Dorm Room 7.
Barbatos was in the shower, while Seiun Sky lounged lazily on her bed, half-curled up.
Squinting at the warm glow of the overhead light, she suddenly seemed to remember something. She pulled out her phone and opened Yahoo! Japan, a common search page there.
Her fingers flew across the screen typing, "What does 'Air Force' mean?" She thought for a moment, then added a few more words in front.
[In China, what does 'Anglers never go Air Force' mean?]
She had a feeling 'Air Force' didn't mean what Barbatos had explained; it must have some other meaning.
The search returned a bunch of results. She clicked the top link.
--+--
High-Quality Answer:
['Air Force' is insider slang among Chinese fishing enthusiasts. 'Air Force' refers to an angler returning empty-handed with no catch. It's considered a disgrace among fishermen, so many enthusiasts will declare before heading out, 'Anglers never go Air Force!']
Comments:
—So going Air Force is impossible, absolutely impossible. Even if there are no fish, you gotta take a drink of water before you leave!!!
—Hey, you there, the one who drank the water? Don't go anywhere. I just took a sip and found a car in the water...
—Thanks for the invite. Currently in China, just finished fishing. The river water here is quite tasty, I've been drinking it for a month.
--+--
Although she didn't fully get all the jokes in the comments, Seiun Sky now understood the meaning of 'Air Force.' It refers to an angler returning empty-handed. So, if you greet someone by saying, 'Did you go Air Force today?'
Her eyes narrowed. 'Barbatos doesn't seem like a good Uma Musume!'
Just then, Barbatos emerged from the bathroom in her pajamas, drying her still-damp hair with a towel.
She looked completely harmless, not at all like someone who would say something like, 'Did you go Air Force today?'
Her shower had taken longer than usual tonight because she was still brooding over her Turf Compatibility. It was practically the main obstacle to her dream of conquering the nation!
She glanced at Seiun Sky, who was curled up lazily on the bed, eyes barely open. "I'm going to stream for a bit later, chat with the fans."
"If you want to rest or if I'm too noisy, just let me know. I'll try to keep quiet."
To make streaming in the dorm possible, she'd already bought a special headset designed for Uma Musume ears. But that was just to keep the League of Legends game sounds from leaking out; her own voice could still bother her roommate.
She'd even deliberately avoided getting an external mechanical keyboard, because the clacking would probably be enough to disturb Seiun Sky.
If interacting with her fans ended up being too noisy for Seiun Sky, she'd have no choice but to be a 'mute' streamer.
She wasn't the type to just blare sound from her speakers in the dorm without considering her roommate.
Casual calls or video chats with friends were one thing, but streaming a League of Legends session was a lengthy affair.
In her previous life, she'd even seen news reports about roommates who got into fights because one constantly played TikTok videos out loud and refused to listen to complaints.
"Stream?"
Seiun Sky opened her eyes a bit wider, looking curiously at Barbatos.
She'd noticed the laptop on Barbatos's desk before, but Uma Musume generally weren't addicted to the internet—if they had an addiction, it was to running.
Among all the single-minded Uma Musume obsessed with running, having one who livestreamed was rather unusual. "What do you stream?" she asked.
"Hmm, League of Legends. Have you heard of it?"
Barbatos had a feeling most Uma Musume wouldn't pay attention to online games, especially here in Japan where console games were more popular.
"Is that the black-and-white game? Something about 'all troops charge'?"
"..."
"Well, I guess that's not entirely wrong."
Barbatos had no real rebuttal to the 'black-and-white game' description. Even though her own game was in color, it was true that most people she knew played the monochrome version.
Once she realized it was League of Legends, Seiun Sky seemed to lose interest in the whole streaming idea. She didn't tell Barbatos to stop talking to her fans or anything, just gathered her pajamas and headed to the bathroom for her own shower.
For Uma Musume, who ran frequently, taking regular showers was the norm, even in winter.
The faint sound of running water could be heard.
Barbatos didn't let her mind wander to any strange mental images of the bathroom. After all, she'd been effectively disarmed in that department; there was no point thinking about it.
She deftly opened her streaming software, greeted the viewers already waiting in her channel, and began her journey onto the Summoner's Rift.
Only here could she temporarily set aside her worries about Grass Compatibility. Especially tonight, since she was playing on a fan's Diamond-ranked account, allowing her to happily stomp some noobs.
She changed her ranked position preferences to Mid Primary.
Since she hadn't won her race against El Condor Pasa and the others, she couldn't reward herself with a game of Jungle Yasuo.
She chatted idly with the stream chat as the champion select screen appeared.
"Gonna play mid today, not jungling."
"Zed is too hard. I want some simple fun."
"I'm picking Troll-suo!"
"Hasaaki!"
She loaded into the game, starting with Boots and four Health Potions. She leveled E first, and amidst some skeptical comments in the chat, she happily zipped through the minion wave. She E'd right up to the enemy Kassadin, eating a basic attack and a Q.
'His laning phase is over.'
Hearing this, the fans in the chat probably wanted to spam question mark pings at her.
Then they watched as Yasuo zipped around and zipped the Kassadin to death.
???
Everyone stand up! The chat flooded with "Streamer 666!", "Bard 666!", "Slacker 666!", and one lone message: "That Kassadin is a famous streamer!"
Five minutes in, Yasuo was on a killing spree!
Ten minutes in. "Check the lower left corner official certification, screenshot the 'Godlike'!"
Fifteen minutes in, after Barbatos had just scored a triple kill in a team fight, she found the enemy Nexus exploding.
It didn't even give her a chance to emote in front of their fountain. Though she didn't usually play Yasuo, this wasn't her account, and it did have a mastery badge.
Second game started. The enemy team picked Yasuo. After thinking a moment, she locked in Kassadin, planning to give her fans a proper demonstration.
"Uh, Kassadin..."
After locking him in, she suddenly remembered something.
Kassadin's passive skill reduces magic damage taken by 15%. Nothing special to note there, since it doesn't give movement speed. But besides the magic damage reduction, there's another easily overlooked effect—he ignores unit collision!
Ignores unit collision: Simply put, the player can treat minions as if they're void; you can walk right through their bodies without automatically pathing around them. This is a big help when chasing or escaping.
Of course, there were no minions in real life. But in real life, there was grass!
If she could ignore unit collision volume, then she wouldn't have to worry about Turf Compatibility anymore!
--+--
T/N: While I am an inexperienced Translator, I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 1 Chapter Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.