Zaboru finished preparing his livestream setup with his ZEPS 4 and leaned back with a grin. The process itself barely took any effort anymore. One of the things he liked about ZEPS 4 was how much easier streaming had become compared to previous hardware. The console could handle gameplay capture, audio, online connection, and camera integration without forcing players to build some ridiculous external setup around it.
"Well..." Zaboru chuckled while looking at the screen. "Let's give them a little nudge."
He opened YouTube and casually posted a notification from his account.
HEY, I WANT TO LIVESTREAM MONSTER HUNTER XD
That was it.
No schedule.
No fancy thumbnail.
No professional announcement.
Just one stupid sentence.
Within seconds, people started arriving.
Zaboru stared at the viewer counter climbing rapidly and laughed. His personal YouTube account had become absurdly large, so whenever he suddenly announced a stream, thousands of people immediately appeared simply because nobody knew what he was about to do.
The broadcast started.
The main screen displayed his ZEPS 4 Monster Hunter menu while a smaller webcam window showed Zaboru sitting comfortably in his chair. Almost immediately, the live chat became impossible to read normally.
"ZABORU LIVESTREAM AGAIN!"
"ZABORU-SAMA I JUST PLAYED SILENT BOMBER! IS IT SUPPOSED TO BE LIKE SCURGE: HIVE!?"
"DAMN AS USUAL HE LOOKS SO HOT MMMM..."
"THE PERSON ABOVE ME IS DEFINITELY A THIRSTY WOMAN."
"WHO SAID I'M A WOMAN!?"
"WAIT WHAT?"
"KYAAAA ZABORU-SAMA!!!"
"PLAY HALO!"
"NO PLAY TMNT!"
"GIVE US BATTLETOADS 3 YOU COWARD!"
Zaboru immediately burst out laughing.
"Oi, oi, calm down! The stream has been online for like ten seconds!"
Naturally, that only made the chat move faster.
Zaboru shook his head. "Anyway, today I'm going to play Monster Hunter. You guys play it too, right?"
The answers were mixed. Plenty of people immediately responded that they had already poured dozens or even hundreds of hours into the game. Others admitted they had only recently started. Some said Monster Hunter wasn't really their type of game.
Then several comments appeared saying they had bought it anyway just to support ZAGE.
Zaboru stared at those messages.
"Hey."
His expression became strangely serious.
"I know you guys want to support us, but buy the damn games you actually want to play, okay?"
The chat slowed slightly.
Zaboru pointed toward the camera. "Don't buy some game, put it on your shelf, and never touch it just because the ZAGE logo is there. That's a bad habit."
He nodded as if he had just delivered profound financial wisdom.
Deep down, even he knew he was talking bullshit.
Of course companies loved customers buying things regardless of whether they used them.
And the chat immediately understood that.
"SHUT UP AND TAKE OUR MONEY."
"IT'S NOT YOUR MONEY, BASTARD! I WANT TO GIVE IT TO ZAGE!"
"ZABORU TRYING TO STOP US FROM BUYING ZAGE GAMES LMAO."
"I WANT TO GIVE MY BODY TO YOU!"
Zaboru stared at that last message for several seconds.
"...Moving on."
The chat exploded.
Zaboru laughed before switching fully into Monster Hunter. His character appeared inside the village, and experienced players immediately noticed something.
His equipment was ridiculous.
Zaboru's hunter was wearing a complete High Rank Rathalos armor set, with skills heavily focused toward increasing offensive power. The armor itself already required a considerable amount of hunting and materials to complete, making it obvious that Zaboru hadn't simply created a developer account with everything automatically unlocked.
He had actually been playing.
A lot.
But the equipment that caught everyone's attention wasn't the armor.
It was the enormous weapon strapped across his character's back.
A Great Sword.
The chat immediately changed direction.
"WAIT GREAT SWORD!?"
"LMAOOOO BAD WEAPON."
