Chapter 261: GameCon (2)

[Edward POV]

5 minutes before the launch, Maggie and I went backstage again. The bustling energy backstage was palpable as the final preparations were underway. SunHee especially, was wearing her headset and commanded the entire event staff. 

The crowd had already started to fill the seats in the main hall, an air of anticipation buzzing through the air. Olivia, the host of the event, was hurriedly reviewing her notes one last time, her brow furrowed in concentration, her mouth mumbling the words written so that she had some practice. 

Camera crews were busy setting up the live feed, testing microphones and positioning their equipment to capture every moment of the highly-anticipated launch. Technicians scurried about, double-checking displays and making sure every system was primed and ready to go.

"Alright, you should go to your seat." I told Maggie.

"What about you? Aren't you coming?" Maggie asked with curiosity. Shaking my head slightly, I replied, "No, I have to appear later, so it's better if I stay here."

Maggie nodded in understanding, and before she could leave, all of a sudden, Vanessa appeared from behind Maggie and I. With a scarf on her head and black sunglasses with a white frame to hide her identity, she had snuck into the convention centre, alone, without any security around her. After listening to her story, I fell into disbelief.

"Wh-Why did you do that? You can just ask me if you want to come. There's…no need for all of this extra stuff." I scolded angrily as I pointed to her scandalous attire. "You look like a mistress sneaking around. You said you don't want to come."

Vanessa fidgeted and said, "Well I changed my mind. Um… I just want to see if people like my–the song."

Looking at her with disbelief, I sighed and said, "Alright. You can sit with Maggie at the VVIP section. Also, take off the scarf. You're drawing more attention to yourself by wearing that."

"Wait. I'm not the only one who came." Vanessa suddenly said as I found her a VVIP pass. "Hmm?" Puzzled, I stopped separating the lanyards, and looked upwards. Then, I saw Selena looking sheepishly as she walked in my direction wearing tight jeans and white shoulderless blouse.

"Hi?" I greeted her with a slight smile on my face. The reaction made Vanessa baffled and a bit jealous. She mumbled to herself, "He's not mad she's here! Only me!'

"I'm not mad you're here. I'm mad you're dressed like that." I retorted to Vanessa, which made her taken aback, and smiled sheepishly as she hid behind Maggie.

"Hi." Selena greeted me back, brushing her hair behind her ear. "I hitched a ride along with your CEO when he's coming here. I hope you don't mind." She explained.

"Not at all. I'm really glad you're here. Sorry I can't entertain you guys. I have to get ready–"

"Oh, don't worry about us." Selena interjected quickly. "The launch is more important. Vanessa and I will go to our seats now. We won't bother you here."

I nodded slightly and said, "Maggie, you should lead them. Let them sit near Pepper and Harvey."

As the duo turned to walk to the seats, Maggie smirked at me and teased, "Wow! She's quite brazen to come and flirt with you here."

Pretending to be confused, I replied, "She's not. Maybe she's here to escape Dan Schneider. Alright, you should go now too." I pushed Maggie with my palm while she giggled. She rushed to the girls and went to their seats. 

The second they sat down on the chair, the lights in the conference hall dimmed. The crowd cheered as the League of Legend logo appeared on the giant screens. Two screens on the side of the stage, and one huge screen on the stage. To accommodate 2000 people, there were also several smaller screens scattered in every section of the seating areas. 

[Song: RISE (ft. The Glitch Mob, Mako, and The Word Alive) | Worlds 2018 - League of Legends]

The cinematics started with a 10 second clip of Annie, one of the champions, running from a large werewolf, carrying a teddy bear in her arm. Her scared face coupled with her kidlike stature grabbed the crowd's heart immediately.

The scary warrior-like werewolf with razor sharp teeth who jumped in front of Annie, stopping her from running away in the field of faction flags, caused the crowd to gasp.

Leonard commented with concern, "Oh my god." Sheldon cowered as he saw the werewolf– a champion by the name of Warwick, grinned devilishly as he closed the distance with the little girl. 

Suddenly, an arrow flew in front of Warwick, prompting him to dodge instinctively. He turned to the side with anger, and saw Ashe, the beautiful frozen archer with a cold face aiming at him with a frozen arrow.

