The First Mini-Game

"No, it can't grant your wish."

Enlise answered with a bewildered expression.

She still couldn't figure out why the image on the Game Table had suddenly changed from a beautiful girl to a reindeer...

Could it be that Mr. Angell had finally come out of his room?

Enlise immediately thought of the only person who could change the Game Table's contents, and she couldn't help glancing upstairs.

But all her classmates were here, so she couldn't leave everyone behind to look for Mr. Angell.

Besides, it was important to get everyone interested in this Game Table.

"Didn't I just say so? It's a game." Enlise smiled at her friends and classmates.

Angell had taught her how to play games. Before, they had always featured pretty young ladies, and this was the first time she had encountered a cute little reindeer. Still, as Enlise looked at the screen, she vaguely guessed how it worked.

She placed her hand on the button. "It probably makes the little reindeer jump onto the stars..."

The instant she pressed it, the pure white little reindeer nimbly leaped up.

Huh? I don't need to gather Mana?

Enlise wondered in confusion. She found that as long as she focused, she could control the little reindeer. After landing on the first star, the reindeer immediately jumped to the second, the third, the fourth...

Every time it stepped on a star, the star shattered completely, turning into sparkling silver dust that accumulated in a box at the lower right corner. A number beside it displayed the amount of silver dust in the box.

At this point, even children who had never played a game understood:

This was a game where a reindeer stepped on stars.

The rules were simple. The more stars the reindeer stepped on, the higher the score.

But for children who had never played a similar game, that was already more than enough to captivate them. They all watched the little reindeer nervously, afraid it would miss a step.

"...It missed one!"

"Left, left—ah! It missed two more!"

"What's that flying around between the stars? How about stepping on it too?"

"That's a little bird, right? It's so cute. Why would you step on it?"

"Wow, double points!"

The children cried out along with the reindeer's jumps, as if they themselves were the ones stepping on the stars.

Maya, watching from the side, was itching to try. "Let me play too!"

"Okay!"

Enlise tried to move aside, but the instant her attention wavered, the little reindeer missed its footing and fell from the air, drawing a chorus of mournful sighs from the children.

The game ended there, and a score Leaderboard popped up, asking Enlise to enter her name.

"Sorry, let's start another round!" Enlise apologized.

She tossed a fifty-cent coin into the slot.

This time, Maya and the others forgot to stop Enlise from paying, because their attention had been firmly captured by the game. They only wanted to keep playing.

Seeing the game return to the starting screen, Maya rolled up her sleeves. "Watch me!"

She controlled the little reindeer and made it jump.

But the reindeer only stepped on the first star and the second star before falling at the third.

"Why?!" Maya cried out indignantly.

"Well, you need to concentrate, like... meditating?" Enlise said.

Only then did she realize that the feeling of focus when controlling the little reindeer was just like meditation.

It was said that those gifted in magic could clearly see magical elements, focus on sensing them, and absorb them into themselves.

But as someone without talent, Enlise could not see many magical elements. While she could absorb some by concentrating, how could she know whether she had truly succeeded when she couldn't even see them? Yet the little reindeer that had stepped on the stars now proved that she could do it.

Realizing this, Enlise became a little worried.

She knew her classmates did not really like magic lessons. Would calling it meditation dampen everyone's enthusiasm?

"So this is meditation!" Maya said, her eyes sparkling.

It was true that Maya did not particularly like magic, but being able to use magic was pretty cool. Besides, the game was so fun that she suddenly felt her reason for playing had become something grand.

Maya immediately looked pleased with herself. "I still stepped on three stars, which means I'm not completely without magical talent!"

The surrounding students broke into jeers.

"Only three!"

"Did you see how many points Enlise got just now?"

"The starting star is right above the reindeer's head. It jumps onto it without any control at all. That one's basically free!"

"Exactly! The game just pitied you and gave it to you for free!"

Because Maya was usually so carefree, her classmates loved teasing her and never held back when speaking to her.

Maya instantly got anxious. "You're just jealous! I'm doing it again!"

As she spoke, she reached into her pocket for a coin, but another boy beat her to it, stuffing a fifty-cent coin into the slot and squeezing Maya aside. "You've already played! Next is my turn!"

"Ah! You bastard!" Maya stamped her feet in anger and tried to shove him away.

Seeing that they were actually fighting over it, Enlise grew anxious. "Don't do this..."

"...Enlise, can this side be used too?" Liti asked then.

Enlise turned and saw that Liti was standing on the opposite side of the table.

Come to think of it, the table had four sides, and buttons were installed on two of them.

Angell had never mentioned whether the other side could be used, so Enlise hesitated.

"There are slots on this side too!" Maya immediately ran over and dropped a coin into the slot there.

