E3 had just concluded, and every major company was busy releasing information about their upcoming games for the next six months — and even into the following year.
As one of the rising stars in the industry, Ichin's studio didn't waste any time either. Right after their announcements, they launched the pre-orders for Dark Souls DLC, available in two formats:
one as a Season Pass containing both DLCs, and the other selling each DLC separately.
The Season Pass, priced at 148 yuan(~21 USD) in the Chinese region, wasn't exactly cheap — yet sales kept climbing nonstop.
According to Ichin's backend data, almost every player who had already cleared Dark Souls chose to buy the Season Pass directly, while only a small fraction opted to purchase individual DLCs.
Aside from Dark Souls, no other titles had opened for pre-order yet — most were still too early in development.
However, there was great news from the Shanghai Studio: Umiko reported that Apex's development was progressing exceptionally smoothly, and internal testing could begin soon.
That was a pleasant surprise — if testing went well, there was even a chance Apex could launch ahead of schedule.
The original release window had been set conservatively for October, but during previous meetings, they'd already agreed that if development went smoothly, they could move up the launch date.
"Yeah, it all depends on the internal test now," Ichin said.
By mid-July, after final exams ended, summer vacation finally arrived.
During this period, the company also brought in a new batch of recruits, assigning them to various development teams, making every team's manpower far more sufficient.
With summer vacation came the final countdown — only one month remained before the first Dark Souls DLC launch.
The Dark Souls team was in full sprint mode now, working from morning till evening without rest.
Fortunately, the project's scale wasn't huge, and with the current manpower, they were confident they could finish DLC 1 before release day.
Meanwhile, there was one more major event — the Apex internal test.
Each match featured 60 players. In addition to the Shanghai team, many members from the Tokyo office were also participating.
Because of the time difference and everyone's schedules, they decided not to run it during the day. After some discussion, everyone agreed to hold the test on Saturday, gathering at the office to play together.
Though officially called a "test," it was really just an excuse to play games — and enjoy lunch at the office together. No one complained.
Inside the office, after installing the test client, Ichin glanced at Utaha and Yukino beside him.
"You two sure you're not joining?"
Utaha nodded. "I need to revise the script these next two days. After discussing with the director, we decided to add a few more scenes. I have to bring the updated version to the studio on Monday."
Yukino added, "I still can't get used to first-person shooters."
That was understandable. Many people struggled with FPS games — the constant camera motion easily caused dizziness.
"Alright then," Ichin smiled. "I'll just team up with Eriri and Ruri."
He'd originally planned to team up with Sakura Nene, who was amazing at shooting games, but unsurprisingly, she'd already joined Umiko's team, bringing Aoba along with her — so Ichin had to adjust his lineup.
Not a big deal, though. Ruri Gokou was a solid player too.
As for Eriri, as long as she didn't drag them down, Ichin didn't expect any pinpoint sniping from her anyway.
Once in-game, Ichin invited Eriri and Ruri to his squad and asked over voice chat,
"Can you guys hear me? Any issue with the mic quality?"
Eriri's slightly excited voice came through, "No problem, it's perfectly clear!"
Ruri followed right after, "Mm, all good here."
"Alright then," Ichin said, "I'll create the lobby."
He opened a public room and dropped a message in the internal testing group. Within just a few seconds, the 60-player lobby filled up instantly — and the match began.
When they entered the character selection screen, Ichin asked,
"So, who are you two picking?"
Eriri immediately replied, "I want Wraith!"
Ruri Gokou followed, "Then I'll take Bangalore."
(T/N: There is a city in India which also called Bangalore xd.)
Ichin nodded. "Alright, then I'll go first — I'll pick Bloodhound."
Once the three of them confirmed their choices, they quickly moved into the loading screen.
At the current stage of development, both maps were already complete. The plan for the day was to test the first map in the morning, then switch to the second one in the afternoon.
That morning's map was Kings Canyon.
When the jump phase began, Ichin said over voice chat,
"I'll handle the drop. Where do you two want to land? Since it's our first round, how about we play it safe and pick a spot that's a bit farther away?"
Ruri glanced at the map. "Let's go west — how about the Airbase?"
[IMAGE HERE]
The drop ship's flight path was moving straight north from the very bottom of the map. The Airbase, located in the lower-left corner, wasn't a bad choice at all.
"I'm fine with that! Anywhere's good!" Eriri said energetically.
"Alright then, Airbase it is," Ichin confirmed.
With that, he pressed the jump key, and all three dove from the ship.
Ichin adjusted his trajectory, steering toward their marked destination.
During the descent, Eriri, who wasn't controlling the drop, began freely rotating her camera to look around.
After glancing behind them, she suddenly shouted in panic,
"Uh-oh! We've got company — two squads are following us!"
Ichin quickly checked the sky — sure enough, two enemy teams were dropping right toward their location.
"Don't panic," he said calmly. "We'll hit the ground first and grab weapons — that's our advantage."
A few seconds later, Ichin adjusted the glide perfectly, and the trio landed right in the center of three supply bins on the Airbase floor.
"Move, move, move — grab gear!" he ordered, sprinting his character toward the nearest supply crate.
Luck was on his side — inside was an R-99 SMG and some light ammo.
On the other side, Ruri announced, "Got a blue armor and a Peacekeeper!"
"Ugh… Mozambique…" Eriri's disappointed voice came through, making both Ichin and Ruri chuckle.
Ichin held back a laugh. "It's fine, at least you've got a gun. They've landed already — Eriri, go loot the plane over there, quick!"
"Okay, okay! On it!" she replied.
Ichin watched as Wraith — Eriri's character — dashed into the open cargo plane, clutching her tiny Mozambique pistol.
A moment later, she shouted excitedly, "Yes! A Longbow!"
Ichin nearly facepalmed. No, that's not good news! You don't even have a scope!
Sure enough, before her excitement could fade, gunfire erupted, aimed directly at Eriri's position.
"Waaah! Don't shoot me! This sniper rifle sucks!"
And then she went down. Despite having two weapons, she had no armor and no idea how to dodge properly. A burst of bullets tore through her, knocking her to the ground.
"Teammates! Help! Revive me, hurry!" she cried.
Ichin ignored her for the moment, regrouping quickly with Ruri, both readying their weapons to face the incoming enemies.
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