Also, because of the limited number of game cabins, the game had been promoted by hunger marketing.
Though many people hated hunger marketing, if the product was excellent and irreplaceable, it would inevitably be considered rare and precious when hunger marketing was adopted as a policy.
Besides, the game was claimed to give players a second life or additional time of learning, so too many people were craving a game cabin.
Too many companies and forces were hoping to acquire the technologies of the game too.
Therefore, more than ten million people crowded in the stream channel of the trial the moment it started.
Then, the number increased and soon surpassed thirty million.
Roland estimated that it would go beyond a hundred million later on.
There was no telling how the program was supported, but the server did not crash even with such a huge number of people.
By the time the trial officially started, more than eighty million viewers had entered the channel, but the streaming was still smooth.
Normally speaking, the comment function was shut off in such channels.
But someone was fast enough to type and send “moron” the moment the channel was activated.
The comment function was turned off in another second, and this comment was the only one in the whole channel.
Roland couldn’t help but chuckle when he saw that.
He knew that the guy would be kept in custody for a few days for disrespecting the court.
But the trial ended with a surprising but not unreasonable result.
The plaintiff argued that the game developers ruined the experience of the seven hundred players by maliciously setting up a certain function in the game. They hoped that the black leaf could be canceled, and that they could be properly compensated.
After the repetitive deaths and resurrections, they were almost back to level two.
The defendant, however, maintained that the function was deployed by the strong AI in the game, not by the developers of the game, and that the players could cancel the black leaves on their own.
Roland laughed aloud when he heard that.
Indeed, from a magical point of view, if the players grew as strong as the six-winged angel who judged them, it would be possible for them to wipe out the black leaf marks.
But the problem was that the players would be killed every time they appeared in public. How could they grow strong when their level was dropping?
The judge was rather confused to listen to their arguments. He was not a player, so he asked the two parties to explain the game terms to him, which took almost half an hour.
Then, the judge was still confused. He asked, “Do you mean that historic events like the Crusade are replayed in the game?”
Both the plaintiff and the defendant were in deep self-doubt.
The players before their computers, on the other hand, all laughed aloud.
After that, the plaintiff and the defendant argued again about the new points.
Though the judge wasn’t familiar with games, he was more inclined toward consumers. So, he ruled in the end that, because of the poor quality of the game, the game company would pay for this trial and buy back those players’ cabins for twice the original price.
When he made the ruling, the judge put on a sophisticated smile.
The plaintiff’s lawyer was dumbfounded, and the defendant’s lawyer gravely announced that they would accept the ruling, but the delight on his face suggested that he wasn’t really disappointed.
Roland turned off the channel and returned to the forum. He found that everybody was talking merrily.
Everybody said that the members of Silver Wings and Jalan Temple had won. They made a 100% profit after a year and a half’s investment. That was even better than investing in real estate.
In the following half-month, more and more black leaf players quit the game and sold their cabins.
They didn’t have a choice, because they would be hunted whenever they were in the presence of a reverend of the Church of Light or the Church of Life.
Most players of the two guilds had been reduced to level zero. It was impossible to recreate a character, so they could only sell their cabins.
The cabins they sold did not go to the market at all but fell into the hands of certain people.
Then, certain players with arrogant tones emerged on the forum.
They were all talking about collecting gold coins and equipment and establishing connections.
They sounded polite, but there was undisguised condescension in their words.
Roland’s ID was pinged most. The rookies who recently acquired the game cabins offered to buy his gold coins, his equipment, and even his ID. After all, Roland’s character in the game was already a mature Mage, who was also in the company of the most beautiful woman in Hollevin.
Their offers were very high, but Roland wasn’t interested at all. He simply put his account on “No Disturbance” mode.
He continued his studies in the magic tower, though he was slightly worried about Andonara.
But now and then, the players posted videos of their encounters with Queen Andonara on the forum, offering updates on Andonara to Roland.
He was much more reassured to know that she was fine.
About a month after the tragedy in Winterwind, Roland estimated that Andonara would be back soon. But two unannounced guests came to him earlier.
They were Hawk and Link.
Neither of them had a black leaf on their face, and they were still level five.
“It’s great that you were not involved in the mess at Winterwind.” Roland asked Vivian to serve fruit wine to them and said, “I thought that you…”
Hawk shook his head and said, “We had been ostracized from the management of Silver Wings before that. We didn’t even know about the gold mine.”
“Now that Silver Wings is gone, what will you do next?” asked Roland.
“We’ll visit other countries.” Hawk grabbed Link’s hand and said, “Hollevin is the base of the players. A lot of people know us. Though we did not participate in the incident in Winterwind, we might be affected. That’s why we’re here to say goodbye to you. Also, there’s something that you might be interested in.”
“What is it?”
“We found something interesting in Bluewater Harbor,” Link explained. “There’s a strange seal on the island ten kilometers away from the harbor. Inside the seal is a longsword that emits the same blue flames that your woman does!”
