It was only by chance that this group of people met.
Beatrice introduced the Secret Realm to her two friends immediately after she ended the stream after playing for the first time.
From then on, Andrea and Milena curiously watched every one of her livestreams, wanting to learn as many tricks as possible before the 'game' was on the market.
Then, after the multiplayer 5v5 version was released on November 11th, the trio joined the matchmaking queue as a party of three.
Sometime later, after enduring the pain of meeting hundreds of pigheaded teammates and losing poorly, they met Melinda - the Elder of the Bright Moon sect - who was also playing ranked matches to blow off steam.
The four women hit it off and decided to play together from then on. As the hard-headed Beatrice enjoyed playing Marci too much, she could only play on the top lane, taking the role of an offlaner.
Andrea usually joined her as a support, while Melinda and Milena alternated between the carry and support roles between themselves, making the games much easier to win.
However, they soon noticed how much of a difference a good mid-player makes, so they decided to search for their fifth party member.
In one of the games, they randomly matched with a solo player, and they met Henry. He was an ordinary person, unlike the four of them being cultivators, but his skills were impeccable.
With the team formed and their winning streak growing daily, Beatrice had an idea: why not aim for the top ten spots of the competition?
This suggestion was met with positive reviews from the other four teammates, and now they were 'training' while also climbing higher on the leaderboards.
Since there were about four weeks left until the qualified teams would be announced, Beatrice's team, like many others, were grinding matchmaking points 17 hours a day, six days a week.
Unfortunately, with the complaints of many people about the 'fast hands' hero selection method, the A.I. introduced the hero banning section before the hero selection could be made.
This forced users who enjoyed playing only one hero to more than often find their favorite banned and be forced to pick something else.
Beatrice was in a similar situation, but whenever her Marci was available, she would pick it without a doubt.
Returning to the situation at hand, after Henry's successful gank bottom, the lead their team had snowballed to the point where they were able to destroy the enemy's ancient one hour and 40 minutes into the game.
[Good game, everyone!](Beatrice)
[*Sigh* Luckily, Henry came to gank often. Otherwise, the enemy might've recovered in the mid-game.](Milena)
[I was just lucky.](Henry)
[No, Henry. We were. If the enemy's mid-player would've been half as good as you were, we might've actually lost. We need to discuss some strategies. For example, we almost never use the Smoke of Deceit to hide from enemy vision and ambush them as five.
Instead, our early lead became null after the Dire offlane heroes used it and ganked Henry.](Melinda)
[Ugh... that was pretty scary, now that you mentioned it.](Henry)
[There's also that Shenlong. We were too scared to confront it and ended up ignoring it. If me or Henry had the Pill of Immortality, we could've ended the game 20 to 30 minutes faster.](Melinda)
[Well... it's not like we tried. It's just that... after we entered his lair, it only needed to roar at us, and we all fled like startled sparrows.](Andrea)
Remembering the embarrassing situation, Beatrice's face grew as red as a tomato. Unlike the others who enjoyed the anonymity offered by the facial adjustment, she couldn't enjoy such privileges due to her job as a streamer.
As a result, over 30 clips of her less-competent performances were being spread online, with the newest being titled 'Beauty Bia got yelled at, began crying, and then ran away!'
Wishing she could have a heart-to-heart talk with the bastard who posted such an annoying video, she continued brainstorming with the other four for ideas.
To avoid having their strategies exposed, each day after Beatrice finished her stream, they would meet in the virtual realm and discuss possible options for their next matches.
The A.I. would also help them identify the mistakes they made.
Next, they would fight two matches against a team of five A.I.-controlled heroes to further solidify their gains.
They would obviously lose 10 out of 10 matches against the bots, but they were improving at an incredibly fast pace.
------Scene Break------
While the netizens enjoyed the entertainment brought about by Michael's new Secret Realm, the allied sect masters convened for a serious meeting.
Their conversation lasted over five hours, after which some left happy while others were angry or disappointed.
Rubbing her tired eyebrows, Helena returned to her home, where her sister Liva just finished a solo-ranked game.
Judging by her pleased expression, she most likely won.
[Oh? Is the meeting over?](Livia)
[*Sigh* Yes. Those bastards keep asking to meet Michael, and I am running out of ways to block their advancement.](Helena)
[Why not let them meet, then?](Liva)
[He's still only a child. If he says something stupid, I'm afraid those old fogeys would swallow him whole.](Helena)
[Hahaha! You're overthinking. Ever since you started promoting that brat's Secret Realm, did he ever end up at a loss? Even when you were taking advantage of his game to increase our sect's political influence, did he ever complain to you?
At the same time, do you think he's unaware? He just couldn't be bothered to talk about it since it might become too much of a hassle.](Livia)
[*Snort* As if he'd have the guts to complain.](Helena)
[Yes, yes! Big sis is mighty! What about the competition? Were the prizes decided?](Livia)
[If you're thinking of participating, stop daydreaming! If you somehow end up in the top ten, people will say I pulled strings.
But yeah, the prizes have been decided.
They range from an abundance of spirit stones to rare cultivation techniques, rare pills that enhance one's constitution, medicine capable of improving one's cultivation base, and manuals of secret combat techniques.](Helena)
[Oh, wow! The old fogeys really went all out, didn't they?](Livia)
Remembering the monthly report and the detailed account of how much their revenue increased through clever product placement by using the streaming platforms, as well as the popularity increase of their online platform and the other Secret Realms on it, Helena couldn't help but show a slight smile.
Even the other two young Programmers, Nolan and Selina, impressed the market with their innovative ideas for their Secret Realms, giving the Bright Moon sect the image of a revolutionary trendsetter.
