Sacred Souls: Genesis

Chapter 109: Chapter 108 CG Shooting

Jiang Qiao had confirmed the main storyline and immediately entered director mode.

Taking advantage of the eleven-hour maintenance period, Jiang Qiao planned to shoot a short CG to let players understand the new version’s storyline and what exactly happened during server maintenance.

The performers in this CG were Jiang Qiao’s Fureya Mark I and a group of cult NPCs temporarily created by Jiang Qiao.

As an antagonist that would permeate the entire history of “Holy Spirit World,” Jiang Qiao was meticulous when crafting their uniforms.

The overall creative style resembled the heresy tribunals of ancient medieval times, only Jiang Qiao subtly integrated the distinctive features of the Annihilation Legion into their clothing patterns—namely, those skull mask imprints.

Thus, the ultimate antagonistic organization was born.

All these major antagonists were still robots, and Jiang Qiao needed to perform a set of actions himself for these NPCs to perfectly replicate, and for the dialogue, Jiang Qiao merely needed to type the text, and they would automatically find the most suitable tone.

“Are you ready?”

This was what Jiang Qiao said to his own Fureya, who by now was half an artificial intelligence, having her own emotions and thoughts, yet her way of thinking was completely different from humans.

Fureya nodded slightly, indicating she was ready.

“Then let’s start recording.”

Jiang Qiao activated the full-position recording mode, a very popular mode in Blue Star where VR thrived, typically used when watching immersive VR movies.

After recording, Jiang Qiao only needed to select some appropriate shots and clips.

The first scene of the footage was Fureya sitting on the steps of the Resurrection Cathedral, holding a Divine Fragment handed to her by a player in the palm of her hand.

The Divine Fragment emitted a faint glow in her hand, and although Fureya’s face was still expressionless, scholars of the Holy Spirit could certainly analyze something like ‘her eyes conveyed joy’ and similar sentiments.

Jiang Qiao didn’t need to infuse too much emotion into Fureya—what Fureya was like as a character was for the players themselves to define.

Fureya’s gaze did not linger long, as she seemed to realize something abruptly and looked up towards the entrance of the Resurrection Cathedral.

A group of fierce cult members walked towards Fureya…

Fureya wasn’t flustered, she held the Divine Fragment tightly in her hands and pressed it against her chest, then slowly stood up.

“Fureya, give me the Divine Fragment,” demanded the leading cult member, extending his hand towards her.

Fureya did not answer. According to her settings, she was a doll that wouldn’t argue with others, her only form of resistance being to clench the Divine Fragment tightly in her palms.

Seeing Fureya’s refusal, two cult members stepped forward, attempting to climb the steps and snatch the Divine Fragment from her hand.

A magical shockwave erupted the moment the cult members set foot on the stairs, causing the group to lose their balance and fall to the ground.

Fureya also took this opportunity to step backward, her figure disappearing inside the Resurrection Cathedral.

“She disappeared? Bring that doll back!” the leading cult member bellowed furiously.

This marked the end of the first phase of the CG, with the actions of the cult members frozen at this scene.

Jiang Qiao reset their actions, herding the group of NPCs towards Lionheart City’s harbor like a corpse driver.

Fureya was still inside this cathedral… She ran up to Jiang Qiao’s side in small steps, but as Jiang Qiao walked out the door, Fureya stopped in her tracks.

“What’s the matter?” Jiang Qiao asked.

“Can I… go out?” The expressionless face of Fureya showed a trace of fear, somewhat mirroring the curiosity mixed with terror that a fawn might feel when stepping out for the first time.

“You now have the permission to go out, I allow it,” Jiang Qiao said.

In Fureya’s settings, they cannot leave the Resurrection Cathedral map because the Resurrection Cathedral is an autonomous space, and each space houses a Fureya.

If this group of Fureyas were to run onto the streets… it would likely be quite troublesome.

Thus, Jiang Qiao also had to create a similar autonomous space on the map of Biland Island.

After receiving Jiang Qiao’s permission, the prototype Fureya cautiously followed him out of the Resurrection Cathedral.

The prototype Fureya truly had her own thoughts, and when she saw the sun for the first time, a trace of delight appeared on her face.

Jiang Qiao smiled slightly and said nothing, as he led all the members of the order and Fureya to the harbor of Lionheart City.

Next, they filmed a chase scene… the members of the order chased Fureya all the way to the portal of the Tower of Trial at the harbor.

This scene was filmed about five or six times before the effect Jiang Qiao wanted was achieved, finally forcing Fureya to the edge of the harbor portal, surrounded by a group of armed members of the order.

Behind Fureya, there was only the portal leading to the Tower of Trial.

“Hand over the Divine Fragment!” the members of the order threatened again.

Fureya, showing no reaction, kept backing away until a massive fireball flew towards her; she blocked the attack with the power of the Divine Fragment.

The flames scattered across the transparent magic barrier, and the impact of the fireball pushed Fureya into the sea, plunging her into the portal behind her.

Of course, here plunging could not mean truly falling down; shortly after Fureya’s figure disappeared into the portal, Jiang Qiao’s earth sprite flew out of the portal holding Fureya.

“Next, we will be shooting on Biland Island.”

Jiang Qiao reached out to help Fureya, who still seemed somewhat reserved in the outside world, not knowing whether leaving the Holy Spirit World would make her more nervous.

The portal to Biland Island is in the Tower of Trial, where the Earth Mother Goddess had even constructed a permanent portal.

Jiang Qiao led his own Fureya through the portal to Biland Island.

The edge of the island was relatively safe; the crystallization there wasn’t too severe.

“Hmm… Next we will be filming your fall into the forest scene, and we will add some battle-damaged attire to you,” Jiang Qiao said.

Jiang Qiao created some wound effect ‘decals’ and applied them to Fureya’s fair skin, making her clothes look dirty and tattered as well.

Then, using the invisibility of the wind sprite, Jiang Qiao filmed a segment of Fureya falling into the forest.

When Fureya landed, she was already in a battered state; she lay on the ground, glanced at the Divine Fragment in her hand, clutched it to her chest, then closed her eyes and fell into unconsciousness.

The shot gradually pulled out from Fureya lying in the grass, centering around her until her figure was obscured by the dense leaves, before the scene shifted back to the center of Biland Island, full of crystal columns.

A fearsome-looking dragon flew into the shot and roared, making it clear to anyone how dangerous the forest was.

This marks the end of the brief CG, but as the image faded to black… Jiang Qiao added the core line of the entire CG.

“Ah… kind spirits, what is your world like?”

This line, filled with an almost longing emotion, was enough to convey Fureya’s desire to meet the players in the real world.

“Done.”

After completing the voice-over for his own Fureya, Jiang Qiao felt it was time to start designing the specific gameplay of the new instance.