Chapter 13: The Unboxing Live
The steel vanguard blade sliced through the crisp night air, leaving a silver streak that cut right into Boran’s exposed neck armor.
SLASH.
[Critical Hit! You have dealt 64 Physical Damage.]
[Iron_Wall_Boran: 186 / 250 HP]
Boran crashed into the dirt, his massive iron tower shield flying out of his grip and sliding across the wet grass.
The two mages he had flattened were scrambling backward on their hands and knees, their red robes caked in mud.
"He broke Boran’s stance!" Gideon screamed from the back of the line, his voice cracking as he pulled out a basic iron dagger.
"He’s a Vanguard, how is his physical damage output that high?! Archery squad, shoot him down! Now!"
From the dark edges of the clearing, three archers in green leather tunics quickly drew their wooden shortbows.
TWANG. TWANG. TWANG.
Three iron-tipped arrows flew through the moonlight, aiming straight for Asher’s exposed back.
Thanks to his [Shadow Perception], Asher didn’t even need to turn around to see them.
He felt the shift in the air pressure, but he didn’t bother to dodge.
He kept his focus entirely on the dazed tank lying in the mud before him.
The three arrows hit his bare back simultaneously.
Tink. Tink. Thud.
The sharp iron tips didn’t pierce his skin.
The moment they collided with his flesh, a faint, metallic gray shimmer rippled across his shoulder blades, and the arrows violently snapped in half, dropping harmlessly into the grass like broken twigs.
[HP: 303 → 301 → 299 → 297 (Physical Damage heavily mitigated by Ironhide)]
[NoobSlayer]: HE NOPED THE ARROWS! HE LITERALLY NOPED THE ARROWS!
[LootGoblin]: Look at the arrow shafts breaking! The physics in this world are insane!
[MinMax_Andy]: 2 points of damage per arrow. His physical defense value is completely wiping out their baseline weapon scaling. They can’t hurt him unless they use armor-piercing active skills.
[User_Tim99]: The viewer count is climbing! We’re at 6,200 concurrents! Push the advantage, streamer!
Asher stood over Boran, his steel blade resting right against the tank’s iron throat plate.
The giant Guardian was completely paralyzed by the stun effect of [Unstoppable Momentum], his eyes wide with absolute panic behind his visor.
"Nice shield you had there," Asher said smoothly, his voice easily carrying over the heavy rap track thudding through the stream feed. "Let’s see what else you’re carrying."
He raised his left hand, his palm glowing with a deep, pulsing golden light that illuminated the entire muddy clearing.
"Activate talent: Extraction," Asher commanded.
A massive, spike-rimmed slot machine dropped out of thin air, slamming into the grass directly over Boran’s body.
The iron reels began to spin with a deafening, metallic roar, the flashing lights reflecting off the armor of the horrified guild members.
"Wait! Stop! He’s not dead yet!" Gideon yelled, taking a step back. "You can’t extract from a living player! That’s impossible!"
"In a standard game, yeah," Asher smiled, his silver eyes cold under the moonlight. "But on my stream, the meta belongs to me."
[Spinning Guardian Player Loot Table...][Target Status: Stunned / Defeated. Extraction success rate increased by 20%]
The wheels clicked violently, passing over white stat blocks and green consumable icons.
The five thousand viewers back on Earth held their collective breath, watching the red and gold lights blur across their screens.
Clack... Clack... Clack.
The first reel stopped on a bright blue shield icon.
The second reel glitched, a violent surge of blue static electricity sparking across the machine’s frame.
The third reel locked into place with a heavy, industrial thud.
[Rare Pull Success! Player Talent Extraction Confirmed.]
[Extracted Class Skill from Iron_Wall_Boran: Fortress Stance (Rank F - Active)]
[Notice: The target player has permanently lost access to this skill. Skill data is being wiped from their character profile.]
"WHAT?!" Boran suddenly roared as the stun effect wore off.
He clutched his chest, his face turning completely pale as a stream of blue digital particles was violently torn from his chest and sucked into Asher’s open palm.
"My... my class skill! It’s gone! The system log says my Vanguard alignment is corrupted! What did you do to me?!"
Asher closed his fist, absorbing the blue particles into his soul. A fresh wave of steady, grounding weight settled deep into his core.
[Skills Updated]
* Feline Agility (Rank F - Active)
* Unstoppable Momentum (Rank E - Active)
* Fortress Stance (Rank F - Active) - Consumes 15 MP. Instantly increases your total physical defense by an additional 50% for 10 seconds, reducing your movement speed by 20%. Cooldown: 45 seconds.
"A defense multiplier on top of an S-Rank passive," Asher whispered, a lethal, confident grin cutting through his grimy face.
With [Ironhide] already quadrupling his baseline armor values, activating [Fortress Stance] would turn him into an actual raid boss.
Even high-level players wouldn’t be able to chip his health.
[MinMax_Andy]: HOLY SHIT. HE PERMANENTLY STRIPPED A PLAYER’S SKILL.
[LootGoblin]: The skill is gone from Boran’s profile?! That’s a literal character brick! He ruined the tank! 💀😂
[GamerGuyX]: This is the most toxic, beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. If you mess with the stream, you get unboxed and deleted.
"Boran! Get up! Use your shield bash!" Gideon yelled, his voice turning high-pitched with pure terror as he saw his guild’s top tank trembling in the mud.
"I can’t!" Boran panicked, scrambling backward on his hands and knees like a dog.
"My hotbar is locked! The skill option is grayed out! He stole it! He actually stole my character data!"
The remaining nine guild members, the mages, the archers, and the backup swordsmen, looked at each other, their morale completely shattering.
They had come to camp a naked rookie at the gates for some easy guild reputation.
Instead, they were standing in front of a monster that could permanently ruin their accounts with a single hand wave.
"Who’s next?" Asher asked, stepping over Boran’s discarded tower shield.
He adjusted his steel vanguard sword, letting the tip drag across the gravel path with a slow, grating noise that matched the heavy rhythm of the music.
SCRRRRITCH.
"Gideon," Asher said, his silver eyes locking directly onto the trembling swordsman in the back.
"You bought a nice pair of leather boots to replace the iron ones I took. Let’s see if they fit me any better."
"Retreat! RETREAT!" Gideon screamed, completely breaking down.
He didn’t even look back at his squad.
He turned around and began to run down the dark road toward the western walls as fast as his small leather shoes could carry him.
"Run! He’s going to brick our accounts!" the mages yelled, dropping their wooden staffs into the grass as the entire twelve-man squad scattered into the dark forest like terrified rabbits.
Asher didn’t chase them.
He stood in the center of the quiet clearing, the cool night breeze rustling his messy hair as the drill track finished its final, heavy fade-out.
He looked up at the floating camera drone, his viewer count holding strong at over six thousand concurrents.
"Well, chat," Asher said, sheathing his steel vanguard sword with a clean click.
"The gate camp is officially cleared. We got a new defense skill, broke the guild’s front line, and sent Gideon running in his socks for the second time today."
He walked over to Boran’s abandoned dark iron tower shield, picking it up by the heavy leather straps.
[Item Obtained: Iron Vanguard Tower Shield (Rank F)]
Description: Heavy defensive shield. Current durability: 12 / 50 (Damaged by Unstoppable Momentum).
"We’ll sell this back to the city blacksmith for some extra silver," Asher smiled, tossing it into his virtual inventory.
"The night is still young, and our pockets are getting heavy. Let’s head back to the tavern and plot our route to the next major map zone."
