Although Alto had only recently broken through to level Three, his massive player base brought him an absolutely enormous influx of Dream Power every single day. The energy flowed in consistently, far exceeding what most designers could ever hope to achieve. Reaching his next level up was now merely a matter of patience and time.
Next on his agenda was putting a new project into development. The question that occupied his thoughts constantly was simple but critical: what should he create?
He contemplated for quite some time, mentally cataloging possibilities. At his current development level, he was finally capable of producing proper, fully-fledged games with substantial depth and complexity. As long as it wasn't something requiring an enormous open world or massive, large-scale environmental rendering like certain AAA titles, small to medium-sized games were completely feasible with his current resources and capabilities.
For example, the GTA series with its urban sandbox chaos, Don't Starve's survival mechanics, Dark Souls' punishing combat systems, various real-time strategy titles, or even experimenting with some MMO-style multiplayer concepts. There were countless excellent FPS series he could adapt as well, though those would require significant adjustments to the worldbuilding and lore.
If he directly integrated Earth's modern firearms and military technology without context, players in this magical fantasy world would probably be utterly baffled and confused. The cultural disconnect would be too jarring. He'd need to carefully adapt any such mechanics to fit this world's aesthetic and technology level.
As he pondered these creative possibilities, weighing the pros and cons of different genres, he suddenly felt overwhelmingly drowsy.
What's happening? Alto wondered groggily if he'd been unconsciously overworking himself lately despite his attempts to delegate. Sure enough, he really had been pushing too hard. Even geniuses needed proper rest.
His eyelids grew impossibly heavy, his sense of balance and spatial awareness gradually faded, and before he fully realized what was occurring, he drifted helplessly into deep sleep right there at his desk.
A pitch-black void stretched endlessly in all directions. Nothing but absolute emptiness existed before his disoriented eyes. Alto's consciousness felt profoundly hazy and disconnected, floating in this strange liminal space.
Where is this place?
The entire world seemed paused in time, silent beyond any measure of quietness he'd ever experienced. Suddenly, he felt his awareness sink into something impossibly warm and comforting, like being cradled in gentle hands.
Very warm. Very safe. Overwhelmingly peaceful.
Then, a single point of brilliant light appeared in the infinite darkness before him. It slowly expanded with deliberate purpose, gradually taking shape and becoming a blurry humanoid figure that he couldn't quite focus on properly.
That indistinct figure filled his entire field of vision until nothing else existed. Next, the mysterious being raised both ethereal hands, and a radiant, glowing orb began forming between their palms, pulsing with strange energy.
What is that? Alto's muddled mind couldn't comprehend what he was witnessing. In his confused daze, he only saw the luminous orb slowly, gracefully fly directly into his sea of consciousness, merging with something deep within.
It was an extraordinarily peaceful, restorative sleep unlike any he'd experienced before.
He had no idea how much time passed in that strange space.
Just as Alto slept soundly at his desk, completely vulnerable, he suddenly felt distinctly short of breath, as if drowning.
Helena looked down at the deeply sleeping Alto mischievously. A playful smile curved her lips. Her delicate face slowly leaned closer to his, close enough to feel his warm breath.
Then she firmly pinched his nose completely shut between her fingers.
Alto felt as if he was desperately drowning, frantically swimming upward, struggling against invisible currents that pulled him down. The sensation was visceral and terrifying.
He jolted awake suddenly from his mysterious dream with a sharp gasp. Instinctively operating on pure reflex, he grabbed the small hand pinching his nose and yanked it away forcefully. He twisted his body while pulling her arm, but used far too much strength in his disoriented state.
Helena completely lost her balance and fell straight forward into Alto's arms with a surprised yelp!
The two of them stared wide-eyed at each other in shock, faces mere inches apart. The atmosphere rippled with sudden tension that neither of them had anticipated.
Helena wasn't skinny at all, possessing just the right amount of fat in all the appropriate places while remaining slim and toned where it mattered. Soft and warm, holding her felt absurdly like hugging an oversized piece of premium jelly. The comparison was ridiculous but accurate.
The room fell deadly quiet except for their synchronized breathing.
They seemed completely frozen in that compromising position, neither of them moving.
For reasons Alto couldn't fully articulate, the intense irritation of having his profoundly strange dream so rudely interrupted surged straight to his head, mixing with other emotions he'd been suppressing. Without thinking about consequences or propriety, he suddenly leaned in decisively and kissed the beautiful woman in his arms with fierce intensity.
Helena weakly pushed at his chest with her small hands in token protest, but her resistance quickly faded to nothing as confusion and other feelings overwhelmed her thoughts.
"What am I doing? Have I actually fallen for this insufferable, annoying bastard?" The realization hit her hard.
Her pupils widened in genuine shock at herself. "What a terrible, inconvenient feeling this is!"
Nobody knew precisely how much time passed in that suspended moment.
As if suddenly realizing the implications and impropriety of the situation, Helena's face turned bright crimson red, her entire body burning impossibly hot with embarrassment. She abruptly shoved Alto away with surprising strength and practically fled from the room without looking back, her footsteps echoing down the hallway.
Absently touching his lips, Alto also acknowledged he'd acted extremely impulsively and unprofessionally. But after spending so many weeks working closely together in stressful circumstances, sharing late nights and inside jokes, it felt almost inevitable that certain complicated feelings would naturally develop between them. The tension had been building up for a while.
