Entertainment!

⟪You—what exactly were you planning, pulling the Master Blade out of nowhere like that?⟫

Noel's grumbling voice rang in his ears.

"Oh, shut it. Who could've possibly predicted an SSR would pop out right there?"

Truth be told, he hadn't even imagined it. An SSR-grade drop, out of the blue—and the chat window had descended into absolute chaos because of it. Comments accusing him of cheating and worse were flooding in, since he'd just casually yanked out a top-tier weapon like it was nothing.

⟪Didn't you say you could hide the results? Then why show them as-is?⟫

"It wasn't something worth hiding, honestly……"

If anything useful for fighting S.E.N had come out, he would've buried it on the spot.

⟪You said random box items get their performance adjusted to fit your system, right? Can you show me what it actually feels like? If it's safe to reveal, then show it on the broadcast.⟫

At her prompting, he pulled up the Master Blade's performance.

Leave it to an SSR to come packaged with a genuinely hilarious kit. Once Noel had finished inspecting the abilities, she switched back to her '5555' persona for a moment.

⟪Hmm. It's definitely applied differently from the Master Blade I designed. There's no 'attack power' stat at all. Instead, it's built to enhance the body's raw capabilities directly.⟫

"The concept of 'attack power' varies wildly from one game system to another. It does not apply to the UR system. In cases where an item carries a special 'attack power' of its own, that would exist as a separate special ability instead."

In other words, things like 'Severing' or 'Collapse'—abilities attached as distinct special effects. Ryu Hwi relayed YggON's explanation to 5555 in suitably paraphrased terms, and she nodded along, satisfied.

⟪Ah, come to think of it, Yggdrasil Items never carried an attack power stat either, did they? So it feels like game concepts were reworked to function ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠in reality. At this level, it should be fine to reveal.⟫

"Let me make one thing clear first—S.E.N might be watching this stream. No, scratch that. Hecate is definitely watching."

⟪Is revealing it recklessly dangerous?⟫

"No."

That part had already been settled with YggON.

"We're laying down a smokescreen. Reveal as much as we safely can, and bury the one thing that matters most. The Master Blade is fine to show."

The Master Blade was an SSR-grade weapon, but it wasn't more useful than the Shuffle Gun. He'd confirmed it with YggON—SSR-grade items and skills couldn't even be converted into cards, which made them about as useful as decorative pottery.

⟪Understood. Still, wouldn't it be better to run today's stream with the Master Blade?⟫

"Now that you mention it, sure."

⟪Then…… resuming the broadcast! OK?⟫

Her voice tone flipped mid-sentence. She'd switched back to Noel. That lightning-fast transformation still never failed to throw him off.

The stream resumed. The chat, which had been in an uproar over the Master Blade's sudden appearance, gradually settled down. Holding the blade in hand, Ryu Hwi stepped back in front of the camera.

"As you just saw, items and skills can be obtained through random boxes inside game labyrinths. The Master Blade I just pulled works not only in Legend of Lambda, but in other game labyrinths as well. Now, I asked whether this was a good thing—and I genuinely don't understand why it's getting nothing but hate. It is actually good, right?"

The profanity spam resumed in force. Ryu Hwi, fully in entertainer mode, savored even their curses.

"I know many of you are curious how I came into this power. And to be completely honest—I don't know either!"

The chat never got a moment to breathe. Revealing the random box meant the obvious next question: how had he obtained such power in the first place? He was still mulling over what excuse to attach when '0-ho' spoke up.

"Let's just pretend he knows nothing at all."

Fabricating a convenient lie was an option, but one slip and it would expose a crack for the suspicious ones to pry at. There would be doubters. There would be people actively trying to uncover how the ability worked. So rather than explain, they would simply play dumb.

"I agree. We reveal only the fact of when and where the ability was obtained, and leave everything else unknown."

YggON backed 0-ho's proposal without hesitation.

"And let's mix a deliberate 'false' element into the when-and-where part. A smokescreen operation, if you will."

Ryu Hwi wove the story the three of them had hammered out ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠together into his broadcast.

"I was framed by Linzea, stripped of everything, and reduced to an Unknown. Clutching a thread of hope, I dragged myself through each day. Then I was ambushed by 'Bronze' hunters who preyed on Unknowns in packs, and I found myself staring death in the face."

A brief, honest summary of the life he'd lived—only the shape of it, nothing more.

"And when I opened my eyes again, I was inside a game labyrinth."

From here, the 'false' begins.

"I had no idea why. No account, no explanation—so why was I inside a game labyrinth? I was still wandering, completely lost, when this 'random box device' appeared right before my eyes!"

On cue, YggON conjured a hologram of a suitably generic random box terminal.

"How I came into this power, I cannot say. I didn't even have the luxury of thinking about it. Because in that moment, only one emotion ruled me."

