Chapter 49: Winds of Change

Interview? What was there to interview about a random Summoner?

“About HappyGamer?” Jiang Qiao didn’t play dumb because Zhao Mingwei had patted his shoulder before he went onto the arena.

Everyone that saw this knew that Jiang Qiao was an acquaintance of Zhao Mingwei’s.

“Yes! I saw him greet you before starting to battle, and even though he was an Aura Bender he fought like a close combat character.”

As she said this, a small notebook and a pen appeared in her hands, and for a so-called reporter to do that when she had a virtual keyboard to type with was quite old fashioned of her, if anything.

As she started writing, she continued to ramble on about her thoughts.

“The skills he used were basic skills from Sacred Souls, but from the way he battles you can definitely see that he used to play War, and judging from that unbelievable reaction speed of his he was probably professional, wasn’t he? There are only five or six players that use close-combat characters in War…”

Did she guess that Zhao Mingwei was a professional just from that? She should probably be a detective and not a reporter…

Jiang Qiao was just listening quietly, but before he was contemplating whether or not he should just log off, she stepped closer to him, making him take a step back.

“Can I join your guild?” She pointed at the logo of the No Name guild underneath Jiang Qiao’s name.

“Uhm, this is just a guild for close friends, not one of those guilds open to everyone.” Jiang Qiao quickly declined.

“Then can I be your friend?” She reacted quickly before he could say no. “Then we’re friends! If that’s not okay then we can go clear some dungeons together sometime?”

“I’ve added you, but I’m busy today.”

Jiang Qiao invited this girl in order to shake her off, and she accepted the friend request quickly like a shark that had smelled blood.

Meanwhile, Jiang Qiao dragged her name into the ‘do not disturb’ section.

“When are you guys going to challenge a dungeon?”

“Tomorrow, maybe.” Jiang Qiao randomly thought of a time, and had already activated the magic spell to go back to the city.

“Tomorrow? What time?”

She hadn’t gotten an answer, however, because Jiang Qiao’s spell had been finished and he disappeared in a flash of light, reappearing on the streets of Lionheart.

“What are you going to do next?”

Ocean Blue continued to float next to Jiang Qiao invisibly as she always did.

The development of Sacred Souls was becoming quite stable, and there were new players coming in every day, filling up almost every dungeon there was.

The provocation of the knights seemed to serve as a catalyst for them to further hone their skills.

“We’re going to pay a visit to those followers of yours on that Divinity Plane.” Jiang Qiao walked towards the Astrology Tower. “I just want to do some recon on the situation of that plane right now so that I can arrange the event fourteen days later.”

As Jiang Qiao was walking into the Astrology Tower, the Tiangong Game Platform tool told Jiang Qiao that he had a message from real life.

The message was sent by his father, and it said: ‘I made it! You guys can immediately step into the 3D projection gaming era!’

“He’s much more efficient than I thought he would be. I should start working now…” Jiang Qiao opened the star map at the top of the Astrology Tower, and Ocean Blue’s Divinity Fragment Plane was still approaching the Tower of Trials at a steady pace.

……

That night, at the JC Kings battle club.

Zhao Mingwei had finished his training for the day, and was watching the fifth-ranked video in the gaming section titled [The spear knight gets beat mercilessly, watch how a pro does it!].

The videos relating to Sacred Souls had increased on YouRabbit, and Zhao Mingwei thought a great reason for that was because the battles in Sacred Souls were quite flashy and nice to watch. Even though Zhao Mingwei hadn’t unlocked all the Aura Bender skills, the battle shown in the video was already on the same level as a special effects movie, and one that was directed by a first-grade fight choreographer at that.

As the main competitor of Sacred Souls, War was quite a well-made game too… In these seven years, Zhao Mingwei had seen too many games that had the goal of surpassing War, but most of them disappeared into obscurity.

Zhao Mingwei knew Sacred Souls had the potential, but he wasn’t quite sure himself…

“Old Smiley.”

Lin Xi appeared behind Zhao Mingwei, and handed him the dinner for the night.

“Did the higher-ups say anything again?” Zhao Mingwei knew that Lin Xi gave him dinner at this point because the higher-ups of the game club had something for him to do again.

“They want you to shoot a commercial.” Lin Xi pulled a chair out and plopped down next to Zhao Mingwei, and continued, “I heard that the aces of the other clubs were going too.”

“The most popular ones, you mean?” Zhao Mingwei knew that his gaming ability had gone down from being the top, but when he played Sacred Souls it made him go back to his peak form.

“Yeah. It’s an official commercial, so quite a few familiar faces are going to show up too, I heard.”

“An official commercial? But isn’t the eight season until half a year later?” Zhao Mingwei knew that it could only be something like a seasonal promotional video that would require all these professionals to join the shoot.

“Not for the eight season! Lemme tell you, the officials of War are going to make some major changes.” Lin Xi paused, and continued in a low voice, “They’re going to use 3D projection in their contests later.”

“3D projection?” Zhao Mingwei was also quite shocked by this term that appeared in sci-fi movies in the past. “Did they really manage to invent it?”

“I’m not quite sure, but the commercial we’re shooting is for this, I’ve heard. If 3D projection was really achieved, the popularity of War would probably shoot up to another level.” Lin Xi saw Zhao Mingwei’s expression, and continued, “Sacred Souls is a great game, but its popularity is nothing compared to War, and the player base is still too small. Old Smiley, you can treat Sacred Souls as a game, but don’t think of going pro on it.”

“I won’t”

Zhao Mingwei was actually quite sick of the professional gamer job he had right now. Playing War was his job, while playing Sacred Souls was his entertainment when he had the time.

It was quite easy to pick which game he liked more—He wanted Sacred Souls to surpass War in popularity one day.

As the most popular game on the market right now, there were plenty of events and championships held on War, and even if players didn’t play the game anymore they would still check on the game through these contests…Call it a player’s romanticism.

The appearance of 3D projection would definitely push War into a whole new era, while Sacred Souls was still in its beginning phase with a mere 5000 players.

“I don’t have to compare it with War.”

Zhao Mingwei looked outside the window, and he could vaguely see the bright neon lights of the River Town Food Street.

Ever since that Abyssal Hunt in River Town, Zhao Mingwei somehow had the premonition that… Sacred Souls would completely change everyone’s way of life in the future.