#005 – Not alternate nor a game, just reality

#005 – Not alternate nor a game, just reality Irid123: this is pretty meta ngl GeorgeDoshington: character development amirite? PrestoFive55: feels a bit too real... SpoOo0oOon: don’t cry Nana it’s gonna be okay SpoOo0oOon: the robot is gone I continued to sob, trying to get it all under control. I just couldn’t help it. I may have acted strong and decisive, but in reality, I had been terrified of my situation. “How...” I sniffed. “How are you guys even seeing this? There’s no camera.” GeorgeDoshington: we live in your eyeballs GonguuH: we can see and hear what you can, I think? GeorgeDoshington: no dont listen to him GeorgeDoshington: we live in your eyeballs “Oh... That’s just... weird. How does that even work...?” I poked my eyelids, tried closing one eye, then the other, as if that would do anything. “Also, how long have you guys been around? Did you see me almost get nailed by that robot?” PrestoFive55: before you hatched GeorgeDoshington: saw you run like a chicken yup Irid123: the stream started a few hours before you hatched Irid123: it was just black for a while “Wait what? Hold on! Doesn’t that mean you saw me naked? Am I gonna get banned?!” I yelled, before quickly realizing the absurdity of that thought. Who the heck was going to ban an interdimensional stream? Irid123: it was censored GeorgeDoshington: black screen “That’s just weird...” I murmured and tried willing the status screen into existence again.Rêạd new chapters at novelhall.com It worked. The window looked identical, except instead of ‘Calibrating...’ under racial skill, it now showed ‘Streamer’. “Is there a description or something...?” I wondered out loud, and as if it heard me, another smaller window popped up. Streamer: Stream your own sense of sight and hearing to a familiar audience and read their responses, reactions, and other feedback. This cannot be turned off. Output is censored during bathroom breaks or scenes of nudity. This skill works retroactively. Half of your Tempor reserves are locked for this skill’s use. Racial skill - Allows access to tier 1 human skills in the skill shop. Purchase every upgrade to this skill to unlock the next tier of human skills and the first Limit break. Upgrade: Extra features (3SP) Upgrade: Admin rights (3SP) Upgrade: Stream history (3SP) Upgrade: Faithful cameraman (3SP) “Huh... That’s...” I hummed. “Can’t be turned off. Well, great. I guess you guys are getting sleep ASMR streams every night. The censor is cool, I guess...? Works retroactively... That’s why you guys could watch me before I even got the skill. That’s just weird... Hmm, the heck is Tempor?” Then my eyes slid down. “Whoa, wait. Upgrades? What’s all this mean? Admin rights? You mean I don’t have admin rights for my own stream right now?!” I yelled in indignation. A smaller window appeared to answer my question. Admin rights - Allows banning, muting, and timing out viewers, and giving moderator rights to them. “...Wow, I really don’t. I need to buy an upgrade first. That’s so stupid!” I crossed my arms in annoyance. “Well, okay, I guess. What do these other upgrades do then, Mr. Status screen?” Extra features - Grants access to direct messaging, polls, subtitles, and group chats with selected viewers. Stream history - Allows you to watch the past records of your own stream and chat. Faithful cameraman - Allows you to stream from a different point than your own position. You can freely move this point in a ten meter radius around yourself. JamieWasTaken3: facecam mode! Jeofffff: get the cameramna Jeofffff: cameraman I blinked. “That’s interesting... Wait, watch past records of my stream? So since this is my own sight and hearing, I can just look back to what I’ve seen and heard? Isn’t that kinda like a perfect recall with extra steps?” GeorgeDoshington: you can go and watch how you flailed against that robot lol Jeofffff: oh shit, that’s true! Irid123: the polls would be nice to have Jeofffff: you can analyze your fight and figure out what you did wrong I grimaced at the thought of having to fight something like that robot again but still nodded. “You’re right Jeoff. That could be useful...” Then I stopped and frowned. “...But none of this would actually help me beat that robot. What’s the point of getting upgrades to my stream if I just die?” I dismissed the little explanation windows and looked at the line I’d skipped over in the streamer skill. “Racial skill... Tier one human skills? A skill shop? Limit break...? What is all this...?” I murmured, once again mentally demanding an explanation. A big window opened in front