While "listening" to Miyabi’s long sermon on the evils of being a womanizer, I was already thinking ahead.

Honestly, Eri’s addition hadn’t been part of the plan.

But given her class, her synergy with our formation would be excellent. Add the fact that she had a UR job like the rest of us—Saintess—and the case for keeping her only got stronger.

The only real problem was the level gap.

Eri was sitting at level 12, while Kiki was level 15 as she’d claimed. Both were too underleveled to survive a long fight against even the weakest monsters at Teru Plains right now.

’If we’re going to run as a party, we should lock in our lineup from here and not change it. If they agree, then that settles it.’

My goal was to get as strong as possible in the shortest time. That meant a stable, fixed party with consistent playtime. And since we were all college students at the same university, coordinating that was more than doable.

"Are you even listening?!" Miyabi growled, catching my wandering attention.

"Yes, yes." I nodded casually.

"Answer yes just once!"

"Yes!"

"Good!"

And just like that, 30 minutes went down the drain on a lecture I only half-heard.

After that, I turned to the two prospective party members and laid everything out—our goals, the stream, the arrangement. The part about me being a returnee, of course, stayed firmly to myself. Way too early for that particular conversation. They don’t have enough "trust" in me just yet.

When I finished, I waited for their responses.

I was half-expecting a refusal, but...

"That sounds amazing!" Kiki pumped her fists, grinning ear to ear. "Playing at the forefront of the game as pioneers and making money on the side?! I’m completely in~!"

I smiled, a little caught off guard by how readily she’d agreed to throw in with people she barely knew.

Still, it was a good feeling.

She really is a good friend... Well, not yet. But she will be.

As for Eri, she took her time. I couldn’t quite read what was going through her head, but after a solid minute, she gave a firm nod.

"It seems like a fair deal." She said. "And earning pocket money while playing to de-stress is basically a dream come true. Though—I’d prefer my face not be shown on stream, if that’s possible."

"Of course. Here’s a mask for that purpose."

Kiki wasn’t the type to worry about fame, so I figured she’d pass on one. But I’d kept a few accessory items on hand just in case.

What I handed Eri was a butterfly mask—covering the upper half of her face, leaving just the tip of her nose and everything below visible. Enough to obscure her identity, with a side bonus of boosting her agility by 3%.

It was negligible at this stage, since 3% of anything under 33 was just rounded down to zero. But it was the thought that counted.

Once both of them signed the electronic contract, I sent out the party invites and started up the broadcast camera.

The viewer count appeared at the bottom-left of our vision the moment it went live.

Zero. Then a hundred in seconds. Then a thousand, where it settled.

"Hello, viewers!"

Miyabi stepped into the role of emcee like she was born for it.

"We’re back with the Heaven’s Path Pioneer Stream! I’m your host and main damage dealer, FleetingCloud~!"

[MoeLover: Wait, what’s going on?]

[PapaKatsu: Oh, shit... The stream converted to a paid one!]

[PapaKatsu donated a Massager worth 500 points!]

[MaidenZero: No way... Three beauties?! 😍😍😍]

[Kannon33: In this lineup WhiteGod is just an eyesore. Piss off 💢 and leave it as the stream of three goddesses!]

As expected, the chat exploded immediately.

A few were taking jabs at me, the lone thorn among the roses. But most were genuinely just here for the view—and honestly, that was working in our favor just fine.

In the first minute alone, while Miyabi was still going through introductions, we’d already racked up around 10,000 points in gifts.

it was a lot on paper. Converted to real money, roughly $100. Split four ways, that’s $25 each—barely pocket change. Still, better than nothing.

"Alright!"

I clapped my hands and cut in, shifting the mood.

"To celebrate our first stream, we’ll be doing a full speedrun of every quest in the Beginner’s Village—from picking them up, to clearing them!"

[Skeletorn_Thunder: A quest stream? Boring...]

[IsekaiPimp: Nobody asked you! 😒]

[MeatyBun: More jigglies! More fun~! 🤩]

Mixed responses, same as always. Well within expectations.

I smiled and turned to the two girls behind me.

"Then, Kristal, GentleBreeze—let’s head out and sweep up every available quest first."

