Would It Be Too Much to Hope?
"In exchange for what?"
"I don't know if you're aware, but the reason I hold these lectures is to give back to my viewers."
It was a way of expressing my gratitude to the people who enjoyed my streams and supported me. Of course, Yena had once insisted that simply putting on a broadcast was already giving back enough. That might be true for an ordinary streamer, but it didn't apply to 'Lily'.
After all, what I showed them was far too valuable to be given away for nothing. That was why I dug into my own pocket, teaching about mana through this elaborate process and letting people take part in the lessons themselves.
"Whether you earn a condensation stone during class or not, awakening your mana is entirely up to you. Awakening mana is the most basic of basics, after all."
Coming to the lecture hall to sit in on a class in person, however, was a separate matter entirely. Attending a lesson there meant you weren't just an ordinary student — it meant you were someone capable of taking the next step.
True, talent was always welcome. But not everyone had it. And I was no volunteer. I didn't work for free.
"...So you're giving it to me?"
"First — can you not use honorifics?"
"I am the great—!"
"Then don't take it. Your call."
I had no intention of begging anyone to accept a gift. When I turned my head away without a moment's hesitation, a muttering rose from below.
Give. Giiiive...
"W-will you give it... to me... sir?"
Devil was wiggling his fingers, glaring down at the floor. I reached out and patted his head. Fwoosh — his face flushed an even deeper red as he swatted my hand away, spread his black wings, and scrambled backward.
So that's the power of the 'dragon', huh.
There was no question that its output fluctuated wildly with his emotions. Used well, that could become a serious asset.
"Wh-what are you doing!"
"What am I doing?"
"What am I doing... sir."
"There we go."
I patted his head one more time.
I handed a condensation stone to each of them — Devil, and Vlack, who was standing off at a distance. Both accepted them naturally. Vlack looked a little surprised. Had he assumed I wouldn't give him one?
"I expect you'll both succeed. So I'll be raising the difficulty a little for you."
Devil had the power of a dragon; Vlack had multiple pieces of Mythic-grade equipment and the swordsmanship talent of a blade mage, and both would show remarkably fast growth in their mana handling. They'd probably manage it within a day or two. At my words, Vlack and Devil both looked down at the condensation stones in their hands with puzzled expressions.
The stones had gone dark — they were no different from ordinary rocks now. In that instant, both of them understood what these stones meant.
"This is the assignment the four who went before you already received. Imbue a rod with mana, then channel that mana back into a condensation stone."
They would be starting from the second stage, not the first. One could call it a bit harsh.
But if they can't manage that much, there's no reason for me to go out of my way to teach them.
Looking at Devil, he'd been brimming over with embarrassment and happiness just moments ago — now his face was filled with pure despair. The second assignment was a challenge even Yena and others of her caliber had failed to conquer. Even Leo hadn't managed to get the faintest grasp of it on the day of her lesson.
Though she did succeed the very next day.
Personally, I'd say the person closest to becoming a Grand Archmage isn't Leo for nothing.
I crouched down, met Devil's eyes, and spoke. "Succeed, and... I'll teach you something fun."
I wasn't of dragon blood, so the techniques used by a Dragon Lord were beyond me — but the arts of the lesser ancient dragonkin were something I could pass along. And for someone wielding the power of a dragon, it would be an enormous boon.
"...!"
Whatever he'd been hoping for, the eyes that had been dull with despair just a moment before suddenly sparkled. Now Devil would be throwing himself into training day and night.
"No, thank you."
"Understood."
"......"
My manner might have seemed brusque, but the truth was Vlack simply had nothing worth learning from me. I wasn't particularly versed in greatsword techniques, and the dragonkin arts — the only things worth studying that I could teach — had poor synergy with the power of the moon. His swordplay was more than serviceable, but then again, so was everything next to his spearwork.
If anyone's getting taught, it would be Sword God... no wait, in this tower, Sword God would be a different Sword God entirely.
