After creating the quest system, Iluvia reclined lazily on her Divine Seat, going over the entire plan from beginning to end to ensure there were no omissions.
Yes, the logic was self-consistent, the mechanics were complete, and the reward tiers were reasonable. It was ready to use.
“Decided. This will be the main feature of the next version update.”
She was just about to wrap things up when another matter suddenly crossed her mind, causing her gaze to falter slightly.
“Wait... I recall... haven't the players been clamoring for a feature like a 'system inventory' or something similar?”
In her spare time, Iluvia loved to secretly browse her game's official forum.
Scrolling through it, the pinned hot posts and most frequent complaints were always about the same issue: When would the system inventory be released? When would they get a personal storage space?
On the official player forum of Glorious Era, posts about system inventory had practically never stopped.
The players were suffering immensely.
Their bodies would be stuffed to the brim with materials and equipment dropped from monsters, as well as fruits picked in the forest. Every time they returned, it looked like they were moving houses, their hands completely full. Furthermore, if they failed to defeat a monster and got killed instead, they would drop all of their equipped gear. If the gear wasn't picked up by someone else, it was fine—they could at least run back from the Temple Square after reviving to minimize their losses. But if it disappeared, they would have nowhere to cry.
Because of this, many players posted frantically to vent their grievances, begging the great game developers to bestow a personal storage space upon them.
Iluvia had browsed through these posts and remembered them clearly.
In truth, it wasn't that she didn't want to add this feature. The problem was that, after all, this wasn't a real game world.
The "system inventory" the players envisioned was just a virtual grid that she could infinitely expand with a few lines of code.
In reality, system inventory equaled physical space.
If she were to open a separate, independent personal space for each of the five thousand plus players, the divine power consumed would absolutely be an astronomical figure. She definitely wouldn't do it; it was simply too painful to bear.
Furthermore, as the player count increased, this consumption would grow exponentially.
“I can't run a losing business...”
Resting her chin on her hand, Iluvia fell into deep thought, her mind spinning rapidly as she frantically calculated the most cost-effective solution.
Suddenly, her eyes lit up.
“Wait—”
“There's no need for me to open up a separate space for everyone.”
“Why not just use my Divine Kingdom?”
The moment this thought emerged, her train of thought instantly cleared up.
What was the so-called system inventory? In essence, wasn't it just a place where players could deposit and retrieve items?
And her Divine Kingdom—this vast space right beneath her feet—wasn't it a ready-made "warehouse"?
“Right! Why didn't I think of this before!”
The more Iluvia thought about it, the more reasonable this solution seemed.
When players died, they originally had to have their bodies reshaped by her in the Divine Kingdom before being sent back to the respawn point at the Temple Square.
If she teleported the players' weapons and equipment back along with them, wouldn't that kill two birds with one stone?
It would resolve the resentment over "losing all gear upon death" while avoiding the need to open up additional space.
“And for daily storage and retrieval, I can connect them directly to the Divine Kingdom's warehouse, perfectly replacing the system inventory! Not a single inch of extra space needs to be opened!”
With her mind completely open to the possibilities, Iluvia immediately began establishing fair and reasonable restriction rules for her new feature.
First, contraband must be banned.
“First, living creatures are forbidden. No living being can be placed into the Divine Kingdom's storage.”
“Second, garbage and clutter are forbidden. No using my Divine Kingdom as a trash can!”
“Though, things like fresh fruits and vegetables can be stored. I might want to taste them occasionally... cough, cough...”
“But if someone wants to stuff a magical beast's corpse inside... well... let's forget about that. My Divine Kingdom is not a morgue.”
Second, there must be a consumption mechanic!
Free benefits would only make players lazy. Only by paying a cost would their motivation to grind be stimulated!
“A small transaction fee of Merit Points will be charged for every deposit and retrieval.”
Iluvia nodded solemnly, looking incredibly righteous.
“Teleporting items across space genuinely consumes my divine power. Charging a bit of Merit Points isn't too much to ask, right?”
“And the transaction fees I charge will definitely be fair. I'm absolutely not a rip-off.”
She knew very well that Merit Points were useless to her and couldn't increase her strength, so setting the price too high would serve no purpose.
After all, charging transaction fees wasn't for making a profit; it was purely to motivate the players to grind more quests, earn more Merit Points, and do more construction!
At this thought, Iluvia couldn't help but sigh with emotion, feeling somewhat moved by her own kindness.
“Is there a more conscientious game developer in the entire world than me?”
“Other developers harvest their players like crops, while I use my own divine power to open a warehouse for them, only charging some useless Merit Points to encourage them to work hard.”
“I really am... too kind.”
She couldn't help but give herself a thumbs-up for her kindness.
Afterward, she began planning the schedule for the update.
“It hasn't been long since the second beta started. If I update immediately now, the pacing will be a bit too fast. I'll wait a few more days—first, I'll leak some news to the players to build up their anticipation. That way, their enthusiasm will be even higher when the update actually drops.”
“This is what they call hunger marketing.”
Iluvia showed a smile that said, "I know this game inside and out." She decided to post a teaser announcement for the update on the official website in a bit. The content didn't need to be too detailed; just throwing out a few keywords like "system inventory," "major update," and "stay tuned" would suffice.
When the time came, the forum would definitely explode into a chaotic mess.
Just as she was thinking about the specific details of the update announcement—
“Mother Goddess...”
“Mother Goddess...”
A faint yet clear prayer suddenly came through the channel of faith, carrying a sense of urgency and solemnity.
The lazy smile on Iluvia's face instantly vanished.
She recognized the voice.
It was Mikael.
Ever since rescuing Selby and the other five from the necromancer, Iluvia had dispatched Mikael to the northern side of the Starfall Forest, the area where the kobold tribe was located.
Her mission was to monitor their movements and see if Mosator had any further actions planned.
Mikael wouldn't easily contact her through prayer under normal circumstances, unless she had encountered something important or discovered some anomaly.
Iluvia's expression instantly turned a bit more serious.
Without hesitation, she immediately responded to the prayer.
Rate on N.U.
