"What do you think?"

"’Middle’?" Elsa asked, looking up at the massive plaque above the shop’s entrance. It bore only a single, red character.

"Middle!"

Zog was very satisfied with his shop’s name. A shop for the Flying Red Middle Church ought to have a Red Middle on its sign.

"If you just hang up a symbol, is anyone going to know what this shop is for?" Elsa asked, confused.

"It’s about creating a premium vibe. It’s how all those businesses built on fan culture do it. You’ll understand later."

"How bizarre."

Zog had acquired the largest shop on Chrysanthemum Street. After a friendly discussion, the original owner of the Alchemy Materials store had very happily sold the property.

This time, it really was a friendly discussion. After all, as a respectable Dragon with several businesses to his name, he was past the stage of primitive capital accumulation.

It was a full four stories, with each floor spanning nearly two thousand square meters. Soon, it would become the first video game arcade—or internet cafe, you could say—in the history of the Feilin Continent.

The first and second floors would be the general admission area, while the third and fourth floors would house mid- to high-end private rooms. The amenities would be all-inclusive, ranging from street food and assorted beverages to private gourmet meals from renowned chefs. However, smoking would be restricted to designated areas.

’Paying for internet time... No, the term ’internet time’ doesn’t sound premium enough.’

Paying a membership fee would get you a card, with tiers made of Iron, Copper, Silver, Gold, Mithril, Refined Gold, and Dragon Scale. The required fee would increase with each level.

Zog could guarantee there wasn’t another shop on the entire continent that could offer a stable supply of top-tier Dragon Scale materials.

He knew all the living Ancient Dragons, and he was the only one who collected his own shed skin fragments. Now that was what you called business sense.

To ensure an ample supply, he even intercepted Furin’s bathwater, filtered out the fragments, and then dispelled the Complete Transformation Technique she had cast on them to revert them to their Dragon Scale form.

Although it sounded perverted, and the process itself was indeed quite perverted, Zog had to offer up all his knowledge of traditional freehand painting before Furin would agree.

But hey, when it came to making money, nothing was too shameful.

At that point, top-tier membership cards would be available in two color schemes: red and gold.

That was a card you could only get by spending Ten Thousand Gold Coins. Even Zog couldn’t imagine why anyone would spend that much money playing games, but he had faith in the power of big spenders.

Upgrading one’s membership level also came with souvenirs, from ordinary daggers and shields to Magic Accessories. They were all custom-designed not for practicality, but for aesthetics, all with the goal of enhancing the customer’s sense of belonging.

In name, a brand serves its consumers. In reality, any brand that makes serious money is trying to find ways to lord it over their customers.

By cultivating a strong sense of belonging, they make consumers feel at one with the brand, forming a kind of religious devotion where anyone who attacks the brand is labeled a "heretic."

And every so often, these "devout" consumers would voluntarily throw money at the brand.

Perhaps the world was just one giant masochist.

Zog himself had once gotten into a flame war that went on for hundreds of posts over a phone brand. Thinking about it now, it seemed a bit surreal.

Brands on Earth at least had to put on an act. He, however, had no such concerns. The Flying Red Middle Church was already a church, and churches were far more ruthless about squeezing money from their followers than he was.

Boycott the games, and Zog wouldn’t do a thing to you. But boycott the Church...

Zog had tried it, and he had no desire to go through that again anytime soon.

’Speaking of which, what kind of deity should the Flying Red Middle Church have, anyway?’ Zog wondered.

’I can’t tell them the truth—that what they’re worshipping is a piece of a corpse.’

’Might as well call it the God of Entertainment.’

’Blessings of the God of Entertainment. Fun-men.’

The plan was solid, but it was currently missing a somewhat important component for the grand opening.

The games.

Right now, the massive storefront only had claw machines, gacha machines, and a handful of auto chess game machines.

Production capacity was insufficient, and time was short.

Other rhythm games, fighting games, side-scrolling platformers, and dance machines were all in development, with Illusionists handling the software and the Dwarves of Furnace Castle handling the hardware.

Bane was incredibly efficient. The hardware design was complete and awaiting software integration. Ever since being inspired by the hearing aid, he had begun researching Magical Devices that could help people with various physical disabilities.

As for the software, despite the advantage of the Visible Inscription Workshop, there were simply not enough Illusionists to go around.

Ever since Zog spread the word about the compensation package he was offering Illusionists, many Mages from other Schools had started to switch their specialization, but this was a slow remedy that couldn’t solve his immediate problem.

But that was all manageable. After all, those were just side dishes for the Flying Red Middle Game Store; they could wait.

The real main course, however—the auto chess game machines—had a completely inadequate supply.

Zog had underestimated the difficulty of creating a mechanized assembly line for a specific product. A Yo-Yo and a game machine were not the same thing.

Reality wasn’t a simulation game where you could just pile up some stats, click ’research,’ and wait for a progress bar to fill up—and if it was moving too slowly, you just hired a few more R&D people.

In reality, more people didn’t necessarily mean faster progress, but it definitely meant more problems.

As naturally gifted tech workers, goblins relied a little too much on sudden flashes of inspiration. In other words, their project management skills were an absolute disaster.

As a result, the construction process for the new assembly line could only be described as chaotic.

Zog wanted to try and map out a plan, but he was willing but unable. Ren 82 explained the design concept to him three times, and he still didn’t understand it in the end.

He could just make out a hint of disappointment in Ren 82’s eyes—the kind reserved for a hopeless case.

It was the first time in his life as a Dragon that he had been looked down upon by a goblin.

If Ren 82 weren’t such an important research talent, Zog would have had him exiled to Dragon Island to shovel manure.

Normally, opening the internet cafe a few months earlier or later wouldn’t be a big deal, but Zog had his reasons for being in a hurry.

There were only two months left before the opening of the Twin Tower City World’s Fair.

This was the grandest cultural and commercial exchange event, held only once every five years.

Representatives and trade delegations not just from the Feilin Continent, but from countries on other continents as well, would all be in attendance.

Even now, one could occasionally spot foreigners in distinctly different styles of dress on the streets of Twin Tower City, having arrived early to prepare their venues.

Zog wanted to seize this opportunity to promote auto chess and its associated network, transforming the Twin Tower City local area network into a true worldwide internet.

Those with Magic Power could activate a Red Middle Rune to connect to the network, but Ordinary people had to rely on the machines. And since the machines were very expensive, he needed the various nations’ trade delegations to act as distributors and open internet cafes everywhere.

Zog believed that as long as those trade delegations weren’t blind, they would definitely be able to see the commercial value.

In a blue ocean market, a business like an internet cafe was like scooping up money with a sack.

Of course, given the situation back on Earth, if someone wanted to invest in opening an internet cafe, he’d advise them to just burn the money instead. At least they’d get to see a nice fire.

But the prerequisite for internet cafes to open all over the world was getting the mass production technology for the game machines sorted out.

He had to at least prove to the trade delegations that he could guarantee a stable supply.

’Where can I find someone who can understand this bunch of goblins?’

Zog had Ren 82 write down a description of the technology they were currently researching and submit it as a paper to all the laboratories at the research institute.

He would invite whoever wrote back.

After a week of anxious waiting, he finally received a single reply.

It was from a professor named Connor Moore.

Zor’s background check on the professor was delivered at the same time.

Zog gave it a quick look. "Primary field of study: machines that convert complex functional equations into difference operations..."

"Wait a minute... Is this... a Difference Engine?"