Chapter 59: Gambling Genius Silver Hair (4)

The clock tower rose tall in the center of Belheim.

An old structure, imbued with a mysterious aura.

It stood in the very heart of the city, like its beating heart.

The town’s defense system was all located here.

That much was revealed by NPCs during gameplay.

Since the quest was designed to retrieve gold, locations like the power core installation and the defense systems were practically spoon-fed to the player.

Yoo Seo-yeon pushed open the heavy door with her small hands, and with a loud creak, the dust-covered interior revealed itself.

The inside of the tower was more spacious than expected.

Giant gears interlocked and turned.

Strange ancient letters were carved into the walls.

And in the center—

A shrine gently glowing like starlight.

There were exactly thirty indentations carved into the shrine.

[“The clocktower vibe is insane”]

[“Real fantasy game atmosphere”]

[“Guess that’s where the cores go?”]

[“Time to plug ‘em in…”]

She took the ancient power cores out from her inventory.

A high-tier item worth 1.5 million gold each.

Without hesitation, Yoo Seo-yeon began inserting them into the shrine.

— Srrk.

With a smooth click, the power core slid perfectly into place.

At the same time, a faint blue light began to flow from the entire shrine.

A perfect fit.

When the tenth power core settled into place—

the light expanded, rising like a pillar of blue energy.

The whole tower began to hum lowly.

When the twentieth core was inserted,

the ancient letters on the walls began to glow as well.

As if a dormant magical circuit was coming to life.

And the moment the thirtieth core filled the final slot on the shrine—

PAAAAAH—!

A burst of bright blue light.

And then—an earth-shaking rumble.

KUGUGUGUGUGUNG!!!

Outside the tower, all of Belheim began to shake violently.

“Is that an earthquake?!”

“What’s going on?!”

“Are we under attack?!”

“There wasn’t any raid scheduled!”

The streamers in town panicked.

With the entire city trembling like an actual earthquake, of course they were alarmed.

[‘Ancient Power Core’ 30/30 Installed]

[All defense systems have been activated!]

[‘Aegis’ Touch’ defense system now operational!]

[Defense System Control Rights: Assigned to ‘Silverhair’]

A system message echoed across the server.

BOOOOOM—!

The ordinary outer walls of Belheim—

Behind them, the ground split open as buildings began to rise.

Defense towers.

Sturdy towers made of stone etched with rune letters.

Dozens of defense towers rose up, surrounding the city like a fortress.

[“LMAO this scale is unreal”]

[“Silverhair the Magic Tower Master lol”]

[“Wait, she’s controlling all of those?!”]

[“This is city defense content for sure lol”]

The towers stood tall.

Some streamers, feeling like they were sightseeing, began snapping screenshots in awe.

Then—

WEEEOOO—!

The giant crystal orbs atop the towers lit up with a blinding blue glow.

A sharp, cold energy built up, slicing through the air.

And the next moment—

BOOOOOM—!!!

From the defense tower launched a massive orb of magic.

A beam of blue light shot through the sky, crashing precisely into an open field.

The explosion roared with a thunderous boom.

The earth cracked violently, dirt flying into the air.

Even those in the distant clocktower could feel the shockwave.

As the dust cleared, a massive crater had formed in what used to be flat ground.

Like a meteor had struck.

“S-Silverhair?”

“I-It was a test shot…”

She hadn’t meant to scare anyone.

The cannon just came online, so she figured she’d test it on an empty area…

But the power was beyond anything she’d imagined.

It was satisfying firepower—but even she was stunned by how overpowered it was.

“N-Next time I’ll be more careful.”

Leaving the stunned streamers behind,

Yoo Seo-yeon scratched her head sheepishly.

---

“Damn.”

In the Operator’s office;

On one of the monitors, a replay of Silverhair’s recent gold-splash spectacle at the casino entrance was playing.

A luxurious, ridiculous flex—gold instead of water.

Silverhair casually tossing around gold pouches like nothing.

100 million gold scattered as if it were chump change.

The streamers cheered in a frenzy.

Frost gave a dry chuckle.

1.5 billion gold.

An astronomical amount, impossible under normal gameplay.

And she had just scattered a chunk of it flamboyantly.

“She gave away over 100 million?”

“Yes. She even said she’d give 2 million to anyone who wasn’t present. She’s checking who’s online.”

Frost’s report made Zeronix laugh.

“Silverhair… she’s got that innocent face but she’s a sly little fox.”

The timing was impeccable.

Right before resentment boiled over, she defused the entire situation in the most effective way.

Political skill that wouldn’t be out of place for a public official.

Not just power—her political savvy was off the charts too.

‘She basically bought the server’s goodwill for 100 million gold.’

And that wasn’t all.

“There’s no way we can take that money back now.”

“Exactly. Everyone who got it will spend it like crazy—and we’d have to collect from them all.”

It wouldn’t end with just reclaiming it from Silverhair.

Virtually the entire server had received money from her.

Trying to get it back would mean prying gold from dozens of streamers.

And that’s dozens—if not hundreds—of times harder than reclaiming from one.

‘Not like we were planning to retrieve it anyway.’

