Chapter 510 - 321: Don’t Speak Ill of a Dragon Behind Its Back

Chapter 510: Chapter 321: Don’t Speak Ill of a Dragon Behind Its Back

"Me, me, me!" Elsa excitedly picked up the dice.

She wasn’t about to let anyone else have the final blow.

Dean and Craig tried to protest, but Elsa shot them down with a single vote.

"Is your gear as good as mine?"

"Only because you took our gear," Dean muttered aggrievedly.

Elsa naturally ignored Dean’s protest.

"Er, actually, the final blow has nothing to do with how good your gear is. It’s a story event," Ben reminded her.

"Then I’m still the most suitable person for the job."

Elsa said as she threw the final die.

"Critical success, critical success, critical success..."

The twenty-sided die rolled a few times on the table before stopping steadily on 20.

"Yes, a critical success!"

A so-called critical success, the maximum value on the die, meant ignoring all unfavorable conditions to achieve the best possible outcome.

Elsa was already looking forward to seeing how Zog would die.

She rubbed her hands together excitedly, looking at Ben and waiting for him to announce the final result.

She was so excited that she didn’t even notice the slightly awkward expression on his face.

"Ahem, er, ahem," Ben coughed stiffly twice. ’This is all I can do to help.’ "Elsa’s Magic flew straight for Zog’s eyeball."

"Yes, the eyeball! Awesome! Go for the eyeball! Blow out his eye!"

"Mm, however, the Magic unexpectedly grazed a Dragon Scale and was deflected."

"What?" Elsa was in disbelief.

"The deflected Magic happened to hit a Rune laid down by Soron. Zog broke free from his bonds, beat his wings, and flew away."

"No, no, no, are you kidding me?" Elsa immediately stopped Ben, ignoring his frantic winks and grimaces. "A critical success! I rolled a critical success! If Zog doesn’t die a miserable death, it’d be a waste of my amazing luck!"

Elsa continued her tirade. "Do you even know how to design a game? Even a layman like me knows you’re not supposed to deliberately frustrate players at the end, especially with something so illogical! This is unreasonable..."

After ranting for a while, even someone as slow on the uptake as her realized that something was wrong.

Ben seemed to be trying to signal something to her.

’What is he signaling?’

Connecting that to the sudden plot twist, a terrible guess formed in her mind.

A cold sweat broke out on her brow.

’It couldn’t be...’

Elsa swallowed. She didn’t dare turn around to face the cruel reality, and only asked in a trembling voice, "Zog isn’t standing right behind me, is he?"

Ben nodded, meeting Elsa’s despairing gaze.

"On sick leave, were you?" a familiar voice came from behind her.

"Too sick to get out of bed, was it? You seem pretty energetic to me right now."

Zog slowly circled around to stand in front of Elsa.

Elsa’s expression was now uglier than if she were crying.

"Asking Zog for leave to go on a campaign against Zog. I didn’t realize you were so creative."

"It’s a game, just a game," Elsa tried to make a final defense for herself.

’If he’s going to dock my pay, maybe he’ll dock a little less this way.’

"It’s fine if you want to play a game, but why call in sick?"

"Personal leave is half-pay, sick leave is full-pay."

"So tell me, how much pay are you willing to lose now?"

Elsa was sure this was the second-hardest question she had ever had to answer in her life.

The hardest was when her mom asked her when she was getting married.

As she hesitated, what she considered a stroke of genius popped into her head.

’Maybe I can argue it like this.’

"I... I was researching the problem of the game department’s overly cumbersome business processes."

"Huh?" Even Zog hadn’t expected her to come out with a line like that.

"Currently, for some extremely outstanding designs, like Ben’s new creation, the cycle to get feedback and playtests within the group is too long and inefficient. I believe there should be a dedicated team to evaluate new games. If a design is deemed to have sufficient potential, it should be given exceptional support to fast-track the process. While this wouldn’t completely solve the existing problems, it should effectively alleviate them."

After she finished, Elsa took a deep breath.

’I really am a genius.’

Zog scratched his chin. "That makes sense."

Hearing Zog say that, Elsa, with her hands behind her back, clenched a fist tightly.

