NOVEL NEXT Chapter 8
Chapter 8: It Just Works When I Do It
Newdelbak.
The meaning of the word itself isn’t exactly something to say openly, but to roughly explain, it refers to helping a newbie without expecting anything in return.
It’s similar to what’s commonly known as a "sleeve drop."
Veteran players find joy in watching new players, like seedlings, grow, and they spare no support to help them thrive.
For the veterans, it might not be worth much, but for a newbie who’s just starting, it feels like an overwhelming amount.
That’s right. Just look at the money I’m holding right now.
‘...A bundle of gold coins.’
A pouch of gold coins big enough to fill a good portion of my chest.
I haven't counted them, so I don't know exactly how many, but at a glance, it looks like a few hundred.
A class-change quest costs 3 gold coins.
And 100 silver coins equal 1 gold coin...
"500 of them."
The woman nodded.
Then, she added a remark.
"If you cash it out, it’s about ten million won."
"...You’re suddenly giving me ten million won?"
That’s so random.
And incredibly so.
No matter how much money a streamer makes, is she rich enough to just hand ten million won to a complete stranger?
I asked, puzzled, and the woman answered proudly.
"Of course! By the way, would you mind appearing on my stream for a moment?"
"...Aren’t you already recording?"
"Oh. Well, yeah!"
Shameless.
But oddly, I liked it.
I don’t really like people who hide their intentions.
Besides, even if they try to hide it, my racial traits let me notice most things anyway, so it’s actually easier to deal with people who show their intentions upfront.
I nodded.
Since she already gave it to me, I should at least do something in return.
Skipping out after taking the money isn’t really my style.
Of course, if she asks me to do something weird, I’m ready to leave immediately.
‘With the money, obviously.’
The woman bounced in excitement, then told me to wait a moment before reaching into the air.
A huge tarp came out along with her hand?
"Hiya!"
Thud!
With a loud sound, a massive tarp, as tall as a two-story building, was set up over the remains of the fried shrimp.
■
"So, is this your first time trying it?"
"Yes. It’s my first time. I even bought the equipment at a discount."
"Oh! A third-gen one! I wanted to get one too, but I already have two, so I hesitated."
"...But didn’t you just give me even more money than that?"
"Ah~ The money for this and content money are completely different things~"
The atmosphere was surprisingly relaxed.
The streamer, Yena, skillfully kept the conversation flowing, and I responded to her questions without much pressure.
Rather than Newdelbak, it felt more like a simple newbie interview.
Looking around, I noticed that the rooms were quite well decorated, and there were koi fish swimming in the garden pond.
There were even a few elegant statues.
"Pretty, right? I decorated it with limited edition furniture."
"Yeah… It does look nice. Do you carry all this around?"
"I don’t exactly carry it. It’s in my inventory. But you probably won’t be able to carry this kind of stuff around. It takes up a ton of space."
According to her, unless you fully expand your inventory, you can’t carry things like this at all.
"That must be really expensive."
"It is now, but back in the early days, there were so many dungeons that you could get a lot of this stuff from them. That’s how I got mine too."
"Are the dungeons gone now?"
"They haven’t disappeared, but most of them have already been cleared, so there’s not much to gain from them except for the usual experience and rewards. The ‘first clear’ rewards were amazing back then."
[Yena’s first clear was legendary.]
[For real, that dead orc shaman. She got that and still ranks in the top 100.]
[Thinking back on that gives me chills. She almost lost it by a minute, lol.]
[That was crazy, lol. The Red Moon Guild showed up at the worst time.]
[The Red Moon guild leader’s rage was hilarious. There's even a meme of it going around, lmao.]
[LOLOLOLOL]
[Forget Yena, tell us more about the newbie.]
[Lily! Lily! Lily! Lily! Lily! Lily!]
[Lily-chan...]
Yena glanced at the chat.
Good. The stream was going well.
The newbie in front of me, someone named Lily, seemed to have some knowledge of the game, but she was a complete beginner in Devil of Angel and had a pretty decent personality.
Her voice was nice, and there was no trace of the discomfort from before.
Now that she seemed to have relaxed, it felt like the right time to start the actual content.
"Do you have any particular class change in mind? These days, production jobs are well-developed, and combat jobs come with an assist system, making them easy to play."
This newbie wasn’t just a simple Newdelbak case.
