“Need to pee, need to pee.”

The hour past midnight, a man with the name of Andrew was just about to sleep when suddenly his bladder failed him.

Relieving oneself was not a problem. However, his doziness was all gone. He just experienced one of the top ten most annoying things everyone would experience at least once in their lifetime.

“Let me look up the stream of San to help me sleep. It must be very boring.”

If San had heard that, he’ll definitely ban him. He also has more things to worry about because what the stream was showing is a fight cinematic that was so realistic Andrew thought it was a movie.

“Wait, that voice should be San’s. It’s not a cutscene?”

Andrew thought the voice was coming from San’s commentating while he was playing the game. But hearing it closely, all sounds were coming from the game itself.

Although he didn’t really care about it because he thought the game just had an amazing voice chat feature.

“Cultivation Realm? Is this a new game or a really old game no one is playing?”

He concluded it was the former because everything about it just says new. Graphics, details, sound quality, and even the enemy in front look excellent. Better compared to few games he played.

He was not an avid or an up-to-date gamer so he doesn’t know if technology in gaming has advanced this far.

But this stream should make him sleep somehow- Yet, it never happen because he was too hook on it.

******

Back on the streamer himself, he was still busy fighting for his life.

“This hippopotamus is slower compared to the Green Serpent.”

I was able to relax a little bit after zigzagging around the vicinity of their camp. Nicolas has led his targets further away than where I am so it isn’t a problem bumping to one another.

I am able to escape immediate death but at the same time, it’s still a stalemate. I'll lose stamina first before the enemy loses theirs at this rate.

“ How should I approach this?”

I might find using my sword quite difficult than I expected. That skin must be thick as hell if it’s just ramming through all these trees. Killing it silently is already out of the option. Thankfully, no one has check what’s happening at our side. They might be too afraid to get involved.

I don’t know what’s happening at the side of Nicolas so I can’t depend on him. I am losing ways to fight back as the battle goes on.

And what I feared the most came.

Losing my focus because I am too tired, I didn’t spot an overgrown root which resulted from me falling face first. The distance I made between me and the hippopotamus wasn’t far so the charging big boy is coming at me at a destructive speed now that I am on a straight path.

I tried the last option and said out loud ‘log out’ but nothing happened. It was what I feared- you can’t exit to the title screen in the middle of a battle.

When an unreligious person like me starts praying, that means I’m waiting for my death.

The figure of the hippo was blocked by a badge with ‘2’ and a person’s silhouette written on it.

I know very well what this is because it’s in my achievement tab on my profile page I checked before I started the stream. This is the first badge a streamer can earn in their career, and it can be unlocked by having two viewers at the same time.

True to it, opening my stream interface in-game, the viewer count had turned into two without me realizing it. Although the chatbox is still empty so I don’t know who it is.

“Hello. My name is San3P, and this is- Jackass.”

This situation feels right to have to introduce myself like that. Running in front of a mad hippo should have been one of the ideas the cast had. It’s probably been crossed out because it may result in death.

Bzzzt!

A pulsing feeling suddenly came right in my head then chest then my whole body. It was painful at first but it quickly subsided which was then followed by a pleasant effect. Like an acupuncture massage hitting the right spots.

“This feeling…”

Powerful, that is what I described myself right now. If I’m not mistaken, I must have taken the first step in cultivation. Having a burst of energy, I jump to the side to avoid the upcoming charge.

“Not today, you piece of fat shit!”

The viewer would have commented in some way like ‘Who’s talking, you should look at the mirror' if the view in his stream is in third person. But since what they see is what I see, they must be amazed at how fast my reactions were.

The hippo also looks surprised. He never thought that an easy prey could avoid that. I’m even amazed at myself on how I was able to escape in one piece.

“This is the time to fight back. Just like how protagonists are often shit in the beginning, I’ve gained some power.”

Explaining the context of why I was running away, my image should recover somewhat. Talking to the audience is a key factor for streamers so I’ll talk to myself in the game more often in the future.

However for now, I need to put all my focus on this battle.

The sword in my hand is much lighter compared to when I picked it up. I’m confident I can use it now rather than it being a handicap decoration.

Doing a 180 turn, the hippo came at me for the second round. This time I am prepared to receive it instead of planning to make my escape routes in the darkness.

One second, two seconds, three… I estimate how long this hippo reaches me so I can point my sword at it and bury my sword using its momentum.

When I counted to twelve, I raised my sword directly in front where his head is. It noticed my action, but it was too late for it to stop. Its heavy body was too much and physics did its job.

The tip pierce its thick skin and contact has been made.

It took all of my strength in my arms and feet to push back the tons of force heading in my direction. I was dragged a good meter and a half before movement finally ceased.

My hands are numb and I dropped my sword from shaking too much because of part forcing myself, and part adrenaline.

“I-I-I did it… I fucking did it.”

Looking at the corpse that was very healthy a second ago, a big smile appeared on my face. The blood and the squishy feeling I felt when stabbing the head of the hippo were all put at the back of my mind. I am too happy to successfully hunted my first monster.

My legs gave out on me and I fell on my butt. I was hoping an item would drop after the corpse disintegrates, but it’s realistic up to this point. I probably try and learn how to skins animals if I want to earn money from killing monsters.

I’ll just think about it later because I’ve got too much blood in my hand.

My mind seems to also have strengthened because I was fine observing the slight gory scene I did.

Hopefully, I don’t get my stream banned.

Now that I need not to worry about a big animal chasing me, I dissected the reasons why I got this power up. From recalling the past event, It was either earning the badge or having a viewer. I think it’s the former or a little bit of both.

“I’m going to take a break for a while. This game is too hardcore.”

So I left after the exit screen option showed up again. I’m just going to grab a drink and calm my mind for a sec. The serene and comfortable room of my small flat is heaven compared in-game. I wanted to stay as long as possible, but I can’t keep Nicolas waiting.

My first viewer is really quiet. I don’t know their username since they haven’t touched the chatbox yet. I might mistake them for a bot if it wasn’t for my badge.

Bots aren’t counted as official views. Hitch is doing a good job identifying which are bots then banning them indefinitely. So I can’t cheese start here.

Looking at the title screen that changed once again fitting to what the environment my in-game character had, it’s a piece of artwork commissioned at a high price. The only thing stopping its value is the dead hippo lying right under the game title.

“Ok, time to return. I want to understand how cultivation really works.”