World Keeper

Chapter 1126: Slime Time

Within the performance theater, the atmosphere was lively. Seats were filled with Keepers and companions alike as one performance after another emerged. Some showed movies from their worlds, others sang or danced, and some told stories or jokes. There were even those that performed magical light shows to impress the crowd.

Such was the typical method for the theater, and many were just there to have a good time as they waited for the meeting to pass. These were people that were not too desperate for points, and thus simply sought to relax.

Thus, when this routine was broken, it drew quite a bit of attention from the crowd. After the most recent pair of dancers left the stage, there was no call for the next performers. Murmurs began to erupt, before a screen appeared, projected in the air.

On the screen was a girl with pure white skin and matching hair, her eyes a deep blue. She wore simple, leather armor, and had a shield and sword strapped to her back. Her hands were planted on her hips as she looked at the crowd. “Hiya everyone! My name’s Lifre, but you can call me MinaSan if you want. It’s the name I’ve registered my stream under!”

“Now, before you start thinking those negative thoughts, this isn’t your typical stream! I’ve worked with the information kiosk lady to make a fun, new way for all of us to enjoy things, so keep listening!”

“I’ll be hosting this stream for the entirety of the meeting, regardless of what happens. And I plan to host it again next time! So, let me go over the key features of the new Adventure Stream, so you all know what this is about!”

Lifre grinned, gesturing to the empty grasslands around her. “I am not playing one of the existing games in the meeting room. Instead, I am playing a completely new adventure, one that will be designed not just by the system, but by all of you! That’s right, the biggest feature of this stream is that the viewers can alter events.”

“If you focus, you’ll be able to pull up a chat room, normal Keeper style. Every now and then, I might look over to see what people are saying, but a lot of the time I will probably be too busy. If you spend a few points to buy a ‘Sponsored Message’, it will be played directly into my head, so I won’t be able to ignore it! Additionally, within the chat room, you will find the options for how to modify the adventure.”

“Right now, the only options are to spawn monsters or items, or to submit a suggestion for new options. The prices for all of these submissions are decided by the system itself, so I will have no say in any of that! Not only that, but I won’t even know if anything has been bought until I find it in the stream! Well, not unless a sponsored message tells me, of course.”

“For those interested in doing their own streams, all points spent by viewers will go to the streamer, and they will also earn a reward based on how many people enjoy their stream! And don’t worry, you can watch a stream in the back of your mind. So, you can do it even while you’re playing other games, if there is a streamer you really want to watch!”

“I’ve already worked out the details with the kiosk lady, and a new streaming center has been created next to the performance theater, for anyone that wants to stream as well. If you want to pull up someone’s stream, just focus, and you can pull up the list of active streamers to view.”

“Well, that’s all from me! I look forward to whatever adventures you seek to thrust upon me, and welcome the challenges with a smile! Until next time, this slime’s gonna keep sliming!” She waved, and the screen flickered out, leaving many people confused. Some got up, and walked down the stairs, curious to investigate this new building. Some looked for the stream, wanting to see what it would be like. Others… well, it was natural that she wouldn’t grab everyone’s attention, so there were many that simply ignored the message entirely.

“Whew! Alright, now let’s see what happens.” Lifre grinned, seeing that the message had been sent. Strictly speaking, she didn’t have to advertise the streaming service itself. If she wanted to, she could have created a climactic battle against a terrifying monster, and directed everyone to her stream at the perfect cliffhanger moment.

However, Lifre didn’t want to do that. Such ‘clickbait’ might work for the initial audience, but it wouldn’t help her to bring in more viewers after that. She needed to carefully explain what these new streams were, and make sure that people were interested in the streaming system itself, not just her stream.

So long as she achieved that goal, the interest would be able to spread more easily. Now, feeling as if she had achieved that goal, she glanced towards the viewer count in the corner of her vision, which was sitting at twenty-six at the moment. “Welcome in, everyone! Don’t be afraid to chat amongst yourselves. Talking is free, after all! Now… I’m gonna get this adventure started!”

Saying that, she pulled the shield and sword off of her back, taking a deep breath. The system would handle the placement of camera angles to capture the best shots, so all she had to worry about was her own performance.

For this adventure, she had set it to begin as a fantasy style story, one where she was a spell-slinging warrior. However, it was important to note that that was only how the adventure would begin. Depending on her viewers, it was entirely possible for her to take a journey through a demonic realm, or even find a crashed spaceship to repurpose.

“Just so you all know, there’s only one restriction on what sort of things that you can have happen. You can’t do anything that will directly alter the streamer. So, you can’t pay for me to just instantly die or change my mind on something, or get new skills. However… you could pay for, say, a meteor to fall on my location, a clue to appear, or for a skill book to spawn with a useful skill. You all can change the world, and I have to live in it!”

