“Talk about a massive budget,” Zhong Cheng muttered softly, his fingers unconsciously rubbing his chin as he stared at the frozen final frame of the trailer on his computer screen.
“Every single frame is literally burning cash. The visuals, the special effects, the character models, and that atmospheric background music... To be fair, this is absolute top-tier production value!”
“If you told me this was a teaser for a fantasy epic blockbuster from a major movie studio, I wouldn't doubt it for a second.”
At this thought, Zhong Cheng drew in a sharp breath. This was definitely a huge production—no doubt about it!
“Calm down. I need to stay calm.” He rubbed his face vigorously, trying to cool down his overheated brain.
“What if this is just a bait-and-switch?”
“What if it's just a 'trailer god' and the actual game turns out to be a completely different story?”
With that thought, Zhong Cheng managed to regain his composure.
His concern was far from unfounded, especially in the realm of VR gaming.
Over the years, he had seen far too many “cover traps” and “trailer scams.” The promotions would promise heaven and earth, while the actual gameplay was an absolute mess. The soul-crushing drop in quality was enough to shatter the heart of any excited player.
Plenty of developers poured their entire budget into marketing while leaving the actual game unplayably unrefined. He had fallen into those traps more times than he could count.
That was precisely how the famous internet meme was born: Put their hearts into the CG, made the game with their feet.
“I'll just wait for the closed beta. Whether it's a masterpiece or a trainwreck, I'll know for sure once I get my hands on it.”
Even though the promotional trailer was mind-blowingly impressive, a trailer was still just a trailer. No one could guarantee that the actual game would match what was shown on screen.
Then again, he couldn't help but mutter to himself:
“Then again... if they can throw this much money into making such an exquisite trailer, the game itself shouldn't be too terrible, right?”
Zhong Cheng reasoned that they couldn't have spent every last penny on the trailer and left the game looking like pixelated mosaics, could they?
That would be way too avant-garde.
“Alright! A mega-production of this level is something a gaming streamer like me can't afford to miss. I have to try it!”
The moment the words left his mouth, a sudden memory flashed in his mind—the seven hundred thousand pre-registrations he had glimpsed when entering the promotional page. His heart skipped a beat.
“Holy shit! Oh no! I almost forgot!” Zhong Cheng slapped his thigh hard, nearly jumping out of his chair.
“Those animals have ridiculously fast hands! If I'm any slower, I won't even get leftovers!”
“If they snag all the closed beta spots, I'm completely screwed!”
Without hesitation, his fingers clicked rapidly, exiting the trailer page and switching straight to the official website's registration portal.
The design of the official website was extremely minimalist, bordering on plain. It featured a bare-bones layout of black text on a white background without even a single animated effect.
Zhong Cheng curled his lips, muttering under his breath, “This website... looks like it wasn't even made by the same team as that trailer. Did they burn all their cash on the cutting edge—or wait, the tip of the knife?”
Fortunately, all the essential features were present: forums, a world lore database, and an FAQ section.
He had no interest in reading through them right now. His eyes locked onto the prominent “Register Now” button in the center of the page like radar, and he clicked it decisively.
The screen transitioned instantly to the closed beta registration interface, displaying a clean, straightforward sign-up process:
“Welcome to the registration for the non-wipe closed beta of 《Glorious Era》.”
Immediately below, a user agreement popped up:
“To ensure an immersive experience and account security, please read carefully and agree to the User Agreement and Privacy Policy...”
Without wasting any time, Zhong Cheng clicked to check the “Agree” box.
“Please complete real-name verification and provide your accurate personal information. In accordance with relevant regulations, this game is only open to adult users aged 18 and older.”
He wasn't surprised at all. Nowadays, any decent game required this step.
After all, in Dragon Country, even single-player games required real-name verification, let alone massive online games like this.
He skillfully entered his name and ID number, then completed the facial recognition in one smooth motion.
The whole process took less than a minute. After swiftly filling in his information, he clicked the “Confirm Registration” button at the bottom.
A notification box immediately popped up on the screen, the red font standing out clearly:
“Registration Successful!”
“You are applicant #923,698 for 《Glorious Era》. Thank you for joining us!”
“?!!”
Seeing this, Zhong Cheng was completely stunned.
“Huh?!!”
“Wait, what? How long has it even been? It surged from 700,000 to over 900,000?! It actually jumped by more than 200,000 pre-registrations?!” He blurted out, his tone filled with disbelief.
“Is this for real? If the servers launch like this, won't they instantly blow up?”
Shaking his head, he suppressed his amazement and continued reading the message in the pop-up box below.
“The initial batch of non-wipe closed beta slots is limited to 200 players. We will randomly select participants from all registered players within five days. Please keep your lines of communication open and watch for SMS notifications. Thank you for your support and patience.”
“Random draw... and only two hundred spots...” Zhong Cheng leaned back in his chair, looking at his registration number past 900,000. He felt the excitement from earlier cool down quite a bit.
“Alright then. Guess I'll need some luck in addition to skill.”
His sense of anticipation instantly plummeted.
“Whatever, I'd better eat first.”
“Fill my stomach before worrying about anything else.”
...
Aenoria continent, Starfall Forest.
Inside the Divine Kingdom hundreds of meters underground.
During these days of waiting for the players to arrive, Iluvia had not been idle. She specifically used her divine sense to probe everything within a twenty-kilometer radius, ensuring there were no threats to her stronghold.
Afterward, she expended 5 points of divine power to establish a barrier capable of concealing their aura and restricting the players' range of activity.
If an external enemy invaded, she would be alerted in advance.
As for why it was twenty kilometers, that was the reasonable range Iluvia could comfortably manage while meticulously conserving her divine power. Anything larger was unnecessary.
However, while probing with her divine sense earlier, Iluvia had unexpectedly discovered a pack of kobolds. Since they posed little threat, she chose not to eradicate them.
Well, mostly because she didn't want to waste divine power—and this happened to be a chore she could hand off to the players. She was sure they would be more than happy to do it.
“Hmm... I can treat them as early-game mobs and assign them to the players as a quest.”
Iluvia suddenly felt that she really had potential as a game designer. See? Isn't a main quest right here?
“Though at level 1, they'll still be a bit too weak. I'll hand it over to them after they raise their levels a bit. Before that, I can easily use daily quests to help speed up their advancement.”
“When the time comes, I'll release the quest to clear out the kobolds, using quest rewards to help them break through the Apprentice Rank and complete their class advancement to Bronze Rank. After all, Bronze Rank is where one truly becomes a Class Holder.”
Rate on N.U.
