Chapter 14: Cute Girls Academy v0.2.1

Cute Girls Academy v0.2.1 was met with great praise. This version has finally put out what the players had been looking forward to.

Voices!

Every student now has a voice!

Not just that, there is now a language option in the game!

It only has English and Japanese for both subtitles and voices, but it's already enough. Everyone was excited to play the game again. The game was defaulted to english subtitles and japanese voices, which many preferred. Most gacha players usually liked hearing japanese voices instead of english ones, so Mike also put that option as the default in consideration of those players.

They were his target audience after all.

Players were excited as they heard Phantasmic's energetic voice as she said the title of the game cheerily at the title screen. They were also happy to hear her welcome them in the login rewards screen and their lobby student welcoming them when they got to the main lobby.

"Rose sounds so cute~"

"Oh my gosh, Maiden's making me feel things!"

"I didn't think Phantasmic would sound this comical..."

"Phantasmic's so fun. She's like Haziel in cheekiness."

"Klee is the best!"

"I know Anubis is Kuroko's expy, but holy, that voice is so cool!"

"Syura is so bratty!"

"Lilith's so good! She's tempting me to sin!"

"Why is Magium's voice so soothing!?"

"Schwarz is so cute. She always tries her best!"

"Yamiko's wild!"

"Fukina so cool!"

"Argosia sounds fine, but Marilyn oozes confidence!"

"I can't believe all of these were voiced by only four girls, and they're not Japanese!"

"Are they really not Japanese? I can't see it!"

Those and more were the general reactions of the players to the characters and the voice actresses themselves. Other than that, there was another thing that they realized as they played the new version of CGA.

"... It's not as laggy as the last version."

That is right. Delayed reactions, long loading times, and lags had been reduced. There were still moments like it, but overall the online feature of the game was running smoothly.

The entire academy grounds had been finished. They could now fully explore the entire academy grounds in exploration mode. As for the mockup challenge, two new worlds have been added, along with their corresponding hard versions. This was a lot faster than the previous update. It only became possible because Mike's improvement was so humongous he learned tricks, shortcuts, and other advanced knowledge and skills that made it easier for him to make 3D models, programming, digital illustration, and many more.

He was grateful for the multiplier.

'Hopefully, they don't direct their donation to CGA.' Mike prayed within his heart.

There was another reason how he managed to decrease those server problems. It's because of a little project he had been busying himself with whenever he was done training his female friends and improving his games.

He's making his own homemade server!

Through the loss multiplier from CGA, he learned how to make his own physical server. It was actually easy. He just needed to know what parts he had to put in the box so it could function as a server. With the multiplier, his skills and knowledge about it became on par with the professionals of different fields. He could maintain a server, create both hardware and software for it, and also customize his own server setup.

So he made one for himself. It was a prototype server, which he connected to the original server for CGA, sharing their resources with each other so they took less burden. It still didn't solve the problem of ping. He needed to add more servers or increase the range of his bandwidth if he wanted other players to play his game smoothly. He decided he would do that when he had more money next time.

For now, he would try and mitigate the problems by making a cluster server. To do that, he would be making his own physical servers.

He felt like he might be able to make something advanced enough that it could handle players all over the globe.

"If I get to that part, then that's another step closer to my dream game!"

With that prototype server running at his house, his bills had also risen considerably. The commercial condo he had leased for his own server room is still not finished. He couldn't just wait for it, so he made this one and ran it within his house. He couldn't afford to miss out on the boost for making a server with his own hand.

Anyway, with all of that factored in, the players were ecstatic about the new update. The majority had their own settled on the students themselves. They felt it was a bit of a shame that they still didn't have a voice on mockup challenges and exploration mode, but they at least have lobby lines, gacha acquisition lines, character rarity upgrade lines, and level upgrade lines. That alone satisfied the players.

There were a few players, though, who noticed the meat of the update itself.

That's right, out of the thousands of players who were actively playing the game, the very few, including Mino, noticed the prologue being fully voiced. Not just voiced, but it was dubbed in both Japanese and English.

They watched the prologue with great expectations and excitement in their hearts.

