Building a Gaming Empire From Scratch

Chapter 218 - 218: 216: I won’t feel at ease if I don ‘t pay-to-win!

Translator: 549690339

This last stretch was a long journey through the galaxy.

But it was not lonely.

Flocks of birds and distant fish still remained.

The rescued Blue Ancestors were still there.

Strangers who had also completed the Sacrifice Journey and embarked on the final journey were still there!

Super Tomato, with undivided attention, pursued each ancestor, drawing energy from them. Unconsciously, he had managed to reach the forefront of the procession.

But at some point, he suddenly felt a strong light.

Upon turning around, he was shocked to find that in the middle of the densely clustered rubble surrounding him like a ring of stars, a dazzling massive sphere was emitting endless light!

Without hesitation, Super Tomato changed direction and flew towards the source of the light.

It was only when he got closer that he realized that everything – the ancestors, the creatures of light, the rubble, and even the indistinguishable distant points of light – were all rushing towards this massive light source with a singular purpose!

The entirety of the galaxy, all the infinite entities, were conglomerating towards the source of the light, much like moths to a flame!

Super Tomato, who was normally calm and loved to spot problems while gaming, was moved to tears for the first time in a game.

Along with tens of millions of Children of Light, he plunged headfirst into the vast ocean of light.

He experienced a flood of feelings – reassurance, warmth, joy, and fantasy, much like a fetus returning to the womb.

But when Super Tomato opened his eyes, he was in a bright blue space. Creatures of light orbited the edge of the space, and the faint dots of light below his feet paved the way.

In front of him stood rows of Children of Light, and a piece of information made him realize: these were the souls he saved in the eye of the storm.

His sacrifice had spared these souls from being eternally trapped in sculptures, subjected to hundreds of years of storms and rubble.

These Children of Light waved at him, then they transformed into beams of light, returning to the horizon.

Only a scattering of stars gently pulsating on the ground remained in front of Super Tomato.

Only then did he understand the meaning of the phrase “The Lost Light returns to the sky” in the summary of the map.

He walked over, the stars automatically gathered around him, and the system prompted him that he had received 6 special red sublimation candles.

For every four souls saved, you receive a red candle. Super Tomato was on his first completion, exploring on his own, and it was inevitable that he had overlooked many candles.

Add to that the inhospitable environment in the final map, and many mistakes were made, so he had rescued only 24 souls.

But Super Tomato didn’t pay much attention to this. He was just extremely moved!

“I once thought that Sacred Mountain, created by Lincoln in ‘Wind Traveler,’ was an outright piece of art, even one that the gaming industry might find hard to replicate for many years to come.”

He began slowly, pouring out his feelings at this moment.

“But I didn’t expect to see a piece of work that measures up to that so soon.”

“If we look at the construction of the scenes, the final Star River scene in ‘Light

Encounter’ is every bit as impactful as Sacred Mountain in ‘Wind Traveler.’

“Even more impressive is that they did not tread water and simply repeat the success of ‘Wind Traveler.’ They have brought in different new ideas.”

“We can easily realize that this game, in many aspects, inherits the production philosophy of ‘Wind Traveler’ perfectly while also making more attempts:

different styles of maps, more ingenious mechanisms, more precise narrative guidance, more playable content…”

“But what I admire the most is that they have advanced the emotional build-up and climax design, which already moved people to tears in the previous game, even further!”

“To me, it’s unbelievable!”

“I can envision that stepping through this doorway of light will lead to a rebirth much like in ‘Wind Traveler,’ returning to the start of the journey and forming a cycle.”

“But this time, Cloud Dream has given a more specific meaning to your sacrifice. It is no longer about realizing the meaning of the journey in the cycle of rebirth, but about more tangible – sacrificing oneself to save the souls of others and receiving a reward from this act of salvation.”

“Compared to Wind Traveler,’ they share similar notions, but also present new ideas. As for which one is better, different people may have different understandings, but if you ask me -”

“All of them are freaking fantastic!” Super Tomato praised vehemently. “All you game developers, take notes! Show some spirit!”

“Make some games at the same level! Even if it’s only 80% as good, I’ll fucking buy the heck out of it!”

As soon as Super Tomato finished speaking, he seems to remember something. He immediately opened the panel, found the lonely pay-to-win page, and purchased six monthly passes in a row, maxing out his available pay- to-win options in one fell swoop!

“If I don’t spend some money, I feel like I’m doing a disservice to this game experience, it doesn’t sit right with my conscience!” Super Tomato explained to the audience.

His words were teeming with satirical undertones. Originally, comments like “Cloud Dream is freaking awesome!” were being furiously typed in the live broadcast room.

The moment Super Tomato spoke, the comments became “Can’t rest easy without Pay-to-win”…

Super Tomato paid them no mind, he stepped onto the stone platform, invoked his ancestor, and started to study what he could exchange with the candles.

After half a day of careful selection, vaporizing all sublimation candles and most of the ordinary candles, he finally contentedly went towards the light portal.

As expected, he saw the prompt he had been anticipating— “You are about to be reborn from the ashes”

The subsequent journey is strikingly similar to the “backtracking” journey in “Wind Traveler”.

In the end, he turned into a meteor falling from the sky, landing in familiar territory receiving another prompt— “The real adventure starts here”

He realized that he had completely finished the first round, and “Light Encounter” did not pull off a stunt like “Assassins’ Alliance”, incorporating all sorts of achievement trophies.

However, he smartly exited “Light Encounter” world, got back to his virtual house, and headed into the cloakroom to check.

— After clearing “Traveler of the Wind”, there was an additional Rune Scarf in the cloakroom! Surely, “Light Encounter” wouldn’t give him nothing, right?

Super Tomato was a bit disappointed. He had played from the afternoon all the way till evening, barely having a quick dinner in between. Now, with this disappointment, he suddenly felt tired and collapsed onto the sofa in the living room.

“Fuck!” A curse suddenly escaped his lips.

Super Tomato, sprawled on the sofa, stared dumbfounded at the chandelier in his living room.

The original light fixture in the living room, a Baroque-style crystal chandelier, was a careful selection from over a dozen choices.

However now, the crystal chandelier was gone, replaced by a dazzling light source!

Yes, it was the light source that he had just seen in the final stage of the game at the Eye of Eden, the one where countless creatures of light flocked to it amongst the sky full of stars!

With all the ugly pieces like rubble and debris removed, there was only a dazzling light ball, surrounded by stars and light creatures. The flying items, through a special design, didn’t cast any shadows and could be used as a normal chandelier!

But this scene was truly— Surreal!

Super Tomato slowly opened his mouth wide.

“Is… Is this even possible?”

When the audience in the live broadcast room saw this magnificent and unique chandelier, the comments exploded:

“Connect! Get on it!”

“I’m installing this in my living room tonight! You heard me!”

“I suddenly remembered, I forgot to collect the bench in ‘Yu’ environment! ”

“Don’t stop me! I’m going to grind to death tonight!”

“Grind! Grind till dead! If you don’t grind, you’re not a Daxia man!”