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[Chat]: [PickMe]: Max! Pick me! Pick me!
[Masochist]: Oh my god, what kind of cyber masochist energy is this?
[SculptureStudent]: Is this the Greek god of clay sculpting? Hand-making 20 figures in one afternoon with that level of precision... I feel like everything I learned in art school was complete garbage.
[Denominator]: I'll be the denominator!
[DecimalPoint]: I'll be the decimal point!
[Competitive]: You bastards better not mess with my chances of winning!
[Skeptic]: Wait, can't you guys use your brains? Why do you believe everything he says? What if he's lying to make himself look good?
[GoodMood]: I'm in a great mood today, so I don't want to insult your non-existent brain cells. Don't come looking for a verbal beatdown, okay?
[System]: User 'HappyMoment' has been detected making inappropriate remarks. This account is banned for 72 hours.
[Moderator]: Lord Mod with the clutch ban!
[BetaTester]: I don't care about any of this. Max, as long as you let me win, I'll be your fan for LIFE. Hell, I'll even beta test your games for free!
[MeToo]: Forget that, I want to be a beta tester too!
[Whale]: I'll offer $100,000. One hundred thousand dollars for a single clay figure. Whoever wins can DM me to trade.
[Doubter]: Upstairs, you're full of hot air. Have you ever even SEEN $100k? We're talking real USD here, not Monopoly money. Stop flexing.
[Insider]: Uh, he's actually not lying. If you check his profile, you'll see he's the son of Shark Platform's chairman. Be careful or you might get doxxed.
[Backpedaling]: Shh! Is it too late to apologize now?
[Sarcasm]: At this point? You're probably screwed, buddy.
[Congratulations]: Damn it, congrats to these lucky bastards!
[Curse]: May you all choke on water in your next life.
[Whale2]: Still offering $100k each. DM me if interested.
[RichAuntie]: I'll raise to $120,000, but I only want Achilles.
[Simp]: Rich_Auntie_Susan is SO dominant!
Seeing the chat finally getting back on track, Max couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
At the same time, his heart swelled with satisfaction. Although he possessed master-level craftsmanship thanks to the system, whether people would actually recognize and appreciate that skill was an entirely different matter.
It was like being a Michelin-star chef—you could cook state-banquet-level dishes, but you couldn't stop some degenerate guest from preferring to drink literal frog urine instead.
Being genuinely liked and appreciated by everyone made his afternoon of hard work worth it. Not to mention the neighbor lady who'd sold him her daughter's complete clay sculpting kit at the friendly price of fifty bucks.
In short, after randomly drawing the ten lucky winners and watching the classic "congratulations to these lucky coins" spam flood the chat, Max smoothly transitioned the evening's livestream to the next segment.
"Now that the giveaway's done, it's time to address those claims circulating online, right?
I'm sure you've all seen it. I didn't expect to wake up this morning to that kind of coordinated attack. For a moment, I genuinely thought my game was just... unpopular. Thankfully, it was later confirmed that someone was deliberately running a smear campaign against us.
Regarding the list of accounts involved in the defamation? The authorities already have it.
Of course, of course—we're law-abiding citizens here. All investigations are being conducted by the proper authorities. We're just... observing from the sidelines.
I'm sure our friends in law enforcement will strike hard against these lawless elements."
Max's smile was far from innocent.
However, in the eyes of those internet trolls watching the stream, that smile made them genuinely tremble with fear.
Because here's the thing: online defamation and coordinated attacks might seem like nothing when viewed individually—just random comments, right? But once you actually start weighing the evidence and tracking the sources, the legal consequences become immeasurable.
Many times, it's impossible to trace the main perpetrators mainly because they hide behind VPNs and proxy servers.
If it were any other game developer making these kinds of threats, the trolls would just laugh and slander even more viciously.
But the problem was that the person speaking was Max.
The guy who'd somehow managed to push Holy Grail War to #1 trending on twenty-plus websites simultaneously—a feat that left actual professional programmers unable to remove the posts and forced to just... watch helplessly.
That memory was still fresh in everyone's minds.
So now, hearing Max say these words with that particular smile, it wasn't hard to imagine that he'd actually doxxed them. That he knew exactly who they were.
At this very moment, in addition to thirsty viewers frantically spamming Max's DMs, several troll farm leaders were also desperately trying to private message him.
Unfortunately for them, Max had absolutely zero interest in engaging.
That's right—Max was petty. Vindictive, even. He'd freely admit it.
There's an old saying: "Patience for a moment only makes you angrier the more you think about it. Taking a step back just makes you want to burn everything down."