"ZABORU WHY ARE YOU USING THAT SLOW PIECE OF SHIT?"
"YOU CAN'T HIT ANYTHING WITH GREAT SWORD."
"HAMMER BETTER."
"LANCE GANG."
"GREAT SWORD USERS SPEND HALF THE HUNT SWINGING AT AIR."
Zaboru's eyebrow twitched.
Then he smiled.
"You plebs."
The chat exploded again.
"You people don't understand how great this giant piece of bonko is."
Zaboru rotated his hunter on the screen, proudly showing the gigantic sword.
"This thing isn't bad. You are bad."
"OOOOOOOOOOOOH."
"HE SAID IT."
"ZABORU DECLARED WAR AGAINST HIS OWN PLAYERBASE."
Zaboru chuckled. "I'm serious! I've been watching Monster Hunter videos for almost a month now. Some of you are actually getting really good. I've seen good Lance players, good Hammer players, very good Sword and Shield players..."
He paused.
"But Great Sword?"
Zaboru slowly shook his head.
"Disappointing."
The chat immediately became defensive.
"BRO THE WEAPON IS SLOW."
"WHAT DO YOU EXPECT US TO DO WHEN THE MONSTER MOVES!?"
"DIABLOS DOESN'T STAND STILL FOR YOUR STUPID CHARGE ATTACK."
"SHOW US THEN!"
Zaboru's grin widened.
"Exactly."
He moved toward the quest counter.
"That's why I'm here."
Zaboru chuckled as he opened the quest menu. "Obviously I've already finished the main game. I've beaten Fatalis too. But you guys know finishing Monster Hunter doesn't mean you've actually finished Monster Hunter."
Most experienced players immediately agreed.
Monster Hunter's main progression might technically end, but High Rank contained plenty of optional challenges designed to destroy hunters who thought they had already mastered the game.
At the moment, High Rank was the highest available tier. Zaboru had deliberately not implemented G Rank yet. That would come later when players had spent much longer mastering the existing content.
High Rank itself was already divided into different kinds of quests. Some were designed around solo progression, while others were intended primarily for online parties. Online quests assumed several hunters would enter together, which meant the monsters could have increased health, more aggressive behavior, stronger attacks, and sometimes modified encounters specifically built around group play.
Normally, four players would cooperate.
But Zaboru's version of Monster Hunter also offered another option.
Companion NPCs.
Players could meet certain hunters throughout the world, complete missions involving them, and eventually recruit them as hunting companions. Different NPCs had their own preferred weapons, personalities, strengths, weaknesses, and combat behaviors.
Some were aggressive.
Some focused more heavily on support.
Some were excellent at stunning monsters.
Others were surprisingly good at getting themselves killed.
Zaboru had added the system because not everyone enjoyed playing with strangers online. A player might love Monster Hunter but prefer experiencing most of it alone. Instead of forcing them into multiplayer, they could build relationships with NPC hunters and bring those companions into quests.
It wasn't mandatory.
A player could still hunt completely alone.
Which was exactly what Zaboru intended to do now.
He scrolled through several High Rank quests until he stopped at one.
The chat immediately noticed the name.
Super Black Diablos.
There was a brief moment where the chat almost seemed to freeze.
Then everything exploded.
"NO FUCKING WAY."
"SUPER BLACK DIABLOS!?"
"WAIT SOLO!?"
"WITH GREAT SWORD!?"
"THIS MAN WANTS TO DIE ON STREAM."
Zaboru chuckled.
Super Black Diablos was one of the nastier High Rank challenge quests currently available. It wasn't simply a normal Black Diablos with slightly more health. The monster was faster, significantly more aggressive, and had damage high enough that certain attacks could nearly kill a fully equipped High Rank hunter immediately.
A badly timed hit could end the hunt extremely quickly.
And unlike normal hunts where players could exploit wide environments, elevation, different zones, or temporary escapes, this quest took place inside an arena.
