T/N: A filler chapter, leave your brain here and proceed.
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As the ambitious project of Mr. Herdo and Cinnati.
After it aired, Olympus had traffic that was nowhere near comparable to Honkai: Star Rail.
Not even close.
No matter how hard they promoted it, or how many media resources they poured in, the audience simply refused to buy it.
As a result, later on, under Herdo's instructions, these media outlets began to silence things.
They sealed away all of Olympus' viewership data, making it impossible for ordinary people to check.
If someone searched for the popularity of Olympus, what appeared were all kinds of obscured information and coordinated media articles.
Through these, they created the impression that the series was extremely popular. But in reality, the internal traffic had already rotted to the point that it was beyond saving.
As for the most important factor for a series, the level of public discussion, yhat was even worse.
On the internet, across various forums and platforms, one could hardly find anyone discussing the plot of Olympus.
Even when there were discussions, most of them were complaints.
For example, why Zeus's wife was portrayed as an ugly woman. Or how Prometheus's process of stealing fire was incredibly boring, filled from beginning to end with preachy messaging.
Of course, these comments were quickly silenced as well.
Left with no other choice, Herdo and Cinnati eventually chose a traditional tactic.
Buying internet trolls. Using troll accounts to inflate discussion and popularity.
But everyone knows that troll armies are mostly bots posting messages, and the stupidity of their comments is simply unbearable to read.
And so, under these circumstances, a strange spectacle was born.
News about Olympus was everywhere. But if you tried to find fellow fans discussing the plot or the worldbuilding, all you could find were trending topics with explosive popularity, yet filled entirely with idiotic comments below.
"Have you eaten?"
"Prometheus should be mixed with No. 72 concrete."
And other remarks that didn't look remotely like something a human would say.
Anyone normal, after seeing these phenomena, could easily understand that the performance of Olympus was probably not very good.
However, any statements claiming that Olympus had poor traffic mysteriously disappeared as well.
Thus, the first confrontation between Mr. Herdo, Cinnati, and MiHoYo ended up awkwardly stuck in place.
With no real discussion, they could only rely on troll armies to maintain popularity and on press releases to create the illusion that they were extremely successful.
But the more they did this, the more the audience realized that the results were probably terrible.
But if they didn't use trolls or release promotional articles? That wouldn't work either.
On Mr. Herdo's side, Herdo had to give an explanation to the higher-ups and justify the expenses.
On the Art Committee's side, Cinnati also had to reassure the people who supported him, and the big figures behind them.
And the fake data created through troll armies and media releases became the tool they used to report their results.
It can only be said this strategy was indeed far too traditional.
....
Inside the Art Committee.
Cinnati was holding a meeting with his supporters within the committee.
At the long table in the conference room, five people were seated.
The three people to Cinnati's left were his core supporters within the committee, people he had personally promoted.
The two on his right were heavyweight figures in the committee.
The white-haired elderly man at the far right was the committee's honorary chairman, highly respected, though rigid and conservative.
The middle-aged woman beside him was the committee's biggest supporter behind the scenes, the actual controller of a private foundation.
One third of the committee's non-government funding had to be approved by her.
It was a classic combination, those who understood, understood.
In short, these two were the real reason Cinnati had called this meeting today.
"Cinnati, Olympus, the work I had high hopes for, has generated far less discussion than Honkai: Star Rail."
The middle-aged woman spoke sternly to Cinnati.
"Before I approved the funding, that was not the promise you gave me."
Cinnati's expression remained unchanged as he looked at her calmly.
"Madam, I don't know where you got the idea that Olympus is inferior to Amphoreus."
"But in fact, our data shows that Olympus has been very successful."
The woman raised an eyebrow coldly, waiting for him to continue.
Cinnati said nothing more and instead looked toward the projection screen.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I am pleased to report that the first-stage broadcast results of Olympus have fully met or even exceeded, our expectations."
A screen unfurled on the wall behind him.
The first slide lit up, showing a blue bar chart with the number 310 million at the top.
"Global first-day viewers: 310 million."
"This number was achieved without Olympus having any prior fanbase. It can be said to be quite an extraordinary achievement!"
Cinnati spoke confidently, his eyes shining. Judging from his expression alone, it almost seemed as if it were truly the case.
The middle-aged woman shook her head.
"You must understand, we are the challengers. Three hundred and ten million is indeed a good number, but our opponent, Amphoreus, achieved globally shocking numbers by its second day."
As she spoke, she raised a finger and shook it.
"And we aren't even half of theirs."
This was a very realistic problem. But Cinnati had long been prepared for it.
"Madam, do you really think their data is genuine?"
"No. You should know that numbers can be inflated."
"Moreover, their statistics include the entire global count, who knows how many were simply drummed up."
"But our 300 million data is completely real! And it all comes from the two most important markets: Pacific and Atlantic."
After he finished speaking, the middle-aged woman closed her eyes slightly and pondered for a moment, then nodded lightly.
It seemed she accepted this explanation. It could only be said that prejudice in people's hearts is like a mountain.
She actually believed that people would inflate their data.
"But there's something else."
At that moment, the elderly man who had remained silent, the honorary chairman, finally spoke.
"Although I'm not very familiar with the internet, the news pushed to my phone and the discussions I casually come across are all about Amphoreus."
