[Ding!]
[System Update: The Great Leaderboard is Live!]
Fang stood in the center of his command room, surrounded by holographic screens. The countdown to the next Culling was ticking away in the corner of his eye, a constant reminder of death.
But right now, something else was annoying him.
A giant golden list floated in the center of the Global Chat interface.
[Multiverse Game Rankings (Based on Active Player Count)]
1. [Happy Farm Online] - Dev: FarmerJoe - 54,000 Players
2. [High School Romance] - Dev: LoveGuru - 42,000 Players
3. [Pet Simulator X] - Dev: FluffyKing - 38,000 Players
...
8,421. [The Abyssal Tower] - Dev: Fang - 215 Players
Fang stared at the number. 8,421.
"Quality over quantity," Fang spat. "My players are warriors. Their players are clicking on vegetables."
But the System didn't care about warrior spirit. The System cared about numbers. If he stayed at Rank 8,000, he would never get the exposure needed to survive the next Culling.
He opened the [Global Chat]. The top developers were gloating.
[FarmerJoe]: "Just planted a new field of magic pumpkins! Come join, guys! Relaxing vibes only. No dying! <3"
[LoveGuru]: "New prom night event! Who will be the Prom Queen? Join now!"
[HardcoreDev_66]: "This is unfair. Combat games have higher churn. Players quit when they die. How can we compete with farming sims?"
[ProStreamer_X]: "Actually, combat games can be #1. But the Developer needs to be a star. Look at [Dragon_Slayer_Online]. The Dev enters the game himself. Fans go crazy for that."
Fang paused.
"Enters the game himself?"
He quickly searched the System Shop. He had ignored the "Personal" tab because he was focused on building the world. He thought a Developer should be a god, unseen and untouched.
But if the market demanded a mascot... he would give them a monster.
[Feature: Avatar Protocol]
[Description: Allows the Developer to project their consciousness into the Game World as a unique entity.]
[Cost: 5,000 Creation Coins.]
[Risk: If your Avatar is killed by a Player, you lose 1 Level of Developer Rank and 50% of your funds.]
"High stakes," Fang whispered. "If I die to my own players, I lose everything."
He looked at his funds. [5,800 Coins].
It was almost all he had.
"Do it."
[Ding!]
[Purchase Complete: Avatar Protocol.]
[Initializing Character Creator...]
A mirror appeared in the void. Fang stepped in front of it.
He wasn't going to make a Level 1 character. He wasn't going to be a "Player." He was the Creator. He needed to look like the Final Boss.
[Select Class Base:]
[1. Warrior]
[2. Mage]
[3. Rogue]
[4. Administrator (Unique)]
Fang chose [Administrator].
[Appearance Customization.]
He swiped through the options rapidly. He chose a long, black trench coat with a high collar that obscured the lower half of his face. His eyes were set to glow with a faint, digital blue light. On his back, he equipped a weapon that wasn't in the loot table.
[Weapon: The Ban Hammer (Cosmetic Skin for 'Greatsword of Judgment')]
"Name," Fang muttered.
He typed: [Admin].
[Warning: This name will be highlighted in Red. Players cannot block or mute you.]
"Perfect."
He hit [Enter World].
Location: The Tower of Infinity - Floor 5 (The Lava Room).
The atmosphere was tense. A party of ten players, a temporary alliance between The Iron Legion and The Void Wizards, was pinned down.
"The donations keep spawning Minotaurs!" TankTop screamed, holding his shield up as a massive axe slammed into it.
"I'm out of mana!" GlassCannon yelled, chugging a blue potion. "The viewers hate us! They want us to wipe!"
The floating camera drones of the [Global Broadcast] were buzzing around them, streaming their struggle to thousands of viewers on the Hub.
[Viewer Count: 12,000]
[Chat]:
[User99]: SPAWN MORE TRAPS!
[RichGuy]: I sent 500 coins! Make the lava rise!
The lava was rising. The players were backed into a corner.
