Building a Gaming Empire From Scratch - Chapter 210
Chapter 210: Chapter 208: Taking the Road Less Traveled
Translator: 549690339
But Cloud Dream proved him wrong with its actions!
The third congratulatory image was released quickly—
A little figure in a blue cloak, carrying a deep brown oil-paper umbrella, wearing a hood, running towards two other figures in the distance.
“Light Encounter hits 3 million concurrent players!”
Then the fourth—
A little figure in a pink cloak holding a sanxian, playing and singing while the musical notes float around it, with three other figures in front of it clapping and cheering.
“Light Encounter hits 4 million concurrent players!”
The fifth—
A rectangular wooden table with cakes, fruits, and fruit juice on it; with the weak light from the candles on the candlestand. A few little figures are sitting at the table, their faces lively as they chat.
“Light Encounter hits 5 million concurrent players!”
The producer of this small studio had his mouth open wide enough to fit a goose egg in it. If it weren’t for the physiological limits of ordinary humans, he believed he could open his mouth wide enough to fit an ostrich egg inside!
Because it was just too absurd!!!
This was a workday!
Could it be that the gaming enthusiasm of casual player groups had been thoroughly aroused?
How about making a travel game in the style of a highway?
Not only was he tempted, but even VR factories started considering whether they should upgrade the traction rope of their omnidirectional treadmills and then make a perfectly optimized travel and collection game targeted at casual players.
After all, “Traveler of the Wind” could be considered an accident or the first virtual reality game’s blessing.
But now, with “Light Encounter” seeing this kind of popularity on a workday with 5 million players online in just 10 minutes, the persuasion is completely different!
As for the players, they didn’t care about the producer’s thoughts.
Camille Victoria walked a short distance and entered a cave, quickly noticing a pile of candles on the ground.
After getting close, she saw a flame marked by the system floating above the candles, prompting her to light them.
The neural modulator-demodulator timely translated a piece of information for her, and with her hands together, a lit candle automatically surfaced.
She brought the candle flame in her hand closer to the pile of candles on the ground, and before they even touched, the candles automatically lit one by one, with the edges of the candlelights glowing with rainbow hues.
—Lincoln, of course, wouldn’t make players light candles like they do in reality, one by one. That would be too torturous.
The lit candles illuminated the wall, revealing the murals bit by bit.
“Guess the story? I’m good at this!” Camille Victoria was full of confidence.
The sister game’s slogan wasn’t just for nothing. Many aspects of “Light Encounter” were closer to “Traveler of the Wind” than before, not just with the clearly displayed background cutscene removed, but even the explanatory text for the murals was gone.
After all, the story background was so similar to “Traveler of the Wind,” and since the players had just played it a month ago, guessing the background wasn’t difficult, and it added more fun.
Camille Victoria lit piles of candles, looking at the murals one by one, making her guesses—
“This is a little person, or rather, an ancient little person, obtaining magic from the stars. It must be magic because we can fly!”
“The second mural shows the little people worshipping. What are they worshipping? Oh! The city in the clouds! Is it the City in the Clouds or the Kingdom in the Clouds?”
“Interesting, in ‘Wind Journey,’ ancient ancestors used magic to create a metropolis with trams; in ‘Light Encounter,’ the ancestors simply went into the sky, a city in the clouds!”
“Huh? The little people’s heads are bowed! The clouds are still there, but the city is gone? Like ‘Wind Journey,’ did magic disappear? Or was it because of war?”
“The last mural, stars falling, the protagonist is born. Oh, that’s us! The chosen one is born! The golden circle on the chest is the source of magic like a rune, right? And what are those four golden petals behind us? A cloak?”
After looking at the murals, Camille Victoria looked up at the dazzling cave entrance, where distant bell tolls echoed. She could feel that the sound of the bells was calling her.
“Hmm—” Camille Victoria walked to the cave entrance, saw the shiny golden little figure on the sand below, and the huge silhouette of the temple in the distance.
Two lines of text appeared in her field of vision—
“Dawn Island
Follow the bell sound and head to the temple.”
She summarized, “In short, we are the chosen ones who have to travel a great distance and eventually reach a certain place! Great, I have a lot of experience in this, let’s set off!”
She leaped out and jumped down from the high platform at the cave exit, heading straight towards the golden figure.
In “Wind Traveler,” you need runes to fly. In “Light Encounter,” it should be that golden figure, right?
Here I come!
Unlike Camille Victoria, who made a beeline for the golden figure, Super Tomato stepped out of the cave and, although he saw the glittering golden figure, did not go down. Instead, he turned his gaze upward.
“Do you guys think we can get to the top of the mountain?” Super Tomato was curious.
“Are you going to drive us crazy again?
“Stop messing around, isn’t it better to just follow the game’s plot?”
“Have you forgotten how you just drowned?”
The comments began to earnestly advise Super Tomato.
But Super Tomato turned a deaf ear. What’s the point of following the main storyline?
He hopped in place, testing how high he could jump. Then, with a leap, he tried to grab onto the protruding part of the mountain and climb upwards.
—But it was very difficult, extremely difficult.
Super Tomato struggled for a long time, slipping and falling over and over. At first, he was startled, worried if he was going to fall to his death.
But when he realized there was no fall damage, he started climbing more boldly and confidently.
He really wanted to see if he could get to the top. If he could, what would the view be like from those hidden spots, blocked by the mountain?
William could answer all of those questions for Super Tomato.
Because he had effortlessly climbed to the top of the mountain.
William is not a fan of tranquil games. You can tell that by the way he climbs high-rises in “Assassin’s Alliance” every day.
But William loves the feeling of weightlessness and flying; it is something he just can’t get enough of.
So when he saw the flying scenes in the trailer for “Light Encounter,” he entered the game to experience it for himself as soon as possible.
As for the murals in the cave, he didn’t bother looking closely, just quickly lit the candles and left.
After reaching the cave entrance and noticing the uneven mountain wall, his occupational instinct kicked in, and he climbed up without a second thought.
Upon receiving the hidden reward and taking in the splendid view with satisfaction, he leaped towards the shiny golden figure he had seen from the beginning.
Super Tomato, on the other hand, had spent quite some effort climbing to the top of the mountain, and as soon as his head popped up, he saw the shiny golden figure at the peak!
Excitedly, he shouted to the audience, “See that! The little golden figure! I knew it! I was right!”
“What is this? Is this an ordinary golden figure?” Super Tomato shouted, “No!
It’s not! This is a medal! Awarded specifically to players who dare to explore!”
Super Tomato would always try to find bugs when playing games, but he never expected that on the path of finding bugs, he would come across a reward placed there by the game producers.
It was as if they knew he would come looking and intentionally waited here to surprise him!
This was Super Tomato’s first time experiencing something like this!
Millions of players pass through this cave, either patiently watching the murals to understand the story’s background or just glancing at them before leaving.
But no matter if they understood the story or not, they would immediately understand upon stepping out of the cave and looking up to see the distant temple, where the bell rings continuously and golden light shines:
That’s the place they need to go!
