Negative Thoughts Don't Change What Needs to Be Done
Live outdoor streaming.
Once upon a time, it was considered one of those things nearly impossible to pull off as an independent internet broadcaster. There were two main reasons for that: first, the signal problem, and second, the equipment problem.
Back in the days when only massive broadcasting stations could barely manage to send a stream without a hardline internet connection, using those enormous relay trucks.
In the past, when Wi-Fi and 4G technology hadn't properly developed yet, it was practically impossible for an individual streamer to broadcast outdoors. After all, you needed an internet connection to stream in the first place, right? So only after wireless internet developed over time, and portable electronic devices improved in performance to a certain degree, did outdoor internet streaming finally manage to take its first tentative steps — the ability to stream anytime, anywhere, regardless of location.
But once that technological wall was overcome, outdoor streaming actually started to feel like it had a pretty low barrier to entry.
Maybe it was because technology had already cleared that hurdle once. During the era I lived in, outdoor streaming didn't feel like such a difficult thing at all. You just needed a decently performing phone, install a streaming app, hit a few buttons, and you could start broadcasting right there on the spot. Of course, if you cared about sound and picture quality, that was a completely different story. But with solid wireless internet and a high-performance phone, simply turning on a stream wasn't hard work.
Yeah. It definitely shouldn't have been that difficult. So why was I struggling this much?
"Nia, everything's ready."
"Thanks for the hard work, Noooise..."
I flopped onto the cold shelter floor with a completely drained expression, staring blankly up at the ceiling. Up there was a crude iron plate erected with no decorations whatsoever to save on CP, and just gazing at it blankly made fatigue wash over my entire body.
"Haa, doing an outdoor stream with no base at all is really tough, huh."
That was right. The reason I was lying sprawled on the floor like a wilted bean sprout was because I'd spent the past few hours grunting and groaning while preparing the outdoor streaming setup.
Come to think of it, the only reason I could stream at all was because the internet in my room was connected to the outside.
Here was different. An environment where you couldn't even find wireless internet, and the camera I had could only function as a camcorder capable of internal storage at best. So in this state, while recording and editing video was possible, connecting to the outside for a live stream was, no matter how I looked at it, impossible.
Wow, creating something from scratch with no foundation at all is really hard. I envy geniuses so much.
But... as I'd said before, my Creation ability was a power without limits as long as CP supported it. If something that minor was going to block my path, I'd just pour all my spare CP into it if I had to and force a way through.
"Creation!"
I used my Creation ability, conjuring a clear image of the object's structure and function in my mind. In a flash, something appeared on the cold iron floor — a large broadcasting camcorder.
"...Noise. Can you check it for me?"
"Okay."
But just because it had boldly appeared didn't mean everything was done. There was still a verification process left. Perhaps reading my intention, Noise nodded once with a very serious expression, then toddled over to the camcorder and poked and prodded it this way and that, checking the state of the creation.
After carefully examining it for several minutes, Noise — brows cutely furrowed as she inspected the camcorder — turned her gaze toward me and slowly nodded.
"...It's good. Almost no deviation from the blueprint."
"Really? Haaaah... thank goodness..."
Maybe because relief filled my chest, I felt the strength drain from my legs. I was so glad it succeeded.
It was half a gamble. If it had failed, we'd have been in big trouble.
Not the absolute top-of-the-line high-end product, but a high-performance camcorder that could definitely be counted among the good flagship models. In addition to the camera's essential high-quality video recording function, it included wireless video transmission — dedicated broadcasting equipment. And the CP consumed to create this large camcorder was a whopping... 360,000 CP!
Even after obtaining a blueprint that was about half lost from this Data Trash Heap, then spending hours interpreting and analyzing it with Noise to reduce the cost to a quarter, it still came to this much... If we hadn't gotten the blueprint, it would have been something I couldn't even dream of creating at my current level.
No, honestly it's still a bit tight even now. The vlog I uploaded yesterday blew up more than expected, so it feels like I'm just covering the gap, I guess.
These days, with fixed expenses going out for maintaining the zone I'd created inside the Data Trash Heap, if the Creation had failed and some functions were missing from the camcorder, it would likely have come back as a pretty fatal financial loss. I'd probably have been scrambling to gather CP for a while without even thinking of attempting any special events. That's why I called it a gamble. If it had failed, I would have hugged Noise and bawled like a little kid.
Of course, calling it a gamble meant the return on success was really solid. This outdoor stream would be the first step in a plan to explode the curiosity people had developed through the vlog into attention directed at me... and a clear, high-quality video would definitely contribute to raising the success rate of that plan.
