Chapter 54
Chapter 54 - Recap
According to their memos, they would be asked a series of mundane personal questions, such as their favorite foods, how they enjoyed life in the tutorial, and how many girlfriends Adam had before meeting Mei.Adam immediately crossed the last question off his memo.
The section after that listed promotional lines they were expected to "casually" work into the conversation.
It also mentioned a surprise event, although the description consisted of only a single line.
You will fight a tamed sea monster at some point during the broadcast.
"Hey, what's this about fighting something?" Adam asked.
"Oh, that's just a fun little event we prepared to surprise the audience," Desmond explained. "Don't worry too much about it."
"Do we get loot when we beat it?" Mei asked expectantly.
"Unfortunately not. This place exists outside of the tutorial, and items from outside can't enter the tutorial. Also, please don't kill the sea monster when it appears. You may attack it as much as you like, just don't end its life."
"Why?"
"He's the pet of one of our employees."
"But it's okay to hurt him...?"
Desmond chuckled. "If you can, yes."
Mei immediately took that as a challenge. Her competitive spirit flared to life, and she found herself hoping the surprise event would begin as soon as possible.
Desmond glanced between the three of them before giving a satisfied nod.
"If you're all ready, we'll start the show."
Adam and Mei nodded while Granessa shrugged.
"Alright, 3Y3, commence the preroll."
Preroll footage airing now, livestream enabled
3Y3 projected a large floating screen before them. A prerecorded video began playing, announcing the first episode of the Tutorial Administration's special broadcast series, Peek Inside the Impossible.
The video aired simultaneously on Adam and Mei's shared stream account as well as the Company's official channel.
Beside it, a merged chat from every participating stream rapidly filled with messages.
SeeCuteGirl-iClick: Huh? What's this? A special broadcast? Never heard of one of these before. Where are Mei and Adam? Where's my future wife Granessa?
SeeMuscleGirl-iClick: Whoa, hold on! Granessa is my future wife!
Gojira: An official broadcast? I haven't seen one of these in decades. Not since they announced the discontinuation of Main Character Dance Battles. I really loved that show too...
xYzXyZ (mod): Hmm? I can't mod this merged chat.
SweetSarah (mod): Neither can I.
CompanyStaff01 (Staff): This is an official Company broadcast. Only official staff may moderate the merged chat.
Haven: What's an official broadcast? I've never seen one before.
Sqixx: Glah hliw agta thhhusoa Earth?
(Translation: What is an Earth?)
Vytr26: What language is that, @Sqixx? French or something?
Sqixx: Yit Glamb yupiw. Juyt? @Vytr26
(Translation: My language is called Glamp. What's yours?)
OffBrandWiki: They're speaking English, the official language of most human-dominated worlds. It's also the unofficial language of the Company since the majority of its employees are, or once were, humans. I think... 🤔
DredlDrefus986: Impossible difficulty? Why would I care about that? My mom's barber's third cousin's neighbor's daughter's best friend's husband's brother's half-sister beat the Impossible tutorial, so I already know everything about it. :Shruge:
JoryRask: Isn't the husband's brother's half-sister also the husband's half-sister...?
DredlDrefus986: No? The husband and the brother aren't related, so how would the husband be related to the brother's half-sister?
Trippmeup: ??? :WhatChamp:
The video opened with a brief explanation of what the new program would offer its viewers: a rare glimpse inside an Impossible difficulty tutorial.
Normally, broadcasts from Impossible tutorials only showed boss battles. This series would be different. It would feature the battles leading up to those encounters, highlights from previous fights, behind-the-scenes interviews, and even special game shows featuring celebrity guests.
The merged chat barely paid attention.
Most viewers from Earth were far more interested in learning about the wider universe by talking with people from other worlds. Meanwhile, those from beyond Earth hardly seemed interested at all. To them, Impossible tutorials were nothing special. Some had even survived one themselves after being fortunate enough to accompany their world's main character.
