"Hello, hello, everyone! It’s been a while… Well, actually it hasn’t been that long, but it feels like a while to , so I’m saying it’s been a while."
Comnter 1: She’s talking nonsense right from the start, lol.
Comnter 2: Stone-nuna, you can’t stream in the morning after drinking.
Comnter 3: What’s up with you streaming at this ti??
Comnter 4: Hello, Stone-nuna.
Comnter 5: I love the drunk-looking avatar today.
Under soft lighting and beautifully decorated interior, a uniquely featured woman, impossible to exist in reality, lay on a chair staring into space.
Her hair wasn’t neatly arranged but looked slightly disheveled. Nevertheless, the soft, glowing blonde seed more of a physical trait than a ssy appearance.
The numbers next to the red dot, signifying “On Air,” gradually increased, soon surpassing one thousand and stabilizing at 1,702, then began a slow decline.
Next to the number appeared two words:
[Virtual Live]
As gaming technology advanced, allowing people to create new realities within the virtual world, it eliminated most of the effort required for real-world streaming.
In other words, this ant bypassing the labor-intensive process of buying separate gaming and streaming computers, going through complex settings, and optionally installing chroma keys and soundproof booths, transferring it all into the virtual realm.
Virtual avatars offered a novel advantage by bridging the gap between strears' privacy and viewer interaction.
Today, countless strears were communicating with viewers through avatars as diverse and impossible in appearance as the strears themselves on the Tricky platform, acquired by Icarus International.
Returning to the scene, strear Stone—nad without the slightest effort—was now communicating with 2,000 viewers who had settled into the stream.
Her trademark was her soft, sotis nonsensical chatter that paired well with her slightly flushed cheeks, as if she had been day-drinking.
"Anyway... Thank you all for joining the stream today. The content for today is displayed in the top right corner, so check it out, and if we have ti left after everything... well, I'll think of sothing then."
Comnter 1: Would you play that crappy floating ga recomnded by your neighbor a few days ago???
Comnter 2: lolololololololololololol
Comnter 3: Co on... Stone-nuna gets stressed from such things, and she won’t grow taller...
Comnter 4: How could a friend recomnd such a ga, lol.
Comnter 5: There’s a sll of crap from the donation.
Comnter 6: This calls for MOPP level 4, lol.
Oh. That happened.
She briefly recalled the past few days, rembering a ga her longti fellow strear Harmony had recomnded via Engram, one of the social networks.
The ga cost 3,600 won, or 1,800 won on sale. With clunky controls and bizarre level design, anyone could tell it was a crappy ga.
After pondering briefly, she decided to loosen her stance on ntioning other strears freely.
"Ah, that one... Ha. No, guys. Even when we send ssages through Engram, we don't ask deep questions, you know? Like, about other jobs besides streaming."
The avatar, who looked both like a NEET and a Russian princess who shed her nobility, waved her hand dismissively.
"But that person... From what I see, it’s like they have a hobby of discovering crappy gas as a side gig when not streaming. They recomnd these unheard-of bizarre gas all over the place? Seriously, geez...."
Comnter 1: lolololololololololololololol
Comnter 2: Side job (septic tank exploration).
Comnter 3: Ugh, sothing slls like crap.
Comnter 4: Crappy ga specialist strear, lolololololololol.
Comnter 5: There are many who suffered after getting lured by those recomndations, lol.
Seeing comnts flooding the chat that matched her thoughts perfectly, she smiled faintly.
Since it had co to this, Kim Stone decided to make her the first topic of today's IRL stream.
The sub-topic… Yes. She would link it to the Dark Zone, which she had started playing recently.
"…Actually, Harmony started playing Dark Zone recently, right? I recomnded it to her. I thought experiencing a good ga might neutralize her strange aura a bit."
"From what I rember... she started streaming Dark Zone about three days ago? I did watch for a bit on the first day, but I left to do my own stuff, so I’m not sure."
The reason she was ntioning this today began to unfold.
"But then. What is she doing in the ga... she’s just shooting all day. Her eyes are getting stranger! I went to see her before starting today’s stream, and she just looked so haggard!"
Comnter 1: lolololololololololololololol
Comnter 2: This is... all... Eugene's fault....
Comnter 3: Seriously, it's just a Dark Zone occupation period these days, lolololol.
Comnter 4: Tried to ease her pain from crappy gas with a good ga, but she's suffering there too, lol.
Comnter 5: Is this the creation of pain? 녹단또 is truly legendary.
Comnter 6: She might end up being taken away like this, lol.
"So I plan to contact her soon, but she’s the type to get fixated on one thing and won’t do anything else, so I’m not sure how it’ll go...."
She pondered whether she got entangled with soone like that by chance or if the stream awakened her bizarre ga taste. Or maybe she stumbled upon those gas during punishnt and got interested.
In any case, lanting her bizarre and unpredictable relationships with fellow strears, Kim Stone had to abandon her motto of wanting to be relaxed today.
She wanted to live comfortably, but her surroundings wouldn’t allow it.
Today, the absolute premise of her stream room was being upheld.
"…But this ga seems to have so much to do. It’s nice that you don’t have to go back to places once you clear them a couple of tis…."
Comnter 1: That’s how this ga is, lol. If you unlock all the essentials, it easily goes beyond 300 hours.
Establish a strategic departnt through the occupation of West Point and secure a dedicated gunsmith.
Procure helicopters/cars to support agent movent, clear monsters in fields, and capture control points to establish a stable fuel supply line.
