The next several days felt like a spring breeze to Fang Shi. Every morning, large groups of people came to the store with their children to attempt to get a spot in the new children's pool. The cultivation pods were always busy, but he had to add a few more floors to accommodate an influx of guests that came to watch the new episode of Jade Dynasty.
Fang Shi was pleased with with the additional visitors, giving him more confidence that he would easily accomplish the task assigned to him. However, instead of being content with his success like in the past, today he went to the pod cafe to do research. He was curious what everyone was playing, and if anything could be improved. When he arrived at the pod cafe 1st floor, he greeted Hong Li, who didn't a performance today and the puppet on duty.
The floor was as usual, some cultivators using the artifacts, others watching the cultivators that agreed to display their session, and puppets delivering food and drink to pods. But every since the Hong sisters had debuted, a crowd of men would hang out near the counter trying to catch Hong Li's eye. Fang Shi frowned as he went behind the counter, only to hear someone speaking to him.
"Young boy, you aren't allowed back there", the man said, "I'm sure you're enchanted by the lovely lady here…"
The voice stopped when Fang Shi stared intently as the one talking.
"Owner Fang, my apologies", the cultivator was quick to respond, "Myself and the others were just ensuring the safety of your employees."
"Did I hire all of you?", Fang Shi inquired, "Or perhaps you all were contacted by my senior?"
"Well, no", the spokesman replied.
"Oh, then are you in line to be assigned a cultivation pod?", Fang Shi asked next.
"Ah, no", the man answered.
"Then don't block the counter", Fang Shi told the crowd, "My employees are working right now, and can't accommodate you right now. If that is a problem, I'll ask my senior to ban you temporarily to demonstrate to you how secure the store is."
The crowd immediately dispersed, and Fang Shi looked at Hong Li. She had a look on her face like she had been saved.
"Owner Fang, thank you for your timely arrival", Hong Li slightly bowed.
"Oh, you aren't capable of handling the situation yourself?", Fang Shi looked disappointed, "Then you need to learn quickly, because I have asked the senior to pay closer attention to you and your sisters. If this continues to happen, your employment here will be terminated. Perhaps you didn't read the contact when it was presented to you?"
Hong Li's face were red in embarrassment as she heard Fang a Shi speak to the puppet, "Next time Hong Li fails to handle a situation like this, inform the senior. The perpetrators will be remove from the property, and Hong Li will be escorted to me."
"Yes, Owner Fang", the puppet bowed.
This exchange wasn't only heard by Hong Shi and the puppet, but also by most of the people close to the counter. Fang Shi sat down behind the counter where the 'Hub' artifact could display information. He quickly made his selection, and hundreds of tiny screens appeared before him, reminding him of a 'Zoom' call in his prior life. Fang Shi issued a command to the system, and the screen rearranged into several different groups. There were large groups, but the large groups were also split into smaller ones as well.
Fang Shi pointed at the first group label 'Monster Slayer', and the large group moved forward as the rest stayed behind out of sight. As he looked over all the people playing, he noticed that this group stayed as one large one and didn't split into smaller groups at all. With a quick scan, he saw everyone was hunting so he made a motion to punch it back with the rest, and called the next group forward.
This time he saw 'Fairy and Sword', but unlike 'Monster Slayer', this one was split into many smaller groups. Each group was labeled: story, sword, spear, fire, water, etc. Fang Shi thought this was odd but as he started to scan each group, he realized what the labels meant.
The group labeled story indicated cultivators who were playing through the story. But the other groups were different, some people with strong fire roots were trying to practice the fire techniques they saw in game, same with each element and weapon. He also saw a group where people were training in alchemy, or other artisan professions. The largest group of people had to be the ones learning the sword control technique. Every since Fang Shi original play through the game, the golden core cultivators had quickly learned this technique and could be seem flying through the air occasionally. Then, a handful of Foundation Establishment realm cultivators learned after a few months and everyone went crazy.
Fang Shi had even heard that Mayor Chen was concerned about these cultivators, and had considered banning flight above the city. He hadn't instituted the ban yet, and Fang Shi believed it was because the mayor enjoyed flying also. The situation would turn awkward if the mayor banned flying for everyone except for himself, so a few days ago the mayor came to him to ask his senior for advice. Fang Shi pretended to visit his 'senior', and when he returned he gave the mayor the follow advice, "Create tokens for those you allow to fly. Visitors from other cities get one warning if they violate the airspace."
