Chương 51: Content Brain

Meno walked out of Glassdry Catacomb, looked at the Melrai Dunes for three seconds, then turned around and entered again. [Dungeon Entered: Glassdry Catacomb]"Under 30 minutes," he said.

"Maybe another level." again? normal dungeon prison lich essence addiction rank grind finally BRINESAINT WOULD BE PROUD no he would not The math was simple enough to be rude. The lich should still be High threat for at least one more level. Glassdry Catacomb was advertised as 30 to 40, and the Lich-Priest had to be the top of the dungeon curve. Once it dropped to Normal, the place became loot-only trash. Useful trash, but still trash.

He had one more good run before the XP started looking like someone had spilled dust on the reward screen. The second run went smoother than the first. The Boneknives died to the same rhythm: Sleepless Script caught the opener, Rune Spire kept them at bad range, Panic Pump turned their ribs into chalk. The Ossuary Adept still tried its Shadow Vulnerability routine, but Meno stripped the fight down to ranged Hundredfold pressure and gear-swapped just long enough to let Curse Eater work when he wanted it.

The boss died without drama and dropped nothing, leaving Meno to stare at the empty altar.

"Really?" no loot poverty adept normal boss moment he took your wand last run and left The coffin room went faster because he already knew how rude the shield warrior could be in the helpful direction. The Chain-Dancer tried the same ceiling nonsense, and Meno went to the chain almost immediately, forcing the boss to twist itself into bad angles until it broke apart. It also dropped nothing, leaving Meno looking up at the chains above the corpse.

"Two bosses. Nothing. Great dungeon. Very immersive." loot table said no skill issue bosses unionized lich saves run? The lich did save the run. Meno repeated the shield-stack setup with even less shame. Pull one trio, kill the rogue, kill the mage, keep the shield warrior alive, stab the shield until the counter climbed high enough to make the room nervous. The strategy was uglier the second time because the main Rune Spire began to complain.

Its repaired edge held, but the durability dropped fast under hundreds of blocked hits. By the time he reached the last stretch, the rune grooves had gone dim along the tip again, and Meno could feel the weapon starting to drag.

"After this," he muttered.

"You get retirement." He hit Chain 1000, fired the stored Hundredfold through the room, erased the trash, then had to dance through Brazier Soul again while the lich tried to turn the floor into a cooking surface. This time he routed the safe circles cleaner. Lingering Wings would still have helped. The lich detonated at the end of its own phase, and Meno hit the next level. [Level Up | Level 36] The blue drop beam rose from the bone pile, and Meno's mood recovered instantly.

[Item Acquired: Hollow Lich Essence] Quality: Rare I Type: Magical Ingredient Material Trait: Undeath, Shadow, Hollow Flame"No scroll this time," he said.

"Good. No paper crimes." The total material loot for the two runs looked much better stacked together: Gravebone x98, Hollow Lich Essence x2, Level 36. Viewers: 71, 884.

"Acceptable," Meno said. speedrun bones 28 min clear decent rank climb? repair spire before it cries open leaderboard Meno checked the main Rune Spire. Durability: 8%. He swapped to the spare immediately. The fresh Charmsteel Rune Spire settled against his back with the same absurd length and none of the wounded scrape in the rune channels.

"Main spire is almost dead again," he said.

"Shield dummy tech is profitable but rude." rude to weapon craft 20 more Bradbaron heard that spare spire meta Meno started toward the dungeon entrance, ready to leave before the place found a way to make another run sound reasonable. OXIDE WANTS COMMS OxideChoir calling you accept her invite OXIDE STREAM NOW she is talking about you prayerballs respond Meno kept walking.

"No." The spam doubled. OXIDECHOIR WANTS VOICE she said prayerballs 100k viewers collab money Meno slowed despite himself. He knew OxideChoir only from the leaderboard. High rank. Streamer. Apparently wanted to "compare notes," which Aureliana had translated into date while looking at him like he had tried to eat a fork. He had no idea what OxideChoir actually looked or sounded like, which was probably safer. Chat kept screaming. Meno sighed, opened the overlay, and searched her name.

