Chapter 78
Chapter 78
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 78
Chapter Title: I Will Stand in the Heavens (2)
Eyes opened wide.
Shedding the old skin.
Great awakening.
Breaking out of the shell.
To shatter preconceived notions and transform into a new existence, one needs a trigger of that magnitude.
In my case, it was awakening, the ability of a Summoner, and my escape to America.
And if there's one more thing, it would have to be the abyss of this world that I glimpsed through Dray.
Some might only see the truth of the world after losing their sight.
Others might realize what they truly desired only after losing something precious.
No matter what the trigger is, if the change—even if it means cloaking oneself in a bit of darkness—lays the foundation for a new era and future, there's no reason to stand in its way.
Right now, I'm too busy conquering S-Rank Towers to even think about what comes after they've all been cleared.
Others might say, "Why not just take a break?" but time given to a person is finite.
If I had my way, I'd summon a fifth familiar—something like a 'Room of Spirit and Time'—and grind every mobile gacha game in the world at 64x speed inside it.
Or accelerate time to speedrun my homework, or adapt to a new game's system and rack up experience points like crazy using Illinois to take down bosses, just like before.
But to do that, there's one thing I need to handle first.
"Tower. Let's go conquer it."
At my declaration, everyone gathered in the captain's quarters blinked in surprise.
"The remaining S-Rank Towers. Let's go conquer them. How's everyone's condition?"
"We're fine, Master. But are you okay?"
"Fit as a fiddle. No issues."
"Now that we're in America, shouldn't we sightsee, travel, take pictures, and all that?"
"Going out means dealing with paparazzi, traveling together draws too much attention, it invites trouble from other Hunters, and staying holed up here turns places like national parks into overcrowded messes that ruin the natural environment..."
"What's the real reason?"
"Seeing that A-Rank Tower break in Pennsylvania made me realize we can't just sit around."
This was just in case, but.
"If an S-Rank Tower breaks, we'd have to go all-out from right here. If dragons or giant monsters pour out, we'd have to redraw the map of America."
"You don't think it'll actually break— but it's still unsettling, right?"
"Exactly."
I pointed to the locations of the remaining S-Rank Towers on the screen.
"Four S-Rank Towers on the U.S. mainland. And one in the middle of the Atlantic, not technically in the U.S. Let's clear them before one breaks while we're conquering another. Starting with the closest."
Someone might say.
What's with the sudden fuss?
But it's not baseless panic—the A-Rank Tower in Pennsylvania broke. Monsters started pouring out from inside the Tower.
An A-Rank Tower.
"They say when the Tokyo Calamity hit, A-Rank Towers like Shibuya and Narita Airport broke one after another in a chain reaction."
I didn't know before.
But after getting access to state secrets, I learned about the hidden truths behind the catastrophe of even a single S-Rank Tower breaking.
"It's not that I'm being hasty. I've rested enough... well, not quite, but I'm not in any shape to slack off."
"Hmm, not hasty? Really? Not because you have to spend more time conquering Towers for someone else's sake?"
"......."
Dray smirked with half-lidded eyes, and Elaine coughed awkwardly, looking away.
"Is it because the new update drops in four days?"
"I won't deny it."
I picked up my smartphone.
"It's before the version update, so I need to get this done first."
Four days from now.
NPia Corporation's Granad Impact: Redive—the game featuring Elaine—is getting a version update.
Not just any update, but a new patch alongside the already-planned banners.
"You have no idea how much cash NPia is raking in. With the Elaine reprint, performance patches, and..."
"Releasing a limited 5-star character for free and putting her on permanent rotation? I didn't expect this much push for a reprint character, nyang."
What people are calling the "[Elaine Patch]" was just four days away.
"So..."
"Let's smash the S-Rank Towers quick, do the version story, 5-refine the new weapons, and farm those sacred relics again."
S-Rank Towers can be conquered now, but spec-ups need to start the moment they're viable.
"Elaine can get even stronger than she is now. We can't let S-Rank Towers hold us back."
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ [At that moment, NPia Corporation. Test Server Room.]
"It's called a reprint, but they basically dumped her exclusive weapon and relic, so she's treated like a total limited now."
"That's how it turned out."
