Chapter 52: The Cross-Dressing Game Streamer is Actually… (4)
[Wild Wolf Cave] only had one boss, but the path to it was lined with aggressive mobs. All the mobs had to be cleared to make the boss aggro.
Level 10 players only had three skills, and that included their basic attack.
At this stage, forgetting soloing, even a full five-man party wasn’t guaranteed to make it through unscathed. It was no wonder the fans had no faith in Huo Xian, especially since he was still reading a guide. Some fans who enjoyed making clips were already preparing to edit a “Streamer’s XX Fancy Ways to Die” compilation.
But they were destined for disappointment.
After entering the dungeon, the first encounter was a single stray mob. Two of his three skills had a 4-chi attack range, and one had a 6-chi range. He used the 6-chi skill to pull the mob, then stood still and took two hits. After just two bites, his health dropped to 30%.
The bullet chat was flooded with comments about how it was too painful to watch.
Huo Xian, however, used the time he was taking hits to record data: “Bite damage is 37 points, with a chance of a bleed effect. 2 damage every two seconds, lasting 10 seconds. Attack frequency is once every 3.5 seconds. The attack range is approximately a 90° frontal cone. Therefore…”
As the mob attacked for the third time, he moved to its left side, causing the attack to miss. After that, it was just a process of the mob passively taking damage.
The mob didn’t have much health. Huo Xian finished it off using only his ping A (basic attack), which didn’t cost any mana. It even conveniently dropped a green-quality, attack-boosting sword. Next came the second and third mobs. Caught in a pincer attack between the two, his character kited brilliantly between them. By the time the mobs fell, he hadn’t lost a single drop of health.
Although running the dungeon solo was time-consuming, all the jingyan (experience) went to him, and dungeon mob jingyan was high. By the time he reached the boss, he had already leveled up to 11. The mobs had also dropped a pair of shoes in addition to the weapon.
“The difficult part of this boss is that when its health drops to 20%, it summons four mobs. The summoning skill can be interrupted, but player levels are too low right now, so no one has an interrupt skill. The best way is to kill the mobs as soon as they spawn. Otherwise, they’ll harass the healer, and without sustain, the boss is hard to beat.” Huo Xian read aloud from the guide, causing the bullet chat to fill with ellipses (…).
“First, let me check the environment here…”
The environment of [Wild Wolf Cave] was designed as a dark, deep valley with sparse vegetation. The only place to ka guai (glitch the mob) was a single crooked tree. Huo Xian never lacked an exploratory spirit. He tested the path twice and visually measured the distance to the boss… En, it shouldn’t cause him to de-aggro.
The boss’s attack was naturally higher than the mobs’. Besides Bite, it also had Claw Swipe and Tail Sweep. While testing the waters, Huo Xian took a tail hit, and his health dropped by half. One more hit and he’d be dead. But he remained unhurried, chipping away at its health with basic attacks while kiting the boss toward the crooked tree. However, low-level bosses had zero AI, so getting it onto the tree wasn’t easy. Fortunately, Huo Xian was patient. After failing twice, he found the correct angle and, step by step, lured the boss onto the crooked tree. He didn’t lose a single drop of health in the process.
Using his precise positioning and calculations, Huo Xian managed to grind the boss’s health down to 20% using only basic attacks. The boss’s summon skill had a 10-second cast time, during which it could still attack. Furthermore, dropping below 20% health applied a “Weak” debuff. Huo Xian no longer hesitated, getting right in its face and unloading his skills. The Wan Jian Sect’s skills had very short cooldowns; all three of his current skills, including his basic attack, were only limited by the GCD (global cooldown). In other words, as long as he had the mana, he could go all out.
After that furious barrage, the mobs rushed in from all four directions. The boss’s health was already down to 10%, but Huo Xian’s mana bar was 80% empty. To play it safe, he held back, switching to a flurry of high-speed basic attacks.
Luckily, the spot he’d chosen was perfect. The mobs swarmed in but could only stare helplessly from the base of the tree, unable to reach him. Seeing this, he stopped holding back. By the time his mana ran out, the boss collapsed with a crash.
