Personal Broadcast - Part 1
Having obtained what he came for, Sanghyeok left the Six Nine Straight without delay. A primal male instinct had stirred ever so slightly, but this was hardly the time to lose himself in such distractions, so he deliberately pushed it aside and stepped out into the streets.
Leaving the district behind, he headed toward the commercial district of Falcon City, where players bustled in the greatest numbers. As he walked, Sanghyeok kept scooping up fist-sized pebbles wherever he spotted them, tucking them into his bag. Anyone watching would have found it baffling, but he scanned his surroundings with meticulous care, gathering stone after stone.
Upon reaching the commercial district, he checked his gold balance and made a beeline for the consignment shop. Up to now, Sanghyeok had usually visited consignment shops to sell items, but this time his purpose was to buy.
'Fire Dust, Black Stone Powder.'
Reminding himself of the two ingredients he needed, he quickly pulled up the consignment shop's search interface. Fire Dust was an alchemy reagent that dropped fairly reliably from fire lizards in the heated cavern near Falcon City, or from harvesting flame flowers. It wasn't particularly rare, nor was it used in anything crucial at this stage, so the consignment listings had plenty in stock.
Black Stone Powder, on the other hand, was one of the countless reagents used by mages. While it could be obtained through various routes, the sheer abundance of mage classes in EL meant there was always steady demand. Still, supply was solid enough that buying it posed little trouble. In EL, NPCs also procured goods and sold them through consignment according to player market trends, meaning a shortage of active players rarely translated into an empty market.
After purchasing an adequate amount of Fire Dust and Black Stone Powder, Sanghyeok exited the shop.
'Now that I have the Fire Dust and Black Stone Powder, the only thing left is sewer methane gas... That's all.'
Sewer methane gas. Obtaining it was absurdly simple if one knew the trick, but impossibly baffling if one did not.
Sanghyeok first stopped by the largest general store in Falcon City and bought one thousand blank white cards. In his past life, players called these Blank Cards, though at this point in time, hardly anyone even knew general stores carried such an item. Having purchased a thousand of them, he traveled straight to his secret dungeon, Sewer No. 77. Entering the dungeon, he had no intention of clearing it; instead, he stepped into a quiet corner and drew a single Blank Card.
"People still have no clue what these Blank Cards are for."
It would take quite a long time before the player base discovered their true purpose.
Holding the Blank Card in one hand, Sanghyeok quietly focused his mind. More precisely, he pictured the exact image he intended to seal within it. What he wanted was the methane gas constantly billowing through the sewer. In other words, he was about to seal methane gas into the card.
A Blank Card was like an empty vessel capable of holding countless things. As long as one focused mentally and materialized a clear visualization, sealing an object or substance was effortless. Sanghyeok filled fifty Blank Cards with methane gas. Once the gas was sealed within, an illustration of yellowish-brown vapor appeared on the stark white surface, labeled with the words: Methane Gas (Foul Odor Warning).
Having produced the Methane Gas cards, Sanghyeok took out the Fire Dust and Black Stone Powder he had purchased from the consignment shop, fusing them with Blank Cards to convert them as well. Fifty-four cards of Fire Dust. Fifty cards of Black Stone Powder.
"Now, the last one..."
With three types complete, Sanghyeok began converting the fist-sized pebbles he had collected along the streets into cards. The process was just as simple: he merged the Blank Cards with the pebbles, forging Pebble cards. A total of fifty Pebble cards were produced.
With that, Sanghyeok had created exactly four distinct types of cards. The reason was simple: these four were the exact components required for his first card synthesis recipe.
"That this was the recipe for Flame Stone, the most foundational card synthesis in the Heavenly Dragon Overlord Method... no one knew. No—it was a secret known only to Choi Sangyeol and me."
To put it simply, Flame Stone was similar to Fireball, the bread-and-butter spell favored by combat mages. Strictly speaking, its destructive output was slightly lower than Fireball, but its versatility was vastly superior. Regardless, it was a recipe Sanghyeok would use extensively from now on. Individually, each card was utterly insignificant. Yet when these four humble ingredients were fused, they yielded a formidable offensive skill.
"Card Synthesis."
Sanghyeok drew the four different cards simultaneously and uttered the command under his breath. The four cards melted together, and a single magic card labeled 'Flame Stone' manifested in his hand.
The synthesis recipe Flame Stone has been registered to the Soul Skill Card Synthesis.
Total recipes registered to Card Synthesis: 1.
Once registered like this, there was no need to manually pull out the cards one by one; simply holding them in his inventory allowed him to synthesize the skill instantly. Moreover, because Card Synthesis consumed cards to activate abilities, it incurred no additional resource cost. No mana, no stamina... absolutely nothing else was consumed.
However, chaining them without pause was impossible. Every synthesis recipe came with a built-in cooldown, meaning the timer had to fully expire before the same recipe could be triggered again. For instance, the newly registered Flame Stone had a cooldown of eight seconds. That meant he could hurl a Flame Stone once every eight seconds. While individual stats caused slight variations, standard Fireballs typically had a fifteen-second cooldown—underscoring just how outstanding Flame Stone was by comparison.
He had acquired Ancient Knowledge: Card User, and he had prepared plenty of stock for his primary skill recipe, Flame Stone. All that remained was to push forward and monopolize the next opportunity.