Mayor Chen had been pleased with this suggestion, and quickly left afterwards to put it into action.
The last of the groups was labeled 'library', and when Fang Shi scanned them, he was slightly surprised. These guests all were sitting down in the game reading through various scrolls and texts that could found, such as the 'Dao De Jong' and the 'Nuwu Tianshu'. Fang Shi knew these texts were in the game, and checked them out himself when he found them. To his relief, the system had adapted everything so that any references to earth were replaced.
This had been a concern of Fang Shi's ever since he had started to sell the new artifacts. He knew that the laws of this world were different than earth, but there still were certain objects that could still be created in this world. If Fang Shi wished, he could most likely create a handgun, but refused to do so. He was fine with rice cookers, stoves, or washers because he could design it in a way that was easily accepted by the people of this world. He knew if he adapted guns to this world, it would be accepted as well, but would lead to disastrous consequences and he had no desire to become and arms dealer.
Fang Shi pushed 'Fairy and Sword' back, and looked at the other groups. Every other group was small with the exception of those watching movies or tv shows. This strengthened his resolve that he made the right choice to temporarily remove Musou from the pod. As he looked over the other groups, he saw another game mode that wasn't doing well, Solo Battle Arena. This surprised Fang Shi because he assumed that cultivators would be excited to face each other without worrying about injury or death. Team Battle Arena didn't seem to be having any problems, so Fang Shi had to find out why there was a discrepancy between the two.
Fang Shi minimized the screen in front of him, and scanned the room. As guests finished their time, some would go watch others play while others headed towards the exit. The first time he saw someone going to leave, he called them over.
"Excuse me, dear guest", Fang Shi called out, "Can I take a moment of your time?"
"Of course", the woman replied, "How may I assist you today?"
"I decided to get feedback on everything the pod cafe offers to find issues, and correct them", Fang Shi explained, "So all I'm going to do is get your opinion on the various offerings from the shop."
"I would be happy to help you", the woman asked.
Fang Shi asked his questions, took notes, and thanked the woman before she left. As other visitors left, he would also call out to them as well, and soon he began to the bigger picture. Although individual strength was most important to each person, most guests were mortals or low level cultivators. Belonging to a group and learning teamwork was an excellent way for most warriors and cultivators to survive as they tried to climb to higher realms. Once you reached the higher levels of Foundation Establishment or Golden Core, the chance that you would duel against an opponent grew exponentially.
Fang Shi shook his head in amazement, once he looked at the popular game titles, the truth was evident. Monster Slayer had teams of four, Fairy and Sword was single player but had NPCs controlled by the system, and Team Battle Arena literally had team in the title. On the other hand, Musou was a mode of 1 vs 1000, and Solo Battle Arena wasn't worth the time investment since those encounters were rare.
Fang Shi now had his answers, so he bade the receptionists farewell, and walked around the different stores. As he greeted guests and waved to people he knew, he was also thinking about what to do with the unpopular modes. He had already made plans for the Musou mode, but the Solo Battle Arena was somewhat vexing. Should he restrict it to certain realms, and only allow those bellow to send challenges to each other? Instead of punishing guests, it might be to offer a carrot. Every ten days, the pod cafe could host small competitions for the two Musou modes and the two modes of Battle Arena. There would small gifts just for participanting, and moderate prizes for the winners since it was only a small tournament.
After making his rounds, and checking on all the stores, Fang Shi returned home. He didn't immediately start working, instead relaxing with dinner and some drinks while sitting in his favorite spot. If you were still living his first life, he would probably be watching his phone. That being said, sitting here did bring him peace. "Once I finish this task, I'll request an array inheritance", Fang Shi smiled, "That should allow me to create the upgraded pod, but it might even allow me to create the equivalent of a smartphone as well. But there is a problem, as I continue to add products to the store that have higher costs, I've also noticed how slow some of them take to sale. This is only a 3rd class city, and no matter how much I try, I can't get blood from a stone. It might be almost time to open a store in a 2nd class city."
