Chapter 135: I've gone public, I'm at Chaldea
"System, start livestream."
[Livestream System Start.]
[Host identity confirmed.]
[System's default platforms: Webnovel and Ptreon.]
Ethan chose a quiet place, sat down on a chair leaning against the wall, and opened the livestream room.
Anyway, his room had already exploded, so before he could arrange a new place to stay, he could only rough it outside for a bit.
Let's see how the livestream room is doing now.
Ethan had just opened the livestream room, originally thinking it would be a flood of comments like "open the door quickly," "without onee-san to watch I'm gonna die," and so on, but instead, what hit his eyes were lines of exploding messages.
[FBI open the door, open the door already!!!]
[Is what's being said online and those bigshots' analysis actually true?]
[Probably close enough, thinking back now a lot of things don't really match.]
[But the big names in the VFX industry analyzed frame by frame, confirmed there were no traces of PS.]
[There are also quite a few big names in the occult field saying it looks real.]
[Oh? It's actually real!]
[Is it true or fake, can someone who understands go check it out?]
[Anyway, let's wait for the host to come out and explain first.]
[But the host hasn't livestreamed for three days already.]
[Could it be the host couldn't take the pressure and ran away?]
[Could it be that things have come to this point and it can't be hidden anymore, so the only option was to flee?]
[Ah he's here, he's here, the host is here!!!]
Very quickly someone noticed Ethan had started livestreaming, and a flood of comments surged in like waves.
[So the host finally isn't hiding anymore.]
[Come on now, explain everything, don't even think of leaving if you don't clarify things.]
[Still livestreaming while adding VFX, that's hilarious, there's no such tech, right?]
[The host even said he doesn't know magic!]
Looking at the speed of the comments almost hitting the limit, Ethan felt like something wasn't quite right.
He was probably being led by the nose.
Even though he didn't know who was leading him, that didn't matter.
What mattered was if this kept going, his livestream room would definitely be seriously affected.
First, he needed to investigate the cause.
After that, Ethan didn't turn on the camera, but immediately switched to the back-end and quickly started going through his private messages.
His private messages were always at 999+, so he usually ignored them, but now was a critical time, and he might find useful information in there.
Ethan quickly scrolled through the private messages in the back-end.
Sure enough, he soon found the source of the conflict.
Almost all of the messages were negative.
Although there were a few with a neutral tone asking questions, they were quickly drowned in the massive wave of criticism.
Basically, they were all accusing him of taking a video with added post-production effects and passing it off as a livestream to split traffic in the livestream area.
"System, if my livestream room gets affected to the point it's shut down, can I still livestream on another platform?"
[Beep beep beep—This system will do its best to ensure Host's livestream work.]
[If there's too much suspicious info linked to the current livestream room, it will affect the livestream point growth rate.]
[Current suspicion rate: 43%, livestream point growth rate reduced accordingly.]
...
Alright, alright.
He originally thought he could drag this out a bit longer. Who would've thought that the past few days he happened to sleep for several days because of rayshift, which caused the situation to blow up like this.
Really a headache...
"Master, is something wrong?"
Just as Ethan was frowning, a reliable voice suddenly rang beside his ear.
Waver was standing right next to Ethan, looking at him worriedly.
"Kongming-sensei!!!"
A wave of emotion suddenly surged in Ethan's heart, and he stepped forward with clasped hands.
"Though I am of low status and humble virtue, I hope Sensei will not look down on this unworthy one. If you would descend from the mountain to lend aid, I shall humbly listen to your teachings!!!"
"Master..."
Waver showed a face of mixed emotions, as if caught between laughter and tears.
"Stop it, don't talk like that anymore, Kongming-dono is so scared he doesn't even dare go outside now."
After all, every time Zhuge Liang was invited to help with something, he ended up working nonstop until he collapsed from exhaustion, and those memories were certainly not pleasant to think about.
"Anyway, first, tell me the whole story."
Waver sat down on the bench next to Ethan, took out a fine cigar from his coat pocket, and prepared to light it.
"That… I think smoking is prohibited in the Chaldea corridor."
"…Alright."
After hearing Ethan, Waver put the cigar back into the box.
"Then let me focus and listen carefully to Master's request."
After Ethan omitted parts that shouldn't be mentioned, he tried to recount everything as thoroughly as possible.
Waver crossed his arms, furrowed his brow, and looked into the distance.
