The Sewer Rat Warren came on day two and it was exactly as disgusting as the name suggested.
Tangeni went live at noon with two thousand viewers waiting for him, which was insane considering he had zero followers twenty-four hours ago. The dungeon sat under the old water treatment plant on the east side of Neo-Lumina, and the stench hit him the second he stepped through the gate—wet fur and rotting meat and something he didn't want to think about too hard.
"Chat, I can already tell this one is going to be disgusting," he said, holding his new sword—bought with yesterday's earnings—and wearing actual armor for the first time. Basic D-rank leather, nothing fancy, but it was better than a hoodie.
[Chat]
[lonely_ghost: SEWER ARC LETS GO]
[viewer_47: bro upgraded his gear]
[bestlittlesis: tangeni please dont get sick from the smell]
He cleared it in two hours. The boss was a Rat King, three giant rats fused together into something horrible, and chat named it "Ratatouille Gone Wrong" which debuffed its morale by ten percent. He gave it four out of ten in his review—boring design, decent loot, disgusting atmosphere—and walked out with three thousand new followers.
The Abandoned Mine came on day three.
This one was in the industrial district, a D-rank gate that the Association marked as safe for solo hunters because the monsters were slow-moving rock golems. Tangeni went in with five thousand viewers and came out with a new skill.
[Skill Acquired: Iron Skin Lv.1]
[Temporarily hardens skin against physical damage. Duration: 10 seconds. Cooldown: 60 seconds.]
"Chat, I'm literally becoming a tank," he said, flexing his arm while the Iron Skin effect made it shimmer silver. "Who needs a party when you have skills?"
[Chat]
[randomgamer42: tank tangeni arc]
[lonely_ghost: bro is collecting skills like pokemon]
[flame_queen: IRON SKIN OP]
He gave it five out of ten—the golems were boring but the skill drop made it worth the trip—and ended the stream at eight thousand followers.
The Poison Swamp almost killed him on day four.
He didn't bring antidotes and the environment dealt damage over time, which he realized about thirty seconds too late when his health started dropping for no reason. Chat saved him by spamming "USE THE FLAME TO BURN THE POISON VINES" and he barely made it to the boss with ten percent health remaining.
The boss was a giant toad that spat acid. Chat named it "Crazy Frog" and the debuff barely mattered because he was already half-dead. He killed it by shoving his sword down its throat when it tried to swallow him whole.
[Chat]
[bestlittlesis: TANGENI I LITERALLY CANT WATCH THIS ANYMORE]
[viewer_47: BRO ALMOST DIED INSIDE A FROG]
[lonely_ghost: this is the content i signed up for]
Seven out of ten. Terrible for his health but excellent for content. Fifteen thousand followers and he was starting to think he might actually survive this streaming thing long enough to make it a career.
The Haunted Library came on day five and it threw him a curveball.
Ghost monsters phased through walls and couldn't be hit by physical attacks. He had to use Minor Flame—now level two from all the practice—to kill them because fire was one of the few things that worked against spectral enemies.
[Skill Level Up: Minor Flame Lv.2 → Lv.3]
[Damage increased. Mana cost reduced.]
The boss was a Spectral Librarian who threw books at him and screamed about overdue fines. Chat named it "Late Fee Larry" and Tangeni spent the whole fight dodging hardcover encyclopedias while shooting fire at a ghost.
[Chat]
[randomgamer42: LATE FEE LARRY LMAOOO]
[flame_queen: the books are actually doing damage???]
[lonely_ghost: tangeni diff]
Six out of ten. Creative concept but the ghost gimmick was annoying without the right skills. Twenty-two thousand followers.
The Crystal Caves on day six was the first dungeon that made him stop and just look.
Glowing crystals covered every surface, rainbow light reflecting off the walls in patterns that shifted when he moved. The monsters were living gemstones—beautiful and deadly at the same time. Chat lost their minds over the visuals and someone clipped the moment he first walked in, which got half a million views on its own.
