Chapter 93
Chapter 93
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 93
Chapter Title: Beyond That Idol (3)
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📰 Market Strategy Report (Strategy).... As such, the personal consultation fee for psychiatrists in Omega Detroit averages nearly 780 credit dollars per minute. This leaves most citizens unable to access proper medical support, while demand for individual mental health care surges amid our hyper-competitive society. The hyper-individualized masses currently relieve stress through incomplete substitutes like entertainment, gourmet dining, and nightlife—and all too often cross into illegal territory with drugs or illicit prostitution. Amid these flawed alternatives, virtual reality is emerging as a relatively healthy option with high immersion. Studies abound showing that stepping away from harsh reality into entirely new worlds for fresh experiences effectively bolsters mental well-being. In fact, subscriber numbers for Lucid Troimen's virtual reality services have steadily climbed year after year, clearly signaling a customer base seeking emotional solace that material wealth can't buy. Thus, virtual reality content—far beyond mere entertainment—holds immense potential to provide weary citizens with novel experiences, evolving into a massive mental health care market that transcends the entertainment sector. Excerpted from # Arclight Consulting, New Market Strategy Team 1 [Lucid Connect Business Viability Report] Having slipped out of virtual reality for a moment, I dove straight into the broadcast management screen.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ [Your channel has reached the maximum viewer limit. Would you like to upgrade your plan?] And the system message staring back at me left me utterly baffled.
'Wasn't... the viewer cap definitely 3,000?'
If my memory served right, that's what I'd heard. Sure, we'd added more access pods to the outskirt cathedral lately due to the flood of devotees eager for virtual reality services... but even accounting for that, we were still well under capacity.
'Maybe some devotees with their own gear heard rumors and showed up?'
The thought crossed my mind, but I shook my head.
Virtual reality worship was still highly experimental and strictly invite-only for a select group of the most devout. We hadn't announced it to the wider flock, and even if word had leaked, they'd wait for official word from the church.
That's when Yoanna chimed in again.
"Sis, I just checked with the Lucid ops team—no unauthorized system access."
"Then what the..."
Who were these viewers?
If not hacking, there was only one possibility left.
Real people who'd just happened to guess the password.
"........."
I was a bit dumbfounded.
It might've been my mistake. To make it easy even for outskirt folks unfamiliar with VR, I'd set a simple password... and apparently, that let total outsiders wander in.
Flustered, I rubbed my forehead.
A private broadcast not listed on any rankings—why bother cracking the password?
'What's there even to see here...'
And truthfully, unless you were a devotee, this worship service made no sense to attend.
It defied all logic.
I was just thrown by this unexpected turn.
'Maybe they were just curious about the spectacle of a proper mass?'
Religion's all but vanished in this era. To them, our earnest worship might look as exotic as stumbling on a foreign festival during travel. That made a bit of sense.
'Jeez, what won't happen these days.'
Anyway, now that I had it figured out, my response was simple.
Outsiders with zero church ties? Boot 'em.
With devotees still waiting for worship, I quickly spun up a new private channel.
A complex password later, the commotion ended.
No more outsiders, and we proceeded as planned.
An hour later, I slipped off the access pod with a refreshed sigh.
"Haa..."
Despite the hiccup, the service wrapped up successfully.
Yoanna returned from the office, buzzing with excitement.
"Great work, sis! The cathedral called—everyone was thrilled."
"Really?"
Her words warmed me unexpectedly. Virtual reality worship might be better than I'd thought. Maybe we could scale it up a bit.
The only snag was those surprise outsiders... but a new password fixed that. No big deal, I figured.
I'd overlooked one key fact.
Humans have this contrarian streak, the "screw you" mentality. The more you forbid something, the more it piques curiosity.
Especially online, where everyone's even more impulsive.
💬 Viewer Forum — Anonymous (135.769537) [The 135,769,537th plea to open the cathedral doors] (12) — Anonymous (456.123) [Give me back my sleeping pills!!!] (13) — Anonymous (789.012) [Anyone seen Rico streaming lately?] (31) — Anonymous (321.654) [ASMR recs pls] (1) ⭐ Top Thread — Anonymous (987.654) [I'm cold....] (2) — All viewer board members [We, the viewer board, issue a stern warning on this incident] (65) — Anonymous (147.258) [So where do I get that saintess avatar? Urgent] (7) — Week 1 newbie [Week-one newbie kicks 3,000 viewers—what kind of savage move is that???] (4) "........."
Among the posts flooding in, a few keywords jumped out.
Saintess. Regular worship. Private channel. Eerily familiar.
I turned to Yoanna, stunned.
"No way... all those people in our channel came from here?"
"Yeah. They're clamoring for you to reopen, sis. The backlash is bigger than expected."
"......"
The board was in absolute chaos. Even strangers were getting swept up, digging into what the fuss was about.
Suddenly, I was at a loss.
Should I not have changed the password? Or started VR worship at all?
I pondered deeply.
"What do we do...?"
While I fretted, Yoanna's eyes sparkled.
"Eve sis, why not... trial a public worship while we're at it?"
"Huh...?"
Her bold pitch caught me off guard.
But before I could respond, she launched into her prepared pitch.
"Lucid Connect users are mostly inner-city folk. They could be our bridgehead for expanding Radiance Church. If we sidestep the stiff 'religion' label and approach more casually like this... it could be a fresh way to grow our flock, right?"
"Even so..."
I started to object—it felt risky—but then reconsidered.
The church's existence and my saintess identity weren't secrets anymore.
Any corp with decent intel could dig us up easily. Our open-door policy made info control impossible as we scaled.
And people dig harder at hidden things.
Outskirts benefited from that mystique unintentionally... but this was the city.
The more we hid, the more we'd attract dangerous predators.
'Now that we're this big, maybe it's time to show our face naturally.'
The real secret was miracles alone—and VR worship never touched that.
Yoanna's logic and my thoughts aligned. I started waffling.
The board's wild buzz nagged too.
Sustained outsider attention felt burdensome.
We needed to defuse this.
I felt my resolve tipping.
'Honestly, won't they lose interest fast?'
Novelty and mystery fueled it now, but normies wouldn't stick for dull sermons.
A few rounds, and they'd bail on their own.
Plus, our fledgling city expansion needed buzz over backlash. Good PR.
So I greenlit Yoanna's idea. Triage the moment first.
"Alright. Trial public broadcasts for a few days till the hype dies?"
We shelled out to upgrade the plan—max viewers to 7,000. Double plus.
Should overflow-proof now, I thought.
Two days later.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ [Your channel has reached the maximum viewer limit. Would you like to upgrade your plan?] "........."