The era of Light of Freedom had passed... As its successor, as a newborn game, Chronicles of the Sky shouldered many heavy responsibilities. But the power of something new was ultimately unstoppable!
Less than a week after the servers opened, the total number of registered players in Chronicles of the Sky had already surpassed Light of Freedom—even though accounts had been available for registration since the closed beta six months earlier, this explosive popularity still amply demonstrated the vitality of the two-game series, Light of Freedom and Cloudsoar.
The gaming masses had not lost interest in Light of Freedom-even though it was already an "elderly" game that had been running for decades!
It had become far more than a mere game... The spirit of exploration players brought to it, the competitive spirit of professional players who shed blood and sweat in pursuit of glory, the fighting spirit of disabled players striving for a new life within it... Once a game possessed all these different "spirits," it quietly became woven into everyday life-the game was part of daily living.
Since game currency could be freely exchanged for real-world money, a considerable number of people had taken the path of "devoting their lives to gaming"-in simple terms, becoming professional players.
These "professional players" were not the same as those other "professional players." They were merely "office workers" whose job was playing games, whose objective was earning game currency, and whose ambition was making enough money to support their families, or even get rich.
Players of this sort were usually attached to a gaming studio, and so people also called them "studio players."
The "professional league" offered a huge slice of the pie, but unfortunately, few people had the ability or qualifications to take a bite. Wanted to make money in games? Those without the necessary skills could only settle for the next best thing-farming game currency and exchanging it for real money.
That was true enough, but the pie offered by "the game itself" was also absolutely enormous! Once a mature, sizable studio went into full operation, the financial returns it could generate were astonishing!
In Light of Freedom, studios with assets worth hundreds of millions, or even billions, were far from uncommon. Some studios were even interconnected-all belonging to the same major company, operating independently under ordinary circumstances and joining forces when needed.
Who would turn down a profitable business? Especially when the gaming industry offered such generous margins and such high returns on investment. Managed properly, it was a business that could turn a small investment into a fortune!
Major companies and conglomerates around the world had ventured into the gaming industry, and their open and covert struggles frequently played out in games-guild wars, national wars, all sorts of large-scale group PvP... As long as they could crush their enemies and collect their money in peace, these sizable outfits with their very clear objectives were capable of anything.
Now, Light of Freedom had fulfilled its historical mission and passed the baton to Chronicles of the Sky.
A new game, new maps, unknown lands, unclaimed spheres of influence... Everything was waiting for the gaming masses to fill it, just as an empty ocean needed all sorts of fish and shrimp.
The most numerous creatures in the ocean were naturally the little shrimp. There was no need to explain the gaming masses' enthusiasm-the staggering 1.06 billion concurrent players were proof enough!
With prospects this promising, studios plunged in like sharks that had scented blood, practically howling with excitement!
As for the major companies and conglomerates... They were more impatient than anyone. Like pods of killer whales, they all crowded together, scrambling to claim territory and crown themselves kings!
Previously, Light of Freedom had been operating for so many years that all the spheres of influence had long since been carved up. Everyone had a fair idea of who was entitled to a slice of which pie, and how much they could eat. Generally, nobody reached too far beyond their share. After all, harmony was good for business.
But Chronicles of the Sky was different. It was a completely untouched stretch of prime land! Everyone knew there was gold and diamonds underground, with nobody watching or managing it. How could they not fight tooth and nail to grab it?
A social commentator had once offered a scathing assessment of this sort of phenomenon: the old residential district was torn down by steel spikes and iron claws, and the moment the new one was completed, a pack of stray dogs impatiently crowded inside. They pissed to mark their territory while baring their teeth at their companions, utterly indifferent to the disgust in people's eyes. Oh, of course people didn't understand, because that was the world of dogs.
That remark enjoyed a brief burst of popularity. Some agreed, while others dismissed it, and most people could not be bothered to debate it seriously... From ancient times to the present, there had never been any shortage of sour intellectuals who fancied themselves above everyone else. Even in this day and age, they had yet to die out. One could not help admiring their tenacity.
Those who believed they lived in the "world of humans" could carry on living that way. The "stray dogs" impatiently pissing to mark their territory generally could not be bothered with such opinions. If pissing in the right places meant earning money and picking up hot women, the "stray dogs" certainly did not mind pissing a few more times and marking out a little more territory.
The game was still in its early stages, and the numbers showed that relatively few players had chosen the Dragonkin race.
Few gaming studios chose to set up here either, because the Dragonkin spawned in the Southern Islands. They had no capital city of their own, only beginner villages-the dragons refused to recognize the Dragonkin as their descendants at all. Yes, the legendary City of Dragons existed, and yes, it was magnificent, but it was not somewhere the "lowly" Dragonkin could enter...
