After some time had passed, Yuveria and Qualia reached the path to the 25th floor. A staircase leading down surrounded by ruins, devoid of monsters, just like all the paths to lower floors before it.
"Start streaming."
"Huh? Right now?"
Though she questioned it, Qualia reached into her inventory to take out her floating camera. The deployment process didn't take long at all, and she was ready to start her stream at any time. After confirming so, Yuveria also reached into her inventory, and started lecturing Qualia while doing so.
"To be honest, you should've started streaming the moment we entered the dungeon."
"I mean, usually I do, but I'm with you right now, and I don't exactly think–"
Yuveria's upper body was nearly entirely inside her inventory, and you could even hear her grumbling "I took it out just yesterday". Finally, she emerged from her inventory, holding a white orb with a camera lens attached; her floating camera. Within seconds after deploying it, the camera was ready for operations. Yuveria gulped inwardly as she took a deep breath, before turning to Qualia.
"You can stream when you're with me. Don't worry."
"Are you gonna stream too?!"
After her disappearance, many wondered where the White Dancer had gone. It was an abrupt end to her streaming career, without any announcement or notice. The last stream she'd done was just a little over a year ago, followed by complete radio silence.
In truth, Yuveria should've announced her graduation[1]. But a part of her felt like it wasn't over just yet. Deep down, maybe she knew that she'd return eventually, hence why she never officially quit. She never imagined today was the day a legend would return, she never even planned for it.
But that's how she's always been back then. Never announcing when her streams would start, never announcing when they'd end. They'd always start out of nowhere, and end abruptly. Yuveria has never been a good streamer, and it's doubtful she ever will be. Even still, she was the first ever dungeon streamer. Even if it was a job, she took pride in that. That's why she didn't deny it when Qualia questioned her. And she'll never deny being the White Dancer, the first streamer.
""Stream start.""
That's just the kind of girl Yuveria Blanc is.
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DS General Thread
A place for the audience to share their thoughts. Please be respectful at all times.
Anon001: Hey, are you guys seeing this?
Anon002: Wasup?
Anon003: Check out the window feed.
Anon004: THE FIRST STREAMER IS BACK!!
Anon005: Huh? Wdym?
Anon006: Dude, check literally any streaming site.
Anon007: GUYS GUYS GUYS GUYS
Anon008: SHES BACK SHES BACK SHES BACK
Anon009: YB ITS YB ITS YYYBBBBB
Anon010: Srsly who??
Anon011: You must be new. YB is the first streamer, like, the first streamer.
Anon012: Like, as in the one who started DS?
Anon013: OMG SHES STILL AS PRETTY AS I REMEMBER
WhiteCEO014: IM HALTING ALL WORK FOR THIS
Anon015: Yep. Her handle name is YB, no one knows her real name.
Anon016: Didn't she disappear like a year ago tho?
Anon017: And that's why everyone's freaking out.
Anon018: She's back.
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"Ahem. It's been a while, everyone."
"You're seriously starting a return stream with that?!"
Yuveria and Qualia started their streams at the same time, and while Qualia had her usual audience slowly coming in, there was a flood of chat messages drowning Yuveria, metaphorically speaking. They'd taken their masks off when they reached the path to the 25th floor as that was a safe zone, but now that they've descended down, it was time for the masks to come back on.
[Holy, it's actually her.]
[No mistaking that whiteness!]
[The White Dancer is baaaaackkkkk!!!]
"Mm, everyone, calm down..."
"Seems like your chat is excited. Oh, looks like they found out we're together. That was quick..."
A flood of new viewers also came to Qualia's stream after seeing her in the background of Yuveria's. Several questions came up on both of their chats, things to the extent of "where did you go", or "what have you been doing", "are you single" is one question that they both ignored.
"It's been a while... Uh, yeah. We're on the 25th floor. To kill Hyvestia."
Yuveria didn't even answer any of the questions the fast-scrolling chat had asked, she just stated her and Qualia's goal, not even explaining why she'd been gone for over a year.
[AndreaWhiteOfficial@WhiteAvenue donated 50 Tes: MY GODDESS ON THE SCREEN]
"Andrea, get back to work. Wait, why are donations still working?"
Qualia walked over to Yuveria as she fiddled with her MS window, which had Yuveria's stream open. She was also doing some crowd control on her own stream, and it felt like it would take a while for things to calm down.
[QualiaTODRESA donated 50 Edis: A little something from me too, as thanks for today.]
"Qualia, you're right next to me. And don't just spend money like that, you're a minor."
[Manaθ@WhiteAvenue donated 100 Edis]
"I'm turning off donations for a while, we can't continue like this."
