021-040 · 024-ch20

Chapter 20: About This World

Yesterday's stream introduced weapons, then I ate udon. The udon was actually pretty good. Monsters in the world beyond this dungeon - a lot of them seem to give meat that's overall quite tasty. I wonder if it has something to do with mana or something - maybe I'll figure that out someday. But well, if it tastes good, then that's good enough for me.

So, what should I do for the next stream?

"Not that the streaming itself is bad or anything."

『Gaw gaf, hagu hagu』

I stroke the flank of Robo, who's tearing into a huge chunk of meat beside me, and mutter that to myself.

Streaming. The act of it. A hobby?

I don't really know what it is to me yet, but for now I'm having fun doing it. Interacting with people at this kind of distance is actually pretty enjoyable.

The question is, what should I stream? No, the question is what I'm even supposed to stream - that's still what troubles me.

"Marginalia would be too shocking to show, or rather the impact on the surface would be too big and I hesitate about how to present it. The World Tree area is just natural terrain at least... but even there are traces of an elven village."

There's frozen tundra not too far away, and that too has normal traces of humanity from this dungeon world. Then again, that place is basically preserved in ice like some giant freezer. Snow mountains are ridiculously far off though. The Great Quicksand Desert is a spectacular fantasy landscape, but it's also an area I haven't stepped foot in yet. Going there just for sightseeing feels somehow unsettled.

"Tricky."

This world inside the dungeon. There, traces of humanity remain. Not the humanity that came from outside the dungeon like me, but traces of humanity that was originally from this world. Traces, or rather perfectly intact large cities, watchtowers built to monitor something, villages, abandoned magitech machines - the proof of humanity's existence remains scattered all around.

Investigating each of those in detail is one of my current goals. For example, in the city whose pronunciation I only know as Magnolia, there's a great cathedral, a library, and a huge castle. With religious buildings and books, if I investigate I'm sure information will emerge, or at least I'll see something. Well, if you ask me if I can read the writing, I'd tilt my head.

"Maybe I should've talked to a linguist."

That's just something I thought of now, but I'll think about it when I have a chance to go to the surface. Whenever that might be.

For now, I want to think about where to draw the line on what to show on stream. My current stream doesn't have many viewers, but the people watching might spread information, and I'm keeping the archive itself as limited public for channel subscribers.

In that context, wouldn't the information that humanity existed beyond the dungeon cause a huge uproar? Well, as long as I'm in the dungeon, even if the surface goes into a huge uproar, I won't be inconvenienced by it. But I also think it'd be a shame if I couldn't do these currently pretty enjoyable streams anymore.

That brings it back to the question of what to do with the stream content.

Plus there's the problem that I just go wherever I want to have fun without doing proper surveying of detailed maps or village locations. If I carelessly stream while walking around, even if I avoid major human traces like large cities, there's a possibility I'll stumble across smaller human structures like hunter cabins or woodcutter huts.

"Well, thinking that far ahead feels a bit off too."

But if I have to worry about that much to stream, I know from experience that I'll definitely break down mentally eventually, and I don't want that. You get exhausted from being too considerate. So you need a sense of balance - being curious about things but moderately ignoring them.

In the end, thinking too hard didn't lead to many good ideas. For now, I decided I'd stream my exploration while avoiding obvious structures as much as possible. Well, by spreading information myself, I hope people will build up resistance to shocking information too.

＊＊＊＊＊＊

"So anyway, starting today I'll be going on a bit of a trip."

>>For what reason? >>No one's gathered yet though

"You guys have just over ten channel subscribers but pretty much everyone always gathers huh? You getting notified or something?"

About a minute after starting the stream, two viewers had arrived, so I asked that without thinking. I haven't done any kind of announcement or anything, but do WeTube notifications really come that precisely?

>>With WeTube notifications, everyone who's registered shares them >>Whoever notices the notification calls out to others

"Ah, so you guys are connected through that. I see."

No wonder the turnout rate is high. Well, right now it's only a channel of about ten people, so it's probably easy for viewers to contact each other.

"Ah, and this is kind of a report? Something like that. I plan to stream with limited public access for a while, and switch to fully public after I get back from this trip. Having just a few people feel comfortable forever is nice, but spreading information is also my goal to some extent."

>>Ah, okay >>Actually it's weird you've kept it limited to this extent. Not that we're complaining >>Just got here. Definitely become famous

That's something I decided on a while ago. Expand the channel at some point. Right now it's limited public so only subscribers know about it, but when I expand the public scope, more people will probably notice. Even without advertising or anything, people should gradually increase.

While talking about that, enough people had gathered, so I started talking about today's main topic.

"I've been here organizing things I bought for the past few days, but the time I actually spend here isn't that long. Usually I go adventuring around this world here and there, hunt monsters on the spot, build temporary bases, and live there for a while - that's my lifestyle."

>>Hmm? >>So you're setting off on an adventure then >>Looking forward to it >>I wonder what's out there. The world beyond the dungeon

This is my home, and it's the place I return to after going somewhere. But except when I come back and make something, I usually stay for a day then immediately set off again. I've been off my usual schedule for a while now, but I intended to set off traveling again after finishing collecting the items I wanted from the dungeon.

"So then, the destination..."

I called over the drone filming me from the front and grabbed it once. By the way, regarding drone operation, I can control it by changing mana wavelengths without going through a smartphone. You shouldn't underestimate the Hero-class maxed-out Magic Power Manipulation skill.

With that, I climbed the five-meter cliff behind my current home in a single bound, like running up it.

At the top of that cliff, I released the drone, and from me to that destination - it projected a massive tree reaching to the heavens in the far distance.

"I call it the World Tree. Well, it's an ridiculously sized tree. The straight part of the trunk has a diameter of over one kilometer. The roots spread even more widely and complexly."

When I visited before, I looked around the outside but couldn't examine the inside in detail. I judged it would take time and postponed it. The last dungeon material gathering was preparation for that.

"For this exploration, the period is two weeks. Excluding travel. So then, let's start preparing."