Chapter 10: Revelations and the Era of Gaming
The trio sat on a couch on Vince's office.
"So you're really the Phantom God?" Kyle suddenly asked.
"Yes, " Daniel sighed. He felt pretty guilty for not telling Kyle, his best friend.
"How come the CEO of Inferno Entertainment is your friend?" Kyle then asked, looking at Daniel before looking at Vince.
"Let me tell you a story." Daniel said. He was not good at expressing his feelings whatsoever, that's why he felt pretty nervous telling a backstory. "During our younger days, when we were still nine years old, Vince and I were gaming buddies. We met each other in school, one is an introverted and talented gamer, while the other is an extroverted and talented gamer. You pretty much know who the introvert and the extrovert in this story are."
"Vince, although had many friends, especially clung onto me." Daniel looked at Vince, and then burst out laughing.
"Yeah, yeah, I remember that as well." Vince said with a nostalgic expression, remembering the past.
"I was always annoyed at him for doing that." Daniel said.
"Yeah, he kept making this angry expression and never talked to me. I was the one who invites him to our games often." Vince laughed.
"After that, I slowly accepted him, and always played together, though I never smiled, at least never showed him that I smiled." Daniel said with laughter in his tone.
"Wait." Vince said trying to search in his memories of young Daniel's smiling face. "Now that I think about it... You never did smile..."
"Hahahaha," Daniel laughed it off. "Anyways, after about two years or so, my parents died, and Vince coincidentally moved out."
"Yeah, I remember seeing your emotionless face during the funeral, but your eyes betrayed you, you were tearing up so much that your eyes reddened to the point of a tomato." Vince said.
"That is true. Anyways, sorry Kyle for not telling you about this, nobody knew, not even any of our classmates know, only the principal and the staff of the school. I never expected it to be kept a secret for so long, because, you know, the curiosity of us Filipinos is never satiated. Heck, I didn't expect that even my aunts and uncles will keep that as a secret!"
"So that's why I saw you stiffing up every moment I mention your parents..." Kyle looked at Daniel deep in the eyes.
"Yeah, I apologize for keeping that a secret for so long. As I've said to you in the previous years, you don't know many things about me." Daniel did say that when Kyle asked about Daniel's skill in programming.
"I remember your nonchalant expression that time. It looked pretty arrogant, I must say." Kyle smirked, mocking Daniel.
"Seriously!? I looked arrogant!?" Daniel shouted with deep surprise. He never intended to be arrogant, in fact, he just doesn't want anyone to know anything about him.
"No, no, just messing with you. Now, back to the topic, why did you not tell me that you're Phantom God! I worship and revere him so deeply but you did not even tell me!" Kyle said with mixed feelings. It was okay for the thing about Daniel's late parents, but about Phantom God? No, that's not!
"As you can see about the videos I made, nobody knows who I really am, nor did I ever tell anyone. Vince here only knew because of our old friendship, when he saw that my name on almost every game is Phantom God." Daniel said with a serious expression.
"Yeah, you even said that when you become a professional gamer, your name would be Phantom God, or Empyrean, or Desolate Sky." Vince said.
"Now that I think about it... I did say that, huh?" Daniel remembered.
"I only became a professional gamer when my parents died, and Vince moved. I was alone since I refused the help of my family, ever since, I worked hard, harder than I've ever done before. And I got where I am today, enjoying my passion, while making a living."
"Goodness...." Kyle had a headache because of this friend of his. "You don't even know that you're the forerunner of the Era of Gaming, don't you? And how the heck do you even keep your identity hidden from the paparazzi, or whatever international gaming development companies trying to find the name of the possessor of the revered name, Phantom God!?"
"First of all, I am not the forerunner of the Era of Gaming, you streamers are the forerunners of the Era of Gaming, where gaming became even more popular than celebrities, and movies. The gaming industry is now larger than the entertainment industry, and only a few people watched theaters now, which, even in the Philippines, has become nonexistent." Daniel spoke fast, and sounded like he was rapping.
"Second, I have my ways, which both of you do not need to know..." Daniel smiled enigmatically, as if a deep secret is hidden.
Kyle and Vince could care less about the second one, but who said that Daniel is not the forerunner of the Era of Gaming? He's the freaking vanguard for goodness sake! He was the one who made League of Legends even more popular than it was, and so many more games became more popular because of Daniel! Even WatchTube, the largest video sharing website, became even more popular, and became unbanned even in North Korea! After the unbanning of WatchTube in North Korea, the steps became even larger, and now Korea is a large nation, thus finally ending the Cold War!
