Building a Gaming Empire From Scratch

Chapter 82 - 81: Conversation on the Small Boat



Princess Camille Victoria hadn’t taken a ride on a small two-person boat like this before, and at the moment, she was enthusiastically stepping on the pedals.

However, she had spent so much energy playing around that she didn’t have the strength to pedal for long.

By now, they were at some distance from the shore, and Lincoln had also begun to feel tired. So the two of them stopped pedaling and let the small boat drift on the lake by itself.

Camille Victoria had already taken off her hat, looked around, and noticed that there were hardly any boats on the lake.

After all, if one wanted to enjoy such a small two-person boat, it could be easily found in any small park. Spending hundreds of dollars to play this at Century Park made one feel like a fool.

So, Princess Camille Victoria took off her thin mask as well. After completely freeing herself, she took a deep breath, and her entire body relaxed.

Seeing the relaxed princess, Lincoln suddenly thought of a joke and couldn’t help but laugh.

Camille Victoria gave him a strange look and then subconsciously looked down to check herself, wondering if there was something wrong that caused Lincoln to laugh, “Is there something wrong with me?” “No, no, you’re perfect. I just thought of a joke.”

“What joke?” The princess was curious.

“Uh…” Lincoln suddenly paused. “This joke is a bit inappropriate now. Let’s just forget it.”

“What’s inappropriate? Please, tell me.” Princess Camille Victoria was genuinely enjoying herself today, and she no longer maintained her royal demeanor in front of Lincoln. In fact, she even seemed a bit coquettish. But Lincoln still refused, “No, seriously, it’s not appropriate.”

Suddenly, it seemed as if the princess understood something, and she became shy again.

Turning her head away, she said softly and somewhat bashfully, “Is it… a lewd joke?”

Lincoln helplessly slapped himself on the forehead with a “plop” sound. Why couldn’t he escape the topic of “lewd” today?

“Of course not!” I’m not the kind of person who likes lewd content! He yelled in his heart.

“I’m really not the type of person who has a head full of lewd jokes or who likes lewd games,” he explained again, futilely.

“Oh.” The princess still avoided looking at him as she turned her head to the side.

Lincoln felt that his image in Camille Victoria’s heart was quickly becoming irreparable.

“Fine, I’ll tell you the joke, but it’s just a joke, so don’t overthink it.” “Alright.” The princess was still shy and sparing with her words.

“Actually, it’s simple. There’s a saying that the success rate of confessing your love on a small boat like this is quite high.”

“Huh?” Camille Victoria was startled and stammered, “Why, why would that

“Because you can threaten the other person, ‘If you don’t accept, I’ll push you into the lake.”

“Ah! Haha, that’s so outrageous!” The little princess was very surprised by the answer. She quickly found it hilarious and couldn’t help but laugh.

While laughing, she suddenly couldn’t help but let her mind wander: Is he going to suddenly confess his love to me now? And then threaten me with “If you don’t accept, I’ll push you into the lake”?

Should I accept it?

Definitely not, right? If I accept it, would I seem too easy?

In an instant, Camille Victoria’s heart was filled with chaotic thoughts.

Unfortunately, Lincoln had no such thoughts at all and was completely unaware of the little drama unfolding in the girl’s heart. In fact, he had been initially worried that the princess would misunderstand him, which was why he didn’t want to tell her the joke.

He leisurely watched the scenery on Thursday, the lush woods on Lake Center Island, the swans swimming in twos and threes on the lake, occasionally diving in the water for a short swim.

Following the direction of the swimming swans, there was the distant lakeshore, bustling crowds on the shore, and a monorail train swooshing overhead. In the sky, the cheers from the tourists on the roller coaster followed the gentle breeze, reaching Lincoln’s ears.

Lincoln’s calm and peaceful mood gradually influenced the Princess beside him, enabling her to gradually calm down as well.

With the turbulent thoughts in her heart slowly settling down and her focus returning to the scenery outside, Camille Victoria couldn’t help but exclaim sincerely, “This is so nice.”

Lincoln nodded silently in agreement; yes, there was no pressure, no worries; they could play and rest whenever they wanted, completely free and without constraint.

Indeed, this was truly wonderful!

Quietly letting the boat drift with the waves, time slowly passed by.

All of a sudden, Camille Victoria thought of something: this was a great opportunity!

So she gently patted Lincoln’s arm and asked, “Lincoln, how is your studio doing right now?”

“It’s doing quite well. The new game is already in development with satisfactory progress. Why do you ask?” “Does your studio accept interns?”

“Intern? Has someone asked you to help introduce them?” Lincoln didn’t think much about it, “Although we originally didn’t plan to accept interns, if you are the one introducing, then we can.”

It was an angel investor after all; it wouldn’t be too troublesome to have someone coming over for a few months and then providing them with an internship report at the end. Moreover, it wasn’t Lincoln who would be guiding them.

“No,” Camille Victoria shook her head.

“Then, what is it?” Lincoln looked at the girl beside him, puzzled.

“It’s me! I really want to know how such a fascinating game like “Traveler of the Wind” came about. I really want to be a part of it; the thought of creating a world from nothing is incredibly romantic and captivating to me.”

After some hesitation, she continued: “You know that my other major is art, right? While playing in the world of ‘Traveler of the Wind,’ I couldn’t help but think that this is a new form of art; but at the same time, it transcends the existing forms of art.”

“I’m not sure how you envision the future of virtual reality technology, but I can vaguely sense that you must have an amazing grand design, likely far beyond the imagination of ordinary people. And I really hope to be part of it.”

At first, Lincoln smiled and nodded as Princess Camille Victoria spoke, but as she concluded, he gradually couldn’t smile anymore.

“Why do you think so?” asked Lincoln. He had been merely following an orderly process: making games, selling game consoles, and boasting to Randall about selling one hundred million units of equipment, but he didn’t know how much Randall believed in him.

But why did the girl sitting beside him now think he was working on a “big plan”?

Camille Victoria extended her delicate little fist and sweetly unfolded her fingers one by one, revealing her guesses.

“First, before making the virtual reality device, you had already planned to create a game for the masses instead of using the technology for more high-end or profitable sectors.”

“Second, your first game was a casual game, completely different from the mainstream market, and your second game was a gunfight game, which most closely aligned with the game market. By making these two types of games, you could smoothly introduce more people to get accustomed to the virtual world.’

“Third, on the day you completed the virtual reality device, you promised to make brain-controlled prosthetic limbs.”

“Fourth, the virtual reality device you invented was technologically ahead of its time, yet its price was only one-seventh of VR equipment.”

“Fifth, the experience store you opened only charged 10 yuan per hour.”

“This implies that you are making a great effort to popularize virtual reality technology, but the motivation driving you to do so isn’t to earn more money, but rather to achieve a greater or possibly more noble goal.”

Lincoln couldn’t help but feel the urge to laugh. “Just on these grounds?

Perhaps it’s entirely your imagination, and all of these are business strategies?”

“There’s more!” Camille Victoria confidently provided the final reason. “Your studio is called Dream Cloud Studio, not Cloud Dream Games Studio! The experience store you opened is called Cloud Dream Experience Store, not Cloud Dream Games Experience Store!”

“So, the truth can only be one thing: you must have a goal that far exceeds the concept of ‘games’! “


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