Chapter 9: Explosive Promo

Li Mu, male, 22 years old, average looks, average family background, just an ordinary college student from Tianchao.

However, he has another identity—a virtual reality game streamer.

Ever since virtual reality games became a global sensation two years ago, he, who loved games and streaming, joined the army of streamers. With decent eloquence and wit, he also earned a modest income.

But unlike many streamers who focus on a single game, he specializes in reviewing various virtual reality games. In his own words, although there is an increasing number of virtual games that are getting more and more elaborate, none have truly blown him away enough to make him want to keep playing...

In the industry, he's also acquired a nickname—"Bug Picker King," for pinpointing issues in various virtual games.

Actually, this is quite normal.

Even though virtual reality networking has been fully developed in recent years and immersion pods have entered many households, the majority of virtual engines on the market still perform poorly, often resulting in all sorts of laughably tragic bugs during gameplay.

And Li Mu, he earns his audience's laughs by finding exactly these kinds of bugs.

Sitting in front of his computer, he brewed himself a cup of instant coffee and opened his streaming dashboard.

"Time to find a target for the new episode of 'Little Mu Reviews.'"

Looking at the data on the dashboard, he sighed.

Lately, the quality of newly released games has been so poor that even he doesn't feel like reviewing them.

This is also because many have seen business opportunities in virtual reality, bringing all kinds of developers into the game-making fray. However, due to technical limitations, the quality of many of these games is simply unbearable...

As a somewhat famous streamer, Li Mu wouldn't give those trash games the time of day; he only cared about those big-budget productions!

After all, finding bugs in big productions is what gives a sense of achievement!

"I haven't been on for a week, let's see what new titles are on the platform!"

Humming a tune, Li Mu opened the virtual game recommendation platform.

His eyes scanned over the advertisements, pausing for nothing.

"Another Xianxia game? This genre has been done to death, right? Tsk, tsk, and the effects look like they cost 50 cents..."

"Shooter? Hmm... not bad, but there are already many good ones... and I've been reviewing this genre in the past few episodes. I want to try something different this time..."

"Beautiful girl raising game? Hehehe... this one is nice... very nice... no no, I don't want to be banned."

He browsed through the game ads, muttering to himself.

"Hmm?"

Suddenly, he stopped, his mouse resting on one of the ads.

"Elf Kingdom?"

It was a rather unassuming advertisement with the cover featuring a towering World Tree, where a beautiful and holy golden-haired elf was praying with her eyes closed.

While the elf girl on the cover was attractive, such covers were at best considered excellent amidst the vast sea of virtual game ads.

After all, everyone can make a nice cover. Covers that don't match the actual content are all too common...

Li Mu never believed in covers, and this time, what attracted him wasn't the cover either, but the click count under the game advertisement.

"Three million clicks? What the heck? Bought from Taobao?"

What surprised him was that the advertisement, which had only been published for two days, already had an astounding three million clicks!

Once curiosity is piqued, it's hard to suppress.

He took a sip of coffee and clicked on the advertisement.

Similar to many others, this ad had only a promotional video and a game pre-order link. What surprised Li Mu was that the number of comments below had exceeded ten thousand.

This was not common on the virtual game platform!

He didn't directly open the promotional video but first glanced at the comments.

"Demacia: Holy shit! Did the developer hire a film company for this promo? Are they trying to burn through their capital?"

This was the most upvoted comment.

A fantasy game?

Li Mu raised an eyebrow.

Isn't this genre already on the decline in Tianchao? A niche within a niche. Though it's quite popular in Europe and America...

His interest waned significantly, but owing to sheer boredom, he kept on reading.

"African Emperor: Fantasy MMORPGs have long been on the decline in Tianchao. If this game becomes popular, I will livestream myself eating shit."

This was the second most popular comment, and it seemed it might even surpass the top one in upvotes.

"Pfft..."

Li Mu couldn't help but laugh.

These days, there are people who love to scam for treats.

He gave the comment a like and scrolled down—

"Leg Hair's Strike: Thought acceleration technology? Sounds impressive. But does such a thing even exist?"

This was the third top comment.

Thought acceleration technology?

Li Mu was slightly taken aback.

What's this? He seemed to have never heard of it before?

He carefully read through the comments and was surprised to find that this was new technology mentioned by the developer in the game's introduction, purportedly allowing players' thoughts to accelerate in the virtual world.

One hour in the game world, a quarter of an hour in reality!

