The Black Dragon Lord's Daily Streaming Life

Dark Plains—Dragonflame Mountains.

At the summit of Dragonhead Peak, towering into the clouds, a black dragon gazed down at the vast plain below, black as charcoal.

The dragon scales on its body gleamed like obsidian beneath the dim sunlight. Its majestic wings were spread wide, casting an enormous shadow over the ridge.

Its neck curved slightly, making it look like a statue, as though it were contemplating some profound question.

Its eyes were half-open, the reptilian vertical pupils within them flickering with a flame-like gleam.

"Death Shadow" Murphys, the Black Dragon Lord: Disaster-class boss, Level 80, final boss of the Dark Dragon Nest dungeon, and one of the thirteen Black Dragon Lords of the Black Dragon Legion.

Behind the black dragon stood a dense mass of monster servants—goblins, gnolls, kobolds... all crowded together. Several hulking ogres and bugbears dragged large wooden clubs behind them and yawned boredly. Though they had no patience for waiting, beneath the radiance of the black dragon's draconic might, these simple-minded creatures dared not voice a single objection.

Several black dragon hatchlings stood side by side at the cliff's edge, imitating their uncle as they gazed into the distance. On the horizon where the Dark Plains met the Emerald Forest, tiny black dots like ants could vaguely be seen gradually approaching.

They were adventurers. Brave adventurers. Fearless adventurers. Greedy adventurers...

The hatchlings had been interested at first, but they soon grew bored.

A dragonman vanguard squeezed out from the crowd and asked cautiously, "Great Lord Murphys, the enemy has appeared. Should we head down and make preparations?"

The black dragon did not answer. The wordless silence brought a bead of sweat to the dragonman vanguard's brow. It did not dare ask again and quietly retreated.

The black dragon hatchlings whispered among themselves.

"Lord Murphys's draconic might is getting stronger and stronger."

"Yeah, yeah. What do you think Lord Murphys is thinking about?"

"Maybe he's praying to the gods. I heard powerful dragons can communicate directly with the Dragon God. Perhaps the Dragon God is delivering a divine revelation to Lord Murphys."

"I think Lord Murphys is considering whether to launch a new dragon calamity. Our nest has been established for nearly half a year now, and those adventurers come looking for trouble every other day. It's time to destroy their cities and plunder their wealth!"

"You're all overthinking it. Maybe Lord Murphys is just thinking about what to eat tonight. I really want dragonfire-roasted lamb..."

However, Black Dragon Murphys's thoughts had nothing to do with their guesses.

What the hell? Is it some holiday today, or is there some kind of event going on? Why are there so many adventurers? And they're swaggering in from the front of the Dark Plains? Don't they know how I got the nickname "Death Shadow"?

Fine. The more that come, the better the killing feels. As long as there isn't a hero leading them, however many adventurers come will only be coming to die. The stream should be starting soon, right? I can pull off something brutal later and rake in a wave of donations.

That was right. Black Dragon Murphys was a player, and also a game streamer.

There was no need to find it strange that a player was playing a boss. In this game called Skyworld, players could play any kind of role. Forget bosses—even rats in sewers, deep-sea behemoths in the ocean depths, and even gods in the divine realm could be controlled by players.

Skyworld used character templates as its payment model, replacing traditional subscription cards and item charges.

There were dozens of different character templates available throughout the game, broadly divided into three categories according to their pricing models.

The first type was free templates. Players could enjoy them freely without spending money.

Monster templates allowed players to become skeletons, zombies, birds, beasts, goblins, murlocs, or even bizarre lifeforms such as slimes and man-eating flowers.

Soldier templates had players take the roles of ordinary soldiers serving the various kingdoms: defending cities, patrolling the countryside, clearing out monsters, joining wars between kingdoms, and serving as cannon fodder on the battlefield.

Civilian templates had no combat ability whatsoever, but players could travel everywhere, learn trades, do business, open shops, and experience the life of commoners in a fantasy world...

The second type was paid templates. Players had to spend subscription cards to purchase game time.

Adventurer templates were the closest to traditional gameplay: killing monsters to level up, defeating bosses for equipment drops, taking quests, grinding reputation, and they were currently the most popular template type among players.

Explorer templates let players delve into ancient ruins, uncover primordial secrets, and excavate legendary treasures...

Vassal templates allowed players to own their own estates, farm and develop them, or lead soldiers into battle, serve their lords, and take part in wars...

The third type was VIP templates, the most enjoyable and also the most expensive way to play.

Lord templates played somewhat like real-time strategy games. Lords possessed their own castles and territories, could farm and reclaim land, raise armies, wage war against other kingdoms, expand their domains, or lead great armies against orc, undead, and demon invasions. They could earn merit, build achievements, and even establish their own kingdoms.