Once Dragonkin players reached a certain level, they had to decide for themselves where to go-whether to join the Orcs on the Western Continent or the humans on the Eastern Continent, they had to pick one. Otherwise, they simply could not keep playing. Surely they could not go without quests or learning skills?
All this left Dragonkin players like motherless wild children. Studios and major conglomerates were also reluctant to make the impoverished backwater of the Southern Islands their initial target. After all, staking out territory early on required a massive injection of capital. Who knew whether money invested here could ever be recovered?
Still... No matter how dubious something seemed, someone would do it-as long as money was involved.
It was not as though nobody played Dragonkin. Wherever there were people, there were profits to be made, and studios had always followed wherever they caught the scent of blood...
The spring chill still bit, but the Donar River, which had only recently thawed, was now flowing merrily. Tender new shoots of grass had sprouted along both banks, forming a lush sweep of green when viewed from a distance. There was no denying it: Blue Star's graphics work was damned impressive! Whether something existed in reality or not, they could make it and show it to you.
Many people had come precisely for that reason, dressing it up with the claim that they could travel the world and admire its scenery without leaving home.
There was plenty of beauty in this world, and no shortage of eyes capable of discovering it. What was scarce were people who respected what their eyes saw.
On the riverbank, a tender seven-leaf orchid shyly opened its little bud, releasing its long-held fragrance into this unfamiliar world... An iron boot covered in shredded grass and black mud brutally stepped on it.
The young, fragile seven-leaf orchid wept silently, but unfortunately, the owner of the iron boot knew nothing of it. He stopped, turned, and called, "Keep up," giving his boot an incidental twist as he did... And so, a few pink petals mixed with grains of soil stuck to his sole, leaving the place where they had grown and traveling farther and farther away.
The broken flower stem lay flat on the ground alongside the severed grass around it, silent and still... There was nothing to be done. Humans did not understand the world of flowers either.
"Pah! What fucking rotten luck!" As the owner of the iron boots walked on, he suddenly swore, though it was unclear whom he meant to hear it.
"What's wrong, Kuang Dao?" The man ahead turned and smiled faintly. He knew this member of his group very well: the fellow could never keep anything bottled up.
Kuang Dao said indignantly, "Yi Yan, don't you think Ninth Brother and the others are deliberately screwing us over? The Dragonkin are such a lousy race, but they insist on having us lead people here to pioneer the area. What exactly are they playing at?"
The level 14 Ranger with the name "War Hero Yi Yan" floating above his head smiled. "I don't think he means anything by it. The capable get more work, after all. Giving us the toughest assignment just shows how highly he values our group."
"Fine, fine, fine. He values us!" Hearing his leader say that, Kuang Dao stopped complaining. How could he have missed the meaning behind those words? He might have been a little too straightforward, but that did not mean he was a five-year-old.
The War Hero Family was a famous guild in the online gaming world, founded by the renowned player War Hero Tian Nan. It currently had around 120,000 members, and at its peak had boasted more than 200,000. It had once been one of the seven great guilds in Light of Freedom.
With the launch of Chronicles of the Sky, famous guilds from across the online gaming world shifted their battlefield, throwing players into Chronicles of the Sky with reckless abandon. Naturally, the War Hero Family refused to fall behind. At a single command from War Hero Tian Nan, wave after wave of War Hero players marched into the world of Chronicles of the Sky.
Large guilds in online games were much like major corporations in the real world, with meticulous, rigid organizational structures. Once they went into full operation, the power they could unleash was astonishing, far beyond anything ordinary groups of players could imagine.
Take the War Hero Family, for example. This behemoth had twelve branches. When membership was high, each branch leader had more than ten thousand people to manage. A branch generally contained around eight to ten thousand-member divisions, which were further divided into hundred-member groups and the like.
The leader of the War Hero Family's ninth branch was named War Hero Ninth Brother. He commanded nine thousand-member divisions, and War Hero Yi Yan and Kuang Dao were the leader and deputy leader of the ninth division.
Being sent to pioneer the Southern Islands, playing Dragonkin, supposedly the worst race, and receiving the smallest pioneering budget of all nine divisions... Just thinking about these things filled Kuang Dao with righteous indignation!
In fact, although their division was nominally the ninth, its results had always ranked among the best in the Ninth Division! It was just that their branch leader did not much care for War Hero Yi Yan. As for the precise reason, Kuang Dao had heard a few rumors... But things had already come to this, and there was no point saying anything more.
"Kuang Dao, look up ahead." War Hero Yi Yan suddenly nudged his deputy's shoulder and tipped his chin forward.
"Hm? What is it?" Kuang Dao had been lost in his thoughts. Suddenly roused by his boss, he hurriedly looked up ahead.
"Huh, that's... a mage?!"
Before you continue