OxideChoir's stream came up immediately. 123, 402 viewers. Full camera. No game. She was crouched on a chair like she was ready to pounce on the desk. Bare feet on the seat, knees tucked, shorts wrinkled, dirty white shirt stained near the collar and one sleeve. Long brown hair fell around her face in half-tangled waves. She wore no makeup, and the dark under her eyes made her look like she had been spawned from the same sleep-debt dungeon as Meno. This book is hosted on another platform.

Read the official version and support the author's work. He could relate, which did not make it safer. OxideChoir leaned toward her camera and spoke with theatrical menace.

"Meno Prayerballs, accept my Streamline voice chat invite. Don't be a loooser." Meno stared.

"She seems completely stable." accept ACCEPT content brain test she has 100k burning money if no do it coward He definitely should not accept. She looked unhinged. Her room behind her was huge, messy, expensive, and full of objects that looked throwable. Every instinct in Meno's body told him this was a trap, and several of those instincts had recently been improved by PvP trauma. Then he saw her viewer count, and the streamer part of him could not refuse. That was the part of himself he disliked most.

Content brain did not care about safety, dignity, romance, or a barefoot woman crouching on a chair calling him Prayerballs in front of a stadium's worth of people. Content brain saw a collab spike and opened the door. Meno found the voice chat invite and accepted. [Streamline Collab Connected: OxideChoir]"Hey," Meno said.

"What do you want?" Oxide threw both arms into the air like he had arrived at her wedding instead of a call he already regretted.

"Yooo, Prayerballs man!" Her voice had a rough edge under the performance, like she had spent too many hours laughing, shouting, or not drinking water. She bounced once on the chair, nearly kicked a bottle over, caught it with one hand, and made it look intentional. Meno did not buy any of it.

"That interview was really rude, you know," Oxide said.

"Why would I need teaching from you?"

"I never said you did," Meno said.

"I said I did not have time for it. Whether you need it or not is irrelevant." Oxide grabbed her chest with both hands and leaned back so dramatically the chair creaked. Then she ruined the image by taking a fast drink from a soda bottle and burping into her fist off-mic, barely.

"You think I'm ugly?" Meno blinked.

"This is the first time I'm seeing you. You look fine." He looked closer at the camera feed and regretted the honesty coming.

"Maybe durability is a bit exhausted. I suggest you repair." Chat went feral on both streams. DURABILITY DAMAGE repair her??? MENO NO he said fine I can fix her classic unpatched man cant fix her Oxide HP low Oxide's eyes narrowed.

"Fine? Meno baby, have you even ever had a girlfriend?" Something in Meno's spine tried to leave.

"Are you drunk?"

"No. No, answer the question." Oxide pointed at the camera, then at herself, then vaguely at his stream window as if she could physically accuse the internet.

"You humiliated me in front of millions. I should sue you for damages. I was being nice, and this is what I get."

"I had no idea what the hell the interview was on about," Meno said.

"It was a misunderstanding. If they had just asked if I would accept a date with you, I would have just said no." Oxide froze for half a second, then her face sharpened.

"How is that any different?"

"I had no idea who you were," Meno said.

"Should I accept dates with strangers?"

"You saw my name on the leaderboards. Do not lie. Is that not enough? Are you shallow?"

"Sorry," Meno said.

"I mainly focus on first place only." His chat tried to break the overlay. SHE GOT RANK DIFFED rank one romance requirement first place only line MENO STOP TALKING Oxide's mouth opened slowly.

"You are so full of it," she said.

"You get a little success and your ego leaves the building. Loser mentality. You are not even top 10 and you act like you're the big stuff."

"Why are you crying?" Meno asked.

"If you want to go on a date that much, go ask JaxxonVale." Oxide recoiled so hard one foot slipped off the chair.

"Yikes. That guy is so fake." She recovered, leaned toward the camera, and suddenly made her voice soft and stretchy.

"I want to go ooon a date with you. You are sooo cute." Meno felt actual fear. A small, ancient part of his brain, older than streaming and leaderboards and possibly civilization, told him to run.

"No." Oxide's expression flattened.

"Are you declining me again?"

