Chapter 159: The Power of Erotica
Chapter 159: The Power of Erotica
“Did it work?”
The game launched at least. However, he could not tell whether the patch had been applied or not, so he waited quietly. The moment the opening screen appeared, though, he immediately knew the answer.
“Oh?”
Originally, the opening screen of Territory-Capturing Game had been an illustration where characters from games released by Meta Soft all seemed to gather together. It was flashy and lively enough, but it could not compare to the current screen.
Beautiful women of various races appeared wearing different outfits, standing and posing in different directions, and the sight instantly captured Thomas’s interest.
Of course, the Orcs, Dwarves, Gnomes, and true Beastfolk women felt a little questionable, but not to the point of rejection. Unlike Earth, this world naturally lived together with many races, so even if one’s sense of beauty did not align with another race, it did not create disgust.
In fact, there were even people who found charm in races different from their own. Stories about Humans who liked Orc women or Elves who loved Dwarves could occasionally be heard.
“Ah! So this is how it works.”
Thomas entered the game with rising anticipation after seeing the characters, and he quickly understood how the erotic elements appeared. Once he progressed a little through the game, parts of the female character illustrations he had seen in the opening began to appear in the territory he captured.
Recalling the pretty blue-haired girl wearing a blue skirt and smiling brightly, Thomas’s motivation surged, and he immersed himself in the game.
The game had already been fairly fun to begin with, but now that elements like this had been added, it felt twice, no, three times more entertaining.
And once he had captured around half the territory, he felt like he could roughly guess what the picture was.
I can see her panties...
The illustration showed the girl climbing stairs at school, smiling happily after noticing the protagonist behind her, completely unaware that her panties were slightly visible beneath her green skirt.
Ooooh!!
Thomas felt something flare up intensely inside him. The familiar school setting and the beautiful girl reminded him of Lena, a senior one year above him whom he had only admired from afar. It was not really a crush, but she was so famous for her beauty that most of the male students liked her.
He had never even spoken to her, so something like this warm smile was beyond imagination for him. Perhaps because of that, the illustration felt utterly dazzling.
Thomas continued moving his pointer because he wanted to see the remaining hidden parts.
Then suddenly, one question came to mind.
Originally, the illustrations that appeared when clearing the game normally and when achieving 100% were different.
Then if you achieve 100% with this erotic patch...?
For an instant, Thomas felt the hairs on his body stand up. Come to think of it, for something called an erotic patch, merely showing panties felt slightly weak.
A fierce determination to absolutely achieve 100% began to rise inside him. Even when he played before, he had tried fairly hard to see the 100% illustrations, but compared to now, that motivation had not even been a quarter as strong.
“Ah!!”
Since he was not particularly skilled, he repeatedly exploded in glorious fashion after getting caught by enemies that looked like metal balls covered in spikes. However, since this was a computer game and not something requiring coins, he could continue retrying endlessly.
Even though he died again and again, Thomas did not grow tired of it. Instead, his motivation only burned hotter.
“Aja!!!!”
Eventually, after trapping and eliminating the mace-like monster, Thomas shouted in triumph without realizing it. Now there were no enemies left on the screen. Thomas could feel his hands trembling slightly from excitement. Carefully, he began moving his pointer to fill in the remaining territory.
He carefully controlled his hand, worried that if it trembled and he failed to fill everything in, he might end up with 99%. He had barely managed to kill the enemy, so if something like that happened, it would become a lifelong regret.
“I did it!”
Fortunately, he managed to fill all the empty spaces without such a mistake, and messages reading “Clear” and “100% Achieved” appeared on the screen, glowing in brilliant gold.
First, the illustration that had remained hidden while he erased the covered sections fully revealed itself. He already understood what the picture was, but seeing it appear cleanly and completely gave a different feeling.
And unusually, instead of only showing the illustration, speech bubbles and sound effects appeared, creating a comic-like presentation.
In truth, Ras had wanted animation, but computer specifications were an issue, and even if the hardware had been capable, too much money could not be poured into a free patch, so he substituted comics instead.
<Ah... hello?>
The girl greeted him with a happy smile, but then seemed to lose her balance, and suddenly the screen went black. “What?” Thomas was briefly confused, but soon the screen brightened again. Then a different illustration appeared. “Ooooooh!!!” The girl seemed to have fallen down the stairs, and a man who was probably the protagonist had caught her. The chest area of the girl held in his arms was visible, and from the shock, her bra had half slipped off. Thomas felt something almost like a shock. Truthfully, it was not especially obscene, but for a teenager who had only just begun awakening to sexuality, it was exactly the kind of eroticism that shook one’s heart. Thomas remained entranced by the wonderful illustration for a while. Then he quietly stood up, locked the door to his room, and immediately moved on to the next stage. <God game! God patch!!> <This game is complete thanks to this patch.> <What are these characters’ names?>
Thomas was not the only boy or gamer like this. Spirit Space had already secured an enormous number of users, and since the homemade game board was one of the popular boards, many people quickly downloaded the patch.