____________________

(Prologue)

The scene started with a weird, blurry background. Its background is akin to a paint smudge or a clumsy attempt at drawing an interpretation of the skies and the grasslands. After showing this background, a small dialogue box appeared below, showing "???" on its nametag.

"Heaven, Paradise, Eden, Haven, Sanctuary, or Safe Space—it does not matter how abstract it was. I need to get to it. The ultimate concept of a dream!"

"I shall keep wandering across this empty realm. It makes no difference whether the world turned into a blend of reality and fantasy. Achieving the objective is fundamental to my existence. It is my reason for being!"

The scene changed into a cinematic side view of a featureless humanoid entity wearing an asymmetrically colored outfit that covered its entire figure. The design of its outfit was a mesh of that of a jester, scholar, and butler suit. It strangely fit its incredibly tall figure, despite the mismatched grid, stripes, and irregular shapes that decorated its fabric. Its entire palette was a varying intensity of violet, with some lines being yellow and green.

"The world seems to have lost its cohesion. The horizon is completely fuzzy. Does it really matter? It is only a minor setback. Everything will become clearer after I achieve my goal!"

"The ultimate goal! The most ideal dream!"

"My own paradise!"

The scene changed to black. The sound of boots landing against dirt and wind howling echoed before a silhouette appeared on the screen. It was a humanoid silhouette that looked feminine at first glance.

"!!?"

Then, a voice echoed. It's a voice that felt like a whisper to the ears. There was no determiner in the voice. The pitch was low, yet high enough. Despite sounding clear, it also felt like they said it in a hoarse tone. Even though it was said in a whisper, it gave the impression that it was shouted at the same time. An exact contradiction that somehow complemented that single sentence and, at the same time, made the speaker more mysterious. The sound design alone made it hard for the players to identify whether it was a woman, a man, a child, or an old man who spoke.

"Oh my goodness, you are still clinging to an ideal that has long since passed?"

"Who?"

A low piano tune played in the background, its rhythm slow and foreboding. The BGM gave that impression of subtle foreshadowing, like something bad would happen, or that sense of impending doom approaching.

"A woman? No, a man? I cannot see clearly; their figure kept changing in my perception; who are they... no... I recognize them..."

And then, words briefly appeared around the screen. Fantasy, Idea, Imagination, Phantasm, Fiction, Unreality, Nonexistence, Narrative, The Book, The Origin, The Record of Phantasm, The Akashic Records, The Root of Everything, The Observer, The Recorder, The Writer, Myth, Legends, Epic, Chronicle, Embodiment of Fantasy, the Intervener, the Outsider, and many many more. Each word were written in small fonts, but they appeared haphazardly on the screen until it covered the entire screen for a second.

Then it was gone, and a single word appeared in the center of the screen.

[Phantasmic]

"It is the same entity as me!"

Unperturbed at the shock of the entity, the mysterious being continues speaking as if they were monologuing.

"This realm has already become a Withered Paradise. Are you really going to doggedly grasp onto an unfulfilled dream?"

The screen shook for a moment.

"It is not! I am merely lucid... yep, those strangers have been disrupting my world! I will not allow them, and I will keep hanging on to my dream!"

The voice spoke once more, though this time, their voice was becoming increasingly clear. The subtle obscuration of their voice was gone. The overlayed, edited tone of other voices was becoming silent as she spoke. A clear indication of pity could be heard in the woman's voice.

"I see. You definitely lived up to your title, the Long Dream. However, your current situation is just too sad. As the embodiment of imagination, I cannot just forsake someone who shares a deep relationship with my symbol."

"In such a case, allow me to expose you to new concepts that will change your perspective on the world. I am confident it will be beneficial for your paradise!"

"What do you...!?"

As the voice turned clearly female enough, after that exclamation by the first purple entity, the entire screen was covered in light. The BGM took in a high note and then stopped for a moment. Then, words covered the screen once more. This time they were words that would cause most players to gag or laugh.

Cuteness, moe, beauty, gap moe, dere, cosplay, magical girls, tall girls, short girls, loli, lolibaba, yandere, red flags, ASMR, mascots, animal girls, anthropomorphized cute girls, goddesses, isekai, light novels, manga, anime, love stories, harem, pure love, romance, shoujo, ai shoujo, battle academy, cool, valentines, christmas, halloween, beach episodes, comedy, slice of life, and many, many more.