He stoked the ember of that feeling, which had never truly died.

"Vengeance! Vengeance against the bastards who made me this way! I didn't stop to question what this power even was—I moved for one reason alone: revenge."

There was no 'false' in the cry he raised now. That vengeance was truth, untouchable by anyone.

"As a result, Latia collapsed, and Yggdrasil achieved its evolution. For that merit, Diamond granted me 'Silver' rank……"

Diamond granting him a Silver ID was an undeniable fact—but here he folded in one more colossal lie.

"They told me: from now on, use 'this power' freely, to do whatever you wish. Only then did it occur to me—could it be that Diamond itself had granted me this foolish ability? There's no way to know the truth anymore……"

"No one alive can ask Diamond anyway, so lie to your heart's content."

The message, in essence: this power may have come from Diamond itself—so think twice before you lay a hand on me.

"What could I possibly do? A man swept along by nothing but vengeance, wielding this power again and again? I wrestled with that question endlessly. And at last, I found what I must do."

Ryu Hwi put his full weight behind his voice and orated.

"Entertainment!"

He clenched his fist and thrust it toward the sky.

"Game labyrinths are no longer mere 'workshops'! They are entertainment for every soul on this planet! Even as I speak, countless people are joying in the game labyrinths right now!"

Yggdrasil had never once declared that 'entertainment' mattered after 2.0—but that was exactly how things had turned out all the same.

"This power dragged me out of the deepest pit of despair. And so I resolved to walk the path Yggdrasil itself is trying to take! I swore on this one body that I would bring joy to everyone in the world!"

Countless eyes were fixed on him at this very moment. The S.E.N watching the broadcast were surely not limited to Hecate alone. They pursued the 'pleasure of the soul'—and so, in deliberate mockery of that, he hammered on the words 'entertainment' and 'joy'.

"Enjoy! Laugh! Sneer! Curse! For the sake of every last ounce of your 'pleasure'—here stands the Gacha King!"

A beat of silence.

Then the chat window detonated.

⟪Doesn't he have a distinctly conman sort of charisma? Hmm?⟫

Noel's voice smacked him upside the ear.

⟪What is this atmosphere?! What am I supposed to DO with this?!⟫

"Your problem! Handle the stream!"

⟪Waaah, this man is completely unreasonable!⟫

Grumbling the whole way, Noel threw herself into the broadcast regardless.

The stream ran on three rotating segments. One: an all-out war against the 'Fall of Saynal' difficulty, deploying every resource at his disposal. Two: burning through the tickets and RP collected that day on random boxes. And three: a pure entertainment segment where he answered viewer 'requests' using only whatever he'd pulled that day. First the chat weighed in, then Noel drew one at random to decide the order. It was more than a simple gameplay stream—entertainment was ladled on thick. To hit a number like 500 million, they needed every trick in the book.

Master Blade strapped on in place of the Shuffle Gun, he headed for the opening forest before the village.

"Alright. Time to grind like absolute madmen."

"How many deaths are we projecting for today, Master?"

"Even death is entertainment!"

"Whoa. Now that you've committed, you've gone completely off the rails."

Someone who did nothing but leave venomous comments was now worrying about him. That was how much the 'Fall of Saynal' difficulty resembled a pit of hell.

First of all, the monsters were horrifying. Every single design in Legend of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Lambda was built around cuteness—yet not one person watching the stream right now would have called these things adorable. If anything, they read as nightmarish.

He had already racked up his twelfth game over.

The monsters exploited the forest terrain to move in three dimensions, incoming fire raining in from every direction—it felt like being swarmed alive. And the attack power was every bit as vicious; block with the shield and the shield itself was blasted to pieces. Armor was a dead concept at this difficulty.

⟪Oh, and FYI—I set it up so the advanced difficulty could be toggled ON/OFF, but Yggdrasil blocked it outright. Ryu Hwi is only allowed to play on this difficulty.⟫

The chat drowned in laughter under Noel's commentary. The occasional worried post surfaced now and then, but only a tiny fraction.

Twelve deaths had bought him a rough read on the enemy patterns. The monsters were the same Soldier Rabbits from the tutorial, and their stats didn't seem meaningfully different either. The only new element was the forest environment. In the cave, he'd solved everything by collapsing the ceiling—here, that wasn't even an option. And since he was honoring the spirit of the 'Gacha King' by keeping the Master Blade equipped, things were that much harder still.

But he had found a way to win. The problem was that it wasn't yet 'entertaining' enough. The mood needed pumping up, and badly.

⟪Ah, Ryu Hwi! I've summoned the random box!!⟫

"What is your plan of action, Master?"

"I'll decide after seeing the results. Let's start with a light fifty-pull."

