Chapter 45: Chapter 44

The first collaboration for the 6th generation was decided to be Minecraft.

"Th-this is the place assigned to us 6th gen members…."

Inagika spoke.

All of us from the 6th generation, including myself, were currently standing in the mountains.

The trees were dense, and there wasn’t a sign of civilization anywhere in sight, not even a single modern convenience.

If there was one small comfort, it was the wooden box placed before us.

"And this… Rion-senpai prepared it for us. I think we can each take one."

When we opened the wooden box, there were four bundles of cooked beef and four iron pickaxes inside.

Each of us grabbed one, and today's host, Inagika, let out a deep breath.

“…From today, we, the 6th generation, will begin cultivating this land.”

So it seems.

This was the Minecraft EYEAI server.

If you’re part of a well-known VTuber company, it’s only natural to have a Minecraft server. It’s such a famous game, with great accessibility too.

EYEAI also had its own dedicated server, and our seniors from the previous generations had already been actively working in it.

However, sandbox games are never fun if you get too much help right from the start.

Besides, as 6th gen members, we were still under collaboration restrictions. So instead of interacting with our seniors, the decision was made for us to team up and tackle this challenge together.

That’s why we were on this remote island.

What are the coordinates? lol

Are they filming a stranded island survival show? lol

The lion throws its cubs off a cliff, huh?

This starting location is terrible.

Let’s start by sending out an SOS signal.

"Wait, hold on. Are you saying we have to live here from now on?"

Sora's avatar looked around, clearly distressed from her voice.

"This place is so high up. The terrain is too rough; I don’t think we can build a house here…." "Yeah, you're right…." "Couldn’t we at least have moved to some flat land?" "There’s no such place around here… to find flat land, we’d have to move far away…." "We’re not seriously going to have to level this entire mountain, are we?" "……."

Inagika remained silent.

That silence was the answer.

【Virtual VTuber Gallery】

[Broadcast] "I don’t like that mountain."

(Broadcast screenshot)

"F*** those seniors…."

[Comments]

Giving only iron pickaxes is too much lol.

At least let them have a simple iron factory lol. ㄴ If there’s an automated factory from the start, it won’t be fun.

Are all four of them going to level that entire mountain? lol ㄴ (Author) There are only three. ㄴ ? But there are four 6th gen members. ㄴ (Author) Aurora bailed. ㄴ ?????

[Broadcast] Aurora is currently in a dungeon.

(Broadcast screenshot)

"I’ll go get some diamonds; you guys can take care of leveling the mountain."

[Comments]

Did she really go in there with just a pickaxe? ㄴ Yup, she went into a dungeon with just an iron pickaxe. ㄴ Is she crazy? lol

Nobles don’t do menial tasks, huh? ㄴ (Author) For real, lol.

The screen is super dark. Where are the torches? ㄴ Aurora can see. ㄴ We can't, though, damn it. ㄴ Why should a villainess care about commoners’ problems? (legitimately asking) ㄴ lol

Even in a sandbox game, she’s got some ridiculous skills.

[Broadcast] But they’re dividing the roles pretty well.

Aurora: Exploring faraway places, gathering hard-to-find resources. Sora: Flattening the land and building a house. Inagika: Building important facilities. Chell: Fishing.

[Comments]

What is Chell doing? lol ㄴ (Author) She’s in charge of gathering food and farming enchanted books. ㄴ While everyone else is working their butts off, she’s just clicking away, lol.

[Broadcast] Is something going on between Sora and Laura?ㅠㅠㅠㅠ

(Sora’s broadcast screenshot)

(Laura’s broadcast screenshot)

What’s with their gaze?ㅠㅠㅠㅠ

Why are they looking at each other so tenderly?ㅠㅠㅠㅠ

Did they meet?ㅠㅠㅠㅠ

Did Laura give Sora a horror game as a gift?ㅠㅠㅠㅠ

Why does Sora look like she’s questioning if she really has to play the horror game?ㅠㅠㅠㅠ

Why is Laura insisting she does?ㅠㅠㅠㅠ

Is Laura building her a house?ㅠㅠㅠㅠ

Are they living together?ㅠㅠㅠㅠ

So if they do it, would the house be their baby?ㅠㅠㅠㅠ

Let’s name the house “Womb”ㅠㅠㅠㅠ

Let them do whatever they wantㅠㅠㅠㅠ

Laura, plant your metaphorical tea leaf in Sora’s heartㅠㅠㅠㅠ

Destroy the earthㅠㅠㅠㅠ

Destroy the companyㅠㅠㅠㅠ

Burn the North Pole to the groundㅠㅠㅠㅠ

Make Sora pregnantㅠㅠㅠㅠ

Give birth to a noble childㅠㅠㅠㅠ

[Comments]

“Noble child” lmaooo.

