Just think about it, if hundreds of thousands of people were shouting "Nintendo" in unison, the CEO of Nintendo would probably wake up laughing in his sleep.
After all, even though Nintendo was one of the biggest gaming giants in the world, they had never received this level of genuine, heartfelt support from their player base. In fact, they usually got more complaints than cheers.
It wasn't just Nintendo's CEO; the heads of other major tech giants were equally dumbfounded. The software and games under their respective belts could easily accommodate tens of millions, even hundreds of millions, of concurrent users online.
But pulling over a hundred thousand people together in a single venue as if it were real life? That had never happened before. They wouldn't have even dared to dream of it!
At the same time, they were stunned by the immense appeal of New World, which had managed to orchestrate such an awe-inspiring scene with hundreds of thousands roaring in unison.
The average gamers, on the other hand, weren't overthinking things like the tech executives. Upon realizing they were gathered alongside over a hundred thousand others, they were simply filled with absolute shock and excitement, instinctively cheering at the top of their lungs.
"These developers is insane! I can't believe they actually brought this many players together!"
"Yeah, no kidding! This is spectacular!"
"Hey man, where are you from? I'm from Texas!"
"I'm from New York!"
"With so many players here, it's pretty crazy we ended up sitting next to each other. Nice to meet you! Let's exchange ig later!"
"aight"
Conversations like this were happening in every corner of the stadium. People from the same country who sat next to each other immediately started chatting enthusiastically. Even those from different countries who didn't share a native language managed to exchange brief greetings.
In the past, people of different nationalities might have struggled to communicate. But with the explosive popularity of New World, global netizens were showing an unprecedented passion for learning English, cementing its status as the absolute universal international language.
It was becoming a common occurrence to see an Italian and a Chinese greeting each other in English.
Three hundred million online players were attending this press conference, and Lucien Sinclair had randomly distributed all of them into different channels.
The three hundred million players were evenly divided into over two thousand mega-channels, with each channel acting as a massive stadium.
Of course, to prevent the frenzied gamers from getting overly excited and causing a riot, Lucien locked their movement to the immediate vicinity of their seats. They couldn't wander off anywhere else.
Just as the crowd was eagerly chatting and hollering in excitement, the light source inside all two thousand virtual stadiums abruptly vanished. Everything was plunged into pitch darkness.
Then...
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Several massive spotlights above the stadium suddenly snapped on. However, instead of pointing down at the stage below, the giant light fixtures tilted upward, focusing all their beams onto the sky.
'What is going on?!'
The players seemed to sense something. One by one, they stopped talking, and a hush fell over the crowd. Everyone tilted their heads back, their eyes glued to the vast blue sky above the stadium.
At the same time, an incredibly dynamic, rhythm-heavy, drum-packed track echoed in everyone's ears.
"Holy crap, what is this beat? It goes so hard!"
"It feels like some final boss is about to make an entrance!"
"Yeah, it sounds so freaking good!"
The players marveled. In this world, the movie Kill Bill didn't exist, nor did this iconic track. Because it was everyone's first time hearing it, they were instantly captivated by the background music.
Accompanied by the thrilling music, something seemed to appear at the very highest point in the sky!
The object grew larger and clearer!
Soon, the players could finally make out what it was!!!
It was a colossal dragon spiraling down from the heavens.
No, to be more precise, it was the Ancient Leviathan from Subnautica.
"Look! It's the Ancient Leviathan!"
"Whoa, it's coming down from the sky."
"it's so majestic."
"No, it's not majestic, it's fucking terrifying!"
The players couldn't help but stand up straight, their eyes locked in a dead stare at the Ancient Leviathan descending from the sky.
ROAR!!!
Along with the Ancient Leviathan's deafening roar, the sky instantly went pitch black. Its massive, winding body completely blotted out the sky above the stadium, resembling a vast, imposing wall floating in the air.
The players inside the stadium couldn't even see the Ancient Leviathan in its entirety; they could only make out its massive head and a small portion of its body.
Immediately after, the Ancient Leviathan slowly lowered its mountain-sized head into the stadium.
Every player present unconsciously held their breath.
Just half of the Ancient Leviathan's head was enough to almost completely fill the stadium's airspace. The players sitting close to it could even reach out and touch its cold, rough skin.
"I didn't expect the Ancient Leviathan's entrance to be this intense."
"Wow, this is mind-blowing!"
"Mind-blowing? I'm about to piss my pants! Why is my seat so close to this thing?!"
"Look! There's a silhouette on top of the Ancient Leviathan's head."
At that moment, players quickly noticed a young man standing ramrod straight on top of the Ancient Leviathan's head.
The young man had blond hair, azure blue eyes, and a sharply chiseled, incredibly handsome face.
Who else could it be but Lucien Sinclair?
The impossibly huge Ancient Leviathan respectfully lowered its head, perfectly positioning Lucien in the dead center of the stadium.
In an instant, the entire crowd was floored.
"Holy sht, Anon is fucking riding a dragon again for his entrance?!"
"Last time he rode the Sea Dragon Leviathan, and this time he's going straight for the Ancient Leviathan!"
"Damn, the production value is maxed out. The New World Studio really knows how to flex!"
"I guess when you're in your own game, you can show off however you want."
"N'gga, stop flexing."
"Bruh, he's too good at this. Can I go up there and flex a little too?!!!"
"And on top of that, this guy made himself look so damn handsome, but turned all of us normal players into featureless shadow blobs. That's just crossing the line."
All the players' eyes were wide open. One by one, they couldn't help but let out wails of shock and sheer frustration. It was so unfair! They couldn't even dream up a flex this epic! Furthermore, none of the players had ever ridden a dragon even once, yet Anon had done it twice.
