Building a Gaming Empire From Scratch

Chapter 838: Chapter 797: “A pet sold for 180,000!?”

Camille Victoria thought quickly, narrowly avoiding saying the words “too dark” out loud.

But the comments in the live broadcast room were already filled with complaints and ridicule:

“As expected from you, Boss Lin!”

“Translate what it means to be a business genius!”

“Translate what a free game means!”

“‘Boss Lin Teaches You How to Do Business’”

…

Only after seeing the overwhelming barrage of ridicule did Camille Victoria realize that she had unwittingly brought negative attention to Lincoln and Cloud Dream…

She subconsciously wanted to defend Lincoln and Cloud Dream.

After all, having 3000 pets was already exaggerated, and normal players probably wouldn’t have much need to expand further.

Moreover, looking at the spirit beasts she had released, each little creature seemed smart and lively, requiring more processing power and storage space, which seemed reasonable.

Lastly, upgrading hardware was not an investment in a single game. Even if they were to upgrade to third- or fourth-generation consoles, such standardized hardware would likely still be compatible.

Just like buying a hard disk or graphics card to play a new game, you generally wouldn’t count that money as part of the game’s cost since it could be used for other games as well.

Go to 𝗈𝘃𝕘𝘰.co

But seeing the barrage of complaints about Lincoln, she gave up.

—She felt that these comments included quite a bit of personal emotion.

Especially a few familiar faces, who had been camping in the jail at Chang’an City just last week, were nearly ready to label Lincoln as an unscrupulous businessman and a heartless entrepreneur…

“Forget it, I’m going to start the ceremony now.”

Camille Victoria no longer paid attention to the comments and followed the ceremony tutorial, instructing the three two-star little tigers to stand in their positions—

All at the edge of the circular spirit beast pool, but with the primary positioned close and the secondary slightly farther away, forming an equilateral triangle.

Then she offered copper coins, and the ceremony began.

There were only 200 coins sacrificed.

Camille Victoria couldn’t help but exclaim, “So cheap, only two hundred!”

—What she didn’t know was that the small amount of money was because the ceremony’s level was low. The cost for higher-level promotional ceremonies would double and keep increasing.

As the ceremony began, the three young White Lusters began to glow and slowly rise from the ground.

Accompanied by music, the distant sounds of drums, horns, and hand cymbals blended wonderfully, like a desolate and ancient call.

This piece, also from Cloud Dream’s music department, was titled “Call of the Wild.”

Because the creator loved the work so much, they abandoned the numbering system and gave it a special name.

With the music playing, the three floating White Lusters started to move.

The primary flew to the highest point, and the two secondary ones floated a little lower.

Then, their glowing white lights flowed towards each other like water, connecting and forming a standard equilateral triangle.

The light from the two secondary White Lusters began to converge on the primary, dimming themselves while the primary grew brighter.

Gradually, their bodies merged into the white light and flowed into the primary’s body.

Wrapped in light, the little white tiger seemed to return to its mother’s womb, as it curled up inside the light and sank deep into its subconscious.

The music sounded more and more somber.

Camille Victoria stared wide-eyed at the disappearing little tigers.

But before she could say anything, the music suddenly became more intense the next moment!

The light contracted, and the primary White Luster opened its eyes with a start.

White Light flashed!

Two balls of light flew from its body, leaping and moving through the air, before returning to their shapes as little tigers.

The music became lively and joyful.

Initially, the two little white tigers were made of pure light. But in the music, as they circled around the successful White Luster and celebrated, they quickly formed a transparent body.

After gaining the transparent body, they left the White Luster behind, carrying a soft blue light as they ran towards Camille Victoria, running and jumping around her. During this process, they quickly acquired a flesh-and-blood body and became fluffy once more.

Camille Victoria, who was just a little sad before, suddenly felt a surge of emotions and happily bent down to rub the two little tigers, finding no difference from before the ceremony began.

But the system introduction that popped up on their bodies confirmed that their essence had indeed been changed:

[White Luster·Soul Beast]

Permanent resident of the World in the Painting, able to freely switch between [Physical] and [Soul Entity].

Not for sale, not for battle, not to be abandoned.

———-

Their original star level had disappeared completely, leaving them as pure ornamental pets.

