Twenty-Three, Officially
You seem to be doing fine, but—
“You want me to go with that?”
Yena tilted her head at the sudden demand to pick an age.
So, what she was saying was… make up a streaming age?
Am I older than I look?
It wasn't a strange idea. Plenty of streamers and broadcasters deliberately set themselves younger—and if they were genuinely too young, they'd bump the number up instead—then casually present it to the world as “this is how old I am.” A few of the streamers Yena knew used broadcast ages that had nothing to do with their real ones.
Besides, this was the era of customization. For a streamer who didn't do cam streams, age was nothing more than a number.
“Okay! Let's do it that way, then!”
Whatever the case, Miss Lily could do as she pleased.
Frankly, Yena had only asked about the age to build a little rapport, out of mild curiosity. Younger or older, it hardly mattered to her.
“Then… twenty-four?”
“…Twenty-three.”
“Twenty-three? Love it.”
Younger was always better, even if only by a year. She seemed a little embarrassed about it, but honestly, this would play better for the stream anyway.
“Minimum and maximum donation units?”
“Yes.”
Lily—now twenty-three by pure accident—asked Yena, who had been mulling it over, thinking this way might work out a little better.
A yellow map fluttered in the air, marked with the words Blue Forest Plateau.
“Hmm, you definitely do pull in a lot of donations.”
“More than you'd think.”
I didn't expect this much, either.
On day one, so many donations had come in that reading them all took hours—but there had been work to do, and it was only five minutes. No, eight.
And in that tiny window, the donation count had hit 250—nearly twenty million won in support.
She'd planned to take donations for just five minutes, and reading them ended up taking fifty. Like some ten-times multiplier event was running.
Yena listened to the explanation, clicked her tongue, and rolled the paper back up.
“Wow, Miss Lily really is something else.”
“…Something else. I'd love it if it ended at 'something else.' Whether I can actually satisfy all of them is another question.”
I'm receiving far more than I deserve.
Which meant a return was owed.
That was the foundation of Lily's actions—her own actions. If she took compensation, she had to give something of equal worth in return.
But right now, she couldn't manage anything of the sort. All she could offer was hunting, or sparring matches. That was it.
“Hmm, really? I'd say you're doing just fine.”
“Sorry?”
“Think about it. Say there's someone Miss Lily is just CRAZY about—her absolute ideal type. Someone who looks gorgeous just walking down the street, who's adorable just breathing, someone you kind of want to take a bite out of.”
No—more than that, even.
Yena chuckled and set the rolled-up paper down on the table with a little pat.
“Now, if that person read a letter you sent them—how would that feel?”
“…I'd be happy, I guess?”
“Exactly! And would you demand they scream with joy or dance a courtship dance just for you?”
“……”
“If anything, you'd treasure the small reactions more. And if they overdid it, you might actually end up more disappointed. Miss Lily's a public figure now—if she comes off as cheap, that's a net loss for her.”
Not that I'm just brushing you off with an “oppa” because it's a hassle or anything?
Yena said it with a bright little smile, and all Lily could do was laugh.
It had been a long, long time since anyone had given her advice.
Words she'd barely heard since giving up being a saint.
'Never abandon yourself. Even if the heavenly tribe curses you for it, never throw away what you're worth.'
“Anyway, I'll set the min and max donation units for you—roughly. Let's start at around 1,000 won…”
“Thank you.”
“Huh?”
Lily stared steadily at Yena, and Yena gave a flustered little nod—fine, fine—and looked away.
─Day 3 of Newdlebak, with Miss Lily.
“Hiii~ boys, come on in, come on in~”
“Hello, everyone.”
Lily and Yena greeted the camera together. Unlike Lily, Yena was unmistakably hyped—bouncing with energy.
The content hadn't started yet, so Yena's stream still had the donation alert sound on. Yena answered with a singsong “Ahh~ YenaBBang oppa, thanks for the hundred thousand~”
“Today, Miss Lily does her class advancement, and then we're headed to a dungeon that just opened up!”
Yena wagged a finger at the camera.
“Nope, nope. The big guilds have already swept the place once, so first-clear rewards are out of reach. We're going to a spot the 'Black Moon' guild found recently.”
The moment word spread that new dungeons had been added, the major guilds inevitably dispatched exploration teams to sweep the entire continent. Deoen was an open world, after all—even in already-charted regions, dungeons could still turn up, no unexplored continent required.
“We'll confirm all that later. Anyway, Miss Lily? You still have your class advancement to do, right?”
“Yes. I'll guide you.”
“Great, let's roll out~”
With the scroll in hand, Lily and Yena traveled to the village.
“…You got your advancement quest here?”
“Yes.”
A small shop on the outskirts of a village no one passed through anymore.
Standing before what looked like a tiny smithy of a workshop, Yena spoke with a vaguely suspicious air, hesitating at the door.
Lily left the dithering Yena behind and pushed open the wooden door.
There he was—the booming-voiced muscle-bound man, still filling the same corner of the room as ever.
“Haha! You came much sooner than I expected.”
“I worked hard.”
“Good, good. Though… you've drawn quite a few watching eyes, haven't you?”
The man glanced past Lily at Yena as he said it. But the way he phrased it made it sound like he wasn't talking about just the one.
“Ah—should I wait outside?”
Yena poked her head through the gap in the door and asked. The man shook his head and let out a booming laugh.
“Hahahaha! No need. I was only talking to myself.”
The moment he laughed, the quest cleared on its own.
Her level had quietly reached 20, and she could feel it instinctively—she could now use Spearman skills.
So that's how it works.
Familiar, yet different from what she'd known. Her body felt a little stronger, too.
“Come back when you've grown stronger still. I'll have more to teach you.”
“Thank you.”
“Right. And see that lady out back gets home safe, too.”
“Sorry? Oh—yes! Take care~”
Yena, who'd been chattering at the camera, hurriedly dipped her head in a bow.
Cute.
The warrior class family accounted for the largest share of jobs in Devil of Angel.
The reason was simple: it was the easiest, and the most manageable.
No matter how good the Combat Assist System was, a player couldn't leave everything to it—part of the movement had to come from their own hands. And with anything other than a sword, those constraints only grew heavier.
That was why the “warrior” line—swords, axes, shields, weapons both easy to move with and easy to handle—made up a full forty percent of the player base.
By contrast, weapon classes that demanded genuine physical skill, like spears or bows, were relatively rare.
“You got your skills, right?”
“Yes.”
Lily had learned three in total.
The first was Spear Attack—a rapid thrust of the spear forward. Judged by the skill description alone, it looked barely different from a basic attack, but it was best thought of as a Dash for your weapon: just as Dash hurls the body forward at speed, Spear Attack applies a haste buff that drives the spear itself faster.
She tried it once. The spear shot in and out a touch quicker than usual.
Not a bad skill, actually.
Yena hummed thoughtfully and nodded.
“The other two are just Spear Mastery and Body Enhancement, so skill-wise that's basically everything. Still, Spearmen have good utility, so it'll be worth playing.”
“Spears are nice.”
Though, of course, a hammer still felt better in the hand than any spear.