Although the system had provided him with tools for clarification and damage control, Max still felt that those who'd slandered him shouldn't be let off the hook so easily.
However, just as FGO's gacha system seemed to have mind-reading abilities that knew exactly when you were about to whale, the system appeared to sense Max's burning desire to set certain megacorporations on fire again.
Thus, with a reward of 250 million emotion points flowing in one after another, Max successfully obtained elite-level hacking skills from the system, along with the complete list of troll accounts and their real identities.
So even before going live, Max had already submitted the evidence to law enforcement at light speed.
Presumably, they were already en route to pay some visits.
And where some hesitated in fear, others rejoiced.
While the internet trolls entered self-preservation mode, the chat erupted in waves of celebration.
After all, nobody wants to see their favorite game being baselessly slandered by paid trolls, only to have to swallow their anger in the end with no consequences.
Max's counterattack hit the audience's satisfaction sweet spot perfectly.
The chat surged again:
[Innocent]: Oh my god, that smile is so innocent!
[WellDone]: Hell yeah, Max!
[Programmer]: I'm just a simple programmer who knows a little bit about hacking. Why do I feel like I've heard this line somewhere before? Am I in a reincarnation manga?
[Legal]: Wait, can you even say this publicly? Won't the trolls cause trouble by saying you illegally accessed their network information?
[Lawyer]: Upstairs, I'd advise you not to talk nonsense. Max has never admitted to checking anyone's personal data. It was our righteous law enforcement who carried out justice!
[Doxxed]: HOLY SHIT! THEY GOT DOXXED!
[OldSaying]: The old saying was true: "sweet on the outside, ruthless on the inside." Max smiles so innocently but his methods are absolutely savage. Those trolls must be shitting themselves right now.
The reason so many people act rampant online is simple: there's no cost to doing evil, and most things can't be traced back to the source.
So when people realized Max had the ability to doxx and wasn't afraid to use it, the chat instantly became squeaky clean and peaceful.
Those who'd been frantically spamming slander earlier seemed to have vanished without a trace.
And looking at the uniformly positive chat, Max cleared his throat and announced the final major update:
"Alright, let's put these unpleasant things behind us.
The most important thing about playing games is to have fun.
The third thing I want to discuss tonight is the modifications and updates I've made to the game based on your feedback over this period.
First off..." Max paused for dramatic effect. "We fixed the bug where paying players couldn't actually spend money in the game."
The chat froze.
[Confused]: ???
[PardonMe]: Did I hear that correctly?
[ReadingComp]: Is there something wrong with my comprehension? I understand every word individually, but together they make no sense.
[NoNo]: NO! Not this! Not the thing where a free game turns into pay-to-win garbage! NOT THIS!
[Defense]: Can you people be less selfish? Max needs to eat too, okay? It's already incredibly generous that he let us play such a high-quality game for free this long.
[Whale3]: Exactly! We big spenders WANT to throw money at this game, but there's literally nowhere to spend it!
As soon as Max made this announcement, the chat immediately polarized—with some players vehemently opposing any monetization system.
It wasn't that they simply wanted to freeload forever. It was that so many games had set terrible precedents.
Games that started out great, but the moment they added microtransactions, they turned into predatory garbage.
Everyone had gathered in this livestream because they genuinely loved Holy Grail War, so naturally they didn't want to see it go down that same destructive path.
So while sending chat messages trying to persuade Max to reconsider, countless donation notifications also swept across the stream at this exact moment.
They were hoping this show of financial support would interrupt Max's plans to implement a monetization system.
Seeing this reaction, Max didn't continue to push their panic buttons. After a light cough, he continued:
"Don't worry—I understand all your concerns and fears completely.
I'll give you my word right here, right now: I will absolutely never release any items in the game that can only be obtained through real money purchases.
The monetization system is essentially designed to serve players who don't want to grind for resources.
So please, let me explain the upcoming update content.
First, we're adding a Spiritron Dress system to the shop.
This system allows your Servants to wear modern clothing—basically skins and costumes.
The purchase requirements are the same as buying Holy Relics or upgrading your own character: one Holy Grail per Servant outfit.
I guarantee that the only currencies in the game will be Holy Grails and holy grail fragments. A third currency will absolutely not appear.
At the same time, we're opening the Ranked Mode system for multiplayer and increasing point acquisition rates.
For a limited time of one month, the top ten players in the points ranking will become internal beta testers and get early access to upcoming new content.
In ranked mode, players can only carry one Holy Relic before entering the match—to keep things balanced.
