Isekai Online Game Developer

“Th-that seems difficult…”

That was Hina’s response after hearing my grand plan.

“Why not! If we overlap illusion magic, it should be totally doable! And with the illusion sharing magic, maintaining and sharing the world is possible too!”

“Y-yeah, but… what Rai wants to create is, um, an incredibly huge illusion world… or something like that…”

“That’s right!”

“So you’re saying we need to store information in that world so that we can enter the illusion whenever we want…?”

“Yeah, that’s it!”

“And with illusion sharing magic, we can let multiple people enter one illusion world…!”

“Exactly! That’s all possible!”

“But, but…”

Hina fidgeted and rubbed her index fingers together.

“Through my mana, it might be possible for a moment, but to maintain such a world, we need to create an artifact and imbue it with magic…”

…Ah.

When she said that, I realized the flaw in my plan.

The plan itself is possible, but we don’t have the money to execute it.

“Ugh… Even if we worked our whole lives, we couldn’t afford that many mana stones. Sigh.”

To implement an online server, an artifact that acts like a supercomputer is necessary.

My plan is to create an artifact that realizes a vast illusion world and let people enter a game server by using another artifact that applies illusion sharing magic.

However, creating such artifacts infused with so much magic doesn’t require just a normal amount of mana stones.

And we don’t have the money to buy mana stones.

“Haah… That cursed money again…”

“Ugh, sniff…”

Hina curled up with a whoosh sound.

Feeling unnecessarily guilty, I placed my hand on her head.

As I petted her head, Hina perked up again.

“I really feel like if we just make it, we could succeed…”

I know well how addictive games can be to humans.

Surely, the people in this world would feel the same. They might even crave it more.

Initially, I thought about making a 5v5 AOS-style game.

That famous Championship of Legends, colloquially known as COL.

Creating that game, which had taken the world by storm, would surely lead to success.

Moreover, through illusion magic, you would actually become game characters, making it incomparable to playing on a computer.

It’s literally fighting as a character.

I want to try it myself.

“This will definitely require a seriously huge amount of money.”

Thinking about the mana stones needed to build the server, it would be an astronomical figure.

With COL, where many rooms are created for each individual game, the server complexity increases even more.

“Ugh, aaaaah… I’m getting dizzy, Rai…”

But I can’t just give up.

If COL doesn’t work out, how about creating a game that costs less?

Like an MMORPG, for instance.

Of course, that’s not exactly small-scale either, but during times of fewer users, the server can be smaller, right?

Starting small and growing isn’t a bad idea either.

“…Alright!”

“Ugh!”

When I slapped my hands down, Hina let out an odd sound.

I still had my hand over Hina’s head.

“Then I’ll create just one world for now. For now, if just one person can log in, a single artifact will suffice.”

“But… we don’t even have the money for that…”

“Right! Of course, we don’t have that kind of money!”

Damn, this wretched pitiful tower!

I know best that we don’t even have the money for that, considering I’ve managed the finances on behalf of Hina.

By the way, until I arrived, Hina had no idea how to manage money, so the meager funds were already being wasted.

“But we have a little bit of mana stones.”

“Huh?”

We don’t have enough money to create such a large artifact.

However, being a tower, we had a small amount of mana stones used to maintain magic.

And among them, the most notable one is…

“Wait a second, Rai! You can’t use th-that…”

“It’s the same whether we have this illusion or not!”

“B-but without this, we’ll be ignored! Ughhh—”

This was the magic that maintained the grand illusion of the tower.

When I released this magic, the real appearance of our pitiful illusion tower was exposed to the world.

“W-what’s happening! O-our tower!”

“My tower! The grand illusion tower that stood tall!!”

The seniors returning from their part-time jobs screamed upon losing the illusion and revealing the reality.

“It was all just an illusion anyway. Just deal with it and eat your meals.”

“Haha, true?”

“It was an illusion after all, but it’s still a bit sad.”

However, it wasn’t a huge blow. The reality was already much more miserable.

Although Tower Master Hina was quite sad, it didn’t really matter.

Anyway, this set the stage for the basic preparations.

After much thought, I decided on MMORPG as the genre for my first project.

Specifically, that game that many Koreans wouldn’t know—once stirring the adventurous spirit of countless people.

Even after becoming an adult, it’s a game I sometimes played to find my childhood enthusiasm.

