Building a Gaming Empire From Scratch

Chapter 211 - 211: 209: Skipping Class to Play Games!

Being born on Dawn Island, receiving a cloak, learning to fly, and soaring freely in the tender Sand Sea and the gentle morning light.

Viewing murals, searching for the memories of ancestors, and gaining special action rewards.

In this initial level, players learn crucial elements of the game — which isn’t difficult, though finding ancestors may require a little more effort.

Lincoln didn’t enlarge the map as exaggeratedly as in “Traveler of the Wind.”

Since “Light Encounter” has a unique sacrifice mechanism, players can sacrifice every week. Each sacrifice means starting from scratch, and daily tasks require players to run through the map repeatedly.

If the map were enlarged like in “Traveler of the Wind,” requiring ten or more hours to run through it, it would be pure torture.

Soon enough, it would give birth to many “Drip Runners,” and even the game mechanism would make it convenient for those who paid to have someone pull them through the entire journey…

So the map has been adaptively enlarged, but not much. Running through it all would take only slightly longer than the original mobile game.

Of course, it’s the same principle: experts and ordinary players will likely not take the same time to run the full map…

Even doubling the speed is possible.

Even if “drip runners” were born again, well, considering the approach of running the map, it should be called “Drip Flying.” That would be inevitable.

It is impossible to completely eliminate this kind of thing. Giving players willing to spend money on the game, but not on actually playing, a shortcut is necessary…

Under these circumstances, when many people rush home at six o’clock in the evening, eager to enter the game, the first players to enter the game are slowly exploring while enjoying the scenery and have already reached the fourth map.

These players are lucky; at least they can start playing right after dinner.

However, Shuihua is not so lucky she still has evening study sessions after dinner!

Even in the afternoon, she watched live-streams until her phone almost ran out of power.

Feeling that muting didn’t satisfy her, she sneakily stuck a wireless headphone in her ear under the cover of her hair.

She absentmindedly listened to the lectures and frequently peeked at her phone.

She watched Camille Victoria complete Dawn Island and enter Cloud Wilds.

Camille Victoria flew freely in the endless expanse of the boundless Cloud Sea, leaving long tails behind her.

With support from the clouds to replenish her energy, Camille Victoria frolicked in the Cloud Sea and refused to leave, making Shuihua envious.

She also witnessed Camille Victoria meeting a mysterious, shadowvy player, and the two players finally managed to communicate after sitting down together.

Together, in the endless, constantly surging Cloud Sea, they cooperated to find one Light Dwarf after another, leveling up their wings.

They rang the Clock Tower, summoning a huge and pure white flying creature. Camille Victoria fluttered her wings, flying alongside the beautiful and massive creature to reach the final destination of the level.

The subsequent Rainforest Level, however, was entirely different from the previous, vast and picturesque maps.

There were no more boundless Cloud Seas, verdant grasslands dotted with tender wildflowers, or brightly colored landscapes, but instead, a pervasive sense of danger.

Between the towering giant trees, there were weeds, puddles, and rain everywhere. In such a dim environment, Camille Victoria and the mysterious player searched for Light Dwarves and ancestors hidden in various corners.

Thankfully, strange luminous creatures and flocks of white birds flying through the giant trees lightened the sense of danger and made the scenery mysterious and enchanting.

Camille Victoria got lost again and again during her search, her wings soaked by rain. She relied on the mysterious player to guide her back to the right path.

Until she eventually left the place, Camille Victoria kept saying, “I definitely didn’t find all the wings, and I’ll come back for sure!”

As Camille Victoria entered the next map, a system prompt appeared on the screen again:

‘Mist Valley

Race for the Fallen City and encounter Glory again’

Finally, Shuihua’s class ended.

While she was walking to the canteen with her friends, she continuously admonished herself:

“I’m in the third year of high school, the most important time of my life I must not waste it.”

“I’ve already fallen behind because I didn’t listen carefully to today’s lecture; if I don’t review tonight, it’ll be really troublesome.”

“My parents are very concerned about my grades. If they catch me asking for a leave to go home and play games, they’ll definitely kill me.”

“Next week we have a baseline test, a crucial time for review I can’t slack off!”

Shuihua managed to convince herself throughout the meal, barely tasting her food.

Her dorm mates noticed her unusual behavior and kindly asked if she needed help.

“If you’re having any problems, just tell us. We’ll help you!”

“Really?” Shuihua hesitated to ask.

“Of course, it’s true!” Her good friends nodded vigorously and looked at her concernedly.

Moved by her friends’ warmth, Shuihua couldn’t bear to refuse their help:

“Help me ask for a leave! Tell them I’m not feeling well and won’t be attending the evening study session!” Shuihua made up her mind, and her appetite suddenly returned. She ate her meal voraciously and chugged down the egg soup from the little bowl, forcing the food down her throat. After casually wiping her mouth with a napkin, she got up and left.

This sudden change left her dining companions dumbfounded, and the dorm leader quickly asked her, “What are you going to do?”

Shuihua, already running away with her bag, replied from afar, “Going home to play games!”

The three remaining friends exchanged glances.

“Should we help her ask for leave?”

“Or should we bring her back?”

…she ran so fast, it must be too late to find her now.”

In the end, they exchanged helpless glances and took on the task.

With the addition of this new group, the online player count, which had stabilized at just over 5 million, began to climb rapidly again.

By 7 pm, when most people had finished eating and logged on, “Light Encounter” finally reached the peak of online players on the first day: 8.2 million players online at the same time!

However, Lincoln was well aware that the fastest batch of players would complete the first clearance of the game tonight, ending their entire journey.

After many players complete the first run and see the full landscapes, there would likely be a wave of players quitting the game.

If there are no special circumstances, it will be hard for this number to break through again.

However, a “special circumstance” will happen tomorrow a total of 17 million Mirage devices will be available!

Although new players will be divided among three virtual reality games, adding another 5 million new players to “Light Encounter” shouldn’t be a problem!