CHAPTER 49: MONEY MATTERS

"Ezekiel!" Blaze called me. Turning towards him, I saw him talking to the stream, something along the lines of ’I will discuss something confidential with Ezekiel. We will be back in a few minutes.’ while Link signalled me while making a camera gesture with his hands.

Understanding their intention, I waved my hand with a smile at them. Link gave a bright thumbs up before Blaze finally closed his streams. And then turning towards me, as he walked a step forward, he bowed to me politely before speaking.

"Sir Ezekiel-"

"Ezekiel is fine," I interrupted, making him feel a bit embarrassed. He coughed before continuing,

"Ezekiel. Thank you. You may not know this, but I have been going through an immense problem in my real life. But what you did today saved more than just my life. For this, I will be forever thankful to you."

Too naive... but it’s not bad to have people like them around. Much better than the backstabbing bitches.

"It was a deal. Don’t think much of it," I spoke with a smile before pondering about how much he might have earned. Though, before I could even say something, Blaze moved forward and showed me the total amount earned through [Gifts] on his stream today.

A stupid, sheepish smile was present on his face as he did that.

[39,214$]

That’s a lot. He must have gathered a lot of rich ones. If he can maintain that, he can earn 3 to 4 times more through gifts alone later too. I analyzed based on my experience in streaming and the streamer ’friends’ that I had.

Blaze then closed the window before explaining," I still need to divide this accordingly. I think at least 30% of it goes to Miss Raven because of the fans she has collected."

"Fans?" Raven’s ears perked as she heard that, and Link signalled to her he would explain it later. To which she nodded before turning quiet again.

"As for the rest, it will be divided 50-50 between you and me. Also, this does not include the money we will get through streams and subscribers we got today. As soon as we get that, we will also divide that accordingly."

The money was honestly good, but I don’t think I can use it immediately. There are certain people who can track me through bank accounts if a large transaction were to be made, and even the smaller ones needed to be careful of.

Hacking through bank accounts is possible but too much of a hassle. Plus, the lack of proper technology means I might have to build some things from scratch to work with. 10 years is a long enough time to bring more than a dozen changes.

Even personally, I can barely take out 100 to 200$ per week, which should increase to 1000$ later with game progression, if I want to stay under the bar.

But until then, money aside, I can utilise this money and power in other ways. For example, hiring people in real life to do work for me through the game. I can even open a company later on that I can hack into and then use with no one knowing it.

Hmmm. Since I have to stay offline for most of the next 9 days, I should invest some time to make some money online too without depending upon the game too much.

As for this money right now,

"Say, instead of the money from the streams and the Gifts, can I get your cards instead? The Unique Skill Cards that you have received as a reward. You can just keep the money you have earned today."

A Unique Skill Card would always go for an astronomical price. Though its value is not known much right now, there will be a time when these cards would go for millions, just because of how limited they are. And more often than not, the ones who will fight for it would be the [Legendary Class] holders.

For them, each [Unique skill] is another power multiplier on their already unreasonable authority.

Blaze was surprised to hear that. His eyes widened as he looked at me, while Link seemed to be curious about the card as he took it out before looking at it once more. Blaze paused for a few seconds before finally speaking his heart out,

"Ezekiel. I don’t know how much you know about streaming, but... this stream’s money, it’s a lot. We have reached 3 million views on our 6 hour long stream while maintaining 100% viewership all the time. And then there was the addition of almost 400,000 Subscribers as well. With all the rewards and the promotions, we are expecting as much as 300,000$ from this stream. Are you really, really sure that you want to buy the cards for that much money?"

And my answer was,

"Yes."

It was a steal!!! The cards are worth 100 times more than that.

I could barely control myself from jumping and saying ’Yahooo!!’ But then I controlled myself. I also realised one more fact that Blaze had missed.

Did he just say 6 hours with 100% engagement? Plus, there were 3 million views. Subscribers aside, that much could easily cross 1Million$. Hmmm... let’s not mention that. It would be a fun surprise when they see it themselves. I chuckled at the reaction they might have later.

"I would like to keep my card," Raven spoke out. Her eyes seemed like they wanted to sell the card too, but something was preventing her from doing so. Still, if that is what she has decided, I can’t do anything about it.

"If that’s what you ask for," Link didn’t seem to mind, but he seemed curious about the importance of the cards. There is a high chance he might ask me later about them.

It won’t be bad to tell them after they earned the money from the stream.

"It’s yours," lastly, Blaze was ready to give the card without any hesitation. Just like always, a bright smile was plastered over his face as he giggled.

He is happy with just 300k? Haha. I wonder what he would think later.

I accepted the two cards before asking," What will you guys do next? Personally, I will stay here and check if there is anything more I can gain from this settlement."

Hearing my words, Blaze answered without any second thoughts," Then we will also stay here. While we do tend to stream actions and stuff, our main topic revolves around finding the lore behind the characters and story and then publishing it as a UTube video to earn more."

"It won’t be a bad idea to spend time here to learn more about the settlement before making a complete video about the whole lore," Link completed his sentence, to which I nodded. It wasn’t a bad idea at all.

"Then perhaps I can explain a few tips and tricks during the video for enhancement?" I added my own ideas to it. A smile brightened on their faces as they nodded before speaking,

"That would be really awesome."

With that being done and nothing more to talk about, Blaze then moved towards Link before turning the stream back on. They began a small discussion about their future plans while I looked at Raven, dazing as she looked at her own card with a melancholic look.

She must have her own situation, huh? I thought before not paying too much attention to it. Waving at the three of them before moving into the inn, I then recalled the entire event once again before finally deciding to [Log Out].

The System screen turned black slowly before I could move my hands and feet in real life. And taking out the headset, I saw something far frightening than the devilkin that I fought before.

My mother’s cold smile.