021-040 · 039-ch34

Chapter 34: Chat Stream

After organizing the supplies for my adventures to some extent and processing the meat from the Wild Sheep (my naming) that I had hunted to throw into the smokehouse, I ended up with some free time. Although I said I do everything myself to survive, I still buy grains and seasonings from the surface for food, and I already have prepared clothing.

Because of that, it's not like I have to spend all day doing things to survive. Of course, when new weapons or magic circles are discovered and need testing, that takes up time.

Besides, even in medieval times or earlier, when people worked all day just to live, most of it was agriculture, followed by handicrafts from there. And among those, the food aspect through agriculture is covered by my own strength and Robo's hunting.

So, although in the morning I said I wouldn't talk about much for the stream, I ended up with enough time to chat a bit. By the way, when I was alone, I would spend such time creating or organizing records of monsters I'd discovered so far, or working on utilizing non-edible parts from monsters, like the wool and fur of the Wild Sheep I just made into smoked meat.

"Come to think of it, maybe I should try making my own full set soon."

I've made crude leather breastplates, gauntlets, and shin guards using monster materials myself, but I've never made large items that change shape, like shoes or jackets. That kind of equipment requires more precision in crafting, so I've avoided jumping into it until now.

Things like shin guards, gauntlets, and breastplates don't change shape significantly when equipped, so once the leather is processed, the work itself isn't complicated, though size adjustment is necessary. A breastplate is complete just by attaching two or three pieces of leather in front of the heart, for instance.

But maybe it's about time I tried making proper leather armor myself. I don't know if I have any design sense, but I've always wanted to make a full set of equipment myself someday. Shoulder guards, elbow guards, torso armor that's not just for the chest, and a helmet. A full set of my own armor. Wouldn't that be pretty cool?

"But it would take a lot of time..."

But I'll hold off on doing that now. If I start, I'd have to commit to it seriously for over a month. And I'm not in the mood for that right now. In the end, it'll probably get postponed for a while longer.

Since that's the case, since I have this free time, maybe I could talk about something on stream.

Initially, I was wary that it might become troublesome and interfere with what I want to do, but thinking about it now, being able to kill time whenever I want at my favorite timing might be quite useful.

I moved a nearby drone to a position filming me, and leaned against Robo's side as he was taking a nap.

『Whaf?』

"Don't mind me, just keep sleeping."

『Awoof.』

After calling out to Robo who had been concerned for a moment, I turned back toward the camera and floated the comment window in front of my face.

>>"Give me some strategy info to clear the dungeon—!"

>>"Seriously not reacting. lol. Don't even stream."

>>"You're actually showing the monster dissection normally... Ugh."

>>"Is this survival or more like wildlife?"

>>"I want you to aerially film that world with a drone."

>>"Not sharing the information you have is almost as malicious as murder, I think."

>>"Looks genuinely fun though. Makes me want to go camping—"

>>"I'm curious how the world beyond the dungeon differs from reality."

>>"I'm Yanai of Guild Cape Seven. Regarding your recruitment to our guild, John Doe-sama—"

>>"Stop hogging all the info, bastard!"

Whoa, things are really heating up. By the way, this is just a small excerpt from the actual comments; there are way more flowing through. I think compared to this morning, there are probably fewer people giving up after seeing I'm not responding, though.

Incidentally, most of them are asking me to provide information for dungeon strategies, or are recruitment offers from guilds or companies. Only a very small portion are showing curiosity about the world I'm currently in. It's just that small portion that I want to answer politely. As for the rest, well, it depends on my mood.

Also, there are quite a few foreigners. Comments in English, Chinese, and many other languages flow alongside the Japanese ones. By the way, besides Japanese, I only understand English. I learned a little German in university but dropped out before finishing, and I've never studied any other languages.

"Yo, this is John Doe. Since I had some time, I thought I'd talk about something, but wow, things are really lively, huh?"

>>"It's here━(ﾟ∀ﾟ)━!!"

>>"It's here!"

>>"Finally came."

>>"How long were you gonna make us wait! Been waiting, thank you!"

>>"Hurry up and teach us the strategy."

>>"Made us wait too long."

>>"There are streamers who think they're so great, huh?"

As expected, the reactions feel rather aggressive or prickly. Well, that itself isn't necessarily a problem. There are people who end up speaking with an aggressive tone even when talking normally, and if I worried about it, there'd be no end. Also, regarding that last comment, I take pride in being the greatest when it comes to dungeon-related matters. That is, if there aren't any other conquerors like me.

"Anyway, I'll ignore things that are close to abusive comments, so if you really want to know something, please comment again politely. Well, with this many comments, I might not find a chance to talk even then, though."

I wonder what famous streamers do in situations like this. With this many comments, it feels impossible to answer all of them. For now, I'll try to answer similar comments in bulk when there are many of them.

"I'll ignore all the recruitment-related stuff too for now. Sorry. I don't see any benefit to belonging to any organization right now, and I hate being unnecessarily tied down somewhere. Ah, but if the important people of Japan will actually make proper use of it, I don't mind them using just my name. Not that I'm particularly planning to do anything myself."

I struggled with the last part, but for what it's worth, I do have something resembling patriotism, and while doing nothing is fine in itself, I figure I might as well do something if there's something I can do within the range that doesn't disadvantage me. Besides, at this level, Japan probably won't receive unnecessary interference from major powers like America or others.

