In fact it was hard for anyone who didn't see or know what Hao saw and knew to understand this. Paying money for common people to play? That was an absurd concept for sure.
But Hao wasn't surprised about that. After all, he knew what the upcoming game would do to the entire gaming community.
Paying people to play wouldn't be weird as Rayan and any normal person would see it right now. In the future, playing without getting paid in one way or another would be something weird.
"No, not even close," Rayan firmly said, "he is just going to play normally but get paid. I still can't believe why he did that."
"That's because he isn't getting just five hundred bucks as you said," Hao knew more than what Rayan did.
"What do you mean?" The reaction Rayan gave was like someone getting stabbed in the back, "he can't have hid something like this off me!"
"He did," Hao nodded, "or else how can you explain his decision to leave school and focus only on the game?"
Rayan wasn't convinced by what Hao said. "Tell me then what you know," he demanded, in a tone that told Hao he wasn't buying a single word he said.
"It's as simple as this, the guild will pay five hundred as a fixed salary. But that's not all the money he will take. There are many bonuses that can turn his salary from a few hundred bucks into a few thousands."
"Few… Thousands? For a game?!!" Rayan was shocked, and yet Hao added more:
"It might even be more than that," Hao said, "if your friend is dedicated and good enough, he can earn more than ten thousand per month."
"This…" Rayan seemed to recall they were speaking about his best friend here, "he can't… No way! It's simply impossible!"
"You can call him and tell him the news," Hao shrugged, "after all I know what I'm talking about, and it makes sense, right?"
Rayan was shaken by these words, so he moved to the side, grabbed his phone from his training backpack, and called his friend a few metres away from Hao.
The latter just ignored all this. After all, Hao knew what he was talking about. Just before leaving the team, he was there in the meetings to prepare for the new game.
This template was copied from the pro deals of the famous real world sport teams. Not paying so much as a base salary and just placing more gains over the performance and results was the best approach his team adopted.
And he knew from there that many other teams also adopted this tactic. Of course that was many months ago, enough time to make such tactics spread and reach such a guild here.
Rayan kept talking in his phone in a calm tone before his tone showed a sharp increase all of sudden. Hao wasn't really eavesdropping. After all, he wasn't concerned about hearing what the two were speaking about.
On the other hand, Hao was pretty much interested in knowing the identity of that guild. After all, it would be the first obstacle he had to face and overcome here.
A guild working in the region and even paying money to secure local players' services… This move was much valued by Hao. If that was true, and that guild was famous or had its own business model spread over the players community here, then trying to recruit players for his guild would be difficult.
Just thinking about the impact spreading such info would cause, Hao felt even threatened for his own dorm's students.
They came from poor backgrounds. Securing a fixed salary, even if it was a few hundred bucks at the start, would be a great deal for any of them.
'I have to discuss this matter urgently with Hil,' he thought to himself while finishing his first round of training.
"F*ck him! f*ck!" Just as he did so and was about to get a few minutes of rest, Rayan suddenly threw his phone on the ground in a storm of rage.
"That fudge! He lied to me! Lied to me even after all these years of friendship! F*ck him! F*ck!" Rayan showed a totally different side of himself, one that made Hao look with doubt towards him.
"What?" It seemed Rayan felt the gazes of Hao, so he turned to him.
"It turned out that I was right, right?" Hao wasn't fazed by the rage of Rayan.
"And?" Rayan eyes twitches slightly before adding, "do you want a prize for being right? Or for ruining my long term friendship?"
"I'm not the one who lied to you, dude!" Hao shrugged, put the weight down before standing up and started doing stretches to his arms and shoulder, "but did you ask yourself this, why did he lie to you?"
"Because he is an as*hole!" Rayan's answer was swift, so fast that it was this close to make Hao laugh.
"It's not that," Hao shook his head before correcting Rayan, "only your enemies lie in the same field of business you are in."
"What do you mean?"
"He knew your worth, and feared that you might get more than him."
"No way!" Rayan's answer was as fast as previous time, "he knows me, I hate those slow paced and lack of excitement games like Apex and Dawn."
"It's not like what you think it is," Hao knew this was also a misunderstanding from Rayan. In fact this would be a worldwide misunderstanding for tons of players. "Dawn isn't as simple as you may think."
"How?"
"It's not a pure MOBA game, do you know that?"
Rayan showed a moment of pause as he slowly nodded. "It's a mix between MOBA and MMORPG. But I hate playing both! They lack the adrenaline in my games."
"I know what you are looking for," Hao started to run in his place at a slow and fixed pace, aiming to strengthen his hips and legs, "and Dawn has exactly what you are looking for."
