———Karra———

  <6: 11 pm>

  “We’re live… I think? Yeah, we’re live.” I said, setting things up and making sure it is all in order. It’d be kinda embarrassing to screw up your st stream before going for a break. Would leave a pretty bad impression that’s gonna stuck for a while.

  {Felt like it had been a while}

  {helo}

  {Where the heck has you been}

  {what with the title}

  “Alright chat. It’s good to be back. I want to just chat away while I’m pying. I’ll be leaving for a few days and won’t be able to stream. You could call it a short vacation.” I gave them a short summary of why I’m doing this stream now. Obviously I could just wait until I go to watch the LAN event, but I have already been inactive for a while. Procrastinating any longer and it would really tank my momentum. Speaking of which, the game is open and I am queuing into a match right now. Gonna be with randoms, so that’s always fun.

  {So no watch party?}

  {Isn’t there a tournament tomorrow?}

  {U gonna be watching that?}

  {What are some chatters going on about}

  “Gonna be talking while I py. Probably not gonna respond to my teammates.” Might even just reflexively mute them, some of them already do that anyway. “So. It feels like a lot has been happening. I know for a lot of you with more violent neighborhoods and streets, you guys probably have a lot more interesting things to talk about than I do.”

  {Would we really?}

  {kinda doubt that}

  {I don’t know how we’re gonna have more wild shit than you do}

  Seems like they seriously don’t think that. While I do have high highs with the stories, since my life isn’t often in danger, which would’ve provided a lot of interesting death-defying tales, my catalogue is rather limited, especially since some of them are probably not allowed to be told in the first pce. There isn’t too much else I can say without giving things away.

  The Japan stuff is already a bit of a headache, but at least there isn’t enough proof to verify it. I can’t imagine the type of questions and pressure that would’ve dropped on me like a ton of bricks if my lips were loose. As if that creep wasn’t enough. Good thing Wiina sent a message to everyone who might try that, so it hasn’t happened since. Public pressure is still a thing, however, and I don’t think she’s gonna try to stop something like that since it’s not immediately threatening or anything. I should be able to manage it myself, and in the worst case scenario I could just ignore it.

  “Come on now, bring up something for me to give my opinion on. Surely you guys can do that much.” I said and unfortunately forgot that I’m on the character select screen so the game just picks the st one I used by default. I was messing around the st match so this ain’t good…

  {Whoops}

  {I mean there’s a lot to talk about}

  {I don’t really maybe someone else can say something}

  {Aren’t you suppose to be the entertainer, not us?}

  {Kind of a troll pick ain’t it}

  {I bet your randoms are pissed right now}

  {Well at least it’s not the worst character in the game (only third worst)}

  At least I’m not pying ranked right now. Imagine if I was.

  “So, chat. Say something and I’ll try to talk about it. Probably got a few insights into it.” I said as the match started up.

  {Maybe about monsters}

  {I don’t freaking know man}

  {uhhhh i don’t really know}

  {You never talk about the buses stuff aside from a chirp}

  {I mean what about stuff you didn’t encounter but heard}

  {You have any expnation for returnees?}

  {What about the talk about fictional characters being real}

  {Have you heard about elves?}

  {So what even is up with mutant people}

  *Click* *Click* *Tap*

  “Ah.” Great, died immediately since the randoms decided to go into a poputed POI off drop. Alright, requeue.

  {wtf those guys barely did any damage}

  {are those fucking noobs?}

  “Just a bit unlucky there. What else is new?” I said while stretching, just waiting and reading char in the meantime. So about the stories flooding in the chat, now which one should I talk about first? Wiina alluded to all of them at one point or another, but it’s not like either of us know the full story.

  Anyway, this time around I am picking the character I want to py. Thankfully didn’t get snatched up. Kind of a niche pick more than anything at the moment.

  *Click* *Tap*

  As for what I should talk about next… Let’s see here. There should be something I can talk about somewhat confidently, before going into something a bit less certain like some of the earlier comments.

  {So why do people got animal features and stuff? Didn’t some turned monster-like?}

  “Now with that one. We all know it came from the Eclipse causing all of that. From what I understand is that they are things that have existed at some point and time. Apparently people have experimented with hybridizing humans with other animals before.” From what Wiina told me, it’s not really certain why they did it outside of ‘just because they can’ sorta deal. She just sorta vaguely said that ‘it’s up to each world for the reasons’ and left it at that.

  {Is there a source for that?}

  {Based ancient people actually}

  “Obviously it looks like the kind of things people are turning into are at least something reted to humans. Be it due to the humanoid shape or just being able to converse at all. I don’t really know the specifics, but when it comes to the demi-humans at least, there shouldn’t be any drastic difference to really consider outside of aesthetics… besides a quirk or two.” She did mention that they all have at least one kinda interesting feature, but they are not important, and when they do the way you exploit it is naturally morally questionable, since they are still people.

