Chapter 34 (2/2)
‘The lines that she said were: “Oh gentle sacred soul, how does this world differ from yours?”
“Sacred soul, our goddess Ocean Blue has told me that… Your world is bountiful and flourishing with life! What… What kind of world is it?”
“Tenderhearted sacred soul, thank you for giving your all to save our shattered world, but I feel a malevolent force surging towards your world, threatening to destroy everything you love! Please become even stronger to prevent your world from peril.”
Do you see this, guys? Not only does Miss Doll know that the player is from our world, but she predicted that our world would be plunged into danger too.’
This thread stopped at this point, probably because this person called the StarlightScribe was still composing the next post, but there were already a lot of replies under the post.
LostPassenger: ‘Our world is going to be destroyed? How would a VR game destroy our world? With a virus?’
DaggerShielder: ‘You don’t say! I joined an Abyssal Hunt event in Sacred Souls, and the map was an exact replica of Food Street of River Town. That time, a whole bunch of beastmen stormed the place and wrecked it! If I hadn’t known it were a game, I would have thought that it was real life, the immersion is insane!’
Wocky: ‘I don’t want to listen to anything right now! I just want to talk to my Miss Doll! Open the registration for the public right now!’
At this point, Jiang Qiao glanced at Ocean Blue who was munching on bread at the side.
This setting of Vigilist Floria definitely shot a cupid’s arrow into the hearts of the players, and in his humble opinion, this NPC’s allure was about a hundred times stronger than the real goddess she was based on.
With a frail and tender character, a tone that was like a lullaby, and of course her pretty face… It evoked the protective instincts of every player.
It was at this moment that Jiang Qiao noticed how scary his Maker state was. The world view and setting of Sacred Souls was perfectly fitted for the real world, no, more like the world itself was the real world!
What was the best way to increase a player’s immersion? By letting the players play as themselves—Not their normal and mediocre selves, but their selves that have been given supernatural powers and abilities.
StarlightScribe seemed to notice the players’ enthusiasm towards Miss Doll, and so he started to dig up more lines that the character said in the game.
‘New discovery! Miss Doll can talk to you, and she knows what hamburgers and Coca Cola are! She will also ask you how your life is going!
This is what she says: “University? Is that the way you call the education institutions in your world? Gentle sacred soul, if you ever feel tired, please come to our world and relax, alright?”
“Perhaps in your world, you’re normal to the point where no one knows you, but here… Gentle sacred soul, you are our savior, our strongest beam of hope! Please… Please save us…”‘
Jiang Qiao didn’t even need to see the comments underneath to know that just the last line by itself would be enough to tug at the heartstrings of the players so that they would… Go to work willingly.”
One minute after this post was uploaded, Jiang Qiao refreshed the page and it was exactly as he expected, with a torrent of comments gushing in immediately.
SacrificialWildGod: ‘Let me in! The strongest swordsman in War server 1 is going to save the Sacred Souls world!’
AquaticBoss: ‘I now declare one-sidedly that Miss Doll is my waifu!’
SinnerOfAThousandPigeons: ‘What are you saying? Have you asked the shielder in the top ten of the Sacred Souls level leaderboard?’
Jiang Qiao saw that they were even about to start fighting in the replies, and he really wanted to reply, “Don’t fret, all of you will have your waifu once you enter the game.”
The Vigilist Floria was a special NPC, just like those navigation fairies that players would have in other video games. Every player would have their own ‘Vigilist Floria’ which is why the preset lines for her were the most.
But Jiang Qiao never thought that she would bring about such an uproar on game forums, and at the current pace that the replies increased at, it had definitely become a hot topic.
Looking at the popularity of Miss Doll, Jiang Qiao glanced back at the actual goddess herself.
“Wha?” Ocean Blue asked almost unintelligibly while she kept on munching on a chocolate stick, looking dazedly at the man that had glanced at her with a weird expression twice already.
Jiang Qiao could only sigh and lower his head, directing his attention back to the post.
The replies on the post had already passed 700 replies, and at this point StarlightScribe posted a new message.
‘About Miss Doll, I found out another scary setting! Because I’ve been studying and exploring the lore of these stories the past week, I haven’t really been grinding for levels! It was at this point that Miss Doll started growing weak and started coughing and becoming wobbly! I asked her why, and she said that her energy comes from our power as sacred souls, meaning that if we don’t grind or level up, Miss Doll might die!’
“How vicious.” Jiang Qiao knew this was the setting that he made in Maker mode, but he couldn’t help sighing.
After this was posted, the replies on the post immediately broke through the thousand mark, and one that said ‘Please give me an activation code, my wife…She’s going to die!’ The likes on this reply had already passed 500 likes, and it was continuing to rise.
“Sacred Souls is going to get its big break…” Jiang Qiao muttered to himself.