【Holy shit, he actually soloed it!】
【Streamer is awesome! Streamer 666666!】
【Everybody type ‘Streamer is awesome’ in the chat!】
【Streamer is awesome】
【Streamer is awesome】
【Streamer is awesome (slang)】
【…】
The boss was down, but the mobs didn’t disappear. Huo Xian spent another two minutes chopping them down. Unfortunately, the summoned mobs gave neither experience nor drops. Thankfully, the jingyan from soloing the boss was massive. He jumped from Level 11 straight to Level 12. Don’t doubt it—it was only one level because this game’s experience requirement doubled with every level.
[Huo Xian, hurry and loot the boss!] Huo Yuan urged.
Huo Xian did as he was told. He looted it and couldn’t help but be surprised.
The game’s official setting was that only humanoid mobs dropped currency. Players usually earned money by doing quests; other mobs just gave materials, like the wolf pelts and fangs Huo Xian had gathered earlier. But this boss actually dropped 1 gold coin. In addition to that, there were two blue-quality items and… two attribute point books. Each book could be exchanged for one attribute point.
“Hm? Attribute points?” Huo Xian was puzzled. “Even non-hidden bosses can drop attribute points?”
[It’s because you solo-cleared it while still within the level range. This reward has always existed, but it’s limited to advanced dungeons. Immortal Realm‘s dungeons are just too difficult. Trying to solo one during the leveling phase is nearly impossible unless your skills are exceptional.] Huo Yuan had all the data files and rattled off the explanation like an expert. After finishing, he immediately turned into a Xian-chui (Huo Xian fanboy): [Huo Xian, you’re really so amazing! Your skills are first-class, second to none!]
Huo Xian felt incredibly pleased hearing his praise. He reached out, scooped up the little kitten, and gave him a good rubbing.
“Meow-owl~” [Ahhhhhh, Huo Xian, let go! Stop rubbing me!!!]
Huo Yuan struggled free from his grasp and leaped onto the bookshelf. His fur puffed out, and he watched Huo Xian vigilantly, letting out two sharp meows as a warning.
Huo Xian’s eyes crinkled as he smiled, offering an insincere apology: “Sorry, you’re just too nice to pet.”
Huo Yuan: […] He suspected Huo Xian was teasing him, and the evidence was conclusive.
By Huo Xian’s third week of streaming, Qingguo Platform sent him a contract offer. Signed streamers received recommended slots on the platform, which meant gaining more fans, not to mention a base salary and privileged gift-split rates.
However, Huo Xian refused.
Huo Yuan asked him why. He replied, “I don’t like being bound by rules. Besides, their contract looks like it has good benefits, but the signing bonus for newcomers isn’t high. The 3-7 gift split is worse than the 5-5 split I get while unsigned. Even though the split can reach 7-3 later if your numbers are good, that’s just a dangling carrot. The streamers currently getting a 7-3 split either brought their own massive following or had to grind for several years. Plus, the required monthly streaming hours for the first year are too long.”
Strictly speaking, the streaming platforms in this world treated their unsigned streamers pretty well, mainly because the competition was so fierce. If the benefits were bad, they couldn’t retain talent. Thus, even unsigned streamers still got to keep half of their tips.
Huo Yuan recalled the e-contract and agreed: [240 streaming hours a month. That’s equivalent to working 8 hours a day with no days off. That’s even worse than 996.] He paused, then added: [Besides, this world’s Son of Destiny doesn’t have a body like the last one. His constitution is a bit weak. You have to keep exercising every day in addition to drinking the spiritual spring water.]
Huo Yuan mentioning the spiritual spring water reminded him of something he’d almost forgotten. “Huo Yuan, is the spiritual spring water useful for the original owner’s laolao‘s (maternal grandmother’s) illness?”
[This spiritual spring is just a spring with very little lingqi. Drinking it long-term can extend one’s lifespan, but it can’t cure illnesses. If you give it to the original owner’s laolao, it might lessen her pain and reduce her suffering.] Huo Yuan answered honestly.
“I see…” The original owner’s laolao had liver cancer. Fortunately, it was discovered early; the lesion was small, and it hadn’t metastasized. Only a small portion needed to be removed. But she was elderly and suffered from other aches and pains. If the spiritual spring water could lessen her suffering, that would be good.
