Beta Test Invitation (2)

 Shan sat quietly, as he was planning in his head.

 This game allows players to assemble a team of 10 characters. You can strategically assign roles to each character, such as tank, damage dealer, buffer, or healer. This opens a wide variety of team formations and combo gambit possibilities.

 Shan sifted through all his characters, from the rarest (UR) to the most common (N), searching for those with buffing passive skills that could increase damage dealt or attack speed. He also looked for weapons with any passive buffs that complemented his chosen characters.

 Finally, Shan finished selecting all 9 characters, and of course, the last slot belongs to Vinzent, who was going to be the main DPS (Damage per second).

 "I should need eighty miracle stones," Shan murmured. And his audience became shocked.

 '!!!!!!!!'

 'What! 80 miracle stones.'

 'I never pull on item banners.'

 'This banner isn't for small spenders.'

 'I can't really go whale.'

 'Will Mr. Shan spend a million again?'

 The Miracle Stone is a significant item in the game's storyline. In Dayland, most Azlians worship Mirael, the god of wishes. Any Azlian with strong enough faith may receive a mercy – a Miracle Stone, a symbolic object from Mirael. This grants them one wish, but beware: every wish comes with an equal price.

 Many game fans have parodied this backstory, likening the act of praying to Mirael for a Miracle Stone to pulling characters from a Gacha banner. The joke is that the more money you spend, the more likely you are to receive mercy from the random number generator (RNG) of the gacha system.

 In Miracle Azlia, Miracle Stones were among the rarest items in the game. Players could only acquire them through the Item Gacha banner, which primarily offered weapon or equipment upgrade gems. This banner was notoriously expensive and not recommended for free-to-play players or casual spenders.

 Miracle Stones offered a unique perk: they could surpass the usual skill level cap for any character, increasing their level by 1 each time.

 This explains why Mr. Shan's Vinzent had such an overpowered ultimate skill, capable of dealing near-infinite damage. Shan strategically used multiple Miracle Stones to raise Vinzent's ultimate skill to level 100, far exceeding the standard maximum level of 15. This heavy investment, fueled by his 'whaling power' (spending a lot of money in the game) had turned Vinzent into a god-tier character.

 In fact, with just decent characters and weapons, most players can complete the game. This makes gacha pulls for Miracle Stones unnecessary for most players. The Miracle Stone banner is clearly designed for whales (high spenders) since the gacha rates are very low (salty). Players might spend tens of thousands but only get 1-2 Miracle Stones, or even nothing at all if they're unlucky. Because of this, most players agree: don't pull for Miracle Stones unless you're a whale.

 "Alright, let's do auto-gacha!" Shan hummed joyfully, though most of his audience couldn't fathom his enthusiasm.

 The auto-gacha system was uncommon in other gacha games, but Shan had made his request clear in a previous feedback survey: "Bored, hand-ache, tired of pulling for gacha, wasting my time. Can I have auto-gacha? So that I can just choose what I want and how many, let it automatically run and pay from my credit card, and I do nothing."

 Unexpectedly, the company actually applied this system into the game just to satisfy a whale like Shan. It was truly the game that loves player(s' money).

 Aside from Shan, who reveled in the auto-gacha system, most players found it rather useless. As most players had a limited budget on how much they could spend on each gacha banner, they just took a chance to see how lucky they were. No one dared to do what Shan did: selecting what to obtain and spending unlimited amounts until they became broke.

 Unless you are whale, do not even try it!

 Although this auto-gacha was very nonsensical for many players, Shan liked it so much. It changed his quality of life, requiring less effort and less time spent, which was a whale's thought that non-whales couldn't grasp.

 'This f***ing auto-gacha system is for Mr. Shan only LOL.'

 'I don't think anyone is going to use it, except Mr. Shan.'

 'This game surely loves Mr. Shan's money LOL.'

 'Auto-gacha doesn't work for a small fish like us.'

 "Okay! Eighty Miracle Stones, start!"

 Shan keyed in the number of Miracle Stones on the auto-gacha and initiated the process. The gacha system rolled by itself. If his gacha tickets ran out, it would automatically top-up his account using his credit card, ensuring he acquired everything he desired. 

 Shan wasn't worried as he had more than ten credit cards with unlimited amounts.

 It was like his tradition, as the audience all knew whenever Mr. Shan started auto-gacha, he would open the popular song, 'Specialist'.

 In fact, the song, "Specialist," has no connection to Miracle Azlia. It originated from the game Persona 4 and gained viral fame due to a dance choreography video. People online created similar dance videos featuring characters from other games, coining the term 'lucky dance' videos. Believing it could improve their gacha luck, players often watched these videos while pulling for characters. Miracle Azlia, following the trend, players incorporated this custom into the game.

 'Mr. Shan is dancing to Specialist?'

 'If we open this song, can we really be lucky with gacha?'

 'AHHH, I wanna see. Please open the camera.'

 'I wanna see Mr. Shan dancing.'

 While his audience could only see Mr. Shan rolling on the gacha banner as he hadn't turned on his camera, they had no clue what the Poseidon whale was up to, left to their imaginations.

 In reality, Shan had gotten up and was dancing! He viewed it as a way to stretch his arms and legs, taking a break from being glued to his chair. He was totally immersed in the song and dance; the choreography made him feel like a wealthy guy throwing money around. After several dance rounds, the game notified him that he had obtained 80 Miracle Stones.

 "Done!" Shan backed to his seat. "It's time to level up."

 'Wait, Mr. Shan, don't you want to check how much you spent?'

 'How much did it cost to get that?'

 'You rolled a lot! Only a Poseidon whale can do that.'

 "No need to check, just eighty stones, not more than ten million." Shan said

 'What? Just eighty?! Seriously?'