As the standoff began, so did the music. My voice reverberated throughout the halls, generating chills for the listeners. 

"♫♪ Welcome to the wild, no heroes and villains

Welcome to the war, we've only begun, so♫♪"

Ashe and Warwick rushed towards each other as they began battling with Ashe dodging Warwick's claws and shooting her arrows at him. As she shot him with a frozen arrow, she grabbed Annie and rushed away. 

"♫♪Pick up your weapon and face it

There's blood on the crown, go and take it♫♪"

Warwick broke free from the frozen state and ran after them. As Ashe and Annie were running, a few more champions were seen encircling them.

"♫♪You get one shot to make it out alive, so♫♪"

The crowd's enthusiasm as they watched the fighting cinematic was at an all time high. 

♫♪Higher and higher you chase it

It's deep in your bones, go and take it♫♪

The fight was at its peak when several more champions such as Garen, Sivir, and Amumu came in to back up Ashe and Annie.

♫♪This is your moment, now is your time, so

Prove yourself and♫♪

The champions clashed with each other as the chorus sounded! 

♫♪RISE, RISE♫♪

♫♪Make 'em remember you♫♪

♫♪RISE♫♪

The fight scene made the audience's blood boil. Excited, they shouted encouragingly at the team they were rooting for.

♫♪Push through hell and♫♪

♫♪RISE, RISE♫♪

♫♪They will remember you

RISE~~!!!♫♪

The crowd cheered thunderously in excitement after watching a glimpse of the team fight, animated with ultra quality animation, which made them feel like they were watching a movie. 

"It's his voice– It's Edward's song!" Selena's eyes lit up as she heard the song's vocals. Turning to Vanessa, Selena said excitedly, "It's his song!"

"Duh." Vanessa smirked teasingly. "We already know about that."

"♫♪ Welcome to the climb up, reach for the summit. Visions pray that one false step lead the end, so♫♪"

Howard heard the lyric and muttered, "Damn. That is quite deep…"

Rajesh nodded and said, "Even though he knows it's a mistake, he still hoped for the best. It's…A really good message!"

Sheldon scoffed and said, "In fantasy! In real life, if you walk onto a false step, you're going to fall down and die from a broken neck."

♫♪ Higher and higher you chase it

It's deep in your blood; go and take it

This is your moment, take to the skies, go♫♪

The drum buildup made the audience's heart beat faster. As the song reached its 'drop', the entire crowd cheered!

"♫♪Prove yourself and

Rise, rise

Make 'em remember you;

Rise

Push through hell and

Rise, rise

They will remember you;

Rise~~~! ♫♪"

The three minute cinematics ended with Annie's teddy bear morphing into a flaming bear, which earned the crowd's cheers again before it stopped at the League of Legends logo.

I checked the views of the livestream through my laptop, and found out that there were 500,000 people watching the launch right now from all over the world. Smiling in satisfaction, I turned my attention to the stage where Olivia Munn walked to the centre of it, holding a microphone in her hand.

Already changed from her initial cosplay, Olivia stood confidently with her hair tied up in a ponytail, wearing a pencil skirt and a slightly transparent white blouse, facing the crowd of male dominated fans.

"Welcome fans and players from all around the globe for the highly anticipated launch of the League of Legends Multiplayer game! We are witnessing a legendary occasion as this groundbreaking multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game makes its grand debut, live-streamed to audiences worldwide!"

The launch countdown appeared on the screen again as soon as the announcement ended.

[Time till launch: 2:35:57( 2 hours, 35 minutes, 57 seconds)]

…

[General POV]

Brandon Beck and Marc Merrill, the game CEO and founder, took the stage with Olivia as the event progressed. They joked about the cartoonish appearance of the game before Edward took over in the game development, which earned a lot of laughter from the audience. 

The event moved on smoothly without any accidences. The song 'Legend Never Die' and the animated music video was played in the middle of the launch, earning another wave of admiration from the fans. (A/N: Keeping the song reaction for something else)

45 minutes before the launch, Olivia started a Q and A segment with the audiences, questions that would be answered by Brandon and Marc.

