Lucifer frowned in thought.
’Do I even have to only make a ’video’ game?’
’I mean... the system is called Video Game Developer System... but will I get Emotional Value only for ’video’ games? What about analogue games? Will those not work?’
Lucifer quickly checked the description of the Emotional Value counter in his system screen.
And to his surprise the description was as follows.
[Any emotional fluctuation generated by the games made by the host will be harvested as emotional value.]
’No mention that it has to specifically be ’video’ games...’
’So I’m in the clear?’
Lucifer asked that question to his system, but it stayed put like a shut in, not reacting to it no matter how many times he asked about it.
’Alright... I’ll take the risk... after all... it’s the only thing I can currently do.’
’I hope the system gods understand my plight for this one instance.’
’But... What game do I make?’
Lucifer thought with a frown for a few seconds and seeing him frowning so deeply, Enrique couldn’t keep quiet anymore and asked him a question, "Anything I can help with?"
Lucifer looked at Enrique and nodded before asking him a question, "What kinds of games do the kids here play? How do the adults here pass their time usually?"
"Well... the kids... I’ve heard marbles are a really popular game among them... and as far as the adults are concerned... we practice our martial arts and magic to keep in shape all the time... we often conduct some martial arts tournaments too to keep things interesting for everyone and to show off our progress."
Lucifer frowned.
He couldn’t just organise another martial arts tournament and call it a day could he?
’No... a tournament is not a game... but it can be a good motivator for a reason for everyone to play a game.’
"What do you think dad? What kind of game should I make?"
Enrique showed a helpless expression again before his eyes widened as he got an idea, or at least pretended to get one.
"Oh! What about board games?! I remember playing snakes and ladders as a kid, or even chess!!"
"Rejected." Lucifer said harshly without concern for what Enrique felt because of it.
’Not like he can feel much anyway.’
"But why!? Those are great games!! I used to love them as a kid!!"
"It’s because I didn’t make them... I want people to play the games I make... not some cheap knockoffs of already existing games. I have my own pride as a creator."
"Ha!" Enrique suddenly chuckled.
"What happened?" Lucifer asked, looking dubious with all sorts of strange thoughts in his mind.
’Does he know that I know that he’s an illusion?’
But Enrique said something that surprised Lucifer.
"I get that more than you understand... the pride as a creator thing... I’m an artificer, remember? It seems you’re serious about this... do you want me to go and talk to the kids about what games they’d like?"
"I see..." Lucifer nodded and immediately proposed a request.
"Can you take me with you to question the children? I’d like to get first hand information about what they want..."
"Being there will help me ask them more questions about what they want from a game design perspective... it’ll also allow me to see what these kids actually are like."
Enrique scratched his cheek and responded.
"As much as I’d love taking you with me... I don’t think the parents will be thrilled with their kids talking to you..."
"They might even prevent or stop them from speaking entirely once they realise it’s you asking them the questions."
’Damn humans...’
’Why do they hate me so much! I hate demons too! I’m in the same boat as them!’
"How angry are they with me?" Lucifer asked, wondering if the illusory people would even entertain his games.
’They technically should since the illusion monster had no other way for it to get me to come to it without me making my games.’
’Wait a second...’
’Why can’t I go speak to the illusions for their opinions on what games they’d like to play then?’
’Couldn’t the illusion monster just convert them into non discriminatory humans for a while for me to ask them some questions and then convert them for me to play a game with them?’
’Why is it stopping me from doing the one thing that’ll help feed me to it faster?’
’Hmm... suspicious.’
Lucifer looked at Enrique with barely concealed suspicion as he responded to his question-
"If you’d go in front of them right now... the incident from this evening might repeat again... and I don’t want to go around tying people up for doing unsavoury things anymore..."
"It hurts the morale of the entire group... and it’ll only make them angrier."
’That’s a valid reason to prevent me from meeting them... but only if they’re all not illusions... if they’re all illusions... what’s stopping the illusion monster from simply changing their characters?’
"Are you sure I can’t speak with them? It’s really important and it’ll speed up the process of developing the game by leaps and bounds if I know my audience." Lucifer asked again just to make sure.
But Enrique was adamant.
He shook his head and explained his reason once again.
"I don’t want to risk ruining the mood of the group further... a group in a terrible mood might do something we all regret and it’ll only make things even worse from then on..."
"It’s better I handle this... why don’t you give me a bunch of questions and I’ll ask them the questions and get back to you with their answers regarding it."
’Suspicious... very suspicious...’
’Why can’t I meet everyone?’
"Alright... I’ll give you my questions... could you give me a pen and a paper?"
"Alright... one second."
Enrique walked into the house and shuffled around with a few drawers before pulling out a pen and a few papers which had probably been conjured sometime earlier and handed them over to Lucifer.