Chapter 16: Special stat – Nightmare

At the exact moment Edelin ended the broadcast.

Han Yeeun was in an extremely good mood, thanks to her proud older brother who had generated countless clip-worthy moments.

It was a broadcast started secretly from her brother.

But what did it matter?

Her brother got to enjoy the game, which was good for him.

And she got to gather clips and grow the stream, which was good for her.

Wasn’t this truly killing two birds with one stone?

‘Hehehe… how much money did one stream make…’

Although she had blocked the donation settings visible to the streamer…

She hadn’t blocked donations entirely.

Viewers’ donations poured in relentlessly.

Was that all?

Along with the ad revenue that increased exponentially as viewers grew…

There were also streamer membership subscription fees.

“One, ten, hundred, thousand, ten thousand, hundred thousand, million… huk! H-how much is all this?”

Not just the viewers who came hearing the rumors, but the influx of new viewers brought immense firepower!

“If one broadcast brings in this much income…”

Feeling dizzy from the staggering numbers, she had a brief moment of clarity.

Yeeun slapped her cheeks, pulling herself together.

“Right. This is an opportunity. It stings that he’s doing better than me… but if Oppa does well, I have a chance to do well too.”

In times like this, supporting her brother was the right thing to do.

Get a new capsule, replace the rattling washing machine.

Yeeun’s mind filled with happy thoughts.

“Oppa~ What do you want for lunch today?”

Willing to buy whatever he wanted to eat, Yeeun went to see her proud brother.

She threw open her bedroom door.

“…Oppa?”

Her brother, who should have logged out of the game, was nowhere to be seen.

Approaching the capsule, she saw Edelin’s form inside.

“What? Still playing the game?”

She was sure she saw him log out.

Debating whether to let him enjoy it more, Yeeun shook her head and decided to wake him up.

Health was important, even when playing games.

However.

“Why is the capsule open?”

Looking closely, the capsule was slightly ajar.

Yeeun pushed the capsule lid open.

Pshhhh.

“…Oppa?”

Yeeun was so startled that her dialect slipped out.

Understandably so, because the appearance of Edelin lying in the capsule had changed slightly.

Her pure white silver hair was now dyed pitch black.

It was an effect resulting from absorbing the energy of the King of Shadow Nightmares.

“Wh-what happened… Oppa! Snap out of it!”

Startled by Yeeun’s urgent voice, Edelin woke up and rubbed her eyes.

Seeing Yeeun’s serious expression, Edelin was bewildered.

She reached out both hands to soothe Yeeun, but…

“Guaaaack.”

“….”

She ended up vomiting a black liquid onto the floor.

“S-sorry. I’ll clean it up right away.”

Worry turned into bewilderment in just a few seconds.

Watching Edelin dash out of the room, Yeeun wondered if she had worried needlessly.

“I’ve never heard of symptoms where the game affects reality…”

Did Oppa secretly dye his hair before playing?

The black liquid vomited on the floor undeniably suggested an abnormal health condition.

Amidst the confusing situation.

Yeeun wondered if the capsule had malfunctioned.

She pressed buttons, digging through logs and various information.

Beep-

===========
[ Overview ]
[ User Management ]
[ Log Check ]
[ Settings ]

===========

Checking the logs revealed no particular information.

Yeeun pressed the User Management button.

Similarly, there was nothing significant, but…

“What is this!?”

In the process, she saw Edelin’s status window and was dumbfounded.

=====

「User Information (Player Status)」

1. Name: Edelin

2. Class: Mage

3. Rank: 2nd Circle

4. Affiliation: No Affiliated Magic Tower

5. Achievement: True – Liberator

「Status」
[ STR 15(+1) ] [ AGI 20(+1) ] [ VIT 15(+1) ] [ INT 15(+1) ] [ MP 20 (+1) ]
Remaining Points: 5

「Special Stats」
[ Nightmare 10(-10) ]

「Acquired Magic」
▶1st Circle: Light / Fire / … / Lightning
▶2nd Circle: Fireball / Ice Ball / … / Shield
▶Unlocks as Circle increases. ( Remaining MP value 9 )

※ Currently consumed by Nightmare.

=====

Her brother’s status window was strange.

[Achievement: True – Liberator]
[A privilege granted to the server’s first liberator.]
[Achievement Effect: All Stat Values +1]

All stats increased by 1 for clearing the hidden liberation quest.

Just looking at the effect, it was a high-performance achievement.

As far as she knew, the best achievements only raised a single stat.

As if that achievement, which would make viewers faint if they saw it, wasn’t enough…

Why were the basic stats like that?

“Almost all stats at 20… means starting as a 2nd class in every job category.”

The stats in Kairos Continent were simple.

Everyone started equally with base stats of 10.

Every 10 points met the minimum requirement for the next class tier.

Meaning, to become a 2nd class Swordsman, Strength and Vitality needed to be 20.