Meaning, it could provide players with more sensory gaming time!

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This awesome? Isn't this just all talk? Could it be made by some industry giant? Tencent or NetEase?

Li Mu curled his lips, quite doubtful, and then glanced at the developer's name.

"World Tree Black Technology Co., Ltd...."

His expression turned somewhat blank.

What kind of company is this? I've never heard of it before...

"Could it be just another company that's all bark and no bite?"

Li Mu frowned slightly, feeling somewhat repulsed.

Nowadays, these internet companies always try to make a big splash without considering whether they have the capability…

Li Mu shook his head, almost certain that this is yet another attempt to deceive people for attention.

However, considering the impressive 3 million views, he decided to at least check out the trailer.

"Let's see the trailer! It seems the reviews aren't too bad."

He clicked, and the screen switched to the trailer interface…

As it played, the computer screen suddenly darkened.

Li Mu took a sip of coffee, watching with half-interest.

With an ethereal song playing, the screen gradually brightened.

The first thing that appeared was an imposing World Tree…

The camera zoomed out from the World Tree, revealing splendid cities one after another before Li Mu's eyes; graceful and beautiful elves moved through the verdant cities, talking and laughing, presenting a vivid tableau of an elf civilization…

At first, Li Mu was somewhat distracted, but soon, he was captivated by the constantly changing scenes.

Enchanting scenery, majestic and unique cities, elegant and noble elves, coupled with cheery and pleasant background music, gave him an inexplicable sense of being there in person.

A pleasant and melodious female voice began to narrate the story of the World Tree and the Elf Clan on the Segis Continent...

"This is quite interesting, very realistic. The scenery is great, the character models are very detailed, and the actions are very smooth. And the BGM, what is it? It sounds so good, but it seems like I've never heard it before..."

Li Mu couldn't help but exclaim.

Let's not talk about the game for now; this opening animation is truly well-made and realistic!

Gradually, Li Mu became serious.

The story continued…

The great power bestowed a glittering civilization upon the Elf Clan, but it also led to arrogance and pride.

Abundance and wealth inevitably attracted envy.

The forces of conspiracy coalesced, eventually leading to a crisis.

Suddenly, the scene changed; golden light illuminated the sky, accompanied by sacred chants and roars, and towering, blurred figures came into view.

War had begun.

Then, lava rained from the sky, mountains crumbled, countless holy Angels and huge Oak Guardians fought fiercely, turning the once peaceful scenery into a glorious battlefield…

Brutal combat, dazzling magic, spilled blood, magnificent Divine Miracles…

Scene after scene shone forth; the tragic yet cool visuals paired with the ethereal, majestic, and sorrowful background music made Li Mu's eyes widen with excitement, involuntarily uttering a "wow" in amazement.

He was amazed by the incredible special effects and, deep down, felt a pang of worry and sympathy for the Elf Clan.

Li Mu was even more engrossed.

At the end of the war was the strife of the gods, and under the assault of countless Divine Arts, the lush and leafy World Tree finally met its end, withering away…

Amidst wails, the civilization of the elves became a thing of history…

The ethereal and mournful singing continued as the screen plunged into darkness.

The sorrowful music began to reverberate.

Li Mu, fully immersed, let out a long sigh unconsciously, feeling an unexpected resonance:

"Born in trouble and die in comfort… this is the rise and fall of a civilization..."

After a brief moment, the scene changed again.

A beautiful Elf Girl appeared on the screen.

She wore a magnificent priestess gown, kneeling in the ruined Natural Temple, tearfully praying to the statue…

As the girl's prayers continued, the ethereal singing also reached its climax, and finally, with the last note of the chant, an ear-shattering bell sound erupted!

The statue flickered slightly…

The screen darkened again, and all sounds came to a halt.

Seconds later, lines of majestic and indescribably artistic words appeared on the screen:

"Marvelous thought acceleration technology lets you enjoy the gaming world!"

"Intelligent AI brings you an unparalleled gaming experience!"

"Creating the most realistic, most profound, most immersive, highest freedom epic fantasy in history!"

"On June 1st, the virtual reality MMORPG 'Elf Kingdom' officially starts its tests without deletion! We welcome you to sign up!"

"Elf Kingdom—waiting for your salvation!"

The trailer came to an end.

Li Mu stared blankly, still unable to recover from the shock of the divine scenes just witnessed.

After a moment, he pinched his thigh:

"Shit! How much money did they blow on storytelling and special effects?!"

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