And because the reactions were explosive, others who saw those reactions downloaded it in turn, and the topic spread beyond the homemade board itself.
Sex was undeniably one of the strongest forces driving humans. Downloads increased explosively to the point that Spirit Space had to make the choice to limit board access.
“For the protection of other content, we have no choice.”
While reporting on this matter, Giselle’s large owl-like eyes subtly carried a hint of resentment toward Ras. It made sense, since a free patch that earned no profit had disrupted server management.
“Yes. Understood. However, even aside from this incident, data sharing will continue increasing in the future. So rather than restricting access, please expand the servers.”
“Yes.”
However, Ras did not seem apologetic at all. This was simply something they would have faced eventually. As Spirit Space spread further and users increased, the amount of generated data would naturally grow, and besides plain text, there would also be many high-capacity files like images and programs.
And when something with immense popularity like this patch appeared among them, it was only natural that the network system would experience strain. If they treated it as a temporary issue and solved it with makeshift measures, the same thing would happen repeatedly.
That would hinder the growth of Spirit Space. Ras was not lacking in funds, so there was no reason to allow that. He had already seen a world where the internet dominated everything. Since he possessed such a clear vision, there was no reason to save money.
Returning to the story of Territory-Capturing Game, the success of this patch eventually led to increased sales. Even people who originally had no interest in the game naturally became curious because Spirit Space was making such an uproar over it.
“Oh... this is that thing?”
And there were also people like the young man now lifting a Territory-Capturing Game package with a sly expression after hearing rumors that it was erotic.
Some people were slightly disappointed by the lower intensity than expected, but the quality of the illustrations was so high that most people showed great satisfaction.
Because of that, the Casual 2 Team, which had developed Territory-Capturing Game, and the dating simulation development team that created the patch both praised Ras.
This praise was partly celebration of the success itself, but even more because of the compensation that came with it. The Casual 2 Team saw sales suddenly rise by forty percent, so they received performance bonuses accordingly, while the dating simulation development team also received bonuses for contributing to those sales, along with additional rewards personally given by Ras.
“Wow! How much is this?!”
Jorsh, one of the graphics team members from the dating simulation development team, shouted after seeing the money inside the envelope. It contained a whopping 5,000 Del. Despite the masculine-sounding name, Jorsh was actually a cute female Gnome.
She had only recently graduated from art school and found employment, but in truth, she did not particularly enjoy drawing erotic illustrations. Of course, she had still been hired because she was good enough at it for her portfolio to pass.
Because of that, she had continued feeling conflicted while making the patch, but the moment she saw this money, all those feelings disappeared.
If it had truly been something she hated, then even money would not have erased the discomfort. However, Jorsh’s doubts stemmed more from uncertainty about whether it was morally right and anxiety over society’s gaze. But now that she had entered a stable workplace and was being rewarded for doing well, those anxieties disappeared.
Wow...
Team Leader Natalie did not outwardly show it because she was trying to maintain dignity as the leader, but she too was happy. No, she was even more moved than employees like Jorsh, who had only just entered their first jobs. Natalie had endured difficult years.
At one point, she had even considered abandoning the kind of art she loved. She had thought that since not everyone lived doing what they loved, compromising with reality was not necessarily wrong.
Of course, even now, it could not be said that she had avoided compromise entirely, but Natalie felt relieved that she could now live a stable life while preserving more of herself. Hugging the envelope against her chest, she closed her eyes for a long while.
She had become able to continue living while drawing erotic illustrations.
The response to this erotic patch lasted for quite a long time. In truth, before the patch appeared, sales had already started gradually declining as the excitement surrounding the new release faded.
However, once the popularity ignited again, the view counts on strategy posts uploaded to Spirit Space increased, and eventually, even four months after the game’s release, Gamers published a strategy article for it.
Of course, a strategy article had already appeared shortly after release, but this time, it was a more advanced guide article.
The guide article itself was written based on the official version, but the people searching for it were not aiming for the Pokémon Million Volt illustration shown in the article by achieving 100%.
The subscribers, and even the reporter who wrote the strategy article, all knew that.
When this article appeared, players who had been crying tears of blood because they could not see the 100% illustrations erupted in cheers.
<Finally! I can defeat the Demon King!!>
The Demon King referred to the female Demon King illustration appearing in Stage 15, one of the harder stages in Territory-Capturing Game. It depicted a beautiful woman with a proud appearance and pose, viewed from a low angle within what appeared to be the Demon King’s castle.
Most people could eventually see the normal clear illustration through countless retries.
Even the normal illustration had many fans obsessed with the curves visible between her black cloak and thick clothing, as well as her long, beautifully emphasized legs due to the low viewing angle. But rumors spread that in the 100% version, after being defeated by the Hero, her clothes became torn and exposed, causing everyone to long desperately for that illustration.
Footnotes:
Translator’s Notes:
Million Volt (100만볼트) — Reference to Pokémon’s “One Million Volt” attack naming style. The hidden illustration in Territory-Capturing Game uses parody-style naming inspired by exaggerated electric attacks commonly associated with Pikachu.