Has it already been that long?”
Gate Assault Mode had a time acceleration system. It was only natural for my sense of time to be off.
“It has. You’re going to hurt yourself at this rate.”
Sora sounded genuinely concerned.
I glanced at her left hand, where she was holding a plastic bag. Judging from the label, she must have bought some porridge on the way to my place.
‘Come to think of it, no one really knows about my physical abilities.’
People around me assumed I was just a short sleeper. That wasn’t entirely wrong, but it wasn’t exactly right, either.
My hometown—if you could call it that—was an RPG world. Having spent so much time exposed to dungeon and gate mana and having hunted countless monsters, I gained an immense amount of experience points.
When I defeated a hidden boss, I probably reached an absurdly high level.
I must’ve surpassed level 300 by far.
Though I’m still classified as a human, my body at this point had long transcended humanity.
I wouldn’t be out of place if someone called me a monster.
“I appreciate your concern, but I’m really fine.”
What I meant to say was that you couldn’t understand my body with human logic. It would be more accurate to think of me as something in human form.
That’s why I felt perfectly fine with just about four hours of sleep a day. In fact, even that was just a personal preference.
I could easily go five days without sleep, and as long as I took a 10-minute nap, I could probably last a whole month without any problems.
“Fine, my foot. Ugh…”
Of course, explaining the state of my body to others was difficult.
“How about this? Since you’re here, why don’t you take over the stream for me while I get a little sleep?”
That’s what we decided.
It wasn’t that I needed the sleep, but there was a login time limit, and it wouldn’t hurt to take a break to refresh it. If it put Sora’s worries to rest, all the better.
More importantly, it was too bothersome to argue with Sora.
“Alright, fine. You really are a handful…”
Ten minutes later.
I set up Sora and Chel’s tracking phones by the PC.
– “Is Sora there?”
– “Was the visitor Sora?”
– “Main waifu incoming.”
– “Caught cheating with Chel, huh…”
“What nonsense.”
Sora, looking at the chaotic chat, was dumbfounded.
I adjusted the microphone and spoke into it.
“As you can see, Sora is visiting my place.”
After that, I immediately picked up the spoon.
I was about to hand the stream over to Sora and head to bed, but since she had brought porridge, I decided to eat it first.
I wasn’t particularly hungry, but you should eat warm food when it’s warm, right?
So I thought I’d eat while explaining the situation to the viewers. Once I finished eating, I planned to get up and go to sleep.
– “What are you eating?”
– “Show us!”
– “Eating alone? Violation of the Geneva Convention.”
– “Turn on the cam before we report you as a war criminal.”
Because of these playful demands, I turned on the webcam for fun.
Of course, the camera only showed the porridge.
If even a glimpse of my face appeared, it’d be a mass retirement party for all of us. That’s why I made sure the webcam was securely fastened to only show the food. There was no chance our faces would be seen.
The same went for my hands. I was wearing gloves, but I still didn’t want them to appear on camera. Some viewers hated it, saying it ruined immersion.
So, I carefully moved the spoon, ensuring my hands stayed out of view.
“Sora came over because she was worried about how much I’ve been streaming. …But as you can see, I’m perfectly fine.”
“Yeah, but after you finish that, go and get some sleep. No one streams for 100 hours straight.”
“I’m doing it, though.”
I gave her a sly smile, but Sora just sighed.
“Why are you pushing yourself so hard with the streaming?”
“Of course, it’s to apply for the Fantasy League.”
“Isn’t it enough just to submit your application? It looks like they’re picking one person per tier.”
Sora tilted her head, clearly having looked up the Fantasy League application process.
“You’re only scratching the surface. The reality is much more complicated.”
I manipulated the mouse to pull up a website on the stream.
===
【Fantasy League 2024 Tournament Rules】
* Tier Classification
Applicants are categorized into six tiers based on their Labyrinthos VR rank.
