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For example, the simplest monsters like goblins and slimes require a lot of complex settings to make them act like they look. Ecology, behavior, and physiology all need to be set by humans, and these can only be created out of thin air, since they are all fantasy creatures.

Even when replicating a creature that already exists in the real world, one needs a comprehensive understanding of that creature; otherwise, it will merely be a mere shell, unable to even move.

To use a 3D game as an example, there are only models, but no monster AI, so there is no so-called interaction.

For the first time, Akira Kuroba realized how lacking his knowledge was.

It turns out that being a creator god is not easy at all.

Fortunately, zombies are simple creatures; they don't even need to be programmed. They just attack and eat people.

Just to enrich the variety of monsters, Kuroba Akira created dozens of different zombies and added several behavioral logics.

Then there are the NPCs. When Aya created this world, she was lazy and didn't set them up properly, which is why many humans 'went crazy' and died, turning into zombies.

To prevent NPCs from committing suicide, we need to carefully design them this time, including their personality, identity, interpersonal relationships, and so on...

However, since these NPCs were edited using Aya-chan's abilities, they will still turn into zombies after death. There's nothing that can be done about it; it can only be packaged as a 'game setting'.

Therefore, in this otherworldly world packaged as a game, NPCs can actually die, and after death they will turn into enemy units.

The only difference is that instead of endless resurrections, zombies disappear after being killed once.

This value was finally determined after repeated testing.

After all, there wasn't even a standard at the beginning, so it was necessary to quantify the belief, and this step alone was very difficult.

After repeated testing, Kuroba Akira finally determined that the amount of faith required to kill a zombie so that it "just cannot be resurrected" should be defined as the amount of faith required for "one person".

Of course, there are also zombies that can resurrect multiple times, which can be considered elite or rare monsters.

If zombies revert to their freakish forms after death, the game becomes quite unpredictable. Therefore, to prevent this, the freakish 'recycling' and 're-investment' processes are implemented.

This was incredibly difficult; Kuroba Akira racked his brains before finally coming up with a solution.

That is, by 'injecting faith' into the avatar used by the player in advance and setting 'resurrection coordinates', the monster can avoid becoming monstrous when it is killed because it has been injected with new faith by the player. Then it will turn back into a new zombie at a designated location, thus achieving the respawn of the monster.

The injected faith value is then used to determine 'attack power'.

From the player's perspective, it's reducing the monster's health bar, but in reality, it's increasing the monster's faith value.

However, this creates a new problem: maintaining a player's avatar also requires faith. If killing monsters depletes all faith, then even the avatar cannot be maintained.

In this regard, the only way to cover it up is through the setting. The setting is that players must use 'light power' to eliminate zombies, and the player's light power is a value that is consumed like MP. If you want to replenish light power, you have to go to the temple to pray to the gods... The more devout you are, the more light power you can obtain.

At first glance, it seems like a complicated setup, but it can also be said to be a setup that can increase the player's sense of immersion. In reality, it is a necessary measure to make the faith cycle work.

At the same time, this faith value can also be used to restore one's own HP, which is to repair the avatar, and can also be used to activate skills, etc. In short, it has many uses and is a core system.

Besides these, there are many other things, such as equipment, props, skills, quests, etc., all of which need to be set and edited by Kuroba Akira.

Then, the pain sensation of the avatar must be blocked, since it can't actually cause someone to die.

With countless tasks to complete, Kuroba Akira has barely taken a day off in the past nine months, dedicating himself entirely to creating the game world.

Although I was tired, I was very happy.

The current isekai (another world) games are far from complete; both the amount of content and the playability are still very poor.

There are countless problems to solve and debug; it's just a demo, not even a playable version.

Moreover, this otherworld is estimated to be able to accommodate only about 10,000 players. Any more than that would be overloaded, and the faith cycle would experience a gap.

So Kuroba Akira plans to hold a closed beta test first, with test slots randomly selected... in reality, it's about seeing who has the most devout faith.

After all, thinking to yourself, 'Please! You have to pick me!' is a kind of faith.

"I'm telling you, even though it's a beta version, the difficulty is ridiculously high! You've made those zombies act like mad dogs, while players are not only limited in the number of monsters they can kill, but their initial attack power is also so low that killing even one is a struggle..."

Aya-chan felt the difficulty was still too high; the zombies' aggression had become much stronger after Kuroba Akira's adjustments.

"This is more exciting! Those stupid zombies were too boring to fight, and you get tired of them very easily. Look at Xiao Guang, he got tired of them very quickly, didn't he?"

"After this past year, I've come to understand firsthand why you disagreed with my plans, brother... This monotonous life is indeed too boring..."

After a long period of depression, Xiao Guang joined the game development team because he had nothing else to do and continued to work on fixing bugs, but he no longer complains.

"Is that so? I actually feel like we haven't had enough time. A year just isn't enough!"

If it weren't for the concerns of others, Akira Kuroba would have wanted to stay and continue perfecting this first epic masterpiece of his life.

He had already decided that this was his life's work.

We absolutely have to make this 'game'.

Then we need to keep expanding, not only to this level, but also to incorporate deeper levels into the game.

"And don't underestimate the 'player' group. They can overcome even real death games. If it's a game without any life-threatening danger, they'll be even more unrestrained in their 'adventures'!"

