First Contact
**[SYSTEM INITIALIZATION COMPLETE]**
**[MULTIVERSAL STREAMING PROTOCOL ACTIVATED]**
**[REALITY ANCHOR: STABLE]**
The blue text blazed across Kai's vision like he was inside a video game. He stumbled backward from his desk, knocking over his energy drink as waves of information flooded his mind. Stats, numbers, incomprehensible data streams—it felt like someone was downloading the internet directly into his brain.
**[WELCOME, KAI NAKAMURA]**
**[CLASS: MULTIVERSAL STREAMER - LEVEL 1]**
**[INITIALIZING STATS...]**
A translucent interface materialized in front of him, visible even when he closed his eyes:
```
╔══════════════════════════
║ STREAMER STATUS ║
╠═════════════════════════
║ Name: Kai Nakamura ║
║ Level: 1 ║
║ Title: Novice Reality Broadcaster ║
╠══════════════════════════
║ PHYSICAL STATS: ║
║ Strength (STR): 12 ║
║ Agility (AGI): 14 ║
║ Endurance (END): 13 ║
║ Vitality (VIT): 12 ║
║ ║
║ MENTAL STATS: ║
║ Intelligence (INT): 16 ║
║ Wisdom (WIS): 13 ║
║ Charisma (CHA): 15 ║
║ Perception (PER): 11 ║
║ ║
║ STREAMING STATS: ║
║ Dimensional Stability (DS): 8 ║
║ Multiversal Range (MR): 1 ║
║ Viewer Connection (VC): 10 ║
║ Content Quality (CQ): 12 ║
╠══════════════════════════
║ HP: 120/120 MP: 160/160 ║
║ Stream Points: 0 ║
║ Constellation Coins: 0 ║
╚═════════════════════════
```
"What the hell..." Kai reached out to touch the interface, and his hand passed right through it. But somehow, he could still interact with it through pure thought.
**[DETECTING ACTIVE STREAM...]**
**[EXPANDING BROADCAST RANGE...]**
**[WARNING: REALITY ANCHOR STRAIN DETECTED]**
**[CURRENT VIEWERS: 31]**
**[SCANNING FOR ADDITIONAL REALITY FREQUENCIES...]**
**[MATCH FOUND: EARTH-DESIGNATION 47]**
**[MATCH FOUND: EARTH-DESIGNATION 23]**
**[MATCH FOUND: EARTH-DESIGNATION 152]**
**[EXPANDING TO 847 REALITIES...]**
Kai's monitor flickered, and suddenly his chat went insane.
His regular viewers were still there, but now messages in dozens of languages—some in scripts he'd never seen—flooded the screen faster than he could read:
*RegularViewer22: BRO WHAT IS HAPPENING TO THE STREAM*
*Unknown_User_E47: Holy shit, we can see him! Marcus, if you can hear this, our world is ending! The dead are rising!*
*Viewer_152_Alpha: By the Seven Suns! A reality-walker! This is the stuff of legends!*
*GameGirl_Sarah: kai your stream is glitching hard, might want to restart*
*Guardian_E23: Streamer! You must warn the others! The sky-fire comes in three days!*
*NoobDestroyer: fake ARG is fake*
The viewer count in the corner of his stream ticked upward at an impossible rate: 847... 1,205... 3,891... 12,447...
Kai stared at the chat, his mouth dry. Some of these messages... they sounded real. Desperate. Like people actually dying.
"Uh, chat?" His voice cracked. "I'm... I'm not sure what's happening with the technical stuff right now, but—"
**[NEW VIEWER DETECTED: DIVINE CLASS]**
**[CONSTELLATION: ORION - THE HUNTER HAS JOINED YOUR STREAM]**
A new message appeared, but this one was different. The text was larger, rimmed with starlight, and seemed to pulse with power:
***Orion_Hunter47 has donated 100 Constellation Coins***
***Orion_Hunter47: Well, well. A new little streamer stumbles into our realm. How deliciously unexpected.***
Kai's system interface chimed:
**[CONSTELLATION COINS RECEIVED: 100]**
**[SHOP ACCESS UNLOCKED]**
**[DIVINE FAVOR DETECTED: ORION +5]**
More divine messages began flooding in:
***CassiopeiaQueen has donated 200 Constellation Coins***
***CassiopeiaQueen: Oh darling, look how confused he is! The poor mortal has no idea what he's done. This will be SUCH good entertainment!***
***DracoAncient: Another one meddles with forces beyond their comprehension. How many must repeat the same mistakes?***
***GeminiTwins_1: Ooh, fresh meat!***
***GeminiTwins_2: I wonder how long this one will last before going insane!***
Kai's hands were shaking. The viewer count had passed 50,000 and was still climbing. But mixed in with the divine messages were increasingly frantic pleas from what seemed like regular people:
*Survivor_E47: PLEASE! If you can really see other realities, warn them about the plague! Don't let this happen to other worlds!*
*Militia_Leader_E23: The invasion starts tomorrow! We need weapons, tactics, anything!*
*Scholar_152: Magnificent being, our sun is dying! Do you know of any reality that has solved stellar collapse?*
"I... I don't..." Kai started, then stopped. These messages felt real. But that was impossible. He was just a streamer. A failed one, at that.
