A Fun Joint Stream with Lilith... ?

The co-stream with Lilith was going exactly as planned.

We’d only exchanged a couple of lines so far, but she was such a perfect bounce-back partner that it made throwing out jokes and quips feel effortless.

— Lmao

— She said she was going to the bathroom, is she dead or something?

— How do you spend ten minutes in the bathroom?

— So when are you gonna duel? So when are you gonna duel? So when are you gonna duel?

Honestly, the chat wasn’t bad at all.

To be fair, we’d barely started the co-stream and Lilith had already announced that she was going to the bathroom.

“I’m so sorry, everyone, nyang! And I’m sorry I made Arunyang wait so long, nyang!”

“You can just step away all of a sudden like that? But did you cover everything properly with sand?”

“Of course I did not use Lilith’s soft little paws for that... nyang!”

— LOLLLLLL

— Weren’t these two co-streaming for the first time today?

— She started roasting her instantly lmao

— Right? Cats are supposed to use sand after the bathroom.

“Arunyang, stop saying weird things and get ready already, nyang!”

“I’ve already finished preparing while Lilith was away, so all you have to do is send the invite!”

The We Need You to Protect Our Station event had a mini-game that could be played in multiplayer.

Today, I was planning to spend a few hours on that, tease Lilith relentlessly, and farm a whole buffet of streaming material while I was at it.

“I sent the invite, nyang!”

When I hit accept, the game ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠screen flashed black for a moment.

Then my character was instantly transferred to Lilith’s ship.

When you were invited like this and riding on the same ship, you could enjoy all kinds of multiplayer content together!

“Oh... as expected, Arunyang! The golden Sera skin looks pretty, nyang!”

“At first I thought the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠gold was a little tacky, but the details are actually nice, so I like it.”

“I thought so too, nyang! Then did you buy the new skin they released this time, nyang?”

“Uh... where do you buy that?”

— ???

— Huh?

— You didn’t buy that?

“Arunyang, you really don’t know, nyang? Everyone was going crazy over the new Mei Ling skin they released this time, nyang!”

“When did that come out?”

What? Nobody had said anything in clan chat either.

No, more importantly, where do you even buy it?

“It came out the day the event started, nyang!!!”

“Yesterday? I thought you got it by clearing the event?”

I knew exactly which skin she meant.

It was Mei Ling in a pure white ao dai, and her mechanical prosthetic arm looked pretty damn cool.

Of course, the thing driving people insane wasn’t the robot arm, but the ample chest window and the hips and thighs so overflowing they practically spilled out of the design.

“Nope, nyang! Mei Ling’s Space Ao Dai skin has to be bought with money, nyang!”

“Uh... where do you buy it?”

Why had I never seen a menu for that?

— Lmao

— Someone added up the payment history last time and it was almost ten million won.

— How do you not know????

“Arunyang! Were you actually an operator account?”

“N-noooo! No! I seriously don’t know where to buy it! If I did, I would’ve already bought it!”

“Arunyang, surely you didn’t just never click the TeraTech Shop menu, did you?”

“...I’m hearing that name for the first time.”

— ???

— ??

— She really doesn’t know?

— Wait, did this idiot spend recharge currency from the gacha screen??

“Arunyang... where have you been recharging your gems all this time?”

“From the gacha screen that pops up when you press F1? They tell you about it during the tutorial, don’t they?”

“You mean you were buying it by pressing the ‘Instant Recharge’ button that comes up there?”

Wasn’t that obvious?

“Yeah. There wasn’t anything else there, right? Just, like, one truck and half a truck’s worth of stuff. And a few minor things besides that?”

“Ah, Arunyang, surely you have never, not even once, ever entered the TeraTech Shop?”

“...Wait, what?”

— ????

— ??

— She’s seriously saying she didn’t know?

— So she spent recharge currency straight from the gacha screen??

“Arunyang... where exactly have you been buying your gems?”

“From the gacha screen that appears when you press F1? The tutorial explains it at the beginning, you know?”

“You mean you’ve been buying it by hitting the ‘Instant Recharge’ button?”