Thinking this, Huo Xian planned to visit his laolao in the hospital over the weekend.
The original owner’s laolao had her surgery a month ago and was still in the hospital. Huo Xian had been here for two weeks and had thought about visiting her, but his laolao knew the original owner was swamped between studying and working part-time to earn money. Therefore, she never asked him to visit. Every time the original owner called saying he wanted to come, she would refuse, telling him to rest well after all his hard work. A round trip to the hospital took at least half a day, time that she felt he should be using to rest.
Huo Xian’s only job now was streaming. He had at most one class a week—the kind where the professor and students just showed up for roll call. He wasn’t busy at all, so he definitely had time to go to the hospital on the weekend.
In the blink of an eye, Saturday arrived.
After finishing his morning exercise, Huo Xian returned to the dorm. He walked in just as Zhao Xiyou was getting up to use the bathroom. Seeing Huo Xian bringing in a chill from outside, Zhao Xiyou paused, then asked, “It’s Saturday, why are you up so early?”
“En, just went out for some exercise.” Huo Xian put down the hot water thermos he had filled up, grabbed a cup and a milk bottle, and went into the washroom to clean them.
Zhao Xiyou, climbing back into his bed, saw the milk bottle and couldn’t help glancing at Huo Xian’s bunk, teasing with a laugh, “Anyone who didn’t know better would think you were raising an illegitimate child in here.”
In the blankets on Huo Xian’s bed, a small white furball was curled up. Huo Yuan didn’t need to sleep, so his consciousness was awake even if his body wasn’t fully roused. Hearing Zhao Xiyou, he mumbled a disgruntled “Meow.”
“I’m just a qualified chanshiguan (cat owner),” Huo Xian said aloud, but what he thought was: Forget an illegitimate child. Only my laopo has the charm to make me serve him this attentively.
“Achoo—” Huo “Kitty” Yuan let out a tiny sneeze.
While waiting for the water to warm up, Huo Xian scooped the little kitten from the blankets. He then brushed his teeth, washed his face, and cleaned his paws. The whole routine took about twenty minutes. Huo Yuan had gone from resisting at the very beginning to letting Huo Xian do whatever he pleased in a very short amount of time.
“Huo Xian, your cat is so well-behaved,” Zhao Xiyou remarked. He had seen this routine several times, but it still felt novel. As he watched, his expression grew subtle, and he murmured, “Huo Xian, do you actually like cats, or do you just like the person who gave you the cat?”
“What?” Huo Xian didn’t hear him clearly.
Zhao Xiyou gave a slight shrug and shook his head. “Nothing. Just seeing how good your cat is makes me want to get one too. I like Ragdolls, but purebred ones are too expensive.”
Huo Yuan immediately exposed him, relaying the whispered words to Huo Xian. [He thinks you like Yin Pei, just like he does.]
Huo Xian gave his little paw pads a squeeze, picked up the milk bottle, and started making idle small talk with Zhao Xiyou.
As they chatted, Zhao Xiyou mentioned that Qingguo had offered him a contract. He had been a professional esports player in his past life, so he had experience when it came to streaming. He felt that the few issues Huo Xian had raised about the contract weren’t entirely accurate.
However, while professional clubs existed in this world, they weren’t very popular. The streaming industry was much more lucrative. The real jishuliu (skill-based players) were all streaming games. The reason was simple: there were too many games, and new ones were constantly replacing the old. Pro clubs simply couldn’t keep up with the turnover, whereas game streamers could switch games in real-time.
“If I do sign, I’ll have to start streaming during the day, too.” Zhao Xiyou finally got to the point.
In the original owner’s memory, Zhao Xiyou had said the same thing. Because the original owner wasn’t the type to fight with people, and because Zhao Xiyou had previously taught him how to interact with viewers and had always “yielded” the daytime slot to him, he had proposed almost without hesitation that he would only stream in the mornings, leaving the afternoons and evenings to Zhao Xiyou.
Unfortunately, Huo Xian was not the original owner, and he had no intention of indulging him.
“That’s fine. Stream whenever you want,” he said without looking up, focusing on feeding Huo Yuan and wiping the milk from the corners of his mouth.
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