After skimming through the barrage of comments, Haruno suddenly switched from Japanese to fluent Chinese and said, "Don't think I can't read what you're saying!"
The chat instantly filled with question marks.
Ichin chuckled. "What, you guys really think just because I'm in Japan now, the people around me can't speak Chinese? Don't forget—our company has a studio in Shanghai too. Titanfall was developed there. The two sides coordinate constantly for our projects, so communication's vital. Naturally, I expect all mid- and upper-level staff to be multilingual. As for these two, they're both top students—learning a new language is nothing for them."
So that's what being a genius is like, huh?
Unbelievable—do geniuses just attract other geniuses?
Not just a rich woman, but a scholar too?!
Rich lady, feed me please—hungry!
Resting her hand on Ichin's shoulder, Haruno smiled and said, "Well, I don't mind dating a foreign guy, but romance isn't my focus right now. My priority's work, so let's not talk about that."
Ichin followed up smoothly, "Exactly. Don't waste your life chasing rich ladies. Even if you find one, most will send you flying with a 'Rich Lady Happy Ball.' Prioritize your safety instead."
Laughter flooded the chat. Ichin continued, "By the way, I saw some people asking about job openings. Our Shanghai studio is always hiring. The pinned post on my profile has all the info—check it out if your specialty matches."
He glanced at the clock. "All right, enough small talk. Before the timer hits zero, let's go over Dark Souls a bit."
"The base game's fully developed now. If you preloaded it, you've probably noticed the day-one patch. So far in testing, there haven't been any bugs that affect gameplay—just minor ones we'll keep fixing later. As for system requirements, they're not too demanding. At 1080p, most PCs can run it smoothly. You can check the Steam page for specifics."
"As for future content, we're planning around two DLC expansions. Story-wise, they won't affect the main game—they're more like side tales. Once development reaches a certain stage, we'll release a Season Pass. If you love Dark Souls, consider picking it up later—it'll be packed with content."
After chatting a bit more, the clock neared midnight—the unlock time.
Checking the time again, Ichin looked at the stream chat.
"As for the next project—don't worry, it's already planned. Once our team returns from their post-launch break, we'll start development. Aside from Dark Souls, we'll have another new title later this year, but that one's slated for the second half."
Five minutes passed in a flash. On the Steam page shown on-stream, the countdown for Dark Souls finally hit zero.
Dark Souls — officially unlocked.
"Woohoo! It's live!"
Ichin's face lit up with joy as he saw the "Play" button appear. Even though he had already played the completed version at the company, seeing the public release go live was still an emotional moment.
Instead of launching his own copy, Ichin switched the stream view to Bilibili's gaming section and started looking for streamers who were playing Dark Souls.
As he browsed, he explained, "We'll hop through different streams one by one. At first, most of them will still be stuck in character creation, so no rush. Let's see if we can find someone who manages to beat the first boss—Gundyr, the Abyss Watcher—within half an hour. If we spot one, I'll gift them a Captain badge. And if we find more skilled players later, we'll send them gifts too. I already topped up my account this afternoon."
Indeed, earlier that day, Ichin had loaded plenty of money into his account—enough to gift a dozen streamers without issue. Of course, he'd still judge based on performance.
He picked a mid-sized streamer and entered their channel, where the player was just finishing the intro cinematic and starting character creation.
Ichin didn't type in chat. Instead, he began commentating, "Character creation in Dark Souls is really detailed. Once you get the hang of it, you can actually recreate characters from other games or anime pretty accurately."
He opened a prepared image folder and showed a few examples made by his team.
"See this? Kratos—looks pretty spot on, right? And this one's Shanks, the Red-Haired pirate from One Piece. As long as the art style isn't too extreme, you can get pretty close. Of course, you can also make ridiculous ones if you want—but I'll let you discover those yourself."
By the time he finished, the streamer had wrapped up their character creation—a quick job, clearly eager to start. They chose a female knight, changed the hairstyle and color, and selected the Knight class as their starting background.
"Ah, Knight class," Ichin commented, smiling faintly. "Seems they watched some of my previous streams. That's a great beginner choice—solid straight sword, a 100% physical defense shield that blocks most attacks, and decent armor stats."
But as he said this, viewers noticed a mischievous grin creeping across his face.
Something about that smile didn't feel right.
That's a setup face if I've ever seen one.
There's a trap incoming.
I'm warning that streamer right now.
Sure enough, moments later, the streamer—having just picked up their Estus Flask in the Cemetery of Ash—glanced at the chat and exclaimed, "Wait, the actual Ichin's here?!"
He quickly checked his follow list and, sure enough, Ichin was watching.
Realizing he'd been spotted, Ichin sent a small gift and typed in chat:
Game just unlocked, I'm doing a quick patrol—go ahead and play.
The streamer laughed nervously and resumed playing.
The early enemies in the Cemetery of Ash were simple—each went down in one or two hits. Anyone with some action-game experience could handle them easily, as long as they watched their stamina bar.
After clearing a few foes, the streamer noticed a narrow side path to the right—and a faint glow in the distance.
"Oh! An item!"
Then, under Ichin's amused gaze, the streamer ran straight toward the light.
Thus, the Hollow's instinct to chase glowing loot was born.
Following the path, the streamer entered a wider, sealed-off area. Apart from the glowing item, a large, crystal-covered creature loomed there, coiled and waiting.
"Whoa, that wasn't in the previous streams!"
So there really was something hidden!
"It's standing up—it's huge! Is that an elite monster?"
And under the collective gaze of thousands of viewers, within ten seconds—
The streamer met their first death in Dark Souls.
---
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