Chapter 43: The Gameplay of the Inner World
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

After giving his father a burst of inspiration, Jiang Qiao didn’t stick his hands into this matter anymore.

Jiang Qiao’s father had been researching this matter for five years so, and in this period it was rumored that he had made a 3D projection device, but apparently it was as big as a cruise liner. If that was the case, then his father was probably working on reducing its size.

This was the same as steam engines and calculators, and even the first calculator created was the size of multiple rooms.

As Ocean Blue continued to eat the little lobsters on the desk, Jiang Qiao started to create and test the rules of the Inner World.

Jiang Qiao used around five hundred energy points to turn the space above the living room desk into the beta test version of the Bluestar Inner World.

On the table, nothing had really changed on the surface. The lobster shells that Ocean Blue finished eating piled at a corner of the table, and Jiang Qiao created a miniature version of NoUpdatesToday, which was his avatar in-game.

His avatar that was in the inner world was around the size of a thumb, so he didn’t spend a lot of energy on it.

“What are you doing?” Ocean Blue asked, even pausing in eating her small lobster.

At this rate, it seemed that Jiang Qiao would have to spend a lot of energy on this test.

“I want to let the players design this inner world.”

As he said so, he created a brick in the Elemental Summoner’s hand and piled them together, creating a building resembling a coffin.

“Let the players do it? You mean you’re going to let them build stuff in the inner world using their avatars?” Ocean Blue looked at the skyscrapers outside the window. “Would they have to tear down those?”

“It’s just going to be projections of players, so they can’t actually touch anything in the real world. In the eyes of the players, they would see what was built in real life, but in theory it would only be an infinite expanse of land, suited for building.”

Jiang Qiao controlled his avatar and reached over to a small lobster that Ocean Blue hadn’t eaten yet.

With supersonic speed, Ocean Blue snatched the small lobster over and raised it over her head.

Sighing in defeat, Jiang Qiao could only command his avatar in the direction of the pile of small lobster shells.

The avatar’s hand phased through the lobster shell because it was only a 3D projection in theory, and Jiang Qiao was emulating the effect through Maker Mode.

“If players could make buildings, wouldn’t the Inner World be filled with these… coffins?” Ocean Blue put down the small lobster in her hand, and pointed at the ‘coffin’ that Jiang Qiao built earlier.

“Which is why we’re going to connect the manor system to it.”

Jiang Qiao made his avatar move to Ocean Blue’s lunch box, and immediately the goddess wrapped her arms around the box, holding it protectively.

She resembled a fat cat whose favorite box of dried fish was going to be stolen, and had immediately gone into battle mode.

The Elemental Summoner didn’t do anything to Ocean Blue’s lunch box, only making a small semi-transparent window appear in front of him with a bunch of data.

[Manor Goddess Ocean Blue’s Lunch Box]

[Area: 230 square centimeters.]

[Cost: A hundred magical stones]

Of course, this cost was only a random piece of data created by Jiang Qiao to fill space. In the future, players would have to use different ways to buy real estate and build buildings in Sacred Souls.

“Players can buy buildings in areas that I set, and multiple players could buy the same piece of land at once. That being said, the one displayed would only be the manor that was built the best.”

“Why does this feel like a whole different game…? Are the players going to gather materials in Sacred Souls, and come to the real world to… build houses?”

Ocean Blue was actually quite great at grasping new concepts, but she would get a debuff whenever the topic involved food…

“Not another game, but a new version!” Jiang Qiao told Ocean Blue his plans.

“After you get back that divinity fragment, I’m going to update the game so that the inner world and the maximum level would be updated at once. This is another way to save energy, because it would require quite a lot of energy for the players to move the buildings from the Sacred Souls world to the Inner World. It would be more realistic for the players to build stuff by themselves.”

“I remember that girl that was boiling water, what was her name again…”

“EverlastingBlackHair?” Jiang Qiao uttered the name that he had quite the impression of. “She’s Level 5 now and still working to get a hundred gold coins, but she’s a player with quite the creativity. I think she’s going to be a shining star in the Inner World.”

“But the Inner World doesn’t have anything like a bastion or any city walls…Aren’t the invaders from the invading plane just going to destroy their manors?”

Ocean Blue was still quite protective of the players. She was akin to a newbie mother that was still somewhat clumsy and didn’t know how to properly take care of her children, but she would still protect her babies in whichever way she could.

“Couldn’t the players build cannons or turrets in their manors to blast them to shreds?” Jiang Qiao told Ocean Blue his ambition. “Never look down upon our creativity.”

The creativity of a single game developer would be limited, but the creativity of the player community was infinite. Taking the game Besiege as an example, this game that was set somewhere in the middle ages was turned into a futuristic game filled with tanks, mechas, and starships.

In consideration of the NPCs and the other players, the original world of Sacred Souls was designed and set with restrictions, so it were detrimental to players who liked to build and create.

But the inner world was completely different! Because it was an expansive world, those types of players would be able to build and tear down buildings as they liked, as long as they had enough money and resources to do so.

“That sounds quite interesting, it’s like it turned into a game of… tower defense!” Ocean Blue thought back to a term she had learned from Jiang Qiao before.

“Wouldn’t it be normal to build a defensive front when creatures invade?” Jiang Qiao didn’t put the gaming experience of the invading plane into consideration.

The building system that Jiang Qiao designed was quite complex and free, but in essence, it was just a game. They wouldn’t need a high degree of education to create a cannon in the game, and would only require the corresponding classes or subclasses so that they Sacred Souls system could guide them to build whatever they want. All this was based on a setting called Sacred Crystal.

“Ah, but isn’t it too early to talk about this?” Ocean Blue had already finished the small lobster in her hand. “It’s still too early to tell whether I would be able to get my divinity fragment back, also…Would 3D projection become commonplace so quickly in the first place?”

“Yes. I have a certain hunch, and even though it’ll need some time, but we’ll definitely be able to do it. The first step is of course, to raise our levels.” Jiang Qiao was extremely confident in his players.

This confidence didn’t last for long though.

As soon as he finished testing the basics of the Inner World, Jiang Qiao saw a certain post that attracted his attention in the Sacred Souls forum.

The title was ‘There’s a newly built NPC battle arena outside the Tower of Trials, and they’re all so strong! I’ve been KO’ed four times already, can some PK bosses help me? This is urgent!’.