"It's over," DarkElf_Waifu said, looking at the boiling magma. "We can't clear this."
Suddenly, the air pressure in the room dropped. The chat on the broadcast screen froze.
A sound, like a glitched bass drop, shook the entire tower.
[SYSTEM ALERT]
[THE ADMINISTRATOR HAS ENTERED THE INSTANCE.]
The ceiling of the fifth floor shattered.
A figure descended, wrapped in digital blue lightning. He didn't land softly. He slammed into the ground in the center of the lava pool.
The lava splashed, but it didn't burn him. He stood on the magma, his black coat fluttering in the heat.
TankTop lowered his shield. "Who... who is that?"
The Minotaurs turned away from the players. Their AI recognized a higher threat.
Fang looked at the three Elite Minotaurs surrounding him.
"You are disrupting the flow," Fang said. His voice wasn't his own; it was modulated, deep and terrifying.
He raised his hand. He didn't cast a spell. He didn't swing a sword.
He snapped his fingers.
[Admin Command: /Delete]
The three Minotaurs didn't die. Their textures stretched into infinity, and then they popped out of existence.
[Ding!]
[Enemy Entities Removed.]
Silence filled the room. The players were stunned. The viewers were stunned.
Then, Fang turned his glowing blue eyes toward the floating camera drone. He wasn't looking at the players. He was looking at the audience.
"You think this is funny?" Fang asked the stream. "You think throwing money to torture my players is entertainment?"
He walked across the lava, the liquid rock solidifying under his boots with every step, creating a bridge. He walked right up to the camera lens.
"You want a show?" Fang whispered. "Then come and play. Watching is for cowards."
[Ding!]
[Global System Announcement: The Developer 'Fang' has issued a Challenge!]
[New Event: Hunt the Admin.]
[Objective: Kill the Avatar 'Admin'.]
[Reward: 1,000,000 Gold Coins + Custom Legendary Weapon Design.]
[Location: The Tower of Infinity.]
The broadcast feed cut to black for a split second, then returned with a new overlay: [BOSS RAID: LIVE].
The chat exploded.
[User_Slayer]: DID HE JUST CHALLENGE THE WHOLE SERVER?
[User_RichGuy]: I'm logging in. I want that Legendary Weapon.
[User_FarmerJoe]: Wait, I want to kill a Dev too! Farming is boring!
Fang turned to the party of players shivering in the corner. TankTop, GlassCannon, and the rest looked terrified.
"Get up," Fang commanded.
TankTop scrambled to his feet. "Are... are you the Dev?"
"I am the difficulty," Fang corrected. "And right now, you are pathetic."
He waved his hand.
[Admin Gift: Full Heal.]
[Admin Gift: Mana Restore.]
Green light bathed the players.
"I cleared the trash," Fang said, pointing to the stairs leading up to Floor 6. "But the next floor has a dragon. If you die, you die. I won't save you twice."
He began to levitate, rising up through the hole in the ceiling.
"But if you reach Floor 10..." Fang looked down. "I'll be waiting."
He vanished in a flash of blue code.
[Ding!]
[Engagement Spike Detected!]
Fang returned to his physical body in the command room for a brief second to check the stats.
The graph was vertical.
[Active Players: 215 -> 350 -> 580...]
Players were logging off from [Happy Farm] and [Pet Simulator]. Why? Because farming was safe. But hunting a Developer? Hunting the creator of the game for a million gold?
That was the ultimate dopamine hit.
[Global Ranking Updated.]
8,421 -> 5,200 -> 3,100...
He was climbing thousands of ranks in minutes.
But now, Fang had a problem. He had promised a fight on Floor 10. He had to be there. And he had to be strong enough to not get one-shot by a zerg rush of 500 players.
"System," Fang said, sweat dripping down his forehead. "Enable [Manual Skill Override] for the Avatar."
He wasn't going to rely on stats. He was going to rely on his own combat experience from his past life.
He equipped the Avatar again.
"Let them come," Fang grinned. "I'll show them why the game is rated Hardcore."