Chapter 168: Admirer
Jiang Feng laughed.
MoonPetal covered her mouth.
"You really said that?"
"It’s true."
The viewers climbed.
1,200
Then...
3,800
Then...
7,400
By the time they finished...
Shen Tian had more than ten thousand followers.
He stared at the number.
"...People have too much free time."
MoonPetal laughed.
"You were streaming for five hours."
"Exactly."
"You were also playing."
"That’s different."
Jiang Feng stretched.
"I’m logging off."
MoonPetal nodded.
"Same."
Shen Tian ended the stream.
Stream Ended.
Peak Viewers: 11,842
New Followers: 10,391
Donations: $4,736
Shen Tian stared.
"...Why did people give me money?"
MoonPetal laughed.
"Because they liked you."
"I don’t need it."
"That’s not the point."
Jiang Feng smiled.
"Welcome to streaming."
They said their goodbyes.
Then logged off.
In the real world...
MoonPetal opened her eyes.
Her capsule slowly opened.
She sat up.
Long dark hair fell around her shoulders.
Her real appearance was different from her avatar...
But just as beautiful.
She stretched.
Then hurried toward her computer.
Her room was comfortable.
Expensive gaming setup.
Two monitors.
Professional microphone.
Several collectibles.
She sat down.
Opened the streaming platform.
Then searched.
ShenTian
His channel appeared.
Offline.
She smiled.
"Eleven thousand peak..."
She clicked his profile.
Then noticed something.
A replay was available.
She immediately opened it.
Shen Tian appeared.
MoonPetal rested her chin against one hand.
She watched.
The Forest Ruins clips.
Boss fights.
Ridiculous arrow shots.
His arguments with Jiang Feng.
Her own voice occasionally appearing in the background.
Her cheeks warmed whenever Shen Tian praised her gameplay.
"..."
She scrolled toward the donation leaderboard.
Then froze.
Top Supporters
MoonMoon — $2,500
DragonCockKing77 — $410
RangerMain — $275
MoonPetal stared.
Then slowly covered her face.
"...I donated that much?"
She peeked through her fingers.
Her username...
MoonMoon.
She had created the account years ago.
Nobody knew it was her.
Certainly not Shen Tian.
A small smile appeared.
"Well..."
She looked at his offline channel.
"He was really good."
Her mouse moved.
She clicked...
Follow.
Then...
Enable All Notifications.
She hesitated.
And finally...
Subscribe.
Her name remained at the top of the donor leaderboard.
. . .
Meanwhile...
Across the city...
Shen Tian climbed out of his capsule.
Xu Ning floated beside him.
Shen Tian noticed.
"What?"
[Nothing.]
"I think you have something to say."
[Your stream did well.]
"I saw."
[Your largest donor was interesting.]
Shen Tian stopped.
"Why?"
Xu Ning opened a panel.
-------------
MoonMoon — $2,500
-------------
Shen Tian stared.
"Someone gave me twenty-five hundred dollars?"
[Yes.]
"Why?"
[Would you like to know who MoonMoon is?]
Shen Tian narrowed his eyes.
"...Who?"
Xu Ning displayed another window.
-------------
Account Identity Match
MoonMoon
Identity: MoonPetal
-------------
Silence.
Shen Tian stared.
Then stared some more.
"...Seriously?"
Xu Ning nodded.
[Your new teammate.]
Shen Tian laughed.
"She donated twenty-five hundred dollars to me?"
[Correct.]
"While she was literally playing beside me?"
[Some donations occurred during breaks.]
Shen Tian rubbed his chin.
"Interesting."
Xu Ning floated closer.
[Host.]
"Hm?"
[She likes you.]
Shen Tian looked toward her.
"That’s a pretty big assumption."
[Host.]
She pointed toward the screen.
[She is your top donor.]
"Maybe she supports talented creators."
Xu Ning stared.
[She enabled all notifications.]
"..."
[Subscribed.]
"..."
[Watched the replay after spending five hours playing with you.]
"..."
[And replayed the section where you complimented her six times.]
Shen Tian became silent.
"Okay. That was fast..."
He raised both hands.
"Maybe."
[Maybe?]
Shen Tian laughed.
"Fine."
"She might like me."
Xu Ning nodded.
[Much better.]
Then...
Another notification appeared.
Shen Tian noticed.
"What now?"
A golden system window opened.
-----------------------------
[Destiny Shift Detected]
Target: Jiang Feng
Current Fate Value: 190,000
New Fate Opportunity Forming
Category: Guild Foundation
Estimated Fate Value: 15,000
-----------------------------
Shen Tian’s smile disappeared.
He became interested.
"Guild?"
Xu Ning nodded.
[In the original destiny...]
[Jiang Feng’s first major guild begins forming tomorrow.]
Another panel appeared.
-----------------------------
Destined Guild: Windfall
Original Founder: FallenWind
Initial Core Members: 7
Future Peak Membership: 180,000+
Future Status: Top Global Guild
-----------------------------
Shen Tian whistled.
"One hundred eighty thousand members?"
[At its peak.]
"And fifteen thousand Fate from its founding?"
[The initial event.]
Shen Tian smiled.
"So there’s much more afterward."
Xu Ning nodded.
[A lot more.]
