The morning sun reflected brightly off the curving, pristine glass walls of the Round Table Studio headquarters.
Dorian walked up the paved path toward the front entrance. He was dressed comfortably in an oversized, soft grey sweater and loose dark trousers.
Walking half a step behind him, exuding an aura of absolute, ice-cold corporate professionalism, was Raja Farzir.
As they stepped onto the manicured front lawn, the peaceful atmosphere was suddenly interrupted.
A nearby HG-7 Maintenance Compadre, which had been peacefully trimming a row of alien hedges, abruptly stopped. It spun around, its primary optical sensor shifting from a docile blue to a glaring, hostile red. It locked directly onto Raja, a low, menacing hum vibrating from its repulsor engines as it recognized an unregistered, non-cleared individual stepping onto the property.
"Hold, hold!" Dorian quickly raised his hands, stepping between the hovering drone and the Qerrian. "Gawain, stand down! He is with me. He is our new Public Relations manager, he is part of the team!"
The red light on the Compadre instantly blinked back to blue. The menacing hum faded, and the drone simply turned back around, cheerfully resuming its hedge-trimming duties as if nothing had happened.
Dorian sighed, lowering his hands. He turned to look at Raja. The Qerrian's face remained an unreadable, professional mask, but his thick, blue sensory tendrils had stiffened into rigid spikes before slowly relaxing back to his shoulders, a clear biological sign of immense relief.
"Sorry about that," Dorian apologized, gesturing vaguely to the surrounding architecture. "Gawain is the AI in charge of the building. Honestly, just think of this entire compound as one massive, heavily armed Compadre. And that is Gawain. He means well; he's just fiercely protective of the staff."
Raja adjusted his suit jacket, his tendrils completely settling. "Noted, sir. I will ensure I am on his good side."
As they stepped up to the main automatic glass doors, a smooth, cultured voice chimed from the overhead speakers.
"Good morning, Boss," Gawain greeted. "The weather today is optimal. Currently, the team inside the building consists of Logan, Bem, and Liseli."
"Thanks, Gawain," Dorian nodded. "Capture Raja's biometrics and issue him a permanent ID as an official employee."
"Understood. Title designation... Head of Public Relations?" Gawain inquired.
Dorian chuckled, pushing his messy black hair out of his eyes. "Sure, why not? There is only him in it right now anyway."
"Then welcome to the team, Head of Public Relations," Gawain welcomed him officially, the automated doors hissing open.
Raja offered a polite, graceful smile to the nearest security camera. "Thank you for the warm welcome, Gawain."
They stepped into the sunlit main junction room. The massive holographic table in the center was already glowing with half a dozen different design documents.
"Good morning, team," Dorian called out.
Logan, Bem, and Liseli all turned around from the table.
"Good morning, Arty!" they chorused back. Then, their eyes landed on the tall, blue-skinned Qerrian standing behind their young boss.
Lin Liseli tilted her head, her multi-colored hair bouncing as she offered a friendly, curious wave. "Ooh! Who is this?"
Raja stepped forward, clasping his hands behind his back. He offered a flawless, highly practiced corporate bow. "Good morning to you all. I am Raja Farzir. I will be in charge of external relations and bureaucratic management for Round Table Studio. Please, simply see me as a hand meant to help shield this studio from external friction."
Liseli's eyes lit up. "Nice to meet you! I'm Lin Liseli, the Head of the Arts Department."
Logan spun his hover-chair around, throwing up a casual, two-finger salute. "Yo! Logan Kim, Head of Programming."
Bem smiled warmly, reaching out to shake the Qerrian's hand. "Good morning, Raja. I'm Bem Lendu, Head of Design."
"It is an absolute pleasure to meet the architects behind the legends," Raja replied smoothly, instantly winning them over.
Logan immediately leaned forward, resting his chin on his hand. "Hey, speaking of external relations... is procuring classified VR capsules part of your new job description?"
Liseli gasped, pointing an accusing stylus at the programmer. "Arty! Mr. Logan is already trying to pass off his responsibilities to the new guy!"