If things went well, I could regularly include her in content and even recruit her into our small elite guild.
The others might complain, but the moment they saw Lily’s face, they wouldn’t be able to refuse.
In fact, they’d probably be ecstatic.
Just as I was thinking that, Lily tilted her head.
"Combat assist?"
"Yes! You should have already experienced it. It appears during the tutorial."
A system designed for modern people, who rarely get into actual fights.
When activated, the combat assist system helps with weapon handling, dodging, and managing the direction of force.
All new players were required to use it, and over 40% of current rankers relied on it.
Of course, high-level veterans often found it more of a hindrance and turned it off, but for most players, combat assist was practically essential.
[Yena doesn’t use it, though.]
[Yenatang is way beyond needing that kind of thing.]
[Assassin combat assist is kind of useless.]
[Honestly, if you use combat assist, why play Devil of Angel? Just go play a regular computer game, lol.]
[lololololol]
[The guy chatting above 100% hunts with combat assist on.]
[Seriously, how do people even have sword fights without it? At that level, you’d have to be a special forces soldier.]
[Even special forces can’t pull that off.]
[Agreed.]
The chat acknowledged the necessity of combat assist.
It was that important.
But Lily shook her head.
"I’ve never used anything like that before."
"...What? Did you clear the tutorial?"
"The boar? I killed it."
"What?"
"Yeah."
"...What?"
[?]
[Does she not realize she used combat assist?]
[But that head tilt is adorable.]
[Agreed. She’s so lovable.]
[She cleared it without combat assist? Did she just keep dying and respawning?]
[That wouldn’t work. If you die, the boar’s health resets.]
[Now that I think about it, why doesn’t she have any gear except for that one spear?]
[? Oh, you’re right.]
Yena suddenly stood up.
Lily still looked at her with a puzzled expression.
"...How exactly did you kill the boar?"
"I used the old sword they gave me at the start. After I killed it, the tutorial ended."
"Without dying even once?"
"Yeah."
"How?!"
"I just did it, and it worked."
[?]
[????]
[That’s gotta be a lie.]
[How do you clear it without dying? That’s impossible.]
[What if she’s actually a veteran pretending to be a newbie?]
[Newbie (not a newbie).]
[Lily wouldn’t lie. Stop trying to slander her.]
[She already has a fanbase, lol.]
[Let’s test her.]
Yena hesitated.
Honestly, it was hard to believe.
Clearing the tutorial without dying even once?
Even she couldn’t do that now.
The boar’s attacks were strong enough to kill in one hit, and even with something like ‘Super Speed,’ there was no way to deal enough damage to bring it down.
Not to mention, a newbie handling Super Speed was absurd in itself.
‘I crashed into walls so many times when I first tried using speed stats.’
While contemplating, Yena glanced at the viewer count.
22,350.
Her stream had grown big enough to rank in Twitch’s top five live streams.
Was it worth taking a risk just to confirm this seemingly impossible truth?
Wouldn’t it be better to just nod along and continue with a standard Newdelbak session?
‘...But what if it’s real?’
If it was real, the impact would be twice—no, five times bigger than now.
After a brief moment of deliberation, she made her choice.
"Let’s go somewhere for a bit!"
■
PVP Arena.
The heart of Devil of Angel, where countless players ranked up dozens of times a day.
The arena had two modes.
One was a casual match with no ranking points, and the other was a ranked match with balanced scoring.
I followed Yena to the arena.
A massive staircase led up to a grand building, with statues standing at intervals along the way.
A giant statue stood with a sword pointed downward, exuding a dignified aura.
Looking at it, I felt like something was coming to mind.
‘...I’ve seen that face somewhere before.’
"It’s a simple test, so don’t worry too much. It won’t even hurt."
Following Yena’s lead, I entered one of the rooms in the arena.
At some point, she had removed most of her equipment and changed into regular clothes, holding only a standard dagger.
"Am I going to fight you?"
"Yes. The stats will be adjusted to match yours. Everything will be balanced."
Yena manipulated something in the air, and a voice similar to the tutorial’s rang out.
[Executing Custom Battle Mode.]
[Match Type - Single Round, Stat Adjustment, Equipment Adjustment, Combat Assist OFF.]
A square space made of white marble was soon surrounded by a blue barrier.
Before I knew it, Yena and I were the only ones inside the glowing blue square.