Chapter 133: Chapter 132: A Train Full of Passengers
"#HaveYouBeenToTheNorthernDomainToday#
"#NorthernDomainCheckInChallenge#
"The Repin winter break study tour to the Northern Domain is on its way! @Repin Spellcaster Academy.
"Guys, you have no idea how beautiful the scenery is on the Twin Towers–Mansnow Town railway line!
"The mountains are rolling past my window, one after another, their peaks covered in snow like white frosting. It looks like a conveyor belt full of ice cream—I just want to take a bite."
Galina had exhausted her elementary-school-level writing skills to finally come up with the social media caption.
She nodded in satisfaction. ’As expected of my grandpa’s granddaughter. Just look at that little simile! I must have inherited a good deal of his talent as a great playwright.’
’If she weren’t a once-in-a-century genius fireball-throwing girl, she would have given up Magic for literature and surely become the number one Shadow of Evil scriptwriter.’
Galina set up the camera. Although cameras were much lighter now than when they were first invented, it was still a large box, over twenty centimeters on each side, and it didn’t have a self-timer.
But a Mage had her own tricks. A Mage’s Hand hovered over the shutter button.
"Everyone, look at the camera and smile," Galina called to the other members of the study tour group.
There were ten people in the group, all heading to the Northern Domain to attend the first-ever game festival.
After the Ice and Snow Paradise, the game festival was the second-hottest attraction in the Northern Domain right now.
Besides new game and gaming device releases, there was also a timed game development competition.
Within a set time limit, teams would create a game demo, and the top-ranking teams would receive funding from the Zog Group.
This was why their group could be called a study tour group.
Of course, Galina wasn’t on the development team. She was just tagging along. The team’s core was Uffie.
As someone from a family that had been rich for several generations in Twin Tower City, Galina’s main role in the team was to provide the funds.
For instance, the academy only reimbursed them for hard sleeper tickets, but Galina had paid out of her own pocket to upgrade everyone to soft sleepers.
’If you want to coast your way into a spot on group projects year after year, you have to contribute something.’
The train ride from Twin Tower City to Mansnow Town took six days, so naturally, they wanted the journey to be as comfortable as possible.
This train even had hard seat tickets. Galina found it hard to imagine what kind of willpower would allow someone to endure sitting on a hard seat for six days.
Having been rich her whole life, she couldn’t understand that poverty could drastically raise a person’s tolerance for hardship.
"Big Mo, Xiaomo, come get in the photo!"
Galina noticed two people were missing from the group photo: the Morris Brothers, exchange students from the Loman Empire.
"We’d better not," Big Mo said, stepping out of the compartment with some embarrassment. "Loman doesn’t allow the casual use of the Deer Spirit Social Circle."
"What’s there to be afraid of? You’re not in Loman now. Do you think your Emperor’s laws can reach all the way to the Sutton Kingdom? Look how much Xiaomo loves getting his picture taken."
Big Mo glanced at the grinning Xiaomo. His younger brother really did love photography.
Despite being a rather withdrawn child with an astonishing talent for creating Runes, he usually kept himself locked away in the lab.
Aside from his blue shorthair cat and pet rat, the only things that interested him were photography and group photos.
In the end, the older brother gave in. Big Mo also felt that the Loman Empire’s rule forbidding commoners from using the social circle was unreasonable.
"CLICK."
With the photo taken, Galina pulled an image uploader from her backpack, which had been enchanted with Space Magic. She attached the group photo to her edited caption and hit "post."
Then she excitedly started refreshing the page, eager to see if anyone had liked, commented, or shared it.
But there was nothing. After several minutes of continuous refreshing, the stats were still dismally empty.
As someone who loved being the center of attention, Galina was not happy.
She reached out and poked Uffie beside her. "Quick, quick, go like my post! Your dear roommate needs your help right now."
"Hang on," Uffie said, her eyes glued to the Illusion Mimicry in front of her. She reached out and patted Galina’s head consolingly.
"Are you trying to humor a child?!" Galina pounced onto Uffie’s bunk and started squishing her cheeks.
"Stop, stop, I’m busy."
"What are you looking at so intently?" Galina asked, curiously peering at the Illusion Technique Uffie was operating.
A short man in red overalls was jumping between platforms, dodging monsters that clearly looked like mushrooms but were insistently called "Goombas."
"Super Mario? Didn’t we beat this game ages ago? I’m a pro with Louis," Galina said.