Meanwhile, the boy who had taken Maya's spot had already begun playing. He was enthusiastically controlling his little reindeer as it hopped along when a light blue little reindeer suddenly jumped up and stole his star.

His reindeer fell.

That blue reindeer also failed to step on the next star because it was poorly positioned, and it fell to the ground as well.

The boy looked up and found Maya staring at him provocatively.

"Again!" the boy said through gritted teeth.

"Bring it on!" Maya lifted her chin.

"Ooh!"

The surrounding students immediately started cheering, eager for trouble.

Amid the children's cheerful clamor, the Magic Gear slowly resumed turning.

Angell finally woke up.

He had worked day and night for a whole week, and had finally rushed out the new game.

Reindeer Picking Stars.

Strictly speaking, this was not an arcade game, but a typical Flash mini-game.

Since the current "Players" had limited Mana and could only play relatively simple games, Angell had thought long and hard before creating this game, which could be adapted into something resembling meditation. He had also added arcade-style competitive elements to it.

But the workload had still been enormous. Even though Angell had drunk Energy Potions, once the game was finished, his body and mind could no longer hold out. After replacing the Arcade Machine's Rune Core, he had not even had time to inform Enlise before collapsing onto his bed and sleeping like the dead. He did not wake until nightfall.

The feeling was not pleasant. When Angell woke up, he felt as though every bone in his body had turned soft.

He downed another bottle of Energy Potion, then walked a few steps down the stairs before feeling a little better.

At that moment, he heard the sounds of children laughing and playing from the first-floor hall.

Angell walked to the top of the second-floor stairs and saw a circle of children gathered around the Arcade Machine. He asked in confusion, "Where did these little brats come from?"

"Guests Enlise brought here," Mithril replied.

It condensed out of the air and lay atop the railing by the second-floor stairs, looking at Angell with some surprise.

In fact, Mithril had been lying there ever since Enlise brought people back. But it had not expected Angell to find it so easily. Even a Mage could not do that without high-level affinity for dark elements.

However, Mithril did not pursue the matter. It only asked, "You don't welcome them?"

"Paying customers are naturally welcome, but I'm not good at dealing with children," Angell said.

"Meow, neither am I," the Black Cat said, swaying its two long tails.

Thus, a man and a cat crouched in the shadows behind the railing of the second-floor corridor, silently observing the children in the hall.

Honestly, the sight was a little creepy.

Mithril apparently felt that it looked inappropriate too. After a moment of silence, it took the initiative to praise him. "This game you made is quite good. At the very least, it's highly appealing to human cubs."

"Whether it's the Arcade Machine or the game, I didn't come up with all of it myself. They were invented by another world," Angell said frankly.

The Black Cat pricked up its ears. "Another world?"

"The Plane that invented the steam engine."

"Hmph, meow. So that's where these strange things came from," Mithril snorted.

Industrial products had nearly destroyed this Workshop, so Mithril naturally held no fondness for that Plane.

But Mithril was not a rigid cat.

It praised him, "But you actually thought of integrating magic into industrial products, using their products to guide people who had forgotten magic's benefits into willingly learning magic again. Using technology to defeat technology—this is a fine idea."

"No, I just don't know hardware," Angell said.

Why did everyone think programmers could repair computers?

"You can already use magic to reproduce the effects of industrial products. How could you possibly not know?" Mithril did not believe him.

After thinking for a moment, it found an excuse for Angell. "I understand now. Things related to that Technology Plane are a secret, so you can't let outsiders know that you used their things, right? Don't worry. As the Workshop's Synthetic Beast, I have a duty to keep my master's secrets. I won't tell anyone!"

As it spoke, the Black Cat raised its heterochromatic eyes, looking at Angell with a bright gleam.

"Master, go conquer the world without worry! Make these foolish humans realize magic's greatness once more!"

"...Whatever makes you happy," Angell said slowly.

This cat changed faces far too quickly.

Just earlier, it had been reluctant to call him master and had stubbornly refused to believe that the games on the Arcade Machine could revitalize the Workshop.

Thinking this, Angell carefully examined the cat. "Do you like this game that much?"

"It's... it's alright!" Mithril said. "I merely noticed its value, that's all!"

Though it said that, a closer look would reveal that the Black Cat's heterochromatic eyes were fixed tightly on the little reindeer hopping across the table. Every time the reindeer missed its footing, one of its tails would unconsciously curl up.

Angell wore an expression that saw through everything.

Mithril immediately flew into embarrassed rage, revealing its true nature. "What kind of expression is that?!"

"No, it's nothing."

Angell looked away, took out his pocket watch, and checked the time. Then he raised a hand and snapped his fingers.

At once, the children downstairs began shouting:

"Why did it stop?"

"The coin slot is blocked! The coin won't go in!"

"Is it broken?"

Only then did Angell walk down the stairs.

"Unfortunately, children, game time is over."