[RAIDS ONLINE: LUCENT @ RAIDS - Channel]
[Followers: 250,000+]
[Videos: 10]
[Total Views: 10,000,000+]
[Notification: Friend Requests (+99), Party Invitations (+99), BlueHeroine (+1), Contract (+1)]
UR@DUDE: The faq! This dude actually did it. He's getting popular as faq!
SILVER@SHOELACE: Faq this lucky guy—got famous just because he started with high Link Force.
MOONSHINE@SELENE: YOU FAQERS! Dying of envy and jealousy, aren't you?
UR@DUDE: Shut up, delusional dude.
SILVER@SHOELACE: You're no better than us.
RING@FORCE: Following this Lucent was the right call. I love watching him get killed by Cerberus.
UR@DUDE: TRAITOR!
SILVER@SHOELACE: DEEP-FRIED SHIT!
RAIDS@CURSE: But now that Cerberus is done with him, he's just like any other player.
KCID@EID: Yeah. Especially now that his Link Force is down to 3 percent.
UR@DUDE: This guy's popularity is about to tank hard.
SILVER@SHOELACE: Can't wait to see that happen… Hahaha!
MOONSHINE@SELENE: YOU ALL ARE SUCH PATHETIC LOSERS!
---
[RAIDS ONLINE @ LUCENT – Messenger]
DEVOUR@SilverPup: Seriously… I didn't think Cerberus would hunt you down until your Link Force dropped to 3%, Lucent. Usually, high-ranking Ragnarok Beasts stop chasing players with high Link Force once they fall below 15–20%.
DEVOUR@SilverPup: Cerberus must really like you, Lucent… Hahaha.
DEVOUR@SilverPup: But thanks to that, we've learned so much about the Rank A Ragnarok Beast, Cerberus.
DEVOUR@SilverPup: You know, with RAIDS ONLINE's world being as big as the real one, finding where high-ranking Ragnarok Beasts are nesting is nearly impossible—unless we have bait like you, Lucent.
DEVOUR@SilverPup: Hey! You're reading this, right? Say something! Don't make me look like I'm doing a solo comedy act!
DEVOUR@Lucent: I'm reading your messages...
DEVOUR@SilverPup: Sheesh… You text like my dad.
DEVOUR@SilverPup: Anyway… Now that Cerberus is off your back, it's time to start doing Raids to build your Link Force again.
DEVOUR@SilverPup: Take a few days off, then let me know when you're ready. The Orion Guild will help you rebuild.
DEVOUR@SilverPup: By the way… Accept my friend request already!
DEVOUR@SilverPup: Also—check your Bank Account. We've sent your share from the Boss Raid video revenue.
DEVOUR@Lucent: Okay. I'll check. Thanks...
DEVOUR@SilverPup: Is that a joke? You really sound like my dad… Hahaha!
---
A week had passed since the Boss Raid against the Rank A Ragnarok Beast, Cerberus. As his cousin Rammie suggested, Luel decided to take a break from RAIDS ONLINE.
Aside from needing time to recover from the stress, anxiety, and panic attacks triggered by being repeatedly killed by Cerberus, Luel didn't want to trouble his cousin any further. More importantly, he didn't want to worry his parents, who were happily enjoying their retirement traveling abroad, or his brothers, who lived in the Capital.
He needed to lay low until Rammie's anger cooled down—enough to forgive him for inevitably diving back in and triggering another breakdown.
During his week off—not just from Ragnarok Beasts and other RAIDS ONLINE players, but also from the toxic comments flooding his channel—Luel spent time researching SilverPup and BlueHeroine's history on the RAIDS ONLINE website.
What he found was definitely interesting—but something SilverPup just said was even more important. Luel decided to put his flashback on hold.
---
...MONEY...
...The thing that drives 99% of the world...
...People say it can't buy happiness...
...Try telling that to families who can't even afford food...
...Tony Stank said it can't buy a second of time...
...Try saying that to someone dying because they can't afford medicine...
...Seriously, stop spouting that faqing nonsense...
...If you're miserable, don't blame the money...
...What did money ever do to you?...
...If you don't want yours, give it to someone who needs it...
As those thoughts ran through Luel's mind, he opened his nearly empty bank account—and nearly fainted at the amount of zeros.
---
[RAIDS ONLINE @ LUCENT – Messenger]
DEVOUR@Lucent: SilverPup...
DEVOUR@SilverPup: Ohh! What is it, father? Something wrong? Hahaha!
DEVOUR@Lucent: Cut the jokes… What's with that amount?
DEVOUR@SilverPup: You mean your share? Too low for you, Lucent?
DEVOUR@Lucent: Of course not!... It's the opposite! Isn't that way too much?
DEVOUR@SilverPup: 10,000 USD is too much? Hahaha! You're killing me, Lucent.
DEVOUR@Lucent: What?
DEVOUR@SilverPup: Did you forget who we are? We're the Orion Guild—one of the top guilds in RAIDS ONLINE! HAHAHA!
DEVOUR@Lucent: What does that mean?
DEVOUR@SilverPup: Besides having millions of followers—players and non-players alike—we hosted eight Boss Raids against Rank A Cerberus. Of course we earned a fat payout.
DEVOUR@SilverPup: Sure, we gave you a 100% bonus for playing bait more times than we expected, but your share only comes from ad revenue. We still have subscription revenue too.
DEVOUR@SilverPup: Anyway—enjoy your first earnings from RAIDS ONLINE, Lucent.
---
Luel's hands trembled as he held his phone, reading SilverPup's messages.
His first payment from RAIDS ONLINE: a jaw-dropping $10,000 USD.
Luel had already applied for monetization on his own channel, but it would take at least a month to get approved. He wasn't expecting any income this early.
$10,000 was massive—especially considering he'd only been playing RAIDS ONLINE for under a month. It was more than his monthly salary from his previous jobs combined, and more than the commissions from all the freelance projects he'd done before.
Staring at his bank account in disbelief, Luel felt like his reason and common sense had just short-circuited. His thoughts regressed to the most primitive instinct that strikes when you suddenly get unexpected, disposable income:
"How should I spend all this money?... Fufufu..."