  *Click* *Tap*

  Haha! Get to be the kill leader here. Certainly an easier lobby this time around. Still gotta clutch up and win this fight…

  *Click* *Click* *Tap* *Tap*

  Come on. Peek and get the taste of the motherfucking Kr-

  *Tap*

  “Hah!” I triumphantly said, getting the headshot and quickly went in to finish the final squad with the two randoms. Even they know a knock when your team is healthy means rush in immediately. “There we go! A win on game two!”

  {Congrats}

  {gg}

  {So do you have anything else to say about the changes?}

  “Hmm… Ah, right. There is no compatibility issue.” I said, not using any explicit words.

  {huh!??}

  {Where did that came from?}

  {What on earth did ya read about}

  “Alright then. Queuing, and checking the chat…” Let’s see what else I can talk about, and obviously not giving too much away… How about this, it might work. “Returnees. I didn’t dabble into the topic much since it’s kinda… It’s just not something you really need to know. I mean, who in the world is gonna go exploring other worlds? That’s hard as all hell. There are not a lot of applications, and any magic involved is way too advanced for the regur folks.”

  {Then how does any of that came to be?}

  {Are they actually returnees? Came from a different world?}

  “Well. It does seem to be the case based on the reports, how they mysteriously vanished, all that nonsense… Huh.” I just remembered something Wiina once told me about different worlds, something that was colborated by those tidbits mentioned when we were on the airship tour. “There’s actually one thing to support that statement. Here’s the thing about traveling through worlds. When it comes to traveling through the worlds, there are two things that kinda help determine where wayward otherworlders will end up when they get booted from one world to another. Their st locations in that world, if they have been there before, and the mana density of the area.”

  {How does that work?}

  {fym alternate universes are real}

  {im confused, confuzzled.}

  “Now when I said ‘of the area’ I meant- Wait a moment.” Need to focus on this fight, the other squad is being real aggressive.

  *Click* *Tap* *Click* *Click*

  “Ah. It’s a bunch of high rankers. Of course it was.” Just my luck to run into them now. Whatever, it’s not like I’m pying ranked right now anyway. I’m not losing points. “Anyway, back to what I was saying. The travel across the universe or world or whatever you called it. There is a time… dispcement, dition? It’s hard to be exact, but basically things are random and that’s just how it goes. If you don’t even have a specific pce or time in mind, it tends to gravitate to a moment and pce with a good deal of mana in the air. What I’m assuming here is that these returnees got done doing whatever they’re doing, and got kicked back here probably next to where they got kidnapped, but presumably there wasn’t a time specification in pce, the time of arrival is distorted and skewered, leaning towards the time where mana is more abundant, which is right after the Eclipse happens.”

  {That’s a lot to say}

  {so is the novel characters being real have something to do with that?}

  {why are we talking about multiple worlds all of a sudden}

  “Novel characters… Right. You guys were talking about that one specific character for a while.” A pretty obscure novel written by someone who called themself online as Airlos, it has a following, and there is one character in there that suddenly showed up here, albeit rarely seen and seems to have disappeared on a whim. “That is either because the story was based on someone who finally showed themselves, which seems rather unlikely for multiple reasons, or maybe…”

  {Maybe what}

  {Expin}

  {Y so vague}

  “Parallel-Self Reflection Phenomenon. It’s a simple phenomenon where you unconsciously siphoned the memories of your alternate selves from different universes. Perhaps this author is retelling a story of their different self, which would expin why a ‘character’ can appear in reality. If I remember right, this character is supposed to essentially be an unmatched being with power so incomprehensibly massive, right? That kind of person would be able to easily cross to a different universe, and with my expnation on mana quantity attracting strays from other worlds, it all fits rather nicely.” Kind of a long expnation, but the current match is much easier in comparison so it’s easier to screw around and such.

  It is certainly rather… revetory. That there are many more different worlds out there. Rather, just two counterparts and a few smaller realms for specific living beings, but that’s a whole different topic I know very little about. The only reason I even know the terms and such is because I got curious about it one day.

  {Kinda deep and existential}

  {are you for real right now?}

  {That’s some heavy stuff}

  {really makes you wonder what else is real}

  {Are my OCs real!?}

  {I swear if those haxs characters appeared and jumped me…}

  Can’t really tell how seriously they are taking all of this, but it doesn’t really matter as long as they are entertained. I can still go on for… maybe two hours max. Wiina is pretty adamant that we don’t stay up too te. I’m not really sure if her worries are that warranted. It’s not like we’re doing anything dangerous or taxing. It’s a LAN tournament we go to watch.

  *Click* *Tap* *Click*

  “Uh. Whoops.” Slipped up and lost that fight. Kind of on me, but it is what it is.

  {So what about monsters?}{Heard there are giant animals or something?}{where did you learn all that?}

  Seems like there are still a lot of questions to go through. Who knows if the answers to any of these are going to be both entertaining and educational…