“Of course, it became a stagnant game at one point and had some controversies, but I can’t deny it’s a part of MMORPG history.”

The first game I would create is Maple Leaf Story.

It’s hard to implement everything, so for now, let’s start with the starting point for adventurers, Victory Island.

Thus, the serious development of the otherworld online game began.

*

Now a forgotten hero, Galleard sat gaping at the flowing clouds.

Long ago, he was a hero who commanded the world, but now he looked just like an old man.

He had already reached retirement age from his job as an academy professor.

His former strength hadn’t vanished, though.

He could still wield a powerful sword.

But now, there was no reason to do so.

The world had found its peace, and he no longer wanted to be used in the power struggles of humans.

He preferred a simple life, doing a bit of farming and gazing at the sky.

Galleard was spending his remaining years that way.

“Ah, those were the days…”

He would occasionally drift back into memories of the past.

The tough memories of growing from a weak state into strength have all become nostalgia now that he looks back.

That’s because he had companions and the joy of growth.

He wanted to return to that time when he knew nothing and dashed forward.

Though he now had plenty, everything felt meaningless.

He was realizing lately that it was better to have nothing at all than to have all that meant nothing.

It’s not the having that brings joy, but the moment of gaining.

“Ugh… I’ll be back. Everyone.”

Galleard stood up.

Beside where he had been sitting lay his companions who had fought alongside him in the past, now fast asleep.

As time passed, all but one of his companions had fallen into eternal slumber.

Leaving those memories behind, Galleard headed for the market.

He lived near Trinity, so he would stop by there if he needed anything.

“Haaaaah…”

As Galleard entered Trinity, he paused at the sound of a sigh.

‘A young friend is sighing as if the world has collapsed. Back in my day, at that age, I could have bitten stones and survived…’

His eyes caught sight of a magician.

By the looks of it, she seemed to be part of the illusion faction.

Her robe was dirty and torn as if she had been rolling on the ground, and she was holding an artifact I had never seen before while sighing heavily.

‘…Looking for investors?’

She had written that on a sign and was sitting on the street.

It seemed she was looking for investors to fund that artifact.

The sign had detailed explanations, but it was too far away for me to see clearly.

‘As I age, it’s harder to see small letters…’

Galleard approached a little closer to read the sign.

[Are you tired of reality? Don’t you want to live a completely new life? In ‘Maple Leaf Story,’ a new adventure awaits you…]

It roughly said something about experiencing a completely new adventure.

You start from level 1 with no relation to your intrinsic attributes or born status.

Of course, people showed no interest in it at all.

If anything, who would ever invest in the illusion faction?

But intrigued by the description, Galleard approached the magician.

“…Is it true?”

“Uh, huh? Yes?”

“The statement that a completely new adventure awaits. Is it real?”

“Yes, yes! In a new world, you can become stronger in the direction you want to grow. You can choose from various jobs. It’s still early, so there aren’t many available yet, but soon…”

The young magician, probably just becoming an adult, explained with a trembling voice.

It’s just illusion magic, but he clearly had an attachment and passion for his magic.

‘There was a time I was like that too. I don’t even remember when, now. That time when I dove fervently into something…’

Seeing him, Galleard recalled his younger self.

That time when he dived headfirst into things with passion.

“Can I try it out?”

“Really? Then we will take you to our tower. It could be dangerous if you do it on the street…”

“Alright.”

Galleard willingly followed him back to the illusion tower.

As expected, it looked shabby.

“You just need to infuse mana into this artifact, and the magic will trigger automatically. You’ll obtain a new body there, so don’t panic, just enjoy the game.”

“Is that all?”

“Yes. The rest will come to you naturally once you log in.”

“Hmm…”

Galleard obediently did as the magician instructed.

Despite any dangers, it posed no problem for him as a former hero.

“Then, have a great time.”

The artifact looked like a stone shaped like a maple leaf.

And it had numerous illusion magics stuck all over it.

Looking at it, it felt like a cool breeze blowing into my chest.

That maple leaf gave off an odd sense of excitement.

Galleard infused mana into the artifact and was drawn into the illusion.

And several hours later, when he woke up again,

“Ah, you’ve awakened?”

“What the heck is going on!”

“Yes, y-yes?”

“I finally made it to the first job change and you cut me off here! I haven’t even tried out my sword skills yet! Hooooold on!”

He was utterly addicted to the game.