The currency on 8th Station was measured by gourds. They were then divided into two types; the one received from monetary recharging was called golden gourds, currently at a ratio of 1000:1 to the actual HuaXia currency, HXB. Any other currency obtained were called silver gourds.
Both types of gourds can be used to purchase gifts for the streamer, with the same effect, they can allow streamers to increase their points. The points are the basis for gaining popularity, as well as the foundation for various PK activities and events on the website. The only difference between the gifts purchased by golden gourds is that they can be converted into revenue for the streamer and withdrawn as cash, while silver gourds cannot.
The gift points sent by golden gourds and silver gourds are the same—1 HXB equaled 10 points—once the points acc.u.mulate, the streamer"s level also rises, and the higher the level, the more privileges they can obtain.
UP1 required 0 points.
UP2 required 50 points.
UP3 required 200 points.
UP4 required 470 points.
UP5 required 920 points.
UP10 required a total of 18,060 points.
UP20 required a total of 602,810 points.
UP30, required a total of 11,883,810 points.
8th Station"s UP levels went up to 40, requiring a total of 147,013,810 points. If those points all came from gifts bought with golden gourds, it would be equal to about 14.7 million HXB.
As for the income made from gifts, 8th Station and the streamer split it 50/50. Basically, if one"s UP level could reach 40, they would earn over 7 million HXB, before tax.
Of course, silver gourds are useful as well.
So far, only eight streamers on 8th Station have reached the maximum level, with five currently awaiting to receive this reward.
There was a large variety of gifts to select from on 8th station, among them the most popular being "spicy dough sticks" for 100 gourds, "cool" popsicles for 200 gourds, a "flag" emote, the emote "233" for 233 gourds, "520 heart emoji", "666" emoji for 666 gourds, a frying pan for 1000 gourds, "Ice Cola" emoji, 2000 gourd support towel, 3000 support glow stick; 5000 gourd b.u.t.terfly cutie, 9999 gourd pangolin emote; 1000,000 money cherub, 450,000 gourd Center spot halo, "colorful gourd vines" emote, and a 10.24 million for "laughing while enemies destroyed your s.h.i.+ps" emote.
Starting from 450,000 and above, each gift would trigger a pop-up ad and a lottery. This was the most lucrative way to milk followers.
When Meng Fan used 8th Station before, he had whaled quite a large amount of money as well, hence why one ma.s.s text can attract loads of uncertain friends to support his channel, as many of them were streamers themselves.
Before Meng Fan lifted his pen to draw, his stream already had almost 100 people, and the value of their gifts totaling over 300,000 gourds. He had attained over 3000 points, and his UP level was raised to 6.
"Thank you, kind folks! I am in a studio, so I can"t talk, so stuff like showing my face, isn"t gonna happen today."
Meng Fan stuck a caption in his announcement bar and began to draw.
Meng Fan had already drawn almost 70 ill.u.s.trations for the novel "Floating Dream in a Millenium", so most of the roles had already been established, and more than enough to meet the required number of drafts for submission. All he needed to do was to adjust some components and add some details, and since these were original ill.u.s.trations, it was not easy to reveal it to the public—Even though if he kept it to himself, n.o.body would really connect it to Xiao Ti"s work— Thus, he decided not to live stream the ill.u.s.trations for the novel.
Characters, well-known anime characters; if he could speedily draw these popular characters, it would undoubtedly be the fastest way to retain his viewers.
Who to draw?
Meng Fan"s mind suddenly produced several cla.s.sic "high profile" anime characters.
"Got it."
Meng Fan quickly extracted from his head the character he wanted to draw, as it was also someone he frequently drew.
"Not talking or showing your face, at least play some music for us!"
"Meng Boss you"re like a sculpture, so stiff hahaha!"
Only 100 people online, however, live comments plastered the screen, mostly from his acquaintances, sending gifts and troll comments.
There were also people who accidentally entered, curious as to what kind of a G.o.d this new streamer was, for it was his first broadcast yet he received so many gifts.
