Season 4: Chapter 162. The Birth of the Great Lord (2)

“First, if you could die for me, I’ll only take half.” Almond leveled his blade, as if asking politely for a death.

The narration explained, “Almond proposed a deal to Salt. He’ll only take half the loot if Salt willingly dies. He believes this is mercy.”

— What kind of deal is that? lol

— The scale is broken

— LMAO

— A merciful offer, he says

— I thought Donuts was the crazy one but this guy’s the real deal

The narration gave more background on how this absurd moment came to be. “Amazingly, all of this was to obtain a fishing rod.”

— Huh?

— ???

— Why tho? LOL

— Couldn’t he just craft one himself

— His passive skill is Raiding Economy

— He’s never played a cozy game in his life

“

Tch!

” Salt lashed out and swung at Almond.

Whoosh.

The strike missed. A beat later...

Shlack!

Almond’s blade cut across Salt’s neck.

— Wow

— Ooooo

— His mechanics are top-tier, no question

— Insane

— Lord vibes fr

Even without context, Almond’s swordplay alone drew gasps. After all, he had honed his blade for the

Civil Empire

world championship.

Thud.

Salt collapsed, and a loot box popped free. Almond opened it, and the music turned chilling.

“There’s no fishing rod...”

— ?

— HAHAHA

— There wasn’t one???

— I’m crying

— Why would you think he had one to begin with?

— Noooo

— No way

YouTube viewers, witnessing his first atrocity, howled.

The narration followed. “Some say that when Almond killed them, something inside him died as well.”

A blood-smeared breastplate filled the frame.

Dun-dunnn.

The edit kept going for tragic grandeur, which was hard to take seriously when everyone was only two-heads tall.

— What lol

— The narrator’s doing a whole elegy by himself

— I’m dying

— Fact: the only ones who died were Paprika

— Very educational...

— So... we’re saying Almond’s conscience died?

— What are you talking about? lmao

Crackle.

The scene switched to Almond by a pond, reading the chat. A caption appeared.

[Moments later, Almond learns that he needs spider silk.]

“It says I can get a ball of thread from spider monsters.”

[But he has no idea where to find spiders.]

He glanced at the map, halfhearted at best.

“I can summon monsters.”

[Now he asks a viewer to put up three hundred thousand won.]

A donation board popped up beside him.

==== ====

5,000 won = Cheese cookie

10,000 won = Random buff

100,000 won = Random status ailment

300,000 won = Random monster summon

1,000,000 won = Instant death

==== ====

— ? LOL

— You can’t summon anything, they do

— One-trick Raiding Economy

— This is where the Spirit Bomb meta started

— Human Mongol Almond

RubySword’s massive donation exploded on screen.

[RubySword has donated 300,000 won!]

[Summoning Jutsu!]

Pop.

A certain dragon materialized.

“Thank you, RubySword! Huh?”

— ???

— Wait

— LMAO

— That’s way too big

— Oh no!!

Almond hesitated, then swung. His sword shattered instantly.

Pop.

— HAHAHA

— What is this even?

— This actually happened??

— Is he gonna die again??

The camera zoomed in on Almond’s blank and baffled chibi face.

‘How the hell do I kill that?’

Skkkkrt.

The scene cut.

[Paprika Village]

A title card appeared with a tiny subtitle.

[The secretly invited invaders.]

— What?

— How did we get here?

— What’s going on?!

— Straight to Paprika??

— Already??

First-time viewers had no idea why the editors jumped to Paprika.

[Paprika Village was built by streamers who moved from Treevy to Paprika. Cheese Village knows nothing about this.]

— They’re dropping the lore, whoa

— Production value goes hard

— So it was never a healing game lmao

— It’s basically survival reality TV

— Fyi: the only one “healing” here is Almond

The narration continued, “Their land was barren. Poor for farming, but rich in iron. With strong PvP players, the design nudged them toward a raiding economy.”

— Raiding economy, you say? Like someone we know?

— So that’s why they got raided earlier??

