Pierpoint, Interstellar Peace Corporation Headquarters.
Link Garnt, who had been working overtime for a month straight, was incredibly haggard, with a look on his face that would surely drain the vitality from any ghost passing by. Cursed his current fate
"I can't take this anymore. This damned Market Development Department is no place for a sane human."
Originally, He was just a Honkai: Star Rail streamer, busy farming the Diver of Dead Waters set for one of his waifu's, Acheron. He had just gotten a Crit Damage body piece with four awesome sub-stats, thinking he could finally escape the relic mines, but after maxing it out, something strange directly transported him into the game's world.
[TL: that can't be a defense substat if you got 4 great substats at all. Consistency damn it]
Fortunately, his identity was that of a small team leader in the Interstellar Peace Corporation's Traditional Projects Department, which meant he could comfortably start a leisurely retirement.
But within a few days, He got relocated to the Market Development Department. They said it was temporary reinforcement, but a month has passed, and there's no sign of him getting sent back to his old post.
If this continues, He's afraid he'll be completely drained by the company, becoming material for the Amber Lord's wall-building endeavor.
"Damn it, why do other transmigrators have systems, but I just transmigrated to be a simple corporate worker! Am I just some kind of chosen laborer?"
"Detecting host's resentment for fate. System activating…"
The elusive and cold electronic synthesic voice suddenly rang out within his head.
"Congratulations, Host, for activating the [Aeon-Level Mobile Game Development System]! Congratulations, Host, for receiving a complete initial game program gift package!"
The crisp, pleasant system notification sound lingered in his ears like celestial music. Link Garnt immediately felt relief all over. This was the treatment of a normal transmigrator that he expected! At least he wasn't doing this without a system lest he's stuck in a mediocre life.
[TL: Rewritten, rephrased. There's self awareness, and there's that.]
He collected himself and then began to carefully study the system's functions.
This Aeon-Level Mobile Game Development System required him to launch the completed mobile game, and then acquire game points based on the number of players, online duration, real credits paid, discussion popularity, and so on. The acquired game points could be used for game updates and development, and also to purchase items and draw prizes in the mall.
After understanding the basic functions, Link opened the initial gift package given by the system.
"Congratulations, Host, for obtaining the base program of the mobile game "Honkai: Star Rail"!"
"Congratulations on activating the official account for "Honkai: Star Rail"!"
"Wait a damn minute!? Honkai: Star Rail?"
Link Garnt was stunned for a moment. He was going to make a Honkai: Star Rail mobile game in the Honkai: Star Rail world? The thought of Silver Wolf pulling Kafka to E6, Blade pulling Imbibitor Lunae?
Link's lips curved into a smile. Interesting, this going to be very interesting!
Moreover, in this interstellar world of Honkai: Star Rail, everyone had a mobile phone, and the population was unimaginable.
Just as Link was about to launch the game, he suddenly remembered a crucial issue: wouldn't the IPC trace the IP back to him after the game launched? Given the company's performance-driven nature, they would probably lock him in a dark room and interrogate him severely on his system.
[TL: You will not get away from the wider galaxy System. Many things can reach you.]
Thinking of this, Link Garnt looked at the official account provided by the system again. The account's avatar was the same as the real official one in his last life, featuring a large head of March 7th, with a extra icon below it.
[Account IP information has been encrypted; private account information cannot be queried by any means!]
A completely encrypted account? In this galaxy?
At least this way, he could launch the game through this official account, so he wouldn't have to worry about his real identity being exposed through corporate channels or genius hackers. So, Link used the account to launch the game on the app store, and information related to the game also appeared on the system panel.
Game Name: "Honkai: Star Rail"
Game Version: 1.0
Registered Users: 0
Current Online Users: 0
Game Discussion Popularity: 0
It had been a little while since the game launched, and the user count and game discussion popularity remained at zero, but in Link's view, it was normal and expected. In this Interstellar universe, without any pre-advertising or net traffic support, a newly launched mobile game was like dropping a grain of sand into the ocean.