Finally, there's the new story mode: Fate/Apocrypha.
In this story mode, the Holy Grail War is no longer a 1v1v1v1v1v1v1 free-for-all between seven individuals. Instead, it's a 7v7 team battle.
Of course, the actual 7v7 multiplayer PvP content is still in development, and we ask for your continued support and patience.
As for the remaining optimizations and quality-of-life improvements, I'll personally log in right now and demonstrate them one by one in-game for everyone to see.
Oh, right—the new version is available for download now. I've already pushed the update to the website."
Players don't actually hate monetization systems. What they truly hate are those unscrupulous game developers who force players to spend money by locking essential content or power behind paywalls.
And that feeling of fundamental inequality.
That's right—although a game's revenue primarily comes from whales and big spenders, the actual activity and community health comes from the free-to-play players. Everyone's human, and nobody wants to be treated unfairly or like a second-class citizen.
So although Max had opened up a monetization channel, he'd still kept a path forward for free players.
Because Holy Grails could be earned through ranked mode and story mode completion.
And the price of the cosmetic skins was affordable enough that even F2P players could reasonably save up for them.
As a result, players wouldn't have any serious objections.
In fact, at some point down the line, they might even transition from free players to paying customers just to get that one skin they really wanted for their favorite Servant.
[Skins]: Holy shit, is this happening? SELLING SKINS!
[Approve]: This skin-selling model is perfect! If it's really like this, I have zero objections! I also want to buy outfits for my wife Artoria.
[Question]: But wait, can't you already change clothes in the game normally?
[Different]: There's gotta be something different about premium skins! For example, can you make your Servant wear a swimsuit? Max, I'm not asking for much—just please release swimsuits ASAP!
[Swimsuits]: Swimsuits in March? That's quite the lifestyle choice.
[Buying]: I'll buy it! I'll buy whatever! Just hurry up and give me Achilles's muscle shirt outfit! Or better yet, the full Spartan warrior set! As long as it's released, I'm buying it day one!
[Sugar]: Rich sister, can you support me financially? I know how to scrub steel wool really well.
[Snipe]: WAIT! Max is about to play multiplayer mode! Everyone log in NOW! Let's all snipe Max together!
[Denominator2]: Damn it, do we really need more people increasing the difficulty upstairs?
The chat scrolled rapidly, and Max pulled out his VR headset and initiated the connection sequence.
Seeing this, the livestream's viewer traffic sharply decreased at this exact moment.
That's right—everyone was rushing to log into the game to snipe Max.
This had become a popular streaming segment over the years.
Just like a few years back when a game called Life and Death 2 had started the legendary "Jay Chou Sniping Night" trend.
Although it made the streamer's experience absolutely miserable—basically like being in prison—the entertainment value was excellent, and player engagement hit maximum levels.
At the same time, these players wanted Max to experience the harshness of the world. To know what it felt like to get absolutely destroyed by randos.
And joining this coordinated assault weren't just regular players—several big streamers were in on it too.
For example, Old Ma immediately started downloading the update the moment Max announced it was live.
Thanks to his absurdly high internet speed, he managed to enter the VR world at almost the exact same time as Max.
And as the loading screen faded to black and then slowly brightened...
The brand new visuals and updated soundtrack made the viewers in Old Ma's stream absolutely lose their minds.
Especially the scene that appeared next, which made many viewers who'd watched every single one of Old Ma's streams let out genuine gasps of surprise.
Upon that hill covered in mountains of corpses and seas of blood...
Upon that cursed ground formed by piled-up knight bodies...
Artoria stood alone, her golden hair flowing freely in the wind.
Her face remained indistinct, shrouded in shadow, as she stared intently at the dark storm clouds gathering overhead. Her voice carried immense, crushing loneliness:
"Again... I'm back here again."
Camlann Hill. The place of Arthur's end.
The moment this cinematic appeared, many viewers who felt deep sympathy for Artoria couldn't help but feel their throats tighten with emotion.
But the accompanying music made countless players experience an indescribable sense of epicness, destiny, and tragedy all at once.
"Welcome to your life~"
The cinematic visuals, combined with the absolutely perfect musical choice, gave many viewers an immediate cerebral rush within just five seconds of the opening.
However, if the camera could have focused on Max's face at that moment, everyone might have been surprised to see that Max seemed somewhat... unable to maintain his composure.
That's right—if there happened to be another transmigrator in the audience who'd seen the legendary Modern Holy Grail War video on YouTube, they probably would have shown the exact same shocked expression as Max right now.
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