CHAPTER 70: CORTANA’S AVATAR

At that moment, everyone watching the livestream let out a long sigh. Some couldn’t hold back their tears.

In the game, PureWhite stood silently in place, a heavy breath escaping him. His heart was a tangle of emotions, bittersweet and conflicted.

In the distance, the six newborn Sea Emperor hatchlings were still nuzzling against their mother’s massive head, as if trying to say their final goodbyes.

They had barely entered this world, yet on the very first day of their lives, they were losing the one who had brought them into it. It was a cruel fate... yet, at least, they had been born at all.

When their mother finally fell silent, the hatchlings turned and swam toward PureWhite. They waved their stubby forelimbs and wiggled their tentacles, their gestures almost comically adorable.

The young Sea Emperors hadn’t yet developed the ability to communicate telepathically, so PureWhite couldn’t speak with them. Still, they were calm and gentle, like giant, harmless puppies, circling him in the water.

Looking at those six big eyed creatures blinking up at him, PureWhite couldn’t help but reach out a hand, half in instinct, half in hesitation.

One of the hatchlings seemed to understand his intent. It swam forward and pressed its large, rounded head gently into his palm.

The chat exploded instantly.

"Whoa! Baby Sea Emperor let him pet it!"

"That’s so smart!"

"Of course. Their mother was brilliant, why wouldn’t her children be?"

"Man, just for this scene alone, I feel like I’ve beaten the game."

"I want to pet them too... but I don’t want to see the mother die. Ugh, I’m torn."

After letting PureWhite pet them for a while, the hatchlings chirped softly, then turned away, wagging their tails as they swam toward the shimmering portal in the distance.

They were heading off to face the new world on their own.

PureWhite watched their small figures disappear through the portal, a faint smile breaking through the heaviness in his chest. At least... at least he had done something good here.

"Alright, everyone," his voice came through the stream, "that’s the end of this guide. The rest is straightforward, now that the disease is cured, you just need to shut down the canon, build the rocket, and leave the planet. That’s the ending."

He chuckled lightly. "I’m not going to show that part. I’ll leave it as a little suspense for you all, you can experience the rest yourselves. I also skipped a lot of exploration, so if you’re the type to take your time, don’t rush like I did."

The screen faded to black.

As expected, PureWhite’s high quality walkthrough immediately blew up online, hot search trends, pinned videos, reposts spreading across forums and even overseas. By now, this had become routine for him.

But the game’s ending had sparked heated discussion everywhere.

"I didn’t think Subnautica would leave me feeling this conflicted, shocked, sad, and somehow... happy."

"Yeah. We helped the babies live, but their mother still died."

"Classic move, one last emotional gut punch!"

"That ending hurt more than I expected... I actually cried."

"And the Pioneers? Wiped out by their own technology. That irony stings."

"These devs are on another level, the atmosphere, the story, everything’s perfect."

"Expensive game, though!"

"I’d rather skip the ending if it meant the mother could live... that scene crushed me."

The truth was, Subnautica didn’t end like most games. There was no final boss to defeat, no climactic monster battle, just a living, breathing alien world, presented raw and unfiltered, letting players feel every rise and fall along the journey.

It was already being hailed as another masterpiece from New World.

---BREAK---

That afternoon, not long after the video dropped, Natalie found Tony, who had just come home from shopping, and rushed over, eyes still a little red.

"Tony! Someone’s already posted a full game clear for Subnautica!" she blurted.

"That fast?" Tony raised an eyebrow, amused. "Tch, some people really no life these things."

"Do you know who uploaded it?" she pressed.

"Who?"

"PureWhite!"

"Him again?" Tony laughed. "That guy’s got talent. Guess I’ll have to make the next game harder, can’t let him breeze through again."

But Natalie wasn’t interested in banter. She leaned forward, urgency in her voice. "Forget that, tell me, is there any way to save the Sea Emperor’s mother?"

Tony glanced at her and noticed the tear stains on her cheeks. She must have just watched the ending.

"...Sorry," he said after a pause. "In the story, she’s fated to die. There’s no saving her."

"Ugh! You’re too cruel!" she protested, grabbing his arm. "How could you just... write her death like that?!"

"I’m heartless, remember?" Tony replied dryly. "Games are like life, there’s joy, but also loss." Then he sighed. "Besides, putting out guides too early spoils the surprise for people who haven’t played yet. They miss out on the unknown."

Natalie shot him a sharp look. "Oh, please. You just mean you won’t get the fun of tormenting players anymore."

"First you have the Warper to drop the player into a pool of acid, then you hide a Ghost Leviathan inside a giant skull, and on top of that you design a Sea Dragon Leviathan that breathes fire, are you out of your mind?!"