"Hi, I have to say, I'm really excited for the game launch." A pale skinny white man stood in front of the microphone. Leonard recognized him and said to his friends, "Hey that's Stuart."

Stuart continued with his question, "But, I do have a question… Um, how-How did you make money from it— I mean, obviously the game is free to play, which is great for all of us– the fans, but a-at the same time, I don't…want…to get invested in a game, if it'll just go down right after."

Brandon smirked and said, "First of all, do you know who owns this company right now?"

Stuart chuckled nervously, "I do. Entertain owns the company."

Marc joked, "And you have trouble believing in a game owned by a billionaire teen that loves gaming?" 

The audience burst into laughter, and Stuart was a little embarrassed. "I get what you're saying. Alright, that's all from me–" He left quickly, and black man walked to the microphone.

"Hi, my name's Winston. I want to ask– I get a feeling that this, isn't JUST want you guys have planned for the game– I mean, it's too big, with the launch, inviting Olivia Munn–"

Olivia waved seductively at the questioner, making him blush as he continued, "I mean, w–why the big launch? There's even songs! I mean, no game has ever done that before!"

The crowd clapped to support Winston. Olivia smiled and said to Marc, "I too have the same question by the way."

Both Brandon and Marc smirked at each other before Marc replied, "We want to answer you."

"But, that is something that you're going to find out by yourself soon enough. In, 15 more minutes." Brandon checked his watch as he replied.

"So, there's big plans for the game?" Winston asked excitedly.

"We can answer that, yes. There are big plans for it." Marc replied with a snicker.

The Q&A moved on pretty quickly, with some people asking about the game characters, the team positions, and so on.

Olivia got the cue from SunHee, and said to the audience, "We only have time for one last question."

Sheldon whispered to Leonard, "I have a question. When can we leave?"

Leonard scoffed and said, "Edward hasn't even gotten on stage yet."

"That's why we need to leave now." Sheldon whispered nervously. "I don't know what he'll do when he sees me next Leonard. He's a diabolical megalomaniac. I don't feel safe here."

"You're the maniac!" Leonard scolded his best friend angrily. "For the last time, he has nothing to do with your nipples!"

"Hi, my name is Blaire." A young girl with bushy blonde hair, wearing a choker and a crop top that reveals her pierced belly button, walked to the microphone. "I have a question, umm, the game, has top tier quality, so, is the storage going to be big?..." 

She added quickly, knowing that her next question wouldn't be received well by the crowd, "Um, also why do the female characters all seem to just wear skimpy outfits while the men have powerful full body armour?"

Marc, Brandon and Olivia were a bit taken aback by the question. The crowd started booing Blaire, and her cousin, who's a 16 years old teenage boy, was embarrassed and tried to hide his face under his hoodie, to make sure no one knew he had any connection with her. 

"About storage, you don't have to worry about it. It is the same size as the other games in the market…" Marc replied hesitantly before giving a look to Olivia Munn. 

Olivia collected herself quickly and said, "Now that we're in the final quarter to the launch, we have a special guest that will join us on the stage. Give it up forrrr, Edward Newgate!!!"

Edward walked into the stage, and the crowd exploded with applause and cheers for him. He waved as he displayed his charming smile, walking closer and closer to the centre of the stage to join in the host and the CEOs. 

Although the majority of the people inside the venue were men, Edward's popularity still managed to showcase themselves. 

"Nice to meet you everyone!" Edward spoke to the audience, earning another wave of cheers. 

Olivia excitedly walked right next to Edward and asked him a question after the crowd's enthusiasm calmed down. "The defining moment for the world's gaming community is almost here. Edward, as the proprietor of all this, do you have something to say to the audience and the people watching the launch?"

"Defining moments?" Howard mumbled to himself. 

"Um, a little bit of spoilers there, Olivia." Edward joked as he turned to the host, making the crowd even more curious. "But, before we get into that, I just want to say to all of you… I don't think any of you here can beat me in a game– World of Warcraft, or League of Legends."

Surprised by the sudden attack, the crowd jeered jokingly with eyes filled with disbelief and excitement before they burst out laughing. Edward chuckled and said, "I might seem like I'm bragging, but I'm really not. I don't think any of you here have the skills."