"He"s starting to draw, not using a software or a tablet."
"No Sh*t, how can someone use the software while broadcasting from their phone?"
"Holy cow, he is so fast!"
"This speed seemed like he was randomly drawing, Meng Boss are you playing us, are you really an art student?"
"Fatty Meng really is from art school, some guys from our chatroom met him when they were visiting Hang Zhou."
The people in the live comments began to chat.
"There"s a profile, he"s not just randomly drawing!"
"This speed 666!"
"It"s a woman!"
"Long hair!"
"These eyes are too beautiful!"
"His drawing skill is great!"
"Features are visible, anyone knows who it is yet?"
"Is it an existing anime character or an OC Meng Boss?"
"This facial structure, definitely a queen."
"Her figure... Omg, nosebleed!"
"Meng Boss, is it ok for you to start with such a loud bang?"
"She"s got a tough air to her, very domineering, she really looks like a queen!"
The atmosphere in the live comments became a TV show guessing game.
"Military uniform!"
"Her hat!"
When Meng Fan drew the "cross" onto her hat, most of the acquaintances in his stream had recognized who it was.
"AH AH AH It"s Esdeath! Really is an ice queen!"
"Add a kneeling general!"
"Please add s.a.d.i.s.tic pictures of the Queen being stepped on!"
"Add spikes!"
"Draw her being buried!"
"Draw her being greased!"
"Draw her with poisoned flowers!"
"Draw her on her knees being tortured!"
"Draw her being burned!"
"Draw her being boiled!"
With the sudden change of style, the comment section became a torture method generator for the anime character "Esdeath" from the show "Akame Ga Kill."
Meng Fan continued to draw, perfecting her uniform, belt, stockings and the lines of the b.r.e.a.s.t.s... Then in the background, he added an ice-capped mountain releasing the ice demon extract.
Time to add color.
Bluish silver long hair, frost blue eyelids, pure white military general uniform, black belt, and a light blue icy mountain...
Promptly, a domineering, heart wrenching s.a.d.i.s.tic queen was completed.
After finis.h.i.+ng, he added a sentence to the bottom left corner—"万物は私の前で凍りつく!"
"Bada.s.s, bada.s.s!"
"666, this bluff I can respect!"
"Please translate!"
"The Queen"s cla.s.sic line—Everything on earth shall freeze before me!"
"Meng fatty actually has this kind of operative skills?"
"G.o.d d.a.m.n I used to think Meng Boss was inhumanly plain, I didn"t think he had such a talented side to him!"
"You"re a motherf*cking prodigy!"
"This streamer is UP6, huh, one Esdeath ill.u.s.tration only took 15 ish minutes to finish, with color too. At this speed, not many people in the 8th station can match him!"
"This streamer"s hand speed is a real G.o.d d.a.m.n b.a.l.l.sy! We all received the same compulsory 9-year education, how come you"re so talented?!"
"We are both vertebrates, why do you stand out so much?!"
"I was just added to this room and witnessed such a spectacular show, worth it! No discussion, here"s a support towel!"
"Stream boss keeps showing off, I"m gonna go pull more viewers!"
"Uhm... This host"s speed, are you sure it"s a live stream and not a sped-up recording?
"Bro look at his pauses in the middle, to h.e.l.l with recording, as if he could edit videos with a phone!"
Meng Fan removed his finished drawing from the frame, replacing it with a new piece of paper, and continued to draw.
What to draw now?
The first one had been his favorite anime character. Even though this site was prominently a hub for otakus—there was still a portion of people who didn"t know who she was, or only knew after other people mentioned it... Then the second one will be a familiar one even by ear.
The first drawing was ice, so let"s make the second one fire...
Immediately, a "fire" type anime character popped into Meng Fan"s mind, and even the Chinese translated name was similar to the j.a.panese one.
Only, Meng Fan was obviously better at drawing women, but this was a guy...
Then...