Chapter 1
Chapter 1: Game Launch
"The direction in this part could use some work."
I tapped my fingers in the air as if typing on an invisible keyboard.
"Lady Constellation, could you help me a bit?"
At my conveyed intent, the hologram video floating before my eyes transformed.
[Dream Storyteller asks if this looks alright.]
The Lady Constellation's message appeared next.
"It's perfect."
*Tap- Tap- Tap*
Unlike those whiny developers who complain they can't implement things when given design directions, our Lady Constellation gets it done in an instant.
She's the greatest stroke of luck I've had since falling into this world.
"Haaah..."
After three straight days of intense review, I could finally let my tired body sink into bed.
[Dream Storyteller pats you on the back for working hard.]
"You're the one who worked hard, Lady Constellation..."
I smirked at the Lady Constellation's message that appeared before me.
In this otherworld I fell into, the continent of Leypania has many Constellations.
Each one is a hero or great figure who achieved legendary feats and attained divinity.
But my Lady Constellation, [Dream Storyteller], was far too adorable to be considered such a grand Constellation.
And to me, who ended up possessing the body of a poor civilian academy student, she was practically a benefactor.
Without her, I'd be worrying about just surviving in this boring Leypania, let alone creating Earth-style games.
[Dream Storyteller chatters excitedly about looking forward to reactions after the game launches.]
"Me too."
What I miss isn't just the games I enjoyed on Earth.
I miss the interactions between users who enjoyed those games and shared their experiences.
I miss that social environment itself.
I wanted to dive back into that space where people communicate while sharing and enjoying the same culture.
This game that I spent a year creating together with Lady Constellation, giving it my all.
This game that combines countless elements from Earth with the divine power of the God of Dreams should be more than enough to turn this world upside down.
Hoping desperately for its success, I surrendered to my heavy eyelids.
* * *
Apelio - the continent's largest magic-powered community.
Apelio consists of many communities centered around various topics.
Among them was a sizable gaming-dedicated community called the Magi-Engineering Game Gallery.
[-Isn't Elfras's new game Mephitapo too boring]
[-Look at this drawing by a magic newbie]
[-Academy girl crushing snack box]
[-Demon King Soft game company status update ]
[-Ahem, I eat twenty meals per day]
The Magi-Engineering Game Gallery was peaceful as usual, full of nonsense unrelated to games.
Title: Insane quality new game released today
A post about a new game appeared in that community.
(Game screenshot image file)
Title is [Akashic Archive]
Apparently it's a game where you can obtain and use characters made from Constellations
Being serviced through its own platform
And it's completely free
[-Constellations? Are the devs crazy?]
[-Graphics look good though?]
[-Releasing a game for free, do they not want to make money?]
[-Stop talking about games in MiGal]
The new game that seemed about to be forgotten by community users like usual
[-Wait something's weird about this game]
[-??? This game feels really real]
Suddenly transformed into powerful bait that took over the community.
[-Guys this is insane! This is a virtual reality game!]
[-ㄴTalk sense, it's already been proven that virtual reality using illusion magic is impossible]
[-ㄴㄴIt's real, just try it]
A virtual reality game implemented through magic terminals with the easy accessibility of being free.
The new game [Akashic Archive] instantly drew in users.
* * *
[Success! We already have 10,000 users! Dream Storyteller jumps up and down excitedly with both hands raised.]
"We did it. Congratulations, Lady Constellation."
I smiled as I watched the real-time user count graph climbing at an insane rate.
A virtual reality game using the divine power of dreams manifested through Lady Constellation's power.
Unlike the crude virtual reality implemented through illusion magic, the game I created together with Lady Constellation lets you enter the game world just by launching it on your terminal.
We can implement the game inside the user's dreams.
A virtual reality game on a completely different level from the outdated games that run on magic terminals.
I filled it with direction, graphics, and content that I shamelessly copied from countless games I enjoyed in my past life.
To the people of Leypania who could only enjoy games at the level of the 90s to 00s on Earth, this would be like a whole new world.
I was confident I could make it so they'd never be able to quit once they started.
Above all, my game is free.
It's the first free-to-play game with in-app purchases in this world.
This was also very advantageous for spreading the game widely, considering that the proportion of people unwilling to spend money on games is higher than Earth.
"Once the money comes in, we'll build your temple first."
The real-time user count surpassed 20,000 in the brief moment we were celebrating success.
At the same time, players purchasing the efficient monthly subscription and battle pass were rapidly increasing.
Money was pouring in like crazy.
Unlike normal games, since this game was implemented purely through my ideas and Lady Constellation's divine power, there were no development or server costs.
This massive revenue flowing in right now was pure profit.
[Dream Storyteller asks if she doesn't have to eat plain dry bread anymore.]
[Dream Storyteller asks if she can now dip bread in sauce.]
[Dream Storyteller asks if she can now drink juice.]
...What kind of life has our Lady Constellation been living until now?
Even in the divine realm, do you have to live that poorly if you don't have apostles or believers to make offerings?
Yet she never ordered me to make offerings despite my poverty?
Even while using all her divine power to help my project?
My loyalty to Lady Constellation surged.
"Of course, Lady Constellation. I'll make lots of offerings, so look forward to it."
But things will be different now.
Because we're going to be rich.
* * *
Somewhere in the divine realm, high above
"Yaaawn."
A naked goddess stretched and rose from her pure white bed.
Though awake, she stared blankly into space for a while before her eyebrows suddenly twitched.
"My divinity... suddenly?"
Divinity - the proof of faith normally obtained through believers and apostles.
A resource and power that forms the basis of all miracles performed by gods, generated from faith.
Her divinity had increased by an impossible amount even though she had just been sleeping.
"...What is this?"
The goddess observed the divine heart, the core of divinity within her, to find the source of the gathered divinity.
The rapidly accumulated divinity.
All that divinity was connected by threads to various parts of the continent.
This meant it didn't originate from any specific country or group.
The scale of divinity that you might barely see if an apostle achieved an overwhelming victory in a great war.
The goddess observed the mortal realm with divine eyes.
What was the cause of this situation?
What factor had generated enough faith to bring her this much divinity?
[-Cried because I want to marry Ren]
[-Great Emperor Ren]
[-Sorry but I got Ren on my first pull, is this good?]
[-My wife]
[-ㄴWell said]
[-Going to sleep with Ren-Ren]
Mortals mentioning her true name [Ren] through communities.
They had one thing in common.
[-Almost cried when Ren saved us]
[-I didn't know Ren was such an amazing person]
They all seemed to have played a game called [Akashic Archive] and encountered a being named Ren in that game.
...How dare they.
Goddess Ren was enraged.
They dared to use my name without permission? My true name at that?
Recognition of a god leads directly to faith in that god, and thus authority.
How dare some unknown person try to damage that authority by using it arbitrarily.
This was a grave sin deserving divine punishment.
"..."
Ren pondered as she looked down at the mortal realm.
While she could immediately purify the developer who created this blasphemous game, she could consider leniency for the merit of spreading praise of her far and wide.
Above all, the faith gathering from all directions was satisfactory to her.
"...Perhaps I should try the game."
Though she wasn't sure what kind of game it was, it seemed reasonable to try it before passing judgment, if only to accurately grasp the situation.