Heroes' Prison

Chapter 206 - 204: Advertising

In the blink of an eye, three days had passed.

All eyes around the world focused on Los Angeles, USA, as the awards ceremony was about to officially commence.

The Era of Corporation would hold a grand opening ceremony at 8 p.m. on June 4th, Los Angeles time. Attendees would include top luminaries from around the world in politics, economics, culture, sports, and more, with the most anticipated guests being top players like Dao Feng and Dragon Spike, including the Pope himself.

Huang Yi had also received an invitation from the system to attend, but he couldn’t make it to the scene, so he had no choice but to decline. He wasn’t the only top player unable to attend; others, including Thunder God, Heavenly Dao, and Pharaoh, also could not make it due to various reasons, which was considered a significant regret for this annual festival.

The Second World’s annual festival would last for five days, presenting over two hundred awards. The top five awards—Best Group, Most Charismatic, Best Guild, Best Newcomer, and Best Individual—were to be presented on the last day as the grand finale.

Countless people were counting down to the commencement of this grand event.

This morning, Huang Yi logged on early and began his two daily routines.

First, he took out the medicine bottle from his storage ring to check it.

The bottle was a purchase from the traveling merchant Kula Mingyue, acquired with some Unique Achievement Points. It randomly produced one potion a day, the effects of which were entirely random, and it could even generate legendary potions capable of insta-killing others.

Huang Yi studied the bottle, which had produced a drop of purplish-red potion that coalesced without dispersing and emitted blood-red vapors, exuding an aura of fury.

[Junior Berserk Potion] (Grade D, Magic Item - Potion)

Critical hit rate +5%, attack power +5%, attack speed +5%, lasting for 10 days.

Seeing this potion, Huang Yi nodded slightly. The bottle seldom produced superior potions and mostly yielded trash, but today’s was relatively good. Although the enhancement was not high, the duration was long, lasting 10 days—the longest he had ever seen.

Huang Yi uncorked the bottle, tipped his head back, and poured the potion into his mouth. The potion took immediate effect, boosting his three attack-related attributes by 5%.

Next, he tossed the bottle back into the storage ring to check again tomorrow. It was like a Pandora’s box that offered a little surprise each day.

Huang Yi went on to do his second piece of daily business, which was to check the success rate of his War Souls.

The day he awakened the Defense War Soul, he pushed it to the 5th Stage in one go, costing him a large amount of experience points, and his level dropped from 55 to 54.

However, his strength did not decrease but rather increased. The Defense War Soul alone had provided him with a 15% increase in defense points.

Of course, this was a very unfortunate case as every stage had hit the lowest value. He didn’t mind, knowing he could reset the stages at any time. If he wished, he could re-allocate points to the first stage right now.

Today, Huang Yi first checked the success rate of the 9th Stage of the Life Soul. The determination was still a failure; 2,000 energy points were wasted just like that, instantly used up.

He then checked the success rate for the 6th Stage of the Defense War Soul, which was a success this time. He immediately chose to upgrade, which increased his defense by 7%, finally hitting the maximum value. However, his level dropped again from 54 to 53!

After seeing these two system determinations, Huang Yi’s 3,000 energy points were almost depleted. The consumption was alarming, and without that box of Grade C Energy Stones, he wouldn’t have been willing to waste so much.

Now, with both of his War Souls activated, he had unlocked 14 stages, which combined provided a 41% increase in life and a 22% increase in defense. However, since each player could only activate a maximum of 15 stages, he still had one slot remaining, reserved for the 9th Stage of the Life Soul.

The plan he was following was similar to one that-top-tier players were chasing, commonly known as "9+6", which involved maxing out the first War Soul to 9 stages and then taking the second War Soul to 6 stages, making up 15 stages. This was how top players like Dao Feng operated.

Of course, many players couldn’t achieve this, failing to enhance the 9th Stage, so they had to opt for the "8+7" approach—upgrading the first War Soul to 8 stages and the second to 7 stages. Although this was easier to achieve and the attribute boosts were less prominent than the former method, they were still significant.

These two strategies shared one thing in common: they both skipped the third War Soul, since the first two had maximized the 15-stage limit, thus saving the cost of awakening a third War Soul.

But for Huang Yi, reaching the 9th Stage of the Life Soul didn’t mean the end of his War Souls journey. On the contrary, it was just the beginning. The route he took was entirely different from anyone else’s; he embarked on a theoretically perfect path of War Souls! Currently, this path existed only in the speculations of forum players, and no one had managed to achieve it.