— Wait, they were supposed to raid?

“But, as in life, nothing goes quite as planned.”

Whoosh.

The scene cut to Black Pepper, respawning in the village. “

Gahhhh!

What the hell was that! Who

was

that guy?! Psycho!”

Whoop.

Her profile flashed across the screen.

==== ====

Fighting-game streamer

300k YouTube subscribers

FistFury: World rank 38 (7th among women)

Street King: World rank 57

2030 Treevy’s Most-Used TTS Voice

Bubbly energy

Master of fighting mind games

==== ====

“Wait, you died? You got your gear wiped?” A short, orange-haired avatar waddled over.

It was Orange. His card popped up next.

==== ====

Ex-pro-gamer turned streamer

102k YouTube subscribers

2028 LIL Champs Spring Champion

2028 LIL Worlds Semifinalist

2035 Legend Tale World First clear

Commander-type player

A bit oblivious

==== ====

Orange stared at the freshly respawned Black Pepper. “We’ve barely started and you already died...? That message in the server chat was you?”

“There’s a maniac out there. I didn’t even see his face. I’m telling you, he was different.”

“That strong?”

“Insane. He beat me to death barehanded.”

— LMAO

— Black Pepper’s voice is killing me

— Barehanded... I mean, true

Orange glanced around. “What about Salt?”

Thud.

Salt respawned in the town too, in his underwear.

“Uh...”

“?”

“...?”

— HAHAHAHA

— “Did you come to rescue me?” “No, I got kidnapped too.”

— Why is he naked? LOL

— He ran away and left everything behind

Bzzt.

The next scene cut to everyone in Paprika. They gathered for an emergency meeting about the anomaly that appeared.

[Paprika Countermeasure Meeting]

Dun-dun.

Despite the grand title...

“So, there’s an unknown player deployed specifically to counter us?”

They already went off on the wrong foot.

“Obviously, there’s no way Cheese would just let us run wild as invaders. This is their doing.”

“Sounds plausible.”

It did not. There

was

no such thing as an unknown player.

— Shadowboxing with imaginary enemies LOL

— What are they doing?

— Debating a thing that doesn’t exist

“Let’s find this punk first. Describe him.”

Shff.

Orange unfurled a massive canvas that the admins had provided.

“We’ll spread the word about this guy.”

Scratch, scratch...

Orange sketched furiously, using Black Pepper and Salt’s frantic retellings to assemble a composite sketch of their mysterious killer.

[WANTED]

“This bastard... if I ever see him again...”

The camera zoomed in on the rough drawing. Then, it cut to the back of someone’s head. Almond stood before a wall plastered with dozens of identical wanted posters... of himself.

“Everyone, uh... This is...”

Almond had entered Paprika Village.

—

???

—

How did he get there? LOL

—

Wait what

The video rewound to explain. Almond had used a Return Scroll looted from Black Pepper and Salt’s items to escape the dragon.

—

LMAOO Return Scroll?!

—

He actually lived?

—

This dude outran a dragon. Unbelievable.

Not only had Almond survived, but he somehow ended up in Paprika Village itself.

“

Um...

I think I should quietly leave. This place looks... off.” Even Almond sensed the danger as he turned to leave.

—

He’s here.

—

The scene is coming...

—

Oh my god, it’s seconds before his discovery

While he stood gawking at the scenery, several Paprika villagers wandered into view.

“So, we’re supposed to be raiders now, huh?”

“Guess that makes us bandits.”

“Cool! Like in those old Western... Wait... Huh?”

They froze.

The music shifted to a low, rumbling tone.

Whooom...

The camera slowed, and both sides’ eyes widened. The Paprika villagers’ gazes darted between Almond’s face and the wanted poster behind him.

—

LMAO their faces

—

This shot is cinematic gold

—

Oh no, he’s so done

Pop!

The playback snapped back to full speed.

“It’s him! That’s him!!” one of them shouted with a trembling finger pointed at him.

“The anomaly!!”