Wasn’t that the most natural thing in the world?

“Yeah, because there wasn’t anything else there. Just a truckload and half a truckload, more or less. Some small odds and ends too?”

“Arunyang, surely you have never, not a single time, actually gone into the TeraTech Shop, have you?!”

...Huh? What was this? Why was everyone reacting like this?

I’m not stupid. I’d studied that UI hard, trying to make the smartest purchases possible, checking every corner of it.

— Like hell he wouldn’t lmao

— Who doesn’t know about monthly contracts after dumping ten million into a game?

— lol for real

— Even a newbie would know that.

“...Lilith? What are the TeraTech Monthly Contract and Citadel’s Favor?”

“I-I-I-Ick...! Arunyang! How in the world did you even spend ten million won?!”

“I just honestly bought ten million won’s worth of Flashing Dream.”

“Arunyang! The monthly contract means a subscription, nyang! Citadel’s Favor means the battle pass, nyang!”

“Ah! So those are the things people said were great value in the strategy guides? I couldn’t buy them because I couldn’t find them no matter how hard I looked.”

I hadn’t been in a hurry enough to go searching for them.

But why did they have to name things so damn confusingly? Even from the class names, I’d felt it—why not just call a monthly subscription a monthly subscription?

Monthly Contract, Citadel’s Favor, Militech Shop... Why were there so many proper nouns?

“Anyway... I can see how insanely wasteful Arunyang’s spending has been.”

— Honestly, I didn’t think she’d actually not know.

— This has to be a bit, right? How do you not know what a monthly contract is?

— So the reason she wasn’t using the skin wasn’t because she was showing off the golden one, but because she genuinely didn’t know?

— Dumping ten million straight into gems is also a skill.

“First! To open the TeraTech Shop, press F8, nyang!”

F8? Not 1, 2, 3, 4, but F8? What kind of lunatic assigns a hotkey to F8?

What, there’s even some kind of anime opening?

“...Arunyang!! You really are opening the TeraTech Shop for the first time, nyang?!”

“Why would I lie about that?”

With Lilith in utter disbelief, the animation ended, and a female character wearing sunglasses appeared along with a cluttered, dazzling UI.

“Oh! Here it is? The monthly contract and the Citadel thingy?”

“T-th-that’s right, nyang... If you click on them with the mouse, it tells you exactly what each product is.”

“This monthly contract really is that good? It says you get 300 gems when you buy it.”

“The 300 gems aren’t the point, nyang. The real point is that it gives you 100 gems every day you log in.”

“Uh... that doesn’t seem that great?”

— ???

— What the hell is she talking about?

— Why is it not good??

“You pay five thousand won and only get 300 gems right away, right? 300 gems is one pull. It’d be better to just buy a truckload and do eighty pulls...”

“Arunyang! Are you crazy?! You’re not buying 300 gems for five thousand won—you’re buying 300 plus 30 days times 100 gems, so 3,300 gems! That’s insane efficiency, nyang!”

“Uh... but you have to wait thirty days, don’t you? You can’t pull right away.”

“Uh... but isn’t my thinking right? The gems in Galaxy Train are needed for limited character pulls, and because they’re literally limited, you only get three weeks to pull for them?”

“Arunyang...”

“So getting 100 gems every day for thirty days doesn’t really feel all that amazing.”

“Y-your economic concept is completely broken, nyang! Then what about Citadel’s Favor here?!”

“Ah, this is obviously a steal.”

— A steal, my ass

— Why is losing called a steal lol

— Is this the mindset of rich people???

— Holy shit, the way she thinks is legendary.

“Why do you think that, nyang?”

“If you look here... the Citadel ‘premium’ favor costs fifty thousand won and gives you a profile picture and ship decoration items, right?”

“Arunyang, are you seriously thinking it’s a steal because those items can only be obtained by buying the premium favor?”

“Of course. If I don’t buy them now, I’ll never get them. This is exactly what they mean by something priceless!”

People didn’t go crazy over event giveaway characters for no reason.

