Chapter 173: The Battle for First Place, A New World?

A day passed by quietly.

For Dream Factory, this was an extraordinarily important day.

The next morning, as soon as dawn broke, Dream Factory's promotional campaign rolled out as if it had been prepared long in advance, instantly flooding every major gaming platform and social media site.

Their new title, Pokémon: Fantasy Era, had officially launched!

This Pokémon battle game, advertised with slogans like "High-Definition 3D" and "Multi-Region Online Adventure," immediately caught the attention of countless players with its dazzling trailers and a barrage of promotional activities including "Limited-Time 50% Off Downloads" and "First Purchase Mega Discount Benefits."

The famous gaming streamer Iono woke up especially early that day. While yawning, she sat down at her computer and habitually browsed through gaming news first before starting to test her streaming equipment.

Her assistant came over and quietly reminded her, "Iono, don't forget, we took a sponsored stream deal from Dream Factory for Fantasy Era this morning. You need to stream for a full four hours."

Looking at the gorgeous poster for Pokémon: Fantasy Era on her screen, Iono instinctively pursed her lips.

A few days ago, she'd tried out that pixel-style Emerald game. Although the graphics looked a bit "retro," the content had completely captivated her. That pure joy of exploring and raising Pokémon was something many flashier games couldn't match.

By comparison, Dream Factory's games always gave off a "pay-to-win" vibe... always fell a bit short somehow.

"Got it..." Iono responded somewhat reluctantly. A sponsored deal was a sponsored deal. After all, she'd taken the money, so she had to stream it.

She grumbled to herself inwardly.

"Ugh, how is there still two hours until I can play Emerald..."

Then, taking a deep breath, she put on her professional smile and clicked the stream button.

"Good morning, everyone! Today we're going to try out a newly released game, Fantasy Era! It's a major title from Dream Factory!"

Viewers quickly flooded into the stream, and the chat began to scroll.

[Here, here! Morning, Iono!]

[Wow, the game graphics look so flashy!]

[Dream Factory? Feels like another pay-to-win game]

[Has to be better than that pixel game Emerald, right?]

While interacting with viewers, Iono entered the game. She had to admit, Dream Factory's technical prowess was genuinely impressive. Fantasy Era's 3D graphics were extremely refined, with Pokémon models detailed to the max and skill effects done quite spectacularly. The game included three regions: Kanto, Hoenn, and Johto, with what appeared to be massive amounts of content. Moreover, just as advertised, the game supported both mobile and PC platforms, which was very convenient.

After playing for over an hour, Iono found it actually wasn't bad. Although the in-game shop still had a strong presence, with all sorts of enhancement items and rare Pokémon gacha tickets displayed prominently, thanks to first-purchase discounts and events, the early game experience didn't feel too pushy about spending money.

She guided her character through Viridian Forest, watching the lifelike trees around her and the sparkling streams, and had to admit that in terms of pure visual presentation, this game was indeed far superior to the pixel-style Emerald.

Taking advantage of a loading screen, she glanced at the stream feedback. Many viewers were also attracted by the high-definition graphics.

[These graphics are so comfortable, way better than looking at pixels!]

[The map is huge, feels like you could play for ages.]

[But the battle pace feels a bit slow, Emerald still hits harder.]

[One thing at a time, though. Pixel graphics still can't compare. Takes a company with financial power like Dream Factory to make visually pleasing games.]

[Obviously. They scam so much money from players, if they didn't make the graphics look good, would that be appropriate?]

After thinking for a moment, Iono summarized her initial impressions into the microphone: "Well, this Fantasy Era, from what I've played so far, feels pretty good. The graphics are definitely top-tier, and the content is rich. If I had to give it a score..." She paused, recalling that immersive feeling from playing Emerald.

"If I gave Emerald a nine out of ten, then this Fantasy Era, as it stands right now, I'd give it a nine-point-five. After all, the graphics and convenience add a lot of points, and for a Dream Factory game, it's surprisingly not that pushy about spending money."