"So, your magecraft livestream that you're doing has been obstructed, and the audience is doubting its authenticity. Now you're forced to directly face this issue, otherwise, you'll lose your source of mana."
"That's exactly it."
Since Waver was from the modern world, he quickly understood what Ethan was saying.
He thought for a moment, then looked at Ethan.
"Master, what are you planning to do?"
"I plan to keep pretending this is a special effects product, just like the difference between True Magic and Magecraft."
"Doing that will only make things worse."
"But I have no other choice."
Waver stood up.
"Master, please give me an hour to arrange things."
"Oh? Does Kongming-sensei already have a plan?"
"For such a small matter, there's no need to trouble the strategist. After all, I'm also a Lord of the Clock Tower."
Saying this, the Lord El-Melloi II turned and walked off in another direction.
...
"System, start livestream."
[Livestream System Start.]
[Host identity confirmed.]
[System's default platforms: Webnovel and Ptreon.]
[Why did the host just run away?]
[Of course he knows he's been exposed, what else could he do?]
[Wtf, don't tell me he actually knows magic? Are all those Heroic Spirits real!?]
[Who knows, everything's a mess now, there are all kinds of statements online.]
[Heard you can watch real magic here, is it true!?]
[I came here because I heard about it, if magic exists, then Immortal Art must also exist! I'll start a sect to cultivator, Muahahaha!!!]
In the midst of the chaos in the livestream room, Ethan's face suddenly appeared.
At this moment, he was standing in the corridor of Chaldea.
Ethan took a deep breath, then bowed his head and apologized into the camera.
"I sincerely apologize, everyone!!!"
Not only that, but he also brought a few people with him.
Next to Ethan, Dr. Romani and Mash also bowed and apologized just like him.
"I sincerely apologize, everyone!!!"
"We apologize to all the viewers, we are truly sorry!!!"
Then, Ethan raised his head and said earnestly:
"The past few days, due to company adjustments and compensatory time off, I wasn't able to check the livestream room in time, leading to the current public opinion, and I'm truly sorry!!!"
However, Ethan's opening apology did not ease the conflict, but instead caused the comments in the livestream room to explode once more.
[No way, I heard you guys actually know magic, that's why I came here.]
[Does this livestream really know magic?]
[Host, can you show us that, summon a Heroic Spirit on-site, I can pay on my side.]
[Don't joke, there's no real magic left, it's all just special effects in a film studio.]
[Special effects can really do this much???]
...
The audience in the livestream room was so excited that they nearly made the system explode.
Ethan sneakily glanced at the top right corner, checking the number of viewers.
Three hundred thousand!!!
Finally, he understood why so many hosts would rather be criticized and still continue livestreaming.
Being hated is still being famous, this traffic is just too sweet...
[Beep beep——Level 1 warning!]
[Warning, the livestream room is currently generating a large amount of suspicious information, and the speed of receiving points has been reduced!]
[The current suspicion rate has reached 68%!]
[Host, please take action quickly, or the livestream points will drop significantly!]
Immediately after, a transparent progress bar appeared in front of Ethan.
68%, 68.2%, 68.5%...
The suspicion rate was increasing rapidly, and at this rate, it would explode in less than five minutes.
This is bad, I didn't expect the number of antis in my livestream room to be so high!
There are a lot of people, but if the livestream points don't increase, it's really a big trouble.
What's even worse is that from now on, I might always have to livestream with this DEBUFF, and if there are doubts that aren't addressed in time, they will only grow bigger.
Even the fact that I had Mash come out in person couldn't change the situation.
Why aren't the Simps saying anything today?!
Ethan immediately signaled Dr. Romani with his eyes, and Romani nodded.
"Ahem… As a technical staff member and doctor of the company, let me personally introduce our company—Chaldea—to everyone in the most authentic way."
[So you can't hold back anymore!]
[I told you, you really know how to use magic, come on, show us the magic workshop.]
[Modern mysticism fans are going wild, I knew real magic existed!]
[Here it comes, here it comes, anyone who wants to summon a Heroic Spirit, make sure to study hard.]
[Me, me, me! I'll summon Burger King and Burger King Junior! I'm rich and can feed them ten meals a day!! Oyakodon hehehehehe.]
[You go ahead, you think you're the only one rich?]
[That's right! Young Master Lin hasn't shown up yet, and a guy like you dares to speak up?!]
No, no, no… This really isn't allowed, is it?!
