So, What Now?
So, what now?
“Master, how is it?”
“Just wait. I'm analyzing it.”
Thanks to the gracious favor of our King God General Emperor Great Sage Wise Man Dumb Door Strongest Intellect of Humanity, Aldebarran Krotel, the cube miniaturization was accomplished in one shot.
After politely seeing off Chairman Aldebarran, Master and I headed straight up to the second floor to test and analyze the miniaturized cube.
“……As expected of Chairman Aldebarran. The stability of the magic formation is perfect. In that short time, he grasped the core principles of my secret magic and simplified them all.”
“I did well asking him, didn't I, Master?!”
“Yes, yes, our Yujin has now developed the ability to read even his master's hidden feelings.”
Master let out a seductive chuckle and pulled me forcibly into her embrace once more.
I savored the gentle touch stroking my hair and the soft, plush sensation to the fullest.
Mmm. The best, as always.
In truth, Master must have been racking her brains over this too.
She's a grand mage, after all—the first 8-circle spatial archmage.
She's endlessly indulgent with me, but not so much with others.
If anything, she's about average for a grand mage.
This is a secret, but even at the academy, she didn't have the best reputation among students.
She had a habit of canceling classes on a whim and springing note-taking or practical exams at hellish difficulty without proper instruction.
For someone like that to ask the Magic Council chairman to refine her secret magic? It wouldn't sit well with her pride.
But by having me, a mere 2-circle mage, fulfill her wish on her behalf, I preserved her dignity and gave the chairman a legitimate reason to step in.
Eugene Paltrow, you're a goddamn genius. Admit it? Yeah, I admit it.
“That said, even the chairman couldn't implement all the functions at 100%. In terms of raw performance…… it's about 30% of the original cube.”
“Hmm, 30%…… that's really just the bare minimum features.”
“Even I, an 8-circle mage, struggled just to get started. He pulled this off in one go because he's who he is. My cube isn't an artifact, after all.”
True enough—in modern terms, it's like jumping straight from the ENIAC computer to something like a Samsung space-fold device.
Right now, it's more like we've reached the early Macintosh PC era.
That's still impressive.
Artifacts and magic tools are fundamentally different to begin with.
Excluding illegal replicas or reverse-engineered copies—essentially fake artifacts—most artifacts' creators are unknown.
They're usually unearthed from ancient ruins like dungeons or labyrinths, or passed down through noble families for centuries.
And above all, they must contain unprecedented functions or magic.
For example, the three portal gates in the eastern kingdoms are the world's only surviving architectural artifacts of the lost magic Teleport.
The Rank-2 artifact 'Mask of Illusion' I got from Pletta as compensation for my cooperation was just a knockoff of a real one that exists somewhere.
This one only changes your face, but the real deal apparently alters your voice and body structure too.
Anyway.
Magic tools, a far more common concept, are simply devices that make existing magic more convenient to use.
In that sense, Master was right—the cube is a magic tool, not an artifact.
And given the nature of magic tools, where complexity and scale inevitably increase size, miniaturizing the cube had to come with performance trade-offs.
“We'll use this as a baseline and improve it step by step. By next week, I'll analyze the structure and prototype a few. In the meantime, Yujin, you brainstorm other 'games.'”
Master's golden eyes sparkled with excitement.
She'd taken a big step toward her goal, so naturally she was thrilled.
Even as an 8-circle mage, she was still a mage at heart—endlessly pioneering.
“Other games…… like one with Dead Wizard's City as the main focus?”
“No, we won't need that for a few months. Once the council ends, every mage in the world will flock to experience the world you created. Managing that will be enough.”
“……Hmm.”
Great that we don't need to update Dead Wizard's City, but a customer surge sounds exhausting.
We'd already been through hell once, and now there were these mystery bugs too.
I wondered if we should keep servicing it like this.
“No more pressure from above, right?”
“It's fine. Everything's settled. The palace and the council won't raise any issues.”
Chairman Aldebarran and the council, along with the imperial family where Cassian Valerius belonged, had decided to treat this incident as a 'minor happening'—a bold young mage's 'warning prophecy.'
From the empire's perspective, there were some irksome settings, but Cassian Valerius had awakened and reached 8-circle.
And after exploring that world himself, Cassian vouched for my identity and all of Dead Wizard's City's lore, letting it slide.
As for the council…… well, they should've properly disposed of or managed research data after purging black mages.
Who could've guessed there'd be a lunatic actually researching homunculi?
Once again, the average mage's standards had plummeted to rock bottom.
There's always a lower bottom. Impressive, Continental Magic Council!!
I let out a sigh and replied.
“Then I guess it's time to make a game suited for this miniaturized cube.”
“You have plenty of ideas anyway. Discuss it with your friends.”
Of course, I already had a framework in mind for the monumental debut game on the first miniaturized cube.
We hadn't had a planning meeting since Dead Wizard's City, after all.
Time for a celebratory wrap party—and gather the team.
***
A few days later.
“Bring booze and broads at once! It's the hour of the gold-earning hero bandits!”
“Yujin!! Cut the crap! As expected of an academy troublemaker—look at that chairman impression!”
