LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 91
“Long time no see, you turned your stream back on?”
After finishing his daily routine at the Korea Magic Institute’s Interactive AI Research Lab, the man dove onto his bed in his outing clothes.
It was dinner time, a moment when everyone tossed aside the fatigue of daily life to spend their own time.
“Dae-sal” casually tapped on the home screen of the streamer he subscribed to.
[NoName]
Strangely, this streamer had set her avatar’s minimum age.
If her aim was to target viewers with pedophilic inclinations, she could be considered half successful.
There were those who came to listen to her voice and admire her avatar on a bland stream with no content at all.
Watching her solve homework for the young viewers sending donations of a thousand or two thousand won made Dae-sal feel a bit sorry for her.
But true Twish viewers would not just donate in a normal way to a streamer.
Now, he was a graduate student at a prestigious institution, but the feelings of inferiority he developed during his tough retake year pushed Dae-sal to expose the streamer’s true nature.
He wanted to reveal that this streamer, who was adored by elementary and middle school students, was actually an incompetent NEET.
So, he deliberately sent in a difficult question related to advanced abstract theory in electrical engineering fit for a 4th-year college student.
[Isn’t it an Hermite matrix? You just need to use Lesha Aikbar in the top left corner.]
That was her answer as soon as she looked at the problem. She wasn’t your average NEET, was she?
After that, Dae-sal didn’t catch every stream of NoName, but he kept it running steadily.
The graduate school process lacked learning data, and even when asked questions to an AI, one couldn’t expect accurate answers.
However, this streamer showed a wealth of knowledge far superior to his own.
For a time, Dae-sal used NoName as a useful homework shuttle. It didn’t cost much, but who cares about the money? They had a win-win relationship.
Then NoName started playing League of Legends and Wagal.
As it turned out, she had been a gaming addict for eight years, playing tens of thousands of matches, rising to Master in no time after a collaboration with another League streamer in just a week.
Dae-sal didn’t catch that stream; he was busy with his thesis and knew nothing about League of Legends.
But when NoName announced she was starting her Wagal journey, he couldn’t help but feel excited.
This was pretty much in his field of expertise.
While he casually offered her advice as someone looking after a newbie, within a day, she was approaching the final challenge of the Nightmare Part 1 on the highest difficulty.
She was no longer just his little streamer.
A true genius capable of achieving anything she set her mind to.
[To the last three survivors, I will grant manager rights in my room.]
Having accomplished an incredible feat, she returned, declared the selection of managers, and did an ant-dancing routine to an insert song from a Japanese anime.
Dae-sal felt a sense of intuition.
NoName’s stream was guaranteed to rise like a hot stock. If it had been a stock, he would have invested everything, including taking out loans.
Isn’t the manager of a ‘big company’ streamer’s role significant in both rights and honor?
As an early viewer of the broadcast, he couldn’t help but feel greedy.
Swallowing his saliva, Dae-sal discarded his neglected assignments and hopped into a capsule.
It was time to reap the rewards of all that time spent watching her streams. He would thoroughly investigate her preferences built from big data.
*
[Battle Magic Circle World Cup Round of 32 1/16]
[5 Circle Ignis Bellum (Fire’s Veil) vs 4 Circle Glacis Astha (Ice Spear)]
“Oh, isn’t this Dae-sal? A named participant has come to join us.”
“Ah, yes. I’m a bit nervous. I’ve been following NoName’s streams for a while, but I’m worried I might get eliminated quickly.”
“Alright, let’s go for it!”
Encouraging words were exchanged among the viewers, and with a solemn resolve, Dae-sal stood on the set.
Being the first round, NoName shared her thoughts openly with the audience.
The viewers were starting to ease their nerves.
Dae-sal was also standing there without a hint of hesitation, atop the Ignis Bellum.
[The Fire’s Veil certainly looks more impressive visually.]
That was until NoName made an elaborately scripted comment.
Hearing that, even those who had chosen Ice Spear rushed over to the Fire’s Veil side.
Meanwhile, Dae-sal was deep in thought.
That was certainly not something NoName would normally say.
Would a person who was solely obsessed with magic’s efficiency and expansion make aesthetic judgments like that?
‘This is definitely a trap!’
Sensing something amiss, Dae-sal leaped to the opposing side before the selection timer ran out.
As soon as he switched sides, all those who had chosen Fire’s Veil vanished into the abyss.
[There’s no conviction in your choices, everyone.]
“Haha…”
It serves as a reminder of just how wicked this person could be.