Until finally, it all vanished and turned into a single word.

[Cute Girls]

Then, as the bright light dimmed, the scene changed into a CG of a beautiful purple-haired woman, smiling gently while looking at the screen, while surrounded by a garden of flowers that spread around gently with the wind. Petals of flowers moved around on the screen for a bit before that scene settled, and along with that was the sound of wind passing through, before the BGM changed into that of a welcoming vibe mixed with a sense of melancholy from it. Sounds of violin, piano, and a bit of electro bits, with slow yet calming rhythms, sounded in the background.

"Welcome to the new Wonderland. It is still in its infancy, yet it is already superior to the desolate wasteland from a while ago."

"Do you like it?"

("The introduction of new concepts changed the entire reality. Images of female mortals spending their lives in peace, doing wholesome activities, and spreading happiness all across the planet symbolize hope, dreams, and the purity of the perfect paradise!")

"This is..."

The scene changed to the woman spreading her arms wide, the name tag below now identifying her as Phantasmic.

"This property will be a sanctuary for many lovely females. It makes no difference if they are men, gods, angels, demons, saints, or monsters. In this Imaginary Wonderland, we will embrace them as youth in need of direction and nurture them within our great institution, which is full of hope, dreams, and youthful ambitions."

"A new dream..."

"Lead us, Kochou. I, the Record of Phantasm, shall be with you until you achieve your ideal paradise."

The scene changed into a close-up look of Phantasmic's face, smiling gently as she faced the screen.

"Let us continue your dream and begin our tour across dimensions..."

"Let us start our Cute Girls Academy!"

And then, the scene slowly transitioned with a white background and then changed into the sight of the beautiful skies. Despite being in the middle of the day, there were stars and a line of shooting stars running from one side to another on the screen, as the image itself slowly rose towards the stratosphere. Then, before it goes into the peak of the skies, it suddenly changes along with the BGM.

The BGM changed from those calm, melancholic, slow tunes into an uplifting vibe with the addition of those piano notes that sounded like trumpets. It gave the impression of an RPG game set in a high medieval fantasy with some heroic hints in its rhythm as the screen transitioned between the sights of different worlds. Each transition lasted at least five seconds, and each scene change was in tandem with the strong beats of the music. The ticks for the beat always sounded like a mixture of bells ringing and water dropping in a lonely crystal cave.

It showed the sight of a street with many girls in peculiar, cosplay-like outfits running around, one even flying with her broom, as they laughed together in the morning. Another transition showed a barren land with a single woman in a black dress standing in the center of it while looking at the darkened black skies with a somber look. Another scene showed off a giant tree and a woman sitting on the giant trunk of that tree while overlooking a modern city below. Then it showed a ruined ancient city deep within the seas. A beautiful mountain range made of rainbow-colored crystals. Japanese-themed antiquated streets filled with girls wearing ninja outfits or kimonos. A large space station. A city on top of the moon. A floating island beyond the skies. And then, a beautiful overview of an entire academy.

After showing all of that, the music toned down for a bit. Losing the backdrop of those long, trumpet-like piano sounds and changing into fast, rhythmic, music box-like notes that gave a vibe of wonder and a prelude to the theme's ending. As the BGM came to an end, and the image stayed with the overview of the academy, it showed the title in the middle of the screen in a stylish way, with the silhouette of books beneath the title, ribbons flowing around it, and then a multi-colored outline of the player avatar on top of it.

And after that, a last beat before the prologue ended.

____________________

Having watched the prologue once more, they couldn't help but talk about it. With CGA having thousands of members, others immediately noticed what they were talking about and also joined in with the discussion as they watched the prologue at the same time.

--In the general channel for the CGA server--

Idle_Nick: I still can't help but laugh whenever I got to that part.

(Attachment_0992227162.jpeg)

Shirocc: Watching the prologue again and I notice that the music has been changed. It improved! ;shock; ;shock;

Shork: Beautiful prologue!

Mr. Red: That's everything I want to see in a gacha game!

Lima: Don't you find it weird. Just how did the dev made that noise when Phantasmic was first introduced?