Yet before anything else, he needed rest. He had shaved away sleep while grinding Seven Poker in the casino, making this the right moment to recharge. Worse, his lack of physical exercise in the real world had left his body stiff and aching.
'Time to log out.'
He had nearly maxed out his daily connection limit anyway, so pushing further was out of the question.
After logging out, Sanghyeok fell into a deep sleep. As if compensating for days of fragmented naps, he slept like a corpse for nearly five hours before the blaring alarm pulled him awake. He would have loved nothing more than ten hours, but oversleeping risked wrecking his circadian rhythm, so he forced himself out of bed while still feeling slightly unsatisfied.
He took a brisk shower, ate a nutrient-dense meal, and sat down to review real-world news and community discussions regarding EL, as was his daily habit.
'Nothing special going on... Wait.'
Just as he prepared to close the browser, a small banner article caught his eye, and his expression froze in surprise.
"Pu TV... Ah, how could I have forgotten about that?"
It wasn't a catastrophic blunder, but forgetting a platform that would become a monumental chapter in EL history made him feel foolish nonetheless. In short, Pu TV was a personal livestreaming platform analogous to Paprika TV from the 2D internet era. But where Paprika TV reigned supreme in the flat-web days, Pu TV had claimed the crown in the Dimensional Network era.
Pu TV had originally risen to fame broadcasting Fantasy Iron Fist, but in Sanghyeok's past life, it swiftly pivoted its flagship content from Fantasy Iron Fist to EL, cementing its status as the undisputed king of personal streaming.
"Right. It was right around now that Pu TV began aggressively marketing EL."
In hindsight, their gamble paid off brilliantly, but at this point in time, plenty of industry onlookers viewed their bold move with deep skepticism. They argued Pu TV should double down on Fantasy Iron Fist, which was still immensely popular.
'Well, in less than six months, Pu TV will be proven right, and all that skepticism will vanish into thin air.'
Now that it had crossed his mind, Sanghyeok entered the DN and connected to Pu TV. While Fantasy Iron Fist streams still dominated the front page, Pu TV had carved out prime virtual real estate specifically to showcase EL broadcasts. Tuning in was straightforward. Just as one would click a thumbnail on the internet, here a viewer simply tapped the stream portal to enter. The difference between internet streaming and DN streaming was the gap between 2D and 4D. Naturally, the DN experience was incomparably vivid.
'I don't recognize any familiar names yet...'
Sanghyeok skimmed through the EL channels and gave a slight nod. Making fortunes through personal streaming was an undeniable reality, but going live meant laying too much bare. It wasn't an endeavor one could leap into blindly. For someone burdened with as many secrets as Sanghyeok, unscripted live broadcasts were completely out of the question.
'Instead, I'll record footage and broadcast curated videos.'
Guarding secrets was essential, but leaving personal streaming on the table meant forfeiting immense wealth and influence. He had already conceived a method to build a streaming presence while keeping his core secrets locked away.
Later on, when specialized gaming networks like LGN (Live Game Net) stepped into the arena, securing one of the official Live Channels they distributed would be mandatory. That was an entirely different league of prestige and profit. To land one of those limited spots when the time came, establishing substantial name recognition through personal streaming was a prerequisite.
Sanghyeok selected the stream of the most popular streamer at the moment and stepped in. While the broadcaster failed to showcase the game's full potential, it was still reasonably entertaining. The stream featured a raid party tackling Falcon City's sewer dungeon—a hot topic where countless progression groups were forming.
Sanghyeok switched the viewing mode to 'first-person', experiencing the streamer's exact sensory perspective. Over ninety percent of viewers preferred the overhead 'tower view' for its wide, comfortable sightlines, but Sanghyeok had always favored first-person immersion.
'Tsk. You should be blocking here, not dodging.'
He wasn't actively nitpicking, but from a first-person perspective, every mechanical error stood out glaringly. While the chat showered the streamer with praise for incredible plays, to Sanghyeok's eyes, the man was merely a cut above a standard General User. Granted, Sanghyeok's standards were sky-high, so his assessment was somewhat harsh. Objectively speaking, the streamer possessed enough talent to make a bid for pro gaming if he committed to serious training.
Sanghyeok watched for another fifteen minutes before logging off the stream. There was no reason to waste his day watching someone bang their head against a sewer dungeon.
'Not starting a personal stream right this second won't ruin anything. For now, I'll record my gameplay and stockpile content.'
EL supported a wide array of video capture tools, allowing players to record footage anytime, anywhere. However, recording other players without consent was strictly prohibited by law. Secretly filming someone could lead not only to account suspension but also to crippling civil lawsuits with astronomical damages. Such incidents had already unfolded multiple times in other virtual reality titles, teaching all DN users to tread carefully.
Having sorted out his thoughts on streaming, Sanghyeok dived right back into EL.
'My foundational abilities are in place, and the stage should be set by now. Time to hunt down that bastard...'
That target had been in Sanghyeok's sights from the very beginning. He had simply postponed the challenge because the numbers hadn't added up before. But he couldn't afford to delay any longer. He didn't know the exact date when players first took an interest in that entity—or rather, that place. Before others realized its true worth, he had to claim every drop of sweetness for himself.