Her words were definitely influenced by the sponsored deal. In truth, she was still thinking about Emerald's gameplay.

She glanced at the time in the bottom right corner and couldn't help but feel a headache coming on. There were still about two hours left until the sponsored deal ended.

I really want to play Emerald, waaah!!

Under Dream Factory's heavy investment in promotion and the aggressive limited-time half-price strategy, Fantasy Era's popularity shot up like a rocket. On the New Game Festival's live rankings, its name quickly overtook Pokémon: Emerald, steadily claiming the number one spot.

In Dream Factory's CEO office, Nova looked at the data reports submitted by his subordinates, a smug smile appearing on his face. The report clearly displayed Fantasy Era's download numbers, active users, and first-day revenue—all metrics far exceeding expectations.

"Excellent, very excellent." Nova nodded with satisfaction. To completely suppress that small studio that came out of nowhere and their Emerald, he'd really gone all out this time. Not only the limited-time half-price and spending discounts, but he'd also deployed massive resources for advertising, hired influential streamers like Iono for sponsored promotions, and even employed numerous internet trolls to stir up discussion across various forums, hyping up how Fantasy Era crushed Emerald.

This combination punch had immediate effects, though the expenses did make his heart ache. He'd never spent this much money preparing for a new game before.

However, he wasn't worried.

With this thought, Nova sneered coldly and began calculating.

It didn't matter if the upfront investment was large. As long as he could stomp that Emerald underfoot and firmly hold the number one position, capturing the New Game Festival's top-spot traffic, how could he worry about not making it back later?

Once the player base grew and they formed habits, there were plenty of ways to get them to spend money. In his view, the gaming industry, especially online games, was fundamentally a game of capital and resources. That creator called "Kairos," who relied on a bit of luck and creativity to make Emerald, thought he could carve out a piece of this pie? Simply delusional!

"This time, I'd like to see what your tiny studio can do about it..."

Nova leaned back in his comfortable leather executive chair, a triumphant smile on his face. He could already envision the future where Emerald's popularity gradually faded while Fantasy Era continued raking in money, becoming a phenomenon.

Kairos remained completely unaware of Dream Factory's activities and the fact that Emerald had been pushed to second place on the New Game Festival rankings. Throughout the morning, he'd devoted himself entirely to perfecting the game and monitoring system notifications.

At this moment, he stood up from his computer, stretching vigorously as his joints produced soft cracking sounds.

After several hours staring at the screen creating game content, both his eyes and neck felt somewhat sore. Although Emerald's first playthrough main storyline framework was nearly complete, he hadn't stopped, continuing to add subtle optimizations and groundwork for subsequent content based on his ideas.

"Gengar, how's the progress?" Kairos turned to look at another computer in the room.

He saw Gengar's plump figure floating in mid-air, several shadow-like hands skillfully operating the keyboard and mouse of the other computer, with densely packed data streams rapidly scrolling across the screen.

Hearing Kairos's question, Gengar turned around, broke into a wide grin, made an "OK" gesture, and let out a "Ge-heh!" to indicate it had completed most of today's work.

"Well done! Look at you, getting more and more skilled." Kairos smiled. "Take a break. Time to prepare lunch."

With that, he snapped his fingers.

"Chandelure, come on out. There's good food today."

An eerie red light flashed, and the elegantly designed Chandelure, shaped like a classical lamp, appeared silently in the center of the living room, its pale purple flames dancing cheerfully within the lampshade, emitting a warm glow.

It seemed to smell the aroma of food beginning to fill the air, as its flames danced more actively and its eyes narrowed contentedly.

Kairos walked into the kitchen and brought out the lunch he'd prepared earlier from the warming pot: a large bowl of rich, red menudo, its tender tripe and hearty chunks of meat swimming in a fragrant, chili-infused broth, alongside a plate of sweet and sour spare ribs, fried to crispy perfection on the outside and tender within.

