Evil God's World Game

The old mage couldn't resist the temptation and eventually made a reservation.... He was simply too eager to see what online promotion was all about, and reserving a good spot would clearly allow him to see more of the "promotional content".

As a mage, curiosity is the first virtue that mages can never discard; in this sense, mages are much like cats—they must try out anything that seems interesting.

Not to mention Old Mage Halley, who was fundamentally a mechanic at heart despite being a mage.

After a moment of contemplation, the old mage suddenly said, "If I help you with the interview promotion, could you give me a few arcade game slots?"

The old mage also took the opportunity to make an important request, which Miss Malt agreed to with exceptional generosity:

"Of course, having a group of mages come from far and wide to play our arcade games is the best promotion we could ask for."

The old mage couldn't help but look at his students; his interns were now hunched over the arcade machines, watching other players' moves with undivided attention and completely immersing themselves in the experience.

"They've never been this enthusiastic when learning magic," complained Old Mage Halley:

"These top students from the academy are all cut from the same cloth; they often miss roll call during regular class, sleeping well into the day. My Transmutation class, however, is quite popular. But the other teachers and professors... Especially Professor Linneal who studies Celestial Magic, nearly all of his students fall asleep during his lectures...."

Looking at the students engrossed in the games as if they had discovered a new world, Old Mage Halley couldn't help but feel a strong concern.

"These kids are getting addicted to the games, and if this continues, they might neglect their magic studies. If they become addicted to games... could they lose even more employment opportunities in the future...?"

"Games are a kind of magic too. Aren't Transmutation Spells similar to the magic of gameplay?" Miss Malt's retort interrupted the mage's worries and she precisely analyzed, "Professor, you can even transform into a paper person and fly into the screen of my machine, and you are still saying this? It's because there were no arcade games before, so you couldn't think of such a play, right?"

"Perhaps this batch of students will become workers for our church in the future."

Miss Malt's words were like enlightenment to Professor Halley, who immediately said, "That would be wonderful! These students will be graduating next year. Would you consider hiring them?"

"That depends on how our church develops. After all, the intern salaries for mages are quite high."

Miss Malt sighed while holding her forehead.

The internship salaries for mages are high across all worlds, and the salary after full employment is five times that of the internship. Currently, the Fictional Church doesn't have enough funds to pay these students.

After their conversation, Old Mage Halley called away the students. Although the students were reluctant to leave as if their feet had taken root, Professor Halley only needed to lightly mention a deduction of credits to make the students instantly obedient.

Soon, they arrived at Today Printing Company. From Miss Malt's tavern to Today Printing Company was actually a long journey; after all, the Morningwind City Cluster, as the largest city cluster of Steam Nation, comprises seven city districts, each containing six to ten urban areas.

The urban areas were densely packed with a variety of factories, pipes, alleys, roads, bookstores, repair shops, trading venues, churches, hospitals... These buildings spread across several city districts, where sometimes one could see the peculiar sight of a factory adjacent to a hospital, where almost immediately after an operational accident, you could just step out and be registered as a patient—efficiency was paramount.

Meanwhile, the Steel Church provided mechanical limbs, the Church of Suffering offered pain relief services, and the Unclean Church—despite managing all that was filthy—could bless you with a fixed period of good health, essentially letting you "choose when to fall ill; if today is inconvenient, simply postpone your sickness until the day after tomorrow."

....From birth to employment, from work to injury, from injury to medical treatment, all services were already prepared by the churches, laying out everyone's life clearly and plainly.

"Professor Halley, it's an honor to work with you again. Our master painter is ready, just waiting for you."

Manager Boer hadn't had a moment of downtime; he'd just seen off Mr. Fite in his trench coat yesterday, and today he was meeting with Mage Halley. As a diligent and successful individual, he was busy every single day.

He took out the advertising plan for the Sacrifice Church and handed it to the old mage, who put on his glasses and perused it in detail a few times.

This advertising plan wasn't much different from previous ones. It was mostly about seeing if any details had been added or removed... The old mage quickly noticed a detail:

"An advertising plan for the Fictional Church...?"

Manager Boer smiled, crossed his arms, and propped his elbows on the table: "Yes, a new church has emerged quite unexpectedly. However, this new deity... has some unique properties."

"What we originally agreed upon was to simply publish content about the Fictional Church in the marginal areas of our print publications, but the information brought by their dispatched manager has given me quite a headache."

"The God of Fiction possesses the property of 'gaze'... hmm, but it's somewhat different from other deities with the gaze property...." Manager Boer recounted the details of the matter to the old mage, not expecting the latter's eyes to light up instantly.

"The divine power of the God of Fiction, it's similar to Transmutation Magic?"

"More or less, I don't see much of a difference. Their manager also mentioned it was 'roughly similar'."

Professor Halley's interest in the God of Fiction was rekindled.

He was already a master of Transmutation Magic and was recognized as a leading figure in this field, not just as a professor at Reya Academy but also as an honorary guest professor at other academies within the Meteor World.

At least within the Meteor World, he was a top-tier figure.

Yet, the old mage had never encountered a Transmutation Mage more formidable than himself, and now... it seemed one had appeared.

A deity could also be a mage. A mage was merely a profession.

"So I'd like you to take the content about the Fictional Church and, using Transmutation Magic, 'transform' it as well," Manager Boer explained: "After all, ordinary people can't distinguish where such gazes come from or if they bear any malice. Although they've secured the approval of the Steel Church for their activities, for safety's sake, it's still better to 'transform' this content."

The promotional approach of Transmutation Magic lay in "transformation."

The images would come to life, gentlemen, ladies, animals, mechanics, all stepping out of the images in exaggerated motion patterns into reality, just like cartoon characters coming alive in the three-dimensional world, and then they would explain the products and promotional content to their customers.