The game company didn’t hand out event-limited weapons and skins because they were a bunch of idiots!

Honestly, back when I used to play mobile games, I’d always been obsessed with the stuff you couldn’t buy later like this.

No, I really didn’t get it.

Wasn’t the whole point that you should buy the things you can only get now? If they’re gone later, you’d probably regret it like crazy.

“Arunyang... how far did you raise Serena Ha Eunrich’s skill level?”

“Huh? Out of nowhere? Um... do you want the answer including the three extra levels I got from full dupes?”

“Arunyang, surely it isn’t level thirteen?”

“That wasn’t possible because I was short on some materials. From what I could tell, the only ways to get them were the ones you get one by one while pushing the main quest and the currency you can exchange from clearing events?”

So I’d thought the game company was, to some extent, trying to curb pay-to-win.

Sure, there was that tiny issue where full dupes were required, and unlike a base-copy user, all skills didn’t cap at level 10 but at level 13...

But honestly, if a single ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠character cost 300,000 won, they should at least treat you that well, right?

— Wow lol

— A legendary event has occurred.

— She wasn’t fully built?

— Isn’t she rank one in combat power?

— So she wasn’t at full power this whole time?

— Did she become number one by farming Arcana like a psycho??

Uh, uh... what was this reaction?

I didn’t think I’d done anything wrong...?

“Lilith? Teragora is what I think it is, right? The one where skills 8, 9, and 10 each get +2?”

“That’s right, nyang! Arunyang, don’t tell me you never bought the Teragora package sold in the previous version, nyang?!”

“Of course I didn’t. I didn’t even know this TeraTech Shop existed, remember? Oh! Here it is! VIP Room!”

Seriously... Chinese games really are weird.

Why do they make the UI so damn awful?

Why not just write “Shop” and then mark things as “Always Available” or “Limited Sale”?

They really do make it as miserable as possible...

“But this lineup is actually really good! Wow, seriously, this is great. There’s so much packed into it!”

“People who care a lot about clan battles or the Colosseum like Arunyang should buy Teragora Package 1, nyang.”

“Those Da Vinci Coins are the thing you exchange for materials needed to level up skills, right?”

“That’s right, nyang. If you calculate those as gems by factoring in Trailblaze Power, they add up to quite a lot, nyang! Plenty of people save Trailblaze Power that way and farm Arcana instead!”

So, for around seventy thousand won, I could make our Sera even stronger, right?

“...Huh? You can’t buy it infinitely? I can only buy two?”

“W-what the hell are you talking about all of a sudden, nyang?!”

— But against ten million, 120,000 is basically nothing.

— Is she going to buy Package 2 too?

— No way, she just saw it for one second and bought it instantly. Is she insane?

— Damn, how rich is she?

Package 2? Where was that?

“Ah... I can only buy one of this too.”

“A-Arunyang!! What are you doing?! Package 2 is not something you buy, nyang!”

“Huh? Why not? I should buy it. That way I get more Teragora, right?”

“Think about it, nyang! You can buy 3 Teragora for 60,000 won! But if you spend 120,000 won, you only get 5 Teragora! That’s a loss, nyang!”

“Come on—when you calculate it like that, it doesn’t work! If I buy this, I get 3 Teragora, right? There’s no other way to get them!”

— Wow, first time I’ve seen a streamer talk like this much of a whale.

— Holy shit, first time I’ve seen someone buy every Teragora package.

— She’s not a crazy whale, she’s the server lord;;

— Honestly though, if I had the money, I’d buy it too, yeah.

“But where’s the Mei Ling skin?”

“You can buy the Mei Ling skin in the Black Market, nyang.”

What the hell, if I’m buying the skin anyway, isn’t it better to buy the one below?

“If you just buy the small gift—”

“Huh? I bought the one below? Is this a loss?”

“The only thing losing here is Arunyang’s bank account!!!!”

The moment Lilith screamed, the chat exploded.

“Uh, n-no... if you’re going to buy the same thing anyway, isn’t it better to get the one that gives you extra stuff? And black stockings are sexier than white stockings, too...”