What kind of academy teaches this stuff?

The tone is killing me, lmao. ㄴ (Author) Why are you so sensitive? Did you have a bad day?ㅠㅠㅠㅠ ㄴ F***ing hell. ㄴ LOL.

But seriously, the vibe between Sora and Laura does seem off.

So, Laura slept with her sister and now her colleague too? ㄴ (Author) Is Anna next? Maybe that’s why Laura’s been distant; she’s probably got morning sickness! ㄴ You’re gonna get sued for that.

I woke up. The current time was 11:12 a.m.

Maybe it’s a stretch to call it morning, but being a noblewoman meant I was used to lazing around until late.

For a noble young lady to take even one step, an entire staff was needed. Maids had to greet her, wash her, dress her, and style her hair, attending to her every move.

So, waking up early as a noblewoman was practically an inconvenience for the servants. When I stayed at the duke’s mansion, I had to force myself to stay in bed until late to avoid troubling anyone.

I spent about an hour fiddling with my phone, reading web novels.

Eventually, I started to feel restless, so I got out of bed and stepped into the VR capsule.

'Should I stream or not?'

I pondered for a moment.

A few days ago, Rion had scolded me a bit.

-"Sister, stop streaming so much…." -"Why do you have 20-hour streams in your archive? Your viewers can’t keep up!" -"You should stream for just 1-2 hours a day! Three hours max! And if you're going to go beyond five hours, at least announce it to your viewers first!"

Apparently, that’s how it was.

I had been streaming Labyrinthos for 20 hours straight, and it wasn’t a good thing. I thought being a VTuber meant I could game as much as I wanted and make money doing it, but instead, it feels like I’ve been gaming less.

'Maybe I should just run a duel without streaming.'

After all, Gate Conquest mode should be done while viewers are watching.

That caused a stir too. I once asked my viewers, "What do you think about me running Gate Conquest off-stream?" and they went wild in the chat, accusing me of slacking off and asking if I was really a VTuber.

Anyway, I seemed to be establishing myself as a Labyrinthos specialist VTuber, so I decided to stream Gate Conquest mode exclusively.

Should I start the stream and do a short Gate Conquest run? Or should I just skip the stream and run a duel?

As I was debating this while launching Labyrinthos…

♪♬♬♩♪♪

The Discord call ringtone rang.

The caller was Ayano Sora.

I pressed the answer button.

"What’s up?" [I'm streaming right now, is it okay to talk for a sec?] "Streaming this early?"

I checked, and Sora had started streaming at 9 a.m.

VTuber streaming schedules are all over the place, but there are some general patterns: morning streams, lunchtime streams, evening streams, late-night streams, and dawn streams.

Evening streams are the most common, and the rest are relatively rare.

Still, there’s an audience for morning streams, like people who watch while commuting. It’s not that there’s no demand, but these streams tend to be quieter, more relaxed.

[I'm playing Minecraft and have a question.] "If it’s Minecraft, wouldn’t Inagika know better?" […Inagika’s sleeping, so I had no choice.]

Sora grumbled a bit.

It had been about a week since the 6th gen started their Minecraft collaboration.

Sora had become completely obsessed with Minecraft.

'Inagika picked a good game.'

Minecraft isn’t a game where physical skill is the most important.

Instead, it's a game where people with good aesthetics or who can build things like the “Bluestone Circuit” for automated factories are highly valued.

Even though Sora had been criticized for her poor performance in Leatherdale, she had become quite the insider in Minecraft.

Her aesthetic sense seemed to be quite strong, and she was rapidly building houses, which had noticeably increased her subscriber count.

[I want to make a beacon, but I don’t know how.]

But despite her artistic sense, her knowledge of Minecraft was still lacking.

So she often asked me or Inagika for help with Minecraft.

Inagika was a Minecraft expert, and I had also played the game a few years ago.@@novelbin@@

'Though I played it on Hardcore mode.'

I played it about two years ago. After defeating the Ender Dragon and the hidden boss, the Wither, I quit.

So I did know a thing or two about Minecraft, though I wasn’t up to date on the most recent updates.

"To make a beacon, you need to defeat the Wither. Do you know about that?" [The Wither? What’s that?] "It’s the hidden boss in Minecraft. You summon it through a ritual, but you need materials from the Nether." [The Nether? What kind of place is that?] "It’s a dimension you can enter by opening a Hell Gate, but you’ll need to gather obsidian first." [I've got one block of obsidian. What do I do with it?] "Hmm."

She really didn’t know much at all.

But that couldn’t be helped. Sora was still a newbie in Minecraft, so it was only natural that she didn’t know these things.

As I was thinking about how best to explain it, Sora spoke up again.

[Now that I think about it, you haven’t logged into Minecraft in a while, right? Our base has changed a lot. Could you come check it out for a bit?]