Why Can't I Gobble Up Free Stats? The Tower of Trials Typhoon!
It had been three or four hours since the massive uproar at the Tower of Trials that called forth a typhoon. Amid the chaos of the predawn catastrophe, calls poured in from all directions, turning my morning into a whirlwind. But the stream kept rolling anyway.
[Yeah... That's Me Too / 189,364 viewers]
...Yeah, it's spinning pretty wildly. The stable vibe from before felt like a lie as this colossal hot issue exploded. And the cause? Obviously, my transformed name plastered in the message to the tower's achievement holders.
I'd become the star of the miracle that bought time to prepare for gates and even isolated them. My name was etched into the world itself. The firepower pouring in was overwhelming enough to make previous issues feel trivial. Even the viewer count, which seemed like it had the wrong units, kept climbing.
Lucky me. At least it wasn't negative buzz. If all this heat was hate, even I might've struggled.
"Is this really what world-level means......?"
"They said they upgraded the servers after the last outage."
Apparently, the fact that it was a semi-official national stream that blew up last time was the issue. The beefy servers were somehow holding off the world's assault. No clue how long it'd last, though. Most of the heat was short-term from countries checking the tower message like "Who's that?" If the servers held till it died down, we'd wrap up safely.
"It's literally a spear vs. shield showdown."
Amid the multinational chat mess, translator-user chats stood out. Thanks to my translation magic, everything looked equal to me. Japanese viewers and others were using them too. Trying to blend into chat? Or figuring reacting in Korean favors them since the streamer's Korean?
"Hmm. Anyway, I know why all you visitors showed up today. But I just stumbled on the tower myself."
Since the translator chats were noticeable, time to dive into the main topic. Wild guesses were flying too. I summed up discovering the tower at dawn and unlocking it.
"Oh, that? Towers popped up at different times. Probably in sequence."
Gov intel I'd overheard in the morning chaos. By the time I checked our local tower, others were already found. They were popping up worldwide sequentially when I cleared the unlock mission, finishing them all. Now every existing tower was out.
"Some countries have time zones, duh. Washington was broad daylight, already on the unlock quest."
"Mind if I borrow you for a story real quick? Got time?"
"Starlight Blaster? Junior?"
Some chats slyly jabbing me got buried quick. Love it when the heat's this high—easy to ignore.
"Juniors always welcome. Oh, she around now?"
Unexpected new junior intel. Probably vids of me teaching Seong-yoon? I dropped magical girl tips sometimes.
As groans built in chat, I snapped out of the detour.
"Ahem. James? If you would."
James the American awakener's path to the tower quest mirrored mine. Dispatched to investigate, opened status window, injected mana into tower by chance, got kidnapped. Only difference: I resisted the forced move. (Su-yeon opened my status, though.)
Couldn't dream of clearing, focused on survival. While fleeing frantically, quest cleared. Achiever: Elice Calamity. Basically, my 'feat reward' cleared his quest while he held out.
"Way more dangerous than I thought."
"Good work out there."
Released highlight, checked chat.
Different cases sparked fights in chat. Scrolled too fast for real beef, though. My experience: suspiciously friendly setup. Hearing this, feels off. Difficulty forcing forfeit? Harvesting lives? Or 'trials'? Name's Tower of Trials, after all. Fits, but... growth elements too. No clear answer yet—focus on stream.
"Huh? Nah, not really."
Grabbed the common question.
"No effect. Zero change to my combat power."
Surprisingly, the tower's status boost reward did zilch to me. More accurately, I ignored its interference.
"Remember how my status won't open?"
Thought non-awakener at first, but it took my mana. Treats isekai-types(?) as awakeners—first hypothesis busted. Retested: this.
"Showing status or boosting stats is interference on the target, right? Didn't work on me."
Excluded me on purpose? Or my resistance blocked it? Can't test. My mana auto-freezes internal interference. External like last authority? Could lower resistance. But mental/soul stuff? Instinct brakes even if I want it. Saintess buffs used to halve on me.
"Hmm. In that sense, better if another awakener got the reward."
10% is huge.
A bit bummed, then foreign chat flood made it unreadable. Not nonsense—warm YouTube-like cheers. But my stream's more fun than heartfelt moments. Wait, why the sudden surge...
[Broadcast has ended.]
"Ah. It finally blew."
"Blew up, you mean."
I mourned Lightning's fiery end under the endless barrage. Held up well, honestly. Thought they'd block foreigners first. But that'd risk backlash. Sipping water from Su-yeon, I thought.
"Phew. Stream's done. Wanna check the tower more?"
"Su-yeon felt something odd earlier too."
"Feeling?"
"Felt like it'd help the egg, nya~."
Hmm. Was gonna poke around more. Su-yeon's all in on borrowing tower power. With growth confirmed, can't dismiss as hunch. Tempting offer.
"Wanna go together?"
"Yes~!"
Packed up stream setup quick—no reason to dawdle. On the way, texted Seong-yoon. Gov groups started 'climbing' the tower at dawn. Testy vibe, but excited for awakener growth. Next-level enthusiasm. Whatever they learn'd help.