Capture the armory for access to various ammunition types and production lines. Rescue detained virologists and capture hospital facilities for treating infected individuals. Find personnel and acquire facilities to rebuild Manhattan's power grid....
All these require about 100 hours of investnt after completing the tutorial to shed the newbie label.
With a ti acceleration factor of about 1:3 applied, this could easily be accomplished in about ten days, assuming playing a little over three hours a day in real-ti.
The issue was getting involved with soone possessing imnse drive and matching skills to complete this in just a few days.
Harmony took a deep breath as she sat on a bench. Her exhaled breath t the cold outside air, condensing, and warmth seeped through her bulletproof vest.
Her third day in the Dark Zone began at the shooting range.
"While doing this, I realized I’ve never wanted to beat myself up so much. I didn’t know a body could be this uncooperative. Why does soone who forgets everything in three seconds even exist...?"
Comnter 1: lololololololololololololol
Comnter 2: That’s normal; you’re fine.
Comnter 3: Isn’t this pace quite fast?
Comnter 4: For soone like nuna, adapting this quickly is impressive, lol.
Comnter 5: Plenty of people can’t function in raids or PVP and don’t even reflect on it; it’s okay.
Unusually for Harmony’s viewers, who usually wanted her to suffer, several gave genuinely decent advice, though they didn’t seem helpful today.
Honestly, it was inevitable. From the start, this ga was fundantally different in design from the crappy gas she used to play—gas you could eventually beat by pouring countless hours into.
She detached the magazine and placed it in the ammo box's magazine slot, quickly completing the reloading process. Harmony stretched her arms into the air as if relaxing.
A person approached her subtly.
"How are you feeling?"
"Ah, teacher."
It was a term that had beco second nature to her.
Though only three days in, streaming ant gaming was their job, so spending more than twelve hours a day playing gas wasn’t unusual.
Sticking with one viewer continuously wasn't typical for a strear, but Eugene was a completely different breed from the average participant whose personal feelings often seeped into their actions.
If she weren’t sharp like a knife in making decisions, Harmony would have rejected her long ago.
"I still can’t switch to the handgun when the gun jams while I'm going through the shooting range alone. I panic and get shot to pieces right away...."
"There's nothing I can do about that part. Solving it on your own is the only answer."
After a mont of silence, she continued.
"I've watched over the past few days, and even with 100% aim assist, it's hard to replicate every human action. It's better to lower the assist percentage and practice until your body rembers the actions."
"…Won’t it take a long ti if I lower the assist?"
"It'll be solved in less than a week at most, so it’s fine. Think of it as piano practice, and it’ll be simple."
"Ah."
As she fiddled with the scenario, Eugene added.
"There are many scenarios in the shooting range, including ones for clearing jams and practicing weapon switching. After checking, focus on practicing what you need."
"What do you think I should do?"
"First, aim to beco familiar with the guns and shooting itself, and practice hitting moving targets simultaneously. You'll be much better than you are now."
"Ah."
Strangely, regarding guns and shooting... this person seed unstoppable.
She had no doubts or uncertainties about her words; she just thoroughly analyzed and provided an accurate solution. It was more like she was a doctor rather than a gar.
Her explanations continued. Speed wasn't as crucial as accuracy, building a hierarchy of priorities in engagents, increasing single-shot firing speed, tactical maneuvers, reloading, and nurous other elents….
It seed excessive for just playing a ga, but fortunately or unfortunately, Eugene rely listed those things.
In any case, a donation suddenly ca in.
Comnter 1: Can you ask that nuna if she prefers PVE or PVP????? Wor????? Yo?????
"Wolfram Alpha Go, thank you for the 1,000 won donation... But does this ga have PVP?"
Comnter 1: ??????
Comnter 2: Of course, it has, right? Lololololololololol.
Comnter 3: She’s so focused on shooting in the range that she’s co loose, lol.
Comnter 4: If there weren’t PVP, the player count would be halved, lol.
Comnter 5: I’m too dumbfounded to even know where to react, lolololololol.
Comnter 6: Get a grip, nuna! Get a grip, nuna! Get a grip, nuna! Get a grip, nuna! Get a grip, nuna! Get a grip, nuna!
It didn’t take Harmony long to realize that her statent was incredibly foolish.
With a laugh of disbelief, she exhaled as if overco by a strong sense of reality and imdiately asked Eugene, who was inspecting his firearm.
"Do you prefer PVE or PVP?"
"...Is there PVP aside from the last aesthetic zone?"
Naturally, the chat exploded.
At least a minute passed, with nurous donations—roughly summarizing them as "such clueless charm"—pouring in, harshly criticizing their ignorance. Only then did the atmosphere gradually subside.
Nurous PVP challenge missions followed, which was to be expected, and seeing the enticing cash before her eyes, Harmony cautiously spoke.
"But... PVP is competitive content, right? Even if it’s not ranked, you need to have so skills to not drag your teammates down."
Comnter 1: It doesn’t matter; play any PVP mode like survival or escape.
"No way, I told you. In a mode where you compete with others, if I join, there'll be complaints. How can I play with anyone when my skills are like this?"
Comnter 1: Play PVP.
"Ah, no. I really can't... Uh...."
Comnter 1: Do it.
"...."
As ti passed, her eyes grew larger, and finally, like a cat soaked in rain, Harmony looked pitifully at Eugene, as if facing all the world's adversities.
"Um, Eugene?"
"Yes."
"Could you play any PVP mode with just once?"
Later, Eugene testified that the phrase "I'll split the mission fee in half...." was the most pitiful thing Harmony said.
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