After collecting himself, he began thinking carefully about the bizarre scene from his mysterious dream, but found absolutely no obvious clues to its meaning or origin. Unable to decipher it, he decided not to obsessively dwell on something he couldn't understand or control.
"Boss, I just saw Helena rush out looking flustered. Did something happen between you two?"
Sophia, dressed impeccably in her professional work attire, suddenly knocked politely and entered without waiting for a response. She looked genuinely puzzled and concerned. While organizing inventory downstairs, she'd witnessed Helena rush past in obvious distress and didn't know what could have possibly happened.
Alto cleared his throat twice awkwardly, feeling uncertain how to possibly explain the situation without making things worse.
He quickly deflected and brushed it off casually, telling Sophia not to overthink things or worry unnecessarily.
"I simply assigned her some urgent tasks that required immediate attention," he lied smoothly. "Nothing concerning."
"Actually, perfect timing, Sophia. I'm planning to recruit several experienced designers to assist me with upcoming projects. Please help me contact the Craftsman Workshop about expanding our upstairs work area. We'll need new workstations, specialized desks, and additional equipment for incoming employees."
"Understood completely, boss. I'll handle the arrangements immediately."
"Oh, right. We recently received a new employment application for the shop floor. Would you like to personally review it?" As she spoke, Sophia handed Alto a thin personnel file.
Alto glanced at it briefly. The applicant was a young woman named Vivian. He didn't think much of it or see any red flags.
"You don't need to inform me about minor operational matters like basic hiring decisions in the future. I trust your judgment completely. You're authorized to decide independently."
"O-okay, boss! Thank you for the confidence!" Sophia nodded vigorously, clearly delighted. Alto's explicit trust made her genuinely happy and motivated her to prove herself worthy of his faith.
The shop now operated on a structured shift rotation system. Due to an overwhelming customer flow and sustained demand, significantly more staff have been hired recently to handle the constant pressure. There were already over a dozen employees working two separate eight-hour shifts throughout the day.
Even the kitchen area had dedicated professional chefs preparing quality staff meals rather than forcing employees to fend for themselves. There were proper dormitories established upstairs for those who wanted them, though most employees still preferred living in their own homes. Those who declined dormitory housing received additional monetary subsidies to compensate.
Helena maintained her own private residence, but for pure convenience often stayed in the staff dormitories anyway to avoid commuting. Alto himself had rarely gone home to his old place lately, either. With Aisha deployed far away on her dangerous mission, there wasn't much reason to return to that empty house, so he mostly stayed in the comfortable upstairs bedroom at the shop.
Still, he'd been careful to leave a detailed note and the spare magic communicator he'd originally purchased sitting prominently at home. If his sister returned unexpectedly from her assignment, she should be able to contact him immediately without difficulty.
As for contacting the Craftsman Workshop, the purpose was straightforward. He needed to completely redesign the upstairs work area into a proper professional development studio, creating multiple new workstations, ergonomic desks, and specialized equipment for incoming designer employees who'd be assisting with future projects.
Simultaneously, he'd personally designed an innovative new type of immersive login device modeled directly after the head-mounted holographic VR headsets from his previous life's most advanced technology. The sleek design featured a convenient Moonstone activation slot positioned centrally, making the entire system extremely user-friendly while looking impressively futuristic and cutting-edge.
The shop's customer experience area was already substantially equipped with prototype versions of these elegant devices. He planned to fully roll them out across the entire store when manufacturing capacity allowed it, replacing the older, clunkier systems.
He'd also seriously considered establishing his own independent merchant company rather than continuing to rely entirely on partnerships. That way, he could expand operations on a massive scale and gradually build his own proprietary sales and distribution network reaching far beyond Lunaria.
He could even open dedicated retail shops in territories controlled by other races entirely, tapping into completely unexplored markets. Relying solely on the Moon Elf population had inherent natural limitations that would eventually constrain growth.
After all, the entire Moon Elf ethnic group only numbered approximately fifty million individuals total. Once you systematically excluded infants, elderly non-gamers, and those uninterested in entertainment, the actual viable consumer base became quite limited and finite.
The population foundation was still frustratingly small for his ambitions.
But the broader Elven Empire possessed a truly massive, diverse population spread across vast territories. Not to mention countless other sentient races and other sovereign nations throughout this enormous world.
This realm was simply incomprehensibly vast compared to his previous life. As long as secure trade routes could be established and cultural barriers overcome, sales figures would absolutely skyrocket beyond current projections.
His personal power would also accelerate even faster with that exponential energy influx.
Unfortunately, he currently lacks experienced talent and expertise in large-scale commercial expansion and international trade negotiations. If he foolishly relied on himself alone to handle everything, he'd probably work himself literally to death from stress and exhaustion before achieving even a fraction of his vision.
After finalizing his immediate plans, he logged into the bustling forum and carefully posted a detailed recruitment notice. He outlined general qualification requirements, comprehensive job descriptions covering various specializations, expected salary ranges, and other critical employment details.
The post detonated across the designer community like an actual bomb within minutes. Alto's name and reputation had already spread throughout the entire professional circle like wildfire. The shocking news that he was actively hiring talented designers caused an immediate, massive wave that swept through every corner of the industry.
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