Infinite Realm

Sato returned to the living room where he decided to take a short 5 minutes break before he went back online. Rather than calling it a break, he wanted to update his knowledge on the recent happenings in the VR gaming industry.

The digital display was on and what was being broadcast was a show from a popular channel that focused on trending VR games and all related information. 

The show was usually hosted by two individuals, a young man and a counterpart of the opposite sex. It usually started with a short trailer of the most popular events from the top 5 VR games as a prelude, before moving on to the main part of the show which featured a few public announcements from VR games, upcoming events, and competitions, and interviews with celebrity gamers or developers. In the VR gaming world, this show was very popular by both average gamers and pro gamers as it tried to cover up all the information players may or may not have heard about. The show went by the name 'Virtual Times' and was run by the super corporation, Amazon Network Corporation. Even the channel was run by the same company. 

Despite being a show that only focused on the VR gaming-verse, Virtual Times was able to rank among the Top 5 most viewed shows, having one of the highest viewer ratings ever, and was the number one VR game-related show. This was because the VR gaming world had an estimated 1.5~2 billion members, which included both casual and pro gamers spread apart in various VR games. With Virtual Times having the most detailed updates on various VR games while being operated by a world-renowned information corporation, it was inevitable that it would rank as the first.

The show had begun long before Sato tuned in but it was yet to end. It usually took about 45-50 minutes for each segment. Normally, 2 episodes would be streamed each day with one in the morning and another in the evening and this was so unless an event that was so large that it affects at least 40% of the general population in a VR game occurred. In such a scenario, a special live episode would be released during the period of the event. 

The evening broadcast was usually a repeat of the morning stream and the special episodes of the day(if any) but with a few new added details.

As Sato gazed at the display, it started with a few discussions on some of the top trending VR games, ranging from guild wars to Legend rank missions and quests that affected the majority of gamers. It even covered some of the events in IR one of which was the Kobold King's advancement in Black Grills Cave.

"You should have all about the game Infinite Realm, which just got released a few weeks ago. In case you all don't know yet, the game has recently been trending, seeing a spike in player population in recent times. According to our analysts, this has to do with the fact that IR, as it's popularly called, has better visual graphics and thought-to-motion matchmaking process, making movements even more better and fluid." The male host said.

"Indeed. Such improvements might not sound massive but they can easily affect the progress and battle strength of players in-game. With such improvements, the pro players would be able to display their strength even better than ever. This would make PvP fights more interesting and entertaining to both the spectators and the participants. It would be in no way an overstatement to say that this upgrade will bring changes to the entire VR gaming industry." The female host commented.

"Well, we don't need to wait because as of last week, IR has risen from the 30th rank in our 'Most Voted VR Games' list to the 12th rank. And all these changes happened within just 2 weeks! It makes one wonder whether if IR would be the one to take down the three years running 1st place - Conquest." The male host sighed with emotion as if he was witnessing the birth of a legend.

"With the current development in the game, it is quite possible. But that is a matter for the future and not now. Now, we witness the current trending events in IR, and funny enough, they are related to the popular '4 clover towns'." The man smirked.

The young woman beside him then went on to explain.

"For those of you who may not know, a '4 clover town' is a popular term that has recently been given to novice towns in IR that encounter a 'town destruction level threat'. While this sounds like a bad thing, so long as one can live through it, their strength would grow by leaps and bounds. This is even more advantageous to guilds as they could raise the total level and wealth of their squads in just one event. Because of this, the original catastrophic events are seen as a sign of good luck, and towns that live through them get termed as '4-leaf clover towns' or '4 clover towns' for short.

After her part, the young man returned to give the update.

"At the top of our list are the towns under the jurisdiction of Fallen Heart's Black Rock City. They include the primary level Riverdale town, secondary level Salt Springs town, and a 4-leaf clover town, primary level Black Mountain town. This is the first-ever situation where a 4 clover town would be undergoing another 'lucky' chance and if they are to live through this, we expect that the overall prowess of the town's players undergo another rise leaving the others in the dust."