"Yes." She held the stare for one long second, then started fake crying. It was bad fake crying. Huge gasps, hands over face, fingers spread wide enough to watch chat, shoulders bouncing with the timing of someone checking whether the camera had her good side. Her own chat loved it. Meno's chat loved it worse. Meno pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Look," he said.

"You are pretty in that classic unkempt and haven't showered in a week way. I'm sure you are a nice person off camera, but I already have a girlfriend, so this is not you. It's me." Oxide stopped crying instantly.

"You actually dare to use that line on me?"

"I—""Not you, me. Me, not you. I am going to lose my mind here." She slapped the desk once, making the soda bottle jump.

"Who is it? Show proof."

"No. I am not turning her into content." The word her did more damage than any Hundredfold projectile. Oxide's eyes narrowed with predatory focus.

"It's that rich girl, isn't it? I saw a few clips. A person like that will never like you for who you are, Meno. They might stick around while you are hot stuff and trending, but the moment you fall, they will bounce." The sentence cut closer than he wanted, but Meno smiled anyway, which was usually a bad sign.

"You seem very experienced and wise," he said.

"Why are you still single? Remind me."

"Asshole!" Oxide jumped off her chair. For a few seconds her stream became a moving documentary about a huge room in crisis. She grabbed a pillow, threw it at nothing, kicked a pile of clothes, picked up something that might have been a shoe, thought better of it, then threw a different pillow instead. Her camera stayed perfectly framed because she had apparently built her life around breakdown coverage.

"I only like good players," she shouted from off-center, "but they are all married, or fake. How am I supposed to get a husband like this?" Meno sat inside the Glassdry Catacomb exit tunnel, cringing so hard his avatar's shoulders actually rose. marriage raid Oxide husband queue send Chadculator Meno's brain caught one name and did what it always did under pressure: it found a terrible solution that seemed funny for half a second.

"I know a guy for you," he said.

"He is not on the ladder, but perfect for you. Already famous without being a streamer." Oxide reappeared in frame, suspicious and breathing hard.

"Who?"

"His name is Chadculator. He posted the weapon type DPS breakdown. I think you guys would make a good match." Oxide's face changed, and the result was horrifying.

"You think so?" she said.

"His name is ridiculous, but I do like smart men. How do you know he isn't like 50 years old? I am still only 28. I can't go that high." Meno hesitated for one fraction too long.

"I'm pretty sure he is around your age." Oxide leaned in.

"Why did you say it like that, man? You think I'm old? Used up?"

"What? We are basically the same age. I'm 27. Why would I think that?" Oxide put both hands on her cheeks and tried very hard to look cute. Annoyingly, it worked.

"See? We are perfect match. When that rich girl gets bored of you and you are still relevant, I will still date you. I promise. I like rude men like you." Meno exhaled through his nose. This woman had no content shame at all.

"Look," he said.

"If you need someone to talk to, my sister's husband is a professional. I can give you his number." Oxide's eyes lit up.

"YESS! Send me the number. You are in Vernova, right? I'm in Solena. Maybe I will move there soon so we can be cloooser." Meno went still. Solena was far. Basically the other side of the country. He hoped she was trolling. He deeply, spiritually needed her to be trolling.

"Okay," Meno said slowly.

"Send me your number in private." A ding hit his Streamline account almost immediately. He opened the private message, used his phone-link, copied Jonas's number, and sent it. The instant his thumb released, regret flooded his body. She had wanted his number. Oxide grinned at the camera like a rogue leaving stealth.

"I got it. Thanks, babe. I'll talk to my guy. I am getting an apartment soon. Kisses, bye bye."

"Look, wait," Meno said.

"Chadculator is much better for you. I promise." [Streamline Voice Collab Ended] She hung up. Meno stayed completely still for a few seconds, then closed the overlay, sat down on the dungeon floor, and put his head in his hands. SHE GOT THE NUMBER OXIDE WON PVP PRAYERBALLS DOWN Jonas boss fight unlocked Solena to Vernova any% Meno looked up slowly, face empty and calm. He had stepped on a trap, heard the click, and decided the mine could be blamed for poor wording.

"Mom," he said, "if you're watching, Aurelia accepted the invite, by the way."