Chapter 82: Evolution [1]
—What’s going on here? Why is it so loud outside?
—I’ll kill whoever did it. Wherever you are, I’ll find you and I will kill you!!
—Someone hold her back! Stop this farce at once!
—Ahhhh!!
"It sure is lively today at the Guild."
I mumbled while looking through my laptop and checking all the bug reports for my most recent game.
"I wonder what could be causing such chaos..."
I whistled while squinting my eyes.
Crunch! Crunch! Crunch!
Across the desk, a loud crunch echoed through the room. I looked up to see Mirelle stuffing chips into her mouth frantically, like she expected someone to snatch them away at any moment.
CRUNCH! CRUNCH!
The speed hurried the moment our eyes met.
"....."
Seriously?
"I’m not—"
CRUUUUUUNCH!!!
I gave up and turned my attention back to my laptop.
That greedy little fu-kid.
’Next time I feed her, I’ll just make sure to give her small packets.’
Though she was a ghost, she was still a little girl. I couldn’t have her develop such bad habits.
Well, whatever the case was, it was time for me to focus on the game.
I checked the analytics.
[Sales : 22,451]
[Income : 78,579$]
I silently whistled while staring at the numbers displayed by the Dock analytics page.
Though the sales seemed to have slowed down just a little bit, the number of sales was still incredibly high, and so was the total income earned.
’It’s a bit of a pity that Dock takes a cut, but I can’t really complain considering that I’m still making so much money.’
Dock took a rather large cut from the sales of the game.
As far as I remember, it was around twenty to thirty percent.
It kind of sucked to think about considering how I had done all the work, but then again, they were the ones to provide me with the platform to sell the game.
There was no use complaining.
"It sucks that I can’t collect my payment already..."
It was depressing to see so much money that I couldn’t touch.
’Oh, right.’
It was then that I suddenly recalled something.
"Wait, does this include taxes or not?"
I covered my face with both hands as I slumped my head onto the table.
I had completely forgotten to factor in taxes. The thought made my heart sink. If the taxes in this world were the same, then I could kiss half of my paycheck goodbye.
Fucking taxes!
"No, I need to talk to Kyle about this."
Surely the tax law in this world was different, right?
’I hope it is...’
Be it this world or my other world. Taxes really annoyed me.
Ding!
A sudden notification yanked me out of my thoughts. Blinking, I pulled out my phone to check it, only for my expression to shift instantly. The screen was flooded with alerts; the number of notifications was beyond what I could count.
"What the..."
Clicking on the notification, I was pulled into a familiar page.
─────
[Horror Game Developer - Seth Thorne]
Posts: 0 Followers: 17,457 Following: 0
─────
"Ahhh..."
It all clicked when I saw the number of followers, as well as the numerous DM’s I was receiving.
’It looks like Jamie has promoted my account.’
I clicked on the first DM to see what they were messaging me about.
In a way, I was kind of excited.
These guys were in some ways my fans. It always felt nice to see what my fans thought about the game.
[Fuck you cunt! Motherfuck! I hope you die in a ditch for creating that shitty game! Rot in hell, bastard!]
"....."
I pursed my lips and switched to another DM.
A fluke...
[Rotten piece of shit! I got kicked out of my house because of you. I hope that you get kicked out of yours!]
[I got the police called because of you! Die!]
[Fuck you!]
"....."
I grabbed my chest.
Why...?
Why did this feel so damn good?
"Hahaha."
Seeing the flood of people cursing my name, I couldn’t help but burst into laughter. Their comments, full of frustration, disbelief, even hatred, only confirmed how deeply my game had gotten under their skin. And somehow, that stirred a strange, unshakable joy in me.
One I couldn’t quite explain.
It had been such a long time since I had felt so alive.
My hands grew itchy.
I really wanted to create another game. If this was the effect a one-star game had... What kind of effect would a two-star game have?
"Ahh... I really want to create one."
It was such a pity that I wasn’t yet capable of creating one.
’If I combine my most recent experience, coupled with the recording, I might be able to replicate another game similar to ’A regular day in the office’, but that won’t push me to the two-star rating. At best, it will push me to a one point five. In order to reach the two-star rating, I’ll need something else...’
But what?
What exactly could I do?
I sat in a daze while scrolling through the comments and thinking about the potential development of a new game.
I was so lost in thought that I didn’t even notice the notification that flashed across my vision.
It was only after a few seconds that I noticed it as I abruptly lifted my head.
"What?"
[Reward calculation complete!]
[We will now be assigning you the rewards for completing the scenario!]
I blinked my eyes slowly before they suddenly widened.
It was then that I recalled the fact that I had yet to receive my rewards for the recent scenario.
’I thought the reward was the app update, but that wasn’t the case at all!’
———
[Reward 1 : 10 Fragments]
Type/Item
You may select any type of attribute fragment. Purity will be random!
: Consumable
[Reward 2 : Purity Enhancer]
Type/Item
Place a fragment into the Enhancer, and watch its purity rise! But beware, there’s risk in every refinement. The fragment might crack... or worse, its purity could drop. Choose your gamble wisely!
: Non-consumable
———
"What..."
I could hardly believe my eyes while staring at the rewards before me.
Ten fragments...? And I could even choose their attribute?
My heart suddenly sped up as I thought about the Nightwalker. If I were to choose nine conceptualization fragments and feed them to the Nightwalker, would it evolve?
I had a hard time containing my excitement as I almost instinctively went ahead and chose the conceptualization fragment.
However, I quickly calmed down and took a deep breath.
There was no need to rush.
I checked the other reward.
Purity Enhancer...
"Hmm."
My eyes narrowed.
I was still unsure of what this purity thing was. However, this did seem like a good thing.
’I should ask Kyle before finally deciding.’
As such, without rushing things, I made up my mind and moved out of the office.
However, right as I opened the door, a pair of dimples greeted my sight.
"Hi."
My stomach sank.
What’s this guy doing in front of my office?