The Duel Mission

Rena World's first-ever landmark construction funding.

This wasn't just V-Live Company's affair alone.

The O-Wang Company fandom — the kind that couldn't tolerate anything less than first place — was already watching with narrowed eyes.

They're holding a construction funding before us?

We'll see just how much Candy they pull in.

Even without those competitive stares, the attention was inevitable. Being the "first" carried that kind of weight.

From the casual fans of every company who simply couldn't contain their curiosity, to the uncommitted floaters who still hadn't settled on a home base — they all came flooding in.

This place was a full-blown festival.

It wasn't even eight o'clock yet, and the viewer count had already broken four thousand — over a thousand more than usual. Even for someone as battle-hardened as me, a situation like this was enough to make me a little tense.

Hoo. Stay calm. Take it easy.

I cracked a few jokes at Miho and the others walking beside me, deliberately pumping up the energy.

The meeting spot for eight o'clock was the same as last time — the makeshift conference room on the first floor of My House. We wouldn't be gathering here much longer. Once today's landmark construction funding came through and we started building the sky island, Skypia, the company headquarters would go up there too.

"Everyone here? Anyone missing the person next to them?"

"All present!"

The reply came back in a high, bright tone. Looking at their faces, everyone was clearly buzzing. Ahead of a big event like this, people either got nervous or got hyped — those were the two patterns.

I gave everyone one more reminder not to get so carried away that they said something stupid, then took the floor as the head of V-Live Company.

"Dear streamers of V-Live Company. And esteemed viewers. Today is a very important day — because today, we hold Rena World's first landmark construction funding. What is a landmark? It is a distinctive terrain, a structure unique to this place and nowhere else… in other words, a specialness that not just anyone can claim."

I paused and looked around at everyone. Playful Mayo. Serious Lucy. Thoughtful-looking Miho. Na-ro-si with her gaze full of respect. Reactions of every kind.

I took a breath, then raised my voice with force.

"V-Live Company ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠— three-time Purge Day champions! V-Live Company — every member fully geared with endgame equipment sets and wings, boasting overwhelming wealth! But we are still not enough."

"Together with all of you, we can complete that final missing piece of the puzzle — construction — and rise to number ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠one on the server! Believe in the sincerity V-Live Company has shown you so far, and give us one more powerful cheer!"

"V-Live Company, fighting!"

"We'll work hard — clean donations for V-Live Company!"

"Wait! Donations of 1,000 or more get your nickname engraved at the entrance to the sky island? Oh, I'm definitely doing that!"

"This is Miho… if today's funding breaks 500,000, I've got a pledge ready. There are 700,000 and 1,000,000 pledges too!"

The company members threw themselves into the hype with everything they had. This place was a festival.

I watched for the right moment, then slammed my hand down on the desk and declared:

"Eight o'clock! As of this very moment, I hereby annouuuuuce V-Live Company's landmark construction funding!"

Waaaaaah—!

It was a page of history — the opening of Rena World's great age of construction.

The Duel Mission.

It was a new system that had contributed enormously to Pangea TV's revenue. Developed about half a year ago, it had gradually built word of mouth, and by the end of 2022 streamers were using it actively.

Duel Missions were mainly used in League of Legends, PUBG, and StarCraft. The truth was, outside of Diamond CK, Minecraft simply hadn't had much room for Duel Missions. A duel, by definition, meant competing to decide a winner and loser, then splitting the pooled Candy unevenly — but there just hadn't been a suitable multi-person competitive format.

That was why early Rena World had been full of recruitment activity instead. People would put out world chat calls, gather a group, hop over to a different game, and run a Duel Mission there. Something like:

Rena World had basically been used like a temp agency. But as big-name streamers started filtering in one by one and company activity intensified, a movement began to form — a push to handle everything inside the game itself.

Duel Missions? Why can't we do those in Minecraft, huh?

Streamers started putting their heads together. What could bring a whole group of people together in Minecraft and justify a funding drive? Mining? Fishing? Hunting? Combat?

After long deliberation, the answer they landed on was construction. And it had to be large enough that every company member could participate — that was what gave a Duel Mission funding its legitimacy. Naturally, every company started aiming for massive builds… in other words, landmarks.

That was the flow of Rena World before my regression. There was no real need to decide a winner or loser. If you set a Duel Mission to a draw, the entire roster could split the funding amount equally, one over N. That was why, come February in Rena World, every company without exception had thrown themselves into construction.