I'm still trying to wrap my head around it ;confusion; ;confusion;

Mino: Didn't Castro said its just noise overlay and some pitch manipulation?

DemonGod: It's possible to do that, but that takes a lot of time. I thought he hired other VAs for that one off...

Mimicry: <3 <3

Desperado: I love Cathy_Minx voice!

Einherjar: She really suits Phantasmic's voice.

Cathy_Minx: Thank you ;smile;

Elly<3: What about me??

Shork: Elly is cute ;heart_smile;

Shirocc: Elly is bratty ;angry_symbol; ;angry;

Bambambakudan: ^You're Klee voice is so cute!~

Elly<3: Why, thank you ;grin;

SSGSS_Grey: ;laugh; ;laugh; ;laugh;

(Attachment_0192217264.jpeg)

Stellar: I still can't get over the fact that Phantasmic is a weeb ;rofl; ;lmao; ;lol; ;laugh;

Leyline: Dreamy_Fluff is so good! Magium's voice is so cool!

Shirocc: Dreamy slayed Anubis ;pray; ;pray; ;kneel; ;kneel;

Dreamy_Fluff: (˶˃ ᵕ ˂˶)

Mimicry: sunshine best crystal maiden >.<

Sunshine: Thanks~

Salem_Witch: Is it really true that Castro did all of those CGs? It looks so gorgeous!

Cathy_Minx: Yeah. He showed us how he drew one. He's really fast.

TBFman: I want my OC to appear!

Mino: ^wait for it. Castro's the only developer...

Idle_Nick: I keep telling CastroGames to look for help. Like, okay, he had friends who can voice characters for him (and they are really amazing), but I think he should also find other people to help him develop the game.

In fact, you should at least leave a way for the game to generate some profit. I just saw the notice at the start of the game, and it's becoming a bit obnoxious...

Desperado: Yeah, what's with that notice at the start? You really don't want us to donate to this game?

Cathy_Minx: He's just stubborn like that. Don't worry, just do what you want to support him ;thumbs up; ;grin;

Mino: That's right. He needs help!

Shork: That sign won't stop me because I can't read!

*Furiously empties wallet on Castro's donation link

Shirocc: I have another OC, and I can't bear to wait for a long time.

It's donating time! ( ¬ᴗ¬)

DemonGod: I also vote for more helpers.

Come on Castro, the community demands it!

Elly<3: Hahahaha

Dreamy_Fluff: ( ˶°ㅁ°) !!

CastroGames: Guys, please stop. I have a reason why I'm not accepting any donations for CGA.

If you really want to donate, just direct it to Idle Power. It still helps me.

Idle_Nick: You heard the guy, keep donating to him!

Shirocc: Aye!

Shork: Aye!

Lima: Let's go

SSGSS_Grey: Hehe

Mimicry: i donate hehe

____________________

Mike was just going to continue optimizing the systems for his servers when he heard his phone ping. He looked at it and saw it was from Laika asking him on the messenger.

Laika_S: Hey, Mike. I'd like to stream your game. Can I?

Mike thought about it for a moment before giving her a simple "Sure" response. After that he closed his phone and then resumed what he was doing.

Creating the software side of the server was becoming easier for him since he updated CGA. By just adding more resources on the hardware part of the server, the game experience was becoming better and smoother.

"There are still two weeks before my server room is done. For now, I'll make the backend in advance so I can just implement it when the server room is done."

With that, he continued doing his work, unaware that something was happening behind the scenes.

____________________

Mike was unaware that giving permission to stream his game would be another headache for him. He thought that, even if Laika streamed CGA, very few would be interested, as the game was still in its infancy. No normal players would willingly play an incomplete game, mostly if the game was barebones like this one.

It's only he who thought the game still lacked content. In reality, almost everyone would say the game was already done and they could play it as it is.

Mike, or any of his friends, was unaware. Laika was working as a streamer. Not just a streamer, but as a streamer in Metube with a virtual avatar.

The one they usually call a Virtual Metuber, or Vtuber in short.

