Voice Acting

Late at night.

Joshua politely declined the White Thorn Flower Jazz's offer of an extravagantly luxurious residence and returned to the Alchemy Workshop with Helan and Ciri.

To be honest, this not-so-large Alchemy Workshop simply could not accommodate three people. As a man, Joshua naturally could not let Helan and Ciri sleep on the floor.

So he politely declined Helan's offer to give him the only room and chose a separate workroom for himself, beginning his usual all-night programming routine.

The beginning of any startup was always difficult. How many titans of Earth's IT industry had begun their entrepreneurial journeys in a tiny garage?

Whether it was Jobs, Bill Gates, or Page and Brin, all of them had started from scratch in a garage.

Nearly every trillion-dollar corporation in Silicon Valley that had made a name for itself had originated in some tiny garage.

Helan's Alchemy Workshop was not meant for parking, but it was only a little bigger than a garage.

Joshua spread a sheet of White Paper over the tabletop. A ball of light slowly floated at his side, driving away the darkness around him.

This was Light Spell, the lowest-tier spell of them all, and one that nearly every mage capable of magic knew. Source Crystal Stones containing Light Spell had replaced candles in Nolan, becoming the city's most common lighting tool.

By the light provided by Light Spell, Joshua had just finished creating the poster for "Beauty and the Demon."

Joshua had yet to solve the problem of importing images into his consciousness for editing with runes, so he could only handwrite the title on White Paper, then freeze-frame the scene of Belle and the Demon gazing into each other's eyes while dancing and project it onto the paper.

After finishing the poster, Joshua left the small room and entered the room in the Alchemy Workshop where finished products were displayed.

The entire room was illuminated by Light Spell. The Magic Mechanical Devices Helan had made also emitted a faint glow, their runes projecting a portrait of a female mage.

Her pupils brimmed with pale-blue arcane radiance. A torrent of magic surged through her hands, while rain poured down behind her, lifting her long hair of silver-white and pale gold.

Just looking at this female mage's portrait made it clear exactly what a powerful Spellcaster she was.

"Who is she?"

Ciri emerged from behind the Magic Mechanical Device, holding a sheet of White Paper with Joshua's "original draft" on it.

"Jaina. Jaina Proudmoore."

Joshua spoke her name. This character could be said to be the heroine who ran through the entire story of World of Warcraft, as well as the representative of the Mage class in Hearthstone.

"What is her relationship with you...?"

Ciri fell silent for a moment before finally being unable to resist asking Joshua that question.

"Relationship?"

Joshua was stunned at first. Jaina was merely a virtual character in a game, and he had no relationship with her whatsoever. But as a World of Warcraft player, Joshua felt that answer would not be quite right either.

"I suppose we were comrades who once fought together."

Joshua had played in the Alliance faction when he played World of Warcraft. Since he and Jaina had been in the same faction, as a player, Joshua could indeed be considered a comrade who had fought alongside her.

"..."

Ciri said nothing. She glanced at Jaina's portrait, then suddenly recalled the conversations between Joshua and Zennas that she had occasionally overheard while sleeping in the castle. She remembered Joshua once saying, "I already have someone I like."

Joshua could guess what Ciri was thinking, but he did not deliberately explain. He merely turned his gaze toward Jaina's portrait.

The painting projected by the Magic Mechanical Device was copied by Ciri based on Joshua's original draft. The result Ciri had drawn once again made Joshua realize... Ciri simply was not suited to being a mage at all!

Joshua had only briefly taught Ciri some techniques for coloring and composition, then had her redraw the piece on the Magic Mechanical Device according to the original draft he had given her.

Although Ciri's final result was still some distance from "professional," it had at least entered the realm of "usable."

Most importantly, Ciri's art had not been influenced by the era. The paintings of this age were mainly Oil Paintings, with styles closer to the feeling of Mona Lisa's smile, along with the ink-wash painting style of Great Xia. Joshua had seen this style in the White Thorn Flower Jazz's theater. According to the White Thorn Flower Jazz, the painter of that work came from a country called Great Xia.

Yet whether it was Oil Painting or ink-wash painting, both differed from modern Earth CG styles. But in Ciri's work, Joshua could not find even a trace of a "retro" feeling.

"Have you really never considered pursuing a career related to painting?"

Joshua examined Jaina Proudmoore's concept art from top to bottom. There were still quite a few flaws in the small details, but after Joshua's revisions, they were acceptable.

If Ciri kept practicing at this pace, she would certainly become an outstanding game concept artist.

"I... don't know."

Ciri had originally intended to righteously reject Joshua's suggestion. She helped Joshua draw because he had saved her life, but if he wanted her to give up being a mage and focus solely on becoming a painter, Ciri naturally would not agree.

After all, powerful mages stood at the very pinnacle of this world, and Ciri had enough talent to become a powerful mage herself.

"I'm not asking you to give up your main profession. Just treat being a painter as a life profession."

Joshua gave Ciri the most perfect answer.

"A life profession."

Ciri looked at Jaina's portrait. A female mage who appeared incomparably powerful... Perhaps to Joshua, only her profession as a painter was useful. There were simply too many powerful people around Joshua.

"That works too. But one day, 'My magic will tear you into pieces.'"

Ciri quoted one of Jaina's lines to Joshua. That line had been written on the back of Jaina's original draft.

Yet Joshua felt no sense of danger at all. Instead, Ciri's words made his eyes light up instantly.

"Ciri, that line sounded pretty good coming from you. Are you interested in voicing this character?"

"Vo... voicing?"

Joshua had once again uttered a term that touched upon Ciri's blind spot of knowledge, but Ciri had long since grown used to it.

"Jaina already has a character design. Are you interested in becoming this character's voice?"

Joshua was definitely going to make Hearthstone. It was a game that only required concept art and some not-too-difficult animation effects to complete. Beyond that, there was one other troublesome aspect—the voice acting for the cards.

Ciri's voice was already quite pleasant. With a little emotion added, it would perfectly match Jaina's image.