[AndreaWhiteOfficial@WhiteAvenue donated 100 Tes: I LOVE YOU]
That was the last donation that went through before Yuveria turned them off. While she joked about not having enough money, Yuveria was actually earning just enough as an adventurer selling her monster drops to live comfortably alone, so she wasn't too fond of the idea of people sending her money through donations. She approached Qualia and took a look at her chat which was scrolling slightly slower than it was moments ago.
"Have things calmed down on your side too?"
"More or less."
She looked at her own chat, still moving fast, but much calmer now than when the stream first started. She recognized some of the names of viewers from when she was still active, and of course there were also the names of acquaintances scrolling by. Who knows how much money Andrea would've sent if she hadn't deactivated donations.
"Then let's go."
"Yes. Oh, be sure to have our backs, guys!"
Unlike Yuveria, Qualia was accustomed to interacting with her audience. Yuveria really only interacted with her audience at the start and end of her streams, often forgetting about them entirely in the middle of her dives. Though, that was also part of her charm.
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Hyvestia, a giant poison spore-emitting nightmare shroom. Though, because of its size, it doesn't mimic mushrooms like regular nightmare shrooms, but rather the trees around it. If they weren't constantly sending out mana waves to detect threats, it could've very well ambushed Yuveria and Qualia.
"Remember, this is your fight."
"I know."
Fire was a perfect match against Hyvestia, as the poisonous clouds it releases are highly flammable. There was no need to take care of the surrounding greenery, as the trees would just recover and regrow after the day ends. Truthfully, setting the entire jungle on fire and just waiting for Hyvestia to burn to death could've been an option, but the mana accumulation and the drops lost from doing that makes it an option not viable.
[How come you haven't cleared these floors yet?]
"Well, I couldn't afford a breathing mask and oxygen tanks. I'm still a minor, so I can't take donations, and I can't sell monster drops. My only source of income is commission board contracts."
[So that's why you never applied for monetization?]
"Mhm."
Qualia was chatting with her audience while Yuveria scouted ahead, clearing vines with her dagger to make a clear path forward and eliminating monsters who's drops she could sell.
[AndreaWhiteOfficial@WhiteAvenue: Would be nice if you paid attention to us too, Yuvie~]
"I'm still reading your chats. I just don't know how to respond."
[You could learn a thing or two from Qualia, y'know?]
"True."
Yuveria smiled slightly as she sent out another mana wave. She stopped in her tracks, causing Qualia to freeze as well and send out her own mana wave. Then, they found it. It wasn't visible yet, but they could feel the huge discrepancy in mana, signalling the presence of a boss monster. One of these collosal trees is Hyvestia the Poison Nightmare.
An eerie silence came over the two, with only the hissing steam of the floating cameras making noise. Qualia slowly, quietly stepped forward, towards the direction of the mana interference, towards Hyvestia. Yuveria only watched her, not moving with her. She made it perfectly clear several times already, this is Qualia's battle. She wouldn't interfere.
[It's getting real tense now.]
Qualia stood in front of a tree, one so large it towered over her several times over. A heavy breeze brushed past her, prompting her to take hold of her hat. Quietly, she readied her stance in front of the tree, a red hue surrounding her rapier. Qualia took a deep breath.
Then, she stabbed.
Immediately, Hyvestia released poisonous clouds in reaction to Qualia's strike. These were nothing to worry about, as the breathing mask and oxygen tanks completely negate them. The man-eating monster found it no longer necessary to continue mimicking its surroundings. From a giant tree, one of many in a jungle, it transmorphed into a giant mushroom, overgrown with vines, and uprooted itself, revealing a sharp set of teeth beneath its stalk. Qualia nearly gagged at how disgusting it looked.
Now that Hyvestia was not hiding its true form, it attacked Qualia relentlessly with its vines. Qualia would either dodge or slash at incoming vines, and counterattack with fire magic. Unfortunately, she was being pushed back. Qualia was certainly dealing damage to Hyvestia, but she wasn't doing enough. Hyvestia heals more than Qualia can deal.
[The reason Hyvestia is so hard to defeat, even with breathing masks, is because of how fast it regenerates.]
[If you can't outdamage its healing, you won't get anywhere.]
The chat was discussing with each other as they watched Qualia's battle. It's not unusual that a DS' audience would have adventurers, or know about boss monster features. The database freely shares that data, after all.
"She needs to use more fire."
Yuveria commented, prompting her chat to agree with her. Unfortunately, Qualia wasn't a mage. She doesn't have high mana capacity, but that's a weakness Qualia needs to overcome if she wants to kill Hyvestia alone. Her rapier and magic won't deal enough damage the way she's using it with such a preservative nature. At this rate, she'll only be wasting her energy. Even still, Yuveria wouldn't interfere.
Qualia parried a vine, but it quickly shoved itself towards Qualia once more, swiping past her and tying around her. Qualia quickly used her rapier to slice off the vine, saving herself, but also leaving her side vulnerable. Another vine pushed towards her at that moment, forcing her to take a stumble forward, or she'd get hit.
