Clearly, this was a special group chat that brought together Elite Four members and Champions from various regions—you could basically say the world's strongest trainers were all gathered here.
Since people at their level had busy schedules every day, this group was usually pretty quiet.
But once something interesting happened, everyone who'd been lurking would suddenly pop up.
—Just like right now.
As more and more people started speaking up and asking Lance about the specifics, he simply downloaded the in-game battle as a video file and forwarded it to the group.
[Dragon Supreme: I ran into someone who used a really interesting strategy. You should all take a look.]
Once the video was posted, the group went quiet again—clearly everyone was watching seriously.
A few minutes passed before people started posting their reactions.
[FlyingSnowFox: Using two Pokémon's Pickup ability for infinite crowd control loops? While it'd be hard to pull off in real life, the concept is genuinely interesting.]
[Deepsea: Just thinking about Lance getting pelted with junk for an entire match makes me lose it.]
[Ga_Apo: Hahahahahaha]
Everyone here was a trainer at this level, so they naturally saw through the opponent's tactical thinking and design at a glance.
They had to admit that even though it was just a game, there was genuine brilliance to it.
[Dragon Supreme: You've all had your laughs, so could you please give me some information about this "Decent Person"? I really want to meet them.]
[Ga_Apo: You better actually want to meet them, not challenge them to an offline match.]
[Lorelei: I think you should ask the high-ranking players in our group... they might know this person?]
[Darkness Rising: The highest ranked in our group should be Red and Cynthia, but Red's probably out training somewhere and can't be reached right now... why not ask Cynthia?]
[Pure White: @Strawberry Ice Cream]
[Ga_Apo: @Strawberry Ice Cream]
As someone suggested, everyone started tagging Cynthia, but two minutes passed with no response from her.
Someone with a Charizard avatar suddenly appeared and posted a long message:
[Don't Call Me Fire-Type Afro: Don't bother tagging her—can't reach her lately. I thought she was on some mission at first, but when I logged into the gaming platform, I realized she seems addicted to some game, always showing as online.]
[The game's called something like Pokémon... Emerald? I don't get what's so appealing about it that she'd even skip Battle Road, which she loves, for several days now.]
[Ga_Apo: Thanks for the intel, Fire-Type Afro.]
[Don't Call Me Fire-Type Afro: ...I'm flying over on Dragonite Air to challenge you to a duel, I'll be there in a few minutes, you better not run.]
[Dragon Supreme: Count me in.]
After sending that message, Lance exited the group chat.
He'd hoped to use the group's network to find information about this "Decent Person's" identity so he could get to know them.
Looks like he'd have to wait until he could contact Cynthia or Red to ask around.
While thinking, he suddenly remembered something else.
Right...
Earlier in the group, Sinnoh's Fire-type Elite Four member "Flint" mentioned that Cynthia had been obsessing over another game recently.
But based on his impression of Cynthia, she wasn't really into video games.
The only reason she played Battle Road was because it helped improve her battle understanding and Pokémon knowledge, not because she actually enjoyed gaming.
So what kind of magic did that game have to make even Cynthia get sucked in and ignore messages?
Lance grew more and more curious—
He was on vacation anyway, so why not give it a try?
What was that game called again?
—Something like... Pokémon... Emerald?
He opened the search bar and started typing based on his memory.
An hour later.
In Kairos's livestream.
As his opponent chose to surrender, he'd successfully completed his 15th consecutive win.
His game rank had also reached "Ultra Ball."
But what disappointed him was that the opponents he'd matched with in recent games didn't have the same status and background as Lance in the first match—they were just high-ranking players.
So they hadn't provided him with any extra emotion points.
Still, by now he'd achieved his streaming goal.
Kairos glanced up at the viewer count in the top right corner of the stream—it had reached 1,200 people, exceeding the system quest requirement.
So Kairos cleared his throat.
"All right, everyone, that's it for today's challenge. Tomorrow at the same time, 2 PM, I'll continue streaming."
With that, he directly closed the stream.
Leaving over 1,000 viewers completely bewildered.
[??? Stream's over already?]
[Dude, you only streamed for less than two hours, right? Just when you're getting popular, you're not gonna make money?]
[Did he run away because he's scared of losing and having to do a red envelope giveaway?]
What they didn't know was that Kairos only streamed to harvest more emotion points, buy modules, and further develop his game.
Now that the quest was complete and he'd gotten the points, naturally, he needed to go back and continue making his game.
At that moment, in his rental apartment, he stood up from his desk and stretched, glancing at the notification in front of him.
[You have obtained points converted from shock, joy, frustration, anger, and other emotions from stream viewers and matched opponents, totaling 100 points!]
Nearly three hours of streaming for only 100 points—the cost-benefit ratio definitely wasn't high.
Fortunately, the main reward from this stream came from elsewhere.
[Ding! Congratulations, host, you have completed the side quest "Part-Time Activity" (C)]
[Quest rewards have been distributed!]
[Obtained 200 emotion points, obtained basic module "Text Decryption Module"!]
Text Decryption Module?
Looking at the notification, Kairos felt like this module seemed familiar, so he tried to remember.
Oh, right.
This was the one that could convert real ancient texts into in-game ruin inscriptions, adding historical authenticity to games.
He could also understand and use any human civilization's language.
This module could obviously only add polish to game development, but considering its original price of over 200 points, as a random reward, it wasn't a loss.
