A Precarious First Stream
I had already made a fresh account in advance. The reason was simple: I wanted to reserve the nickname BlackFoxHaruru before anyone else could snag it.
"This is my first time ever making an account and logging in just to sit here, you know. I'm kind of excited. You all are too, right?"
I read the chat. The reactions were mostly negative.
"I think I need to have fans first before I can decide on a fan nickname..."
Once I logged into the character I’d made ahead of time, a simple tutorial started up. The location was the beginner planet Tori, a place modeled after Earth.
"But honestly, doesn't the graphics look pretty good compared to how people talk about it? It's got some real eye candy, right?"
"Still, it's launch day. Can you at least force some praise for me?"
I knew chat would understand what I meant. In other words, I just wanted them to shower me with compliments. Fortunately, they got it, and praise began flooding the chat.
"And this game! As of its tenth anniversary, it's now linked with mobile too! You can play comfortably on your phone or computer, anywhere, anytime. Though, of course, stuff like boss raids will still have to be done on PC."
While I was going through the beginner planet tutorial and getting ready to leave, several other characters came into view.
"Are you all starting with me? I'm touched..."
But every single one of their nicknames was...
All that touched me was a pile of nonsense I couldn't say on stream.
"Huh."
"Stuff like this is normal in livestreaming. You get all kinds of people. But don't worry too much! Once you clear the tutorial, you get the My Room system and your own personal planet, and then we can stream from there."
"Kgh... thanks for the praise, but that's not actually true."
I was flustered for a second, but I snapped back and clawed my way out of that pit. Inside my personal planet, only people I'd invited could enter, so it was much easier to keep the broadcast under control.
"Then let's move on to what you'd call the flower of Unknown Universe. Time for one summoning pull for a spirit."
A spirit was basically a pet in other games. But this game was a little different: in this god-tier title, spirits came with all sorts of absurd bonuses, like attack speed boosts and increased skill damage. Naturally, the kind of spirit with those broken options was SSS-grade, and the odds of pulling one were down in decimal-point territory.
That said, the developers had clearly stated that there would be no tier above that, so everyone advised that the first cash spend should go toward a pet.
"Ten pulls cost twenty thousand won. No, actually, it's only 19,900 won. Come on, you want to do it, right?"
"No. I need to prove that when I say I'm going to reach the summit, I'm not just saying it for show. So I'm pulling for a spirit before I even advance my job class."
What the hell;;;
It just kept getting worse, lol.
Can you stop with the Unknown Universe horror stories already, lol.
It was basically a horror game.
So it wasn't just a matter of ending at 4,000. The people who knew what this game was like were all saying the same thing: you didn't even need SSS-grade spirits to play. Surprisingly, it was a free-to-play-friendly game, and even if you got only a B-grade spirit, you could get by just fine.
"But I'm going to be the summit, so I'm going to try full-transcending an SSS-grade light-type spirit, Mika! Everyone, watch me."
"I'll start light. Let's go with two hundred thousand won."
“Spoilers are banned.”
"The expected value is, as the name says, what you expect. There's a much higher chance of pulling it within that range."
And although I couldn't say it out loud, I had the Goddess of Luck's Blessing. Mm. Right now the goddess was being quiet, but I believed she'd show up soon.
After casually spending two hundred thousand won, I entered the spirit summoning window. And wouldn't you know it, as a first-purchase reward they gave me ten free standard spirit summon tickets.
"Wow... you saw that, right? I just made twenty thousand won already. This game's insane."
I used the free ten-pull first. The result was all D-grade. I had at least expected one B, or at the very least a C. As expected, this game was vicious. What a crazy game.
"That was just the free ten-pull they gave me. The real start is now. Time for the miracle of two hundred thousand won."
While I was rolling through two hundred thousand won's worth of pulls, I thought to myself: isn't it about time the goddess gave me a blessing? Why is she so quiet? I'm starting to get scared.
There are no more standard spirit summon tickets left.
"A-already over?"
No, how was it possible to spend two hundred thousand won and not get a single B-grade? That was honestly surprising. Without the Goddess of Luck, it looked like my usual bad luck from my previous life was still waiting in the wings.
Ah. Right, that was a thing. The timing lined up perfectly. The Goddess of Luck would kick in there, right? Please.
"Thank you. Then I'll pull an SSS right here and end it."
High-Grade Spirit Summon Ticket (B~SSS) x1
Would you like to use it?
Before using it, I folded my hands and prayed.
"Goddess. Just once for me, please, just once..."
Goddess, please. But she stayed silent. Again I was reminded just how infuriating it was to deal with someone so capricious. If I dragged this out any longer, the atmosphere on stream was going to get weird, so I decided to use it already. Even without