"Ten thousand points?"
Sword-Shadow Starlight blinked, then slipped to the side of the deck with a grin.
"Brothers, I didn't eat the Slip-Slip Fruit, but I still scored 10,000 points. Kinda not a loss, huh?"
[You're lucky you gave that fruit to my goddess. Otherwise I'd have flamed you to death!]
Chat was still drowning in shock over Alvida's glow-up. Sword-Shadow chuckled and bought a Blue-Silver Chest.
"Last time we opened the lowest Green-Wood Chest. This time—Blue-Silver. Let's see it."
The silver chest flared with pale blue light. No item dropped—but a prompt flashed:
[Ding! Blue-Silver Chest opened. You obtained: 1 Free Attribute Point.]
"Free Attribute!" His eyes lit up. Not a Devil Fruit, sure—but a clean, instant power-up.
He pulled up his panel:
ID: Sword-Shadow Starlight
Level: Lv2 (10%)
Faction: Pirates — Buggy Pirates
Bounty: 0
Abilities: Taijutsu (Untrained), Swordsmanship (Untrained)
Items: Fast Blade "Little Serpent", Free Attribute Point ×1
Achievement: Circus Dancer
Points: 0
He thought for a beat—then tapped Taijutsu.
[Taijutsu advanced to Beginner (0/3).]
[Level up to Lv10.]
[Reaching Lv10: +1 Free Attribute Point.]
"Yo—Lv10 and a bonus point?" He burst out laughing; chat exploded too. Even Kaka and the other three streamers froze for a moment on their own feeds.
[Leveling to 10 gives a free attribute?]
[And notice how he put the point into Taijutsu instead of Sword—instant level jump!]
[Conclusion: BODY FIRST. Taijutsu = foundation.]
[@Kaka didn't you spend your free point on your Devil Fruit? Ouch…]
[@White-Robed Boozer, you dumped yours into Sword, your Taijutsu is still Untrained, right?]
Kaka: […no comment]
White-Robed Boozer: […no comment]
"Hehehe—time to spend the new point too!" Sword-Shadow dropped it into Swordsmanship.
[Swordsmanship advanced to Beginner (0/3).]
He drew Little Serpent, feeling the difference immediately. He glanced at Mohji and Cabaji.
"Brothers, I think I can beat both of them now. So this is Beginner Taijutsu and Sword together, huh?"
[Don't get cocky, streamer!]
[Say that when we can log in and chase you down!]
[And why do you get to stay around my goddess all day?!]
The four other streamers, after peeking a bit longer, returned to their own channels. Viewers held steady at around fifteen million—until a shout streaked across chat:
[GO CHECK THE AGE OF VOYAGES OFFICIAL SITE—THEY'RE OPENING MORE CLOSED-BETA SLOTS!]
[What?! Closed beta?!]
[White-Robe! Sword-Shadow! Just wait—I'm coming in-game to hunt you!]
Millions poured from the stream to the official site. One pinned post sat at the top:
Due to overwhelming popularity, we will open five additional closed-beta slots at 7:00 PM tonight. New game content will also debut. Stay tuned!
The replies were rabid:
[Please, give me a slot!]
[Gu Old Thief, you're my big bro now—just one slot!]
[This game is insane. It'll go nuclear. I NEED IN.]
At Sea Breeze HQ, Gu Feng scrolled through the chaos, laughing. Tucked among the pleas was a cunning reverse-psychology take:
[Don't believe the hype! It's awful. Totally unrealistic. Do NOT play!]
Replies piled on:
[Nice try. "Don't play" so you can snag a slot yourself, huh?]
[If I hadn't watched two days of streams I might've believed you.]
[Buddy, this isn't concert tickets—you can't scare us off.]
In minutes, the site racked up over a million comments, numbers still spiking.
Why open five more slots? Because after watching Alvida's miracle makeover, Li Jing had dropped the truth: promo funds were empty.
With Fisherman Era carpet-bombing ads across the net, Sea Breeze's budget had burned out yesterday. No marketing meant clipped wings—unless they raised cash fast. Yes, investors were circling, but every "offer" wanted a chunk of the flesh—obscene equity, control hooks, poison pills.
Gu Feng skimmed the terms and fell silent.
Everyone smelled the feast.
Everyone wanted a bite.
And he smiled.
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