(/n: I want some menudo right now)

The rich meat aroma instantly filled the entire space, causing Gengar to whoosh over, staring eagerly at the dining table.

"Don't rush, you both get your share." Kairos smiled as he portioned out food for his two Pokémon, then served himself a bowl of rice and sat down at the table.

While enjoying his own cooking, he mentally opened the system interface.

What concerned him most now was naturally the emotion point accumulation. The interface expanded, with point acquisition records rapidly scrolling:

[Emotion points from "Lance" +199 (captured Bagon)]

[Emotion points from "Cynthia" +255 (obtained Gracidea flower)]

[Emotion points from "Giovanni" +188 (Beedrill evolution)]

[Emotion points from "Iono" +121 (experiencing game story)]

[Emotion points from regular player +53...]

[...]

Points were still accumulating continuously. Although individual values weren't particularly impressive, collectively they were quite substantial, especially the contributions from special players like Lance and Cynthia, which remained very stable.

Kairos nodded with satisfaction. It seemed the game's promotion and influence in the parallel world were progressing steadily.

However, his attention quickly shifted from emotion points to a special item lying quietly in the system inventory.

[S-Rank Special System Item: "Dimensional Communicator"]

The thing looked like an old-style brick phone, with a black casing and a thick antenna, exuding a retro vibe. But the system description made it clear: this device could directly transport him to another world.

Three days ago, he'd already used this communicator, setting a three-day connection activation time. Counting the days, it was right now.

"Finally time..." Kairos took a deep breath, feeling both anticipation and slight nervousness. He quickly finished the rice in his bowl and cleaned up the dishes.

Gengar and Chandelure seemed to sense the change in Kairos's emotions and both quieted down, directing their gazes toward him.

Kairos walked to the center of the living room and once again selected the [Dimensional Communicator] in his inventory. The system prompt box appeared at the right moment:

[Ding! "Dimensional Communicator" connection complete...]

[Successfully locked onto target world: Code PM-0734 (Pokémon World Variant)]

[Enter target world through this passage immediately?]

[Note: First entry can only bring one Pokémon companion, can actively teleport back at any time.]

The target world was indeed a Pokémon world, just unclear what specifically it was like.

Kairos didn't hesitate much. He chose Chandelure as his companion. Although Gengar could phase through walls and turn invisible, making it more convenient in various situations, in this circumstance, bringing his starter Pokémon was clearly more appropriate.

"Let's go, Chandelure." Kairos said. The latter understood, transforming into a red light and entering its Poké Ball.

"Gengar, watch the house."

Gengar froze for a moment, then revealed a mischievous smile.

"Ge-heh!"

At the same time, Kairos focused his mind and selected "Yes."

The next moment, the "brick phone" in his hand emitted a gentle but extraordinarily powerful energy wave, enveloping his entire body.

The space before his eyes began to twist, light became bizarre and distorted, and a slight feeling of weightlessness washed over him.

Kairos felt his vision go black, then immediately brighten again.

After a brief moment of dizziness, he found himself no longer in his familiar living room.

He stood on a somewhat quiet street, surrounded by buildings with peculiar architectural styles, like a fusion of modern technology and retro elements. Even the air smelled somehow different.

Clearly, this was that so-called "World 0734."

He instinctively looked up and saw advertisements flashing on distant building screens, along with the occasional... "Is that a flying vehicle?" Kairos paused, then his attention was captured by something more striking.

On the street, many people had Pokémon of various forms accompanying them, but different from what he was familiar with. These Pokémon's designs seemed more mechanized, or rather, carried more obvious technological features.

A Magnemite floated past, its metallic shell gleaming with unusually bright luster. A Voltorb rolled by, its surface patterns changing colors like LED light strips.

This really was another Pokémon world.

Moreover, the technological level seemed considerably higher than what he knew.

Kairos's heart filled with curiosity as he began carefully observing this unfamiliar new world.