Greatest Streamer System

This time, Max was the one who felt guilty. He shouldn't have joked around earlier.

"My bad, dude. I was only joking." He said while smiling bitterly, "I will join, but I have a condition. This is not unreasonable, like me asking for a hundred thousand dollars or something, though. So, rest assured."

Hearing what he said, Flexy's lips curled up into a smile.

"Hahaha, I would give you even if you ask me for a hundred thousand as long as you join. Don't worry, pal." A mocking laughter escaped his lips. "But let's hear your condition. I will try my best to fulfill that. Of course, I will also do my best to schedule the training so it does not collide with your tournament."

"That helps a lot." Max nodded in gratitude. "As for my condition, it's pretty simple. It's…"

And so, Max told Flexy his condition and the reason why he requested it, which caused the orange-haired streamer to burst into laughter. Max felt embarrassed and thought he made a big mistake again. He was just trying to be reasonable, but it backfired on him.

'Freaking hell. Can't he be subtle and at least try to hold back his laughter?' Max groaned. 'And here I felt guilty after seeing his expression earlier. Return my guilt, motherfucker!'

After a while, Flexy calmed down and wiped the tears from the corner of his eyes.

"Fine, that's okay. Consider it a deal. I will also add a bonus for your… emotional damage."

"Ugh, that's unnecessary, but I appreciate it. Thanks"

"Hahaha! No need to mention it. I should be the one who thanked you." Flexy said, grinning widely. "And if you're free tonight, I will introduce you to our teammates. Let's meet in Roach Planet Lobby at 8 PM. I will gift you the game after this; just think of it as my way to be considerate.

See you there."

"Alright."

With that, the call ended, and Max let out a long sigh. He let his body fall onto his bed.

'Flexy has it hard, huh? Poor guy. All his 3 teammates left the team, in the end.' He thought. 'Still, it was good that he found the other two replacements, excluding me. I wonder if they are really as skilled as he said. I will find out tonight.'

***

Just as promised, Flexy gifted Max Roach Planet. The game was unexpectedly pretty expensive, sitting at $250. Not to mention, there were still in-game transactions too that needed money, mainly costume and custom weapon skins.

Just as usual, Max planned to go vanilla without buying anything from the game store.

'Everything is ready. I also spent the whole afternoon reading the guide and information on the Roach Planet forum. The mechanic is simpler than I thought. But still, the enemies are as disgusting as cockroaches in real life. It's a bit unsettling.'

Still, one wouldn't be able to grow if they kept avoiding what they were afraid of.

It was now 7:30 PM, half an hour before the promised time. Just as usual, Max decided to log in first so he wouldn't be late. Even if other people called it stupid, he wouldn't think so. Arriving first also had its merit.

'I won't miss any drama or information in case there is any.'

Thinking so, he entered Roach Planet's Lobby.

Unlike Knight's Journey's medieval and Midnight Heist's urban lobby, Roach Planet's Lobby was located in an outer space station called XStar 5. It was a futuristic residential area where the buildings circled the wall with artificial gravity, making the ceiling just another part of the residential area.

Max appeared in what appeared to be a hub's first floor. When he looked around, he was greeted by many people in space suits talking to each other.

Turning to his clothes, he realized he was also in a white space suit. It was a bit stuffy and hard to move in. He needed to get used to it before being able to move freely.

'Now then… If I remember correctly, Flexy said to meet him in private room 5, which can be found by talking to a beautiful red-haired NPC just around this place.'

Finding that said beautiful NPC was pretty easy. All NPCs standing behind the desk in this hub had red hair and were beautiful women dressed in space suits that outlined their body contours.

'Yeah, that's pretty useful information.' Max chuckled dryly as he approached one of them.

He stopped right in front of the desk, and the NPC automatically responded.

"How may I help you today, Exterminator?"

Exterminator was the term used for the player in Roach Planet. It fit perfectly because they exterminated the roaches.

"I want to enter private room number 5." Max said, "The code is FlexyIsSoHandsomeThatHeCouldDie."

When saying the password, he tried his best to keep his expression flat. Even when talking to the NPC, that password was just too… cringe and narcissistic. No matter how courageous he was, he would never be able to imitate it.

"Password is confirmed. Please head to room number 5 in that direction." The red-haired NPC pointed at an elevator with the number 5 written on the door. "Please enjoy your time."

"Thanks."

Max went to the aforementioned elevator. The door was automatically opened when he got close, and he went inside. There was only one button inside, so he didn't need to be confused about what to do.

After pressing the button, the door closed and began to move downward underground... Or under the station? Max didn't know what to call it because he was in a space station. It was his first time here.

The elevator continued for a few seconds before it eventually stopped. The door opened with a mechanical sound and revealed a bar. For some reason, people and games loved making a bar interior a gathering place.

Waiting inside was Flexy and two other people, a male and a female. The former had blond hair, and the latter had lustrous silver hair and a pair of long bunny ears.

Max was surprised to see the ears move around as if they were real. It was the first time he saw anyone use that kind of accessory in the Lobby, as the game he had played until now was a little bit hardcore.

The sound from the elevator earlier brought the three's attention to him. When they turned around, Max's eyes widened slightly. He knew these two people. They were Atlas and Ferin, the couple he met when he was on a date with Lily.

"Ah!" Ferin exclaimed loudly upon seeing him, pointing her index finger. Then, she smiled and waved her hand excitedly. "It's Breeze! Hehehe, we meet again, huh?"

Atlas also smiled upon seeing him, "Long time no see. How have you been?"

Flexy looked confused. He didn't expect the two teammates he desperately recruited to know Max. The orange-haired streamer looked at him with a look that said, 'Explain this.'

However, Max ignored him and approached the two.

"It's been a week, indeed. And I've been well, Atlas. Thank you for asking." He smiled at them. "So the teammates Flexy talked about, are you two?"

"Yup!" Ferin answered with an excited nod, her ears moving with her head.

"Peter asked Atlas to help his friend, you see? And we're pretty much free around this time as our main game is still in maintenance for 2 weeks. They have a large update! So, I was thinking… Why don't we just join the tournament and have fun? And here we are." She explained.

"Just as she said." Atlas confirmed, "I have a debt with StoneSword too, so I tried to help. Flexy never mentioned that you are also on the team."

"Well…" Max's voice trailed off as he glanced at his friend, "That's how he is."

"Hey, that's rude." Flexy shouted while pointing at Max, "What do you mean that's how he is? I am telling you that I don't know you are acquainted with them, alright?"

"Yes, yes." Max shrugged his shoulders at Flexy's words. Then, he turned to Atlas and extended his hand, "Still, I heard from Flexy that you're pretty skilled. I hope to have a pleasant cooperation."

"Same here." Atlas shook his hand and smiled, "Let's win this competition."

"It sounds fun!" Ferin exclaimed excitedly, bringing the energy up. She put her hand on top of the other two. "Let's shout together!"

"Hey, am I ignored now? I am the leader! Don't leave me with the shout." Flexy immediately jumped from the chair he sat on and joined the others, putting his hand on top of them.

Suddenly taking the position of the leader, the energetic streamer shouted.

"Let's go, team OrangeSquash. Ooh!"

"Ooh!"

So, team OrangeSquash was formed without any problem, with the addition of a hyper-energetic bunny girl on top of Flexy.

'This team is going to be loud.' Max sighed in his mind. 'Still, this is going to be fun. I prefer this kind of team rather than those overly serious ones.'