The screen flickered, the old webcam barely clinging to life as Leo stared at the viewer count.
1 watching.And that one was probably his mom.
"Hey guys!" he said with forced cheer, waving awkwardly at the camera. "Welcome to the stream! Today we're, uh… playing Ranked Disaster XIV!"
No chat messages. No donations. No followers. Just the sound of his computer fan dying a slow, heroic death.
Leo sighed. "This is hopeless."
He'd been streaming for two years. Two. Whole. Years. His total subscriber count? Fifty-two. Half of them were bots. One of them was his grandma, who thought "following" him meant she'd get pictures of his cat.
He leaned back in his creaky chair and muttered, "Man, if I could just be good at something…"
Then the screen froze — and his vision blurred.
[System Initialization…][Welcome, User: Leo Hart.][You have been chosen by the "Ultimate Streamer System."]
Leo blinked. "…Excuse me?"
[Function: Ability to Max Out Any Skill Related to Streaming.][Skill Menu Available. Tap to Max.]
A holographic menu appeared before his eyes, glowing faintly blue. Skills scrolled across the display:
Gaming (FPS)
Editing
Commentary
Comedy Timing
Charisma
Voice Acting
Cooking Stream Efficiency
"Chat Interaction" (Currently 0/100)
Leo stared. "This has to be a dream. Or I've finally fried my GPU so hard it's projecting hallucinations."
He hesitated. Then, because every bad decision starts with curiosity, he tapped Gaming (FPS).
[Ding! Skill Maxed: Gaming (FPS) — Level 100!]
A rush of knowledge slammed into his brain — recoil control, map awareness, pixel-perfect aim. When he blinked, it was like he could see through walls.
He loaded into a match. Five minutes later, he'd pulled off three 360 headshots and a clutch win that would make professionals cry.
"WHAT WAS THAT?!" he shouted, staring at his hands. "Okay, okay, that was— that was insane!"
Then the viewer count flickered.
1 → 37 → 204 → 1,126.
The chat exploded.
[Bro who is this guy?!][New prodigy?!][Someone clip that— holy aim!][He's cheating! There's no way!]
Leo's heart hammered. "Oh. My. God. I'm actually trending!"
Then the system chimed again.
[Side Quest Unlocked: "Become the Fastest-Growing Streamer in the World!"][Reward: Skill Fusion Token (Combine 2 Max Skills into 1 Unique Ability.)]
"Oh yeah," Leo grinned, leaning forward. "Now we're talking."
He tapped Charisma next. His posture straightened automatically, his voice shifted just slightly — confident, warm, magnetic. It didn't feel fake; it felt like the real version of him finally came alive.
"Yo chat!" he said, flashing a grin. "Glad you're here! Let's break some records today."
[Chat Interaction +10]
[New Follower: MiraMii][New Follower: TheoPlays][New Follower: ZenMaster88]
Hundreds of usernames flooded in. His follower count ticked up like fireworks.
But then, the voice of reason entered the chat — literally.
[Moderator Application: Accepted. MiraMii has joined the channel as Mod.]
A new message popped up:
MiraMii: "You're too good. No one improves that fast. Spill your secret, or I'm reporting you for cheating 😤."
Leo froze. Mira. His long-time online friend. She'd been streaming for years and was the one who inspired him to start.
"Mira?" he muttered under his breath. "Oh no…"
He quickly typed back:LeoLive: "Haha, just got lucky, I guess?"
MiraMii: "Uh-huh. Sure. You couldn't even hit a stationary target yesterday."
Leo laughed nervously into the mic. "Guess I've been practicing!"
The system pinged again, almost teasingly.
[New Skill Available: Acting (Lying Convincingly)]
He groaned. "Oh, come on."
By the end of the night, he'd hit 50,000 followers.His hands trembled. His heart raced. The System's soft voice echoed one last time before fading:
[Congratulations, Leo Hart.][You've just begun your path to becoming the #1 Streamer in the World.]
He leaned back, staring at the stream ending screen.Then he whispered, "Alright, Streamer System… let's max everything."