"Bad move."
The vine shifted it's trajectory, slamming into the outbalanced Qualia. She dropped to the ground, the vine restraining her. She clicked her tongue as she lit a fire on the vine, causing it to shrivel in pain and let go. Qualia regained her footing as she burned her surroundings. Hyvestia uses the surrounding nature to regenerate, Qualia knows that. And she also knows that burning her surroundings would reduce Hyvestia's healing, allowing her to deal damage. The problem is, again, her mana capacity. If she were to recklessly burn the area, her mana could drain, and she would lose proper footing.
But what other choice did she have?
A small ember lit up on the tip of Qualia's rapier. A small fire that she let touch the ground. And in an instant, that small fire erupted into a massive blaze. Her mana drained, but she would recover it witha recovery potion. The fire continued, burning the vines off of Hyvestia. It released its spores in reaction, which only burned it as the spores combusted. It let out a loud screech as it jumped up, the teeth beneath its stalk reaching outward.
"Reckless, but it was the right move."
Yuveria smirked, reminded of her own first attempt at this boss monster. Hyvestia now entered its second phase, uprooting itself and repeatedly jumping on Qualia. When she first experienced it, even Yuveria was surprised at the pattern change. But now that all of Hyvestia's patterns and attacks were recorded in the database, it's not something to worry about with the proper preparation.
Qualia planted an ice bomb beneath her before dodging away right as Hyvestia was about to land, detonating the bomb. Ice shards erupted inside Hyvestia, causing it to flinch in pain. Qualia used that moment to stab it several times, each time injecting it with small amounts of water. She had switched her fire specialized rapier with her ice one while Hyvestia was in pain earlier, and the reason for that would soon become apparent.
Now that Hyvestia's protective measures were gone, it became more susceptible to damage and debuffs. Qualia switching to ice was a strategy used by many 25th floor clearers as well. Weaken Hyvestia's defenses with fire, freeze its insides with ice, then finally slice it apart with wind.
[She might actually do this fr on her first try?]
[That hit from earlier had me worried, but looks like she's alright!]
[ManaΞ: Even though she's still young, she's capable of this much... As expected of my oshi!]
Yuveria raised her eyebrow at the familiar name that came up on Qualia's chat, but she returned her focus on the battle in front of her. Qualia was now essentially halfway through the battle, and it'll be smooth sailing from here compared to earlier.
Hyvestia's movements were noticeably slower now. The ice inside its body was having a positively visinle effect. Qualia could finish it now, but she didn't want to be complacent. She'd already gotten hit from carelessness once. Hyvestia jumped once more, and Qualia planted another ice bomb beneath her. She felt a sudden lightness within her body, the same sensation as a level up from reaching a MA threshold. She didn't know why or how it happened, but she felt kighter because of it, letting her stab and inject Hyvestia with water even as it was dropping. When the ice bomb detonated, Hyvestia's movements completely froze, large ice chunks appearing on its stalk, which looked shriveled and withering.
"End it."
"Yes, ma'am!"
Qualia switched her rapier with the one specialized in wind, and with a sharp thrust empowered by wind, she bore a hole through Hyvestia's body. She reached her hand deep inside Hyvestia's stalk, ripping out one of its organs and throwing it into the party inventory while jumping back to perform another wind-powered stab. This will be the strike that ends this battle, as the wind drilled through Hyvestia whole, ripping it to shreds like a violent tornado. If any monster survived being shredded like that, then it would be a high-priority threat. Fortunately, with its insides being replaced almost entirely by ice, and with all of its defenses having been burnt, Hyvestia had no way of surviving that last strike. As she felt all the mana accumulate within her, Qualia could confidently proclaim her victory.
[She did it!]
[Another one for the history books...]
[Even if the White Dancer was keeping watch, she still defeated Hyvestia the Poison Nightmare all by herself. Qualia is amazing!]
[AndreaWhiteOfficial@WhiteAvenue: Amazing job, kid!]
[ManaΞ: THATS MY OSHIII[2]]
[Manaθ@WhiteAvenue: Wait, Drea, you can't possibly act normal after all that. The threads are already talking about what a weirdo you are!]
Yuveria jumped down next to Qualia, handing her a hybrid recovery potion. Qualia thanked her and gulped the potion down, quickly recovering her injuries and mana. As Hyvestia's body turned to particles just as all monsters do when they die, a staircase leading down to the 26th floor revealed itself beneath where Hyvestia's body was.
"Good job. Let's go to the 26th floor to register the TP, then report commission complete to the guild."
"Hehe... Did you guys see that?"