 'I can't understand him.'

 'Not more than 10m? Oh, how much money does Mr. Shan have?'

 'Even 10k, I can't…'

 'Only a whale can understand that.'

 Shan didn't even care how much money he spent, as it wasn't going to affect his savings in the bank account. He only cared that he got everything he wanted in the game, but the audience didn't understand him.

 Shan applied miracle stones to level up passive skills for many characters to buff normal attack. The audience couldn't help but tear up, because Mr. Shan used the stones as if they were priceless, but they weren't.

 Shan then formed the team with Vinzent as captain and the other nine members as support. These support characters only needed to be placed on the team to apply buffs from their passive skills and weapons.

 Now, Vinzent, Shan's star player, was fully prepared to show off. He had buffs for damage, power, and speed, and could also reduce enemies' defense.

 "Let's begin."

 Shan controlled Vinzent with keyboard and mouse, clicking rapidly. Vinzent unleashed a relentless barrage of normal attacks on the monsters, one by one. His active and ultimate skills remained unavailable. However, Vinzent's attack speed was astonishingly fast, and the damage numbers flashing on the screen were...

 1,000,000 every shot…

 "This is f**king awesome!" Shan shouted with glee, and his audience responded with a flurry of comments.

 'WTF! VZ is truly a god!'

 '1m per hit? That's incredible!'

 'Nothing Mr. Shan can't do.'

 'Vinz looks super handsome!'

 'God. Poseidon Whale built VZ.'

 'VZ hits 10 times more than my Mie. LOL'

 'Look at his support characters, so many URs.'

 'Whale-VZ is so damn broken!'

 'VZ is so OP if you have money.'

 'No, in the same team composition, if you use DS, he's gonna hit 10m.'

 'Mr. Shan hates DS, he won't play. His waifu must be the best.'

 "Right," Shan grinned. "This team is only for my little Vinz Waifu."

 He had completed the event in just under thirty seconds, and unsurprisingly, his score remained the highest on the server.

 Shan smirked proudly at his rank and looked at Vinzent enticingly, as always.

 "Vinz, my sweet waifu is the best. Muahhh~"

 Shan was so crazy in love, and his audience seemed to choke on it.

 His wealth made him feel incredibly powerful. Because of it, he could make his waifu strong in any situation.

 After chatting with his audience for a while, Shan ended his livestream and grabbed a meal. He then checked the stock market before returning to play the game solo. Vinzent was his companion for the daily farming grind, and then a notification popped up in his in-game mailbox.

 Shan opened the mailbox, expecting a routine patch update.

 "Huh? What's this?" He raised an eyebrow, surprised. Unlike any other message in his inbox, this mail was addressed specifically to him.

 Dear Mr. Shan,

 Thank you for your continued support of Miracle Azlia! We're excited to inform you that your in-game ID has reached the maximum top-up amount, granting you VIP customer status.

 Shan furrowed his brow. He'd spent a lot of money before, yet he was only just becoming a VIP member. The criteria for becoming a VIP in this game were indeed high.

 We'd like to offer you an exclusive privilege: access to the beta test of our brand-new version! It's not just playing on a computer screen anymore. In this version, you can enter the world of Azlia and meet your favorite characters…in reality!

 "Huh?" Shan frowned, the message seeming like a promotional stunt. After all, as far as he knew, this company only ran beta tests with professional testers.

 At first, Shan was thrilled by the beta test invitation—a perk of being a VIP customer (he had spent enough to practically buy the game company, after all). But as he continued reading, doubts crept in. Something felt strange.

 "Is it possible? Can I actually enter the game world, just like in anime?"

 Shan laughed, but kept reading, eager for more details.

 You will experience a new version of a gacha game. Not only will you spend money and roll on banners, but it will also be a reality gacha, which is more challenging and fun. Of course, money is still needed, but we guarantee it will be much more enjoyable.

 If you accept our invitation, it means that you agree with our policies and conditions. We will bring you into the beta test promptly. However, if you reject, this mail will be deleted automatically within 1 minute, and you won't find it again.

 Yours sincerely,

 Miracle Azlia Official.

 "What?!" Shan couldn't believe it.

 This mail was like pinning him down to say yes. If he said no, he would lose the privilege of being a VIP customer.

 Shan was an investor; this mail seemed like a risky investment.

 It was a pity that he didn't have much information about the game company, as he only had a connection with the game in the stock market.

 Miracle Azlia was just a small company that luckily became successful; the company wasn't listed on the stock market. If it were, Shan might have already bought shares, as he spent so much that at least the dividend should return some to him.

 Despite his unease about the email, Shan reminded himself it was just a game. Participating in a beta test wouldn't hurt, and the chance to meet Vinzent in this new reality was a tempting prospect. He couldn't help but wonder if the experience would be superior to the current version.

 He was the biggest whale; the game should at least give him something.

 Riskier investments sometimes could gain more profit.

 'We need to take risks.'

 Shan believed this as an investor.

 So, Shan accepted it eventually. A moment later, he received another mail in the game.

 Thank you, Mr. Shan, for accepting our beta test invitation.

 Please prepare and get ready; you will enter our new version of Miracle Azlia within 10 seconds.

 "10 seconds?" Shan was confused.

 He scrolled through the message again, searching in vain for a download link or button to access the beta test. How was he supposed to join? Those crucial ten seconds flew by as he scrambled to figure it out, leaving him unprepared.

 Without warning, Shan disappeared.

 One moment he was sitting in his luxurious top-floor apartment, the most expensive room bathed in city lights. The next, he was gone. His computer remained open, still logged in, a single new message displayed on the screen:

 Mr. Shan has successfully entered the beta test.