But Camille Victoria wasn’t disappointed. Instead, she hugged the two little creatures with delight: “Awesome!”

While hugging them, she also looked at the little white tiger sitting next to Connar and watching the excitement: “Little White, can you transform like this too? Soul Beasts are so cool!”

White Luster: “?!?!”

Next to it, Connar curiously glanced at the two soul beasts next to Camille Victoria, then looked at White Luster, who had finished evolving and slowly landed after the light had converged. Hesitating, she finally reached out and rubbed Little White, who she had known the longest.

Little White comfortably closed its eyes.

But before it could enjoy even a few seconds, the little hand on its head disappeared.

Anxiously opening its eyes, it saw its little owner squatting next to the two soul beasts, curiously reaching out her finger to poke them, excitedly beaming each time they transformed into their soul forms.

At this moment, it felt that its position was facing a severe challenge.

*

On the other side, Shuihua finally came home after school.

What disappointed her was that even during mid-rest time, there were no spirit beasts refreshed in the school—soul beasts would only be refreshed in university campuses, not in universities or below, as middle school students’ main task was still studying.

So Shuihua’s headband was basically useless.

It wasn’t until she got home from school that she recalled her Pixiu and Chenghuang that she had lost.

—Her outdoor playtime was limited, and she didn’t want any spirit beasts that didn’t fit her aesthetics, so she only had two soul beasts to recall.

Now that the non-deletion test of the game has started and she’s seen netizens talking online about a large number of new spirit beasts and rewarding events, Shuihua really wants to play too.

But going to parks or shopping malls alone at night wasn’t something an underage third-year high school student should do.

And with so many people in the residential area, there were very few spirit beasts to refresh, making it impossible to play.

This made Shuihua very unhappy, so she could only focus on her homework.

But at 8 o’clock, Lance suddenly called her: “Quick, open ‘Pokémon’! New features are online!”

“!” Shuihua immediately took off her headband and put on the Eight Sides.

—Every time she changed her headband, she found it so inconvenient, especially when she thought of Lincoln and Princess using an all-in-one headband that could perform all the functions with just one headband, she felt that her headband was even more inconvenient.

But now wasn’t the time to think about these things.

She quickly started “Pokémon” and indeed saw a small exclamation mark appear in her line of sight.

With a light tap, two announcements couldn’t wait to pop up—

[Today’s limited-time exchange is now open for one hour. During this time, all players can list or purchase in-game items in the exchange. Items with unfinished transactions will be automatically returned after one hour.]

[1 million copper coins are available for a limited time. Players who need them can purchase them.]

Shuihua hurriedly opened the exchange.

The most obvious location was a pile of copper coins, with the remaining number displayed below: 543,600.

And this number was quickly decreasing in units of 300.

Without considering whether she needed copper coins or not, Shuihua decisively joined the grab!

The price of copper coins is 300 for $1, with a 30-dollar limit per person, or 9,000 coins.

—Shuihua hadn’t spent much of the 5,000 dollars she previously recharged her account, so she easily grabbed some without having to top up temporarily.

Calculating the price, it’s actually a little lower than the monthly card income.

Plus, she only had two spirit beasts and nowhere to spend money.

But Shuihua didn’t care; she just wanted to grab! Cloud Dream’s limited offers, once purchased, were never a loss.

As for the lack of spirit beasts…

Just buy them!

With the exchange available, why worry about not having enough spirit beasts?

Buy buy buy!

Shuihua quickly opened the filtering feature, making her selections one by one—

[Product Category: Spirit Beasts]

[Spirit Beast Star Level: Six Stars]

[Spirit Beast Level: Unlimited]

[Price Sorting: From Low to High]

Confirm!

Filter Result: None.

“?!” Shuihua was a bit surprised, “It’s been a day, and there’s not even one six-star?”

Changing the spirit beast star level to five stars and searching again.

This time, the results finally appeared. There were 16 five-star spirit beasts in the exchange, and their prices—

Cheapest [Golden Toad]: 30,000.

Most expensive [Blue Phoenix]: 180,000!

“Are you crazy?!” Shuihua was shocked, “A virtual pet sells for 180,000?!”

“Wait…” she then realized something, “A cash transaction?”