***Orion_Hunter47: Come now, little streamer. Your audience awaits. Will you flee like a coward, or will you embrace what you've become?***
**[SYSTEM QUEST GENERATED]**
**[FIRST CONTACT]**
**[Objective: Acknowledge your multiversal audience]**
**[Reward: +100 Stream Points, Basic Tutorial Access]**
**[Penalty for Failure: Stream Collapse, Permanent System Lock]**
The interface pulsed urgently. Behind him, his regular viewers were getting increasingly confused:
*RegularViewer22: dude the chat is completely broken now*
*GameGirl_Sarah: is this some kind of weird collab? these fake accounts are next level*
*NoobDestroyer: cringe ARG, unsubbing*
His regular viewer count was dropping—down to 20, then 15—but his total viewers showed over 100,000 now.
Kai took a shaky breath and leaned toward his microphone.
"Okay, chat. I... I don't know what's happening, but if you can really hear me from... other places..." He felt ridiculous saying it, but the donations and desperate messages were too specific, too real. "If some of you are actually in trouble, I... I want to help. I just don't know how."
The response was immediate:
***Orion_Hunter47 has donated 500 Constellation Coins***
***Orion_Hunter47: Excellent! The little mortal chooses courage over cowardice. This will be fun to watch.***
***CassiopeiaQueen: Oh, how SWEET! He wants to help! Adorable! I simply must sponsor this precious little thing.***
**[CONSTELLATION FAVOR GAINED]**
**[ORION FAVOR: +15 (Impressed by courage)]**
**[CASSIOPEIA FAVOR: +10 (Finds you entertaining)]**
**[SHOP TUTORIAL AVAILABLE - WOULD YOU LIKE TO ACCESS?]**
But mixed with the divine amusement were messages that made his stomach clench:
*Survivor_E47: Thank god! Listen, whatever reality you're from, if you see the signs—people getting sick, acting strange, biting others—evacuate the cities immediately. Don't make our mistakes.*
*Militia_Leader_E23: We're outnumbered 1000 to 1. If you have any military knowledge, any tactical advice, we're running out of time.*
*Child_User_E152: Mister streamer, are you magic? Can you make our sun bright again? Everyone's getting cold and scared.*
Kai's eyes burned. Whether this was real or some elaborate hoax, the emotion behind these messages felt genuine.
**[TUTORIAL AVAILABLE: BASIC STREAMER ABILITIES]**
**[WARNING: REALITY STRAIN DETECTED - 127,000 CONCURRENT MULTIVERSAL VIEWERS]**
**[DIMENSIONAL STABILITY COMPROMISED - CURRENT: 3/8]**
**[RECOMMEND: LEARN BASIC STABILIZATION OR RISK STREAM COLLAPSE]**
The interface was flashing red now. Whatever was happening, Kai could feel it wasn't sustainable. His apartment felt... unstable, like reality itself was becoming thin around the edges.
"Chat, I'm getting some kind of warning about... dimensional stability?" He felt stupid saying it, but the system seemed to respond to his voice. "I think I need to learn some basic controls before—"
***DracoAncient: Wise, young one. Many streamers ignore the fundamentals and destroy themselves in the first hour. Access your tutorial before your anchor point collapses.***
**[ACCESSING TUTORIAL...]**
**[BASIC MULTIVERSAL STREAMING - LESSON 1: STABILITY]**
Knowledge flooded Kai's mind—not painful like the initial system activation, but like remembering something he'd always known.
**[BASIC ABILITY LEARNED: REALITY ANCHOR]**
- Stabilizes dimensional broadcast point
- Prevents reality collapse during streaming
- Cost: 10 MP per hour of multiversal streaming
**[BASIC ABILITY LEARNED: DIMENSIONAL MANIFESTATION]**
- Project physical form into streamed reality
- Full stat application in manifested form
- WARNING: Death in manifested form causes real death
- Cost: 50 MP + 10 MP per minute manifested
Kai's eyes widened. "Wait, I can actually... go there? Physically?"
***Orion_Hunter47: Of course! How else would you provide proper entertainment? Watching mortals flail about remotely gets boring quickly.***
***CassiopeiaQueen: Oh yes darling! The drama is so much better when there's real stakes involved!***
*Survivor_E47: Please! If you can really come here, we need help! The zombie horde is breaking through our last barricade!*
**[EMERGENCY QUEST GENERATED]**
**[THE FALLEN CITY]**
**[Reality: Earth-47 (Zombie Apocalypse)]**
**[Objective: Assist survivors in reaching safe zone]**
**[Time Limit: 2 hours before overrun]**
**[Reward: 500 Stream Points, Reality Fragment: Undead Resistance]**
**[Risk: High probability of death]**
Kai stared at the quest notification. Two hours ago, his biggest worry was hitting 50 viewers. Now he was being asked to fight zombies in another dimension.
"This is insane," he muttered, but his hand was already moving toward the manifestation controls.
***DracoAncient: Think carefully, young streamer. Your first manifestation will set the tone for your entire career. Choose courage or cowardice—the multiverse is watching.***
The viewer count had stabilized at 147,000. In chat, he could see people from dozens of realities watching, some offering encouragement, others placing bets on whether he'd survive.