Which is exactly why we jumped the gun in January. To generate buzz and squeeze a little more out of the floaters' wallets.

Those wallets were going to get cleaned out by other companies' funding drives from late January through February anyway. Might as well claim the first-mover advantage.

With that fierce sense of purpose, the Duel Mission began. Everyone had done at least one Diamond CK before, so they hit the accept button with practiced ease and waited.

"Uh, um, so which part do I click…"

"Rosi, look at the very bottom of the Duel Mission menu."

"Ah! Found it."

Only Na-ro-si, the sole first-timer, floundered for a moment before joining successfully. The Duel Mission window — something I hadn't seen since the last Diamond CK — covered half the screen.

"One second, let me set this up."

I resized it with practiced hands, floating a window in the upper left that showed how much funding each streamer was receiving in real time, and right beside it, a funding donation ranking window displaying first through tenth place.

That was the broken part about Duel Missions. In front of a crowd of streamers and countless viewers, you could flaunt your own superiority. It was one of the reasons so many whales got addicted and went hunting for them.

Finally, it begins…

Thinking about it, getting this far had taken a long time. Through company meetings, I'd pulled aggro and worked hard to build a consensus among the fans about construction funding. Today's moment, this very place, was the fruit of all that.

So — what kind of result would V-Live Company's landmark construction funding deliver?

"MayoBibimSauce, thanks for the 1,000 Candy, so it is! Mayo will definitely engrave your nickname, so it is! But bibim sauce is still mid, so it is!"

"Kyaaaaah! Our vice president just donated th-three thousand! Vice President, I'll take a pretty Bang-sel just for you and send it over. Seriously, there's no one but our vice president."

"LucysSongFan, thank you for the 1,500 Candy donation. Is there a song you'd like to request? I'll make sure to sing it for you later. Thank you so much for the support."

Whether it was all our hard work finally shining through, the voices of my colleagues thanking donations from every direction rang out from the very start.

"HouseOnFire, thank you so much. F-five thousand Candy?! You didn't push yourself too hard, did you?"

SeoAHouseOnFire — the diehard fan sitting at number four, who'd been showing more and more of a loyal retainer's devotion lately — had dropped a massive donation. Whew. Feeling like we'd gotten off to a solid start, I let out a quiet sigh of relief inside.

Once the floodgates opened, small Duel Mission Candy donations came one after another. Ten, thirty, fifty, a hundred… they looked tiny next to that earlier five thousand, but you couldn't take floater donations lightly. You never knew when a whale might pop out from among them. And even the small ones needed a delicious reaction — that was how you kept the donations from drying up.

"W-wait! Our president, is this for real?! T-ten thousand?!"

In that instant, Subnitti's funding count shot up to first place. And simultaneously, the nickname "DrunkardSubni" climbed to the very top of the ranking — with a number next to it that made your skin crawl just looking at it: 10,000.

The chat window was instantly plastered with every kind of gasp and exclamation. A quick glance at multi-view showed Subnitti's stream viewers nearly doubling in a flash.

You couldn't just sit still at a moment like this. I grabbed the mic and raised my voice.

"Waaaaah! This is insane! Subnitti unnie's stream president?! Hello, DrunkardSubni-nim. I'm Seo-a, head of V-Live Company. Thank you so much for your enormous contribution to the Skypia sky island funding. I mentioned this during the last meeting, right? For the final donation ranking's first, second, and third place, we'll personally craft gold, silver, and bronze statues. And the designs just came out — could everyone take a quick look at my stream?"

Moments later, images of lavish statues in various poses flashed across my broadcast. This was a chance for an ordinary viewer — not even a streamer — to have their existence permanently engraved in one of Rena World's famous locations. For whales and attention-seekers alike, it was a merit they simply couldn't ignore.

I also gave my colleagues a subtle cue, and one by one they poured out praise for DrunkardSubni — how incredible, how grateful they were. Deliberate moves designed to stoke the donation appetite of the whales still watching quietly from the sidelines.

The effect was instant.

"MayoIsBronzeElo hyung-nim just donated thirteeeeeeen thousand! ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Mayo is Platinum, but today Mayo will play like a Bronze just like the fake nickname says, so it is! Thank you so, so much, President hyung-nim, so it is!"

"Kyah! MihosKidney oppa, thank you so much for the 7,500! Mwah mwah! Here's a finger heart too. Our oppa is the best!"

The competitive fire among the whales had been lit.