Former Hero Streamer – Chapter 45

Chapter 15: The Food of Gods

“That’s more chaotic than I imagined.”

I thought being a Count came with a respectable status and a decent fortune, but that was just my misunderstanding.

“I don’t want to eat this!”

“Aida, there are many people outside who are starving and have even less than this. You shouldn’t whine.”

Aida, my younger sister, tossed the bread aside and burst into tears, while our father, Count Bradley Somerset, sternly chastised her.

I glanced at the food in front of me, thinking that the dining scene in a noble household might look like that of an ordinary family.

On the table lay a thin, unidentifiable soup and bread that felt as hard as stones.

To be honest, these were not the kind of dishes that would whet even a child’s appetite.

Determined to eat, I tried dipping the bread into the soup, but just as I broke it apart—

Crack!

Did I just hear the sound of wood splintering?

* * *

[30,000 games and yet a legendary recluse?]

[This dude’s shrinking down faster than I can believe.]

[I’ve seen thousands of records, but 30,000??? I wanna see how he lives life.]

[Isn’t sensei just getting played?]

[Absolute trash… for real, it’s enough to make you drool.]

I can already see my defeat coming.

To be fair, a record of 30,000 isn’t something you see just anywhere.

Just looking around, the stench of decay seems to vibrate through the room.

I thought about leaving because of the overwhelming bad vibes, but I quickly changed my mind.

Two reasons.

First, just because the record is high doesn’t mean you’re good.

If records truly reflected skill, by now, there’d be plenty of users who could rival professional gamers.

No matter how many games you’ve played, some will always suck, and if you’re falling in rank, you’re going down.

Second, the opponent is probably a washed-up veteran entering old age.

It’s an extension of my first point, but at a glance, the overwhelming number of records might intimidate you.

However, think of it this way: that means the opponent has been playing this game for a long time.

Considering when Stella Craft—the race-breeding release came out and the age of its players, if they’re not already unable to play, they’re at least way past their prime!

Can someone that age even maintain the minimum physical skills that the game demands?

Even with the brainpower amassed from years of experience, there’s bound to be a limit.

On the other hand, here I am, a bright 22-year-old who’s confident in my control—oh, and I’ve got the stats of a hero.

A cheat code like me is rare in this gaming world.

“As long as the build doesn’t go wildly sideways, the advantage is mine.”

[Host] yaSergei: Are you a pro?

[Guest] Friede777: Yup!

[Guest] Friede777: Let’s go!

The opponent’s race was Zerg, and I was Protoss.

The race balance wasn’t really a problem here; truth be told, it’s rare to find a game that maintains such a delicate balance like this one, so arguing about race matchups is pretty pointless.

“It’s 11 o’clock.”

The map is Twisted.

The starting points are divided at 1 o’clock, 5 o’clock, 7 o’clock, and 11 o’clock.

If my opponent’s Zerg, I prefer the diagonal starting positions.

It makes it easier to safely take an early expansion without worry.

yaSergei: Should I test it out? ^^

Maybe it was because the workers hadn’t even surpassed ten yet in the early game.

From the start, the opponent chattily jumped into conversation.

But since they were opening up, I decided to satisfy my own curiosity and began typing.

Friede777: How long have you been playing Stella?

yaSergei: 36 years.

“……”

[36 years???]

[Wow, he’s been playing since before I was born.]

[Feels like… feels like a historic presence here… wow.]

I was momentarily at a loss for words, but quickly got my act together.

A 36-year career means he’ve been playing this game since it launched, which is practically an obsession—is this even a 4-drone build?

The game was still in its early stages. My worker was scouting the center of the map.

I sent my worker to scout diagonally but came back empty-handed. It was either horizontal or vertical, so I was left a bit disappointed.

I summoned a Gateway and Forge at my front yard entrance.

Just then, the opponent’s worker arrived at my main.

My scout, however, was slightly late, doing a last-minute check.

The position was 7 o’clock. So, vertical position it is.

As my worker reached the opponent’s main, what I saw was….

“Oh, the opponent has 9 drones.”

Six Zerglings were already on their way to my main.

The Gateway had finished, but given the build timing, it’d be better to have a zealot or some workers ready to defend.

It’d be smarter to cut a few workers at the entrance instead of letting the Zerglings break in.