Kuroba Akira didn't want to cram the game with malice; he simply felt that the current content was lacking, so he could only increase the difficulty to extend the players' playtime.

We can only adjust the difficulty later after we've filled the content up.

Then, to add more content, we need more gods to invest, and we need to find more producers. It can't just be game industry professionals. After all, making games here isn't about programming, but about the 'knowledge in your head'. So, to make more realistic and interesting games, we need experts in various fields. That means we can only rely on Mr. Kobayashi's connections.

"Speaking of which, can we leave now? I haven't been counting the days carefully, but it should have been almost a year since we arrived here."

The main problem is that Akira Kuroba is simply too busy to handle everything on his own. A team of three is far too small to create such a world-class game; the efficiency would be too low.

"That's already over. We were able to go out about two weeks ago."

It's been postponed even further, which means it's already the second summer?

"What?! Why didn't you say so sooner?"

Aya-chan looked like she couldn't stand it anymore and said.

“I told you the day I was allowed to go out, and you said ‘Oh, I know,’ but it went in one ear and out the other.”

"I have absolutely no recollection of it... Anyway, since we can get out, let's get out quickly, there shouldn't be any problems, right?"

"While you were busy, I went to the shallow layer to see the old man pretending to be young and told him about the situation here. He has already gone to persuade other gods to join."

"Oh! Well done! Aya-chan, you're becoming more and more reliable!"

Unexpectedly, Aya-chan had already spoken to Grandpa Kobayashi. Kuroba Akira happily patted Aya-chan's head, realizing that he could no longer call her the "useless god."

After all, she really did a lot this year; in a game company, she would be a key programmer and a top expert in the field.

"Hmph... Now you finally realize how useful I am, huh?"

"Congratulations on shedding the title of 'gold digger.' Once this game truly begins to function, you'll become its creator god!"

Although it seems that Izanami was originally the creator goddess, now it can only be said that she finally deserves this honor.

"Okay, let's go back then."

"Oh! That's fantastic! I'm going to fully enjoy the food, drink, and entertainment of human society!"

A year later, Xiao Guang cheered just as loudly as when he first came in.

The younger sister experienced the most personal growth this time. She finally understood that the lives of the shrine maidens she had experienced before were not a repetitive process, but rather like watching a story, so they were not boring.

But when it comes to living the same repetitive daily routine, it's really boring, so I understand why 'immortality is a cage'.

Moreover, she has now achieved half of her goal, successfully using this opportunity to cross the line of identity that she could never cross before, so she is no longer obsessed with imprisoning Kuroba Akira.

"Put your hands on my shoulders, then close your eyes, and I'll take you out."

Akira Kuroba and her sister each put one hand on Aya-chan's shoulder and then closed their eyes.

As he approached home, Kuroba Akira felt a pang of anxiety, hoping that his disappearance wouldn't cause the women in his family to frantically search for him all over the world.

Once again, the long-lost physical sensations disappeared and reappeared. Kuroba Akira opened his eyes again and found himself standing in the middle of the road.

This time, they didn't separate during the teleportation. Hikari, Aya, and Kuro, who was perched on Akira's shoulder, were all together.

This means we haven't returned to the real world yet, but rather to a shallow layer of another world, roughly one level in terms of depth—a depth where strange creatures already roam.

The level at which Grandpa Kobayashi was resurrected was 0.5, which is the gap between the real world and the other world, so the scenery of the real world is still there, but he can't touch it.

Kobayashi Mitsuru was already waiting for Kuroba Akira and the others, and standing next to him was a tall, tailed god, Inari, the Inari god that Kuroba Akira had met before.

"Long time no see, welcome back."

"Grandpa! I miss you so much!"

Kuroba Akira stepped forward and picked up the young grandfather.

"Haha, Bai Zi, you're too excited. Well, that's normal... But let's not talk about that for now. Now that you've come out, it means the 'game' is basically complete, right?"

"Well, although there are still many areas that need improvement, it's already up to the point where it can run. I was just about to talk to you about the next steps. Let's find a group of people to test it first."

"This isn't urgent..."

Kobayashi Mitsuru turned to look at the Inari deity beside him and said with a smile.

"How about that? Can you relax now? I told you, Bai Zi would change the future."

With her arms crossed, Inari stared at Kuroba Akira and murmured.

"...While your transformation from human to god is already quite extraordinary, this kid is truly unbelievable..."

Aya saw her old nemesis and questioned him with a displeased expression.

"Tsk! You stinky fox, what are you doing here? I haven't even settled accounts with you, you furry bastard, and you've already come knocking on my door!"

"To determine whether or not you should remain locked up."

"What did you say?!"

"You're so lucky! I'm even a little envious of you."

After saying that, Inari ignored Aya and looked at Kuroba Akira with admiration.

"It's amazing that you managed to subdue this landmine god so easily."

Kuroba Akira asked in confusion.

"Thunder God?"

"Landmine woman, isn't that a term you humans created? The women around you all fall into that category, don't they?"

"Well... it's harmless now."

"That's why I said you're an expert at clearing landmines, you can even handle her... This petty, empty-headed idiot is the landmine goddess among gods, and if she were to unleash her power, it wouldn't just be a matter of ruining one man, it would blow up all of humanity."

Aya-chan immediately bristled and glared fiercely at Inari, yelling.