Pushing away his worries, Fang Shi returned inside to his personal pod and began to make changes to his lower performing games.
"How can I make this more exciting for lower level cultivators?", Fang Shi mused out loud.
After thinking back to his past life, he remembered a genre of games that were the perfect example, fighting games! Even though they started as two dimensional games, they eventually made their debut in 3D after many years but these versions never reached the popularity that the 2D games did. But now it was different, with the cultivation pod that allowed you to perfectly control yourself, he could go straight to 3D. All he needed to do was add music that would get the blood pumping, an announcer that could sway a crowd, and a dynamic camera system to display battles to the viewer to maximize excitement. After he placed his order to the system with his requirements, he brought up the Team Battle Arena to make some of the same adjustments.
Satisfied with the changes, he turned his attention towards Musou mode. Originally, this game revolved around the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and the player would act as a hero that battled thousands of troops and enemy generals. His new idea was to make almost the same. The maps would stay the same, and troops would still be deployed the same. Instead of one person playing themselves, multiple people would join each of the three sides. On smaller maps, fifteen would join with five players on each side, and the largest maps would host twenty players per side. There were two ways to win: conquer the other two forces, or own the land by the end of the time limit.
The other mode Fang Shi wished to create was inspired by a game that released before his death. In this the game, the earth was u see the threat of insect and machine enemies. Teams of four would be deployed from space ships to kill enemies, achieved tasks, and reclaim land from the invaders. Since the topic of space and technology would cause everyone to ask too many questions, he decided to reskin the game mode. Instead of earth, players would launch for a city on a flying boat. There they would fight against spiritual beasts, unorthodox cultivators, or demons while gathering resources. Also, he decided that team size could vary from four to up to ten depending on the strength of the enemy.
Once again with the basic frame built on the system panel, he bought music, enemy information, and ally information.
'Query: All submitted requests have been processed', the system informed him, 'Does the host wish to release now?'
"No", Fang Shi responded, "It's still the week that Jade Dynasty is being released, and 'The Duel' is set to release soon. Save everything as it is now, and ask me again after the time limit for the task is finished."
'Response: Understood', the system answered.
"System?", Fang Shi said.
'Response: How can I assist you host?', it replied.
"Even though I'm not going to release the changes yet, I would like to create a trailer for all three games modes", Fang Shi instructed the system, "On the 7th day after the release of 'The Duel', prepare to run those trailers once all the cultivation pods and light screens. In fact, the night before we run the trailers, set a reminder so I can place light screens all across the halls so everyone will see it."
'Response: request received…request processed', the system spoke.
Having done everything he could at this point, Fang Shi went to the room that houses the wall scrolls. Ever since he invested spirit stones into the research of spiritual plants, he would come check to see if he had any success. So far, there had been a few. All the premium goods in the store was thanks to the research done.
Searching the scrolls, he didn't find anything until he reached the premium herb garden. Scanning the wall scroll, he found a new entry:
[New! Verdant Purity Leaf
The Verdant Purity Leaf is the leaf of a 2nd class spiritual plant. It is highly sought after for its ability to purify and condense Qi. Whether it's used to make tea or refined into a Qi Condensation pill, after ingested, the amount of Qi inside the body will feel as if it's decreasing. What is happening instead is that the pill's effects cause Qi to condense while filtering out impurities. Continued use of the tea or pill will cause a cultivator's dantian to feel heavy, and their meridians feel as if cool water was flowing through them. It typically takes many pots of tea or several pills before a cultivator's body reaches perfect condensation, but once reached, the success of breaking through to the Foundation Establishment realm greatly increases.]
Fang Shi wanted to celebrate after reading the description. Many uneducated cultivators didn't understand the purpose behind condensation of Qi, but Fang Shi did. If he started to drink the tea now, it was likely his Qi realm would drop from mid Qi Gathered realm to early Qi Gathering realm. The tradeoff was that the strength of his spells and techniques would still be at the mid Qi Gathering realm despite the minor realm drop.
"System", Fang Shi smiled, "Just like all the other spiritual plants, allow it to go to seed and plant them. Once the quantity is enough, save some for me first but continue to increase the numbers so they can eventually be sold as a new premium product."