I Made a Game Featuring Constellations-Chapter 128
“Riani, I’ll stop your mistakes...”
The Constellation pressed firmly on my wrist.
I had no choice but to withdraw the power of dreams I was about to raise.
“...Constellation?”
She looked up at me with a sulking expression.
You were about to make another mistake.Another mistake?
Was she referring to the “Holding Effect” I was planning to add to [Akashic Archive]?
...I thought it was a good idea.
No, that will cause big trouble.Looking at the determined expression on my Constellation’s face, I had no choice but to give up on this improvement proposal.
I still thought it was a good solution... but based on my Constellation’s attitude, it seemed like something bad would happen if I went ahead with it.
In that case, I needed a new approach.
What should I do...?
I recalled the many games I enjoyed in my past life.
How could I revive characters that had been overshadowed by inflation?
The simplest method would be a direct boost, but... that was problematic.
If the difficulty of the game became too easy and players realized that the strength of the characters could change just by tweaking numbers, immersion would decrease. The divinity of the gods would seem meaningless.
It would ultimately damage the integrity of the game.
Directly boosting characters within the game was not an option.
...And more importantly, that would reduce the sales of the divine characters.
‘What if... I turn them into collectibles?’
Every game has different names for exclusive items, modules, collectibles, and prized possessions, but the effects are usually similar.
It’s content where you improve a character’s performance by completing a character’s enhancement quest.
Not just improving performance to keep up with inflation, but also creating a unique distinction that sets the character apart from others.
This approach would allow for better immersion within the game while naturally justifying why a character’s performance improved.
Additionally, it would boost in-game content.
Maybe, through player perception, it could even enhance the divinity in the real world.
Now that is a brilliant idea.
I organized my thoughts and turned to my Constellation.
Hmm...My Constellation was nodding in agreement, her arms crossed.
It seemed like this was the right approach.
Now that I had made my decision, it was time to act.
I immediately invoked the power of dreams and entered [Akashic Archive]’s administrator mode.
It was the first time I was bringing back characters whose story had ended in the regular narrative.
Since it was a monumental first improvement to an old character, I had to carefully choose who the first subject would be.
‘...I guess I shouldn’t decide this alone.’
Since this improvement could have unintended negative effects, I decided to ask the parties involved.
Even our passionate investors, each one a Constellation in their past life, had busy schedules, so I thought it would take a while to gather everyone... but—
Bang!
“Where’s Riani! Hurry up and boost our Lina!”
“What are you talking about?! Of course, it’s our Kate!”
“I’ve been completely forgotten! I should go first!”
It didn’t take long for them to gather.
‘...I just sent out the message, right?’
I had told them that if they were busy, they didn’t need to come.
Yet, they gathered faster than during the last Abyss meeting.
Seems like they were more desperate about character improvements than I thought.
The investors began speaking up.
This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.
“No, listen! As you know, our Kate is the healer and supporter of the game.”
The Magitech Engineer’s lover, Saint Kate, was the first limited healer in our game.
When she first appeared, she had an overwhelming healing coefficient, debuff removals, automatic healing, and debuff removal for enemies—she was so popular that players considered her a "human-rights character."
No other character had surpassed her tremendous healing ability.
“But now, the newly released... was it the Alchemist? That guy has made her useless!”
An Alchemist character, one of the twelve gods of the Pantheon, who handles healing and buffing with potions.
While the Alchemist’s healing ability was weaker than Saint Kate’s, they offered ultimate gauge charging abilities, attack power, movement speed, and attack speed buffs.
Naturally, players preferred the Alchemist over Saint Kate.
Though Kate’s healing was better, the Alchemist’s healing, combined with their additional effects, made them more desirable.
“Some people even talk about grinding Kate in the magic pulverizer, claiming that the Saint Dance is obsolete!”
A glimpse of the Magitech Engineer’s anger resurfaced.
I thought he had changed since he reunited with his lover, but it seems like his lover is still a major sore spot for him.
So, should we improve the Saint first?
“Wait, hold on! Listen to me!”
At that moment, [Sacrifice], Ren, interrupted.
“If the forgotten old characters are being improved, shouldn’t I, as the first limited character, be the one to be improved first?!”
She pulled out a stack of square papers from her pocket.
“Look at this! This is what the players are saying about me!”
[Knight Ren (Needs Improvement)], [Future Guardian, Don’t Boil My Helmet and Eat It], [Future Guardian, Don’t Throw Me Away]... and more.
These were the memes about the character [Knight Ren] that I had often seen in the community.
“Ah, Constellation. This is really not about mocking you.”
These were the things I saw while often browsing the community to check the players’ opinions on [Akashic Archive].
“This is just what the players are saying because they love you and want you to become stronger...”
It was a trick to deceive others into thinking their beloved character was weak.
By doing so, the developers /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ would be forced to improve the character's performance.
“What nonsense is this? Who in the world wants to improve a character by doing this kind of thing?!”
After hearing Ren’s response, I felt something was off.
...Wait a minute.
There had been no character collection games in this world before I created it, right?
So the concept of “trick” couldn’t even exist here, could it?
...No way. Are they just mocking characters without even caring about the “trick” concept?
And mocking the original newbie character too?
Wow...
Do they think they have multiple lives?
"[Dragon Knight] is being called outdated compared to me!"
[Dragon Knight Latis], who was released as a single-target dealer and became the best boss killer at the moment.
Having defeated a sealed Evil God, her single-target damage performance was exceptionally strong.
The issue was that [Knight Ren] also fell into the same category as a single-target dealer.
Being one of the most popular damage dealers in the early game, it was only natural that, with inflation, she became a target for mockery.
‘I was wrong about this. Starting with the open character, [Knight Ren]...’
“No, no! Of course, it’s our Lina!”
The Demon God interrupted.
“I started the talk about improvements first! Shouldn’t it be Lina first? Others have already peaked since release, but our Lina was mocked from the start! Of course, Lina should be the first to be rewarded!”
Now even the Demon God...
Ugh.
My head hurts.
Who should I improve first?
I glanced quietly at Gaizerus, who was sitting in the corner.
He awkwardly smiled and waved at me when our eyes met.
...Ah. The dark elf probably doesn’t have any complaints.
Since he’s a relatively newer character, he probably doesn’t have issues with his performance.
I turned back to our investors.
The Constellations, each with a determined expression, were looking at me.
Beside them, I could almost feel options like [Believe in the Magitech Engineer], [Believe in Ren], [Believe in the Demon God] floating.
Ultimately, it was all up to my decision.
At that moment,
KWA-ANG!
With a loud crash, the door to the room swung open.
“That’s a fun thing you’ve done, Magitech Engineer.”
It was [Wisdom].
“...Ah. I was wrong.”
The Magitech Engineer muttered under his breath as he saw her.
“While I was immersed in my work, you even cast a barrier to prevent me from contacting anyone. You must really not want me to make progress.”
She was smiling, but her eyes were cold.
A chilling feeling from [Wisdom] slowly approached me.
“I wasn’t planning on using this here, but it can’t be helped. Your Highness, I’m sorry, but please prioritize improving [Versia] first.”
She reached into her chest and pulled something out, placing it into my hands.
A piece of paper that held the warmth of her presence.
It was a wish token.
