Gwen

Slouching behind her monitor, Gwen lazily controlled her in-game character to dodge the attacks of a Boss-level Troll. It was the same thing as the previous five area bosses she fought, but this one had black, furry skin and its horns burned with an imposing blue flame. It also had a gigantic health-bar, which wasn't really going down at all, so Gwen either had to spend 20 minutes here whittling its HP down, or give up and get that fucking axe upgrade everyone's been nagging her about.

Sighing, she glanced at Chat that was flickering with meaningless words during the entirety of the boss fight.

XxPentationxX: [OmegaLUL]

UwUOwOEwE: [Such an EZ boss smh… Can't believe anyone would struggle here maybe noobs really need the maxed-out axe]

ProGamer464: [Guys, what's this axe upgrade yall talking bout lmao]

Gaemast: [Yassss Qweeeen!!!!]

eadaera: [Is he seriously stuck here? She's been literally silent for three minutes now lmao is she thinking about the axe upgrad ???]

Joshua Snyder (OI): [Look at the TONS of DAMAGE bOOISS]

KuroyamiKen666: [GO BACK, DUMBFUCK. GET THE AXE UPGRADE FIRST]

SoapConnoisseur: [No, no. She's got a chance. Let's see what she does next]

Yi Su Cheng (OI): [@ProGamer464 Googol it, you dumbass noob lmao]

XxPentationxX: [OmegaLUL]

"Fucking axe upgrade," Gwen was muttering, as she finally got hit by one of the boss's wide arc sweeps.

Witnessing her own HP falling from 100% to 40%, she simply sighed and let go of her controller. She was doing well and was probably going to end up finishing the fight without getting hit, but seeing the massive gap in her levels, she just couldn't be bothered anymore.

"What the fuck is that!?" Gwen then shouted out in an exaggerated manner, before smashing the controller on her desk for good measure.

The next moment, Gwen's character got hit by the Troll once more and fell onto his knees in a dramatic manner, his whole hp whittled down to zero.

"Father, nooo!" the character's son cried out the background.

Gwen turned off the game. Muttered "Piss-garbage game," then turned off her stream. Chat flickered with goodbyes, and although she enjoyed seeing their affection at first, now, her eyes only felt tired reading through those walls of text.

With no one to look at her anymore, she undid her seething expression and yawned, feeling the blood seeping through her brain. She looked down and saw pieces of the controller littering the floor. Sighing, she pulled on her slippers and picked them up. A chip cut her finger, sending pain signals through her nerves.

"Ow, you cocksucker!"

She almost banged on the floor for dramatic effect, but stopped herself mid swing. She started to suck on the blood, thinking about her impulsive action. She didn't think herself the expressive type without a camera.

'Hmm… maybe streaming really is getting to me…' she wondered, staring at the small cut. 'I really, really need a break…'

She was saying that to herself for the past two months, but she still hadn't stopped. At this point, the streams were just turning into a pit of toxic waste. Even for today's stream, she felt like she had only spoken curses and complaints. The rest of the time, she silently played the game.

Granted, most started watching her for her gameplay, but surely, a silent stream wasn't fun to watch.

"Alright…" she sighed, and dragged herself off the floor. "Let's get some food…"

Gwen ordered herself a steak, and jumped in the bath as she waited for her food.

Her phone rung and she saw the caller: 'Cross4'.

She debated picking it up.

'No way he would be calling just because…'

Sighing, she clicked on receive and a smooth voice greeted her back. "Hello, sister dearest."

"Mm."

"…"

"Well?"

"Why so distant?"

Gwen sighed. "Why did you call me?"

"Just worried for you. Saw you breaking that controller of yours. Perhaps you hurt yourself somehow. Made an irreversible mistake in the heat of your rage… And listening to you know, you do seem quite pissed."

Gwen cringed, imagining her brother looking at her streams. But she didn't want to tell him to stop. She would have him present in every stream if she did that.

"What are you up to these days?" Gwen asked randomly, "Still the same?"

"Still the same," the reply came with a wistful sigh. "Ruining people's lives, then chasing them down and ruining it even more."

"Seriously? How come that work's the longest you've worked on a thing?"

Gwen almost felt jealous, the dozens of things she picked up and dropped prickling at her mind.

"It is quite an interesting to experience. My underlings' struggle to maintain their humanity, the victims' despair, pushing them to incredible, yet tragic places. The different things that break individual humans… the more I'm here, the more I see how dull the life of the common man is. I'm afraid I'll never go back to being a functioning member of society."

"Yeah, yeah," gwen sighed. "And when are you going to stop talking like a shit 19th century poet?"

"It's only a phase, sister dearest."

"Idiot."

"Mm," her brother replied, amusement oozing from his voice. "You're quitting streaming?" he asked.

"Eh," she shrugged.

Maybe she should. No, she definitely should.

"Why? Seems like a fun thing to do. All those different people, their different lives and experiences, all of which culminate in screaming at you to get the legendary 'Axe Upgrad'."

"It's just a phase…" Gwen groaned. "Though, I do hope one of these phases last more than half a year."

"Ha-ha, do try a variety of things. Eventually, one will stick. Father was right to teach us so many things, you know? Though… I must say that he took it a bit too far sometimes."

The image of a great mansion flashed through Gwen's mind at the mention of her past. The towering stacks of books in the great library she spent most of her childhood in, the vast plot of land they had to run around every morning, and the crooked shouts of her genius… but strange and deranged father.

"Mm…" Gwen sighed, her body sinking deeper into the water. "It's weird to realize I miss those times."

"In all honesty, it wasn't that bad. At the very least, we're all become overachievers. The only problem's that we overachieve by too large a margin, and things get boring too quickly."

"Bah," Gwen scoffed. "Go stare at the One Leader's portrait. Humble your overinflated ego."

"Eh… I guess you're right."

"See? Even your shitty poet personality perishes at the mere mention of him."

"Ha-ha. Now that you mention him, I might have something you might be interested. Have you heard of the new experiment the Country's running?"

"The embryo mapping one they announced recently? Wasn't that two months go?"

There was huge backlash from the international community when that was first announced, but as always, the One Country paid them no heed. And of course, a surprising amount of mothers allowed their embryos to become guinea pigs.

"No, a different one. I just got a document from my contact in the government. Here's the title: Seeking Volunteers for Non-public Lvl.5 Experiment #008 – 3."

"A non-public Lvl.5?" Gwen's eyes shone, hearing the description. "The same kind as the Founding and the Expansion?

"The very same. It's an experiment to copy and transport someone's consciousness. They need a large amount of test subjects, but apparently, they don't think they'll be able to collect the necessary amount due to the high risks. They asked me to send some of my debtors to them. Well, they didn't ask me outright, just gave me the document... but same difference."

"A research on human consciousness?" Gwen's eyes sparkled. "And they're trying to

"Yes. Since you dabbled in the field for some time, perhaps you'll be interested."

She was definitely interested. It was one of the things that stuck with her for a long time. She spent a lot of her time trying to prove the various theories other scientists made. Unfortunately, Gwen couldn't push on with her research. She was stuck on too many fronts. But if the One Country had entered the field, the prospects were promising.

"Can you send me the document in full?" she asked impatiently.

"Anything for you, sister dearest."

"Perfect. Thanks, Elan."

"As for your repayment," Elan hurriedly added. "I settle myself with information."

"I'll give you whatever I can learn."

***