Hero templates allowed players to play legendary heroes, with noble bloodlines, illustrious backgrounds, and lives of legend. They could adventure alongside adventurers, slay powerful boss demon kings, become sworn brothers with kings and fight beside them, or wander among town taverns, court elves, and drink merrily with dwarves.

Not only did they offer the highest degree of freedom, but hero templates also had five times the attribute growth of ordinary adventurers. One hero truly could fight five opponents.

Best of all, heroes could personally participate in all kinds of epic plot events and even directly alter the course of the story. For example, during the Dark Portal opening incident a month ago, it was said that the one who killed the orc chieftain Blackhand at the Dark Portal had been a player using a hero template. The Stormwind Kingdom had even erected a statue for that player, for the world to admire.

Whenever that player entered a city, Stormwind City's guards would kneel on one knee to show their respect...

Boss templates allowed players to establish their own monster factions, raid villages and towns, become enemies of kingdoms, create dungeons, and battle greedy adventurer parties.

Boss templates had the strongest individual combat power. Some world-class super bosses could fight a thousand enemies alone or destroy an entire nation by themselves.

The strongest bosses could even unleash world-ending calamities and attempt to destroy all of Skyworld—the reason it was only an "attempt" was because whenever the world neared destruction, heroes would always appear to save it and prevent its end. Thus, no boss had ever truly succeeded in destroying the world so far.

It was said that there were deity templates above the VIP templates, but the game had not yet unlocked that feature. Many players guessed it was something the game company used to control the game's plot, like GMs, though that was only speculation for now.

Of course, while they were extremely fun to play, VIP templates were also incredibly expensive. Lords, heroes, and bosses all had rank divisions. Even the lowest Bronze-class hero or the weakest Skeleton-class boss required an investment of over one hundred thousand RMB to unlock.

Usually, only wealthy players could afford that mode.

Murphys played a boss template, and he was even a Disaster-class boss.

(Boss ranks were divided into five tiers: Skeleton-class, Terror-class, Disaster-class, World-class, and World-ending-class.)

Of course, he was no wealthy player. He had raised this black dragon boss bit by bit through his own efforts, starting as a tiny black dragon whelp.

That brought up another game mechanic—template advancement.

As long as players fulfilled certain conditions, they could advance a low-tier template into a higher-ranking one.

Soldiers advanced into vassals, vassals into lords, monsters into elites, elites into leaders, leaders into bosses, and bosses into super bosses...

Of course, template advancement was not easy. One small mistake could turn someone into a stepping stone on another's path to advancement. Murphys had brushed past death countless times during his advancement journey. His ability to reach this point was partly due to luck, but it was also proof of his gaming skill.

By now, in the Skyworld section of the Starlight Streaming Platform, he firmly held the top spot among monster streamers. Even across Skyworld's entire gaming community, he was considered a celebrity.

But fame came with its own troubles. Every few days, players would form parties to crusade against him, hoping to loot his equipment, clear his dungeon, and make names for themselves off him.

There were even lord players who brought armies to trigger "story campaigns," hoping to use his dragon head to earn reputation and plot points.

Ever since he established his dragon nest in the Dragonflame Mountains three months ago, such incidents had become increasingly frequent. At the peak, three major waves of adventurers came in a single day.

Murphys fought every day and waged battle without rest. Over three months, he had fought more than twenty crusade battles and killed countless adventurers, including an elite party led by two hero players.

That battle had turned the heavens dark and the earth dim, with blood flowing like rivers. In the end, both heroes had met glorious deaths.

After that brutal battle, not a single organized player group had visited this place for an entire week.

But the moment Murphys logged in today, he discovered that the Burning Plains seemed unusually lively. That could not help making him excited.

Heh heh heh, these greedy adventurers really never learned their lesson. Were they here to deliver equipment and lives again? Fine. He would teach them a proper lesson today: defeating a boss was not something that could be accomplished merely by bringing enough people.

He slowly turned around, his gaze sweeping over the monsters under his command one by one before finally settling on his dragonman warlord, Borlax.

Murphys (Black Dragon Lord): "Go make preparations, Borlax. Strike at the usual place. Bring all the servants, and do not let a single adventurer escape. Do not disappoint me."

Borlax (Dragonman Warlord): "By your command, Great Lord Murphys. I will not disappoint you—did you all hear that? Move it, you lazy bastards! If you ruin Lord Murphys's business, I'll skin every last one of you."

The dragonman warlord swung his flaming whip, driving the monsters down the mountain.

Murphys was in no hurry to act. He could fly and join the battle whenever he wanted. He could wait until the monsters were in position for the ambush. More importantly, he was a streamer. Playing a black dragon was fun, but he still had to do his actual job.

Seeing that the time was about right, he activated the streaming system, adjusted the camera angle, and began today's game broadcast.