"So then, let's see... I guess I'll talk about strategy information first?"

The moment I said that, the comment section exploded all at once.

>>"Really?!"

>>"Been waiting for strategy information!"

>>"With this, we can become unstoppable."

>>"Hurry, hurry."

They really are a mercenary bunch of viewers. But unfortunately, I don't have the kind of strategy information they're hoping for. Well, I do have it, but I don't intend to share it.

"Though I don't mean I'm going to talk about things like 'the deep layer boss's weakness is～' or anything like that right now. Besides, even if I share the knowledge I have, it won't make things easier for you. This isn't a game, so knowing strategy information doesn't mean you can defeat things unharmed or anything like that in a dungeon."

You guys understand that, right?

When I said that with a bit of pressure, the momentum of the comments suddenly dropped.

"For example, suppose I told you the weakness of the deep layer boss Dullahan is that it doesn't use feints with its sword attacks. Even if I told you that, wouldn't you need corresponding strength to fight it? It's fine if you fight it perfectly dodging everything like it's a death game, but this is a matter of life and death, you know?"

Well, in my case, it wasn't exactly a matter of life and death thanks to my skills.

In fact, my experience was actually cultivated through death games.

"So, things like dungeon or monster information, everyone should build up their own strength through exploration and find out for yourselves. What I'm going to talk about now is how to get stronger, how to fight better."

Alright, this is the main topic. Though I intend to make the content different from what I told my viewers back when there were fewer of them.

"Though the content is simple—I'm just saying to practice fighting."

>>"Practice fighting?"

>>"Well, doesn't everyone practice fighting? You're fighting monsters, right?"

>>"I thought you were going to say something more profound, but that's too basic..."

>>"Do you not know what explorers who enter dungeons do?"

See, the atmosphere turns bad all at once again. The internet really has poor public order, or rather, it's an environment where it's easier to spout abusive comments since you can't see faces, unlike in reality.

"Hey, wait. This is serious talk. Do you explorers out there think that you'll get stronger just by fighting monsters in the dungeon endlessly?"

My question was met with affirmative comments. Well, that makes sense. Even game level-ups work that way, and it's natural to think you'll get stronger if you fight.

"Well, actually, your level does rise that way. But as for fighting technique, it won't improve much just by vaguely fighting monsters. You don't consciously reflect on things, so every day, you get hit the same way by the same monsters. Then you panic, thinking it's because of your lack of strength, and fight even more recklessly. With that, you reach your limits and it's game over. That's how it goes."

>>"Now that you mention it..."

>>"But if you don't fight, you won't get stronger, right?"

>>"Then what should we do?"

>>"Not gonna fight? Should we just practice swings?"

Among the flowing comments, I found one that seemed to be on the verge of realization.

"Oh, that's good. First, how about trying things like weapon swings or practicing stances to receive attacks outside the dungeon, whether it's with a sword, spear, or shield? Especially for beginners. Modern people have no experience swinging weapons or hurting something, right? You can't suddenly fight properly just because you 'entered the dungeon, alright, let's fight, yay, we're gonna fight!'"

I was surprised when I looked into it. There are university courses or vocational schools for training related to dungeons, but they only teach what kind of place the dungeon is or knowledge as explorers, and after that, it's practical training. Fighting techniques aren't systematized, so they barely teach them. No wonder people don't get stronger.

"Once you can do that, if you have a party, it's discussions with your party members. What kind of coordination will you use to fight monsters, who will move how in what situations. It's the same with sports, right? There aren't people who suddenly do everything in an actual match. You practice each part one by one, consult and practice coordination, and only then do you use it in a match."

I did that in basketball too, up until high school.

"Dungeons give you money when you defeat monsters, and the shallow levels are easy, so it's easy to forget, but originally, fighting is that kind of thing. After the fight is over, even after returning from the dungeon, you should reflect with your comrades and use it for next time. The more someone who isn't doing well, the more I think they haven't mastered these basics."

>>"Now that you mention it..."

>>"Certainly, I haven't been doing that."

>>"Why are you taking a dungeon this seriously?"

>>"It's more fun to just go with the flow, though."

>>"Practice, huh. What a pain."

"People who are doing well can keep doing what they're doing, I guess. It probably means they have talent. This is a means for people who aren't doing well to start doing well."

Actually, even in sports, there are naturally people who are fast, have stamina, or have technical skill without doing basic training. And even those guys can get to fairly good places.

But once they aim for the top, that's a different story. It becomes a world where those who have put in tremendous amounts of effort win, regardless of whether they have that kind of talent or sense. And in the dungeon, that's the deep layer, or the world below it. Only when they reach that point do those who've been complacent with their talent suffer. The enemy's strength suddenly increases from there.

"Well, for now, regarding dungeon strategy, it's about taking it one step at a time without rushing. If there's something you don't understand, you can ask senior explorers, and they'll probably answer you. If they don't answer, just think that person seems useless and ask someone else."

Actually, most dungeon monsters, while strong, don't have tricky techniques. They're just normal monsters with high attack power, defense, and speed, simply pushing forward with their specs. For example, they don't have special abilities like draining your stamina just by looking at you or placing curses that spell doom if you take them.

This means that if you carefully improve your techniques and specs (individual or skill levels), observe the opponent's movements well, and coordinate with your allies to respond, there aren't many walls that can't be overcome.