"If people didn’t watch the videos first, do you know how many players would get traumatized because of you?!"

Natalie’s rapid fire complaints washed over Tony like waves hitting a rock. He didn’t even blink. He just shrugged and said flatly, "You don’t get it. This is pain and pleasure. Sure, people curse at me online, but they all admit it, ’Isn’t Subnautica fun?’.

In games, the real joy comes from the satisfaction of overcoming a challenge. That little thrill of frustration is part of the experience.

On this point, Tony was stubborn to the core.

Natalie opened her mouth to argue, but... she had nothing. As much as she wanted to deny it, he wasn’t wrong.

After all, the flood of positive reviews for Subnautica spoke for itself.

"Fine, I can’t talk sense into you. I’m leaving, I’m gonna play Subnautica myself and see if I can meet the baby Sea Emperor faster!" She spun around and made a quick getaway.

Tony leaned back on the sofa, closed his eyes, and rested for a few minutes before heading out. Today’s task, server setup.

Thanks to the bank president’s help, he had bought a batch of high end servers. Then, with his mysterious system, he upgraded them into full fledged hardware, way beyond anything commercially available.

He even purchased a private garage in the neighborhood to store them temporarily. With the server problem solved, he could finally launch New World’s official website and game platform.

Both the site and the platform were already built. Only one piece was missing, Cortana’s avatar.

Cortana wasn’t just a floating bracelet icon, she was going to represent the platform, manage it, and even interact with players. She needed a full character design.

Some time ago, he’d held a public contest for artists to design Cortana’s avatar, and now the submissions had come flooding in. Curious, he picked up his tablet and opened the file list.

His eyes widened. Tens of thousands of entries.

"Wow... players are way too enthusiastic," he muttered.

He started scrolling. Some drawings were rough, even looking like horror characters from his old game Silent Hill. Others were painstakingly detailed, down to skin texture. Some dressed Cortana in royal gowns, others in tattered rags... or nothing at all.

Tony chuckled, he hadn’t expected a simple contest to bring in such a wild variety.

There was everything from abstract art to impressionism. He didn’t dislike any of them, each was a show of the players passion. But with so many submissions, he knew he couldn’t look through them all. His plan was simple, browse until he found one that really liked.

About an hour later, one entry caught his eye. This Cortana had a gentle face framed by flowing hair, with big, soft peach-blossom eyes.

"Hmm... not bad," he murmured.

Still, it wasn’t perfect. His ideal Cortana had an exquisitely beautiful face, slender shoulders, a toned waist, and a balanced figure, delicate yet strong. And then it hit him.

Wait. His perfect Cortana... looked suspiciously like Tifa.

Why not just use her? This world didn’t even have Final Fantasy. The 3D modeling scene had been stagnant for years, someone with his skills could ’rescue’ it. If he recreated Tifa here, it would be a gift to players everywhere.

Grinning at his own logic, Tony made up his mind. "Alright. Let’s do it."

He sat down at his desktop and began modeling.

---BREAK---

Meanwhile, in Subnautica, other players were still exploring. After PureWhite’s walkthrough revealed the Sea Emperor and her babies, many rushed through the plot to see them for themselves. But others preferred to take their time, uncovering more of the ocean’s secrets.

One player, BlackSkull, uploaded a video titled: [Shocking Discovery! I Found a Tree in Subnautica, and a Ghost Leviathan Egg!]

The clickbait worked—, viewers poured in.

In the footage, BlackSkull piloted his Sea Mantis deep into the Lost River. Instead of following the main route like PureWhite, he veered off into a twisting cave network.

Eventually, the darkness opened into a breathtaking sight, a towering, rainbow lit tree nearly forty meters high, with glowing fruit casting brilliant colors across the water.

"Wow! I didn’t expect something so beautiful in such a gloomy place," he exclaimed.

Chat spammed comments.

"This doesn’t even feel like the same game!"

"Closest thing to this beauty was the Mushroom Forest, before we got chased by those snake things."

"Uh... look to the left. Ghost Leviathan incoming!"

Sure enough, a massive, spectral creature was circling the Tree of Life.

"I scanned the tree, it’s literally called the ’Tree of Life.’ But that’s not the biggest news," BlackSkull whispered excitedly. "On its trunk, there’s a Ghost Leviathan egg. That’s why the adult is here, it’s guarding its child!"

He launched a decoy to lure the beast away, then used his grappling arm to zip toward the tree.

Nestled in its glowing branches was a large, blue-tinged egg about a meter long.

"No way... there is an egg!"

"Does this mean we can raise our own Ghost Leviathan?!"

1723 Words.