Her name on Metube is Dreamy Fluff. Based on her Vtuber lore, she was a baku, a type of yokai who ate dreams, who loved to play games and sleep. Her character was designed simply. Just a small girl with sleepy-looking purple eyes and very fluffy hair that was like clouds. Her entire appearance was a bit rounder like a child, and she wore a wool coat on her entire body. She also had a pair of ram's horns on her head.

Essentially, she looked like a chibi-fied anthropomorphized sheep. Cute in a simple sense. If explained in another word, she's dull.

And that's Dreamy's career. She doesn't have any interesting designs on her character, and she rarely did talk streams or other content. Most of her streams only consisted of her playing games like Mobile Mythics, Global Strike, and Random Player's Battle Ground. She only had a hundred subscribers and the usual ten concurrent viewers whenever she streamed.

She was fine with that. Streaming isn't really her source of income. She's just dipping her toes in it because she wanted to be a Vtuber, but at her own pace. Most of her money came from her sister, and it was her sister who volunteered to finance what she wanted to pursue. She was actually grateful. Her sister was quite successful in her life, and she always doted on her.

There is a small part within her that wants to be popular, but she mostly squashes that away. Her personality usually teeters on being carefree. She doesn't really like trying so hard and burning out on her hobbies. She also doesn't really want to be so full of herself. She's fed up with the constant disappointments whenever she expects something, so she always tempers her expectations for herself.

This would be the first time she would be streaming another game. Though she really wanted to do it. This was the game she voiced in. Even as she tempered her expectations, there was still a small hope within her heart for people to be shocked and to be amazed at her. She was now an official voice actress, and thanks to Mike, she could actually voice act decently instead of doing the awkward broken Japanese that she and Catherine usually did when they were messing around.

"Hello everyone, welcome to my stream. Today, I'm going to stream a new game called Cute Girls Academy. My friend made this game, and I'm one of the voice actresses in the game." She started the stream like that while looking at the two people who quickly tuned in on her stream.

Allypop: Hello Dreamy~

Bakubaku: Good morning~

She couldn't think of anything else to say, so she started the game.

Allypop: What's this game?

Bakubaku: Cute Girls Academy?

She didn't comment. She usually played silently and rarely spoke whenever she started playing a game. It's another factor why she wasn't that popular.

As it was a stream of trying out the game, she started playing the prologue first.

"Did you know, the one who voiced Phantasmic here is my friend? Later, I'll show you the characters that I voiced." She said as she put the prologue on auto.

Then, she leaned on her chair as she watched the prologue along with her viewers. A new viewer had joined, making it three.

These people watched, curious at first as they looked at the new game, before slowly becoming interested as they saw just how high the quality of the game was.

When the prologue was done, she now had ten viewers watching.

Allypop: Wow! What the heck?

Bakubaku: Are you friends with an actual VA!? Her voice sounds so good!

Jie_EN: What's the name of the game?

Plus-side: Read the title of the stream. It's Cute Girls Academy lol

Olmecsize: Nice game

Ground_Type_Groudon: Nice game

Allypop: You also voiced in this game? Please show us!

Bakubaku: You're also a VA!?

KKK: Cool

TYMan: Great

Jump-Him: ;smug_glasses; ;smug_glasses;

Magic_Dreamer: That's a good BGM. Whose the composer of that BGM?

Kneel_YoMaMa: Good game

Overlord_Kiki: What's the name of the game?

"Don't worry, I'll show what the game looks like."

She poked around the screen, showing them the different options in the main lobby. The first thing she showed was the tutorial, so people would know how the game works. The tutorial could be triggered by just tapping the question mark icon below the setting icon on the top right corner of the screen. After clicking that, a chibi version of Phantasmic would appear, and she would point at each option one by one while explaining what each of them does.

First were the two game modes, exploration mode and mockup challenges. Both options could be seen by tapping the large circular option called (Dream Start) located on the bottom right corner of the screen. Following that were five sleek-looking bars besides that large circular option. These options, in order from the nearest to the farthest one on the left, were (Gacha), (Shop), (Inventory), (Students), and (Stories).