Furthermore, large sects and even the World Cultivators Alliance began paying more attention to their city as the improvements made by those 'playing' The Battlefield of Heroes were enough to be noticed.
Not only did their combat experience soar, but their cultivation pace also slightly increased. Furthermore, a slight Body Refinement craze began among the player base for some reason, driving up the prices of elixirs and medicine.
Apparently, after noticing the 'powerful' bodies with well-structured muscles of some of the in-game heroes, male players began appearing topless from the waist up, showcasing their own 'gains.'
Who was the first idiot to start this trend? Nobody had any idea. But the truth of the matter was that with him, cultivators of both sexes were now heavily invested in improving their bodies.
Why? To show off, of course.
While you couldn't appear undressed inside the Secret Realm, you could choose more revealing clothes.
Men took advantage of this loophole, and women did the same, showcasing a wide variety of beautiful dresses.
Thinking how the online social platforms were inundated by pictures and videos of people playing Michael's game in different costumes, a giggle escaped Helen's lips, prompting a raised eyebrow from her younger sister.
[I was thinking about how Michael's Secret Realm looks more like a dating site rather than one meant for combat training.](Helena)
[Oh, that! I heard that many people who met online became Dao Companions after playing together. Though... not every case of meeting your beloved is a happy occasion.](Livia)
[Beauty filter?](Helena)
[Beauty filter.](Livia)
Bell-like laughter could be heard near the house of the sect master, but unfortunately, there were no people nearby to enjoy it.
After some dinner, the two sisters entered a modified version of Michael's Secret Realm and began sparring with each other, using different abilities of more than ten heroes at a time.
If Michael could've seen this, he would've probably marveled at how competent people of this world were, to come up with mods for his game this fast.
------Scene Break------
More time passed, and today, December 11th, the teams participating in the first Battlefield of Heroes tournament would be announced based on their performance in the past month.
Michael also decided to join the festivities with Nolan and Selina, meeting them at a nearby pub.
He was in a good mood, especially since his sales almost doubled compared to the previous month, reaching 860,000 sold units.
[ Host: Michael Lewis
Age: 19
Lifespan: 120.9 years (92.3 original lifespan + 28.6 added lifespan through cultivation)
Qi Cultivation: 5th Level of Qi Gathering (55%)
Body Refinement: 4th Level of Mortal Flesh (4%)
Spiritual Roots: Normal
Assets: 1 Spiritual Pouch (1 cubic meter), 447,182 spirit stones, 9 sets of Body Refinement Medicine, 21 sets of Qi Gathering pills, and 4 bottles of Qi Recovery Powder. ]
His overall cultivation also improved, especially when it came to Body Refinement. After enduring much pain and suffering, he has succeeded in climbing three more levels this past month.
However, his biggest gain was, without a doubt, the large number of spirit stones in his bank account.
He could move to better accommodations if he so desired, but there was no point in doing that just yet.
Furthermore, while he had already decided on his next project, the resources needed were absolutely staggering.
After consulting with Mildred, she explained that his 'open-world' idea was possible, and so were 'aware NPCs.'
The only issue was that, in order for that to happen, Mildred needed another upgrade to be able to clone hundreds of thousands, if not millions, smaller versions of herself.
Only then would the players have the impression they were talking with an actual human being rather than an awkward robot.
'*Sigh* Even the cheapest quantum server building would cost me at least 2.5 million spirit stones. And to better serve my needs, I need a more state-of-the-art type. So, I should at least double or triple that amount before I can hope to replicate the world of the most popular franchises back on Earth.'
For now, he could only wait until the Battle Pass hits the market on January 1st, 2026. He should rake in large piles of money with that single move.
Then, he could focus on a more demon-related game since it was something the sect master asked him to do.
Adding Nolan's previous idea of introducing the concept of a campaign, Michael had a couple of options to choose from.
The Diablo games would've been an excellent idea, but he lacked the resources. The same goes for the Warcraft franchise.
Then, it hit him! Haven't the people of this world endured the invasions of many clans of the demon race?
Isn't the purpose of the Secret Realms to train them from both a physical and tactical standpoint?
In that case, what about Heroes of Might and Magic?
Once this idea popped up in his mind, he couldn't get rid of it, no matter how much he tried. Does the game world have multiple races? No problem! The demon clan has hundreds of variations that are well-recorded in history books.
Do you want to go further and properly replicate the game? No problem! Just create the Elven, Dwarven, and Titan races from scratch!
Furthermore, Mildred confirmed that with her current capabilities, she could clone up to a couple of thousand sentient NPCs that could serve as leaders and important figures of those races.
The more he thought about it, the more ideas he got. The campaign had to be restructured to match this world's history somewhat, while the power systems would be less restrictive compared to The Battlefield of Heroes.
To differentiate between them, there could be cultivation technique limitations for the various races based on their physiques and philosophy.
For example, the Titans could be pure Body Refiners, while the Elves could be pure Qi Refiners. Humans could practice both.
However, the more he improved on this idea, the more the genre changed from a turn-based game to a possible MMORPG.
Adding the possibility of massive fights between armies controlled by the players or consisting of the players themselves, Michael could only hope that his pockets would be able to bear the pressure.
Furthermore, it was unrealistic to create this massive Secret Realm on his own since the copy of DOTA took him about nine months to fully release, and Mildred is still patching up bugs here and there whenever the players signal some inconsistencies.
His worries were quickly allayed, though, as soon as he set his eyes on his two friends.
A chilling smile appeared on his face.