To become a 2nd Circle Mage, Intelligence and Mana Power needed to be 20.

Each time a rank increased, remaining points were given to invest in desired stats.

This raised a question about stats.

How were the remaining stats, after investing points, supposed to be covered?

Naturally.

The method was to grind time, build proficiency, and raise them by 1 point increments.

Gaining combat experience by fighting monsters.

Or rolling around sparring with others.

It was a system where stats increased by performing actions or training relevant to that stat.

And the higher the stat, the more proficiency was required.

So, purely raising stats was a demanding structure.

“Was Oppa’s physical ability really that outstanding…?”

Exceptionally, enabling Realism Mode applied stat corrections mirroring reality.

Edelin’s pure real-world abilities had influenced the game.

‘How did such stats come from that slender body?’

Perhaps Edelin, wiping the floor, felt her sister’s gaze.

“What is it, little sister?”

Having finished cleaning the floor, Edelin approached Yeeun and asked.

“Hmm…? This is…”

Then she noticed her own status window was open.

“Hooh…”

Edelin examined her status window with interest.

Truthfully, she didn’t really know what was what, so she just skimmed it, getting a general sense of the numbers.

“But what is this ‘Nightmare’?”

She pointed directly at the most concerning part of the status window.

Yeeun tilted her head, indicating she didn’t know either.

“Well. I’ve never seen Special Stats before either…. Maybe it’s related to being consumed by Nightmare?”

“Consumed by Nightmare…”

‘It might be related to absorbing the King of Shadow Nightmares.’

Even without looking at the status window, she knew her own condition better than anyone.

The reason for the Special Stat. The ominous phrase “consumed by Nightmare.”

It must be because of the boss’s energy filling her Circle.

‘First, I need to figure out what to do with the boss’s energy…’

Should she expel the energy contained in her Circle?

Or fully assimilate it as nourishment for her own vessel?

It was time to decide.

The answer was already set.

“Little sister. By any chance, are there Magic Towers… no, mage-related branches in South Korea?”

“Mages? Probably, why?”

“Let me ask you a favor.”

Leaving behind an “Okay” to her brother’s baffling request, Yeeun exited the room.

“Sorry, little sister.”

Simply refining the energy in the room carried too great a risk.

What if the energy went berserk and caused an accident?

Or if this energy were somehow discharged, it could pose a grave danger to the real world.

She needed to be extremely cautious about safety.

‘I should probably take a break from the game until I deal with this energy.’

A statement that would have made her viewers faint if they knew.

But it would never reach her viewers.

What were her viewers doing now?

[ – My standards are too high now, other streams don’t look appealing.]
[ – My body won’t accept anyone but High School Girl-chan.]
[ – Other mages take forever to cast magic.]
[ – So when is she coming back?]
[ – How would I know?]
[ – Guess I’ll just lie down until she comes back then.]
[ – ●▅▇█▇▆▅▄▇ ]
[ – ●▅▇█▇▆▅▄▇ ]
[ – ●▅▇█▇▆▅▄▇ ]

A chat room without its owner.

People waiting with the stream window open, just in case the owner returned.

Except there were quite a lot of them.

[ – Almost a thousand people gathered in an empty room, is this real life?]
[ – lololol Looks like everyone’s watching while having other streams open IRL]
[ – But there are no other streams worth watching, right?]
[ – TTTT F*cking btard, why you gotta hit where it hurts]
[ – Recommend some streams to watch while waiting. I’m dying here.]

People going crazy from boredom and waiting, sharing and evaluating other streamers’ broadcasts.

[ – Recommend the streamer Kim Beopsa (Kim Mage)]
[ – I don’t watch male streams.]
[ – Then there’s no one to watch?]
[ – TTTT Shibal]

Amidst the chats exchanging trivial stories…

A chat message with a link popped up.

[ – Hey guys, breaking news. Did you know the boss High School Girl-chan cleared is now out as a raid?]
[ – Yeah, saw that.]
[ – The game company just opened a raid competition content called ‘Contest Mode’ for one day only.]
[ – Contest Mode? Ah. The competition for who clears the raid fastest?]
[ – So what? Isn’t it just raid content in the end?]
[ – That’s not the important part. Not only do you enter with stats like High School Girl-chan’s, but the monsters’ specs are supposedly similar too lol]
[ – So other streamers are declaring they’ll clear it, saying they can’t lose to a newbie streamer lolol]

To experience firsthand the rumored feats of Edelin…

The viewers became excited along with the news that streamers were forming parties to clear it.

[ – From the streamers’ perspective, it’s content they can’t afford to lose lolol]

The massive rewards obtainable by clearing the new content first.

Being able to promote themselves and attract viewers with the title of ‘First Clear’.

And even certifying that their skills were equal to the genius mage, High School Girl-chan.

Content that killed three birds with one stone.

Every streamer’s eyes became bloodshot.