Chapter 38: Threshold Breakthrough! A Brand New Plan!

As everyone knows, while some people go to bed early, others naturally stay up late.

At this very moment, in Celadon City of the Kanto region, Ling Feng picked up his glass and took a hearty gulp of Moomoo Milk. As the sweetness and richness slid down his throat, he let out a sigh of satisfied contentment.

Aside from the price, this stuff really had no downsides. Well, if one had to be picky, it was so nutritionally dense that it was easy to gain weight from drinking it. Thinking of this, he shook his head slightly. Never mind, he would treat it as a reward for himself. After all, making games every day is exhausting; drinking something good is perfectly reasonable, right?

Just as Ling Feng was pondering this, a notification suddenly popped up before his eyes.

【You have received emotions including surprise, excitement, exhilaration, and satisfaction from the special character "Cynthia," converted into 550 points!】

At first glance, Ling Feng didn't find this strange; Cynthia must be livestreaming her gaming again. But when he saw the point total, he couldn't help but pause. Why were there so many points this time? He knew that for these special characters, the points provided per interaction usually decreased as the frequency of their emotional output increased.

Just as he felt a bit confused, a series of notifications surged forth!

【Ding! Congratulations to the host: your cumulative emotional influence on the special character "Cynthia" has reached a certain threshold. The character's threshold has been upgraded to Lv. 2!】
【Henceforth, the emotional point value you obtain from this special character will return to the standard level!】
【At the same time, you have received an upgrade reward: 1,500 emotional points and one random intermediate game development module!】
【Please note: When this special character's emotional threshold reaches the next level, you will acquire a special ability related to them!】

Staring at the sudden barrage of information, Ling Feng was momentarily stunned. What was a character's emotional threshold? Could it actually be upgraded? And why did Cynthia suddenly hit the threshold? Was she stimulated by something? After a brief moment of thought, he immediately realized the answer.

It must be the Regirock temple and the CG in the Rock Tunnel. For a mythologist like Cynthia, everything concerning Legendary Pokémon would naturally pique her intense interest. To be able to see a Legendary Pokémon with her own eyes in such a way... it must have been something Cynthia dreamed of. After all, in this world, Legendary Pokémon have mostly vanished from sight. Naturally, her gameplay experience today would have caused a massive shock, pushing her emotions past the threshold and triggering the upgrade.

After processing his thoughts, Ling Feng’s gaze fell upon the breakthrough rewards, and his lips curled upward. Including the points provided by Cynthia this time and the quest reward, that was two thousand points total! Plus, there was an intermediate module—this was a massive win! Furthermore, according to the system, if Cynthia’s threshold broke through again, he would gain an ability related to her! He wasn't sure what that ability would be, but he imagined it would surely come in handy.

Ling Feng opened his system inventory and chose to use the intermediate module exchange voucher. A flash of light passed, and a brand-new module appeared before his eyes.

【High-Speed Online Interaction Module (Intermediate)】
【Description: Once acquired, all games you develop can be connected to the network to automatically and rapidly fetch player data. You can conveniently add features such as leaderboards, friends lists, battles, world bosses, etc., or use it in conjunction with other modules.】
【Example: It can intelligently fetch a player's local weather based on their IP address to change the in-game weather accordingly.】
【Simultaneously, this module ensures the game server remains absolutely stable, preventing disconnections, crashes, or other negative issues.】

Seeing this new module, Ling Feng’s eyes lit up. This was excellent! Traditional Pokémon games were mostly single-player due to their platforms. With this high-speed networking module, he could easily and quickly add all sorts of online features to his future games. As a professional developer, he knew that developing online functionality was time-consuming and prone to bugs, but this module bypassed those headaches entirely.

Now, it was time to put this module to use.

Before that, however, Ling Feng checked his character interface. After the recent harvest and the points accumulated from various players over time, his balance had reached 2,400 points. This was enough to purchase another intermediate module. He opened his collection list and quickly selected one to buy.

【Ding! Congratulations to the host: you have successfully unlocked the "Presence Manifestation Module" (Intermediate)!】
【Description: Perfectly restores the sense of pressure brought by powerful Pokémon and significant figures, transmitting it via electronic frequencies into the player's mind to create an immersive experience, which catalyzes the acquisition of emotional points.】
【Your current point balance is 421.】

This module was one he had been eyeing; it was a key part of his plans. Players develop emotions toward a game because they feel a sense of immersion. A module that increases immersion is, in disguise, a way to increase emotional point income. Take today’s situation: just seeing that Regirock CG caused Cynthia to break her threshold. What if he added the "Presence Manifestation" effect to that CG? The resulting impact would surely be worlds apart!

Thinking of this, Ling Feng immediately opened the Regirock CG he had previously created, applied the module’s effect, and watched it himself. The result was that he sat frozen in his chair, unable to move for several dozen seconds. When he finally came to his senses, he was panting heavily, his face filled with extreme excitement.

That aura... that pressure... it was absolutely explosive! This was exactly the effect he wanted!