Building a Gaming Empire From Scratch

Chapter 297: 295: Pay-To-Win Lord I s War!

She will be 18 next year, and by then, she could open a bank account and have her own little treasure chest!

Although she had no idea where to spend the money for now, her father shared life experience with her, emphasizing the importance of having a little treasure chest.

So, Shuihua was very much looking forward to truly having her little treasure chest!

However, Shuihua declined Lance’s invitation to continue playing duos: she had quite a bit of homework today, and she had other things to do.

Over the weekend, she noticed that her little sister Vivian, who had been playing with her for a month, hadn’t logged on in a while, so she was a bit worried.

Although Vivian was young, she could be considered a loyal little player of Cloud Dream.

And since her mother didn’t object, her login frequency was quite high.

But after the release of “Paradise”, Vivian hadn’t logged on for three consecutive days, and Shuihua was worried that Vivian might have encountered some problems.

Today, when she came online to collect the invitation, she finally saw Vivian online, Shuihua was relieved, but then immediately noticed that Vivian was not playing the new game but still in the world of “Light Encounter”.

Shuihua sent a message but received no reply.

So she wanted to find Vivian, see if she had encountered any problems, and then give her another invitation.

By the way, she wanted to test whether Vivian could use this invitation.

After all, the invitation stated that players who didn’t buy the base game “Assassins’ Alliance” could also use it—Vivian was precisely unable to purchase “Assassins’ Alliance” because she was too young.

Lance went live streaming, while Shuihua logged into “Light Encounter” and followed the hints from her friend list to enter the rain forest map, unfolded her Wings of Light, and skillfully flew to find Vivian.

Although “Light Encounter” had been officially online for just a month.

But because of the daily tasks and the Sacrifice Mechanism, Shuihua had no idea how many times she had flown through these maps, she knew every corner like the back of her hand.

Although her academics were too intense and limited her gaming time, she couldn’t be included in the ranks of the “Ten Wings” boss, she had become a little expert with an prowess of “Eight Wings”.

She was really fast on the way.

In less than 10 minutes, Shuihua, who was flying in the sky, saw a faintly glowing figure in the distance.

According to Cloud Dream’s game mechanism, players will prioritize entering the maps where their friends are.

Among Shuihua’s few friends, besides the ID “Bowl Bowl”, the rest were all in “Paradise”, so the glowing figure was most likely Vivian.

So, Shuihua gave her Wings of Light a final powerful flutter, flying forward a distance, then folded her light wings and effortlessly landed with a beautiful glide not far from Vivian.

But the scene before her eyes made her fall silent.

She saw Vivian wearing a familiar outfit—a red cloak, a cowboy hat, and little boots, but not as lively as before.

Vivian was sitting on a swing she had set up with magic in the puddles under the rainclouds, getting soaked in the rain without saying a word.

The rain drenched her, and the energy of her Wings of Light was continuously fading. When the energy was completely depleted, continuing to be soaked would cause golden wings to fall, leading to a drop in the level of the Wings of Light.

Shuihua didn’t know how long Vivian had been sitting in the rain, watching her hard-earned wings drop without being moved.

But a passing stranger wearing a slightly glowing outfit didn’t just walk away without a care, but came forward voluntarily.

He kept running in the puddle while getting soaked, picking up Vivian’s fallen Wings of Light and returning them to her over and over again.

Even when his own energy was depleted, he didn’t stop.

Shuihua worriedly ran up to her and asked Vivian what was wrong, but Vivian just shed tears without speaking.

With no other choice, Shuihua could only join the stranger in helping Vivian pick up the wings washed off by the rain.

As Shuihua held the fallen Wings of Light to return them to Vivian, the little girl finally couldn’t help it, jumped off the swing, pulled Shuihua and the stranger away from the rain, and burst into tears.

Shuihua regarded Vivian as her little sister, and at this point, she took the initiative to take out a candle, intending to add the stranger to her friends and express her gratitude on behalf of Vivian.

But the stranger playing the game didn’t accept the friendship, waved his hand, and left to continue his journey.

Seeing that only herself and Shuihua were left, Vivian finally couldn’t help but cried out in grievance, throwing herself into Shuihua’s arms.

Shuihua gently patted Vivian’s back and comforted her softly, “It’s okay, don’t be sad. You can tell your sister if there’s anything wrong.”

The little girl cried very sadly and explained haltingly:

Her mother didn’t want to delay her studies, so she went through a lot of effort and spent a lot of money to successfully transfer her to a normal primary school’s third grade.

But the classroom education in Xiajing’s normal primary schools is completely different from that in special education schools!

Vivian found it extremely difficult to learn, and she was particularly afraid of disappointing her mother, resulting in her becoming more and more anxious, more and more unable to keep up, and not daring to tell her mother, causing her great psychological pressure.

She logged on today intending to let her Wings of Light be washed away by the rain and then never log on again.

Shuihua didn’t know what to say, just thinking that the little girl was having a hard time.

It’s not easy to see this beautiful world, enter a new school, and make new friends, both of which should be happy things.

But the combination of two happy things turned into this…

Shuihua felt that this wasn’t a big deal, but she also knew that Vivian was only 9 years old and had grown up in a single-parent family, so this might be a big deal to her.

Shuihua could only advise her to have a good chat with her mother because compared to her current academic performance, what her mother probably most hoped for was her health and happiness.

After much consolation, Vivian finally calmed down and decided to be honest with her mother about the difficulties she was facing.