Hunter.
Monster.
That's it.
There was nowhere else to go.
The quest had originally been designed as an online challenge where four hunters could gang up on the enhanced monster. Most groups still struggled because Super Black Diablos had enough aggression to punish teams that became careless.
And Zaboru was entering alone.
With Great Sword.
"DAMN SUPER BLACK DIABLOS SOLO WITH GS."
"THIS MIGHT ACTUALLY BE THE FIRST TIME WE SEE ZABORU SUCK AT HIS OWN GAME."
"I CAN'T EVEN PICTURE HOW YOU PLAY GREAT SWORD AGAINST THIS THING."
"FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING I GUESS."
"HE'S GONNA CART IN TWO MINUTES."
Zaboru looked at the comments and laughed.
"Okay, kids."
His character began preparing.
First came items.
Potions.
Mega Potions.
Whetstones.
Cool drinks weren't necessary inside the arena, so he ignored them. He checked several offensive items and then moved toward the food system before entering the quest.
Food was another important part of this Monster Hunter version. Meals could increase health, stamina, attack, defense, resistances, or activate certain temporary skills depending on the ingredients and combination chosen.
But meals weren't always completely beneficial.
Some combinations could provide mediocre effects, and badly prepared meals could even cause minor disadvantages.
That made eating before a difficult hunt slightly unpredictable unless players had taken the time to understand the food system properly.
Zaboru selected his meal.
His character sat down.
The animation played.
Then the result appeared.
ATTACK UP
Zaboru froze.
The chat immediately reacted.
"LMAOOOO LUCKY BASTARD."
"DEVELOPER RNG!"
"CHEATER!"
"OF COURSE THE OWNER OF ZAGE GETS ATTACK UP."
Zaboru raised both hands.
"HEY! Don't accuse me of cheating!"
He pointed toward the screen.
"I didn't do shit!"
"SURE ZABORU."
"TOTALLY RANDOM."
"SOURCE: TRUST ME BRO."
Zaboru laughed.
"Okay, okay. The meal is lucky. I'll take it."
He finished preparing and selected the quest.
A loading screen appeared.
Zaboru's expression changed slightly.
The playful smile was still there, but now he was clearly focusing.
"Alright."
The arena loaded.
His hunter appeared at one side of the enormous battlefield while the gates closed behind him. Dust drifted across the ground.
For several seconds...
Nothing happened.
Then the arena shook.
A massive roar erupted from the opposite side.
Super Black Diablos charged into view, its dark armored body towering above Zaboru's hunter. Its horns were enormous, its movements noticeably faster than the normal species, and the moment it spotted the player it immediately scraped one foot aggressively against the ground.
The chat went insane.
"HERE WE GO!"
"ZABORU YOU'RE FUCKED!"
"GS MAINS RISE!"
"PLEASE DON'T EMBARRASS US."
"DIABLOS IS ALREADY ANGRY LMAO."
Zaboru calmly drew the Great Sword.
The enormous weapon slammed into his hunter's hands.
Super Black Diablos roared.
Zaboru grinned.
"Okay, kids..."
He leaned slightly closer toward the screen.
"You guys keep saying Great Sword is too slow."
The monster lowered its horns.
"You keep saying you can't hit anything."
It prepared to charge.
Zaboru's grin became wider.
"And that's because you're thinking about this weapon completely wrong."
The chat suddenly became strangely quiet compared to several seconds earlier.
Zaboru adjusted his grip on the controller.
"Great Sword isn't about chasing the monster around and swinging whenever you see something move."
Super Black Diablos charged directly toward him.
Zaboru's eyes remained fixed on the screen.
"It's about knowing where the monster is going to be..."
He paused.
"...before it gets there."
His character stood ready as the enormous Black Diablos thundered toward him.
Zaboru smiled.
"Now let me show you plebs how to use Great Sword properly."
To be continued.
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