Huang glanced at Zhou: "What do you think?"
Zhou thought for a moment: "I think it could work."
The others nodded in agreement.
After a pause, Huang said decisively, "Alright, let's take it! Anyway, the client is paying, so let's just treat it as an experiment."
"If the style flops, it's the client's money wasted. It'll help you give up on this style earlier, too."
"But if it takes off, maybe we can really set up our own studio after graduation. Once we make a name, everything will be easier!"
Ruan Guangjian nodded enthusiastically, "Exactly my thoughts!"
"We're basically using the client's resources to promote our own style, and they're paying generously. For the next three weeks, let's all put in maximum effort and complete the project to the highest possible standard!"
"If this set of illustrations becomes popular, we'll make a name for ourselves, and the future will be bright!"
Finally reaching consensus, the group sprang into action.
Ruan Guangjian began working on initial concept sketches for each character, Huang took responsibility for the line art, and the remaining roommates, who were slightly less skilled or unfamiliar with the style, focused on detailing and coloring.
Under normal circumstances, once Ruan Guangjian produced the line art, he should have sent it to Pei Qian for approval to ensure it met client expectations before proceeding.
But Pei Qian couldn't be bothered to manage this step, so they skipped it entirely.
The dormitory burst into energetic activity.
…
…
Handong University, Dormitory
In the blink of an eye, two weeks had passed.
Pei Qian opened the system interface to check his progress.
[Wealth Conversion System]
[Host: Pei Qian]
[Profit Conversion Ratio: 100:1 | Loss Conversion Ratio: 1:1]
[Next Settlement Date: 16 days remaining]
[Note: If there are any unreleased products one week before settlement, the settlement date will be postponed. The duration of the postponement will be determined by the system.]
[System Funds: 8,792 Yuan (↓291,208)]
[Personal Assets: 1,607.6 Yuan]
Pei Qian had already squandered 290,000 Yuan, leaving less than 10,000 Yuan remaining.
Aside from purchasing art assets, music, sound effects, and renting cloud servers, he had also bought a complete set of skill templates for card games.
Initially, he hadn't planned on buying them, but when he realized there was still system money left, he saw no reason to save it.
Unused system funds couldn't be converted into personal assets, which would have been a tremendous waste for him. Completely unacceptable.
He had already assigned all these template skills into the game.
For instance, Guan Yu had the "Green Dragon Crescent Blade Combo," Zhou Yu had "Burning of Chibi," dealing damage to all enemies, and Xiahou Dun's "Fierce Retaliation" temporarily provided control immunity and damage reduction effects.
Card game skills usually followed a similar pattern; most games copied from Cute Three Kingdoms, so the mechanics were similar, and thus the templates contained standard skills.
Pei Qian had roughly assigned all these skills to the characters, ensuring he utilized everything he purchased.
Of course, during this process, he threw the tasks he found troublesome onto Ma Yang.
He didn't even expect Ma Yang to get all the skill assignments right. Ideally, he hoped some values would be messed up or that some bugs would appear.
But surprisingly, Ma Yang had been meticulous. After the entire skill system was configured, Pei Qian checked it over and didn't find a single issue.
However, since losing money wasn't particularly reliant on this part anyway, he didn't mind too much.
Of the remaining 8,000 Yuan or so, 3,000 Yuan was reserved for Ma Yang's salary, to be paid at the end of the month.
As for the leftover 5,000+ Yuan, Pei Qian planned to spend it all quickly just before settlement—perhaps buying something random from the resource marketplace. All remaining system funds had to be spent completely, leaving nothing behind.
As for why Pei Qian's personal assets had increased...
Well, his family had sent him some living expenses—1,000 Yuan.
Pei Qian couldn't help but feel ashamed. As someone with a system, it was humiliating that he still needed financial support from his family.
He was truly the disgrace of all system hosts!
Previously, he'd intended to lose the entire 50,000 Yuan, but he had somehow accidentally earned 70,000 Yuan instead.
Ultimately, only 700 Yuan had been converted to personal assets, even less than his usual allowance.
Truly shameful!
But this time, things would be different.
This time, it was 300,000 Yuan. As long as the game failed, all of it would be converted into personal assets. Just thinking about it filled Pei Qian with excitement.
Imagining that massive 300,000 Yuan coming into his account, Pei Qian felt happiness bubbling up from within. He was even willing to attend his classes.
Everything was now in place—he just had to wait for the art assets, insert them into the game, and then watch the game quickly flop upon release. After that, he'd achieve great success!
...
One week later.
At a certain financial university in Shanghai.
Art Department dormitory.
With dark circles under his eyes, Ruan Guangjian tossed the stylus onto the table and announced, "Okay! All done!"
Looking around, he saw that some roommates were asleep at their desks, others were sleeping in their beds, and he was the only one still awake.
Beneath the table, piles of instant noodle containers and snack bags were scattered about. Empty energy drink cans littered the tabletop, leaving the dorm room in complete chaos.
"Phew, finished right on schedule."
Ruan Guangjian felt slightly disappointed—there was no one awake to share this historic moment with him.
But it couldn't be helped. His roommates didn't have his boundless energy. After working so intensely day and night, they couldn't keep going any longer.
Fortunately, they'd still managed to complete their work on time.
Actually, they could have finished earlier, but Ruan Guangjian had extremely high standards for these illustrations. He'd repeatedly revised areas he wasn't satisfied with, so even with everyone pulling all-nighters, they'd barely made the deadline.
He quickly browsed through the finished illustrations.
Ruan Guangjian was incredibly proud.
These were works of art!
Absolute masterpieces!
Every single character was meticulously designed, each with unique traits and strong personalities, perfectly blending historical characters, radically creative concepts, and traditional elements.
Each illustration was guaranteed to leave a deep impression!
However, Ruan Guangjian wasn't certain whether these illustrations would be popular.
Aesthetic preferences were very subjective.
Even world-famous paintings were disliked by some.
The same went even more for game art. No matter how excellent your technique or impressive your design, players might not appreciate it. Some might instinctively reject the artwork simply because the colors seemed too dark.
Why did so many low-quality games feature flashy golden wings? Was it because the lead artist truly liked that style? Probably not.
It was because wealthy players loved shiny golden wings and were willing to pay for them!
If it were any other company, they might've rejected these illustrations outright.
But after all, President Pei from Tengda Network Technology Co., Ltd. had clearly said they could freely design and create whatever they liked, so this should probably be fine, right?
Ruan Guangjian forced himself to stay awake, logged into the ESRO resource marketplace, and sent the illustrations to Pei Qian.
"A total of 50 sets, 200 illustrations. Please check and accept."
After sending, he didn't receive an immediate reply—probably because the client wasn't online.
Ruan Guangjian glanced at the clock. The morning light was gradually brightening outside; it was a little past 7 a.m.
He reached over to grab a sausage, peeled it open, quickly filled his stomach, and then climbed into bed.
Finally done. At lunchtime, he'd definitely treat his roommates to a big meal!
Relieved, Ruan Guangjian sank into a deep sleep.