As the Zerglings attempted to enter, I sent in the 7 workers I had out and the lone zealot to defend.

Even if I blocked the entrance with my buildings, there were still two routes the Zerglings could take.

One was blocked by the zealot and one worker, and the remaining route was to send in all my other workers.

This was a pure test of physical skill.

“Shall we give it a shot?”

I didn’t have to worry about the zealot side, so I focused my attention on the side where only the workers were sent in.

Using the range of 0.5, I concentrated all my effort on the control of the worker with no health to trade back.

As my workers expertly darted back and forth, the Zerglings stumbled over each other in the narrow pathway, and three got taken down as they staggered back.

A neat tactical victory; that was a satisfying defense.

The build timing was quite sharp, but I inexplicably felt the Zerglings were lacking some finesse.

By now, this seemed to mean my guess was on point.

The opponent might have solid brainpower, but it seemed their physical skill was lacking.

[Oh hey, the host is controlling workers well!]

[You’re pulling out that low health like a ghost… and the remaining workers aren’t messing up either.]

[I thought I’d lose a couple… but wow, the workers really held their ground.]

[These workers must be doing the moonwalk, haha, Protoss really is unfair!]

“Good flow. This means the opponent is broke, right? I can activate my expansion right away.”

As long as I’m careful of a Hydra all-in, there’s little risk of collapsing in the mid-game.

While I was mentally whistling in celebration, a new chat popped up.

yaSergei: You can’t just play this game by clicking!

yaSergei: Your skill is garbage.

yaSergei: Just—

yaSergei: You’re fine just focusing on micro management.

What kind of ridiculous confidence is this?

I had just defended so cleanly it’s hard to say anything more about the situation.

Or maybe since I defended so beautifully, he feels the urge to spite me like this.

A juvenile trick for sure, so I immediately shot back.

Friede777: I’m glad to have micro!

Friede777: But it seems like you don’t have anything going for you @@

Friede777: Is this 30,000 games?!

yaSergei: ???

yaSergei: Oh no, I have to crush you!

* * *

[Wow, absolute roast here!]

[Is this dude shaking in anger? My heart is racing!]

[Oh, the old dude’s insecurity is flying off the charts ^o^]

This guy has to be put in his place.

“Looks like I need to teach this uncle a lesson, everyone. How should I go about it? Oh, should I just go for the Corsairs and exclusively target his overlords?”

I should make him build nothing but overlords with the resources I slowly collect.

* * *

[Corsairs? LOL]

[Just build Raiders instead, Sensei!]

“Ya’ll don’t know how good Corsairs are? I’ll show you!”

While I confidently boasted, a mission popped up.

“Chili Con Carne’s Mission!

– For every Corsair, you get $1,000! Unlimited supply!”

[Big mission alert!!!]

[The mission is on~ wwwwwwwww]

[Whoa, unlimited money mission!]

How kind of them to throw in some motivation.

This game… might require some serious focus.

Now that I built the Corsairs, the early game threats are more or less gone.

I prepared to activate my expansion while setting up an Air Gateway for some reconnaissance, deploying Corsairs.

“Oh man, that was close. My opponent’s going for Hydra all-ins.”

They don’t seem to be the type to play for a long game. Maybe age has just made them more anxious.

Thanks to figuring out my opponent’s intentions ahead of time, my response was easy.

I confirmed a massive Hydra unit with the Bio-Scanner, and I built a ton of cannons right at my entrance.

With this, as long as I’m careful of a speedup drop, I’m more than set to defend.

Immediately, I added two Air Gateways and started gearing up to deploy Corsairs.

As predicted, the swarm of Hydras came rolling in, but I repelled them easily with the many cannons I had built and a few zealots.

And while I was in a standoff at my entrance, the speed upgrades completed, and five Corsairs gathered.

I sprang into action.

“Corsairs can absolutely wipe out small numbers in no time.”

With fast attack speed and splash damage, Corsairs grow stronger the larger the opponent’s numbers. Conversely, when there are few units, they get held back by their weak attack power, making hit-and-run tactics harder. Not to mention they can’t attack ground units—that’s an extra headache.

On the flip side, I could use high burst damage and ground attacks to manage hit-and-run tactics flexibly.

What does that mean? It’s slaughter time for Overlords!

The Corsairs arrived at the opponent’s main base and began their onslaught.

