A Letter to the Dragon Slayer

After the dragon fell to the ground and let out one final wail,

Chen Ze's vision gradually blurred, and something resembling a letter appeared before him in the game.

Line after line of text gradually appeared on it.

[To the brave dragon slayer]

Dear adventurer:

Now that you have witnessed the black dragon's fall with your own eyes, and your doomsday fireworks have blossomed in the sky, congratulations on knocking at the gates of this blocky world.

You may think this was the final boss, but I can only say that you have seen just one ten-thousandth of the splendor this blocky world has to offer.

Believe me, before long, you will see a world unlike any other, and you will be proud to play Minecraft.

Here, I would like to congratulate you once again on successfully slaying the Ender Dragon.

The gates of the blocky world have opened to you.

Welcome, dragon slayer.

After reading the letter, Chen Ze stayed where he was, unable to come back to his senses for a long time.

For an instant, he truly felt as though he had entered another world.

Although VR3D effects were extremely realistic these days, he had never experienced this feeling in another game.

By now, the livestream chat had gone wild.

[What!? The official team says this is only one ten-thousandth of the content? How is that possible?]

[No way, now I seriously can't wait. Does this game really have more content coming?]

[That can't be right. I feel like the game's already reached its end. There's nothing left to update.]

[If, and I mean if, this game really is as splendid as the official team says, do you know what that means? It's an epoch-making game.]

[Epoch-making? I really don't know how you idiots can even say those words.]

When Chen Ze finally pulled himself out of his feelings over the letter, he saw the arguments raging in the livestream chat.

He didn't know just how great Minecraft would become in the future, or whether he really had seen only one ten-thousandth of its splendor.

But he knew full well that he had truly been immersed in the excitement of slaying the Ender Dragon. He really had imagined himself becoming a dragon knight and slaying a real dragon.

It wasn't the kind of experience where he felt no immersion at all, didn't care, and felt no effect on his emotions.

From punching wood, to mining and crafting a Diamond Pickaxe, to entering the Nether to gather materials, and so on.

He had done it all himself, bit by bit, finally reaching the End and going through countless hardships before slaying the Ender Dragon.

The sense of immersion he felt at the end was something no other game could give him.

As for whether Minecraft was really as splendid as the official team claimed, he didn't care. All he knew was that he had been right to play the game, and it had been worth his time.

Within a few days,

Minecraft received enormous publicity across major livestreams, and its download count soared.

Luan Le'an ran excitedly into Su Ye's office.

"President Su, Minecraft has passed ten million downloads!"

Su Ye was taken aback for a moment when he heard that.

That fast? Looks like the players in this world really have never tasted anything this good.

He came back to his senses and looked at Luan Le'an. "The gaming platform is ready, right?"

"Yes, President Su. Our gaming platform has gone through multiple rounds of testing, and no problems have come up."

Luan Le'an answered. He now had firm hopes for the game. He had never seen a game pass ten million downloads in a single week.

Never. Even Qisheng Game Company, one of the country's top game companies, had never had a game with such an explosive download count.

Su Ye nodded.

"Launch the gaming platform and bundle Minecraft with it for download."

"Add a game resource pack extension to the Minecraft section of the platform."

"Sort it into categories: mods, modpacks, texture packs, shader packs, servers..."

"Put all the mods, modpacks, and texture packs we've already made on the platform for players to download for free."

After hearing the tasks Su Ye had assigned, Luan Le'an froze and dug at his ear, thinking he had misheard.

Free downloads!?

They were going to be free too???

The company had no income at all right now. If they kept giving things away for free, how were they going to make money? The company would go bankrupt.

"President Su, we can't make them free. Our company doesn't have much money left. If we keep this up, we really won't have the money to keep the game running."

Luan Le'an spoke agitatedly. He truly didn't want to see the game shine only for a fleeting moment.

Nor did he want to see Xingye Company perish like this. He couldn't let down the President Su he had known before.

Hearing this, Su Ye smiled and shook his head.

"Who said we wouldn't have any income?"

"Release the Minecraft mod development API and the complete development documentation to the public, and let players make their own mods, modpacks, texture packs, and so on."

"Sign agreements with the creators and split the revenue fifty-fifty. All purchases will be made using platform balance."

I'm the official team, so there's no problem with me giving things away for free. As for what the players make themselves, what does it have to do with the official team if they charge for it?

Su Ye wanted both a good image and money. Why not kill two birds with one stone?

After hearing Su Ye's plan, Luan Le'an immediately understood President Su's profit model.

That's right. We can release the API for players to make mods. The players make them and charge for them, so it has nothing to do with us as the official team. We're just providing a platform.

At that thought, the look he gave Su Ye was filled with frenzy.

"I understand, President Su!"

"Don't worry. The platform will go live today."

In Chen Ze's livestream.

After finishing his house, Chen Ze said to the viewers with satisfaction, "What do you think, guys? This quartz house took me several days of mining in the Nether to build."

"Just tell me, is it spectacular or not?"

Before him stood an enormous, white, two-story villa. Inside the villa was not only a swimming pool he had dug out, but also a small garden.

The garden was filled with colorful flowers he had gathered from all kinds of terrain. To build this house, he could be said to have traveled everywhere he could reach in the game world.

But at that moment, for some reason, he felt a little tired.

Not physically, but mentally. He had the feeling that there was nothing left to play.

He looked at the livestream chat, imagining it would be full of praise, only to find that the viewers were talking about something else.

[Brother Ze, go check Starfield's announcement!]

[Yeah, hurry up and read it. Starfield just dropped a nuke!]

[I used to think Starfield was bragging when it said the game hadn't shown even one ten-millionth of what it had to offer. I didn't expect it to be true.]

[You can make your own mods and charge for them on the platform. That's a genius idea.]

[You can also change your character's skin. I've already switched to a free official skin.]

[So cool! I'm downloading a server right now. I want to see what it's like.]

Excited by the messages, Chen Ze opened Starfield's official page.

The first thing he saw was a large announcement that popped up.

Dear dragon slayers:

Hello, everyone!

The Xingye Official Gaming Platform officially launched today!

On the Xingye Gaming Platform, official mods, modpacks, texture packs, shader packs, servers, and more have been released for Minecraft, all free for players to enjoy.

To expand the infinite possibilities of the game world, we have also decided to release the Minecraft mod development API and the complete set of official development documents to the public, opening a path for all enthusiasts to create.

Using the official specifications, you can independently create mods, texture packs, shader packs, modpacks, and other extended content.