A New Feature Has Appeared! (3): The Dragon's First Stream

A brand-new feature had appeared! Kyuu? “Let’s see… is it working properly?”

While fiddling with the settings to make sure the broadcast was transmitting correctly, the first viewer had already joined.

Kyuuah! “Hello! I’m the newbie cultivator Lin!”

Not wanting to lose her precious first viewer, Lin immediately greeted them, wearing the cutest expression she could manage. Of course, in her true form she couldn’t speak human words, but Daoyeongbang handled that automatically.

Lin didn’t know the exact principle, but it was incredibly convenient—she no longer needed to transform into human form. The more she used it, the more fascinating Daoyeongbang seemed.

While she was busy being adorable and chatting with her first viewer, a few more people joined. These ones seemed a bit more… professional(?).

Kyuuah!! “W-whoa…! Ten whole dumplings!! Thank you so much, SuspiciousFurLover-nim—!”

Ten dumplings were roughly worth ten low-grade spirit stones. It wasn’t an amount you could call small even as a joke, and more importantly, it wasn’t money earned by digging in the ground. Just doing nothing and suddenly having spirit stones appear was an enormous innovation and a whole new world for Lin.

“I just acted cute and spirit stones started pouring in…! This is insanely good!!”

So this was why everyone in her past life had been obsessed with being a VTuber. Lin was finally starting to understand them.

But… Kyuu…? “Wait, if I received a donation, shouldn’t I do a reaction…?”

The thought suddenly occurred to her. Having been an utterly shameless donation beggar in her previous life, Lin knew all too well how important reactions were in this industry—sometimes even more than the content itself. Donation reactions were the most basic and representative line a streamer could have, so making them memorable was crucial.

What kind of reaction would stick in people’s minds? After thinking it over, Lin opened her mouth in a small voice.

Krwang~! “Yongyong~ thank you so much~!”

Kr, khm..! It was a little embarrassing, but what could she do? Lin’s real weapon wasn’t the line anyway—it was the ridiculously adorable aegyo that came with it. Since her true form was already blessed with such cuteness, even a tiny bit of aegyo was more than enough to create an unforgettable reaction!

And the effect was truly tremendous.

The viewer count had already risen from two to five. Just one aegyo and the effect was this good! There really was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠no better cost-performance exchange ratio. Lin excitedly threw more aegyo toward the screen.

Krwang~ Kyuu? Kyuuuung..?

Kyuuah-! “H-huh…! A hundred dumplings?!”

She had already earned a hundred spirit stones just five minutes into the stream! She hadn’t known making money could be this easy! While marveling at the wealth of these suspicious viewers who were throwing money so freely, Lin grew excited at the thought of spirit stones piling up.

Kyuu…! “Wait, wait. A hundred dumplings deserves something a little more special, right…?”

The amount was different, so repeating the exact same reaction felt wrong. Even in customer service, giving VIPs special treatment was basic. “Hmm…”

After thinking hard, Lin decided on a special measure. Right then—

Poof! “Kyuuang-! SuspiciousFurLover-nim~ Thank you sooo much for the hundred dumplings!”

Instead of reacting in her true form, she transformed into human form for the reaction! As everyone knew, Lin’s true form was already extremely cute, but her human form was downright heart-stopping. This wasn’t just her own opinion—it had already been proven by the Daoyeongbang gallery! It was an ultimate move with no room for doubt!

And sure enough, the chat window that witnessed the overwhelming aegyo of her human form exploded into chaos.

The reaction was explosive. The viewer count instantly jumped into double digits. From what she could gather, Daoyeongbang’s live streaming service had only just launched, so it wasn’t yet dominated by big corporations—mostly small streamers filled the space. That made thumbnails and clickbait even more important. Since Lin was confident in both, this environment was extremely favorable for her.

Before she knew it, her viewer count had gone from single digits to a solid double-digit number. Achieving this in less than an hour was quite impressive. Thanks to that, Lin was now busy chatting away with her viewers.

At that question, Lin suddenly remembered what she was actually supposed to be doing.

“Ah, right..! I shouldn’t be doing this right now…”

She had a goal: finding the way to Ju Nation, the greatest human country, to explore their cultivation methods and sects. She hadn’t expected Daoyeongbang to suddenly release this surprise update, so she’d gotten completely distracted. But reaching Ju Nation still came first.

…Wait a second. Did she really need to turn off the stream for that??

“That’s right! I can just turn this whole thing into content..!”

She’d been struggling to figure out what content to make anyway. This was the perfect solution! If she framed it as a healing adventure-type stream, even these small forest adventures could become content. It was a complete win-win—earning money, farming spirit stones, and achieving her original goal all at once!

Once she made ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠up her mind, Lin quickly explained her situation to the viewers.

“Um… so, Yongyong is currently on the way to Ju Nation, the greatest human country!”

“I’m going there to catch the eye of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠some cultivators and become an amazing cultivator myself!”

The viewers’ reactions were pretty much like that. At this point, they didn’t really care what Lin was doing. They had come purely for her adorable appearance, so as long as she stayed cute, nothing else mattered. Well… at least for now. Lin had no intention of abandoning content creation.

Anyway, while chatting with her viewers about this and that, Lin continued heading toward the direction of Ju Nation’s capital. Of course, she kept the stream running the whole time. Having someone to talk to every now and then made the walk far less boring than before. Thanks to that, she managed to cover today’s distance much faster than expected.

“Phew~ Shall we stop here for today? I’ll continue searching next time!”

Unfortunately, she couldn’t stream all day. Today had mostly been a test run anyway… she hadn’t planned to go this long. It was probably better to wrap up and think of new content for tomorrow…

Just as she was about to say goodbye and end the stream—

“?”

A viewer had suddenly typed something completely out of the blue.

“A-a person? Where? Where?? I don’t see anything…”

At the mention of a person, Lin frantically looked around. She hadn’t seen another human in days, and her confidence in finding the right path had already taken a hit. If she could meet someone now, she might finally get directions to Ju Nation. Meeting anyone was urgent for her.

“Huk…! W-where?!”

Someone was collapsed?! At the unexpected situation, Lin rushed toward the spot the viewers had pointed out in a panic. And there—

Indeed, an old man lay there, gasping for breath as if he were on the verge of death.