Qualia must surely be tired after soloing Hyvestia. Even still, she had the energy to interact with her chat. Tomorrow was the start of the work week, meaning both her and Qualia would have school. By the next weekend, Qualia would surely have recovered her energy. They would dive deeper together then, but for now, it's time to go back home. The two descended into the 26th floor and Qualia registered the TP to her MS window. Now she could freely travel to any floor from the 1st to the 26th.
[AndreaWhiteOfficial@WhiteAvenue: Yuvie, Qualia, I must ask you to wait before returning.]
"Oh, right..."
"What's up, Yuveria?"
[Manaθ@WhiteAvenue: We're currently doing some crowd control at the guild... News of YB's return turned everyone crazy, so I suggest to wait a bit till we can get everyone to settle down...]
"That's inconvenient..."
"So... Should we just wait here, then?"
"Nothing else to do."
They sat down on the edge of the platform, waiting for Andrea to contact them. To pass the time, Qualia was chatting with her audience, while Yuveria scrolled through her status window. Her third class, usurper, allowed her to direct all the MA she would've gotten to Qualia, her party member, giving her a small boost in the form of a level-up in the middle of her battle against Hyvestia. Though, she'd never admit to it if she weren't asked about it.
"Usurper really is convenient..."
[Usurper? What's that?]
"Just my third class... ah."
Yuveria made a mistake. She did this often even back then, casually revealing things she shouldn't. She placed her hand over her mouth, but it was too late. Both her audience and Qualia's heard it clearly. Yuveria's voice was soft and quiet, but it had a certain presence that made it so you can clearly hear her no matter how quiet she made herself. Something like a princess' authoritative presence, perhaps.
[AndreaWhiteOfficial@WhiteAvenue: YUVIEEE, WE'RE HAVING A CONVERSATION WHEN YOU COME BACK!]
In any case, the cat's out of the bag now. Atleast she hadn't let slip her floor record... yet.
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White Dancer Return Thread
A thread to discuss the White Dancer's return. Please be respectful at all times and be sure to keep things relevant to the thread.
Anon094: Weeellll, it wouldn't be a White Dancer stream without her slipping up and accidentally revealing something massive, would it?
Anon095: Honestly, I'm not even surprised. If anyone were to get the rumoured third class, of course it would be her.
Anon096: I'm more surprised at her actual identity, Yuveria Blanc. The White Dancer's been with us this entire time, and we didn't notice!
Anon097: I mean, I had my suspicions. There's not many A-rank solo sword dancers who wear white... actually, Yuveria is the only one I can think of.
Anon098: Really makes you wonder how we didn't make the connection sooner.
Anon099: I mean, she wasn't exactly hiding it in the first place...
Anon100: It's just that no one asked her, huh...
Anon101: Anyway, does anyone have info about this Usurper class? I tried looking it up in the database, but I got nothing.
Anon102: Same here. I even tried asking some mana broker friends, but even they got nothing.
Anon103: I guess this is also just like the White Dancer...
Anon104: Hold on, she's explaining it right now.
Anon105: ...
HappyTank106: ...
WhiteCEO107: ...
Anon108: ...So, we all heard that right, yeah?
Anon109: Yeah, sure, just casually throw the bomb that it's a hidden class evolution from clearing the 35th floor boss. WHAT DO YOU MEAN?!
Anon110: Don't just casually say you've been clearing floors no one else has even touched! You'll break the top parties' hearts!
HappyTank111: Hahaha... as expected of Miss Blanc...
Anon112: LOOK, THE PARTY LEADER'S CRYING?!?!
WhiteCEO113: You know, as much as I glaze Yuvie, even this is a bit too much...
Anon114: Damn, even the crazy ceo is taken aback...
HappyTank115: Hey, Andrea, you think my party can clear the 30th floor soon...?
WhiteCEO116: Don't bother trying to catch up with her, she's an entirely different breed. Just move at your own pace.
HappyMage117: That's right, leader! Miss Blanc is an exception, normal people like us shouldn't compare ourselves to her!
HappyTank118: Clarissa, we're the top ranking party, the first to clear the 29th floor.
Anon119: I'm starting to suspect YB was the first, but she also didn't report it...
HappyTank119: ...
HappyMage120: ...
Anon121: Um, don't let it get to you! The White Dancer's just an anomaly, yeah! Surely there won't be another like her!
Anon122: Qualia.
Anon123: ...
HappyTank124: ...
WhiteCEO125: ...
HappyMage126: ...
CutieSpellblade127: You called?
YB128: Seems I caused a commotion...
WhiteCEO129: Everyone, scatter!
This thread has been locked. You can no longer post here. Please start a new thread if you wish to continue.
[1] A term used in the streaming industry, particularly in the eastern streaming industry, when a streamer decides to end their streaming career.
[2] Oshi - A term used in the eastern idol industry used by fans to refer to their favourite idol. The term oshi also applies to streamers and vtubers.