Chapter 251: Everyone’s Progress

Just yesterday, Ichin had finished a chunk of programming work. With his schedule a bit lighter today, he decided to work on some concept art for one of the upcoming projects.

Although Hidetaka Miyazaki didn't really understand "Souls," he was definitely a master at giving players virtual waifus. Every game featured some sort of Fire Keeper or Doll character that perfectly hit the players' XP systems.

Come to think of it, Elden Ring still hadn't been released by the time Ichin transmigrated. There had been a closed playtest, but unfortunately, he didn't get selected. He could only "cloud play" it by watching streamers try it out.

But Elden Ring could wait. Ichin planned to finish Dark Souls and Bloodborne first.

Having the memories was one thing—recreating those games perfectly, and even optimizing and surpassing the originals in terms of detail, was a whole different challenge.

Especially with games like Dark Souls and Bloodborne—Ichin knew he hadn't fully mastered the psychology of Soulslike players. Not yet.

While he was halfway through drawing, Yagami Kō knocked on the door and walked in, bringing along some completed work from the art team for Ichin to review.

"Give me a sec."

Ichin spoke quickly to Kō, then went back to finishing the Fire Keeper girl's flowing hair. Once it was done, he saved the file.

"What are you working on?"

Kō peeked over curiously—and caught sight of the half-finished Fire Keeper character.

"Whoa! She's beautiful! But that style… doesn't look like a Persona character. Is this for a new project?"

"Yeah, it's for a new project."

Ichin closed the file and opened the shared folder on the local network, pulling up the art team's files to start reviewing them one by one.

"This project isn't urgent, though. You probably know already—Umiko's been hounding me about making a shooter game. So once Persona is finished, we'll most likely start a shooter project. But don't tell Umiko yet—I haven't finalized the proposal."

"Eh? We're really doing a shooter?"

"Yep. A shooter."

Ichin nodded as he finished reviewing Hifumi's work and moved on to Aoba's.

"I've been thinking about making one for a long time now. Got some concepts floating around in my head already. But it's not something we can rush. We'll take our time. If we really do go ahead with it, we'll probably need to expand the team again. That'll have to wait until I get the branch office set up back in China."

"Got it, I won't say a word to Umiko."

Kō nodded firmly, then pulled up a chair and sat next to Ichin to go over the models Aoba had created.

"Aoba's really improving fast. She's practically ready to handle things on her own now."

Ichin agreed.

"Yeah, her progress is obvious—especially when I've had her draw character types she's never tackled before. She takes the initiative to research and figure it out herself. That's huge."

Given that the studio would eventually be handling all sorts of game genres, Ichin had extremely high standards for the art team.

It wasn't enough to just draw human characters—they had to be capable of designing a wide variety of monsters, enemies, and even those terrifying-but-beautiful creatures that make players shudder and love it.

In the art department, Ichin had no concerns about Yagami Kō, Toyama Rin, and Hifumi. The former Lily members and the newly hired artists all had several years of industry experience and solid skillsets. So the ones who still needed improvement were really just Aoba, Mochizuki Momiji, and Iijima Yun.

Aoba had joined Eagle Jump right after graduating high school, so she'd only been in the industry for two years. She wasn't a complete rookie anymore, but there was still plenty of room for growth.

As for Mochizuki Momiji, she was still a student. In terms of raw skill, she was still a bit behind Aoba.

Iijima Yun, although she had entered the industry two years earlier than Aoba, had focused more on monster and boss design due to her personal interests and art style. Her range still needed to expand.

But after reviewing their work today, Ichin could clearly see that all three of them had made real progress.

The Persona project they were currently developing was undoubtedly a large-scale game. And even if the studio worked on smaller premium titles in the future, the main focus would still be on big games.

Those without enough ability—and without the drive to improve—would eventually get left behind.

Thankfully, Aoba and the others had been working hard to level up on their own, without needing constant reminders.

After identifying a few minor issues that needed fixing, Ichin wrapped up the review and let Kō head back. He himself went back to drawing the Fire Keeper girl.

Just before she left, Yagami Kō glanced back at him and asked,

"Ichin, we're planning to go out for dinner after work. You and Utaha coming?"

"We'll skip it tonight."

Ichin shook his head.

"I'm picking Utaha up from the publishing house, and we'll be having dinner with her parents tonight."

He had already asked Hazuki to handle the announcement about company shares. There was no need for him to be present. Still, he imagined tomorrow at the office would be filled with excited reactions.

Kō knew Ichin and Utaha often had dinner at her parents' place, so she didn't press further.

"Alright then, I'll head back to work."

Around 6 PM, Ichin left the office early, picked Utaha up from the publishing house, and the two of them returned home—just in time to arrive at the same moment as Utaha's father.

Dinner was ready.

At the table, Utaha's father took a sip of sake, looked at Ichin, and asked,

"So Ichin, how are things at the company these days?"

"Pretty good."

Ichin nodded.

"After bringing in some extra help, our team has grown to over fifty people. I still participate in project development, but my workload's dropped a lot compared to before. I'm mainly focused on managing the overall direction."

"That's great to hear,"

Utaha's father said with a smile.

"Knowing your company is doing well puts our minds at ease."

Utaha took a sip of miso soup and calmly added,

"Dad, you just worry too much. Ichin has a lot of capable people around him who support him. And soon, the older sister of one of our underclassmen will be buying into the company—not just financially, but she'll bring valuable industry connections as well. That should help improve the studio's relatively weak promotional channels."

After briefly explaining the situation with the Yukinoshita family, her father suddenly realized,

"Ah, that Yukinoshita family. Their construction company is quite well-known in Tokyo. But if she's buying shares, will that affect your company's decision-making?"

"Not at all,"

Ichin replied firmly.

"Everything will be clearly written in the contract. Haruno-san is not joining just to make a profit—she won't interfere with management. The company will still be under my full control."

...

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