"You really don't know..." Kyle and Vince sighed. Kyle then said, "Dude, because of you, Korea became a single nation! The world became so immersed in gaming because of the videos you post, not mentioning that every single second a video in your channel is up, it gains about one hundred thousand views, and thousands of like, you indirectly uncovered better seedlings in the world of gaming because of your tutorial videos! Did you know that Hundred, the current best gamer of League of Legends in the world, and his team, Dragon Kings, learned from your videos, which contains so much tactics that even Riot were baffled by it? In DoTA 2, the current best gamer of the generation, Monarch, also learned from your videos? And you dare say that you're not the forerunner of the Era of Gaming!? You're being too humble!"
Daniel was stunned by Kyle's reaction. He did not pay attention to the gaming world's news, and the state of the current world, unless he was affected by it. He was a regular hardcore gamer who uses his skills in gaming to earn a living, and did not care about these developments as it did not affect him. He was truly oblivious to everything that Kyle said. "You're serious?" Daniel asked with a grave expression.
"Yes." Vince said. "Kyle here is serious, not just that. Many gaming teams and gaming development industries tried to find you to place you in their team, or become their insignia, heck, even I can't find you in your previous home. The current state of the gaming world is in chaos because of your unknown identity, and the side you're standing on. Riot? Blizzard Entertainment? EA? Square Enix? Nobody ever found you, even with the largest connections. You are not just some big shot, you're a freaking god in the gaming industry!" Vince said.
Kyle nodded at this notion.
"Sigh... I guess it can't be helped." Daniel stood up, and walked in front of the couch. He then turned around to face Kyle and Vince. "I have a proposition to you two."
Kyle and Vince looked at each other.
"First, I want to reveal myself to the world now. I want you, Kyle, to be my gaming partner, and of course, invite you to live in my house. I'm going to create my own team of hardcore gamers, not just some one-trick people who can only play one game with expertise, and you're the best example of that one."
Kyle was shocked.
"Second, Vince, do you still game?" Daniel asked.
"Of course... I'm even a Challenger in League of Legends..." Vince said.
"Then, you'll be the second addition to my team!"
"That can't do, I still need to manage my company!" Vince didn't know whether to laugh or cry. This friend of his really gives anyone around him a headache.
"You didn't let me finish. And, I'll be the spokesperson of your gaming development company."
Vince's mouth was left agape by this statement from Daniel. He received such a gigantic pie from the sky, how could he reject this. His mind worked extremely fast, thinking of the pros and cons of joining Daniel's team.
"Well, I don't need you to play with me on the upcoming streams that I plan on doing, I only need you on my team whenever there is a competition. We have to make our names known! However, I do need you to occasionally do streams, for, you know, even more popularity. Even though popularity is not our aim, since I don't like people, and you guys know that firsthand, and I already have popularity, we need it to become the best gaming team in this so-called Era of Gaming!"
Vince was now very tempted. "Okay, I accept."
"Okay, let's talk about this in a group chat, I'll create one on Courier, as for our team name, we'll eventually think of it. Come on Kyle, let's go back to our beta testing." Daniel smiled.
"No, no, no, don't go back to beta testing. I'll just send you a copy of the game." Vince said.
"Why? I wanna beat that impostor black and blue, teach him a few lessons, eh?" Daniel said with a never before seen cruel tint of light on his eyes, although his expression was still pretty much emotionless.
Vince and Kyle gulped, damn, brother, you're pretty scary right now!
"We have a lot to catch up on, eh?" Vince said with a smile.
"I guess so, huh..." Daniel said.
...........
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, I'm very sorry... This chapter came so late, and the updates weren't made, for about a month now, right? I am very sorry as I have no internet. And you Filipino readers out there know about shitty internet service providers who doesn't give a shit about actual good service. I had no internet for the past month, and you Filipino high school students know that it is also a pretty busy time of the year, you know, Intramurals, and all that quizzes and catching up on. Sigh, it's been very rough as we are very busy on school, I know that this is a lame excuse (Trust me, I also don't believe this kind of excuses, but try to put yourself in my shoes, and you'll understand), but believe me, it's true. I'm also saddened about the fact that someone says about the rate of updating in the Facebook group Webnovel. Sigh, I already informed you readers of the fact about the severance of my internet connection about two weeks ago in the previous chapter, and I also said that I am a very busy student who tries to balance about writing chapters, and studying at the same time. It's very hard, but I still try to update everyday. I am not angry at you readers, after all you are the audience, I'm just saddened that people don't understand my circumstances, anyways, thanks for reading this novel, I'll try to update it everyday, I'll work hard for you guys. Sorry for a chapter that is lesser than 2,000, and not updating more than the ten chapters that you readers have lost during the time of my severance of the internet, and for your information, yes, I just got my internet connection back.
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