Human lives were short. How could they learn, within their limited lifespans, all the knowledge dragons had accumulated over their long lives? It was a problem.
Flynn didn't know, either.
But staying up all night playing games definitely wasn't the answer.
Flynn hopped on her little bicycle and pedaled straight to Drogo's Toy Store to demand an explanation.
How dare he lead his own prized disciple astray!
The poor chain sparked as she pedaled. Bicycles didn't have suspension yet, and the roads in Twin Towers City were uneven. The frame rattled and clanked over the cobblestones. Thank goodness the bike was made of sturdy materials; if it had been carbon fiber, it probably wouldn't have lasted a mile.
Flynn didn't even stand up to pedal. She sprinted while sitting on the saddle. Surely every passerby who saw her had to praise the girl's rock-hard rear.
With a stylish drift and a sharp stop, Flynn rolled onto Cornflower Street. Drogo's Toy Store was just ahead.
She got off, straightened her clothes, and used a cleaning spell to sweep away the dust she'd picked up along the way. As a golden dragon with refined tastes, she had to maintain her elegance.
"Welcome to Drogo's Toy Store."
Sniff, sniff.
Something was wrong. Drogo wasn't there, and neither was Aisha.
Toto broke through the crowd of children and came over to Flynn. "Ms. Uman, the store manager hasn't been here for the past few days. He said that if you came to play mahjong, you should look for him in the Mixed District. If you weren't here to play mahjong, you should probably go find him anyway. He's currently working on, uh..."
Toto suddenly got stuck halfway through. She fished a crumpled note out of her pocket and struggled to smooth it open. "Discussing 'an important issue concerning the future development and very survival of the Illusion School.'"
"Huh?"
The Mixed District, Drogo's Dragon Island branch in Twin Towers City.
"Ah-choo!"
Drogo sneezed.
"Can dragons catch colds?" Aisha asked, looking as if she'd just seen the sun rise in the west.
"No. Someone must be talking about me." Drogo sensed a faint killing intent.
"If someone talks about you, you sneeze! Drogo! Drogo! Drogo!"
"How old are you?" Drogo felt like he was raising a foolish daughter. Although she was already a pillar of the Drogo Group, she still didn't seem all that bright.
"Nineteen." Aisha blinked.
"Enough. Break time's over. We should get back to today's seminar."
They returned to the hall. A banner hung at the front: "Illusion Mimicry Prototype and Hero Auto Chess Development Seminar."
Nearly every illusionist in the city had been summoned. Fortunately, illusionists didn't have much work to do under normal circumstances, so they had plenty of time on their hands.
There were also Yuno's colleagues, whom he'd poached from the research institute; the best craftsmen within a hundred miles, except for the dwarves; and the magic tool manufacturers Craig had introduced.
The overall development work was going fairly smoothly. One had to admire the marketing strategies born from the fierce competition among mobile game companies.
With features like leaderboards, regional rankings, and game-sharing counts, the Flying Red Center Church had spread like a virus. Its reach had expanded to mages across the entire continent, and the Divine Remains had more than enough room to hold several large games now.
The most expensive resource on Earth—art—cost far less after being modeled with spells. Animations didn't need to be painstakingly keyframed by animators, either. Illusionists could handle them with a mere thought.
Drogo had plenty of people on hand for testing. The mage programmers only needed a little time to adapt, and they'd be able to switch over seamlessly.
There were currently two major problems. First, how could they make the magic game console smaller? Arcade-machine size would be acceptable, but the current prototype was two stories tall.
The other problem was how to process the game data on the server—in other words, inside the Divine Remains. No one had ever created a spell model with that kind of functionality.
Processing data on a magic tool was easy enough, with the help of mechanical parts, but it would be far too easy to cheat.
The former was an online game. Cheating would at least require developing a dedicated hack, which was a much higher barrier to entry.
The latter was a single-player game. You could just change the data locally, and Wind Spirit Moon Shadow would take care of it.
"All right, let's keep discussing how to solve the data problem."
"I have an idea," Yuffie said, raising her hand. "Suppose we designed a special recording spell to track the player's actions on the magic tool. After each valid action, the spell would send the record to the Divine Remains, then sync the result of that action with the other players..."
What a genius! Drogo took a closer look at the young woman, who was even younger than Aisha. In just a few days, she was already coming up with event-based state synchronization.
Just as Yuffie was about to explain her plan in detail, the hall door was suddenly kicked open.
Flynn had arrived.
In Flynn's imagination, she'd kick the door open and find Drogo grinning wickedly as he studied those strange, addictive, evil spells.
Then she'd sternly stop him. Drogo would refuse to back down, and the two dragons would fight. Drogo would lose because he'd be too embarrassed to fight her seriously.
After that, he'd apologize and make amends, preferably by giving her a few more paintings like the ones he'd made last time.
Who could have guessed that after she really kicked the door open, she'd find at least two hundred people inside, apparently studying illusions.
A little embarrassed, she lowered her leg and tugged down her robe. She'd hitched up the hem to kick the door.
Drogo couldn't understand why she was blushing. She'd gone around naked in dragon form for so many years, but after just a few years in the city, she'd become so prudish.
Flynn beckoned for Drogo to come over quickly, then glared at Yuffie, whose speech had been interrupted. She'd been so distracted in class these past few days, yet she was more than eager to come here.
Once Drogo reluctantly came over, the two dragons found an empty room.
Flynn spoke first. "What are you making? If all the illusionists start studying Illusion Mimicry, won't it become even harder for them to make a living?"
"Illusionists aren't good at fighting to begin with, so why not stop fighting altogether? Games can create more job opportunities for the Illusion School. Trust me, in just a few years, it'll be as popular as the Evocation School."
"Impossible." Flynn dismissed the idea without a second thought. After all, in her experience, this was a world where strength meant everything.
"How about this? Try it out for yourself and see what illusions can really do."
Drogo led her to the enormous prototype. It didn't have online functionality yet, so they needed eight players gathered in one place. Six goblins expertly turned on the magic tools.
Flynn didn't like the way Drogo used illusions, but she had to admit it was an incredibly complex magic tool, and the illusion it produced was incredibly intricate and unlike anything she'd ever seen.
But what use was an illusion that couldn't produce real effects?
"Let me introduce you. This is the initial version of Hero Auto Chess. It's still quite rough, but you can play it already. Oh, right—this is you."
As he spoke, Drogo showed her a female hero designed entirely in her likeness.
"Since we've known each other for so many years, I made you a five-cost unit, and a main carry, too. That kid Soren? I only made him a support who can put up shields."
For the first time, Flynn felt as if she couldn't understand dragon language. She understood every word Drogo said, but put together, they made no sense at all.
Still, with her talent, she was sure she'd understand if she tried it out.
With deep suspicion, Flynn began the first game of Auto Chess of her dragon life.
This weekend, the chapter would get its first recommendation. I got so excited that I forgot to schedule the release.
(.﹏.*) Sorry.
I'm not some reincarnated old-timer or an otherworldly demon. I have absolutely no confidence in what I write. I never expected so many people to be reading it. I'm so moved.jpg
If you can, please read up to the latest chapter. Whether a new book gets recommended depends entirely on how many people keep up with it, so please don't save it for later.
If I can get through the recommendation period and make it to publication, feel free to save up chapters then. I'll post a ton! (▼ヘ▼#)
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