Chapter 2: New Century (Epilogue)
The news of Cain Continent’s public beta instantly set the entire game section ablaze. Those games that had planned a public beta also postponed their releases, making way for the bigger player; otherwise, they might not even earn enough to buy new underpants.
Even the Federation’s news channels reported on the public beta of Cain Continent. They claimed it was a magical game, perfectly capable of becoming humanity’s second world, and called upon the general populace to experience it.
Suddenly, the prices of various gaming pods in stores soared, yet they were still in high demand and short supply. The cheapest gaming pods had tripled in price, and the manufacturers of these pods were laughing all the way to the bank.
Shark TV.
The streamer PDD, who had failed to snag a game access for three consecutive times, was live-streaming in a frenzy.
“Brothers, I’m not kidding. This time, I’m planning to spend a hundred million in Cain Continent. I’ve already prepared the money, and I’ll show you all now!”
He clapped his hands excitedly, and immediately, two assistants arrived with a trolley full of neatly stacked banknotes.
“Brothers, let’s make a bet. This game will definitely open its payment channels during the public beta. Games are meant to make money, otherwise, how would they recoup their costs and maintain their operations?”
PDD picked up a stack of banknotes and placed it on the table, waving his large hand: “On the first day of the server opening, I’ll make my deposit! Damn it, you guys just wait. I’ll definitely crush this game’s first place! If I can’t get first place, I’ll shave my head!”
The live chat was flooded with comments.
【Hahahaha, Cain’s official channel said they won’t open any payment channels and won’t sell attribute items！】
【Don’t believe the upstairs comment. Tian Dao and Shun Huo Nuan said the same thing back then…】
【PDD, did you forget about your reverse smoking?】
Another live stream was also experiencing explosive popularity.
Lu Gu Lao Ye was playing the official announcement video for the Cain Continent game. Of course, this official video wasn’t enough to satisfy viewers’ curiosity. Fortunately, players had uploaded a massive amount of gameplay recordings on the game forums. These included the recently popular mission of destroying Kalun’s ancient conspiracy, as well as earlier videos of battles against the King of Winter.
If these videos were edited by skilled hands and accompanied by some narration, they could easily be pieced together into a decent ensemble film.
“Brothers, we’ll form a guild as soon as we enter the game! You all come and join my guild! It’ll be called ‘Five-Five Open’!”
【Lu Gu Lao Ye, what are your thoughts on PDD’s plan to spend a hundred million?】
“Thoughts?” Lu Gu Lao Ye sneered:
“In games like this, we rely on skill. Spending money is a shortcut. Can he instantly defeat me by spending a hundred million? I don’t believe it!”
【Lu Gu Lao Ye, do you have any cheats for sale?】
“You can’t just say things like that! Those are old stories, but I still have to say it: I, Lu Benwei, did not cheat!”
Streamers were the first to charge into the wave of game preparation. Especially among the various big shots who wanted to form guilds in the game, there were many tycoons, group directors, and heirs. Anyone with a discerning eye could see immense business opportunities in Cain Continent.
Of course, many people genuinely wanted to experience the game.
On the other side.
Abyss Player Base.
Qi Wub looked at the approaching public beta of Cain Continent with a grave expression. The sleeping Cain Will had already almost completely devoured Marron’s Godhead and Blue Star’s rules. Opening the public beta and luring all players over was an inevitable trend. He and Blue Star Will could no longer stop it and could only guard their small territory.
However, the Old Ones had already begun their schemes on Blue Star. He couldn’t shake off a sense of foreboding.
“I hope it’s just my imagination…” Qi Wub shook his head helplessly.
There was still some time before the public beta. Once the Godhead’s power was fully unleashed, he would have to find a way to absorb some Abyss Players as well. The number of Abyss Players was still too small, and the expansion of the Abyss was very slow, only reaching the 57th layer. He had to accelerate the invasion of the Abyss to pave the way for Blue Star Will to devour it.
…
In the center of R’lyeh City.
The sleeping giant stretched out its octopus tentacles. It opened its eyes, looked at the pitch-black sea, and then closed them again. Its followers provided it with countless pieces of information from the outside world every day, allowing it to understand everything that was happening. Now that the opportunity had arisen, it was necessary to accelerate the erosion of this world. There was no longer a need to be so secretive!
…
Cain, Winter City.
The news of the public beta had been released. However, only one promotional video had been released so far. Xi Wei was currently producing the second promotional video. The first video primarily focused on Cain Continent’s storyline and showcased the players’ prowess. The second video would primarily introduce Cain’s first major power, Winter City, and himself, the King of Winter.
Now, with players establishing cities in Kalun, new players would have more faction choices. They wouldn’t necessarily have to join Winter City but could directly join a player’s city. Strictly speaking, this was no different from joining Winter City, as it ultimately meant allegiance to him, the King of Winter.
Secondly, due to the extremely large number of players expected to enter during the public beta, Xi Wei and the system had discussed and unified their plan: the public beta would involve randomized character creation. “Randomized character” meant that upon entering the game, players wouldn’t have the right to choose their race; the character they became would depend entirely on luck.
Of course, if a player randomly became a human, they could then customize their appearance and join Winter City or other empires. If they randomly became a Fire Rabbit, they would either join the Fire Rabbit family, become a talented Fire Rabbit, cultivate into a Fire Rabbit King, and lead the Fire Rabbits to the peak of their lives, or they could commit suicide and start over. It was also possible for players to randomly become Abyss Demons, Goblins, Trolls, and so on.
In essence, the system granted complete freedom. This randomized character generation reduced divine power consumption, allowing Marron’s Godhead to bear the load. After all, it was only the Godhead of a lower-god, albeit one that had been strengthened by Blue Star Will. Reaching this point was already commendable.
What? No one would play this game with randomized character creation? Xi Wei stated that this was impossible. Human nature was prone to gambling, and this move was akin to hunger marketing. The charm of blind boxes lay in this. To draw their desired race, players would repeatedly delete their characters and start over.
Since divine power didn’t need to control the targeted generation of characters, it only needed to guide the player’s will into a nascent life form. Even if the player was dissatisfied and committed suicide, there was little loss of divine power. Furthermore, there were plenty of bored people in this world who wanted to experience what it was like to fly in the sky as a bird or swim in the sea as a fish.
And not every player wanted to become a human. Perhaps they would want to become a Goblin and make the Goblin Tribe great again, or become a Demon and rise through constant battles to become a Demon Lord. Although the process would be brutal and the chances slim, it was far cooler than honestly becoming a human and diligently completing quests.
Since Cain’s main selling point was extremely high freedom, Xi Wei declared that he would grant players complete freedom.
