Helper

Hearing Ruan Ningxue's words, Chen Xu couldn't help but blush.

But in an instant, he adjusted himself, let out a light cough to diffuse the awkward atmosphere, and started thinking up an excuse.

"Well, this is mainly due to multiple reasons..."

Ruan Ningxue, sitting across the table, couldn't help but curl her lips.

A man's mouth is a ghost's trick!

"But I can accept all the conditions you mentioned. However, I have one demand of my own!"

Ruan Ningxue looked at Chen Xu with a smile.

Hearing this, Chen Xu was taken aback.

He was still figuring out how to convince her.

Approaching her, Chen Xu hadn't really been confident from the start; he just wanted to give it a try.

After all, he knew his own situation well. Pay up?

Right now, he definitely couldn't pull out the money. If he did, he wouldn't be able to continue making the game.

There were still some essential resources he needed to buy.

Rely on the connection of being a junior and senior?

But she wasn't his anything, and she had no obligation to help him. Besides, it looked too much like empty promises.

But now, was there a chance?

"What's your demand, senior?" Chen Xu asked Ruan Ningxue.

"One month. And if your game sells poorly afterward, you'll have to come work for me!"

"At least sign two contracts! Of course, when it comes to compensation, I definitely won't try to freeload off your labor like you, junior."

Ruan Ningxue said with a smile.

Hearing Ruan Ningxue's words, Chen Xu was stunned for a moment, then snapped back to reality.

As for doujinshi, Chen Xu didn't have much of an opinion. After all, in his past life, female doujin artists were quite common.

For example, 'Yuzuki N' or 'Nishizawa 5'—cough cough... Actually, Chen Xu didn't know any of these artists or their works, let alone seen them. He'd only heard about them from friends.

"So what counts as poor sales?" Chen Xu asked Ruan Ningxue, coming back to his senses.

If she said something like a few million copies, Chen Xu really wouldn't have much confidence.

After all, this was a parallel world, vastly different from the gaming environment of his past life.

Although there was no piracy factor, the market itself was different from before.

Without capital for promotion and operation, relying solely on word-of-mouth from players was incredibly difficult.

Even indie games that were highly acclaimed in his past life sold millions, even tens of millions, of copies.

But if you looked closely, you'd find that many of these games only became popular after half a year or a year.

At the start, they were all obscure.

Even a powerhouse like The Binding of Isaac was virtually unknown in its early days.

After all, good wine fears a deep alley.

So if Ruan Ningxue said a million copies, Chen Xu figured he'd better go it alone.

Because if he agreed, with the game he currently planned to make, he'd most likely end up as a doujin artist.

"Huh... 100,000, no, 50,000 then!"

"Within one month of release, if sales don't break 50,000, then you lose!"

Ruan Ningxue pulled out her phone, seemingly sending a message.

After about a minute, she looked up and said a number.

Hearing Ruan Ningxue's words, Chen Xu couldn't help but show a confident smile.

50,000 sales in a month?

Even though the gaming environment was a bit different from his past life, and he didn't have much starting capital, this number—Chen Xu could only say it was a total giveaway.

"No problem." Chen Xu agreed directly.

"Then, senior, let's start officially tomorrow! I'll go back and prepare first. See you tomorrow morning!"

With that, he waved to Ruan Ningxue and left no time for her to react.

Chen Xu turned around and walked straight out of the café.

Leaving behind Ruan Ningxue, still a bit dazed.

Did I... say too little?

Thinking this, Ruan Ningxue quickly opened her contacts, found a phone number, and dialed it.

Two seconds later, the other party picked up.

"Sis Xin, you weren't lying to me just now, were you? Is selling 50,000 copies in a month really a very high number?" Ruan Ningxue thought back to Chen Xu's confident demeanor and felt a bit puzzled.

A crisp female voice came through the phone: "It's not high, but it's relative. You asked if someone making a game for the first time, with hardly any money, what sales count would be considered high, right?"

"No money, first time making a game, and not even a game designer—just a tiny scrap of engine resources to use. That's basically a hell-difficulty start. 50,000 sales is S-Tier difficulty. Selling a few thousand copies in a month would already be passing."

"Really?" Ruan Ningxue was skeptical.

"Of course it's real. That's the judgment of a professional game industry worker!"

"By the way, Xiao Xue, are you planning to make a game? Have you come around? I told you, if you come help me with concept art and character designs, we can definitely make a big name for ourselves!"

Yang Xin on the other end of the line sounded very excited.

"Sis Xin? Sis Xin? What did you say? The signal's bad here. Let's talk later!"

Hearing the excited voice on the phone, Ruan Ningxue's expression shifted slightly. She moved the phone farther away, said a couple of words, hung up, and let out a long breath.

Then, thinking about what Yang Xin had said on the phone, Ruan Ningxue couldn't help but smile.

First time making a game, no money, hell-level difficulty—Chen Xu had all those tags maxed out.

So her assistant problem was finally solved!

The only pity was that this assistant wouldn't officially start for another two months.

After parting ways with Ruan Ningxue, Chen Xu returned to his apartment.

After tidying up the room a bit, Chen Xu sat down at the desk and looked at his laptop.

As a development machine, the computer's specs were decent—at least sufficient for the "Magic Mirror" project.

Of course, Chen Xu couldn't develop any larger games right now.

Because he simply had no money, and his resource permissions for the official engine were insufficient.

As for resource permissions, there were basically only two ways to improve them.

The first was to become an officially certified game designer and raise your title rank.

How to raise it?

Game sales, awards earned—these were all factors that could be evaluated.

The second was much simpler and more direct: just use money power. How many resources you could use depended on how strong your money power was.

But for Chen Xu at this stage, none of this mattered at all.

Besides, a game like "Magic Mirror" didn't need much anyway.

At least the resources Chen Xu could currently use were absolutely enough.

Sitting in front of the computer, Chen Xu began drafting the initial manuscript for "Magic Mirror"—the game design document.

Even though the only developer was Chen Xu himself, and Ruan Ningxue was only handling the illustrations.

That didn't mean a concept design draft wasn't needed.

Just like an outline for writing an essay, it could greatly improve efficiency.