Artificial Fantasy

[Gaiden] Halloween Anniversary

Midnight Dragon Studios wasn't a new game studio during the advent of [ADVR]. Rather, it started out as one of the studios headed by a big-name publisher with several triple-A titles under its belt. But in 2046, the head developer left the company to start his very own independent studio where he used all of his experience and passion to create the games he and every gamer would want. From RPGs to strategy to first-person shooters, most of them garnered huge praise from critics and players alike. While he had some misses, he took their criticisms at heart and avoided temptations and greed that most companies were leaning in these years corrupted his beliefs.

Eventually, he met a kindred spirit on a Halloween night online. An anonymous author who had written several fantasy best-sellers in recent years. This meeting and the recent VR breakthrough became those very sparks that would give birth to the world's first VRMMO released on [ADVR].

That developer was Wilbur Giffard and the writer in question was Wayne Enigma, the pioneers behind <Isekai Online>.

-----

[Players Behind the Brotherly Duo]

"Wow... I never knew Midnight Studios had a lot of history before [ADVR] existed."

Kazuki wasn't kidding when I saw the brochure he got from the lobby counter. I barely heard about them whenever Zac was talking about video games before [Isekai] and I was surprised at how many games this Wilber guy made before [ADVR].

"I'm more surprised that this year is their 5th anniversary and they opened their studio the same day as Halloween. And [Isekai] just had their first anniversary a few months ago," I said as looked around the venue packed with guests and influencers. "To think Dad managed to get us some invites to their exclusive party before their livestream celebration in a few hours. It's too bad Zac and Damon aren't beta testers like us. Then again, Zac might be too busy trying to get a date for the Halloween college party back home..."

"Speaking of Halloween, I've been meaning to ask you about something, Hayate..."

"Hmm?" I raised my eyebrow. "What about it, Kaz?"

"...Are you sure that's your Halloween costume?"

Ugh... If he meant by my yellow jacket, green scarf, brown fingerless gloves, grey shirt, green shorts, and brown boots with a toy bow and a bag of arrow darts, I can't deny it. This party allows us to cosplay as our characters from the game and I'm not much of a creative guru like Mom and Kazuki. "Give me a break. This is all I could afford thanks to my college tuition and part-time job. At least yours is much better because of your Art Club friends and Mom."

Looking at Kazuki's outfit, he's much closer to his character, <Kazu>. With a white robe Mom bought along with a star belt and staff resembling his equipment, I'm not surprised how he was able to create his own magic tools without any guide at all.

"I can credit them for making a real-life version of my [Plasma Staff], but the rest is all Mom and Annie's cousin. I wouldn't got this cool costume without their help," Kazuki explained. "You, on the other hand, might need Arin's "fashion emergency" course as she calls it."

"Please... Don't push it..." I swear, if she laughed like with Zac and Damon, I'm not logging into the game for weeks. "But seriously, wouldn't you imagine if the game still runs for 5 years, we might still play it? If anything, we might get bored doing the same old thing."

"True. But I can't say the same if we're around."

I smiled when I heard those words. "Even if we drift apart as we get older?"