Leveling to 60 and My First Broadcast

Only two days left until the offline meetup. I'd been spending more than half of my 24 hours in the capsule lately, immersed in Lost World.

"Yeah, the experience grind has definitely slowed down."

As I'd mentioned before, leveling up in Lost World is pretty brutal. Normally, you could gain one level after about three straight hours of grinding. But I had those experience coupons from the director, and I'd mapped out my own optimized route for maximum EXP in minimal time. As a result, after burning through five out of ten coupons, I was at the top of the leaderboards among all class characters—by a wide margin.

'Erisen sure is grinding hard too.'

Erisen. Back in Season 1, she'd chased right behind me in the leveling race, always snagging second place. She'd even ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠come pick fights with me now and then. Things had been quiet from her lately, though.

"Guess that's it for today." I logged out, hauled my stiff body up, and checked the clock. It was already past midnight.

"First stream... gotta go live tomorrow..." I flopped onto the bed and turned on my phone. The usual pile of unread group chat messages.

I jumped into the chat just as they were talking about me and fired off a reply.

Our group's average level seemed to hover around 48-49. No surprise—our control skills were top-notch from the start, putting us way ahead of average players.

The responses poured in, a mix of excitement. I smiled warmly and kept typing.

I knew she had connections in the streamer scene, but...

I shared my channel link with them, turned off my phone, and drifted off to sleep.

...

Time flew by to 4 PM. I scarfed down some instant ramen for lunch and hopped into the capsule. I hit the stream button and logged into Lost World.

"Why am I so nervous about this...?"

A small blue chat window hovered on the right. Viewer count: 1. Probably the default bot.

"Time to get to it."

I started moving, and familiar names popped up in chat.

"Hehe, Serinsel-nim's here?"

"Welcome, Sareah-nim. No-ha."

It really hit me then—I was streaming on the internet. Chatting with viewers, playing games peacefully, making money.

Viewers at 6, but it felt packed. Smiling, I kept moving when a new name caught my eye.

"Hey Letta-nim. Yep, it's Noel."

Moments later, viewers exploded: 30, 53, 71, 120, 180... Chat turned into chaos.

"Whew." The chat was spinning. I made our group chat members mods and shut it off.

"Sorry everyone, can't read chat anymore. Gotta focus on leveling now."

The target named monster appeared ahead.

"Alright then, Noel's 3rd Job Change Clear Run—let's begin."

Unlike most players who mob-farmed trash mobs for bulk EXP, I hunted named monsters on their spawn cycles. They had smarter AI, tougher fights, and worse item drop rates relative to time spent compared to trash. But the EXP? Insane.

"Bind (Vine)."

"You think this can hold me!!!" Kallus thrashed, trying to rip the vines.

"Too slow."

"Fire."

"Small size, high density. Compress."

The flames shrink into needle-thin strands. Hundreds of red needles float around me.

"Fire Variant Chant: Needle of Fire."

I grinned and peeked at chat. 1,340 viewers now.

Some creepy chats made my face stiffen.

"Sigh..." I shut off chat again and focused on grinding.

...

Five hours in, I felled the final boss and reached the goal.

"Phew. All done."

I reopened chat after ages. Viewers had climbed to 1,710.

Then, a blue quest window appeared.

Finally, time to be reborn as a true witch. I headed to Asella's chamber.