Chapter 67: The Self-Cultivation of the Unlucky

As the days passed, the release dates for "Sacred Spring Guardians" and "I Am MT" drew closer.

Ben Quinn was feeling a bit anxious these days because the hype for the "I Am MT" anime had been building up for a long time. More viewers were following the anime, the content of the Azeroth universe was expanding, and more players were discussing it on forums, with even some fan art and fiction appearing.

Even though this anime was still far from becoming a blockbuster like some in the parallel world, it posed a threat to Ben because "Sacred Spring Guardians" didn't have this additional boost.

Generation Entertainment's channels were powerful, but that didn't mean every game they promoted would be a hit. Ben was worried he might fail.

His unease grew stronger after roughly researching the content of the "Azeroth universe."

The world-building was too grand!

Two factions, several races, and such a vast story background! Not to mention the significant cities and scenes, the anime already had more than a dozen characters, far more prosperous than the content of "Sacred Spring Guardians."

What kind of game was Alex Parker making? Could he recreate all this?

Ben didn't believe it was possible to recreate these scenes in a mobile game. First, Alex was only a C-level designer with a background in casual games, so his abilities were limited. Second, four months simply wasn't enough time to create so much content.

Even if Alex started developing right after "Plants vs. Zombies" launched, the time was still insufficient.

Moreover, what about testing time? Feedback and revisions? If the game launched with many issues, wouldn't it be suicidal?

Ben was baffled entirely now.

To win, Alex needed to create a game that comprehensively surpassed "Plants vs. Zombies" in quality. But from Alex's current actions, he was making anime and websites. How much time was really left for game development?

Ben could only keep revising "Sacred Spring Guardians." The real winner would be known only after the games launched.

...

These days, Lily Emerson was happy, while Paul Wilder was not.

During the testing phase of "I Am MT," Alex gave everyone 8,000 stones daily, which allowed them to easily draw ten cards.

Additionally, based on daily arena rankings, there were extra recharge rewards.

These were recharges, not system gifts, meaning everyone's VIP levels kept rising.

This setup was mainly to test the power gap between high and mid-level VIPs and to see if the players' experiences matched Alex's expectations.

As a result, with equal money, card combination skills and luck were evident.

Lily explored formations the most and had great luck with her ten-card draws, consistently topping the arena rankings.

Paul's unlucky nature was fully exposed. His ten-card draws often resulted in only monster purple cards, making it costlier for him to get the main character purple cards, almost driving him to despair.

Now, in the arena, Paul was utterly dominated by Lily.

If it weren't for Alex giving out stones daily, Paul might have quit in frustration.

Paul complained to Alex multiple times, saying the game was too unfriendly to unlucky players, making it unplayable.

Alex wanted to retort, "Have you heard of Onmyoji, my friend?"

However, considering Paul's miserable experience, Alex rechecked the drop rates of various cards several times.

The final check results were astonishing: Paul's card draw probability was far below Alex's set average. It seemed the unlucky streak was inherent...

Alex could only sigh, "Mystical forces can't save the unlucky, and spending money won't change fate!"

With two days left until the game's launch, Alex had made numerous adjustments to the game's values, including level difficulty, upgrade experience, card stats, VIP benefits, etc., achieving what he believed was a perfect state.

The anime hype was almost ready, too. Though it wouldn't reach the level of popularity in the previous world, Alex estimated that the conversion rate would be enough to meet the basic user numbers for the "I Am MT" mobile game.

Reaching this point was enough for Alex.

When the game officially launched, the test data would be cleared, and Lily and the others would play on the official server like everyone else.

Paul was still diligently farming dungeons.

Lily admired her formation and said to Paul, "Stop struggling. The data will be cleared the day after tomorrow. What's the point of farming now?"

Paul didn't even look up, "Standing guard till the last moment!"

Lily: "..."

Now, Lily and the others were thinking about how to start quickly in the new server and which formations were the strongest. Only Paul was tirelessly farming.

It seemed the unlucky ones were more dedicated than average players.

Suddenly, Paul jumped up from his seat, ecstatic, "I got a purple card! A purple card!"

Jessica Thompson came over, "Really? Congratulations! You finally got a purple card!"

Lily said, "Wow, even you have a lucky moment?"

Alex patted Paul's shoulder, "Great, you're the last to get a purple card, but still, congratulations."

Paul said excitedly, "I need to take a screenshot! To commemorate!"

Everyone else looked at him with sympathetic expressions.

In some specific elite stages, there was a small chance of dropping a complete monster purple card. Alex set the drop rate at around 0.5%.

This setting was designed to give players a pleasant surprise.

However, what the others didn't know was that Alex had manipulated this probability.

While the base drop rate was 0.5%, Alex added an extra condition: the probability would increase by 3% daily based on the account creation time.

After the first purple card declined, the rate reverted to 0.5%. If no purple card declined for a long time, the rate rose again but did not exceed 5%.

This design aimed to let most players experience the joy of dropping a purple card without devaluing it.

Paul's current purple card drop rate was actually over 80%...

Others had gotten their purple cards two weeks ago, and Paul only got his now. Alex considered it a miracle.

"If I develop Onmyoji in the future, should I inform Paul...?"

Alex began pondering this profound question.