(Gacha) was the section where they could see all the active banners, along with the regular banner, which they could choose to roll for a student. As the game was still in its infancy, it only had a regular banner for now. (Shop) would lead them to the section where they could buy different items that they could use to enhance their students from different game modes. (Inventory) was where all their items were located. (Students) was an option that displayed how many students they had, and it was also a section where they could upgrade the star rarity of their students, equip items on them, and then level them up. Then (Stories) was where they could access the extra stories like bond stories, side stories, and character stories.

The entire tutorial was voiced by her friend Catherine alone, and she was quite amazed at how much she did. Phantasmic was a bit chatty throughout the tutorial section, and Catherine, despite being an amateur, managed to voice them perfectly in Japanese as a testament to how much Mike improved them with just his voice coaching.

'That breathing exercise is extraordinary... just how did he manage to do that?'

Even when she was one of the people who benefited from that experience, she still couldn't understand the logic behind it. Mike's boost from his power made it possible for him to immediately understand what each of them could do and improvise on that part so they could meet his requirements even if it wasn't perfect. He trained them and then only suggested things that would make them willing to try, which further elevated their performance. In the end, they managed to create something that could only be done by a professional voice actor.

This was a talent beyond a normal voice coach. His became world-class due to the fact his multiplier boosted his skills greatly. All of the suggestions and things he taught to them were advanced concepts that he dumbed down so they were easier to understand. This was the reason why all of them could speak well.

Of course, being amateurs, they couldn't speak continuously for hours. Mike didn't force them anyway. Whenever they felt their throats becoming hoarse, he would stop and let them rest. Laika didn't notice that small detail of him being weirdly perceptive whenever they got tired. She only thought he always had the right timing for his teachings, which drastically increased their vocal talents.

This was also the reason why, even though she was still an amateur, Catherine managed to recite all of these lines. It was because Mike had great time management when it came to their voice and could immediately stop them from overexerting themselves. With such an efficient coach, even a bulky script could be finished in a single week.

After that, there was the lobby screen itself. Her lobby screen was currently showing a dynamic Live2D art of the character she voiced. The goddess of death, Anubis. Though she didn't talk about it for now, she wanted to show a lot of things to her audience.

Anyway, after the tutorial, she turned to Gacha.

"Here, let me show you how the Gacha works."

She told them about the currencies. There was the gold currency, which was used for buying in the shop. Then there were the Pages, the ones they needed for rolling characters.

Allypop: Gacha roll! Gacha roll!

Bakubaku: Who did you voice? I want to see!

Olmecsize: Gacha! Gacha! Gacha!

Thundermcqueen: Here we go!

KKK: Gacha!

Union_Guy: Gacha!

Lollipop: Here we go!

Plead_Hard: What's the name of the game?

"Wait a moment. I'll show you the characters I voiced after this demonstration."

After promising that, she started rolling on the regular banner. The rolling mechanic was very gorgeous. When rolling for a character, the scene would change into a fully animated scene of Phantasmic running in the hallways of the academy and then changing into the scene of a door where she would arrive before turning to the viewers with a smile as she opened the door. The screen would then get closer to the door until it goes beyond it, and after that it would transition into the sight of a table where ten parchments would be laid on top of it.

As the game had the same rarity for every character, they couldn't expect any golden or rainbow parchments to appear. Though Mike knew that would make rolling the gacha dull, as some gacha players loved those colorful character cards that they could get. It made their brains happy. So instead of separating them through rarity, he decided to separate them through their creators.

Each faction of characters has their own card symbols when getting them. Characters from Mino's world had a greenish hue on their parchment with the symbol of the tree in the center of it. Shirocc's character has the symbol of a wolf's head with a generally black color around it. Others also had their own symbols and card colors when getting them. This was done so, even without the rarity, it would still stir that collector's side between gacha players. It's also a way for them to recognize which creator the character they would get.

Mike simply added this small aesthetic thing in the gacha because he personally wanted it. He didn't really expect others to like it.

Seeing multicolored parchments made the audience excited. The intricate symbols on the back of the parchment. The animation of them flipping over, along with that satisfying sound of a paper being flicked, made their spines tingle. Seeing beautiful characters and then hearing their voice as they first introduced themselves after getting them made the people eager to try the game itself.

Bakubaku: Amazing!

Allypop: Rose is so cute!

Olmecsize: Why does that shark girl look so familiar?

