Monster Book

Although Liam Watson knew his plan could succeed, he had to admit that the outcome was much better than anticipated. The game's items seemed to have an enhanced effect. The high-concentration alcohol burned far more intensely than any alcohol he had ever seen in real life, just like the flashlight earlier—bright enough to blind someone.

As the sun rose over the sea, the light chased away the merfolk, who preferred to hide from the daylight, vanishing beneath the waves. Only when Liam was sure no merfolk remained nearby, did he allow himself to check his inventory.

He hadn't had the time before, as he had been too busy barbecuing—fending off merfolk. As he looked at the details in his panel, he couldn't help but squint.

[Side Mission: Gerald's Bloody Scheme, Progress 90%]

Andrew had already been killed, and the driver had been burned alive by Liam, but there was still 10% left in the side mission… how was he supposed to complete this last part of the [Bloody Scheme]?

[Points Balance: 684. Would you like to purchase items?]

Liam stared at the sudden surge in points, then slid the panel open to check the details. He saw that over 500 points had come from [Charging], meaning most of the points he had earned last night weren't from completing in-game missions but from viewer donations.

Liam pondered this—[viewers'] points were much easier to earn than the game's, and there were far more. This didn't seem right. Players might play passively if the game's rewards were less valuable than external rewards. They might prefer to cater to external influences, like attracting donations, instead of focusing on in-game achievements.

Especially since points could be used to purchase items directly, if the rewards from donations were plentiful enough, Liam could simply buy a bunch of items and brute-force his way through the game, rendering the experience meaningless.

Liam wouldn't design such a game and didn't think the system would either.

Some kind of in-game reward had to exist to balance the rewards system between the game and external donations, making players more inclined to earn rewards within the game itself.

Liam's finger idly flipped a coin as he thought. All mission rewards in this game were immediate—players got their points right after completing a task—but there was one exception:

—The Monster Book.

This reward, granted only after collecting all pages and completing the game, was usually significant. From the way things were structured, it was likely that the reward for completing the Monster Book would be very substantial and not something easily purchased with points.

Looking at the donation points, Liam realized he had underestimated the importance of the Monster Book.

The final reward from the Monster Book would likely be big but incredibly valuable; something points couldn't easily buy, which would balance the reward system between in-game and out-of-game efforts.

Liam opened the Monster Book and skimmed through the pages, pausing when his gaze landed on [Siren King], a page he hadn't unlocked yet. He lingered there for a moment.

["Siren Town Monster Book" — Siren King (2/4)]

[Monster Name: Siren King]

[Weakness: None (This monster's weaknesses are not required to be explored by players.)]

[Attack Method: ??? (Unknown, to be explored.)]

[Note: A wandering god-level NPC, extremely dangerous. Players are advised to explore with caution.]

It seemed that exploring this monster's attack method was required... Based on the previous monsters, players usually completed the exploration when the monster launched an attack, but a monster like the Siren King? Liam was sure he would be done for if it attacked.

But knowing that such a tempting reward was there and leaving it unexplored wasn't like Liam.

If Liam knew just how vicious this NPC was or had heard the rumours about this bug-like NPC's terrifying deeds, he might have given up entirely. After all, bugs in games were the most frightening—they weren't part of the game's logic and could not be fought.

But Liam didn't know any of this.

Not only did he not know, but he saw this NPC as just another boss to beat, thinking that after defeating it, the rewards would be huge, and the game would surely have a solution to deal with it. Whatever the boss, there had to be a way to defeat it.

Liam stared at the page momentarily, clicked his tongue, and closed the Monster Book. He opened the in-game shop: [I want to purchase items.]

[What would the player like to buy? The "Underwater Bubble" is on sale. Would you like to purchase it?]

Sure enough, the price for the Underwater Bubble had dropped from 70 points to 40 points.

In the popular items section, next to it was [High-Concentration Alcohol], an item Liam had purchased earlier. Its price had risen from 9 points per bottle to nearly 13 points per bottle.

Seeing this price change, Liam smiled.

He had guessed correctly: the game's progress would give feedback to the viewers, influencing their purchasing decisions, much like live-streamed sales events. If Liam could use other, cheaper items to achieve the same results, players would flock to buy those, thereby driving the price curve of the items.

This meant that Siren Town was likely not a very popular game, so the prices fluctuated quickly.

For example, when Liam used the 3D Projector and flashlight in the Siren Wax Museum map, the usual method of solving that map was to use the Flame Torch, but Liam used a few durable items to easily pass the map, completely overshadowing the effectiveness of the Flame Torch.

With similar prices, players were much more inclined to buy the durable items, which led to the price of the Flame Torch dropping and the price of the 3D Projector rising.

Now, Liam was repeating his trick, buying the Underwater Bubble at a reduced price and saving the difference.

Liam smiled and said, [I'll buy one Underwater Bubble.]

[Good, 40 points. Thank you for your purchase.]

As Liam bought the Underwater Bubble, Shawn, who had hurried over from the Death Comedy Division to the Solo Game Section, watched in confusion.

When Shawn confirmed that Liam had bought one, he became more confused. "...Why did he buy the Underwater Bubble again?"

"I remember that most of Siren Town is land-based chases, and there isn't much need for the Underwater Bubble."

Nearby, a fellow player who had followed along reasoned, "Well, Liam has more points now, and he doesn't know that the rest of the game is mostly land chases. Maybe he's buying it just in case. It's not that expensive, only 40."

"Right. He has over 600 points, so spending 40 for an Underwater Bubble is like buying insurance. The alcohol is too risky."

However, Shawn, who had followed Liam the entire way, already understood Liam's style of spending points only when necessary.

Previously, Liam had opted for a high-risk, low-reward option when he bought alcohol instead of spending more points on the Underwater Bubble, which would have been a safer, high-investment choice.

Now, though, he was spending an extra 50 points on the Underwater Bubble to avoid the risk. This behaviour didn't quite match up with what Liam Shawn knew.

Shawn suddenly had a strange thought: maybe Liam bought the Underwater Bubble now because he had manipulated the prices to make it cheaper. He was waiting for this moment to buy it and save some money.

As Shawn continued to ponder, he muttered to himself.

Since he was so immersed in his thoughts, his mumbling was loud enough for the nearby player to hear.

The player, unable to hold back, retorted: "Are you seriously a fanboy of this guy, Liam? Manipulating prices? He's a newbie! Sure, he's good at the game, but manipulating item prices? That's just too far."

The player casually added, "I think he just had a crazy night and got scared. He saw he had money and instantly bought something to stay alive. His alcohol usage was a gamble, not strategy."

As the player finished speaking, there was a faint sneer. "It's just a gamble. There's nothing special about it. He's only using this to climb to the Solo Game Section."

The forums were buzzing with discussions about Liam using alcohol to kill the merfolk and clear the game. After the initial praise, more and more people began mocking Liam for taking shortcuts.

Much like the player judging Liam, most others had an "I could do that too" attitude:

[What's so impressive about this move? I thought of it too, but why would I choose the riskier one when a better, safer option is presented?]

[Ha, another show-off. Haven't we seen enough of these in the Death Comedy section?]

[Laughable. He bought 9 bottles of alcohol, used 4, and still has 5 left to feed the merfolk? Those who praised this strategy are clueless. It's not a money-saving move. His actions only looked flashy.]

[Yeah, and after clearing the game, he bought the Underwater Bubble with his points. Doesn't that mean he just gave up and thought the alcohol wasn't enough? If he's so good, why not keep using the alcohol? Let's see how he burns his way through the land-based chases. The merfolk statues can't be burned!]