The café was the kind of place Dom never went.
Warm lighting, exposed brick, the smell of espresso that cost more than his last pair of gloves.
The clientele was young professionals and influencers, all of them polished to a shine, none of them looking like they’d ever crawled out of a monster nest.
Dom stood out like a bloodstain on a white tablecloth.
He found them in the back corner.
Jess spotted him first.
She was in her late twenties, with wire-rimmed glasses, a neat but practical blazer, and a messenger bag covered in enamel pins, tiny cats, anime characters, and one small fox that Dom assumed was supposed to be a fursona.
Her hair was pulled back in a clip, and she had the slightly frazzled energy of someone who ran the logistics for a major content operation while quietly losing her mind.
She half-rose from her seat when he walked in, then caught herself and sat back down, hands fluttering like trapped birds.
“Oh my god,” she said, not quite under her breath.
“It’s really him.”
Beside her, Noxie looked up.
She was in her mid-to-late twenties, with a short navy blue bob cut sharp against her jaw, striking green eyes, and the kind of figure that made the loose fabric of her oversized designer gym jacket look intentional rather than sloppy.
Underneath, a fitted black crop top showed a strip of toned midriff.
She wore it like she knew exactly what she was doing, and when she smiled, it was the smile of a woman who’d never had to ask for anything twice.
“Dom,” she said, and her voice was low and smooth, like honey over gravel.
“Thanks for coming.”
Dom slid into the chair across from them.
“I said I would.”
“You did.” Noxie leaned back, crossing her legs.
The motion was practiced, and deliberate.
Jess was still staring at his hood.
“Can I—I mean, are the ears—”
“Under the hood,” Dom said.
“Yes. And no, you can’t touch them.”
Jess deflated.
“Right. Boundaries. Respecting them.” She cleared her throat and pulled a tablet from her bag.
“Okay! Back to business. I’m Jess, Noxie’s talent manager here. I handle her collab bookings, sponsorships, all the boring stuff. And I’m, uh—” She adjusted her glasses.
“A huge fan.”
“I could tell.”
“I’ve watched every stream. Every single one. The Kobold camp, the Q&A, the—” She stopped herself.
“Sorry. Professional, I should be professional.”
“Don’t sweat it. You’re fine,” Dom said.
“What’s the offer though?”
They didn’t answer right away.
Noxie leaned back in her chair, green eyes appraising him like a purchase she hadn’t decided on yet.
“Before we talk numbers, I have questions.”
“Ask away.”
“Your streams. The production value, the angles, the way the chat overlays everything in real time, that’s all your system, right? Not a production team hiding in the background.”
“All the system.”
“So if I walk into a dungeon with you, can it do the same for me? Stream to my accounts, my platforms, my people?”
Dom’s eyes flicked to the golden text already materializing in his periphery.
[the system can extend simultaneous broadcast coverage to guest accounts!! Host’s guests will experience the same multi-platform integration!!]
“Yes,” Dom said.
“Same broadcast. Your accounts included with your permission of course.”
Noxie’s eyebrow arched.
[guest branding can be layered over the shared production feed!! Sponsor elements and overlay customization are fully supported!!]
“Your branding stays. Sponsors, overlays, all of it.”
She studied him.
Her gaze shifted, just slightly, to the empty air near his head, where he’d been glancing for the past minute.
“It’s talking to you right now, isn’t it?”
“Yes.”
“What’s it saying?”
“Answering your questions.”
A slow, satisfied smile.
“And you’re not going to tell me what it looks like?”
“You’ll see it yourself in the dungeon.”
Noxie laughed, a real sound, warm and sharp at the same time.
“I like you, Dom. You don’t oversell.”
“Then don’t undersell me. What’s the offer?”
She straightened, the playful edge sharpening into something more focused.
“A joint dungeon raid. Live on both our channels. Your system, my audience, a B-rank gate from Aegis. We go in together, we stream together, and the whole internet watches you prove your system is real while I prove I’m smart enough to partner with the right people.”
“Aegis is providing the dungeon,” Jess added, finally looking up from her tablet.
“It’s a controlled gate, pre-scanned, stable, safe enough for a two-person run. They’ve been holding it for the right collaboration.”
“Controlled,” Dom repeated.
“What’s the catch?”
“No catch,” Noxie said.