After she said that, she began walking, her eyes scanning the grassland, waiting for anything to appear. There were way too many things that she had to prepare for in this chat-driven narrative, and the system was bound to get involved, as well.

Soon, the sky seemed to darken, and Lifre looked up. “Okay, listen, I know I said you could spawn a meteor, but did you have to test that out right away?!” She asked, her eyes wide as she saw a massive stone that seemed to fill the sky.

There was no way that she could dodge this attack. Even if she ran at top speeds, she’d make it maybe a few kilometers at most, before it landed. “You may have chosen to kill me, but I shall not go down without a fight!”

Lifre cast her shield aside, both hands gripping her sword. She had designed a custom magic system for this world, one which combined the Imagination and Runic systems, throwing in a dash of elemental magic. She called it Free Incantation, a system which allowed the caster to create magical effects through customized incantations.

“Awaken, my blade. Sing a song of despair, and shatter all that exists within the sky!” Lifre shouted, her blade wrapped in an ominous, black flame that seemed to screech as it cut through the air.

Lifting her sword with both hands, she swung it towards the falling meteor, blasting out a burst of that same, black flame. A grin emerged on her lips as she saw the flame strike squarely on the meteor. With an eruption of energy, a small chunk broke off of the meteor, which continued to fall towards her.

Lifre’s smile froze as she saw that her attack had limited effect. Moments later, her body was crushed beneath the flaming rock, a cataclysmic event cracking the very planet that she was standing on. The camera pulled back, showing the flames sweeping through the atmosphere, and the deep fissures that emerged on the surface.

Just as everyone thought that was the end of Lifre’s stream, she cleared her throat. The screen cut to her standing in a forest, hands on her hips again. “And… that was the first Bad End! I’d like to thank whoever generously donated for a world ending event. As I said, this stream isn’t stopping, no matter what happens! I can die a hundred, a thousand times, but I’ll persist! Though… maybe next time, at least give me a challenge that is theoretically possible for me to overcome? It’ll be more fun for everyone!”

Lifre glanced to the chat, seeing that quite a few people were laughing at her failed destruction of the meteor. “Okay, at least I didn’t just lie down and embrace death with open arms, right? Give me some credit for that! I’ve put a game system in this adventure, so I’ll be able to handle meteors like that after I level up a lot. Until then, keep it coming! I’ll accept every challenge thrown my way!”

Once again, she pulled out her sword and shield, looking around. “Now… it looks like the system spawned me in a forest this time. Let’s see where this takes me.”

She began to walk through the forest, with no idea of where civilization was, or if this world even had civilization to begin with. The first monster that appeared this time was a green, six-armed goblin wielding six different wands. Each wand fired off a different element of magic. “Now that’s what I’m talking about. If this is from one of you, thanks!”

Lifre ducked behind a tree, jumping up as the roots began to rise up in an attempt to grab her. “Verdant spirits, awaken to my call. Let loose your wrath, and rain death upon my foe.”

As she said that, she kicked off of the tree, feeling her mana depleting Her sword blocked a ray of darkness that shot from one of the goblin’s six wands. The force of the ray thrust her back into another tree, the goblin snickering as it approached her. Another wand lit up with flames, before something whistled through the air, slicing off the hand holding the flaming wand.

The goblin screeched in pain, looking down to see a bloodied leaf stuck into the ground. Looking up, dozens of leaves began to rain down onto its body. Lifre grinned, noticing her experience climbing.

Soon, she had reached level two, and jumped in joy. “Alright! Now we’re making progress! Okay, chat, now you have two choices to make! First, monsters in this adventure drop loot, and you get to vote what loot you want me to get. The basic options are what the monster had on it, but like always, new options can be purchased. Since this isn’t a guaranteed thing, and people would still have to vote for it, I imagine the price of making the option is a lot cheaper than normal.”

“The second thing you get to vote on is what sort of benefit I get for leveling up! Any time I level up, a poll will be held. In this adventure, I can’t see my status screen, so I won’t know what reward I get for leveling up. At most, I’ll know if I get a new ability, but not what it does.”

Lifre smiled wide, rocking back and forth on her heels as she waited for the countdown to end for the polls. If she were in a montage, the rewards would be randomly selected based on the basic options, but she wanted chat to be as involved as possible at the start.

Once the timers expired, the body of the goblin disappeared, and one of the six wands was left in its place. Lifre had no idea which wand this was, but her mana had recharged from leveling up, so she flicked her wrist to test it. A bolt of darkness fired out, crashing into a tree. “Sweet! This will come in handy later!”

As for the reward she received from leveling up, she wasn’t immediately sure. She did not receive a prompt for a new ability, and didn’t feel particularly stronger. However, she wasn’t going to let that deter her. “Let’s see if we can find a town, guys! Then, we can really start an epic adventure!”

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