Most NPC quests were just repeatable filler with measly rewards.

Not worth much on their own, but they stacked on top of your normal hunting income. And more importantly, completing them built familiarity with the issuing NPC—which paid off in the long run in ways most players didn’t think to consider.

Skipping quests entirely was just leaving free value on the table.

As I explained this, we made a full loop around the village. Miyabi and I already had ours from before—Kiki picked up about 10 more, while Eri, starting fresh, grabbed virtually everything.

We didn’t stop there.

"On top of normal quests, there are also special and rare quests." I added.

"Right now, the only unique quest available is the Village Chief’s—and I’ve already claimed it, so that one’s off the table for everyone else."

[Bell: Did I just hear... Unique Quest? 😲]

The chat latched onto the keyword immediately, interest spiking. A few people outright asked me to pull up the quest details.

"A quest is like a lifeline. Showing it off to just anyone can come back to bite you hard—"

[FriedLiver Superchat: $100

Enough teasing. Show it.]

"—though that sort of thing doesn’t really apply to us, given where we stand. Here you go."

Seeing the donation, I quickly changed my mind. Even if they wanted to, there’s nobody who could impede us on this quest, anyway. I opened the quest panel and let the viewers get a proper look. Half of them practically rushed the screen, their cameras zooming in to read it, probably screenshotting it too.

"As you can see—it’s tough to unlock, can only be cleared once, and disappears after. A true one-of-a-kind."

Braggy? Maybe a little. But it was the truth. Such was the nature of unique quests.

After another wave of commotion died down, we finally reached the southern gate.

Everything was set. Time to start the speedrun!

"Alright, for our formation..." I turned to the girls and laid it out. "Kristal will go up front as the tank, FleetingCloud behind her, GentleBreeze third, and me at the rear. That way both paper armors are covered from the front and the back."

Miyabi had nearly cried from frustration yesterday when her death count crept past double digits. Though honestly, the EXP loss bothered her more than anything else.

We were both sitting at level 20, but my progress was only 3% from the next level while she was at 10%. A gap had already started forming. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

"To your positions!"

At my word, everyone moved.

Kiki took point, sweeping her gaze wide as she set the march’s pace. Miyabi watched the right flank, Eri the left, and I covered all directions from the rear.

With this formation, ambushes became a non-issue. As if to prove the point...

"Wolves, nine o’clock!" Eri called out sharp and fast.

"Kristal!"

I planted the flag into the soft ground in one clean motion and issued commands.

"Hold them in check! FleetingCloud, pick them off one at a time. GentleBreeze, keep Kristal’s HP topped up!"

"Roger!"

Everyone moved without hesitation.

Kiki stepped forward to meet the wolves, flames wreathing her fists—a kind of buff skill, from the look of it.

"Martial God’s Straight Punch!"

The punch landed clean. The lead wolf staggered, stunned—not much damage had been dealt, but it came with a short CC effect that left it dizzy for a full second.

That was more than enough opening for Miyabi.

"Iai Slash!"

With a proper curved blade now in hand, the skill came out faster than before, and hit harder to match.

The blade caught the wolf across the head, and the damage window flared up like a celebration.

CRITICAL!

983!!!

One hit. The wolf’s HP zeroed out instantly, its body shattering like glass before dissolving into motes of light.

The remaining wolves hesitated—just a beat, the brief confusion of a pack that had lost its lead. The girls didn’t waste it, of course, and didn’t get cocky either.

Kiki worked methodically—hitting, blocking, weaving. A mobile evasive tank in every sense.

Whenever her HP dipped past a certain point, Eri’s heals reached her from range, bringing her straight back to full.

And whenever a gap opened up, Miyabi’s blade was already moving to fill it. Reaping lives of the monsters along.

Their coordination was seamless enough that I had to remind myself they’d only just partied for the first time today. Even their breathing had fallen into sync. How crazy is that?

"Area clear."

I swept the surroundings and gave the all-clear.

"Good work. Let’s keep moving."

We couldn’t stop here just yet. We didn’t even waste time checking the randomly distributed drop items. This was only the beginning, after all.

And what’s more, I hadn’t even called Ram yet.