[Battle Magic Circle World Cup Round of 32, 13/16]
[1 Circle Light (Light) vs 3 Circle Diagon Kaido (Slash Cut)]
[How can you utilize light magic in battle… It’s funny that this was selected as a battle magic.]
Seeing her openly favoring the Slash Cut magic caused several viewers to feel suspicious, resulting in a reverse pick for Light magic this time.
[Diagon Kaido (Slash Cut)]
Unfortunately, such tricks did not work.
[Three people have been eliminated.]
[Five people have survived.]
In the end, the battle magic world cup hosted by NoName hadn’t even gotten to the end before deciding the final three.
It was likely the next problem would be the last.
With only five viewers left in the vast space, the stage felt desolate.
Na-me came down from the stage and greeted the viewers.
“Congratulations. If I could, I’d like to give manager roles to all five of you.”
“Can you appoint all five of us? Hahaha.”
A man chuckled awkwardly.
It was a clueless comment, but Dae-sal fully understood his feelings.
Having miraculously survived the eye battle with the room leader through slim chances.
If he missed out on becoming a manager by just one question, he would regret it for a long time.
“Are there any of you here who don’t have the time to participate anymore?”
At NoName’s question, all five fell into silence. They were people who had come prepared to sacrifice their lives for the chance to be a manager.
“To keep our promise, let’s bring a different final question instead.”
She suddenly shut down the battle magic world cup window.
“Why are you turning it off?”
The five managerial candidates, along with the 1500 viewers who weren’t even curious about the battle magic ranking, sighed, wanting to see the conclusion.
They questioned what the meaning of proceeding with the content until now was.
“The world cup was just a pretext, you’ve been thinking about picking managers from the start…!”
Despite the sharp criticism, NoName just blinked her eyes.
It was frustrating not knowing her true intentions.
“You all are conviction-driven individuals. No matter what I say, you believed in your choices without wavering.”
Na-me’s words were indeed true.
There had been times they hesitated, watching her to decide what to pick, but ultimately, they had to rely solely on their judgment.
“I hope you will continue to answer based on your convictions until the end. Here’s your question.”
Taking a deep breath, Na-me.
She elegantly crossed her arms and walked past the candidates.
Her small frame stood out, unable to reach up even to the chests of the other avatars.
She exhaled once more. Na-me’s lips trembled slightly, her breath uneven.
“Let’s assume.”
She calmly walked then stopped in front of one male participant, the muscle-bound fellow from earlier.
“You are stranded in the mountains. With no water or food, and the skies are dark and cloudy at night.”
Climbing a mountain at night is undeniably dangerous.
The man nodded his head. Na-me glanced at his nickname and threw a question.
“Do you have a girlfriend?”
“I do. Why?”
“Please picture someone you love. ‘hellsMonster,’ you can think about your girlfriend. If not, you can imagine your family.”
Na-me then spun around halfway and headed towards the participant on the opposing side.
“So, you two are in a stranded situation. If you wait until the next morning, you are certain you can safely get down from the mountain. But unable to endure the cold and hunger, you chose to descend.”
The bizarrely detailed storytelling from the child slowly drew the people in.
“Because of your wrong decision, while you were hurriedly coming down the mountain, your loved one, or family member, was bitten by a venomous snake. If you don’t treat it promptly, the poison spreads through the body in real-time and will definitely result in death.”
“Yikes.”
A gasp escaped from somewhere in the audience.
“And you have two spells you can use.”
She summoned a whiteboard item from the private room and began drawing a magic circle.
No one knew what it meant.
Na-me continued to fill the white space with dense circles, lines, and swirling letters.
One could almost sense madness in her hands.
When the marker ran dry, she opened a new board marker and managed to complete the magic circle.
“The first magic circle is a spell that can buy you a day’s time. If you are safely rescued the next day, you can receive treatment, but because you missed the timing, you would suffer and eventually die within a month.”
“That’s a brutal situation.”
“Quite a powerful venomous snake.”
Na-me then pointed to the second magic circle.
However, unlike the first, which was larger and more complex, the center of this magic circle was empty.
“The second magic circle is a spell that can completely detoxify the venom. There will be no aftereffects, and you can erase the poison entirely.”
“Then the second is obviously better, right?”
“But, you have no clue about the central rune character required for this magic circle. You might have one of ten or twenty characters to guess.”
To ensure a one-month life, or with a low probability of saving them fully.
“W-What if there’s only one chance?”
Especially since the mana was running low.
“What will you choose?”