In reality, Uffie had carried her through two-player mode. But as everyone knows, watching equals playing, and playing equals being a pro.
Galina thought the game was a bit too simple and not as fun as others.
"I want to study how the tutorial level is designed. It looks very simple, but there isn’t a single word of text, yet the guidance is so clear. It’s truly beautiful."
Uffie controlled Mario, playing through World 1-1 over and over again.
Her eyes were sparkling as if she were looking at an incredibly beautiful work of art.
’That look in her eyes made Galina a little worried. While she respected all orientations, falling for a game... wasn’t that a bit too progressive?’
"But if you think it’s too easy, I suggest you try this spin-off. By the way, beating this game will get you priority access to the game festival demos."
As she spoke, Uffie shared a link with Galina.
"Cat Mario? What’s that? Such a weird name," Galina asked, looking doubtfully at the crude icon in the Illusion Mimicry.
What was even stranger was that the game was labeled as a Zog Group production and even cost 5 Copper Coins.
Usually, a work that looked this crude would be a small game an Illusionist had casually made for fun. They normally wouldn’t charge for it and would just post it for free for everyone to play.
"Trust me, it’s a good game that brings people joy," Uffie said with a completely straight face.
"Is that so?" Galina eyed her best friend’s expression suspiciously, trying to spot any sign she was lying, but she couldn’t find one. Uffie had never been very expressive.
’But it didn’t matter. It was only 5 Copper Coins. She, Galina, wasn’t short on that kind of cash. She couldn’t even remember how many games she’d bought and never even opened. She could just consider it the price for not having to wait in line for the demos.’
She opened Cat Mario.
The in-game graphics were just as rough as the icon. It looked less like the work of a proper Illusionist and more like a child’s doodle.
She checked the production info. Art, design, Magic models—all by Zog.
’Ah, I get it. The big boss is self-funding his passion project.’
’If she were a little richer, she’d want to invest in a Shadow of Evil production, too. She’d cast Raul as the male lead, play the female lead herself, and film a three-hour-long romance scene.’
’A passion project, huh?’
In the game, the layout of the first level looked no different from the original.
"Easy. Watch me breeze through this for you. Anyone who wants to try the demos later can just come find me."
Galina confidently patted her chest, producing a heart-wrenching "PAT PAT" sound.
She controlled the sloppy little cat character, which didn’t even have a proper animation set, and habitually went to hit the question mark block.
She jumped.
BIU—
The block flew away.
"Huh?"
Galina sat up straight. ’This game doesn’t seem as simple as it looks.’
But when she noticed Uffie watching her, she put on a confident front and said, "Tch, just a little trap. It won’t stop me from beating this game."
She then went to hit the next block. There was supposed to be a mushroom there, but she was blocked by a hidden coin block instead.
Galina smiled faintly. ’I’ve figured this game out. It just adds some hidden traps to the original. As long as I’m careful, it won’t be a problem.’
She controlled the little cat, jumped onto the pipe, and immediately did a feint to pull back.
Sure enough, a cannonball shot out of the pipe.
"A paltry trick," Galina said, her confidence returning.
She cautiously dodged several more traps in a row. Her confidence began to swell, and her movements grew faster and faster.
"See? I’m about to beat—"
Before she could finish her sentence, she bumped into a cloud, and a monstrous, grimacing face appeared on it.
The screen went black, showing a thumbs-down and a single word: "Lame."
"What’s this? The game is mocking me!"
Galina started over. Relying on sheer memorization, she passed one difficult spot after another and finally reached the high platform with the flagpole.
"So that’s all there is to it."
Galina sped up and jumped, certain of getting a high score.
Just as she was about to touch the flag, the flagpole suddenly moved back several spaces, and a deep pit appeared in its original spot.
"Nooo—"
Amidst Galina’s pleading cries, the little cat fell straight into the pit.
"Lame!"
"Hssss—"
Galina took a sharp breath, her flat chest seeming to heave for a moment. The hand on her controller trembled slightly.
"Pfft." Uffie’s laugh could be heard.
"I’m not mad!" she shouted.
Galina’s face, which had turned the color of a purple sweet potato, was completely unconvincing.
"Okay, okay, you’re not mad, pro Louis," Uffie said, covering her mouth as she laughed.
"So this is what you meant by ’a good game that brings people joy’?"
Galina asked, staring at her negative life count.
"Yeah, so much joy," Uffie said, happily slapping the bunk. "But I never said who it would bring joy to."