of me alongside a smaller one. “Whoa!” Because my body was that of a five-year-old, huh? If I did the math, aging sixty times faster for... two months – if that timer was to be believed – would be about ten years worth of growth. So by the time this skill ran out, I would look like I was fifteen? That was super weird... “Hold on, that still hadn’t answered the cursed thing! Or the other two tag things!” Three little windows popped right below the skill’s explanation. [CURSED] - This skill cannot be replaced or removed by any usual means. [FREE] - This skill doesn’t take up a skill slot. [TEMPORARY] - This skill will permanently disappear after a set amount of time. I blinked. Replaced or removed? Right, the status screen did say skill slots, implying that I could normally swap skills in and out. But [CURSED] made it so that I couldn’t. “Okay, this is starting to make a bit more sense. Cursed and temporary basically make it so that I have to keep this skill in my skill slots until it runs out. But that’s not really a big deal since it’s also free and doesn’t take up a skill slot. Neat.” I nodded to myself. Although, that still didn’t explain why I had access to the phoenix skills. Maybe that title thing had something to do with that? I’d skipped over it as well last time... Let’s see... Titles: Certain achievements and feats can unlock equipable titles. Titles have unique passive effects separate from skills and can be changed every 30 days. Available titles: Fire blessed (EQUIPPED) “Right, okay. And what does this title do then?” Fire blessed: You have been reincarnated by a phoenix using the ‘Molten ash of new life’ skill. The title is automatically equipped right after reincarnation. Having this title equipped allows the wielder access to tier 1 (this is fixed) phoenix skills. Equipping it for the first time also grants the ‘Phoenix blessing’ skill for 60 days with [CURSED], [FREE], and [TEMPORARY] modifiers. And there it was. Both the confirmation that a phoenix was responsible for my predicament and also the reason why I had access to phoenix skills. GonguuH: yup, the culprit was a phoenix DecadentLawyer: hey guys Irid123: neat, I guess we’re looking for a phoenix now DecadentLawyer: what’s Nana doing? GeorgeDoshington: sup lawyer PrestoFive55: ARG I stared at the little windows for a good while, not sure how to feel. Where was this phoenix who had reincarnated me? Why did they do it? Why me? I pursed my lips, remembering going to sleep last night. Remembering how hot I’d felt. “Hold on...” I muttered. “Did a phoenix break into my house and burn me alive?!” I shouted. “Why?! Why would – Wait.” I finally noticed what was happening in my chat. Irid123: she’s doing this meta ARG stream where she pretends to be isekai’d JamieWasTaken3: yea its super high quality JamieWasTaken3: cant even tell its a voice changer JamieWasTaken3: its cool DecadentLawyer: oh? interesting RetconRanger: It feels a bit too real to be ARG... Irid123: I’m just waiting to see how she excuses stopping the stream Jeofffff: she just figured out she has an RPG status screen and we’ve been going through it GeorgeDoshington: lol wtf? phoenix bulglar? “Wait... No. Chat. This isn’t an ARG!” I denied. ‘This is real! I’m really in another world!“ JamieWasTaken3: even stays in character at all times JamieWasTaken3: super cool Jeofffff: yes, you definitely are in another world, ignore us PrestoFive55: ok prove it I felt my stomach sink as I read the comments. They never believed I had really gotten isekai’d, had they? They had just been ‘playing along’. After all, they were just watching a stream. Nothing magical or supernatural there. And there was no way I could prove this was real, was there? What could I possibly do to prove it? Nothing. For some reason, I felt incredibly lonely at that thought. Not like them believing me would somehow make me less alone but... SpoOo0oOon: Nana are you okay? “...Yeah, I’m fine,” I lied. “I just need a moment.” SpoOo0oOon: I believe you Nana. And I believe you can make it back home RetconRanger: I believe you too! Despite myself, I smiled. They probably weren’t serious. Probably just played along as well... But it still made me feel just a little better. “Thanks Spoon... You too, Ranger.” I took a deep breath to calm myself. “Alright chat, I–” I blinked, just now realizing that my surroundings were a lot dimmer than before. I glanced to the side and saw red clouds in the sky, indicating sunset. How long had I been sitting here? “Oh...” A chill went down my spine as I realized the predicament I was in. “Crap! It’s getting dark! Chat, what do I do?!”