’He didn’t mention my salary. I might be able to save my money!’

Zog continued, "When you’re back at work, you’ll be in charge of drafting a proposal for this."

"Yes, Boss."

"What’s this new game Ben designed?"

Zog’s attention had been focused on the audacious Elsa, so he hadn’t paid much attention to what tabletop game they were actually playing.

"Well, it’s like this..." Ben was about to explain.

Zog noticed the props on the table and blurted out, "Dungeons & Dragons?"

He was genuinely taken aback.

’To create D&D in a world like this... what a "Creator God."’

"Mr. Zhuoge, do you think ’Dungeons & Dragons’ is a better name? I actually haven’t decided on a name yet. I was thinking of a bunch of names related to Dungeons."

"That’s right. ’Dungeons & Dragons’ is an excellent name."

Zog carefully examined the exquisite props and the script Ben had written.

After a moment of thought, he said, "This is indeed an important project, but it shouldn’t be released solely as a tabletop game."

D&D was a tabletop game whose setting was widely known, but its actual player base wasn’t that large.

At least, not in proportion to its fame.

Many of its design elements were far more famous than the game itself.

Even in its birthplace, it was a niche culture associated with words like "nerd" and "shut-in."

The reason was simple: it was a tabletop game that only those with a "severe case of chuunibyou" could get into.

Other than limited props, there were no other physical objects. The entire adventure relied almost entirely on a powerful imagination. If you could immerse yourself in this fantasy world, it was a good game.

If you couldn’t, you’d just think the whole thing was nuts.

It would be much easier to get immersed with more visual aids.

"I think it should be developed as a tabletop game and a video game simultaneously. You pick your best script and work with the game development team to create a game with fundamentally the same gameplay and settings as the tabletop version."

Zog said seriously.

Players with strong imaginations could choose the tabletop game, while those who found it hard to get immersed could experience the charm of Dungeons & Dragons through a game with powerful graphics and voiced cutscenes.

"It’s happily decided, then. Release the tabletop game first, but don’t release it with the same story as the video game."

Although the tabletop game wasn’t for everyone, that didn’t mean its commercial value was low.

It was something you could play on a shoestring budget or with extravagant wealth.

From a few dice and sheets of paper to piles of exquisitely painted, handcrafted props and miniatures, it was a bottomless money pit.

"Good work," Zog praised.

He then prepared to leave. After just two steps, he suddenly turned his head and said, "Elsa, I won’t dock your pay."

"Really?" Elsa couldn’t hide her excitement.

"Of course."

"You’re the best boss!"

"Your year-end bonus is halved."

Elsa froze mid-celebration.

"How about... Boss, maybe you could reconsider? Docking my pay isn’t out of the question."

"No reconsideration."

"AHHH—" Elsa fell into a powerless rage. "That damn Zhuo—"

"Ahem, watch what you say."

"Haha, that damn Elsa, that damn Elsa," Elsa forced a smile.

"That’s more like it."

—————————

Unlike Deepwater City, which was busy preparing for the Demon Shadow Festival,

the Capital City of the Loman Empire was shrouded in a repressive atmosphere. Even the sky seemed affected, thick with dark clouds.

"Your Majesty, another riot has broken out."

Emperor Loman was not surprised. He asked calmly, "What was the cause?"

"It’s still because... because of the Villain incident. The people see it as a disgrace and believe the Loman Empire shouldn’t be so weak."

"Heh heh." The Emperor chuckled softly, as if a riot was something worth celebrating.

"Your Majesty, we need to..."

"There’s no need. You are dismissed."

Only the Emperor remained in the study.

He was very pleased. Everything was proceeding according to plan. An angry populace could easily be converted into a war machine, especially when their anger was directed at an external enemy.

Soon, very soon, the world would once again witness the might of the Loman Empire!

The Emperor walked to a bookshelf, pulled out a book, and triggered the Magic Array on it. In an instant, he arrived in a secret underground chamber.

Here, a colossal Magical Device was stored, so vast one could not see its end.

Innumerable jars were arranged in neat rows, each containing a lifeless body.

"Soon, soon..."

The Emperor repeated.

It was unclear whether he was referring to the Empire’s return to its peak, or something else entirely.