Tiers are determined using the following criteria:
* Gate Assault Mode rank score (weighted 3x)
* Duel Mode rank score
* Arcade Mode number of matches and win rate (bonus points)
The scores are calculated and applicants are divided into the following tiers:
* Tier 1 = Average score Master rank or above
* Tier 2 = Average score Diamond rank or above
* Tier 3 = Average score Platinum rank or above
* Tier 4 = Average score Gold rank or above
* Tier 5 = Average score Silver rank or above
* Tier 6 = Average score Bronze rank or below (unranked players may also apply)
===
“Currently, I’m Diamond rank in both Gate Assault Mode and Duel Mode. So, as things stand, I’ll likely be placed in Tier 2.”
Of course, my Arcade Mode match count and win rate were also high, so there was a chance I could be placed in Tier 1 with bonus points.
However, I didn’t want to rely on such uncertainties.
If I was going to do this, I wanted to secure a spot in Tier 1.
“Is there really a reason to aim for Tier 1? Isn’t being selected from Tier 2 enough?”
“The higher your tier, the better your chances of being picked.”
“Huh? How does that work? If it’s one person per tier, wouldn’t the odds be the same for everyone?”
“There’s a difference in the number of applicants.”
Naturally, there were far fewer Master players than Diamond players.
Also, the percentage of female streamers in the Master rank was even smaller.
And among female streamers in the Master rank, VTubers were rarer still.
“…So, being in a higher tier gives you more competitive advantage. That’s tough…”
Sora muttered.
‘And, though I didn’t mention this on stream…’
To be drafted, it wasn’t just about skill or rank. There was something else that mattered.
Subscriber count.
More accurately, your ‘popularity’ was key.
– “If the higher tiers are the team’s main carry roles, the lower tiers are responsible for the team’s vibe.”
– “You need to make the team fun and make the team popular.”
– “Because Fantasy League earns its revenue through merch sales.”
This was what Rinco had explained to me.
Each team would have one Master and one Diamond player.
These players would be the aces who lead the team to victory.
Conversely, each team would also be required to have at least one player from the lower ranks, whether they be from Bronze, Silver, or Gold.
These lower-tier players were unlikely to be the aces.
They probably wouldn’t contribute much to the team’s victories.
Since they weren’t likely to help win games, it might be better to recruit a popular streamer instead.
– “Of course, popularity isn’t everything. There was even a case where a streamer with just 1,000 subscribers made it through the draft.”
– “To pull that off, you need a strong character and a good team dynamic.”
– “You need to make people think, ‘Oh, this team is fun! I want to be a fan of this team!’”
– “In that sense, having a high subscriber count is a good ‘guarantee’.”
– “It shows that you’re popular, fun, and that you won’t disappear halfway through the tournament.”
– “Who would pick an obscure VTuber with only 100 subscribers? What if they suddenly ghost the tournament? Who’d take responsibility for that?”
From what I heard, the Fantasy League was a tournament with many intertwined interests.
It was only natural. The gaming company, the pro-gamer scene, and the streaming world all had their own stakes in it.
So, it was important that the tournament was successful.
Ensuring the tournament didn’t fail was crucial, too.
In that sense, subscriber count was the most straightforward indicator of a streamer’s reliability and popularity.
And my subscriber count had recently surpassed 200,000.
That wasn’t a small number, but compared to the big VTubers from major agencies like “Serenade of 23 O’clock” or “Horizon Air,” I was still lagging behind.
After all, it hadn’t even been three months since my debut, and EYEAI was a small agency.
“That’s why I plan to keep streaming Labyrinthos without a break for a while. I really want to make it into Tier 1.”
“Fine, but once you finish eating, you’re going to sleep. I’ll make sure of it.”
Sora crossed her arms as she said this.
Not easy at all.
***
“Excuse me, who are you?”
Apparently, while I was asleep, a visitor had arrived.
The visitor’s name was Jeon Sojin, and she had come because she was worried about me streaming for over 100 hours straight.
Her VTuber name was Shiroki Anna.
Of course, Sora had no idea who she was.
After all, this was their first time meeting in real life.
“…Who are you?”
It seemed that an awkward tension hung between Sora and Anna, but I was oblivious to it all.
Because I was sound asleep.