"Moreover, around me, my children are all excitedly discussing Mydei and discussing Tribios."
"But when I asked about Prometheus, they showed little interest."
"What is going on here?" Hearing this, Cinnati's heart tightened.
The middle-aged woman who ran the foundation was easy to fool, because that foolish woman's brain was not sharp.
But this chairman had truly devoted himself to Greece. He had spent almost his entire life deeply rooted in the country. He was not someone who could be easily deceived.
"The reason for this problem is because of a few groups."
Suppressing the uneasiness in his heart, Cinnati spoke the lines he had prepared in advance.
"A few groups?" The old man narrowed his eyes, waiting for his explanation.
"You know about it. MiHoYo has formed an alliance with some local factions. Everything you've noticed is the result of that."
"The Mavromi family."
"That old man, Aris Mavromi, has been secretly helping MiHoYo behind the scenes."
"And there's also the newly risen shipping tycoon, Elios Marinakis, and finally the Thessalonki school's backers, all are pushing things forward from behind the curtain."
"Their influence and their control over media have allowed them to gain the upper hand for now."
Using carefully crafted rhetoric, Cinnati deftly steered the conversation in another direction. The three forces he mentioned were the very same three allies that had just gathered together.
They were also Greece's true local forces. In the spread of Amphoreus throughout Greece, these three had certainly played a role.
But to achieve the scale of popularity it had now, it was obvious that Amphoreus itself was strong enough, and inherently attractive to the Greek audience.
Even without the help of these three groups, the influence created by the second episode would not have been reduced in the slightest.
But in Cinnati's rhetoric, all the credit was pushed onto these three forces.
Moreover, the Honorary Chairman had always been at odds with the Mavromi family; the two families were practically sworn enemies.
Sure enough. The moment he heard the name Aris Mavromi, the coldness in the Honorary Chairman's eyes deepened.
He nodded slightly.
"That explains it. You're right, Cinnati. They really are bastards."
"That damned old man Aris has always been unruly. From the very beginning he kept trying to merge Greek culture with modern trends. Foolish!"
Hearing the Honorary Chairman's rebuke, Cinnati felt slightly relieved, knowing the matter had basically succeeded.
He struck while the iron was hot and said, "That's exactly why we need your strength, to correct the pollution Greek people have received from the internet."
The Honorary Chairman pondered for a moment. Then he nodded in agreement.
"I will push for a proposal to legally prohibit people from discussing Amphoreus. Media will also be forbidden from publishing any news related to Amphoreus."
Cinnati froze for a moment, then was instantly overwhelmed with ecstasy. The reason he had arranged this meeting today was simply to get the old man to lend his support.
But he hadn't expected, that the man would act so ruthlessly the moment he stepped in.
He actually wanted to directly censor Amphoreus, essentially building a wall aimed specifically at MiHoYo's Honkai: Star Rail.
"With your help, I believe we can definitely lead Greek culture back onto the correct path!" Suppressing his wild joy, Cinnati offered heartfelt praise.
The data regarding production costs, and the traffic that had been completely crushed by Amphoreus, all of it seemed insignificant in light of the Honorary Chairman's words.
One could easily foresee that once the proposal was implemented, Amphoreus' popularity within Greece would immediately fall to the bottom.
Under Amphoreus' relentless assault, Cinnati no longer even had the luxury to consider long-term public pressure.
As long as he could keep his position within the Arts Committee, he would already be thanking the everyone and anyone.
And now, everything was stable.
However.
No one in the meeting room at this moment had anticipated just how massive an impact this decision would later have on Greece itself.
When the idea of the Flame Reaver, and it coincided with the real-world blockade imposed by the Arts Committee against Amphoreus, the emotions that spread among the Greek people turned out to be almost identical to those of the Flame Reaver within Amphoreus.
And that movement completely swept the Arts Committee into the trash heap of history.
But that was all a story for later.
When Cinnati was still immersed in wild joy, and when the Honorary Chairman was contemplating how to "guide" Greece back to glory, their ambitions and ideals had already entered a countdown to their downfall.
...
Meanwhile, on the other side.
Herdo was not as relaxed as Cinnati. The pressure he had to face was far greater.
Because no matter how he tried to spin things, he could not explain why Olympus had performed so much worse than the second episode of Amphoreus.
Somehow, Herdo was able to keep his place and not kicked out because of this failure.
In the end, after serious reflection, Herdo gathered a group of professional screenwriters and directors to hold several meetings.
Finally, he reached a conclusion. The direction itself was not the problem.
Olympian mythology was indeed the key to their comeback.
The real problem lay with the Prometheus, a thief who stole fire. Modern people were too stupid to quietly appreciate the greatness of the Prometheus.
And MiHoYo had keenly noticed this point.
So they turned a thief of fire, an important cultural symbol in Greek mythology, into a powerful villain. By using reversal and exaggerated characterization, they instantly grabbed the audience's attention.
And the result worked extremely well. Everyone was discussing the Flame Reaver.
Young people were overwhelmed by that powerful presence, rushing to imitate it, and it had already formed a trend across short-video platforms.
Despicable MiHoYo.
They had taken such an important thing as the thief of fire and treated it so disgracefully, cleverly reshaping him into a shallow villain just to attract the attention of young people.
How despicable!
How is that any different from those other guys turning King Arthur into a cute anime girl?