Chapter 17: Chapter 17 The Viral Video

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

“How did it happen? Bodel is the only one with a silver rating and yet Starfire instantly bags the platinum.” John voiced his thoughts to the blonde beauty, “What do you think, Edward?”

The black warrior Miller exclaimed: “It’s totally impossible. It took Bodel with his silver rating 19 minutes to clear. Starfire did it in just three minutes and forty-three seconds and secured a flawless Platinum Medal. It’s absolutely unimaginable.”

The blonde beauty, Edward, heaved a sigh. There might still be hope in the team records, but it’s total despair in the solo mode – reaching this goal seemed virtually impossible.

“Everyone besides us is a stranger, but from what we can glean from the data we have, everyone’s winning gold. It seems like it’s all thanks to this gentleman, Starfire.”

Edward didn’t continue her train of thought, but everyone seemed to grasp her meaning.

“It appears that we need to revise our strategy for the guild. We will go all out this time in leveling up and preparing for the Evil Cave to perform at the carnival. We must not only get first in the administrative district, but we also need to be the first in the global rankings. We are going to give this our fullest. We shall never underestimate anyone again.” Edward stated solemnly.

“Yes.” The few of them looked into Edward’s beautiful and resolute gaze, as if they were filled with infinite power.

It wasn’t just the top guild of Europe and America, Li Yao’s debut disarrayed everyone, prompting numerous guilds to adjust their plans.

“Brother, what am I supposed to say about you?” Widesky remarked, looking at Li Yao.

“It’s just a minor dungeon.” Li Yao’s expression remained stable.

He had been through countless such challenges over the past decade. As the monsters and bosses became increasingly difficult towards the end, this first challenge seemed like a tutorial, grabbing the Platinum Medal was unchallenging for him and hardly something worth gloating about.

If he struggled with the first challenge after his rebirth, then the rebirth would’ve practically been in vain.

When they all came out of the dungeon, Li Yao managed to add to his collection another one-star Platinum Medal. With the bosses’ HP reduced by the absence of other players, the combination of Arrow Tower, Self-defense Sheep, and Spike Trap allowed him to maximize his damage output. The bosses couldn’t even touch Li Yao in the chaotic four-player mode, let alone in solo mode. The Platinum Medal had been won unquestioningly.

“Hey, brother, did you record the game previously?” Widesky asked.

In “The Ancient God World”, a recording setting could be given when entering a dungeon. As the team leader, Li Yao set the condition that only he could record the gameplay. Of course, any journalists in their midst would also be allowed to record.

“I recorded it,” Li Yao stated, shaking his head: “But I’m sorry, I have other plans for it. If nothing goes wrong, you should be able to see the video on the official website.”

“Alright then, since you have your plans, I won’t insist.” Widesky was not disappointed: “I was greatly helped by you this time. I won’t say thanks, but if you need anything in the future, I won’t let you down.”

“Deal. I’ll definitely look you up if I need any help.” Li Yao suddenly remembered that he had a bunch of Arrow Poison Frog Materials in his backpack and asked, “Would Brilliance buy my Arrow Poison Frog Materials?”

“Surely they will buy it. Just mail it to me, I won’t let you get ripped off. They’re all good stuff, especially the teeth obtained from breaking through the defenses, the more the better.”

“Okay.”

Li Yao said goodbye to Widesky and mailed him a bunch of materials, saving him a few hours of time setting up stalls.

Only fifteen minutes later, twenty Gold Coins were mailed back to him. It was clear that prices were falling as all the Arrow Poison Frog Materials were sold for only twenty Gold Coins. However, it was normal. The materials produced by the Arrow Poison Frog didn’t require any breakthroughs, but because of their high level they were worth twenty Gold Coins.

Engrossed in engineering, Li Yao was unaware that his actions had stirred up a storm on the outside, causing a lasting uproar. This time, almost all the players had taken note of the name “Starfire”.

“With the first platinum rating, an invitation to the competition is almost guaranteed,” Li Yao thought as he claimed his solo Platinum Medal. This was not just about seizing the spotlight, but also an opportunity to participate in the carnival invitation race.

The invited participants are either the most popular professional gamers from various clubs or guilds, and for Li Yao to participate seemed impossible. However, acquiring a Platinum Medal allowed him to be qualified to participate. A past world champion received a solo Gold Medal and was sent an invitation. He believed that his Platinum Medal would undoubtedly secure him an invitation.