Even if he won regardless, he'd rather put the 'random box results' to aggressive use while he was at it. Without a flicker of hesitation, he burned through fifty stockpiled tickets.

N toothbrush. N toothbrush. R premium toothbrush……

He thought it every single time—why did so many toothbrushes keep coming out? N, N, N, N, N, N, N, N, R, R, N, N, R, R…… The final tally: zero SR.

The comments flooded with 'Total wipeout!', 'Paradise!', and 'Back to the average!' Not pulling a single SR was business as usual—nothing worth blinking at. The problem was that broadcasting the process inflicted psychological damage far beyond the usual.

It felt like several hundred thousand YggONs spamming 'lol' directly into his skull.

"But I—I have an SR guaranteed ticket!"

The mention of a guaranteed SR set the chat ablaze again. A guaranteed pull? That's cheating! Hurry up and spin it already! The reactions ran the whole spectrum. He used the ticket immediately, and golden light rose from the random box terminal.

Honestly, it didn't matter what came out. He'd already mapped out a way to fell the forest's rabbits. But if he could, he wanted the item or skill from this box to produce an even more spectacular moment.

SR — Magidrive Toothbrush☆

Welcome aboard, Magidrive Toothbrush Mark 2.

"Understood. So THIS is entertainment!"

"……"

"The chat reaction is magnificent as well, Master. The screen is being flooded with the phrase 'Toothbrush King'. Shall we change the show's title to Toothbrush King?"

Even this bomb was, in its own way, an element designed to delight the audience. He knew that perfectly well, which is why he forced a smile through gritted teeth.

"Master, what novel strategy shall you unveil now? Master? Why are you suddenly taking out the bike?"

The Aerod shot skyward. He did have a strategy in mind—but for now, he decided to shelve it.

He climbed high enough to take in the entire forest at a glance.

Magic barrage!

Like a man taking out a lifetime of frustration, Ryu Hwi unleashed spell after spell into the forest below.

A spectacular storm of magic raged across the woods. He chain-cast everything the Sage's Spellbook allowed, and only once the uses ran dry did he leap from the bike.

And yet, despite all that firepower, the forest hadn't lost so much as a single branch. Unless a genuine bug occurred, terrain like this never crumbled.

But the 'monsters' dwelling in this forest were another story entirely.

He hadn't simply spammed magic blindly. From the high sky, far beyond the reach of enemy attacks, he had executed a precision bombing run guided by Intuition. The results showed—the forest's monsters had taken catastrophic damage.

He approached the Soldier Rabbits still staggering, dazed and reeling. They were on death's door; a light brush would finish them. And at one such Soldier Rabbit, he hurled the object clenched in his hand with everything he had.

That object was—

⟪The Magidrive Toothbrush! It's the Magidrive Toothbrush! Ryu Hwi, full-force throw of the freshly pulled Magidrive Toothbrush!⟫

The Soldier Rabbit took the toothbrush square between the eyes and keeled over on the spot.

"THIS is entertainment. Did you all see that?"

"Pathetic little death throes, aren't they, Master?"

Shortly afterward, the monsters that had survived the magical bombardment all went into a collective 'rage' state and swarmed him at once—landing him yet another absurdly undignified game over. It took four or five more attempts before he finally clawed his way out of the first area.

Some viewers laughed themselves silly at his shameless scrambling; others went wild over the super plays that burst out of him every so often. By the time the strategy segment wrapped and they'd finished the third corner of the broadcast, the viewer count stood at 2.4 million.

A record rarely seen by anyone—but still far short of the target. Since the first stream had gone over well, the view count on the uploaded Yggtube video would keep climbing steadily on its own. Everything was in service of a single goal: clearing the mission Yggdrasil had set, and seizing 'LR' in his hands.

Watching the stream footage, Q clutched its belly and howled with laughter. It couldn't remember the last time it had laughed so freely.

Then the video of Ryu Hwi hurling the Magidrive Toothbrush at full force played, and Q burst out laughing all over again.

"Hey, this one's the real deal."

It smelled of money. And money was the smell Q loved above all else.

It ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠had already heard the rumors—that 'Tiamat' had begun to move. And if Tiamat was moving, that almost certainly meant 'Orochi' had reacted to something as well.

"Ever since the UR master showed up, the S.E.N have been stirring one by one? Wonderful. Truly wonderful. Then perhaps it's time I did a little something on my end too?"

Q contacted someone without delay. There was no response for a long while, until at last—apparently sick of the pestering—the other party finally answered.

⟪What is it?⟫

A languid, lazy voice drifted through the line.

"I've found a magnificent man—one you might actually fall for."

⟪Every human you've ever introduced me to has been worthless, hasn't it?⟫

"This time it's the real thing. Not just me, either—other S.E.N are watching him too. The genuine article."

⟪Hmph.⟫

"Now then—time to wake up, Lilith."