Hurdur: Is that Kuroko!?!?

Yayoi: So colorful!~

Jie_EN: Lovely gacha! I want to try!

Ui_Mama: Where can I play this?

Iroha_Tank: I see Azure Archive ripoff

Justitia: What kind of gacha game only has a single rarity? Wtf?

Humanoid: Gacha!

Iinchou: Where is this game? How can I play this?

Laika answered them for a bit as she rolled for a bit more. She had a hundred thousand Pages. This was because she was a voice actress, which was a great contribution to the community. It's one of the rules of the game, acquiring Pages through community contributions, as there weren't any microtransactions for it. Whenever they voiced a character, they would be rewarded with fifty thousand Pages. They only needed 1,000 Pages to roll for ten, and there was even a pity system in the gacha where, every ten rolls, they gained 1 voucher. With ten vouchers, they could choose any character they wanted to get in that banner.

It's the most generous gacha system ever, and anyone could see it. They wanted to play so they could experience it on their own too.

"Next are the students. Here, let me show you who I voiced."

After showcasing the gacha section, she goes to the student section. The (Student) section showcased the image of each character in large, rectangular bars. Each bar showed them in their standard poses, which was normal for characters below 3★. Unlike the other students she had, the first four students displayed had an entirely different display than the standard one. These displays were Live2D poses of them with dynamic graphics.

She has been playing the game for weeks now. Though she couldn't play as much as she was a bit busy going along with Catherine looking for any suitable site for a studio and also checking in with Mike and practicing her voice for a bit, so she barely made any progress on the game. Still, she at least poured most of her attention into characters that she voiced.

Anubis, Lilith Pandemonica, Magium, and Masamune Fukina. Anubis's Live2D display was her sitting in a school chair, her cheek resting on her hand as she gazed at the player with a neutral expression. Lilith's Live2D was her looking down on the player with a cold gaze, her crimson eyes glowing and the entire background dark and red while thunder roared randomly. Magium's Live2D was of her lying on a field of flowers, a small smile on her usually impassive face settled on her lips as she gazed languidly at the player. Then there was Fukina, whose Live2D was her eating a takoyaki with a rare look of surprise on her face.

These four students were the characters that she voiced, and she spent most of her time talking about them.

"You might think Anubis is a Kuroko expy, but she isn't. First of all, she's not a student but rather a mortal who awakened a fragment of divinity hidden within her body. Her world was accidentally destroyed by her hands, and she's on the verge of a mental breakdown. It will actually be dangerous for her if it continues if not for the Principal appearing and saving her from blaming herself."

"Did you know, Lilith's an actual softie. She usually acts cold and detached from her surroundings, but she always tries to help those she sees being troubled. She's such a cute character!"

"Magium sounds cool at first. She's like me, someone who always liked to sleep. She might also look smart, but it's farther than that. This woman's so outdated, and she's a bit of an airhead. Did you know she thought mayonnaise was magic? It's quite hilarious!"

"Fukina acts so serious and blunt at first, but if you get farther in her bond stories, you'll find out how much of a foodie she is. This girl missed out on a lot of childhood experiences because of her oath as a ninja since she was young, and now in this academy she is slowly loosening up to the people around her. It's really heartwarming and fun to voice her!"

Without her noticing, she had been talking animatedly about the characters she voiced. She had reviewed the characters and even binged their bond stories and character stories. She felt a bit connected to them due to her voicing them, so she couldn't help but focus most of her time on them whenever she played this game. Even when the bond stories and the character stories were newly released this week, she had swept through them with her spare time. She was that excited for it.

In the end, she spent the entire stream talking about the characters while showcasing them on both the mockup challenges and the exploration mode.

'Wow... this is the first time I got thirty viewers in my stream.' She thought to herself, boggled at the live viewer count above her chat screen.

Allypop: Where can I play it?

"Go to the CGA server. I've put the link in the video description."

She said, not thinking so much about it. She was simply satisfied having gained a lot of viewers and talking about her impressions of the characters that she voiced.

'Well, I'm sure Mike will be happy if more people played his game, right?' There was that small thought that occurred in her mind.

She was unaware that these people weren't just a normal group of players who played for free.