The crowd reacted agitatedly again, which made Olivia burst out laughing. She had to cover her microphone as she did. 

Edward continued in a casual manner, "Okay, enough about that. I'm sure all of you are curious about our plans for the future of the game."

Sheldon scoffed, "He kept dilly dallying to keep the people on the ropes. I know he's going to torture me again today!"

"In 5 minutes, the game servers will be opened, and a new era will descend." Edward muttered, much to the audience's anticipation.

"Today, I am thrilled to announce the creation of the League of Legends Championship Series - a global tournament that will bring together the finest gaming talent from around the world to compete for the ultimate prize!"

The crowd gasped before they burst into applause and cheers. "What's the prize!?" A person suddenly shouted from the audience.

"Be patient, I'm getting there." Edward joked, making the audiences laugh. "I'll let Olivia tell you guys about the prize." 

"Really? Me? What an honor!" Olivia said bashfully. Brandon used his microphone and said, "There he goes flirting again."

Olivia looked at the crowd enthusiastically and said, The ultimate prize? A staggering 1.5 million dollars- the largest prize pool ever offered in the history of competitive gaming, will be given to the champion!"

The entire world was shocked. In Korea, a group of highschool students that was watching the livestream– using the auto-translated option for the subtitles, became agitated when they heard about the prize.

"Ya, they said global tournament!" 

"Is this for real?"

"1.5 MILLION DOLLARS! Starcraft's prize was only 200,000!"

"Ya YA YA YA, DOWNLOAD THE GAME RIGHT NOW!"

The gaming community of South Korea was especially excited after the tournament announcement. 

"We have one minute left before the launch!" Olivia said hurriedly. "Everyone, let's count down to it together!"

The entire crowd chanted the countdown, starting from 59, all the way to the last second.

"WELCOME TO LEAGUE OF LEGENDS!" The game was officially launched as soon as the countdown ended. 200,000 players worldwide entered the game as soon as it was launched, and people saw the numbers of players in the game displayed on the big screen.

"YEAH!!!!!" Howard shouted excitedly, almost taking off his shirt in the moment from his enthusiasm.

"To quote Dumbledore! Let the games begin!" Edward announced, creating a mayhem inside the hall. 

…

[Edward POV]

"Head's up, there's a sea of reporters out there camping out for you." Pepper said as he gave me a glass of iced tea after I returned backstage.

"I should talk to them, shouldn't I?" I sighed a bit, but had a smile plastered on my face. Pepper chuckled and said, "You don't have to if you don't want to–"

"Seriously, 1.5 million dollars!?" My dad asked with disbelief as he approached me and Pepper. "Are you just throwing your money away?"

"Um, dad, want to know something awesome?" I took out my phone and asked, "Robin, how much money have we made in the half hour after the game launch? Oh, and how many active players do we have now?"

Robin answered, "The game has now profited over 300,000 dollars from microtransactions and boosts, mainly from players in the United States and Canada. The number of players is ranging from 450,000 to 500,000 people, and the numbers are increasing exponentially."

My dad's eyes widened in surprise. Even Pepper was shocked. My dad said, "Wait, what? 300,000 dollars in just half an hour? And half a million players already?" He scratched his head, "Wow, this is... this is really something, isn't it?"

"Never doubt me." I smirked at my dad, who sighed in relief after understanding my actions. 

"Alright, I won't, genius." My dad grinned.

"That sounds insulting. Do you feel it sounds insulting, Pepper?" I asked Pepper, who shrugged as a response.

"OPPA!" SunHee walked towards me briskly while holding a clipboard in her hand, "I've already uploaded the songs in Entertain websites. Oppa, you can do the interviews, right? Don't leave straight away. We should ride on this momentum."

"Sure, but– Rather than doing it outside, we still have the hall. Once the crowd cleared out, call the reporters in, and we'll do it like a press conference." I replied.

"Hmm~!" SunHee hummed sweetly. "Nice idea! I'll do that."

Although the game was launched at 6 in the evening, I flew back to California 3 hours later with Pepper, Maggie, Selena, Vanessa, and my dad. Our car will be driven back by one of the employees who volunteered. Of course, I paid him for his services.