After lying sprawled on the floor for a while, seeking mental and physical calm, I recovered my mental state to a certain degree and sprang up from my spot. I'd rested enough — now it was time to do what needed doing.
"Alright then, I'll go install this."
I lightly slung the heavy bag sitting on the desk over my shoulder and said that to Noise, who was sitting on the floor trying out the camcorder. Whatever was inside clattered and knocked against itself with a rattling sound.
"Ah, I'll come too."
"No. Noise, you'd have to put on the suit to go outside, right? It's a hassle, so just rest inside. It's not that hard of a job anyway."
Noise, who had been cradling the camcorder that was about as thick as her own arm, stood up and said she wanted to go out too, but I had to hurry and stop her. Unlike me, who could wander around the Abyss without any equipment, she was a body that couldn't escape the law of the time limit.
The first time Noise's finger crumbled and vanished into thin air, I screamed without even realizing it.
...Even recalling it now, it was a truly hair-raising sight. Thankfully, eating hard in a fully enclosed space let her recover quickly, but that hair-raising memory became the catalyst for making a special suit for her. Of course, the CP that went into the suit was enough to make my head spin, but honestly, considering how hard she worked for me, it didn't feel wasteful at all.
Anyway, what I wanted to say was that even that work suit was ultimately a consumable. A simple job like the one I was about to do was something I could handle alone just fine, so there was no reason to make her put on the suit and work with me. Plus Noise had already done plenty of work today, so from my perspective I wanted her to get some rest.
"...Okay."
"Read a book or something until I get back. I secretly made the next volume of the Classics Club series earlier."
"...! Nia, I love you."
Was she that happy? Noise, who had been looking glum at being told to stay behind alone, suddenly threw her arms around me at the news that I'd made a novel for her. If she'd had a tail, it would have been wagging hard enough to break. That delighted face was so cute it felt like it was putting a strain on my heart. Is this what a parent's heart feels like...?!
"Yeah. Me too. Okay, I'll be back!"
"Come back safe."
Receiving Noise's send-off, I lightly turned my back and stepped out of the shelter that had already started to feel fairly familiar. Then, preparing for any eventuality, I grabbed the Scissors Blade I'd leaned against the wall, put power into the tips of my toes, and hop-hopped as I ran toward the edge of the zone I'd lit with light bulbs.
And so, quickly reaching the boundary where there were no more bulbs and only darkness remained, I set the bag down on the ground and pulled out the object inside.
"I already confirmed this works earlier, so... it should be fine."
That object was none other than a signal relay. A device that caught the signal emitted by the broadcasting camcorder and passed it on to another relay. Within the area where these relays were installed, the signal generated by the camcorder could be transmitted through the relays to my room. That way, through the computer in my room, I could connect with viewers outside the virtual world... which meant there would be no problem at all conducting a live outdoor stream!
I have nothing but gratitude for Noise, who came up with this idea for me!
Whirrr-thunk.
I spun the signal relay half a turn so that the sturdy mounting section rather than the fragile transmission section faced up, then put strong force into my legs. Kicking hard off the ground, I leaped up and jammed the relay firmly into a gap in the scrap metal pile!
"That's one...!"
Tadat.
Landing lightly on the ground and looking up, I could see the relay had been stuck at a fairly high position. The relay, like the light bulbs, was a battery-powered device. I'd turned the power on beforehand when jamming it into the scrap pile, so if designed correctly, it should work without problems for about two weeks.
Two weeks... huh. So to do outdoor streams, I have to do this every two weeks? Wow, I'm already annoyed...
I retrieved the Scissors Blade and bag I'd briefly set on the ground, then hurried toward the next location. But it couldn't be helped. In this environment where everything except a tiny fraction of objects corroded over time, doing anything was an extremely tricky business. This was something I had no choice but to endure. Besides, it wasn't like my body got that tired from it.
So I decided to change the topic in my head. Even if you conjure up negative thoughts, what needs to be done doesn't change anyway. There was no reason to deliberately fill my head with bad thoughts that would sap my energy. So let's try thinking something a little brighter here. For example...
...Still, I'm a little excited about the outdoor stream. I think it'll be fun.
That kind of thought — that I was really looking forward to the outdoor stream I'd be doing soon. I walked through the Data Trash Heap with a grin, hand raised to the corners of my mouth that kept lifting on their own, heading off to install the next relay.
That was roughly twelve hours before the first outdoor stream.