CHAPTER 77: PINKLASHES

It was strange—he almost couldn’t understand why so many people would create fake accounts impersonating others, most with massive followings.

One was even producing content on how to build a reputation like his. What he’d done to get so popular. How he’d attained the Dungeon Master class.

First of all, the Lucien didn’t even possess Dungeon Master as a class like others could now. He had fused with the dungeon boss and become the dungeon boss of the Hall of Columns.

’People are idiots, really.’

Lucien shook his head in irritation and finally clicked on the first video.

He sighed and began to upload.

***

In a cozy room bristling with large screens, a dark-blue haired girl lounged in a gaming chair, legs crossed over her keyboard. Massive monitors surrounded her on all sides, each displaying different content.

One screen showed the forum’s chat feed, another played a video, and a third displayed footage of another player in combat.

The player had long black hair and soared on a sword with hundreds of other blades orbiting around him, all controlled with just two fingers.

Several other videos flickered across her screens—a red-haired man among many others.

Then a new notification flashed on the screen directly before her:

[A new player has uploaded a new video]

[PlayerCien96]

She shrugged it off at first.

"These damn nobodies never know when to quit."

She dug into her popcorn bowl and crammed a handful into her mouth.

She kept staring at the screen, then eventually leaned forward and slammed the keyboard.

The moment she hit it, the video launched. Her eyes slowly widened as it played, popcorn tumbling from her open mouth onto the floor.

Then slowly, a wicked grin spread across her face.

"Player Cien. He’s finally revealed himself."

She licked her lips, eyes locked on the video as she continued watching. The more she watched, the more absorbed she became.

She couldn’t help but wonder:

"This guy... is he really a new player? How can anyone be this skilled on their first attempt? Sure, there are prodigies, but this borders on absurd. Some no-name just storms onto the scene and dominates?!"

She leaned back, clutching her hair.

"God, this is insane! He’s fucking incredible!"

Even from this limited perspective that didn’t show his full body movement, she could discern details that others would miss.

Because she wasn’t like other people.

She was special—one of the best, arguably the very best in her field. The finest videographer and editor around.

Rumors even suggested her father had been among the early developers who created Evolution Online’s graphics engine. But it remained just a rumor—she’d never confirmed it.

And her father was gone now.

She dragged her chair closer to the keyboard, leaned forward and began typing.

***

Lucien looked at his first successfully uploaded video and grinned.

He was preparing to upload the second when a message suddenly appeared.

[PinkLashes: Don’t you dare!!]

Lucien paused, confused. He glanced left and right, then stared at the message with a frown.

He typed back: "Hello?"

The stranger responded immediately.

PinkLashes: "I know you’re thinking of uploading the rest of your videos, but don’t."

Lucien’s frown deepened.

"Why not?"

PinkLashes: "Do you trust me?"

Lucien raised an eyebrow and typed: "I don’t even know you."

PinkLashes: "Ah, right. I forgot you’re new. I’m PinkLashes, one of the big three in video editing. I want to help edit your videos. Video editing does more for your content than you realize.

"Right now, you could upload your videos and people will go crazy for them. But your raw footage will lack the personality to keep viewers engaged. Over time, people will lose interest no matter how hooked they were initially, and eventually they’ll lose interest in you as a player. Streaming has to be done right, or you might be digging your own grave."

Lucien stared at the response for several seconds, rubbing his jaw.

He wouldn’t lie—the stranger sounded like they knew what they were talking about. However, trusting someone with his content was another matter entirely.

What if this was a scam?

He exhaled and typed carefully: "How can I trust anything you’re saying? You could just create a fake account and upload my videos for your own gain."

PinkLashes sent a facepalm emoji.

"You really don’t know me. I have nothing to gain from that. In fact, my reputation would be destroyed if I pulled something like that. You know what? Search OfficialYinhui, The_Shadow, Queen of Steel. Look up those three names and tell me who edited their content."

Lucien did as the stranger asked and searched OfficialYinhui first.

He found countless fight scenes featuring a long-haired young man with pale skin, wearing traditional Chinese attire—almost like his own, but longer and more sophisticated. The player flew on a sword with minimal movement, controlling hundreds of floating blades.

Essentially the same fighting style against different monsters, yet Lucien kept seeing staggering numbers: twenty-five million views, forty million views. Some videos had eight hundred thousand likes, others over a million. The gifting sections were equally impressive.

Four million gifts, six million gifts per video.

He exhaled and searched for Queen of Steel’s content next.

He scrolled through her content. Her views, likes and gifts dwarfed even Yinhui’s—all in the tens of millions.

Lucien gulped and searched for The_Shadow. That’s when his jaw hit the floor.

He stared at the screen.

"Five hundred million gifts? What the hell?! Half a billion people gifted one video?"

The_Shadow’s lowest view count was one hundred and thirty million—far exceeding even Queen of Steel’s numbers.

The_Shadow was just some red-haired guy with a detached expression, always fighting. Lucien couldn’t focus on the actual content because the numbers were so overwhelming.

What he noticed across all these videos was one consistent credit: Edited by PinkLashes.

He leaned back and stared at his screen with a stunned expression. In another window, PinkLashes’ DM waited for his response.

Lucien didn’t know much about these players—he recognized Yinhui thanks to the system, while the other two had only been mentioned in passing on the forums.

But if it was this person that edited their videos, then perhaps, it was not a bad idea to accept her help. Of course, he knew she wasn’t going to be offering it for free.

He sighed.

’I hope I’m not making a mistake.’

He breathed steadily and typed back.

"Okay. I understand now... so what do I do?"