“……I always wanted to try that line.”
“Hahaha! Duchess Riana, you're too much. It's just us—what's the harm? This is to let the boss blow off steam.”
“Mr. Mikrel, it doesn't faze him anyway. I told him to fix the ending, but look at him stubbornly sticking to it!”
“That's unfair, Duchess! It wasn't just me—Writer Dante agreed too!”
“Oops, that might cause misunderstandings. I clearly said good ending, but Yujin was the one who said we need at least one death each to make the mages freak out.”
“You were the one who read the initial Mary plot and said, 'It's a bit bland— if we're killing, let's kill for real!'”
“But the deaths were the same……”
“I have no idea what you're talking about. Anyway, we made a ton of gold—job done, right?”
“Jacob, not everything in the world runs on gold……”
The first team dinner was, naturally, at Silk Ribbon, run by Riana Merchant Guild.
Triple-A lamb from kid sheep native to the Kantar Mountains was the main—steaks galore—along with nonstop delicacies from land and sea.
We stuffed our faces with Sera cuisine while washing it down with the pricey liquors Mikrel had brought from around the world.
Before we knew it, everyone drinking—including me—was thoroughly sloshed, laughing and chatting away.
Ah, Riana included, of course.
“Hic! Hey, Yujin…… I really don't like you……”
“You say that about everything…… You hate me, don't you, Duchess?”
“Wha……! No……!! That's not it……”
“Then what is it?”
“Why…… you call Hanna just Hanna…… and others by name so friendly…… but always tack on 'Duchess' for meee……! If you do that, I'll call you Sir Eugene Paltrow again!?”
“????”
“Just!! Call me Rianaaa……! We're barely three years apart……”
“That was really the issue?”
“It's an!! Important!! Issue!!? You treat me so business-like……!!”
She'd seemed extra sulky lately for some reason.
I promised to use her name casually, pinky-swearing and stamping it with our thumbs.
“Ehehe…… hehehe, say Riana, Yujin.”
“Riana, you're totally wasted. How about heading to bed?”
“Kyaa! Riana, Riana…… mmm……”
Thud. The duchess face-planted on the table and passed out.
Completely wasted.
Looking around, she wasn't the only one.
Well, Silk Ribbon runs a sober-up inn anyway, so they'd handle it.
My head was starting to throb too, so I stepped out for some air.
There were Dante Otter du Bua and Rin Ashford, already outside.
“When did you two come out?”
“Not long ago.”
“Huh? Just the two of you? Hold on~ what's this? My spidey senses are tingling.”
Two same-age coworkers slipping out together during a company dinner?
Ah, 100% confirmed.
They have been hanging out a lot lately.
As I grinned and started prying, Rin Ashford—former Green Tower disciple, 6-circle mage—replied in her dry tone.
“Sir Yujin, we've been dating for two months.”
“???”
“See, Rin? I told you he wouldn't know. No radar.”
“No way!! What?! You've been office-dating this whole time!?”
“Everyone but you knew.”
Damn it. While I was busting my ass, these two were all lovey-dovey?
So that's why they requested shifts together in the cube room……?
I felt utterly betrayed.
Aren't mages supposed to be romance-repelling by canon rule?
Our Dark Tower third-year egostaff Ron is still single after 28 years!
Dante Otter du Bua…… you're a bad man.
You turned me into the ultimate loser virgin hikikomori wizard who can't even date……
Maybe my glare turned menacing, because Dante laughed it off wittily and changed the subject.
“So, Sir Yujin. What kind of project are you planning next?”
Right. We gathered for dinner and planning.
I snapped back to reality.
Truth be told, Dante and I could handle the planning.
Set the direction first, then flesh it out with the department heads.
“I heard the miniaturized cube's output is lower than expected.”
“Yes, Master tested it a few times—the space is severely limited. Can't do a whole city like Dead Wizard's City; maybe a rural village at best.”
“Yeah, that's tricky……”
Not every story needs vast lore or varied backdrops.
But they can become the story themselves.
Spatial limits sharply reduce story density and variety.
Then Rin Ashford, who'd been listening, chimed in.
“I reviewed the logs you provided, Sir Yujin. And analyzed where soul power peaked.”
As mage, ecologist, and alchemist, her role covered in-game ecosystems, monsters, and magic design.
But we couldn't waste a 6-circle asset, so with Master's permission, she handled limited monitoring and secondary log analysis.
I extracted and rated the data; she summarized it neatly.
“Results show peaks right before the ending and in Mary's house.”
“Finale makes sense, but Mary's house?”
“Yes. Likely the pure interactions with the kids evoke strong positive emotions. I don't fully get it, but that's the data.”
“Hmm.”
I pondered.
Even for a test port on downgraded hardware, max soul efficiency was key.
So, a raising sim? Monster breeder? Kid simulator? Nah, too far……
“Ah.”
That's when it hit—a masterpiece from my past life flashed in my mind.
“What? Did inspiration strike?”
“Of course. This one's foolproof.”
The legendary raising sim that defined an era: Princess Maker series.
“Let's raise a kid.”
If I nailed this, it'd outsell even Dead Wizard's City. I could feel it.