"You… Are speaking like you already owned the game and played it," Rayan started to grow suspicious of Hao, looking up at him in doubt.
"I didn't own the game," Hao shook his head while changing the pace slightly to work on his knees and ankle, "but I played the game for sure."
"You…"
"Let me tell you this," Hao stopped when he started to get soaked in his sweat. "This game isn't like any other game in the market. In the MMORPG game mode, battles will erupt between players everywhere."
"And?" Rayan didn't yet get what Hao was referring to, "I play shooting games bro, games with rifles and guns."
"That's not true," Hao was regulating his breath so he spoke in a neutral tone, "you like a fast paced game with fights that can be determined in a few seconds, even fraction of seconds, right?"
"Well… You can say I like this kind of game as well," Rayan wanted to say no, but he couldn't. So he didn't totally agree on what Hao said.
"Then you can find such a thing in Dawn game," Hao didn't give a chance for Rayan to interrupt him, as he instantly added, "in Dawn, fights between players will be in two modes, the god eye mode and the champ mode."
"What the hell does this supposed to mean?" These terms were slightly new to Rayan.
"In the game, the god eye mode is the normal mode of the games you hate. The players will appear as small as a few inches on the screen. But in the champ mode, it's like the view in your games, looking through the eyes of the champ at real sized places and enemies."
"And?" Rayan's interest was slightly piqued.
"Fights are going to be as fast and intense as any shooting game," Hao explained, "and in such a setting, players like you will shine."
"You mean… Damn!"
"He indeed knew about all this," Hao shrugged, "he might even have played the game. Just one round in the game will tell anyone how this game is different."
"But… He is… Was my best friend," Rayan still didn't believe what his friend did.
"It's what normal life is, bro," Hao patted Rayan's shoulder before returning to his bench and resumed his training again, "you can't blame him. Spots in such places are limited, especially at the start."
"..."
Rayan kept his silence while Hao waited for him to take the bait. Frankly speaking, Hao was a stranger here and wanted a local guide, someone who knew the players in the city.
Even Hil failed to hear about such a guild getting established, but Rayan did. That showed the difference between the two. Hao just needed all the help he could get.
As for Rayan, if he proved to be a good player then Hao would try to recruit him. After all he was at an age suited to be in a high school.
Hao was unable to pay money to anyone at the early stages of the game. But that didn't mean he was out of options to recruit players.
The golden age of players range from thirteen to twenty, the age of high school and college.
If the lady could do her part well, then Hao would have two valuable weapons up his sleeve. Of course after the start of the game he would secure income supply routes from the game itself, and then he could join the stage with a big hand like everyone else.
"I still can't imagine it… How can two modes be in the same game and it can be called fair?" Rayan after a long period of pause that extended until Hao finished two more rounds of training said, shaking his head as if he wasn't believing any of this.
"It's easy," Hao was already doing another round of stretches, this time for his back, "in the game there is a flip switch, enabling players to switch between any of the two modes in a blink of an eye."
"That…"
"In the game, you can simply play in any mode you like, and even change between the two. Don't tell me this isn't fair anymore."
"Switching between the two? Why will a game have such an option?"
"You need to play the game to know why," Hao put the last touch over his bait, "so you'll have to wait until it's officially released, or you can join that guild of your friend."
"No f*cking way… I won't do that!" the rejection came swiftly and without any moment of thinking or hesitation.
"Then you can join mine," at this point Hao returned to do his last two rounds of training his wrists, but he was stopped by Rayan.
"What are you talking about?"
"I'm also building a guild," Hao finally said, but Rayan looked up at him in much more doubt than ever.
"You… Didn't you say you aren't from here?"
"It is," Hao nodded, "but I'm now studying at the nearby college."
"Why does everything you say not make any damn sense at first?" Rayan sighed, seemingly hesitating about what he was going to say next, "so you are in a college and establishing a guild, right?"
"That's it," Hao nodded, "so do you want to join?"
"I don't know if I'll play that game or not!"
"It's not that hard to figure that out," Hao said in a mysterious way before adding, "if you have time, we can meet up tomorrow in the college. I'll show you something interesting by then."
Rayan felt something was off here but after giving it little thought, he found no harm in giving it a try. "Deal," he said and Hao inwardly smiled in content.
"So what's the name of that guild of your friend? And what's its story?" Hao finally returned to the point he wanted to know from the beginning of this talk.
"It's called the Eastern Eagles," Rayan said in disdain, "it was a former team competing in the local tournaments before going all out and building the guild, using the same name they used to compete under."
"Eastern Eagles… Ok," Hao never heard about them, but he was sure this name would ring bells in Hil's ears. "I'm going back now. Let's meet tomorrow. Take my number…"