Chapter 8: Watching Caspian Refine Pills

Caspian picked up a roll of toilet paper from Melissa's desk.  He turned, and then he vanished from the viewers' sight. Even Melissa was stunned. Well, that backfired fast.  She'd just said her brother was an ordinary guy, and Caspian pulled that stunt. The live comments blew up. [???] [Melissa, that backfired fast!] [You still gonna call him ordinary?] [Yeah, sure, an ordinary nobody.] Caspian vanished again, this time into the living room.  He moved like a gust of wind, coming and going, taking nothing but a roll of toilet paper. Melissa was a straight shooter.  If Caspian said there were no immortals in this world, then there were no immortals.  Even she didn't know how to explain this to the viewers. [Melissa, explain it to us.] [Yeah, hurry up and explain!] "Fine, I'll go ask my brother," Melissa said with a sigh.  "Otherwise you'll keep hounding me." She picked up the webcam, walked over, and knocked on Caspian's door.  "Caspian, can I come in?" This time, there were none of the strange sounds she had heard earlier from the room. "Come in." Melissa steadied herself, swallowed, and carefully pushed the door open.  A faint herbal scent wafted out, clean and pleasant, way better than the usual reek of herbal brews.  She couldn't tell what it was, but that wasn't the point. "They want to know how you could show up at my side in an instant." "They must be seeing things. It's at least sixty-five feet from my room to your streaming setup. How could I get there in an instant?" Caspian kept his eyes on the cauldron, deadpan. [No way. We all saw it, and Melissa has a replay. Check the playback!] [LMAO, the guy doesn't even believe he got there in one second.] [Melissa, your brother is a legend.] [He's refining pills. Can we get a live demo?] [I want to watch too.] Melissa had thought the refining pills was just Caspian's fantasy.  She hadn't expected him to still refining pills. "Caspian, can you refine pills?" "Of course. With the right materials, bringing someone back from the dead wouldn't be a problem." [Holy!] [Awesome!] [Bring back the dead? Melissa, your bro must be a hardcore anime fan.] "Don't joke like that," Melissa said.  Sixty-five feet in a second had been weird enough. Now Caspian was talking about revival.  No one would buy it. Caspian finished speaking, then seemed to catch himself.  After all, this wasn't the world where he had lived for ten thousand years. He cleared his throat.  "Yeah, we should trust science." [He is flexing!] [How about a live demonstration of refining a pill that raises the dead?] "I don't have the materials, so I can't refine the pill," Caspian said.  He had rushed back and hadn't taken time to search properly.  Aside from the mountains of rare treasures piled up in his Storage Space, he couldn't find the standard ingredients used for refining pills.  He didn't even know if the mortal world had them. [Melissa, park the camera here. I want to watch your brother refine pills tonight.] Melissa bristled. "What is this? Are you here for me or for my brother?" [Your brother!] [We want to watch him refine pills!] [We want to watch him brag!] [Your brother, obviously. Nothing beats refining pills. This took me back to the good old days.] [Agree!] Melissa felt unwanted.  Even her longtime fans preferred watching Caspian refine pills. While they put it politely, the meaning was clear. She grumbled, but her hands moved on their own.  She aimed the webcam at the cauldron in front of Caspian. Inside, a small flame flickered. That single image drew a flood of viewers.  Gifts kept rolling in.  An unknown, small-time streamer suddenly shot up to the front-page trending list. Other streamers noticed and clicked in, curious.  The gaming section had been set in its ways for years. Most viewers stuck to the same handful of streamers.  For a newcomer to blow up out of nowhere, either their skills were insane, or they were funnier than anyone else, or TikTok had poached a streamer from another platform. Melissa's bestfriend texted, "Melissa, you made the homepage! Congrats!" Only then did Melissa see her stream featured front and center.  New viewers clicked the stream. After they hid the live comment overlay, they saw nothing but a cauldron sitting on a desk. [What is this? Anything can make the homepage now?] [Seriously? People like watching this?] [What does the streamer even do? Looks like the streamer bought the views.] [Meh. With this much popularity I expected something, but it's just a junky cauldron.] Melissa's stream had blown up.  Some fans from other streamers came in just to sneer.  After all, she had done nothing, just put a cauldron on camera, yet the gifts and popularity spiked.  Even loyal fans had their doubts. Melissa brushed off the snark and smiled at the camera.  "Thank you, everyone. And huge thanks for the gifts! Love you all." [If you love us, get your brother to refine a pill, now. If he makes one, I'll send a rocket gift!] That'd be putting Caspian on the spot.  If he didn't want to refine pills, Melissa couldn't force him.  Moreover, refining pills sounded so far-fetched. "You really believe my brother can refine pills? I know you all want to watch. He just showed up, and I don't know him that well yet. Let me get a handle on things, then I'll explain, okay?" "Since there are so many people here now, I'll pick a random viewer to duo with me in PUBG. Is that okay?" [Melissa, you forgot you're not a high-skill streamer.] [I checked your stats. With that KDA, you want to duo with a viewer? Hahaha!] [Take that back and we can still be friends.] [Godlike Everywhere sent an Awesome gift.] "Wow! Thanks, Godlike, for the gift!"