With relief, Shuihua looked at the invitation in her inventory, feeling like she couldn’t give it away.

Vivian was going to study hard and not play games anymore. Sending the invitation would be like encouraging the child to do bad things.

But after thinking about it, Shuihua took out the invitation and handed it to Vivian.

—This item could be embodied in all virtual games.

“Vivian, I’m giving this to you. If you don’t have time to play games anymore, give it to your mother.”

Vivian looked at the invitation, not quite understanding what it was for, and thought it was just an ordinary game item.

— She’s only in third grade, of course she won’t be surfing the internet with the same intensity as Shuihua…

“It says here that she’s not old enough to use it yet,” Vivian looked at Shuihua.

“Oh, she can’t use it, ” Shuihua sighed regretfully, but she immediately reacted, “Temporarily?”

“Yes,” Vivian nodded.

“So, according to Cloud Dream’s usual style, does that mean she’ll be able to use it very soon?” Shuihua quickly realized this.

“Then give it to your mom. After you have a heart-to-heart with her, give it to her. Remember to let her go online first, check out the information about this invitation, and then decide whether to use it or not,” Shuihua finally reminded her.

Being a single mother, life is not easy, and a lot of money has been spent on changing schools, so the finances must be tight.

The invitation was originally intended for Vivian, but if her mother sells it to help with their expenses, it seems to have more value.

“Alright, I’ll remember that,” Vivian nodded again.

“Alright, hurry up and log off to talk to your mom! I’ll give you my phone number. If you encounter any problems, you can call me using your mom’s phone. I’m available in the evening,” Shuihua said.

“Thank you, Sister,” Vivian replied.

“Be good,” Shuihua patted Vivian’s hair, watching her log off and disappear.

“OK! Today’s luck value +3! Log off and do homework!” Shuihua clenched her fists and disappeared on the spot.

Her heart ached a little, but she was much happier!

At 9:30 in the evening, even with the help of Mirage 2.0’s console [Focus Mode], Shuihua had only completed half of her homework, but she still exited [Focus Mode] and picked up her phone.

The reason was simple: A player had posted a thread on the Vortex Forum.

In just half an hour, the thread gained 3,000 replies, quickly attracting the attention of the entire player circle!

Not only the players, but many game developers and game media also cast their eyes on it.

There was only one reason: the first “Metropolitan Golden Key” of “Assassins’ Alliance”…

was born!

After a brief verification process and confirmation that it, the image wasn’t fake, everyone became excited.

They eagerly looked over, wanting to know the effects of this legendary “Golden Key” and how much it cost the wealthy player.

The competition for the Golden Key was the first-ever dispute among the pay-to-win lords since the birth of virtual reality games.

In terms of intensity, it was even more intense than the initial competition for the first completion of “Assassins’ Alliance”!

After all, this competition was essentially about who could spend the most money!

Golden Keys are not unique: in theory, as long as enough time is spent, everyone can obtain one.

However, the “First Golden Key,” which holds a special significance, is indeed unique!

Without a doubt, it is a strong proof of one’s status and financial strength.

Whoever can obtain the “First Golden Key” would be the number one pay-to-win lord in the virtual gaming world!

Not only being “ranked first,” but also “the first ever.”

Not to mention “the first ever” which could very likely go down in game history.

That alone has “the current number one richest” would carry substantial weight.

Unless Cloud Dream comes up with a new “Pay-to-Win Competition” project, this title of “number one” could stick with a player for a long time.

As for Lincoln and Cloud Dream’s game development philosophy, everyone could see that such a money-spending event would definitely not be very common.

In other words, this “number one” title could last for quite some time.

Who wouldn’t want such an honor?

However, the output of virtual currency is limited.

Although many players are in the metropolis “gold-rushing” banks to make extra money and even have studios entering the metropolis, virtual currency is still in high demand.

There is no way around it, robbing banks in the virtual world to ‘gold rush” is not the same concept as in traditional games.

Even if the studio is organized, it is not possible to run dozens of accounts simultaneously to make money, nor is it possible for a single account to make money 24 hours a day—the anti-addiction system is in the way.

Even if you spend several days in a row, logging in for long periods of time making money, poor mental state may trigger the anti-addiction system, shortening your available online time…

Studio bosses can’t even give their employees a decent bonus!

During this time, the work of making money in studios isn’t much different from that of regular office workers.

It’s just that their professional identity is a professional robber…

However, the number and combat power of the pay-to-win lords are just too strong, making the virtual currency – which has no real value – highly sought after.

For the real pay-to-win lords, money is not important. What matters is

“number one.”

The Vortex Forum even opened a dedicated trading section, which is updated daily to show fluctuations in the average price of virtual currency. The section aggregates the long-term or short-term virtual currency purchase posts by pay-to-win players.

Considering that there are hundreds of pay-to-win players who buy virtual currency in the open market, and that they are all competitors, the price changes of these purchase posts frequently change, so it’s necessary to compile them.

Non-affliliated players who are “gold-rushing” for extra cash need to consider various factors, such as the price fluctuations in the recent days, the reputation and trustworthiness of different pay-to-win lords, as well as who they want to sell their virtual currency to, and when.

The market is becoming complicated and tense, just like the stock market.

The fierce competition among the pay-to-win lords to purchase virtual currency has been going on for a full half a month. Until today, a key milestone was finally reached— The “First Golden Key” was born!