The carnival covered all of China. Each administrative area would hold its own events. The China administrative region represented Asia and the East Pacific, smaller administrative regions under China’s jurisdiction would also participate, including second-tier administrative regions such as the three Korea, Japan, India, Vietnam, and the like.

These administrative areas were particularly interested in the carnival. Before the carnival, they would hold local competitions to win the qualification for China’s carnival.

During the entire event, all television networks and internet platforms would only relay the carnival. Celebrities, singers, and even musicians from China, would queue up to appear, even without charging appearance fees.

Anyone who appeared at the event was sure to become an overnight sensation. Li Yao was entitled to receive an individual program as a solo Platinum Medal winner, such as challenging a powerful monster. This was an excellent opportunity for his advancement, one that Li Yao would never miss.

While creating engineering items, he contemplated these issues.

He had promised to level Dongmei up to level 5, and Li Yao felt the need to produce more Exploding Sheep.

After disabling chats from strangers and ignoring batches of friend requests, Li Yao posted the video of him winning the Gold Medal online.

Of course, their faces in the video were deliberately blurred. He then concentrated on creating his engineering items.

But as soon as the video was posted, it started gaining traction rapidly. Although “The Ancient God World” was quite new, within a week of its operation, nearly 500-600 million people had joined the game.

Based on Li Yao’s memory from his previous life, in the first ten days after the server was opened, over a hundred million players entered the game each day.

The official website naturally also became extremely popular. It was a brief period of time where other games got no attention.

Previous hosts and professional players from various games (except for those bound by contracts) had mostly flocked to this unprecedented game.

Consider the official gaming website in the China administrative district; the top videos were either from top hosts in China or from the best professional players in big clubs showing their brilliant gameplay.

Hosts and professional players from different games were vying desperately to stand out, taking advantage of the game’s early days to seize fans, and everyone wanted a share of this feast.

The Weekly Click Rankings, Daily Click Rankings, Recommendation Rankings, and others vie for glory. Countless strategy tutorials for various occupations, races, and picturesque in-game scenery videos are uploaded all the time.

Despite the plethora of content, Li Yao’s video blasted into the crowded sea of videos. As Li Yao became a hot topic because of his challenge record, the video was immediately reported to the editor after review and was personally vetlisted by the chief editor and put into the Recommendation Rankings.

‘Starfire Team’s First-Person Challenge Run’ – the eye-catching headline appeared on the official website. The title was not exaggerated, but all players who saw it clicked on it in an instant.

In less than an hour, this short less-than-ten-minute video escalated to the top ten in the Daily Click Rankings and appeared at the bottom of the list.

It was now morning in real life, and the players who were still in the game had basically all seen the rankings on the airship. When they found out that the video had been uploaded to the official website, they all watched it as soon as they could.

Many players could be seen idling ingame, as they were busy watching the video on the official website over and over again.

All major clubs, guilds, and studios in China were abuzz with activity, all of them watching this video.

Less than an hour after the video upload, players from other administrative regions also flocked to the Chinese region’s official website to watch the video. The average player saw Li Yao’s cool demeanor, while countless players saw his exceptional shooting skills and ghostly flexible movement techniques.

The video was uploaded less than three hours ago, and Li Yao’s video had already shot to the top of the Daily Click Rankings.

The videos originally ranked in the top five were all by ace commentators, with the first one being Xiao Ze.

Xiao Ze, known as the official commentator, gained recognition as the leading figure in the game commentary industry after her commentary at the last Olympics. Despite being over thirty, she still had a charm like none other and was considered the top ‘older sister’ in China. She was widely known as the Commentary Queen.

The second-place is the gold-level commentator KB, a former professional player of a globally popular game. He switched to commentary and started selling pork floss cakes. With his unique game understanding and humorous commentary style, he became the top male commentator over the years, earning countless female fans and being hailed as the ‘Ladies’ Friend’.

In third place was Dongmei, known as the cutest girl in the commentary industry. She is rumored to still be a student. With her beauty, big eyes, and cute voice, she is beloved by numerous older male fans and is considered the number one entertainment commentator.

Fourth place was occupied by Xiayao, another low-profile commentator who never reveals his face. His commentary style is highly versatile. Despite never having showed his face, he still had a massive fanbase and was referred to as the ‘Cent-tonal Bewitching Princess’.

