The stream began and viewers started gathering.
'I wonder how many will show up.'
In the previous stream, there were over 10,000 viewers. It peaked at 15,000 during his interview with Yu Ha-Yeon.
'It's unfair to compare it to that.'
There was a boom in viewers because of the YouTube videos uploaded on that day. They weren't the usual fans who came to watch Almond. From Ju-Hyeok's calculations, Almond had around 7000-8000 fans.
Other than that, the viewers who came on and off were usually tuning in for special events such as interviews.
These viewers had the potential to become Almond's fans, but were equally likely to grow disinterested. As a result, they had to set their expectations to around 7000-8000 viewers.
Ju-Hyeok had to consider how many would stay when they transitioned to LIL. Even though they were fans of Almond, they started by watching him play Battle Large.
'Around half of them probably?'
He predicted around half the viewers would stop watching him, meaning he could start playing with 4000 viewers.
There wasn't anything they could do. LIL and Battle Large were such different games that he needed to focus on the stream’s growth. They would eventually get back up.
After the intro was over, the viewer count showed up.
[Current Viewers: 6.3k]
Almond was relieved after seeing the chat.
'Okay, if it's this much...'
It wasn’t bad. It was 2300 more than 4000. There were probably viewers who came in without reading the title as well. Tomorrow, there would be more.
... Was what Almond kept telling himself.
He was unexpectedly getting affected by the viewer count. No matter how much he told himself that it didn't shrink much, he couldn't shake off the fact that he only had 6000 viewers.
'Are you crazy? Pay attention.'
He started shaking his head to focus and read the chat.
— Are you really playing LIL?
— Aren't you going to play Battle Large?
— You're going to stop playing Battle Large!? You're betraying us!?
— Wow, he's really playing LIL?
— He already has LIL on.
"Yes. As the title says, I'm going to play LIL today."
— Bye bye Battle Large…
[GoddessTears has d 10,000 won!]
[Today's my birthday! B-But it's not like I'm asking you to play Kingdom Age...]
"GoddessTears, happy birthday! Kingdom Age..."
— Kingdom Age what? Say it!
— He can't continue...
— The end is a given…
[Vegeta has d 10,000 won!]
[Are you going to quit Battle Large for good?]
"Thank you, Vegeta. Unless something special comes up, I won't play it for a while. I want to try playing LIL."
Almond wanted to move on from realistic video games to fantasy-based games. He wanted to experience the superhuman abilities that were impossible in real life. Of course, there was a large fanbase that was disappointed.
— Why are you playing that bad game! Play Battle Large!
— Battle Large is much more well-made...
— Hey! If we're talking about that, Kingdom Age is the best!
[KAFCEO has d 1000 won.]
[Hmph. Now can you relate to how I felt when he moved on from Kingdom Age?]
[RubySword has d 3000 won.]
[Almond, good luck in LIL!]
"Thank you RubySword for the words of encouragement! Thank you, KAFCEO. I'm not done with Kingdom Age."
— Just say you're done with it!
— Kingdom Age isn't your side girl.
— Rosenita will remember this.
— You're saying that while you have the LIL tutorial on...
"I'm serious..." Almond laughed and scratched his head. "Well, anyway. Should I start with the tutorial? I have to pick a champion..."
Almond panicked once more after checking the viewer count. He had to pick a champion in the champion selection, but that was skipped. Almond was thrown straight onto the battlefield. Currently, he was a normal human without control over a champion.
"Huh? How do I pick Sana?"
— The scent of a noob! It's beautiful!
— Wow, that's hilarious. How does he not know?
— So adorable how he researched Sana beforehand.
— So you were gonna play Sana. Well too bad! You're stuck with the default!
— Sana is a little iffy. Just start with a tier 1 champion.
Now that he thought about it, he had to pay in-game currency to buy champions. It was unavailable in the tutorial. He was only given three choices.
[Warrior] [Archer] [Priest]
The default classes showed up in front of him.
[Pick a card you desire.]
"Ah... So this is how progression works?"
Most players hesitated here, but it was a no-brainer for Almond.
After the archer card glowed, it transformed into a new card.
[Raina: The Cold-Blooded Evil Archer]
Raina was the archer champion Almond could use in the tutorial.
— Ah, Raina?! Almond's screwed.
— Almond's going to learn for sure.
— Worse than Sana LOL
— Isn't Raina tier 4??
— Noona, kill everyone! Kill Almond too! So he can go back to Battle Large!
— Teach him a lesson, Raina!
Judging from the chat, it seemed like he could get champions other than Raina. Raina was an archer who was two tiers below Sana.
What did they mean by getting taught a lesson though? Was it because she was a terrible champion to use?
"What do you guys mean I'm going to get taught a lesson—"
[Champion Raina's legend is dwelling inside your body.]
A large thud rang from within his body. Was it a special effect?
Almond panicked. For a moment, it was so realistic that he wasn't sure if the effect was in-game or in real life.
Both of his hands glowed bright blue. It started to glow brighter and brighter until a light shot up straight into the sky. Then, something fell into Almond's hands.
It was a bow dimly lit with blue lights. Almond stared at the bow, hypnotized by it.