Under a heavy storm of missiles being shot from both sides, Overlords went down one by one, bursting like balloons.

The swarm of Hydras was closing in, but ground units simply couldn’t keep up with the mobility.

I kept going back and forth—main base → third expansion → main—steadily hunting down Overlords.

“14 kills… 15, 16, 17…”

yaSergei: Damn.

yaSergei: How much do I have to hit to kill one?

yaSergei: They’re not dying… this is bullshit!

Friede777: ^^

What a ridiculous complaint to make.

Corsairs are generally not units you’d see being built.

Plus, unlike Raiders, they take up one extra supply, making them pretty sturdy.

Just because a few Hydras spit at them doesn’t mean they’ll fall easily.

A seasoned player with 30,000 records should know that, or are they deliberately ignoring the reality?

“Now, here’s a show. Do you see that egg? The Overlords will come out of there. The moment they hatch…”

I charged towards the newly hatching Overlord swarm.

The number of Corsairs was already stacked into one grouping.

Even if he built cannons, one shot would wipe out an Overlord, ensuring an even cleaner slaughter.

[How many Overlords has he taken down so far?]

[Looks like he’s taken down about 40.]

[Damn, pouring that much mineral into Overlords?]

[There’s only so much a player can take… if this keeps up, their supply will hit red and onslaught will become impossible.]

[Looks like we’re going to need about 200 Hatcheries, LOL.]

[His face is gonna be hilarious, haha!]

[Legit LOL!]

[But seeing Corsairs used like this… it’s awesome!]

[Right? I thought they were complete trash!]

While shaking my opponent, I kept expanding one by one.

They tried countering my high mobility with Mutalisks and Goliaths, but I picked them off one by one with moving shots, leading to an overwhelmingly favorable exchange.

If it were pure attack, it might have been a tough situation, but with just one squad of units, as long as I nailed the moving shot control, I could push them down pretty easily.

Eventually, my opponent, unable to withstand any longer, tried to make a frontal assault with whatever small force remained, but with all the cannons in position and a few zealots to boot, it was easily repelled.

yaSergei: You… must be having so much fun.

yaSergei: Damn you.

So he knows? I responded immediately.

Friede777: Yes indeed, mister!

Friede777: So much fun ^o^

yaSergei: Quite the polite little shit, aren’t you? ^^

Friede777: What a blast!

Friede777: Is this the power of 30,000 games?

Friede777: Pathetic~♥

* * *

[Oh, this is the sweet taste of humiliation!]

[The host has taken down 105 Overlords… the mission dude is crying tears of blood!]

[Is there someone even worse than the 30,000 record dude? Zoom zoom!]

While reading the lively chat, I decided it was time to put an end to this.

As I launched my Bum slug transport and Corsairs for a tour, the veteran with 30,000 records finally threw in the towel.

yaSergei: Let’s settle this face-to-face.

yaSergei: I’m the reigning champion of the local PC Bang leagues, let me show you what real skill is.

yaSergei: I’ll wipe you out with my main account.

* * *

[Here it comes, the main account talk!]

[Sensei is wild!]

[Local PC Bang champion? Ha!]

[Man, I wonder when the last time he won was.]

[There’s a limit to reminiscing about the good old days, haha!]

Local PC Bang leagues, huh…

I suddenly remember some guy I knew from back in the day who once bragged about winning a PC Bang league.

I can’t help but wonder what that guy is up to now.

Friede777: The map is Twisted?

yaSergei: Yeah, you moron.

yaSergei: The room password is “your mom” 6974, come on in!

Friede777: LOL!

Friede777: Got it!

Friede777: Let’s see how well you can do this time!

As I continued to tease him, he simply accepted his loss in silence.

yaSergei: F***!

Friede777: ??

―yaSergei has left the game.

“Whoa.”

[Not a GG but a G1 (Game 1).]

[What a madman, leaving right after the match!]

[Suddenly I feel bad for reading that, haha.]

[For real though, LOL!]

The “GG” he declared before leaving felt a tad pathetic.

Well, seeing as how he requested a rematch… I can consider it.

But then…

“What was the room name again?”

That GG declaration left such an impression that I completely forgot.

I posed my question, and someone immediately replied in the chat.

[Your mom.]

“Why are you being rude? I’ll have to ban you.”

[?!]

I don’t tolerate disrespect!