Just as Kairos was thinking, a new notification suddenly popped up:
[Ding! Due to the host's excellent quest completion, you have received a bonus reward!]
[You have obtained "Basic Module Upgrade Card"! (B) (Consumable)]
[After using this card, you can upgrade any owned basic module!]
Looking at the notification, Kairos raised an eyebrow slightly.
Hm? A quest actually came with an unexpected bonus?
He focused on that card, falling into thought.
This card could upgrade any basic game development module, and to maximize its cost-effectiveness, the first thing he thought of was upgrading that [Production Efficiency Enhancement Module]!
This module could boost his speed when making all types of games going forward, and from personal experience, the efficiency improvement after purchasing it was quite noticeable.
Back then, to buy this module, he'd spent a full 450 emotion points, far more expensive than other basic modules.
From this, he could judge that when this module reached intermediate level, its purchase price and effects would far exceed other intermediate modules.
That would probably be a difference measured in the "thousands."
With that thought, Kairos didn't hesitate to consume the card and directly chose to upgrade the [Production Efficiency Enhancement Module].
The next moment, the system notification appeared.
[Ding! Congratulations, module upgrade successful!]
A golden-glowing controller icon refreshed before his eyes.
[Production Efficiency Enhancement Module (Intermediate)]
[Description: Your efficiency in creating any type of game will be significantly improved, and emotion points gained from all games will increase by 30%!]
Looking at the notification, Kairos's eyes lit up.
Sure enough, he'd made the right choice!
Not only would all game development efficiency improve further, but there was also a bonus point acquisition buff!
And 30% wasn't insignificant either!
He closed the notification panel with satisfaction, and at the same time, a new quest refreshed before his eyes.
[Ding! Main quest obtained: Rookie Champion (S)]
[Quest Requirements: Make your created game successfully win the "New Game Festival" championship position.]
[Quest Rewards: 2000 emotion points, random advanced production module x1, special system item chest (A) x1]
[Quest Description: Rumor has it a new game came to the New Game Festival—its content is explosive, everyone who's played it is flying high!]
After scanning through this quest information, Kairos nodded slightly.
2000 emotion points plus a random advanced production module, plus a system item chest—these rewards were quite generous!
And becoming New Game Festival champion was already his goal anyway, so this was basically the system giving him free rewards.
He took a deep breath.
There was still a month until the New Game Festival ended.
Within this month, he not only needed to complete the Sinnoh region, Hoenn region maps, and first and second playthrough content for Insane Mode,
But he also needed to create "Standard Mode" content.
Unlike Insane Mode's focus on difficulty and challenge, "Standard Mode" emphasized story and gameplay experience. Based on the original, Kairos had many new ideas to implement.
This was also why he'd started with "Insane Mode."
—Because only by unlocking enough modules could he create the true "Emerald" Standard Mode he envisioned.
So now...
Kairos opened his status panel.
Including the rewards just received from the quest, plus his previous savings, his emotion point balance had reached just over 1,300!
This number looked high, but actually, it wasn't quite enough to buy even a cheaper intermediate module,
like the [Advanced CG Module] that costs 1,400 points.
With that thought, Kairos shook his head slightly.
Better to honestly make games and save up emotion points.
He sat back down at his computer, about to start working, when a string of notifications suddenly popped up.
[Ding, special character "Lance" experienced "surprise, confusion, and fondness" emotions toward your game. You have obtained 100 emotion points!]
Looking at this notification, Kairos paused.
Lance had just been tormented by him and immediately went to play Emerald.
He thought about it but couldn't find any connection between these two things.
He was certain Lance didn't know Emerald was actually made by him, since the system strictly protected his identity.
So... this was purely a coincidence?
Whatever, it didn't matter.
He could only say thanks to Boss Lance for delivering emotion points—what a generous boss!
After silently thanking Lance, Kairos directly chose to spend all his points to unlock the [Advanced CG Module].
From now on, he could directly use this module to create special Blu-ray HD CGs!
Combined with the ancient text translation module he'd just obtained...
Kairos suddenly had a bold idea.
Originally, tonight, he'd planned to focus entirely on creating "Petalburg City" and "Mauville City" content.
But now it seemed some things could be arranged ahead of schedule.
With that thought, he directly created a new folder on his desktop.
—[Desert Ruins.Regirock.Route 111.]
Meanwhile, in Jubilife City, the Sinnoh region.
At Dream Factory headquarters, in a conference room.
A group of well-dressed young men and women sat in the room, talking among themselves and venting their dissatisfaction.
"Boss B is really disgusting—calling back even people on vacation?"
"Totally insane. Paying us peanuts for a month and still expecting us to work ourselves to death. If I had better options, I would've quit long ago."
"Sigh, the gaming industry is in rough shape. Even Dream Factory is like this—where else can we go? Other companies pay so little, it all goes to rent and living expenses..."
At this point, a slightly older man spoke up:
"All right, let's talk about something real—what do you all think about that game?"
At these words, everyone immediately perked up with interest.
"You mean 'Emerald' he sent us? Honestly, I think it's really well made—very creative and high quality."
"Definitely. Polished graphics, rich content, and the turn-based battle concept is good. Too bad the boss has his eye on it."
"Yeah... I bet he called us in today to copy their stuff again... throw money at it, update faster than the original, and slowly squeeze them to death."
"That Bast*rd Nova, it's not the first time he's pulled this crap."
"Sigh, feel sorry for that game's studio. Just when they were getting somewhere, they're about to get crushed..."