Breaking: Dueling Pros Is "Just for Fun"

"Siege war?"

"Yes. The Twitch Mock Siege is scheduled for early April."

I'd been planning to ask about that anyway. Never expected Yena to bring it up first. I hadn't read that message of hers closely at the time, but I knew it involved her alongside a huge turnout of rankers, streamers, and pros. I dropped my empty bowl into the sink and kept listening.

"First off, if you join, you'd be slotted in as a General under your streamer qualification — think of it as the position held by strong players like me."

"Hmm…"

"The basic rules are simple. Fight your way past the defenders and smash the enemy base's Core — that's how you win. There are a bunch of auxiliary systems on top of that, but you can pick those up ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠over the next three or four weeks."

"Ah, I see."

"Of course, if you'd rather not, you don't have to—"

"No, it sounds fun?"

Somehow it really did sound fun. I'd been toying with the idea anyway, but hearing Yena lay it out made me want in even more.

"I'll do it."

I set up an email account. Yena had told me I'd need one going forward for streaming business — hiring a NewTube editor and the like — so I figured I'd get it done first. For the record, past me — a full thirty years ago — had an email address too, but that one had vanished entirely. Whether the account had simply been deleted, or whether the very existence of "past me" had been erased, I couldn't say.

Either way, I tucked the new address into a banner space under my channel, added a line reading business and inquiries go here, and called it done. With an email in place, my message inbox would never explode again.

Then I dug back up the message from a streamer named Vlack and sent my reply confirming I'd join the Mock Siege.

"Guess I should do NewTube too."

Chores only get worse the longer you put them off. That said, my life wasn't in such dire straits that I needed to grind through everything in one brutal sweep — but things worth doing deserved doing first. I logged into NewTube, and a wash of red and white filled my vision. To create an account, I'd verify with the email I'd just set up, and—

"Whoa. A hundred came in already."

It had been less than five minutes since I'd put my address in that banner, and I already had a hundred mails. When was I supposed to read all of that? I snatched the verification code from the inbox and shut the mail client immediately. That pile could wait. I knew I wasn't supposed to procrastinate, but that one could stand to wait a little.

Anyway, the account was created, and now I needed a name.

"Should I just go with Lily?"

Most NewTubers either tack "NewTube" onto the front or back of their handle, or ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠leave nothing but the bare name. After a brief deliberation, I settled on plain Lily. Lily was the simplest, and simple was best.

And so, at this very moment, a totally bare, subscriber-count-of-zero account was born.

I added that to my Twitch banner as well…

I briefly considered porting my Twitch VODs straight over as uploads, then stopped myself. There was no point re-uploading seven- or eight-hour broadcasts to NewTube when the Twitch replays were right there. That job called for an editor — trimmed, edited videos. For all the little I'd done, it was already past noon. What should I have for lunch?

"So, is she in or not?"

"Doesn't look like it. We'll probably have to find someone else."

"Doesn't adding her break the whole balance?"

"Throw Leo into the mix and that solves everything."

Vlack, the organizer of the Mock Siege and captain of Team ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠1, was deep in debate with Fracion, the ranker mage who'd be fighting in the same siege. The topics of discussion: balancing the Mock Siege, choosing teammates, and the overall shape of the teams. With that many famous names and rankers involved, merely listening to the two of them talk had pushed the viewer count past sixty thousand.

Fracion, the mage with hair white as fresh snow, turned to Vlack, practically glowing with anticipation.

"Come to think of it, did Lily end up joining? If she does, this'll be the greatest Mock Siege in history."

"I've reached out, but no promises."

"Oh, if she joins that's huge. A pro spear-wielder versus a super rookie spear-wielder!"

The only ranker among the pros who wielded twin spears, and a mainstay of one of the current big three pro teams. And then the super rookie whose monstrous skill and custom builds had stirred up so ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠much buzz that people genuinely suspected hacking. If those two ever clashed, who would come out on top? It was a matchup plenty of people were curious about — and eager to see.

"…I did pass that along one way or another, but don't get your hopes up. Going by Lily's streams so far, the odds are she won't."

Grasping at straws, he had handed Yena — who was on good terms with Lily — a dungeon location and some guild supplies, but even Yena didn't have Lily fully on the hook. All she'd done was promise to ask; Lily was entirely free to refuse the offer. He wouldn't demand the supplies back if she did, but the sour taste in his mouth would be unavoidable. With that thought, he checked his long-suffering message inbox one more time.

Huh.

"Aw, come on, folks — we'll get by just fine without Lily. I've stacked the lineup this time and several pros are joining, so there's really no need to be like—"

"…Hold on."

"Huh?"

"She's in!"

So going through Yena had been the right call after all. Otherwise there was no way a reply would arrive this instantly after all that silence. Vlack opened his mouth at a giddy clip.

"She says she's in! With team composition mostly settled, we'll hold team captain selection and team drafting on March 7th."

"Is everyone gathering then?"

"Whoever's available. Captains pick their members and divvy up the balance anyway, so as long as the captains show up, that's enough."

I grabbed a light lunch and logged into DeoEn. The Duel Arena was the first thing to meet my eyes. The statue here was much smaller than its counterpart on the main continent, but it still carried a certain dignity of its own. I gazed up at it for a moment, then dropped down. Since I'd chosen the siege over duels, leveling up had become a necessity. What I lacked right now wasn't physical ability or technique — it was mana. And the divinity that had vanished. Chasing down those two came first.

I went live under that short little title, and the viewers came flooding in as if they'd been camped on the start button.

"Welcome, everyone."

The chat was as lively as ever. Come to think of it, I'd need to hire a manager too, not just an editor. I swatted away the profanity and crude jokes whenever they surfaced, but with this many viewers it was hard to catch everything one by one, and spam was such a gray area that I'd been letting it slide for now. Frankly, a bit of light spamming was kind of entertaining anyway.

So today's opening bid was fifty thousand won, huh. A ten-thousand donation would've been plenty for a question.

"Thank you for the fifty thousand, LikeCrack. Yes — I've decided to join the Mock Siege."

And what was that supposed to mean?

Shaking my head, I made for the hunting grounds using the new continent's map.

"Nobody's making me do anything. It just looked fun, so I thought I'd give it a try. Getting to fight against pros should make ranked duels more fun too."

Just how good were the pros, really? And how much more could they unleash if they went all out? I found myself genuinely curious.

"…I'm sorry, what?"