Looking at the comments, Ethan felt extremely confused—he didn't expect rumors online to spread to this extent.
How surreal is this?!
"This is the work area, with many departments currently in operation."
Dr. Romani smiled and introduced as he walked down the corridor.
"The logistics department staff is currently conducting internal repairs at Chaldea… to be honest, we've received quite a few complaints today."
Ethan glanced at the progress bar again.
75%, 76%, 77%...
Not only was it increasing quickly, but the bar had also turned dark red!
Oh no, why is it increasing this fast!!!
Ethan immediately continued signaling Dr. Romani with his eyes, urging him to get to the main topic quickly.
"Ahem, so the area we're about to show you is a newly completed section of Chaldea."
After confirming the biometric data, Dr. Romani led Ethan and Mash into the elevator, and the elevator immediately shot down to the lower levels.
"This is a real combat training area, thanks to the support of many staff, it has finally been completed smoothly."
The elevator stopped, and several people stepped out.
A vast area appeared in front of them.
[Hmm, it looks pretty normal.]
[Don't tell me this is just another special effect?]
[But these things don't need any special effects, we want to see magic!]
[Yeah, the kind of magic that causes explosions.]
[Get out of the way, I just came in, I heard you can see magic duels with wands, is that true?]
[Aveda Kedavra!!!]
[If this livestream is real, isn't Clock Tower going to intervene?]
[How would they intervene? Can't all of this be explained by a gas explosion?]
[The people of Fuyuki are used to it, after all, gas can move and transform into Cthulhu, I get it now, gas is the Root of magic!!!]
Ethan looked ahead, the livestream room was still exploding with comments like bombs, then he turned back to look at the "suspicion progress bar."
80%, 82%, 83%...
It was about to reach the critical threshold.
If it kept increasing like this, his livestream would lose points…
Immediately, Ethan nodded at Dr. Romani.
"Zzzzzzz————————!!!"
The sound of a gate opening suddenly rang out in front of the training field.
[Enemy simulation successful, preparing to enter the combat phase.]
The announcement echoed in the air.
"Roooaaarrrrr——————————!!!"
Next, a deafening roar resounded from afar, as light from above illuminated—
A four-legged monster covered in armored scales, with sharp fangs, and a tail like a sword, roaring as it appeared!
[Ohhh, it's here! Look at that fur, tsk tsk tsk, it's so lifelike!]
[Oh my god, this looks seriously terrifying!!]
[Look, is this for real now?]
[Isn't this real? If magic exists, then magical beasts obviously do too!]
[It's here! The show I love the most is here!!!]
[The announcement just said it was a simulation, isn't this just a simulation?]
[Don't be stupid, does this look like it came from motion capture?!]
[Fight, fight!!!]
The four-legged monster spotted Ethan and Dr. Romani, and let out a roar before charging straight at them!
Just then, a crackling sound of electricity was heard from afar, followed by a sky-shattering shout:
"Boil over, Wrath of the Planet!! Rebellion Against My Beautiful Father —— Clarent Blood Arthur!!!"
"BOOOOM——————————!!!"
A red lightning bolt sliced through the air behind Ethan, directly hitting the four-legged monster!
"ROAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRR——————!!!"
The monster screamed in pain but didn't stop, continuing to charge toward Ethan and Dr. Romani!!!
Just as it was about to strike them—the ground suddenly erupted with rows of dark spears, piercing through the monster's body and hanging it suspended in mid-air.
"This is the howl of a soul filled with hatred!! Roar, Rage of Mine —— La Grondement Du Haine!!!"
"BOOOOOOOM——————————!!!"
Dark flames blazed, engulfing the armored beast in a violent sea of fire!!!
In an instant, the creature's body lost all vitality and crashed heavily to the ground.
Ethan directed the camera to zoom in on the mangled body of the beast—in the astonishment of the entire audience, the monster's body slowly disintegrated… turning into data points before completely vanishing.
[Ayo, did you guys see that!]
[Why did it disappear like that? Doesn't look real at all.]
[The point isn't that though!!! It's the Noble Phantasm, the Noble Phantasm!!!]
[This time, I'm watching closely, it's gotta be real, right?]
[Host, you can't hide it anymore, huh? Admit it, you guys really know how to use magic, don't you!]
Faced with the growing questions in the livestream room, Ethan maintained a calm demeanor.
"That's right, I admit it—everything is real!!!"