“We want exposure, credibility, and a show. Aegis wants the PR of having discovered you first. You want resources and a bigger platform. Everyone wins.”
“Except the monsters.”
She grinned.
“Except the monsters.”
Dom didn’t smile back, but something in his expression softened.
“What are the terms?”
Jess slid the tablet across the table.
“Standard split. Sixty-forty, in your favor. Aegis covers the gate, the insurance, the support crew. Everything we might need for this.”
“Seventy-thirty.”
Jess blinked.
“I’m sorry?”
“Seventy-thirty. My system is the draw. Without it, there’s no proof, no collab, no content. You need me more than I need you.”
Noxie’s laugh came again, delighted.
“I told you he’d push back, Jess.”
“You said he’d push for sixty-five,” Jess muttered.
She typed into the tablet, her jaw tight, then looked up.
“Seventy-thirty works just fine. But if you’re getting the bigger split, we want more than just one stream.”
Dom’s eyes narrowed.
“Like what?”
“You’ll do two collabs,” Jess said.
“The first proves your system works. The second cements the partnership and gives Noxie a second event of in-dungeon content, the kind she can’t produce anywhere else.” She glanced at Dom over her glasses.
“And after the success of both, we’d be open to more collabs. You’re after all the only hunter who can stream from inside a dungeon. That’s a strong monopoly on that kind of content.”
“And we also would like exclusivity between them,” Noxie added, leaning forward.
“While we’re setting up the second run, you don’t do one-off collabs with other streamers. Sponsored content’s fine, we’re not going to strangle you, but no rival guild partnerships until our second stream airs.”
Dom didn’t flinch.
“So you want access to the monopoly.”
“You bring the system. We bring the platform, the guild resources, the audience. Together, we can build something no one else can touch.”
Jess nodded.
“Aegis gets a longer runway to build content around the dungeon streams, sponsors, merchandising, highlight packages. Noxie gets two anchor events. You get the biggest split and first-look access to our production resources.”
Dom considered.
The system was already buzzing in his peripheral vision, offering enthusiastic commentary about “partnership depth” and “audience retention across multiple events.” He ignored it and did his own math.
Two collabs.
Sixty days.
Aegis got more exposure, Noxie got more content, and Dom got a bigger split plus a guaranteed second event with a major platform.
“If the first collab goes wrong,” Dom said slowly, “if the system doesn’t deliver or the dungeon’s a bust, I’m not locked into a second run. We renegotiate.”
“Fair,” Noxie said before Jess could argue.
Jess sighed.
“Fine. Two collabs, sixty-day window, exclusivity between events, renegotiation clause if the first run fails. Seventy-thirty, in your favor. Aegis covers all production costs. Deal?”
“Deal.”
They shook hands.
Noxie’s grip was warm and sure, her smile sharp.
“You’re fun to negotiate with, Dom.”
“You’re expensive to negotiate with.”
She laughed.
“But worth every cent.”
They spent the next twenty minutes hashing out details, timing, location, and safety protocols.
The system hovered at the edge of Dom’s vision the whole time, feeding him prompts and comments he mostly ignored.
Jess took notes with the intensity of a woman who’d finally found a puzzle worth solving.
Noxie watched Dom with a look that was part curiosity, part challenge.
As they stood to leave, she rose with him, stepping close enough that he caught her perfume, floral, sharp, designed to linger.
“One more thing,” she said.
“The dungeon’s got a mystery element. Aegis hasn’t fully mapped it. Whatever’s inside, we’ll be the first to see it live.” Her green eyes glinted.
“Try not to hold me back too much. We wouldn’t want you looking bad to your viewers.”
“Is that a challenge I hear?”
She smiled.
“It might be.”
Dom smiled back, turned and walked out of the café without looking back.
He felt her eyes on him the whole way.
Outside, the noon sun was pale and cold.
His phone buzzed.
[Morgan]: Where are you?
He typed back: I’m on my way.
Then he noticed the system’s text had shifted.
The usual enthusiasm was still there, but underneath it, something quieter.
[the collab is a great opportunity!! But the system detects unusual mana signatures in the dungeon data provided by the guild.]
Dom slowed.
“Unusual how?”
[the signatures are… inconsistent. The dungeon may not be as controlled as the guild claims. The system recommends caution!!]
The system, his system, was telling him to be careful.
This was new.
“Noted,” he said.
“I’ll be careful.”