"I know right?" The lady said with envy thick in her tone. "Top VR game analysts are already predicting that the first-ever player to step into the realm of level 10, thereby moving into the city would come from here. And with the usual trends of VR games, that player would surely receive a large red packet[1]. Who wouldn't be jealous of such an opportunity?" 

The young man smiled at his co-worker's performance and then went on t give the full detail.

"The entire event is circled around the fact that a suspected above level 10 and above Elite rank monster would soon escape its dungeon confines.

"The Kobold King of Black Grill's cave is leading its forces approaching the first floor as we speak and if it passes through the cave's confines, it would be free to wander the world and hunt down surrounding players. NPC forces aren't making any moves concerning this so it's left to the players. Our investigators recently got the news that the top guilds of these 3 towns had organized a meeting plan on how to take down this monster so we should be expecting some action quite soon. As for the details relating to this, you can find it on our website or follow-up on the specials dedicated to this."

The young man then went on to talk about some other updates and events that had occurred in IR for at least 5 minutes, before the last one came up. Sato had slowly gotten entranced by the show and decided to delay his logging-in. 

"This looks like a good one and it's also on a '4 clover town'. we might be witnessing the birth of another such town, people. Belarusia Kingdom's White Valley town is about to welcome an event that would either be the ladder to prop them up high or the hammer that knocks them down."

White Valley town was one of the novice towns that spawned players but was located in Belarusia kingdom; a place nowhere close to Fallen Heart kingdom.

"According to our informants, the event is related to White Valley town's monster wave which is said to occur bi-annually and is made up of 4 waves, with both the quantity and quality of monsters increasing with each wave. Luckily for some and unluckily for others, the period the game happened to have been launched was just close to it. Now, with more than 2 weeks having passed in-game, the monster wave is approaching. This would be could be said to be a lucky chance for the players of White Valley town as if they survive this, the overall strength of the town's players would increase and they would be recorded as one of the '4-leaf clover towns'." the male host reported.

"Ah~ An opportunity to become a 4 clover town. Such events are rare and may as well determine the life and death of the town and its players." The female player sighed with longing.

"The most enviable of opportunities but still dreaded." The male host commented as he noticed his partner's behavior.

"Mmm? Why?" The lady asked.

"This is because of the latest report we got just last night. Pine crow town, which happened to be one of the 'lucky' towns to be presented with a 4 clover opportunity, wasn't so lucky. Not only did the players fail, but they also lost their base, as the town was destroyed in the process. It's because of reasons like this that a 4 clover opportunity is known as the most enviable of opportunities but still the most dreaded. So far, 3 towns have suffered severe damage and losses in these events with Pine Crow being the first to be decimated. And this is mostly because they lacked the average amount of Expert players to survive the situation."

"That's terrible." The young lady said with a tone of sorrow and pity.

The man nodded in agreement. "Yeah. Hopefully, White Valley town would survive theirs but most analysts doubt that. This is because the situation looks to be as precarious as the of Pine Crow town. Not only do they lack the average mount, but the difficulty of their trial seems to be far more than usual."

"However, a special guest of ours seem to disagree with that right?" The young lady smiled mysteriously.

"You're right. Ladies and gentlemen, help me welcome our guest for today's show, the Frost King of the Red Sea -Kurosaki Genma!"

A loud applause rang out in the show's studio from the audience stand and was replayed through the speakers in the living room. From the intensity of the applause and the length of his title, it seemed like the special guest was a well-known figure in the VR gaming industry and indeed he was. 

Kurosaki Genma was one of the top mage players in the country and had participated in 3 different international gaming tournaments, with his best result being a spot in the Top 20s and his worst in the Top 50s. On a national scale, he was one of the Top 10 gamers of the current age and had several endorsements from different companies. He even had a guild of his own which was a Peak 1st tier guild. 

As long as one was a knowledgeable gamer or even dabbled a bit, they would know who he was. Because not only was Genma a pro gamer, but he was also a descendant of the prominent and prosperous Kurosaki family.

Sato, as a pro gamer, would no doubt know who he was.. But Sato didn't know that name or face by his title or profession as a gamer but by another form of address - his cousin.