The three pairs of milky-white eyes locked onto Asher.

In his silver-tinted vision, he could see their leg muscles tensing under their translucent skin.

They were slightly smaller than the first Cave Stalker, but they were fast, and they were moving together.

The floating text box in the corner of his eye was a total blur now.

The forum link Tim shared was drawing people in by the dozens.

[LootGoblin]: Wait, look at the monsters. The skin texture is moving. No game developer has that kind of budget.

[GamerGuyX]: Streamer’s weapon is a rock? Bro, pick up that iron pipe near the bones on your left! Is this an interactive stream?

Asher glanced down.

Thanks to his Shadow Perception, he saw exactly what the viewer was talking about.

Half-buried in the mud near a pile of old skeletal remains was a thick, rusty iron rod about three feet long.

It wasn’t a legendary sword, but it was a massive upgrade from a broken rock.

He dived to the floor, grabbing the rusted iron rod just as the first monster lunged.

WHOOSH.

The creature sailed right over his head, its claws snapping at thin air.

Asher scrambled back up, his back pressing against the cold stone wall of the cave.

He held the pipe with both hands, his knuckles turning white.

"They don’t hunt alone," Asher said to the camera drone, his breath coming out in short, heavy bursts.

"They try to flank you. If you get surrounded in a space like this, your level doesn’t matter. You’re dead."

[MinMax_Andy]: He’s right. Look at the monster AI. The two on the sides are widening their circle while the middle one keeps his attention. This is high-level design.

The middle Cave Stalker hissed, spraying green saliva onto the ground, and charged straight ahead.

At the exact same time, the creature on the right cut inward, aiming for Asher’s blind spot.

Asher didn’t panic.

He kept his stance low. As the center monster leaped, Asher didn’t try to dodge.

He stepped forward into the attack, using his high Agility stat to thrust the rusty iron rod forward like a spear.

STAB.

The blunt, jagged end of the iron pipe caught the monster right in its throat, tearing through the soft tissue.

The impact jarred Asher’s shoulders, but the creature’s momentum stopped instantly. It choked on its own purple blood, pinning itself to the rod.

Before Asher could pull the pipe out, the flanking monster struck. Sharp claws tore across his ribs, leaving three bright red lines.

[HP: 85 → 62]

The pain made his vision flash white for a second. The chat box went into a total frenzy.

[NoobSlayer]: NOOO! HE GOT HIT!

[User_Tim99]: Streamer, use the paste! Heal up!

[Whale_Watcher]: Look at the health bar flashing! Is there a shield option in the shop?

"Can’t heal mid-fight!" Asher snarled through his teeth.

He kicked the dead monster off his pipe, spinning his body around using the momentum.

The heavy iron rod swung in a wide arc, smashing hard into the side of the flanking creature’s head.

CRACK.

The skull fractured instantly.

The monster dropped into the mud, its legs twitching before it dissolved into glowing purple particles.

[Target Defeated. Level 1 Experience gained.]

[Target Defeated. Level 1 Experience gained.]

A warm, golden light suddenly burst from under Asher’s feet, expanding outward in a perfect ring before fading away.

The heavy fatigue in his muscles vanished instantly, replaced by a massive surge of new energy.

[Level Up! Level 1 → Level 2. All baseline attributes increased by +2.]

[HP and MP fully restored.]

[HP: 62 → 114 / 114]

[LootGoblin]: HOLY SHIT! THE LEVEL UP EFFECT! Did you see the light reflect off the mud? This is beautiful!

[NoobSlayer]: His wounds just disappeared! The level up fully healed him!

[GamerGuyX]: Wait, look at the ground. The purple mist is still there. Streamer, do the roulette thing again!

The third Cave Stalker, seeing two of its pack members turned to dust in seconds, let out a terrified whimper.

It backed away into the shadows, turning around to flee deeper into the dark tunnels.

"Oh no you don’t," Asher muttered. "You’re my loot."

He didn’t want to lose the experience points, but more importantly, he needed to show his audience what his channel was truly about.

He pointed his left hand toward the two lingering pools of purple mist left by the dead monsters.

"Activate talent: Extraction," Asher commanded.

Two giant, holographic slot machines appeared side-by-side in the center of the cave, their golden frames spinning with bright, flashing lights.

The sound of rolling gears echoed through the dark tunnels, drowning out the ambient drips of water.

The viewer count in his peripheral vision was ticking up by the second, fueled by the forum thread.

[Current Viewers: 245]

The chat completely froze as the two digital wheels began to slow down. Everyone was staring at the colorful blocks of text spinning on the screens.

Clack. Clack. Clack.

The first machine stopped on a bright white icon.

[Common Pull Success!]

[Extracted Attribute from Cave Stalker: +1 Strength (Permanent)]

A small bead of white light flew from the machine and sank into Asher’s chest. His muscles tightened slightly, feeling a tiny bit denser.

[MinMax_Andy]: Just a stat point. Pure RNG. Let’s see the second one.

The second slot machine slowed down, its reels flashing with a bright white light before giving a sudden, sharp glitch.

The gears groaned, and the white light violently shifted into a bright, deep blue aura.

Ding!

[Rare Pull Success! 5% Drop Rate Modifier Triggered.]

[Extracted Skill from Cave Stalker: Feline Agility (Rank F - Active)]

[Integrating skill data into host soul...]

"Whoa," Asher muttered as a strange, tingling sensation ran down his legs and into his feet.

He felt light, almost weightless, as if the gravity in the cave had been cut in half.

He quickly opened his status screen to check the new addition.

[Skills]: Feline Agility (Rank F - Active) - Consumes 5 MP per minute. When active, dampens the sound of your footsteps by 80% and increases maximum jump height by 40%.

"A stealth skill," Asher said, looking back at the drone camera with a sharp grin.

"That’s exactly what I need to hunt that last one down without drawing the whole cave system onto my head."

The chat went completely wild.

[User_Tim99]: A stealth modifier! Bro, you can literally run a rogue build now!

[LootGoblin]: This is peak content. The drop rates actually feel like a real game. The dopamine hit is insane.

[Whale_Watcher]: Wait, the last monster ran deeper into the cave. Look at the tunnel entrance on the stream view... there’s a red glow coming from down there.

Asher turned his head toward the deep tunnel where the third monster had escaped.

The viewer was right.

Far down the path, past the silver light of his shadow vision, a deep, pulsing crimson glow was reflecting off the wet stone walls.

The air coming from the tunnel felt significantly colder, carrying a faint, heavy pressure that made the hairs on Asher’s arms stand up.

The system chimed softly in his ear, a black box dropping down over his vision.

[Dungeon Quest Updated: Clear the Core.]

[Objective: Defeat the regional guardian of the Sunken Crypt to unlock the server exit.]

[Warning: Entering the Boss Zone with low-grade equipment is highly dangerous.]

Asher looked at his rusty iron rod, which was now bent and chipped from the impacts.

Then he looked at his viewer count, which had just crossed 350.

"The shop is open, and the boss is ahead," Asher said, resting the iron pipe over his shoulder as he started walking down the glowing path.

"If you guys want to see a Level 2 take down a dungeon boss with a rusty pipe, start dropping those likes. We’ve got a stream to run."