After all, this was a streamer server.

If this were a major online game, devs might be forced to intervene…

But here, fun and buzz were way more important than balance.

Thanks to Silverhair’s absurd performance,

the server had almost spun out of the devs’ control.

But no matter what anyone said,

this server was the talk of every community.

Just when things were starting to feel stale,

things had picked up, excitement had returned.

“Honestly, I think the server vibe’s gotten better because of all this.”

Frost tried to put a positive spin on it.

“Yeah. Guess you’re right. Positive thinking…”

Zeronix leaned back and closed his eyes.

Weirdly enough, giving up on balance made things feel less stressful.

When Silverhair first hit that 1.5 billion jackpot,

his hands had trembled from the balance concerns.

‘Let’s just focus on fun.’

This server only had a two-month lifespan anyway.

Instead of aiming for flawless balance,

moment-to-moment fun was more important.

He opened his eyes and checked his phone.

An online forum he sometimes visited to monitor public opinion.

Thanks to Silverhair constantly stirring the pot,

the place was filled with Pixelwars streamer server talk again today.

【Silverhair’s Gold Rain LOL】

[She sprayed gold like it was a sprinkler lol]

• fr lololol
• It’s just a game but this looks insanely fun… I want in.

【Streamers doing floor-cleaning performances LOL】

[Better reactions than donos lmao]

【5 million to 1.5 billion clip gif】

[That’s insane. How did she even hit 30x? Was she possessed?]

• holy sh*t she literally went all-in
• Beast’s heart activated lol
• Burning 50 mil in one go is next level

【Apparently she hit it just from listening to the wheel】

[I tried watching the VOD just for the sounds but I can’t tell a damn thing lol]

• Silverhair’s basically a gambler
• Like those legendary gamblers who can feel microscopic differences?
• Nah she’s way beyond that lololol

【Watching this gave me courage…】

[Starting with 500k, I’m gonna hit 500 mil. Buffett step aside, I’m creating a new crypto legend.]

• bro’s gonna end up at the riverbank
• LOL
• Silverhair just claimed another victim

【So let me get this straight】

[Silverhair just started spraying this gold-colored stuff all over people,

and they were all freaking out trying to pick it up.

Now that I think about it, it sounds kinda lewd…]

• bruh please
• Who’s your favorite footballer and pro gamer?
• (Not human)

…

And posts like these just kept coming.

Whatever else could be said, she was undeniably keeping the server relevant.

“Think we should build a Silverhair statue? Right in front of the casino.”

“You’re joking, right?”

“Not even a little. We’ve gotta roll with it.”

These days, game dev trends had shifted.

Rather than being all serious and mysterious, players liked things to be fun—even a bit goofy.

Build her a statue and everyone would have a laugh.

‘She’s Silverhair, so maybe a silver statue would be fitting?’ Zeronix thought, quite seriously.

“What about the casino? When’s it reopening?”

“It’s staying closed.”

Even if they were prioritizing fun over balance now—

some lines still had to be drawn.

The casino couldn’t reopen.

Not with Silverhair’s supernatural gambling.

Besides, she didn’t seem interested in gambling anymore.

So closing it wouldn’t draw complaints.

“Even without her, streamers might spend the rest of the server grinding the casino.”

Thanks to the legend of the 1.5 billion win,

dopamine-junkie streamers might camp the casino forever.

But they needed to engage with other content, too.

Otherwise it would mess everything up.

For all those reasons, Zeronix concluded: the casino had to stay shut.

“Still, how the hell did she figure out the pattern? Did you know about it?”

“No, I didn’t even know it existed…”

Frost shook his head.

The casino roulette was basically just a random number generator.

There was no pattern.

There shouldn’t have been.

Even Frost, who had designed it, didn’t know how the numbers were coming up.

But Silverhair figured it out.

Zeronix laughed helplessly.

‘Even the original American dev who made Pixelwars wouldn’t believe this.’

If that guy heard the story, he’d say it was impossible.

“Anyway, what’s Kreetzone been up to lately?”

“Kreetzone? Probably grinding somewhere.”

This event definitely favored someone like Kreetzone,

who had the backing of a powerful group.

Big clans could easily afford to buy ancient power cores.

‘Originally, we were most worried about Kreetzone.’

When planning the event, Kreetzone’s dominance was the biggest concern.

Without Silverhair, he probably would’ve steamrolled the entire server.

They’d been trying to figure out how to give big clans a penalty.

But then, this unpredictable wild card—Silverhair—showed up and stole the whole show.

So where was Kreetzone now…?

‘Stream’s off, but he’s online?’

His broadcast was off.

But he was logged in.

Not AFK either—he was clearly doing something with his clan.

‘Looks like he’s trying to hide something.’

With the stream off,

no one could tell what Kreetzone was doing.

Except the devs—Zeronix and Frost.

As long as he was online, they could spectate.

Curious, they pulled up Kreetzone’s screen.

“Wait—Hyung. Kreetzone… is he…”

Frost blinked in confusion.

Zeronix burst into laughter.

“Streamer or not, he’s still a performer at heart.”