Chapter Forty-Six: One Hundred Thousand Popularity! (Please Add to Favorites and Vote for Recommendations)

He took off the helmet and flopped onto the bed with force, feeling a dull ache pulsing through his head.

“Could it be that I overdid it fighting monsters just now? Overexertion?” Huang Yunshuo pressed his hand to his temple. For someone like him, fighting monsters for an hour and a half was nothing; even fifteen hours wouldn’t have tired him out. This wasn’t normal.

“Unless…” An uneasy suspicion crept into his heart. Huang Yunshuo made his way to the tech diagnostics room and ran a quick checkup on himself.

“So it’s just excessive mental fatigue.” Seeing the results, Huang Yunshuo couldn’t help but sigh. He hadn’t even been logged in for three hours this time—barely over two and a half. It seemed the Hurricane helmet was truly at its limit and in desperate need of a serious upgrade.

With half an hour left before the others would return, Huang Yunshuo slipped into his room, picked up his photon tablet, and logged onto the chat platform.

Room number: drz02825
Host: Simpleton
Category: Reforged Era
Host weight: 21g
Followers: 56,024

“Over fifty thousand followers now, and my weight’s up to 21 grams,” he murmured.

One Meteor equals 10 Dust equals 10 Galaxy Coins, which is also equal to one Credit Point. One Meteor can be exchanged for a mass of one milligram; it takes a thousand Meteors to make one gram of host weight. Yesterday afternoon, during a lottery draw, Huang Yunshuo received about 21,000 Meteors, worth some 210,000 Galaxy Coins—translating into 21 grams.

It was almost unimaginable how much value a host’s weight truly held. To amass such a figure required an enormous amount of Meteors. Neither Meteors nor Dust were something you could simply buy—though recharging would grant you a few as a bonus, the main way to get them was to snatch them up.

You had to race to various live-stream rooms, trying to grab Rocket and Yacht treasure chests, and if you were a second too slow, you’d miss out. So tying a host’s weight to their status made perfect sense—the heavier, the more diehard fans they had.

Huang Yunshuo didn’t bother to check who entered his stream. Humming a little tune, he logged into his Reforged Era account.

For privacy, whenever his backpack was displayed in Reforged Era, the system would automatically apply a heavy mosaic blur.

He began taking out the items he planned to give away (sell) today, one at a time.

First came a full two thousand copper coins, which he divided into twenty stacks of two hundred each.

Then, seven battered little hand shields. Each gave +3 Defense and had 20 Durability. To be honest, they weren’t nearly as valuable now as they had been even a few hours ago.

The general store’s iron shield—with +6 Defense—cost only 120 copper coins. Sure, the hand shield was light and convenient, but it offered fewer stat bonuses and still took up an equipment slot; once equipped, you couldn’t use an iron shield.

But the math wasn’t so simple.

When Reforged Era launched, not everyone rushed in at the very first second. During the first week, new players joined every minute—there was never a shortage of beginners, especially in these early days. The top players had already left the starting village, but countless newcomers were still creating accounts.

Besides, not everyone was a natural at gaming; some just didn’t care about leveling up, or had other reasons. And there were female players who simply liked the lightness and convenience of the hand shield, or people who wanted a backup piece of armor in their inventory, or those who couldn’t afford the 120 copper for an iron shield.

In short, the hand shield was always in demand, still enjoying plenty of attention.

Next, he produced today’s crown jewel: a newbie iron sword with 6–8 Attack.

The sword didn’t add a huge amount of attack, but it was already a top-tier weapon among players. After all, plenty of former legends from the days of Glacial Glory were now stuck wielding feather dusters and starter wooden clubs.

Finally, the true highlight: eleven carrot greatclubs.

These things fetched 800–1000 copper each on the black market—over 200,000 credits apiece, sometimes even 300,000, and there were still plenty of buyers. Eleven of them—easily two to three million in value.

Even Huang Yunshuo was taken aback by the scale of his own generosity.

Was he really about to shower all these treasures on his silly viewers? Like hell he was! If he had to give them away, today he would bleed his audience dry—money, followers, and a cleaner backpack all in one go. What a win!

Welcome lv1 Newbie Cute has entered the stream.
Welcome lv1 Endless Horizon My Love has entered the stream.
Welcome...
Welcome “Knight Noble” lv18 That Year, That Night, That Sea has entered the stream.
Welcome “Baron Noble” lv31 Her Longing has entered the stream.
Welcome lv1 Morning Dew, Light Frost has entered the stream.
...
Welcome lv47 Peerless Martial Emperor has entered the stream.
Welcome “Knight Noble” lv51 Sword of Despair has entered the stream.
...

He hesitated over whether to take out all the miscellaneous materials in his backpack and sell those as well.

After a moment’s thought, Huang Yunshuo decided against it. The system provided every player with a warehouse of 200 slots—plenty of space, no need to rush to clear it out. Who knew when he might need something in the future?

After these preparations, which took about three minutes, Huang Yunshuo looked up to see the chat scrolling wildly with welcome messages.

“So this is the benefit of having 56,000 followers? I haven’t said a word and there are already more than 5,000 viewers, and the number is only climbing faster?”

Watching the popularity numbers surge, Huang Yunshuo felt a deep, satisfying sense of accomplishment.

It was exhilarating!

“So Morning Dew, Light Frost’s viewer account is only level one.” Huang Yunshuo had luck on his side, spotting the entry of Morning Dew, Light Frost at a glance. He couldn’t help but chuckle—so generous in-game, but a total cheapskate when it came to watching streams.

“So much stuff? Damn.”
“Did he rob the system store or what? How has it only been a short while, and this Simpleton already has all this?”
“I really want that iron sword—6–8 attack, way better than a feather duster. It sells for 30 points in the PvP store, and I only got 5 after five matches.”
“Tell me about it. Just got PK’d, ended up trading blows with a newbie wooden stick like an idiot, neither of us doing any damage.”
“That hand shield—those go for 6 points in the PvP store. How does the host have so many points?”
“Forget the iron sword. I’d be happy just to get a carrot greatclub! I heard only top-tier players can get one to drop. The host might be a bit dim, but his skills are beyond question.”
“You don’t know—the carrot greatclub goes for 300,000 credits on the black market, and you still might not find one!”
“Let’s hear it, is the host planning to sell equipment live? Do we viewers get a chance?”
“Let me tell you—yes! Get your credits or Meteors ready.”
“Don’t ask our big shot for everything.”

Huang Yunshuo didn’t say a word, focusing instead on the surging popularity stats and the endless flood of welcome messages. Watching the numbers refresh, he felt an indescribable sense of achievement.

The trade window on the stream interface was filled with tempting goods—an adrenaline shot to the audience. Excited viewers flooded the room, while those outside, drawn by screenshots, rushed in without hesitation.

A full ten minutes passed before the number of new entrants finally began to taper off.

At this point, room drz02825 had broken through 100,000 viewers!

Huang Yunshuo had done nothing but lean closer to the screen, not uttering a single word, while the barrage of comments below became so dense the content was completely illegible.

“Hey, Simpleton streamer, say something! When did you turn mute on top of everything else?”
“Poor kid—already a simpleton, now he’s mute too. Sending some sympathy.”
“Hurry up and announce the lottery rules! I can’t take it anymore!”
“Big shot, tell us—how’s the lottery going to work? Random comment draw?”