Shen Tian looked back toward his gaming capsule.
He had expected this arc to simply involve stealing some hidden classes...
Maybe a few legendary weapons...
Some dungeon first clears...
But Jiang Feng’s destiny was different.
His opportunities weren’t only personal.
They were social.
A guild.
A reputation.
A competitive career.
Hundreds of thousands of players.
Potentially millions upon millions of fans.
And now...
Shen Tian had accidentally started building his own reputation.
First-clear Ranger.
Thousands of followers.
A growing stream.
MoonPetal’s admiration.
Players already recognizing his username.
[Host.]
Shen Tian looked toward her.
"What?"
[You may have created a problem.]
"What kind?"
[You’re becoming famous faster than the protagonist.]
Silence.
Then...
Shen Tian smiled.
"Isn’t that the point?"
Xu Ning gave a half nod.
[I suppose it is.]
Shen Tian looked toward the capsule.
Tomorrow...
Jiang Feng would begin assembling the foundation of a guild destined to stand at the peak of Eternal Realm.
A guild that should eventually dominate wars...
Raids...
Territory battles...
And professional competition.
A guild worth enormous amounts of Fate.
Shen Tian stretched.
"Alright."
[What are you thinking?]
"Nothing complicated."
He started walking toward his bedroom.
"Tomorrow... We play some more."
Xu Ning floated behind him.
[And the guild?]
Shen Tian smiled.
"We’ll see."
[Meaning?]
"If Jiang Feng builds something impressive..."
He opened his bedroom door.
"I might just build something bigger."
Xu Ning stared at his back.
Then laughed.
[Poor Jiang Feng.]
Shen Tian looked over his shoulder.
"Hey."
[What?]
"He’s got LittleMaple."
Xu Ning blinked.
Shen Tian nodded solemnly.
"I’m not taking everything."
[How merciful.]
"Exactly."
[You’re still planning to steal his guild destiny.]
"Professionally."
Xu Ning covered her face.
[You’re never going to stop saying that, are you?]
"Nope."
He closed the door.
. . .
And somewhere else...
Completely unaware that his destined rival was already planning to compete with the future he hadn’t even built yet...
Jiang Feng lay in bed.
His phone rested beside him.
He wasn’t thinking about MoonPetal.
He wasn’t thinking about Titan Esports.
He wasn’t even thinking about Shen Tian.
Instead...
He was looking at a message.
LittleMaple: Thanks again for agreeing to help me tomorrow!!!
LittleMaple: Sorry if I bothered you guys >_<
Jiang Feng stared.
Then smiled.
He typed.
FallenWind: You didn’t bother us.
Deleted.
Too formal.
He tried again.
FallenWind: It’s fine. We’ll get your pendant tomorrow.
He stared.
Then added...
FallenWind: Don’t go into Spider Hollow alone again.
He hesitated.
Sent.
Three dots immediately appeared.
LittleMaple is typing...
Jiang Feng stared at those three dots with considerably more concentration than he had used against the Forest Ruins boss.
Finally...
LittleMaple: Yes, Captain! 🫡
Jiang Feng smiled.
Then froze.
"...Captain?"
He stared at the message.
For some inexplicable reason...
His smile grew.
The fallen professional player...
The man carrying nearly a lot of Fate...
The future number-one player of Eternal Realm...
Lay in bed smiling at a message from an ordinary Level 4 girl with short brown hair and hazel eyes.
Perhaps...
Not every important thing in his new life needed to be arranged by Fate.
. . .
And elsewhere...
MoonPetal was still watching Shen Tian’s stream replay.
She reached the moment where he fired three arrows into the fleeing player killers.
She immediately rewound.
"...How did he even do that?"
Play.
Three arrows descended.
She rewound again.
Play.
Her eyes sparkled.
"...That’s so cool."
Then Shen Tian appeared on screen saying...
"Skill."
MoonPetal burst out laughing.
She clicked back ten seconds.
"Skill."
Another laugh.
Her eyes remained on him.
A small smile slowly appeared.
Tomorrow...
She would party with him again.
And she was already looking forward to it far more than she wanted to admit.
. . .
Meanwhile...
On Shen Tian’s newly created channel...
The follower count continued climbing.
Even while he slept.
Clips spread.
UNKNOWN RANGER DESTROYS FOREST RUINS
SHENTIAN 1V12 PK CLIP
BEST RANGER IN ETERNAL REALM?
INSANE MID-AIR POWER SHOT
Thousands became tens of thousands.
And with every clip...
Every view...
Every new player learning Shen Tian’s name...
The destiny surrounding Eternal Realm shifted a little further away from its original path.
The VRMMORPG had been destined to become the stage for Jiang Feng’s glorious comeback.
The place where a fallen champion rebuilt himself.
The world where he would rise from nothing...
Create the strongest guild...
Defeat his former team...
Become champion again...
And eventually stand at the very top.
That destiny still existed.
Jiang Feng was still climbing.
He was still talented.
Still driven.
Still carrying an absurd amount of Fate.
Shen Tian had just become the main character of this game world.
---------
(Author’s Note: IMPORTANT!)
SEND POWESTONES!!!
ALL SUPER GIFTS (Magic Castle, Space Ship, Golden Gachapon) = MORE ChapterS!