Famous Now

At that very moment, in the game.

A golden announcement rang out across the server-wide channel.

World announcement: In the year 1375 of the Firmament Era, the Light of Dawn Guild, led by its guild leader, the human hero Long Ao Jiutian, defeated Raglios, the Balrog Lord, after a grueling battle and destroyed the Flame Altar. Long Ao Jiutian also died heroically in the battle. His deeds have been recorded in the Chronicles of the Firmament, and he will be remembered by the world. With the Flame Altar destroyed, Blazing Flame Canyon has officially become Alliance territory.

Mephistopheles, the Ancient Black Dragon: "Holy crap, how did you get taken down?"

Xiao Yu: "Don't ask. The Light of Dawn Guild did it."

Mephistopheles, the Ancient Black Dragon: "Light of Dawn?"

Xiao Yu: "It's Qingyang Studio."

Mephistopheles, the Ancient Black Dragon: "Holy crap, that studio run by a rich kid?"

Xiao Yu: "That's the one. Two players with hero templates led the team, and they burned through magic scrolls and fire resistance potions like they were free. I just couldn't hold out, brother. You'd better watch yourself too. Your place is right next to mine, so you might be next. Get more underlings ready for a fight."

Mephistopheles, the Ancient Black Dragon: "Fight my ass. I can't compete with them. Better get out of here."

World announcement: In the year 1375 of the Firmament Era, Mephistopheles, the Ancient Black Dragon, left the Black Dragon Abyss. His whereabouts are unknown. The Black Dragon Abyss dungeon has been downgraded from a 40-player elite raid dungeon to a 25-player normal raid dungeon.

Holy crap! Xiao Yu jumped in surprise. This guy's really decisive. He said he'd run, and off he went. Is this what they mean by fleeing at the first sign of trouble? Still, it was probably for the best. If he'd stayed, he would probably have been taken down too.

Alas, if Mephistopheles, the Ancient Black Dragon, had been taken down first, I'd probably be the one running away now. It would have been a little embarrassing, but at least I'd still be alive. Unfortunately, there were no ifs. Whenever Xiao Yu thought about losing his character, he felt like crying, but no tears came.

In the end, though, Xiao Yu couldn't bring himself to cry. He had a good attitude, and he'd earned several hundred thousand over the past few months. Even after deducting his earlier investment, he still had a little left over. All in all, the past few years of gaming hadn't been wasted; his average annual income had been over a hundred thousand. Still, whenever he thought of that impressive figure shrouded in lava and flames, Xiao Yu couldn't help feeling a pang of regret. There weren't many three-skull boss templates in the entire game.

For the next few days, Xiao Yu didn't log in. He couldn't help it; the blow had been too devastating. His level 60 Balrog Lord was gone, and playing a character with a lowest-tier mob template didn't seem all that interesting anymore. He was a little tired of gaming anyway, so he found an adult game and settled in to relax.

This went on for more than half a month. One day, Xiao Yu was enjoying himself holding hands with several virtual, busty blonde beauties when a notification suddenly sounded in his inbox.

He checked the sender and found it was Liu Fei.

Liu Fei was something of a subordinate to him—the Blazing Charger from the dungeon back then. After the Blazing Flame Temple was destroyed, the guy had managed to escape and had returned to the Fire Elemental Plane to lie low. They hadn't been in touch for a long time.

Liu Fei: "Boss, what are you up to? Don't tell me you've been moping around. If you ask me, so what if your character died? Can't you just level up another one? Besides, you're practically famous now. What's the big deal?"

Xiao Yu: "Famous? What do you mean?"

Liu Fei: "Hey, you still don't know? Qingyang Studio posted the video of them killing Raglios, the Balrog Lord, online. You're a huge hit now."

What?! Xiao Yu couldn't stay calm at that. It was bad enough that they'd taken him down, but they'd even posted a video of it online. Do they have no sense of public decency?

He complained inwardly, but he wasn't surprised. In fact, he'd been prepared for it all along. As the final boss of a three-skull dungeon, it would have been downright bizarre if a video of his death hadn't ended up online.

Pushing aside the busty beauty reclining naked beside him, Xiao Yu went straight to the Doumao Game Video Website. Sky World gameplay videos were usually posted there, and a quick search brought up the video. To his surprise, it was still near the top of the view rankings, with over ten million views. He really was famous now.

He looked at the title: "Light of Dawn Destroys the Flame Altar, Holy Light Emissary Slays the Balrog Lord in Fury." They'd even given it a chapter-style title.

He opened it, and stirring music rang in his ears. The video had clearly been polished and edited, with all kinds of montage transitions and close-ups of Long Ao Jiutian's and Phoenix's movements and faces, along with various background tracks. Solemn, heroic music played when raid members fell, and a hopeful melody sounded when Phoenix used holy light to revive everyone. Finally, as the group besieged the Balrog Lord under the assault of Meteor Storm, the music reached its climax.

Then, when the Balrog Lord blew himself up, the explosion filled the screen with white light. As the light faded, surviving adventurers rose one by one from the ruins of the Flame Altar to the sound of a solemn, heroic soprano. Phoenix, the female paladin, stood atop the Balrog Lord's corpse, sword in hand, striking a valiant and determined pose.

Huh? Why is Phoenix the star of the video? He clearly remembered that throughout the actual battle, Phoenix had only provided support and healing. But after the editing, the video made it seem as if Phoenix had led everyone against the Balrog Lord the whole time, while Long Ao Jiutian barely had a presence.

As a professional gamer, though, Xiao Yu immediately understood what was going on. They were using Phoenix's victory to cover up Long Ao Jiutian's failure, making it seem as if the battle had been a glorious triumph and playing down Long Ao Jiutian's death altogether.

Damn it, if I hadn't been there myself and known what really happened, I'd almost have been moved by this music video. Heh, this Qingyang Guild really knows how to play the game.

Liu Fei: "Boss, you finished watching?"

Xiao Yu: "Yeah, I did."

Liu Fei: "What did you think?"

Xiao Yu: "Nothing much, but you were right. It's time to get back on the battlefield."

He really didn't have much to say about it. After spending this time recuperating, the anger that had burned inside him had gradually faded. When he thought about it, anyone who lived by the sword was bound to get cut sooner or later. As a boss, wasn't his whole purpose to be taken down by adventurers? In fact, Xiao Yu had long expected this day to come; he just hadn't expected it so soon. He'd originally thought he could swagger around for at least another six months or a year, earn a few million, and retire in glory. Instead, he'd been taken down only three months after the dungeon opened.

Although Long Ao Jiutian had killed him, he'd also suffered the consequences, blasted to death by a single Body-Burning Blast. Xiao Yu had gotten his revenge, in a way. There was no benefit at all in clinging to old grudges. He might as well look to the future.