[Chapter 17: Glitches in Time]
Cal leaned back in his chair, fingers hovering over the system interface. The night air drifted in from the cracked window, mixing with the faint hum of his PC. A familiar routine now, almost meditative: monitor flicker, OBS system calibration, stream overlay sync.
But tonight was different.
[System Prompt: Featured Category - Future Gaming Showcase]
[Special Note: Broadcasting Post-2010 Games to 2010 Timeline May Trigger Temporal Curiosity Waves. Proceed?]
He clicked "Yes" without hesitation.
If anime had captured nostalgia, and music had built momentum, gaming was going to start a wildfire. Not just retro titles either—he wanted to challenge the timeline. Bend it. Drop jaws.
"Alright," he whispered, opening the list of system-authorized games from beyond 2010. "Let's break your sense of reality."
His mouse hovered over one title: Elden Ring.
He grinned. "Perfect."
[Stream Title: "A Tale Beyond Time: The Game That Shouldn't Exist"]
[Game: Elden Ring (2022 Build)]
[Mode: Blind First Playthrough | 4K Render | Low Commentary | No Facecam]
The moment the stream launched, 3,901 viewers logged in within the first 30 seconds. A number Cal had never reached before on launch.
By minute five, it was 6,482.
The opening cinematic played, music thundering with orchestral drama, gods and beasts locked in combat, environments too vast for most 2010 graphics cards to even process.
"WHAT IS THIS GAME???"
"This isn't Skyrim, is it??"
"Graphics like this don't EXIST YET."
"It's like Dark Souls had a child with a fantasy movie."
The Lands Between stretched out with impossible fidelity. Grass shimmered. Clouds moved dynamically. Cal's Tarnished stood under a golden tree whose scale defied logic.
He didn't speak. He didn't need to.
Every strike, every dodge, every death was art. He wandered the world with caution, still unfamiliar with the mechanics, and yet his chat watched in silent awe.
By minute thirty, the viewer count had passed 12,000.
That was when a clip of the stream hit 2ch. Then Reddit. Then a backdoor repost on NicoNico.
The title?
"GhostFrame is playing a game from the future."
In an office in Akihabara, a group of devs from FromSoftware huddled around a monitor.
"He's... fighting Margit. And he's never played this before."
"But this isn't even announced yet. No promo. No leaks. The name 'Elden Ring' doesn't exist in this timeline."
"Look at that parry timing."
The room was silent as Cal barely dodged a slam attack and managed a riposte, triggering the boss stagger.
In another room, a younger Hidetaka Miyazaki, still refining concepts for a successor to Dark Souls, rubbed his temples.
"Who is this GhostFrame?"
He paused.
"...Is he stealing from my dreams?"
Back in his room, Cal downed his flask and finally beat Margit after seventeen minutes.
He exhaled.
Then the system spoke:
[Viewer Milestone: 18,210 Concurrent]
[Mission Triggered: Shock the Timeline]
[Bonus: +200 Points | 3 Loyalty Nodes | Passive Influence Increased]
[Alert: 12 New Threads Created on Global Gaming Forums Speculating Your Identity.]
Cal rubbed his eyes.
He was tired. But not finished.
He switched games mid-stream.
[Next Stream Title: "Colorful Chaos | Splatoon 3 Preview"]
[Game: Splatoon 3 (2023 Build)]
[Stream Mode: Quickplay | Ranked Turf | Japanese VO | Chat Poll Loadouts]
The vibrant aesthetic hit like an explosion. Paint. Neon. Music that didn't sound like any current J-Pop or electronic blend.
"IS THIS ANIME??"
"A shooter? But... it's beautiful??"
"Why is this fun to watch?"
Cal played two ranked matches, holding solid second place in both. He lost the third, and his laugh—the only audio from him in over forty minutes—was clipped instantly.
"He's not here to win. He's here to play."
By midnight, his total concurrent viewer count had stabilized at 20,000. But it wasn't just numbers.
It was belief.
Somewhere in Tokyo, a teenager watching from a shared internet café whispered to his friend:
"He's showing us the future. It's real."
[System Update: You Have Achieved Tier 2 - Catalyst Streamer]
[Unlocked: System Request Forum | Viewer Suggestion Polls | Cross-Timeline Sync Test (Beta)]
Cal stared at the screen.
He had just opened a floodgate.
And no one was closing it now.
End of Chapter 17