Next, Huang Yi continued to level grind in the Skeleton Ocean, while his avatar kept making its way towards the treasure location.

"Scorched Earth!"

"Judgment"

"End of the World"

Huang Yi activated three wide-area attacks in quick succession and, in the next moment, a sky-obscuring barrage of skill effects appeared within a two-hundred-meter radius. Countless skeletons struggled and screamed within it, shattering into broken bones without a corpse to be found. Huang Yi’s Experience Points escalated noticeably.

He was currently in a cluster of elite monsters, a location within the Skeleton Ocean that was closer to the center. The monsters here were all elite monsters, a far cry from the ordinary ones at the periphery. Huang Yi needed to unleash these three large-scale attacks in one go to kill them.

However, further in, he was powerless; it was filled with Level Fifty-Sixty bosses that he couldn’t defeat at all. It was for this reason that he could not enter Dragon City, which was heavily protected, and had to keep killing monsters outside while waiting for an opportunity.

In this manner, Huang Yi kept killing over and over, harvesting a huge amount of Experience Points.

After some time, Huang Yi leveled up to 54, but his leveling speed had slowed down significantly.

He estimated the actual time, and it should be close to 1 PM now. He immediately left the Skeleton Ocean, found a safe spot to log out and entered the forum.

Meanwhile, over 90% of players around the world were doing the same as him, either leaving The Second World or going onto the forums, or turning on the TV or their handheld photon brain, or gathering with thousands of citizens in public squares to look up at the huge TV walls.

Because shortly, the annual festival of The Second World would begin with its opening ceremony!

At that time, major global media including Xinhua News Agency, Associated Press, Reuters, BBC, NHK and others will broadcast live with the highest specifications, accompanied by commentary in various languages. The global viewership was expected to exceed 90%!

This is the most solemn celebration for humanity each year, equivalent to a great festival shared by the whole world. Only Era Corporation in the entire world has such a rallying power; even the World Federation could not attract so many people’s attention.

Located in Rose Prison, on an island in the Eastern Pacific with a timezone of Nine Eastern Districts, Huang Yi’s location was one hour ahead of Beijing Time in China and 17 hours ahead of West Eight District where Los Angeles is situated. At Rose Prison, it was June 5th, 12:55 PM, and in Los Angeles, it was June 4th, 19:55. Five more minutes and the annual festival of The Second World would officially begin.

Huang Yi clicked on a sticky post on the forum’s homepage, which was an exclusive broadcasting spot purchased by China’s CCTV for a hefty sum, also the most expensive among all the broadcast channels.

At that moment, the video was still playing advertisements, and the ad slots during this period were incredibly expensive, featuring all world-class brands.

"A knife represents sharpness; the blade is the epitome of sharpness; I am the blade, and I am also a Ferrari. In the year 2122, the new Ferrari Blade Series concept car is officially unveiled!" An eye-catching advertisement played in the video, where a suave young man in his late twenties drove a sharp-designed, silver-white sports car, speeding confidently between skyscrapers, filled with a trendy and artistic vibe.

This man was none other than Dao Feng himself, the face of Ferrari.

Top-tier experts like Dragon Spike and Pharaoh were also darlings of advertisements, commanding endorsement fees higher than most international movie stars. In fact, since Huang Yi’s meteoric rise, some top international brands had wanted to shoot advertisement with him, planning to launch a product line named "Instakill," but no company could get in touch with him, marking a regret in the advertising industry.

However, Huang Yi wasn’t tempted. He didn’t lack money nor did he wish to be in the spotlight. Even if someone could contact him, he wouldn’t do advertisements; he only wanted to be a man behind the scenes.

At this moment, the advertisement switched to the next one—

"I’m Sakura, the adorable boy from Japan. My sisters often carry a strange thing in their bags, saying that with it, they can hike, water ski, play ball, ice skate, all happily without worry! That thing is Surelle Sanitary Napkins! Now introducing the new Sakura series, longer, thinner, and more comfortable. If you love me, stick with me!"

In the video, a delicate and pretty boy held a white sanitary napkin in his hands, lovingly rubbing it against his face. With his clear, fair complexion, he looked like a girl, embodying Japan’s most outstanding newcomer this year, Sakura.

"Coca-Cola initiates the countdown for The Second World’s annual festival, 10, 9, 8, 7..." Finally, after several minutes of advertisements, the countdown to the opening ceremony of the annual festival began!

————

I need recommendation tickets! Everyone with a Starting Point account has them, and you can cast your vote every day! Thank you!