It Just Worked When I Tried It

Newdlebak.

The word itself isn't something you can say out loud in polite company, but to gloss it roughly, it refers to the act of helping newbies without asking for anything in return.

Not so different from what people call charity, more or less.

Veterans catch sight of fresh sprout newbies, feel a warm glow of satisfaction, and spare no effort to help them grow big and strong.

Granted, it's hardly a fortune to a veteran — but to someone just starting out, it feels like an absurd windfall.

Yes. Just look at the money ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I'm holding right now.

...A bundle of gold coins.

A pouch of gold substantial enough to fill a good portion of my pocket. I hadn't counted it closely, but it looked like several hundred coins at a glance.

The class advancement quest costs three gold. One gold per hundred silver…

"Five hundred coins."

The woman nodded, then added a single remark.

"Cashed out, that's about ten million won."

"...You're giving me ten million won. Just like that?"

Out of nowhere. And to a ridiculous degree.

Even for a streamer pulling in good money, was she wealthy enough to just throw ten million won at a complete stranger?

I asked, genuinely puzzled, and she answered with pride.

"Of course! Would it be all right if you made a brief appearance on my stream?"

"...Aren't you already recording it?"

"Yep! Guilty as charged!"

Shameless, this one.

But oddly enough, I found myself liking it.

I've never been fond of people who hide ulterior motives behind their smiles. Not that it matters much — with my race's instincts, most schemes get sniffed out anyway, so someone who wears their agenda on their sleeve is far easier to deal with.

I nodded.

She'd already paid, so I should earn it. Freeloading just isn't in my nature.

Of course, if she asked me to do anything strange, I'd be ready to walk on the spot.

The money, I'll be keeping regardless.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

The woman bounced happily in place, told me to wait a moment, and then reached her hand into empty air. What came tumbling out after it was an enormous tent.

"Hyah!"

With a whump!, a tent the height of a two-story building rose up over the wreckage of the fried shrimp.

"So this is your first time playing?"

"Yes. Just started. I even got a discount on the headset."

"Oh! The third-gen model! I wanted to buy one too, but I already own two, so it felt a bit excessive."

"...Then why didn't you give me even more money?"

"Oh, come on~ that money and content money are two totally different budgets~"

The atmosphere was more relaxed than I'd expected.

The streamer named Yena carried the conversation with practiced ease, and I answered her questions without any real pressure. It was less of a newdlebak and closer to a newbie interview.

Looking around, her rooms were tastefully decorated, and koi fish glided through the pond in her garden. A few dignified marble statues stood here and there as well.

"Pretty, aren't they? All limited-edition furniture."

"Yes… it is. Do you carry these around with you?"

"I don't carry them around, they just sit in my inventory. You probably won't be able to haul stuff like this around for a long while — these pieces eat up an enormous amount of inventory space."

According to her, unless you've expanded your inventory nearly to its absolute limit, it's impossible to lug furniture like this around.

"Must've cost a fortune."

"It does now, but back in the early days there were so many dungeons that you could farm a lot from them. That's how I got mine, too."

"Are the dungeons all gone now?"

"They haven't disappeared, but almost all of them have already been cleared, so there's nothing left to get besides ordinary EXP and rewards. The First Clear bonuses are just that good."

Yena shot a quick glance at the chat window.

Good — the stream was going rather smoothly.

The newbie in front of her, this person called Lily, had a decent grasp of gaming knowledge in general, but was a total novice when it came to DeoEn, and her personality seemed pleasant too.

Her voice was lovely, and there was no trace of that earlier discomfort.

She figured she'd eased the other side's nerves enough — time to move the content into full swing.

"Do you have a class advancement in mind? Production classes are doing really well these days, and combat classes have the Combat Assist System, so they're easy to pick up too."

This newbie was far too good to let end as a one-off newdlebak.

Handled well, she could bring her into content regularly — maybe even into her small, elite guild.

The kids would grumble a bit, but anyone who looked at Lily's face couldn't possibly say no.

They'd probably go absolutely insane over her.

She was thinking exactly that when Lily tilted her head.

"Combat Assist, you say?"

"Yes! You should've already tried it — it shows up during the tutorial."

A system built for modern people who'd almost never thrown a punch in their lives.

Turn it on, and it made weapon handling, evasion, and force direction easy to manage. Every newbie starts with it on, and over 40% of the current ranked players still use it.

Sure, once you became a true veteran it tended to get in the way, so plenty turned it off — but it was safe to say the overwhelming majority of players relied on it.

The chat, too, had unanimously accepted the necessity of combat assist. That was how vital the thing was.

But Lily shook her head.

"I've never used anything like that."

"...Sorry? Did you, um, clear the tutorial?"

"The boar? I caught it."

"...Sorry?"

"Yes."

"...I'm sorry, what?"

Yena shot to her feet.

Lily simply stared back, still puzzled.

"...How exactly did you catch that boar?"

"With the old knife they give you at the start. And that was the end of the tutorial."

"Without dying even once?"

"Yes."

"How?!"

"It just worked when I tried it."

Yena deliberated.

Honestly, she couldn't believe it. Clearing the tutorial without dying even once?

Even she couldn't manage that right now.

In the tutorial, a single hit meant instant death with how low your HP was, and even if you somehow dodged everything with something like Superspeed, you'd never deal enough damage to kill anything. No — a newbie wielding Superspeed in the first place was pure nonsense.

And I smacked into the wall time and again just trying to use the speed stat.

Even as she deliberated, she glanced at her viewer count.

22,350.

A stream grown large enough to crack the top five of Twitch's live rankings.

Should she really take the risk just to peel back this truth that looked like a lie? Wouldn't it be safer to just nod along and run a standard, by-the-book newdlebak?

...But what if it's real?

If it were, the fallout would be twice the size of her current stream — no, five times bigger.

After a brief struggle, she made her choice.

"Hold on — we're going somewhere!"

The PVP Arena.

The pride of DeoEn, where countless players ran their ranked matches dozens of times a day.

The arena offered two modes: unranked casual duels with no points at stake, and balanced, point-based ranked duels.

I followed Yena into the arena. A tall staircase climbed the massive building, and between its flights stood a statue — a colossal figure holding a sword inverted in both hands, radiating heroic grandeur.

Something about the statue stirred a memory.

...I've seen that face somewhere before.

"It's something simple, so don't worry too much. It won't even hurt."

Guided by Yena into one of the arena's chambers, I found that she had already stripped off most of her gear, changed into plain clothes, and taken up a standard dagger.

"So I'm dueling you, Yena?"

"Yep. I'll match my level to yours. Your stats will be adjusted to equalize too."

Yena manipulated something in the air, and a voice — the very same one from the tutorial — rang out.

A translucent blue barrier began to wrap itself around the square space of white marble.

By the time it settled, only Yena and I stood within the blue, box-shaped field.