Rise of the Elemental King
The game company was very efficient; the next day, Xiao Yu —or rather, the agent of Azathoth, Elemental King— was arranged.
This agent turned out to be an old acquaintance— Ma Xiaoyun.
Early in the morning, Ma Xiaoyun logged into Xiao Yu's virtual space.
"What, you've quit game design and become a talent agent?" Xiao Yu asked curiously when he saw Ma Xiaoyun.
Ma Xiaoyun shrugged helplessly, "Hehe, we're all just cogs in a machine, we'll be moved wherever we're needed. Besides, it's mainly because I'm more familiar with you, so--"
She didn't explain it clearly and instead steered the conversation away from the topic.
"As your agent, of course I have to consider everything for you. Next, we need to discuss the publicity, followed by the player selection event. This time, we'll be sending out the top three from among the three winners. The first-place winner will become the final boss of the expansion. But I can give you a little hint: your final boss is basically confirmed."
Hearing this news, Xiao Yu was quite happy, but still a little incredulous. "Oh, really? How did they choose me?"
"If we don't choose you, who else can we choose? This result was actually reached after repeated research."
Ma Xiaoyun was then analyzed by Xiao Yu: "Among the three winners, the first to be eliminated was Elena Sunstrider. Although she was very popular, the problem was that her strength was still a bit lacking. Based on her performance and attribute data in the game, the game company's researchers carefully analyzed her strength and came to a conclusion: Elena's strength was probably only similar to Kael'thas Sunstrider, or even slightly weaker."
Kael'thas Sunstrider was merely one of Illidan's henchmen; such strength is hardly enough to qualify him as the final boss of an expansion.
Furthermore, Phoenix Woman's faction is relatively small, consisting of only a few thousand people. They have a 20-person raid in the Void Mountains, and as the direct Blood Elf, they only have a few hundred under their command. The rest are a hodgepodge of ogres, Goblin, and Void creatures.
Such a force is clearly far from qualified to destroy or conquer the world.
The second one to be ruled out is the Samat the Dracolich. Although he is quite powerful, Samat is theoretically Arthas's subordinate. As the boss of an expansion, he doesn't quite qualify, unless the expansion is called "Wrath of the Lich King" and the game company makes Arthas the final boss.
The problem is that since the player-controlled BOSS is to be the final BOSS, Samat has been removed.
That leaves Azathoth, Elemental King. After careful study, Azathoth is considered exceptionally suitable as the expansion's boss for mages. In terms of strength, he is undoubtedly the number one player in the game, capable of defeating Naiser, Lord of Purgatory.
As the Elemental King, he controls the entire Elemental Plane and can mobilize countless elemental armies, which is why he has the right to destroy the world.
So even though the audience voting hasn't started yet, Azathoth has already been internally decided as the final boss of the expansion within the game company. As for the voting, it's just a formality.
After hearing Ma Xiaoyun's explanation, Xiao Yu breathed a sigh of relief. He hadn't expected to become the champion so easily. He felt a little strange. Although he hated insider trading, he couldn't really object when he became the beneficiary of it. However, he couldn't help but feel that the victory was somewhat unfair.
Of course, even knowing they are certain to win, the necessary promotional work still needs to be done. If the audience's votes ultimately determine their victory, then it's best to follow a fair and just path. However, if the voting audience doesn't cooperate, the game company will have to rely on itself.
Ma Xiaoyun has also made plans for the publicity campaign.
Xiao Yu's biggest advantage is that he hardly has a studio. His studio was put together by himself on short notice. Moreover, in the first few years, he played with free templates, which became a great selling point.
Ma Xiaoyun's promotion for him basically revolved around four words: "A nobody's rise to power." It was about an ordinary gamer who, playing with a free template, gradually grew into a big boss in the game. After being killed by a plot device, he used the money he earned as a boss to buy another template and eventually became the number one player in the game. It all sounded a bit like inspirational literature.
This kind of publicity is also very beneficial to the game company. First of all, it can give those free players a sense of hope. Since the Elemental King was able to become the number one player in the game from a free player, it means that others also have a chance.
Secondly, it makes high-end templates easier to sell. Xiao Yu's first BOSS account, although he didn't spend money, was eventually killed by the plot, while the second one, which cost money, became the Elemental King. This naturally shows that BOSS templates bought with money are more powerful than those he trained himself.
Therefore, it's likely that some people would be willing to spend money to buy a BOSS account.
With Xiao Yu's studio promoting the game, and the game company following suit, coupled with the continuous reposting of Xiao Yu's previous battle video with Naiser on various websites, his vote count remained in the lead after the voting event began three days later. His popularity continued to soar, and in the end, without any underhanded tactics from the game company, he truly became the number one in the online voting.
Azathoth, Elemental King, emerged victorious and became the final boss of the expansion. The expansion was named "Sky World: Rise of the Elemental King." It was originally intended to be called "Sky World: Wrath of the Elemental King," but considering that two consecutive "of" sounds awkward, it was ultimately named "Rise of the Elemental King."
Elena, the Phoenix Woman came in second place, Samat the Dracolich came in third. They will both have important roles in the expansion. As for how the plot will develop, that will depend on the game company's scriptwriters.
In addition, ten shortlisted awards were selected, which were given to ten individuals or teams.
Among them was the Dragon Covenant group, which had fought against Xiao Yu. Since Dragon Clan all have human forms and are very good-looking, the Dragon Covenant were all extremely handsome men and beautiful women in human form. Moreover, the word "Dragon Clan" itself sounds very high-end, so they easily made the cut.
Naiser, Lord of Purgatory, also received a nomination. After all, he is the number one on the Demon King strength ranking. Even though he lost to the Elemental King in the finals, the Elemental King did receive help from Ragnaros the Firelord. Therefore, many people believe that Naiser should not be weaker than the Elemental King in terms of strength alone. In addition, his charming appearance also made him a nominee.
The five angels of the Light of Light of Heavenly Punishment were easily nominated, but they were clearly not happy with the result. After all, they were already big stars, and now they only got a nomination, which was extremely disheartening.
In addition, there were several BOSS combinations and individual BOSSes that left a deep impression on Xiao Yu.
For example, the Angel-Loving Witch Duo is a two-person boss duo consisting of a succubus and a female angel. These two are said to be a lesbian couple. Their storyline goes like this: the demon army from the Abyss clashed with the angel army from the Celestial Realm. During the battle, one angel was injured and rescued by a succubus. The succubus initially intended to slowly torture the angel, but in the process, she fell in love with him and let him go.
Unexpectedly, the angel also fell in love with the succubus, which led to a melodramatic storyline reminiscent of Romeo and Juliet. However, this time the characters were an angel and a succubus, and in the end, the angel became a fallen angel for love.
This storyline was even written into a tragic romance novel by a fan who experienced it firsthand, and it was published and became quite popular. As a result, the group gained unexpectedly high popularity because of the novel's fans.
Another example is Altair, King of Shadows, a Night Elf assassin. Because of his handsome appearance and his unpredictable assassinations, he gives off a very cool vibe and has completed many impossible assassination missions, which has made him very popular with many viewers, especially female fans, and earned him a nomination.
Basically, the BOSSes or BOSS combinations that make it onto the shortlist either have amazing charm and cool looks, or they have exciting storylines in the game, or both. Each of these storylines could be written into a wonderful novel, and the BOSSes are also more attractive than real-life celebrities.
Judging from the stories and appearances of these BOSSes, they are indeed much more attractive than ordinary celebrities. Xiao Yu suddenly felt that Li Mingfei's Virtual Idol Project had a good chance of success. Maybe he could really become a superstar in the future.