The priests of the various temples were the first to notice.
Deep within the Dream Realm's main world, a vast lake was taking shape.
Several keen observers recognized it at once. The shape was familiar, unmistakably so. And as they looked closer, it was plain obvious; It was Saintheart Lake.
And the main world itself was slowly expanding.
The temple fell into a stunned silence.
"The Goddess's power has grown stronger!"
Elder Kane's hands trembled as his eyes fixed on the scene before him. Nothing like this had happened in his lifetime.
The signs had been building for some time. The arrival of the DreamNet Forum had drawn scores of Moon Elves back to faith, which explained why so many older elves had been so vocal in denouncing Liberty City. Add to that Alto's explosive rise, the extraordinary retention of his works, and the unbroken flow of new creations from designers across the territory, and the faith in the Moon Goddess had been quietly rekindled throughout the entire Moon Elf Territory without anyone fully realizing it.
Christer stared at Bayev the way a man stares at a corpse.
The message was plain. You're finished.
Bayev stood frozen, staring at the transformation unfolding before him. Then, as though every ounce of strength had abandoned him at once, he crumpled to the ground, his face drained of color.
He kept muttering to himself.
"Impossible. This is impossible."
His body shook.
The Goddess herself had shown her hand. Who would dare oppose her now?
[Where are all those people who kept pushing back? Come out and face it!]
[I knew Master Alto wouldn't fall here.]
[No more words. I'm going to buy several more of Master Alto's works right now to show my support!]
"Could it be that even the Moon Goddess is playing the games I made?"
Alto muttered quietly to himself.
Whatever the reason, this was extremely good news. Every opposing voice had been instantly silenced. He could finally develop freely again.
And with the Goddess's power on the rise, certain ideas that had been waiting on the shelf could finally be put on the agenda.
Multiplayer online connectivity, for instance.
Alto stroked his chin, his mind already made up. He knew exactly what his next game would be.
ARK: Survival Evolved.
Or perhaps Survival Ascended. The name mattered little; the concept was the same either way.
ARK supported multiplayer. It lacked the servers of the online games from his old world, where tens of thousands of players might connect at once, but that actually suited the current situation well. He didn't need that scale. A server supporting a few hundred players, perhaps up to a thousand, would be more than enough to realize ARK's full potential.
And once that was in place, he could even organize an ARK-style Squid Game event. That thought alone made him smile.
Before, the conditions didn't allow for such a game. Now they do.
The DreamNet of this world bore no resemblance to the internet from his old life on Earth. Before the forum existed, ordinary people in the Dream Realm had no way to communicate across distances at all. Even within the main world, connectivity was limited to small areas. A player in Lunaria couldn't see one in Emerald City. It worked more or less like a neighborhood network, nothing more.
The DreamNet Forum only existed because the Goddess had spent a portion of her power to enable unrestricted information exchange across the entire territory. But judging by what had followed, the return had far outweighed the cost.
(Note: This wasn't addressed clearly before, and some readers asked why DreamNet, being so convenient, wasn't more widely used. There are real reasons for that. It cannot compare to our internet. But as faith grows, more functions will gradually become possible.)
Alto still needed to raise the matter with the temple elders, but someone from the temple reached out to him before he even had a chance to visit. The situation had shaken the entire Moon Elf Territory, and the Goddess's display, though she had not descended in person, was more persuasive than any argument. Every voice that had opposed Liberty City went quiet overnight.
The days that followed left Alto no room to breathe.
He had the new trading company to oversee. He made constant trips to the temple, where the elders now treated him like their son. Through the forums' minterconnection feature, he put forward his proposal for multiplayer-connected Dream Worlds. The elders received it seriously, promising to discuss and pray on the matter. It couldn't be rushed, though there seemed little doubt it would eventually be approved.
On the trading company side, Ophelia proved her worth almost immediately. With her at the helm, the organizational framework was in place within days. She also reached out to former employees of the Saint Oros Trading Company, and with Joseph quietly applying pressure from within, many of them resigned and came over. Alto offered higher wages, and the overall package was hard to refuse.
Orig smashed his office to bits, but there was nothing that could be done. The Saint Oros family had descended into infighting, and several members had even begun appealing to Ophelia directly, urging her to return.
She had no intention of doing so. She had long since abandoned the Saint Oros family. They had always seen her as a tool for generating revenue. Now that they needed her, they came calling, but the moment she outlived her usefulness, they would cast her aside once more. She had no doubt about that.
Alto gathered his core team in the conference room. Helena, Sophia, Ophelia, Joseph, and several capable employees settled into their seats.
"I hereby announce that Dream Entertainment Cultural Media Co., Ltd., the Trading Company, is officially established as of today." He paused. "Applause."
A round of polite clapping followed.
"What kind of shitty name is that, Alto?"
"It doesn't sound appealing."
Helena's complaint was immediate. Ophelia offered a quieter version of the same opinion.
Sophia clapped with genuine enthusiasm, her eyes bright with admiration.
Joseph had no complaints. Alto was his employer, the salary was good, and that settled it.
Alto's expression soured. He refused to accept that he was bad with names.
"Ahem. A name is just a label. It's not the point."
He waved his hand with a finality that closed the matter entirely.
"It's settled. Let's get to work."
Ophelia would serve as the trading company's full representative for expansion, with Sophia assigned to support her. Sophia looked flustered at the responsibility, but under Alto's firm insistence, she composed herself and promised not to let him down.
Alto and Ophelia had already spent considerable time working through the expansion strategy together. His current funds were massive, but a comprehensive expansion from the outset wasn't realistic. For now, the priority was establishing a foothold in the Moon Elf Territory's major cities.
From there, Alto proposed a model he knew well from his old life on Earth: franchising.
If his capital ran short, that was manageable. Growth could happen in stages. Anyone willing to operate under the Alto brand could apply to become an agent for the trading company's products. It would spread the financial burden of early expansion and allow the network to grow far faster than direct investment alone could manage.