Avarice: I survived the Impossible tutorial just fine. All you have to do is latch onto the main character's thigh and it's a breeze. Seriously, the only people who die are the idiots who think they're special. 🙄
_Zdex007: That's only if you're lucky enough to end up in the same tutorial as a main character. Or unlucky, in the cases where the MC enters a low-level tutorial and everyone gets wiped except them.
Avarice: True... When a Normal tutorial suddenly turns into a max-level Impossible one, it's a miracle if more than a handful survive. Not to mention when some braindead MC decides to enter an Easy tutorial. RIP those newbies...
A handful of viewers dismissed the broadcast entirely, but that changed the moment the prerecorded footage switched to Adam and Mei's past battles.
The montage began with the very first monsters they had ever killed.
Mei calmly raising her pistol before dropping three goblins from atop their wolf mounts with three perfectly placed shots.
SeeCuteGirl-iClick: Oh! This is Mei's debut!
Frogman: She's seriously OP.
HardcoreGamer: Damn! When I went through the Easy tutorial, I nearly pissed myself because a rabbit snarled at me. But in Impossible you have to fight goblins just minutes after arriving? That's terrifying...
The scene that followed their first fight was their first true encounter with the impossible: their battle against the guardian cave bear.
Mei had nearly died, and Adam had only managed to hold on long enough for her to land the final blow and kill the monster.
The chat immediately began analyzing their performance.
BlueDye: This MC is powerful, even for the overpowered Gunslinger class. But aren't the two of them kind of dumb? Why are their skills and spells so rudimentary? Doesn't this Earth world educate its Players? It's like they've never even used magic before.
Avarice: :THIS:
xYzXyZ (mod): @BlueDye Of course they've never used magic before. Only Players can use magic, and we provide as much education as possible, but the Game has only been around for a few years.
BlueDye: Wait... you people can't use magic without the Company's help through the Game? Hold on, where even is Earth? I've never heard of it before. Are you from some world farther away than a fringe world?
The scenes switched again, moving on to their first mini-boss battle.
This time, the footage focused less on their survival and more on Mei's incredible martial training.
BlueDye: Their physical abilities are amazing, even for an MC, and especially for a normal human. I've seen the perfect human body, and these two possess something close to it. Seriously though, their magic usage is atrocious.
Gojira: As a reptilian, I can't comment much on their bodies. Compared to us, all humans are tiny. However, as someone from a world that lacked magic at one point, I can say they're improving incredibly quickly.
Gojira: Personally, it took me nearly half a year to become comfortable with casting magic, and I'm related to my world's Fate Holder.
BlueDye: I guess...
The footage continued, showing the aftermath of their battle and the moment Mei had set the forest ablaze.
Granessa glanced toward Adam and Mei.
Adam immediately looked away guiltily.
They had never told her that they were the ones responsible for burning the forest. Especially not after she explained that the damaged area was part of the real orc home world, an ancestral forest that held great importance to her people.
Fortunately for them, the moment Granessa appeared on the broadcast, the chat erupted into chaos, providing the perfect distraction.
SeeMuscleGirl-iClick: Wife!
Musclez_R_Life02: Ah... an angel...
BlueDye: An orc? Why does she look a little different from the ones I know?
OrcishScholar: Is... is that a first-generation orc?! Or possibly second-generation? Her bloodline is so pure that I can feel it through my screen! Modern orcs have become so diluted that they can't even retain their beautiful blue skin or overwhelming musculature.
Granessa frowned as she read the comments from OrcishScholar, but there was nothing she could do. She didn't know how to interact with the chat, leaving her unable to respond to the strange claims being made about her.
"Are these the invisible friends you two talked to?" she asked.
"Some of them," Mei replied with a nod. "The others we don't know."
Before they could continue, the footage transitioned to the reveal of the Lord of Flesh.
The chat immediately went wild, drowning out their conversation.
HottieHunter: Eww! It's that nasty worm again.
BlueDye: What the f**?! That's the Lord of Flesh! Rank 10 on the Universe's Most Wanted List!
Gojira: The Grogroshin Worm King?