The two men doing final checks in the test server room— the balancing team leader and planning team leader for Granad—sipped energy drinks while scanning the in-game data.
"Inflation?"
"We decided to just go for it, eyes closed. You know this—she's set stronger than the latest characters."
"Tch...."
What's the most important element in a mobile gacha game?
Character value preservation, without a doubt.
If a limited-pull character becomes obsolete in less than half a year, who would bother pulling for the latest ones properly?
-Yeah, pull now and in half a year it's "trash lol"
Right now, bosses and enemies with gimmicks seem easy because they're tuned for current characters, but in half a year, new characters clear them in 1 minute while you're struggling for 3-5.
In that sense, this reprinted limited banner Elaine stands out as quite anomalous.
"Team leader. Are we sure these stats we set will actually... help ?"
"That's why we made this weapon—to find out."
The planning team leader pointed to the weapon held by the expressionless Elaine in the test server.
"This 'Dragon Slayer' that matches Elaine's colors perfectly. Not just the color coordination with Ku-en-Kuro..."
"The performance is tuned for her too. Other characters get 85% efficiency at best."
"...Never thought one character would get two exclusive weapons, but it's all groundwork for later."
The two turned to the sparkling footage on the other dual monitor screen.
"[Elaine Soul]. Production going well?"
"It just started. Even using our resources, release-wise, it'll be winter at the earliest."
"Winter, huh..."
"Or like the higher-ups are saying, just do a full 'Re:Redive'."
"Dude, that'd cause a riot."
"Why? At least Elaine's ban—"
"Hey."
The planning team leader glared, signaling silence.
"Someone hears that, they'll think we're doing full-character free distribution from next version. Right?"
"Ah, haha... yeah?"
"Yeah. Finish limited characters' stories, they join the protagonist party, early pullers get a 1-roll conversion or whatever. You know, the surprise info that drops with the update—we can't just spill it. Right?"
"Haha, yeah... Yes. But."
The balancing team leader pointed to the screen where test play was underway.
"Pushing the update without even checking user data on the test server—is this really okay?"
A black-haired maid overwhelming enemies with brute force, even on auto-battle.
"The president and chairman said it's fine if balance breaks a bit."
The planning team leader smirked at the sight of 2 million damage popping from one swing of the black-haired maid's sword—numbers other characters needed their souls to scrape 300k-500k.
"The Saint can handle it."
"...People will misunderstand if they hear that."
"Sorry. But you know? Not a real saint, but... the savior who kept our company alive."
"Yes. So for this version, full-character namecard distribution... sigh."
The balancing team leader scratched his head.
"Will our game's lifespan be okay?"
"Who knows. That's on you guys."
"No."
"If you overpush in-game settings or specs, people get turned off. But for the Saint, this much is fine."
The planning team leader nodded as if it were obvious.
"Everyone's fighting in a 3D world, but she's gone 4D... out into reality, clearing real Towers. This is the least we developers can do, right?"
"...You don't see her as a game character anymore."
"Nope. She's beyond our hands now. We're just thinking of ways to help more..."
Click.
"Hoping Master summons our girl as his... fourth? No, fifth familiar. Just make the hot female characters and we're good."
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ [At that moment, the White House.]
"Sigh. Game companies have it easy. Just develop games and they can help Master."
President Luigi, worn out from fatigue, slumped into his chair.
He usually prided himself on boundless stamina, but lately, he'd been too busy handling back-to-back crises to rest.
Hunters just clear S-Rank Towers and done, but the administration has to reorganize systems after they're gone.
Control crowds flocking to conquer Golden Gate without a Tower, approve budgets for signal redesigns, sign off on Panama Canal transit reports, shake hands with Hunters tackling broken Towers...
"Whew."
Mountains of work.
The problem? Some can't be delegated to subordinates.
"A bit... tired, huh?"
A peculiar alarm tone.
President Luigi paused at the sound, then squeezed his eyes shut at the DM it delivered.
"...Yeah."
President Luigi realized.
"Work hard till I lay down the armband, then rest all at once after retirement."
Beep.
"Yeah, it's me. Launch one fighter jet. Master..."
President Luigi checked the DM again.
"...needs a dropship."