"Is this guy for real?"
Despite how popular clickbait thumbnails for the videos tended to be, the shocked face of one of the meditation streaming gurus… actually appeared in the clip.
Or, to be more precise, it remained on the man's face for the full duration of said clip, likely extending well beyond the timeframe the clip revealed.
"I know a few guys who are so talented to fall into a sleep-like state while meditating, but this guy…?"
The popular streamer shook his head.
"Actually, let me hit one of them up…"
When I thought that from the moment this popular streamer actually hosted my own stream things got progressively worse… I wasn't wrong. In fact, back then, I still underestimated the viral potential of my stream… whatever that potential could be.
From "MeditateWithUS", one of the biggest meditation streaming channels, my stream soon appeared live on three more channels. And the clipper did a really good job of connecting all four of the streams into a 4-panel video, allowing the viewers to watch the streamers as they had their call on-stream.
"This has to be the third if the not fourth stage of meditation…", 'Medio', another popular streamer leaned in closer over his screen, as if peering into the details of my own life. "If you take a closer look, his eyes do not match the movement of his hands. And what's even bigger, there's absolutely no movement of that guy's expression!"
"Medio, staph, speak in plain English, you know you alone are the freaky one to study anything beyond the third stage of meditation…"
Medio rolled his eyes at the remark of the long-haired "Messitiation" guy, made famous by his insistence on learning how to meditate without cleaning his room ever again.
A silly idea… that apparently had some solid, background study supporting it over how one had to fully cut themselves free from the world around them in order to reach the third stage of meditation, a feat all the harder when all the mess around them actually pedantic streamer only continued to play on his nerves.
"Do any of you have contact with some good crafters?" MeditateWithUs asked, only for two of his friends to grimace right in their streams.
"What crafters? Blacksmith? Runemaster? Engineer?" Medio protested. "It's not like there's a general 'crafter' profession, everyone specializes in something nowadays…"
"Then, do you have contact with anyone who can tell what in the heavens is this kid trying to make?"
This back-and-forth between the four big streamers only continued for the rest of the clip, ending with just two statements they ended up agreeing on.
First, I apparently reached the stage of focus in my meditation that they themselves either coveted or topped their talent by reaching. MeditateWithUS and Medio, however, kept insisting that I've already stepped into the fourth stage of meditation… whatever it could possibly mean.
'So, others are jealous of my meditation, while for me it's nothing but a burden? Just another obstacle that blocks me from advancing?'
But that was merely one of the statements.
The other one, that I found after scrolling through a few more clips of the matter, claimed that I was apparently trying to build up a Vahanea structure, a formation from ancient times lauded to be the absolutely best Qi-gathering formation the recipe for which was lost in the ancient times.
Then again, I've learned all of that from a quick search through the vast expanses of the search engine. And that alone revealed just how sparse the information about this topic was.
Outside of the general idea of what this formation was supposed to be used for, it appeared mostly not in cultivation research fields… but archeology, as reclaiming the recipe appeared to be one of the historical concerns of the Restoration era, a desire that ultimately went unfulfilled when the technological progress swayed the vast majority of the population to focus on the developing and precise technology rather than the stagnant and mystical cultivation that not only requires one to have a talent for it… but also came at a great, monetary cost.
And just like before, there was only one question in my mind left after I did all my due research - Assuming those streamers were right, then how the fuck did my hands somehow started to craft a formation that was lost since ancient times?!
"Well, I guess that means one thing, streaming is not for me," I sighed as I kept the phone in my hands for just long enough to fully confirm the deletion of my account before closing the app and making sure to uninstall it. "Whether those streamers are right or not, doesn't matter. But if that's the result of me streaming my crafting by an accident once…"
Just like I low-key expected, learning more about my situation provided me with a completely new set of insights into my other options. And while I still would rather have the freedom that came with picking to stick to Claire rather than her father…
Was I even in a position to keep on living without a backer now?
What would I do if some smarty-pants web users were to somehow figure out my details, from where I lived all the way to who I was?
'If there are people who will trust those streamers spoke true about what I was doing, then there are going to be a fuckload of people trying to go and take advantage of me, isn't that right?'
I heaved a long sigh.
Sure, the prospect of going viral the very moment I tried to stream properly didn't seem all that bad… But after what I went through before I learned how to discipline myself, I had no desire to jump back into the gate of perversion others called the internet, not in the slightest.
"Well, at the very least, now the choice is simple," I muttered to myself only to stand up and move to my bed only to fall down on it at stare at the ceiling of my cramped apartment.
"Do I really on Claire's dad or do I swallow this bitter pill and call my uncle instead?"