The Beginning of a Legend

I left all the money with Lucy.

Along with the firm instruction to bet everything on our victory, no matter what.

By now she would be sitting with the others in the first-floor spectator seats, looking down at the arena.

Companies with large rosters could honor Rena-ttang's request to field as many different members as possible, but smaller elite outfits like ours and Akatsuki had no such luxury. We had already cleared it with her in advance: the same three would compete in both the individual and team events.

Public opinion had already crowned O-Wang Company the favorites. People were more curious about who would take second place than who would win.

That atmosphere suited us just fine.

The other streamers would be thinking the same way. Which meant that when the betting opened—especially in the finals—we would be sitting on massive underdog odds.

If we drop a hundred million Rena on ourselves, how much does that pay out?

And with the prize money jacked up dramatically compared to Purge Day, the returns would be delicious. On top of that we still had the massive crop stockpile warehouse tucked away in a corner of the underground mega-farm, and the Ratatouille stashed inside all those shulker boxes. Factor in the sale of those and we could outfit every single employee with a full set of Mythic-grade gear.

Of course, with the next Arena in mind, gearing the actual competitors comes first. And we always have to watch out for variables from the ceiling.

One thing was certain: if we seized this chance properly, a ragtag crew of small-time streamers like us would finally earn the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠right to compete head-to-head with companies full of big-name talent.

Separate prize pools existed for the individual and team championships. Sweep both and you walked away with a cool forty million Rena—more than enough to make every company scrambling for Mythic gear start sweating.

Having O-Wang Company and Mu-yang Group collide in Round 1 would have been a perfect scenario. A slightly disappointing result.

A short while later the draw finished and the brackets locked in as follows:

Akatsuki in Round 1?

Not exactly a dream draw. Looking at the team-match rosters, I rated Akatsuki at least a step below O-Wang Company—and a clear step above Mu-yang Group.

Even if Mu-yang has two Mythic pieces, the Goldorite sword is a farming tool. In actual PvP it's barely better than a netherite sword, especially before the balance patch. That means they have to overwhelm Akatsuki with a single Blazerite… and looking at their team roster…

Rim-ani was average. Park Bong-sik was clearly bottom-tier among the male streamers. Of the three, the virtual streamer Hitsume would probably fight the best—she had gone on to shine in Minecraft RPG and war servers later on.

In short, Mu-yang Group was over-relying on the raw power of their Mythic gear. They had never trained the way O-Wang Company had; they just trusted the superior stats.

Akatsuki, on the other hand, has Oh Yeong-jun. A four-account Challenger isn't just for show. Kkaenam-i might look like a comedy character, but he always pulls his weight. And Muyo has top-tier physicals among the virtual streamers.

Based on that future knowledge, Akatsuki was not an opponent we could take lightly.

Of course our own lineup wasn't exactly a joke either. I myself possessed top-tier control among the female streamers, and both Mayo and Na-ro-si ranked comfortably inside the top five female streamers in Rena World. Factor in the two Mythic pieces boosting our stats and—O-Wang Company aside—we could go toe-to-toe with Akatsuki ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠without getting pushed around.

"We're up first."

"Master, are we going all-out from the start?"

"No. Let's meet Akatsuki head-on first. If things get dangerous, I'll give orders then."

"Mayo will wipe them all out, so there's no need to worry about that geosida. Just trust Mayo geosida."

"You stop daydreaming and memorize the plan properly."

The moment Rena-ttang finished speaking, streamer chat exploded. Watching it, I couldn't help smiling a little—streamers weren't so different from regular viewers after all.

The chat window filled so fast it made my head spin. In the middle of it all, Oh Yeong-jun—leader of Akatsuki—was visibly seething at Park Na-na for betting on us even though she was technically on his side.

I waited, watching the clock, until only about twenty seconds remained. Then I whispered to Lucy and told her to drop thirty million Rena on our victory.

Dumping a full hundred million right at the start would make someone wonder if we had a guaranteed win strategy. Besides, this was only Round 1—better to take a moderate bite and walk away clean.

Of that 43 million Rena on our side, our own 30 million made up roughly 69.76 percent. That meant if we won, we would claim 69.76 percent of everything bet on Akatsuki.

Run the numbers… a cool 43.7 million Rena!

Even after the one-percent betting-system fee, we would still clear over 43 million. The massive payout was only possible because we were the underdogs and had poured nearly seventy percent of the total pool ourselves.

Of course that money wasn't in our hands yet. The other streamers were already laughing at us, saying this was exactly how gambling ruined people.

But did they realize? The moment we won, every last one of those 62.7 million Rena riding on Akatsuki would change owners.

Waaaaaah—!

"Let's go."

To the roar of the crowd we walked steadily into the arena. Countless streamers and viewers had their eyes locked on us.

This was the beginning of a legend.