The fifth-place belonged to another male commentator named Silver. He used to be a professional player of a certain game and was considered a ‘fresh meat’ in the gaming industry.

In addition, those behind in the rankings also had a huge fanbase and influence, overshadowing even the professional players. For the past few days, these individuals dominated all the lists on the video site.

Li Yao was the first passerby who stepped on these people. Of course, if you want to be precise, Li Yao used to also be a small-time commentator. But the present Li Yao would not enter this field anymore.

Li Yao’s video also saw an explosive increase in comments, with countless people leaving messages.

1st floor, Crazy Building Occupier: Damn, I’ve been occupying the top spot for years and finally something extraordinary happens!

2nd floor, Agile As A Rabbit: Salute to the expert, I can’t even pass the trial mode.

38th floor, Star Detective: Could I ask if the expert would like to join a guild? Our Star Guild ranks in the top ten domestically and isn’t bound by any club. If the expert agrees, our minimum treatment is equivalent to that of top-tier professional players. Please contact me if you are interested.

236th floor, A Delicate Flower: I’m a beautiful and delicate woman, I’ve privately sent pictures to the expert, please show mercy.

16,586th floor, Edward: I’ve been learning the strategy from this tutorial for hours, I’ve tried it many times, but the more I try, the more I admire Starfire, I’d love to get to know Starfire.

16,588th floor, Endless Love: Even Edward, the star player from the top guild in Europe and America’s first guild, has appeared, isn’t this too exaggerated?

16,631st floor, I’m Not A Beast: It’s always been us Chinese visiting other regions for strategy, finally a master from other regions is here, nothing much to be said about Starfire, I am officially his fan now.

16,793rd floor, Xiao Ze: Starfire is our god here in China. Edward, you better not entertain such a big idea, I believe Starfire would never be interested. Also, I would like to ask Starfire to save a spot in his friend list for me, I need to discuss something.

16,798th floor, Massive Love For Xiao Ze: Goddess Xiao Ze showed up, look at me, look at me, look at me, I’m your diehard fan.

16,822nd floor, Edward: What Xiao Ze said displeases me. We are all from the same country now, just staying in different places.

16,935th floor, Xiao Ze: Then let’s just let Starfire god stay in China. You said earlier that you had people try it out, what was the result?

16,985th floor, Edward: In the video, it is clear that it was a one-man show by Starfire. His skills have reached their peak. Over the years, I have seen countless talented players, but if I have to describe this person, there are only two words, terrifying.

17,037th floor, Xiao Ze: You’re just saying the obvious. Starfire is the first and only one to get a platinum medal. To pass the challenge mode, get at least an S rank in the dungeon, to clear the dungeon without getting injured, to break through, and to achieve all these conditions alone is extremely difficult. I just want to know how Bodel, who got a silver medal in the individual category in the previous Olympics and won the gold medal in the gaming competition, evaluates this.

17,198th floor, Edward: I think I can tell everyone, ‘terrifying’ is exactly Bodel’s evaluation. He watched the video dozens of times, he said that Starfire was dancing, dancing on a knife edge. He seems to have foreshadowed the boss’s next move all along. He always seemed to be in danger but effortlessly dodged the boss’s frenzied attacks. He personally tried several times, he improved his clearance record by several minutes, but he still only got a silver medal.

Latterly, the guild arranged for three top professional players to assist him, two of them healers and one a necromancer. With the three of them constantly healing and defending, Bodel also got a team gold medal.

After explaining this, Edward and Xiao Ze both fell silent, but the comments below went wild. One, a top Chinese commentator, and the other Edward, who was known as the ‘Rose of Europe and America’ and was the popular figure of the top guild in Europe and America. They could be considered authorities.

Their discussion awakened many people. They originally watched it as if it were a performance but now realized the true value of the video and started watching it bit by bit, hoping to learn some skills.

No one would laugh at them. Even the gamers who won gold medals at the Olympics are learning from this video, so there’s nothing to be ashamed of for them to learn from it too.

The click count grew explosively, and by afternoon in the game time, the click count stood at three hundred million. It topped the Weekly Click Rankings, with more than double the 130 million clicks of Xiao Ze’s practical upgrade strategy video from a few days ago.

And the gap continued to grow, a side effect of the mass influx of players from other administrative regions.