CatTheBountyHunter: Nya! I've been searching all over for that worm. Meow. How did he end up in a measly tutorial world? Miao miao.
Queen_Allie: There's no way they survive this, right?
SeeCuteGirl-iClick: Nah, this is old footage. They survive.
Vytr26: The bird girl saves them :nodders: 
The chat continued analyzing the battle, pointing out mistakes they had made and discussing what they would have done differently.
BlueDye: Why isn't he casting [Vacuum Shield]?? Grogroshin worms have disgusting regeneration abilities, but they still need oxygen and can't replenish it on their own.
CatTheBountyHunter: Yaong. It wouldn't work. Lord of Flesh is a pervert even among other grogroshin worms. Myau. He poisoned himself with every known poison in the universe to gain regeneration beyond Mythic-class. Which also resulted in his blood gaining an acidic property capable of melting intangible mana. Meo. Even I would be wary of it, and I'm a level 500 Bounty Hunter with all poison-resistant equipment specifically prepared for hunting Lord of Flesh. Niao.
GodGamerKyle: Is this guy actually a cat? Why does he keep meowing?
CatTheBountyHunter: I'm a nekomata. Meow.
GodGamerKyle: Wait... like a cat girl?
CatTheBountyHunter: ...I'm male. Nyan...
CatLovrr: A cat's a cat, even with an extra tail. :Shruge:
Avarice: :HUHH:
BlueDye: :HUHH:
xYzXyZ (mod): :HUHH:
Vytr26: :HUHH: 
CatLovrr: Nekomata have two tails...
The chat slowly derailed as viewers lost interest in discussing what seemed like an unwinnable battle.
Then a massive shadow covered the battlefield, blocking out the sunlight.
A gigantic bird descended from the sky.
Kinja427: No way! That's the Roc Queen!!!
Yaaboidavi: The one who went missing? Wait, was she hunting Lord of Flesh? It's said that grogroshin worms are the best nourishment for recently hatched rocs... do you think...?
Namxas: But the Roc Queen went missing dozens of years ago. Wouldn't the baby be nearly full-grown by now? After all, she disappeared shortly after the Roc King's death.
CatTheBountyHunter: Lord of Flesh was last seen around the same time Skysandra, the Roc Queen, went missing. In fact, I met her and her husband once. I can say with confidence that this is her.
Gojira: That's definitely the Roc Queen. Only a Mythic-class divine being of her caliber could effortlessly kill the tenth most wanted being in the universe.
"Mythic-class divine being...?" Adam mumbled. "Isn't Divine the tier after Mythic?"
"No," Desmond replied, shaking his head. "Mythic-class and Divinity are not mutually exclusive. The tier above Mythic is Universal, which represents beings capable of reshaping the universe itself. The Company is one such being, as is the Game."
"What? The Company and the Game are living beings?" Mei asked incredulously.
"Um, not exactly. Unfortunately, I can't go into the details. Besides, that isn't something you need to worry about at your level. You two haven't even left the tutorial yet. You're only at the very beginning of your journey."
Adam and Mei nodded in understanding.
Although Desmond's explanation raised more questions than it answered, they decided to keep the information in the back of their minds and continued watching the chat's reactions.
Soon, the viewers were shown never-before-seen footage of their battles in the desert.
Mr___JS___: Oh, they fought the Army of the Dead in the Desert of the Dead? I remember fighting them myself back in the day. We had one hundred Players in that Impossible tutorial, and over ten percent fell to the desert's final boss, Bakari.
BlueDye: Their magic usage has improved a little. [Divine Shield] is a smart choice.
Avarice: What's with those gloves Lord of Flesh dropped? I can't see their hidden stats.
CatTheBountyHunter: Neither can I... Mew.
Gojira: Even a higher-level Player can't see through them? Strange.
When the footage showed them losing to the Army of the Dead and getting taken hostage, the chat showed various reactions. Some were mocking, but most showed concern. Especially their early viewers.
SweetSarah (mod): Ohno! This isn't live is it? Please tell me they’re ok!