Chapter 363: National Competition

After Shadow's escape from there, he started gathering herbs around the place.

He managed to at least find two rare herbs that raise one or two points of one of his stats.

He also found a lot of common herbs that are one of the main ingredients for making health or mana potions.

"Good thing I learned all of this and raised their levels, or I would have died a lot of times or forced to go back because I had ran out of potions"

Shadow was mumbling to himself while brewing a potion, and around him are tens of small bottles filled with either green or blue liquid.

"Dang it, and the problem now is that I'm running out of reusable bottles"

Shadow couldn't help but utter a complaint seeing that his bottles for mana and health potions are on their last straws to be used again.

"I should get an item that has a lot of health regeneration or has lifesteal so that I can reduce the frequent use of potions"

Shadow then started thinking about what monsters have the probability of dropping items with those options.

"Trolls are a given, but I need to go back if I do that, and I'm pretty sure that there's no Ice Trolls around here"

"Hmmm...then there's also the vampires. Well, there are vampires in Sunrise Empire, but will there be vampires here though?"

Shadow really can't think of any monsters other than those two. So it became quite a bit of a problem because those said monsters are located so far away from him.

"I should have asked Moniker for an item with a Lifesteal effect before they left"

Shadow sighed when he just remembered how many items had Moniker had collected which could probably fill up an entire warehouse by now.

"In the end, I'm still not a true gamer"

"Well, I guess it's time to hunt monsters again"

Then Shadow stood up and started walking where his feet could lead him to.

*****

Thanks to many breakthroughs in regards to technology, Mine Tech. Industries became the largest company in the world, and their position as the best company out there became more solidified after the release of Fate Online which boasts over one billion active users around the world.

Because of this, the company created a lot of job opportunities around the world, and the rate of poverty lowered because of the exchange of real cash and items in the game which helped a lot of people, especially to people who only knew how to play games.

There had never been such a large and powerful company in the world that it could rival the influence of a country.

In fact, it's so powerful that countries around the world, especially the Northern Rica Principality are wary of them and don't dare to face them head on as they are afraid that the company might leave the country and relocate their HQ to another country, which would certainly result to unimaginable consequences that might even cause a large protest throughout the country.

This is the reason why the company grew almost unimpeded because no one can resist the urge to go to another reality, called Fate Online!

Just yesterday, the G7, an intergovernmental organization consisting of the most influential governments in the world, sent a request to Mine Tech. Industries.

And it was to invite the best rankers in the world and to once again compete against each other in the largest gaming competiton!

The very first World Cup in the world!

And this time, it's not about sports like football or basketball, but instead a VRMMO game called Fate Online!

Inside a meeting room in MTI Headquarters, in an island just a couple of miles east of Central City, a talk in regards to the game is taking place.

"The opinion of the G7 is as follows. They want users that are in the Top 200 to be invited to the host country where they will compete in raids, pvp or other events that the company can think of. Following that, the host country will shoulder fifty percent of the expenses, but they hope that the company would deal will all the planning and public relations in regards to this"

Some of the executives quickly showed disapproval when they heard that.

"They want us to organize a national competition, but they want the company to shoulder fifty percent of the expenses including all the planning and sponsorships? Do they have a few screws loose in their heads or something?"

"Do they think organizing a national competition that consists of the best rankers is easy? Especially now that there's a lot of important events going on in the game, where in the world would players even have the time to compete in this so-called competition?"

There were quickly negative responses, but there were also some who thought that this might be an opportunity.

"But if we do this right, and this becomes a regular thing. Wouldn't we have more influence in the world? After all, those bastards have been impeding our expansion to other countries in the dark"

Another executive also followed suit and said.

"Besides, those rankers are all stars in their own right, and will certainly attract crowds all over the world! We can then sell the broadcasting rights to the countries for high prices! And we can also use this chance to breakthrough the market for middle aged or older people who thinks that Fate Online is just a game"

"And as mentioned before, we'll have more ammunition against the countries against us if this venture turns out to be successful, and we can exclude those countries in the next national competition"

"Everyone should know that a lot of countries are limiting the circulation of our gaming capsules, so…"

"But will the event be even fair? After all, there's a lot of players whose level are way beyond the others, and there's also been a lot of dark horse who suddenly appeared out of nowhere and deprived the former rankers of their spots"

"And there's also that player called Shadow, he just appeared like a comet and overtook anyone in the rankings, and even the infamous Solitary Tempest is behind him. Now, he's even exploring the Wildlands map, which should have only been discovered in the next three months into the game, and not only that, he even has a dragon egg and plans to head deeper into the Wildlands, is he trying to get himself killed or is he just confident in his skills?"

Then the executives started debating against each other, and the meeting room became quite rowdy because the two sides couldn't come into an agreement.

"Enough!"

A loud dignified voice sounded throughout the isolated room, and the people there froze in place before fixing their postures and their clothes.

And everything came into a still silence as the people inside didn't dare open their mouths anymore and just looked at the two people at the head of the table, especially towards the middle aged woman.

There was a man and woman around mid forties looking all dignified as they scanned the people before them, and none of those people dared to meet their eyes.

"Tell the G7 that we will approve of their request"

"And starting this year, we will be holding national competitions next year and following years. We will use this chance to expand our influence in the world and at the same time, increase the number of our users until every human being is playing our game."

"Let's see, if those countries who had been attacking us in the dark would still have the guts to oppose us when al of their citizens are playing our game"

"Hmmp!"

The woman gave a cold sneer when she thought of those two faced countries.

"Get all the teams working, think of events that can only be carried inside the game, and have GAIA assist the teams in making a separate server for this event"

"Yes ma'am!"

All of the executives all responded to his orders respectfully, and everyone of them wore expressions of happiness and excitement on their faces as they couldn't wait to work in this new project which could change the landscape of the political world.

"Dismiss"

The people stood up and left the room one by one, leaving the two people inside.

The woman stood up and faced the transparent wall as she gazed at the beautiful scenery of the island before her eyes.

"It won't be long, when those bastards who forced us to be separated from our son decades ago, to pay for their crimes. I will make them regret of ever going against us"

The woman made a grabbing motion on the air as her pair of eyes flashed with a cold glint, alongside the man sitting behind her, whose eyes were also flashing with a dangerous light.