Almond stared at the bow like a child and the viewers enjoyed the scene.
— LOL Is this the first time he's playing a game ?
— The newbie is so cute!
— LOL The game didn't even start yet
— The newbie smell is so good!
— Warning! It'll get stinky soon!
[NewbieHunter has d 10,000 won!]
[Oh yeah... I haven't smelled this in a long time...]
"Ah, NewbieHunter. Thank you. Was I too obvious?"
— Yes! Make it more obvious!
— Making fun of Almond is so adorable!
Almond was impressed too easily. He had seen it multiple times in streams, but actually playing it was a different sensation.
[Hey, Summoner, what are you doing?]
He heard a voice in his head.
After his shock passed, he realized the champion's voice was in his head. It was Raina.
— LOL He's shocked again!
— Is today just a montage of him getting surprised?
— Someone make a montage of this.
[Why are you standing there like an idiot? Go forward.]
In LIL, the champion narrated what was going on in the game.
[This summoner is quite frustrating. Are they an idiot?]
They cursed at the players as well.
— That's it! Teach him a lesson, Raina!
— The sexy voice! I'm melting...
— Noona, punish him more! Curse him!
"H-Hmph. This champion is a little mean. I must've taken up too much time. I'll move forward for now."
Almond picked up the bow and followed the path in front of him. He couldn't see any enemies yet, but soldiers were walking alongside him.
They faced Almond and greeted him.
"Good morning, Summoner!"
"I'm going to have dinner in hell today!"
The soldiers ran ahead with determined voices. After following them, he started to see the enemies.
To be exact, he could see the enemy turret. Beneath the turret were the enemy soldiers running towards them. They were identical to the allied minions, even their faces, except their outfits were in a different color. It was an eerie sight.
As soon as the soldiers made eye contact, they started fighting with swords.
"These damned bastards!"
The large swords shaped like blunt weapons slammed against armor. As the armor started to get damaged, more soldiers came from behind.
"Aim!" the soldier leading the army shouted.
Then, the soldiers lined up and approached with a step. These soldiers were all carrying bows.
The same thing was heard from the enemy lines as well. They acted the same way as if they were a mirror.
The team of archers fired their arrows. All the arrows perfectly landed on the soldiers in the front lines. The soldiers fell, looking like hedgehogs with arrows sticking out of them. The courageous ally soldiers fell as well.
[Don't just stand there like an idiot and help the soldiers, will you? Pull your bowstring.]
Raina spoke to him while he dumbfoundedly stared at the battle scene. Almond finally readied his bow.
The bowstring made from magic made a strange noise like an instrument as it was pulled.
Thanks to the magic, he couldn't feel the bow's weight when he pulled the string. For normal people, this was more comfortable. However, this felt awkward for Almond. Regardless, he needed to get familiar with this feeling.
[How is it? It's a special bow called Demian. As long as it has magic, even an old lady walking by can pull it. Of course, it only reacts to my magic. Try pulling it as much as you can.]
Almond listened to her and pulled it as far as he could. Since he could stand still and shoot, he readied himself in a shooting position.
He extended his waist, leveled his arm, and pulled on the bowstring with minimal movement.
[Anyway, do you even know how to use a bow... Huh?]
As the blue string stretched, it rested on Almond's lips. Just then, a light blue mana arrow appeared.
Raina seemed impressed.
[Wow, you made an arrow right away? Maybe you're someone of use after all?]
— Is she letting him go already?
— S-She's usually not ...
— Who's this bright-voiced lady?
— Complimenting him just on his form...
— I think it's his looks…
The viewers were upset to see Raina, notorious for being mean, act nice. Raina changed her tone as if she read their minds.
[Hm. No. There's no way a first-time summoner can do that. He's probably an idiot who's just showy.]
— Raina's denying reality LOL
— Kya! So satisfying! This is Raina!
— Suddenly an idiot LOL
[Well, your form isn’t bad, but let's see how well you land them! Take a shot at where I point at.]
A blue target appeared on top of the enemy soldier. Almond released his shot without a hint of hesitation. Even Raina didn’t notice his infamous phantom release.
There was no need to position and aim. It was like an animal's instinct. Once everyone returned to reality, the arrow was already flying and perfectly landed on the center of the target.
The target made a noise and turned to smoke.
It was a perfect bullseye and felt like watching a perfect circle being drawn, a perfect shot. Raina was silent in disbelief.
— LOL Raina, are you bugged out?
— It's probably because she's seeing this first-timer shoot so well.
— Archer Almond... you're crazy here too!
— Raina: How the frick did you do that!
[... You’re quite lucky.]
She determined that it was all luck.
After seeing Raina in denial, the chat was filled with laughter.
Raina spoke up, sounding like she was suppressing her feelings.
[Wipe that smug face, Summoner. It's the real thing from now on. Here, try hitting this.]
Did Raina want to prove a point? She ignored Almond and increased the number of targets.
Every soldier, including the soldiers far away, had a target above their heads. The targets weren't even all at their heads. Some of the targets were on their waists or legs. One had targets on both arms.
He could feel Raina smiling behind him. As usual, Almond stood still and pulled his bowstring.