So let's use the Marketing Development Department for it's intended purposel Money to advertise his product!
Using his internal company connections, Link found a small manager responsible for promotions in the company's large group chat. After noting down the contact information, he added them using the game's official account.
The application was immediately approved. The other party, named Yen Shill, was a P37-level promotion manager at Interstellar Peace Entertainment Company. A message that seemed like an automatic reply was immediately sent to Link.
[TL: Yen shilling, I know exactly what I'm doing.]
"Thank you for your trust! For media buying, please specify your budget, product type, and Delivery time. Interstellar Peace Entertainment will ensure the promotion of your product!"
Link looked at the mere 200,000 credit points he had in his pocket, somewhat pained as he transferred all of them to the official account first! It was also his fault for being prone to squandering small amounts of money he had; most of his credit points were tied up in the Interstellar stock market, leaving him with only this much now! He should have never trusted the stock market, especially after Epsilon.
But as long as his game promotion went smoothly, these credit points lost would become a drop in the bucket! So Link used the official account to communicate with the other party.
"200,000 credit points, for mobile game promotion, now."
On the other side, Yen Shill, seeing a new order, put down his work and replied.
"Understood, boss. Based on current game chart prices, we can arrange for your game to be on the charts, platform advertisements… "
Various promotional resources and their durations were laid out before him. Link selected a few promotional resources he thought were suitable and made the payment.
Yen Shill was somewhat surprised to see the other party being so decisive, having expected some haggling. So, after arranging the other party's promotional work, he checked the other party's account, but unfortunately, there was only a homepage account interface, and nothing could be seen.
And as promotional resources were injected into the greater cosmos, people gradually began to notice this new mobile game IP. Lahmu was a streamer under Interstellar Peace Entertainment Company. He usually streamed RPG games, and had accumulated a good number of fans, making him somewhat well-known.
[TL: The original here was Genshin, but that's way too on the nose since they're in the same damn multiverse.]
This time, Lahmu received a promotional task from his superior, requiring him to play a newly released mobile game for 3 hours.
"All right people, I just received a suggestion from the higher ups that a newly launched mobile game seems pretty good. I'll go check it out for you all first!"
Seeing Lahmu suddenly wanting to stream a new game, the audience was also a little curious.
["What suggestion? Is it the boss's recommandations?"]
["Possibly. I've been watching mobile game promotions recently, and there's nothing interesting."]
["Streamer, are you sure you can do it? The ones you recommended in the past were absolutely awful!"]
Seeing a barrage of negative comments, Lao Mu could only pretend not to see them, as some of the games he had promoted before were indeed quite bad. But he was a streamer! Very professional! He won't air those opinions when his superiors hold his paycheck.
The game was available on both PC and mobile. Lahmu, seeing that he could stream it on his computer, naturally chose the PC version. After the game downloaded, Lao Mu clicked to start it. What greeted his eyes were the large characters "Honkai: Star Rail", followed by a train roaming the galaxy.
So Lao Mu began to showcase his game streamer skills.
"Wow, look at this startup animation! The light! The train! It looks so much like the famous Astral Express that roams the universe!"
The barrage thought Lahmu was going to start with his usual exaggerated praise, but some knowledgeable and hardcore viewers noticed something suspicious.
["This should actually be the Astral Express. I used to ride the Nameless's train across star systems. There's no mistake!"]
["Holy cow, awesome, you can even tell that!"]
["Now our little monster has also made it big!"]
Seeing the good effect, Lao Mu registered an account and prepared to start the game. After registering, the train on the waiting screen actually started moving!
The train, which was originally displayed horizontally, rushed forward, giving the audience an upward-looking view of the train's head charging forward.
"It's got something, this animation effect, at least better than a college student's graduation project! And this music, listening closely, it's completely incomparable to those garbage reskinned games!"
["Holy cow, could it be that Lao Mu actually got something a gem this time?!"]
["Streamer, start the game quickly! I'm a bit curious about the quality of this game!"]
So Lahmu didn't procrastinate and clicked the screen to enter the game.
"Honkai: Star Rail, launching!"