The most infuriating part was that the dragons he rode kept getting bigger and bigger. You're just a kid, why are you driving such massive vehicles?! Especially a thousands-of-feet-long monster like the Ancient Leviathan.
'This guy, he never brings me along when he's showing off!' In a corner of one of the stadiums, Jenny grumbled to herself, though she was equally as stunned.
It wasn't just the ordinary players thinking this. The eyelids of Nintendo's CEO, Elon Musk, and other top executives from mega-corporations twitched violently. Even though on the surface they all scoffed and muttered "childish," internally, they couldn't help but sigh in unison.
Even though these executives were all older men, seeing a spectacle like this reignited the long-buried teenage fantasies of their youth. It was burning brightly once again.
After all, who wouldn't want to ride a dragon?!
For a moment, all two thousand-plus stadiums were filled with the players' varied murmurs of awe and admiration.
At this moment, Lucien's virtual avatar was dressed in a sharp suit, holding a microphone in his hand.
"Hello, everyone in the audience! Welcome to my new game press conference." Lucien shouted into the microphone, his impassioned voice instantly echoing throughout the entire stadium.
"WOOOO!!!!"
The crowd instantly erupted into deafening cheers. The players threw their hands in the air, hollering just as loudly in response.
Of course, despite how spectacular and lively the atmosphere felt, this was all happening online. If you looked at it in the real offline world, the situation was incredibly awkward.
Especially in some places, where droves of people were staying up in the middle of the night, wearing VR headsets and randomly shrieking into the void. It was quite a hilarious sight to behold.
"Alright then, the press conference officially begins now!"
As soon as Lucien finished speaking, he took a flying leap, jumping straight off the Ancient Leviathan's head. He cleared a distance of over a hundred feet and landed perfectly in the center of the stadium's stage.
"First, let's give it up for our special guest star: the Ancient Leviathan's cameo!" Lucien continued. "Without it, I wouldn't have even known how to get to this stadium."
After speaking, Lucien led the applause, and the audience laughed and clapped along.
Except, of course, for the group of industry titans who had specifically come to scout out the competition. They just sat there stiffly with their arms crossed, faces dark, completely unmoving.
Upon hearing the players' applause, the Ancient Leviathan seemed to understand. It cracked a wide, toothy grin, seemingly trying to express its friendliness to the crowd.
However, its smile was pure nightmare fuel. The players sitting nearby were left trembling in fear at the monster's "friendly" expression.
Then, the Ancient Leviathan let out a low rumble and pulled its massive head back. It spiraled up into the sky and vanished from the players' line of sight. At that moment, sunlight flooded back in, and the overwhelming, suffocating dread of megalophobia that had gripped the crowd finally dissipated.
Every player's gaze finally settled on Lucien in the center of the stage.
Lucien adjusted his suit and continued, "Gamers, before I officially announce the next title, I need to address something. I imagine a lot of you are pretty frustrated with me right now. You're probably saying, 'Anon, why do you get such a handsome virtual avatar while the rest of us are stuck as basic, faceless shadow blobs?'"
Lucien's words instantly resonated with the massive crowd of players:
"Exactly! That's exactly it! Why do you get to look so damn good while we're pitch black from head to toe!"
"We don't even have faces! This is pathetic!"
"Retarded anon, give us face! We don't want to be faceless noobs!"
Seeing Lucien looking so sharp and stylish while they didn't even have facial features really pissed the players off!!
Hearing the fervent responses echoing through the stadium, Lucien gave a faint smile and declared loudly, "Do you want to know why? Because this is my world, and I can do whatever I want!"
"????"
"Arrogant! He's way too arrogant!"
"Ugh, I want to beat the crap out of this guy!"
"Damn it, if I wasn't glued to this seat, I'd have rushed up there and upper-cut his chin by now!"
"He's gonna catch hands sooner or later with an ego like that!"
The players were in an uproar. Lucien waved his hands dismissively. "Alright, I'm just messing with you guys. You'll get your faces. And not just faces, you'll get everything you want. Now, I am officially launching the very first core feature of the New World gaming platform: Character Customization!"
As Lucien spoke, a virtual mirror materialized in front of every single player.
Beside the mirror was a dense, endless list of options: height, weight, hairstyle, eyes, nose, skin tone, clothing, and so much more, neatly organized in a column.
"You can customize absolutely anything on your body!" Lucien's voice continued to ring out. "Whether it's your facial features, your skin, or your physique, every single minute detail can be designed by you, for you!"
Hearing Lucien's words and looking at the incredibly detailed, complex options in front of them, the players completely lost their minds in excitement!
"Oh my god, we can actually design our own looks?!"
"I can be finally be white!"
"And the models are so incredibly detailed! I can't believe the New World Studio is letting us play around with this!"
"You can even freely adjust the specific texture and smoothness of your skin. The New World is so generous, I'm crine."
"Does that mean I can just mold my face to look like a young Brad Pitt?"
"Whether it's Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, Leonardo DiCaprio, or Chris Hemsworth, you can make yourself look like whoever you want!!!"
"That's boring. I'm just going to sculpt an avatar that's even more handsome than Anon to outshine him!"
"We misjudged you! Sob, is this really something we can experience for free?! Come on, don't be shy!"
"Thanks for this feature, good thing i haven't go from thailand yet to change my gender."
"This is a god-tier feature I've literally dreamed about!"
The players changed their tune at breakneck speed. The instant Lucien rolled out this feature, their attitude toward him flipped from utter disdain to pure adoration.
Soon enough, thanks to their dedicated creative efforts, the players who had all started as featureless shadow blobs finally began to resemble actual human beings.