[Chat]
[lonely_ghost: THIS IS GORGEOUS WTF]
[flame_queen: tangeni became a travel vlogger]
[viewer_47: the content quality is insane rn]
The boss was a Crystal Golem that shattered into smaller golems when he hit it. Chat named it "Diamond Hands" for some reason and the debuff made it crack faster. He got a new skill from one of the mini-golems.
[Skill Acquired: Quick Step Lv.1]
[Brief burst of speed. Duration: 3 seconds. Cooldown: 30 seconds.]
"Chat, I'm getting faster," he said, using Quick Step to dash across the crystal floor. "Add this to the collection. Minor Flame, Iron Skin, Quick Step. I'm building a whole kit."
Eight out of ten. Best looking dungeon so far with good skill drops. Thirty-five thousand followers.
The Orc Warcamp on day seven was when things got serious.
E-rank instead of F-rank, harder than anything he'd done before. The orcs were tougher than goblins, bigger and smarter with actual tactics. He had to use everything he learned—Iron Skin to tank hits, Quick Step to dodge, Minor Flame to create distractions—but he cleared it in three hours and killed the Orc Warlord by tricking it into charging off a cliff.
Chat named the Warlord "Shrek 3" and the morale debuff was enough to make it hesitate before the final charge.
[Chat]
[bestlittlesis: PLEASE NEVER DO THAT AGAIN]
[lonely_ghost: THE CLIFF THING WAS ACTUALLY GENIUS]
[randomgamer42: shrek 3 got cliffed lmaooo]
[flame_queen: TANGENI GAMING]
Seven out of ten. Good difficulty spike with solid loot. Forty-five thousand followers by the time he ended the stream.
He checked his stats that night and almost dropped his phone.
[Name: Tangeni Mwetupunga]
[Level: 9]
[Rank: E]
[Class: All-Rounder]
E-rank. He went from F-rank to E-rank in one week, something that took most hunters months to achieve. The constant dungeon runs, the skill drops, the level ups from every boss kill—it all stacked faster than anyone would have predicted.
His skills list was growing too:
[Capture] - Lv.1 (Unique)
[First Impression] - Lv.1 (Unique)
[Minor Flame] - Lv.3
[Iron Skin] - Lv.1
[Quick Step] - Lv.1
And his equipment was finally respectable. D-rank armor with actual protection, D-rank sword with decent attack stats, potions and supplies bought with stream earnings. He wasn't a joke hunter anymore.
His phone buzzed with a System notification he'd never seen before.
[Hidden Quest Available]
"What the hell is this?"
He tapped the notification and more text appeared.
[Hidden Quest: First Impression]
[Objective: Complete 10 dungeon reviews with average rating accuracy of 80%+]
[Reward: Skill Enhancement — First Impression evolves]
[Progress: 7/10]
His System had hidden quests. Since when did his System have hidden quests?
He stared at the screen and tried to process what this meant. The quest was tied to his First Impression skill, the one that let him rate dungeons. The System was tracking his reviews and giving him a quest based on them. His unique path—streaming, rating dungeons, building an audience—was unlocking unique growth that nobody else could access.
"Nia," he called out. "Get in here, you need to see this."
His sister ran in from the living room, probably expecting another almost-death story, but her eyes went wide when she saw the notification.
"Bro," she said. "Your System is like... viewer-based? That's insane."
"I need three more quality reviews," he said. "Three more dungeons and I unlock whatever the evolved version of First Impression does."
He pulled up the Neo-Lumina dungeon board on his phone and started scrolling through available gates. F-rank dungeons everywhere, most of them boring repeats of places he'd already cleared. He needed something new, something that would give him content worth reviewing.
Then he saw it.
[The Prismatic Sea (E-rank)]
[Location: Neo-Lumina Coastal District]
[Type: Aquatic Environment]
[Special Note: Unique underwater combat mechanics]
An E-rank dungeon with unique mechanics. Perfect for content, perfect for a quality review, perfect for pushing his skills to the next level.
He looked at Nia and grinned, and she grinned right back because she knew exactly what that look meant—tomorrow was going to be chaos, and they were both ready for it.