The camera zoomed out and soared overhead as doors burst open. From every house in Paprika, giant-headed chibi avatars spilled into the streets.

—

HAHAHAHA

—

They cut the original 5v1 scene down

—

This is insane

—

It’s literally a movie now

—

No way he wins this

“Kill himmmmmm!!”

Hundreds of blades flashed.

Clang! Clang!

Almond parried and dodged, trying to retreat.

[SpiritBomb has donated 10,000 won!]

[My friends, lend me your energy!]

A spark flared beneath Almond’s feet. He froze mid-step.

[RubySword has donated 10,000 won!]

[Raise your arms! \o/ \o/]

More donations flooded in. The chat appeared on the screen with a flurry of messages.

—

If Ruby says raise, you raise!

—

\o/

—

He’s literally a constellation now lmao

—

This is what being a streamer means

— LOL

—

\o/\o/\o/\o/

—

“I am the Legion.”

—

Gens-tier supporter confirmed

—

Raise those arms!

BOOM!

Each donation exploded into buffs.

[Xiaolongbao has donated 10,000 won!]

[Chipping in!]

[Attack Power +50%]

BOOM!

[Umai has donated 10,000 won!]

[Let’s gooo!]

[Defense +30%]

BOOM!

[Vegeta has donated 10,000 won!]

[Tch... just this once.]

[Critical Damage +30%]

The screen filled with flashing texts.

[Weapon Enchantment: Lightning]

BZZZZZZZT!

Almond’s sword ignited with crackling electricity as the orchestral soundtrack swelled to its peak.

—

Holy crap this is epic

—

He’s the Donation Doctor

—

Ruby’s basically a god now

—

The Peanut Cult rises

—

Why didn’t I watch this live?!

Even first-time YouTube viewers were blown away by the spectacle of the “Spirit Bomb Buff.”

“!”

The charging Paprika players faltered. In slow motion, Almond’s sword blurred through the air as the score thundered. One by one, heads rolled.

Shhhhrrk!

Blood sprayed.

CRACK!

Lightning struck, and screams echoed out.

“

Gyaaaaah!

”

“

AAAAAH!

”

“NOOO!”

SHIIING!

The camera zoomed in on Almond’s eyes.

[EggPlant has donated 100,000 won!]

[I’m here to end this fight.]

—

Huh?

—

Wait what?!

—

Excuse me??

A dragon roared from the heavens, exhaling fire. “

KRAAAAAAAAAAA!

”

—

They made it look like EggPlant summoned the dragon!

—

Dragon: Fried Edition

—

You’re the hero we needed, EggPlant!

—

This editing team is unhinged

THUD.

The screen faded to black.

Only the narrator’s solemn voice remained. “After this battle, Almond safely returned to Cheese Village, carrying with him the spoils of war... and something far greater.”

Crackle.

[Next Episode Preview]

[Episode 3: Fertile Soil]

“A hundred times.” Almond named the soil’s price. “Then, should I call you Radish Servant?”

This was the birth of Radish Servant.

“Almond is a potato. Sell the potatoes.” Donuts and the Nonghyup Union were hawking produce.

“All Black... is real!!” Acorn Jelly set off on a grand quest.

“

KYAAAAAA!!

” Miho desperately screamed.

A close-up of Almond’s eyes appeared with a Sharingan-like swirl reflected in them, followed by a flash of plummeting numbers.

[Potato ▼100%]

—

Potato Illusion Technique LMAO

—

Uchiha Potato Clan

—

I can’t breathe

THUD.

Then, the screen blacked out.

Radish Servant shouted, “Almon D. Roger! The man who will become the Farmer King!!”

[Come Visit Cheese Village!]

—

Chef’s kiss

—

Would anyone actually “visit” this village?

—

What the hell even is happening anymore?

—

Almond fully became the protagonist

—

Uchiha Potato arc incoming!!

—

Farmer King... does he bury people to grow crops now??

When episode two ended, every major forum and community exploded with posts dissecting and praising the chaos that introduced Almond the Great Lord.