[A patron has sponsored you. You now have {1} active viewer]
—
Grey had only read the first notification when a second appeared, and then a third, and then a fourth following it.
Soon, he was getting a continuous ring of endorsements.
’What the fuck...’
—
[A patron has sponsored you. You now have {104} active viewers]
—
The numbers kept ticking upward and Grey was speechless. This wasn’t because of the counter still going up. The real reason was because tracking a participant right now was exorbitantly expensive.
The tutorial was quite clear about how expensive this was. Following a specific participant was almost like paying the subscription for an extra service back on Earth... well, if that extra service happened to be something only billionaires could afford.
Saying Grey had 104 active viewers at this stage of the game was like saying he had 104 heirs, heiresses, and billionaires watching him right now. The fee was so sky-high at this point that these people definitely had "fuck you" money.
Grey raised an eyebrow and opened up another menu.
—
[Muskrat: "Hey, retard. Do you have any idea how many treasures you left behind on your ruin run? What are you thinking? Go back. Go back right now."]
—
It was the only message on the screen, and there was an obvious reason for that too.
If it took "fuck you" money to buy a slot to watch Grey’s personal stream right now, then sending him a message was like if you filled a private jet engine with enough fuel to fly around the planet three times just to cool the soup you got from France enough to enjoy it back in California.
Every character sent was worth a fortune, and there were very strict rules on what could and couldn’t be said through these messages.
Insults? Just fine.
Secret tidbits about other participants and information said participants shouldn’t otherwise know? Strictly forbidden.
This guy, though, didn’t even seem to be trying to minimize his character count at all.
Grey burst into laughter when he read the message. He felt like he was back in a COD lobby.
"Treasures, huh?" Grey nodded. "Is this guy trying to waste my time?"
He had been there personally. If there had been treasures to be had, he would have had them.
A ping alerted Grey.
—
[Muskrat: "Can’t you tell when you’re being targeted by the producers—"]
—
[ Message Erased ]
—
Grey paused and then his eyes narrowed.
’Targeted by the producers.’
—
[User {Muskrat} has been banned]
—
Grey scoffed. "Why don’t you leave it up to me to moderate my own chat? Did I ask for your help, dickheads?"
There was no response, but the number of viewers ticked up again.
It seemed that they had all been waiting for him to wake up. The moment he did, they flooded in.
The numbers were still quite tempered, especially considering this was an intergalactic reality TV show. There were probably trillions of people watching. The fact he only had a little over a hundred was a testament more to the expense than anything else.
Still, Grey’s words got several claps. His other viewers didn’t seem as willing to drop the money it would take to send messages, but they did have free emoji and reaction options.
—
[User {Muskrat} has been reinstated]
—
Grey raised an eyebrow. He wouldn’t be surprised if that cost another fortune.
—
[Muskrat: "Hurry up. You’re making my skin itch."]
—
Being nice to your sponsors was very important. The more sponsors you had, the more airtime you would get, and thus the more sponsors you could attract. A larger number of sponsors meant that there was a larger pool of people who might be willing to send you gifts, support, and additional aid.
This wasn’t possible during the First Arc, but it would be in later arcs.
On top of this, a larger amount of sponsors meant you would be more likely to be called up for interviews and things of the sort. When this happened, the hosts were obligated to give a reward to compensate for time away from the game.
This reward could come in the form of hints, a shortcut, or even more treasures.
It could be said, then, that keeping the rich people happy was a top priority.
Grey’s instinct, however, was to hold up a middle finger toward wherever the invisible cameras were.
However, he didn’t do so. Not because he feared pissing Muskrat off, but because what he said caught his attention.
’Targeted by the producers? Treasures...’
Suddenly, Grey’s heart skipped a beat when he remembered how hard it had been to find the Mechanical Jaw Lineage’s tome. If he hadn’t known it had to be there due to the Quest, would he have looked so hard for it?
Was that what Muskrat was getting at?
Had those bastards been purposely hiding his treasures? Why?
Grey had no idea.
While he knew that having Dual Neuronal Frames was impossibly rare, he didn’t know that it was something worth killing over. He had only hidden it from Joaquin to gain a small advantage, a gambit that didn’t even pay off because Captain Terran stole his items away.
’Do they just not want to admit they made a mistake with my Nexis Suit?’
That made sense to Grey. Incompetence was certainly not something people liked projecting.
Still, if they had hidden those treasures away so well, and they still hadn’t been found now, then they would be unlikely to be found in the short term.
They would be there. Grey had to do something else first.
"Later," Grey said.
Muskrat was already typing again, but Grey dismissed the screen.
Grey shot off again. This time, there was a map of the city in the corner of his vision.
It turned out that the map function was quite rare, but he had gotten it for free thanks to the Mechanical Jaw Lineage Quest. Thanks to that, he was able to download a map of the city right from the tutorial and knew where all the main landmarks were.
It turned out he didn’t need to be a noble to benefit from some of their exclusive perks.
Finally, he came to a stop right outside of another shop. It looked like it was closed down for the night, but Grey still raised a fist and banged against the door.
...
As Grey was doing this, a shadow was rushing out of the city.
"Yes. He finally left. He didn’t leave the city, though. He went into it."