I looked up at the sky. A boundless blue — and the sword that had split that sky, carving 'space' itself open. The betrayer of all who had sliced the wings off celestials and sheared the horns from demons.
Maybe it wouldn't be too much to hope for a little.
I could only pray he would show swordsmanship worthy of the name Sword God.
After the stream and broadcast ended, I dropped in to see Leo for a bit. The reason I'd dealt with that copycat in the first place was to resolve the problem with Leo's mana stone mine. Originally it was supposed to be nothing more than investigating and sealing a strange voice — neither Leo nor I had any idea it would balloon into something this big.
"Thank you for your hard work. I feel like I put you through all that for nothing."
"......"
"I had no idea the difficulty would climb this high. Still, I'm glad you pulled it off. One wrong move and the entire mine could have—"
"You seem quite well today."
Leo was drinking herbal tea instead of her usual sweet tea and sugary snacks. Her manner, her speech — everything was markedly different from her usual self. She scratched her cheek, embarrassed for no particular reason.
"I timed my login to line up with today. When the Penalty's grip wears off and a few hours pass after logout, I come back to my normal state. From now, I should have about an hour of functioning normally."
"What a shame."
"Excuse me?"
"Nothing."
So I wouldn't get to squeeze those chubby cheeks again. It was a tremendous shame — but having seen Devil today, I supposed that would have to suffice.
Ahem. Leo cleared her throat, choosing her words carefully, then handed me a box.
"I already gave you the reward, but even by my own accounting, it was far too little for the quest's difficulty."
"Fair enough, I suppose."
You had to fight 'me', after all.
For some, it might have looked simple enough; for others, no small feat. But for me, it had been a genuine challenge. A doppelgänger that used Sacred Fire — did that even make sense? Granted, I had dragged it out of myself for my class advancement, but still.
I examined the box Leo had handed over. A familiar design. Which meant this was...
"An extremely, extremely rare random box. It was very hard to get hold of."
"Ooh..."
A gacha. It was a gacha. As I stared at the box intently, Leo chuckled.
"If I could, I'd shower you with everything I've been given, but random boxes only drop as hidden dungeon rewards or field-boss raid rewards, you see."
"This is more than enough."
Another chance at a gacha? How could I possibly say no. I stowed the box away with deep satisfaction. Leo hesitated a moment, then asked:
"There is one thing I'm curious about, though."
"Yes?"
"What dropped as the world boss reward?"
World bosses were each beings that verged on natural disasters — and the rewards for felling one were equally beyond imagination. Mythic-grade was the bare minimum; for named bosses like 'Kraken' or 'Hydra', acquiring even a single weapon put you several tiers above a user of equivalent stats.
And I had slain a lower-tier world boss — Lily.
My head gave a small tilt. "...Nothing really came out."
"WHAT?!"
Leo shot to her feet. Killing a world boss and receiving no reward — did that even make sense? It wasn't as if I'd taken the thing down carelessly, either. I'd executed the dungeon strategy flawlessly. I'd mapped the entire dungeon's internal flow and dispatched the boss with total precision.
She asked in a voice thick with disbelief, but the truth was that nothing deserving of the word 'reward' had appeared. Things had been far too chaotic at the time, and every eye had been fixed on the hidden-class advancement — Necromancer — that was right in front of me.
The viewers had likewise been focused on the hidden class; hardly anyone was paying attention to the loot. Those who did quickly got cut off when the stream ended, never getting an answer. A few questions came in through donations afterward, but I never gave a definitive reply.
I cast my mind back.
"Gold... and experience points. Beyond that, I honestly couldn't say."
For the record, with the blood of celestials flowing in me, my memory is quite good.
"That doesn't make any sense. Why would you kill a world boss and not get so much as a single piece of equipment..."
"...Hmm."
DeoEn's rewards are reliable. Clear a dungeon, and the payout is always settled; the quality of the reward scales with the boss hunt, or with how you distinguished yourself. If the reward that arrived fell short of the standard, it came down to one of two things.
One: the reward for the strategy was worth exactly that much.
Or two: a reward I don't yet know about has already arrived.