"Well... it's not like that!" Logan defended himself quickly, waving his hands. "I've got the procurement channels mapped out, but we hit a massive roadblock. We're stuck in a bureaucratic queue. The Ministry of Technology says that, at best, we might receive the prototype capsules in nine to twelve months."
Dorian frowned, walking over to the table. "Really? Why is it delayed that long? We are one of the highest-grossing studios in the galaxy right now. We should have priority access."
Logan let out a heavy, frustrated sigh. "They said it can be expedited. But only if Round Table Studio agrees to surrender a percentage of our proprietary shares for the game we develop on it. Oh, and the next game built for the capsule must be heavily consulted with the 'Ministry of Civil Obedience' to ensure it aligns with Accord social values."
The temperature in the room plummeted.
"Absolutely not," Dorian stated, his voice instantly dropping its casual warmth and turning into hardened steel. "They don't touch our shares, and the ministry doesn't touch our narratives."
Raja calmly stepped up to the edge of the holographic table, completely unbothered by the sudden tension.
"I believe I can help with this," Raja interjected smoothly, his silver eyes scanning the procurement documents Logan had pulled up. "The Ministry of Civil Obedience uses those consultation clauses to extort smaller studios. I know exactly which sub-directors are susceptible to localized 'donations', and which legal loopholes completely bypass the tech-share requirements. I cannot promise the hardware will be shipped immediately, but I can severely cut down that timeline without compromising the studio's integrity."
Logan let out a massive sigh of relief. "No worries, man. Take the wheel."
Dorian looked at Raja, highly impressed that the Qerrian was already pulling his weight within five minutes of walking through the door. "Get back to us the moment you have a concrete update, Raja."
Raja offered a crisp nod. "Consider it done, Arthur."
With the massive external roadblock cleanly delegated, Dorian turned his attention back to the glowing holographic table, his mind seamlessly shifting back into creative gear.
"Alright," Dorian said, pulling up a massive folder of character concept sketches. "So, let's continue our talk from yesterday. For Pokémon... are we sticking to our signature pixel-art style, or should we transition into a more polished 2D aesthetic?"
…
About twenty minutes later, the hissing of the automatic doors signaled the arrival of Kasavin and Ross Dalle.
They were quickly introduced to the new Qerrian standing by the holographic table. While the rest of the team was mildly intrigued by Raja's presence, Kasavin looked like he had just been handed a literal lifeline.
Ever since Hades release and Ratik had stepped back, Kasavin had been quietly suffocating under the weight of managing Round Table Studio's external corporate relations. He was a lore archivist and a production manager; he hated arguing with Void platform representatives over digital distribution percentages.
While Dorian and the art team debated the visual direction of Pokémon, Kasavin immediately pulled Raja aside. He practically shoved a glowing datapad into the Qerrian's hands, rapidly transferring the encrypted contact details of every single Void and HelioStore corporate representative they had been dealing with.
Meanwhile, back at the table, the team was still caught in a creative dilemma.
In Dorian's eyes, releasing the first Pokémon game entirely in a retro pixel-art style was a deeply personal homage to the original Pokémon Red and Green that had launched on the Game Boy in his past life. Furthermore, a pixelated aesthetic would be seen by the Accord public as a charming return to Round Table Studio's roots, echoing their very first blockbuster, Stardew Valley.
But... doing it strictly in pixel style felt slightly lazy. They had just released Hades, a visually breathtaking, hand-painted masterpiece. Reverting to basic sprites right after that might confuse the market regarding their current capabilities.
On the other hand, jumping straight into a fully rendered 3D game felt premature. The technology was there, but Dorian desperately wanted the galaxy to experience the exact same magic he had felt as a kid, the classic, top-down, grid-based adventure of exploring a massive world.
Bem tapped his chin thoughtfully, watching Dorian pace. "Why not do both? We build the main overworld in a beautifully polished, high-definition 2D aesthetic, similar to Hades but brighter. But... we put a literal pixel game inside of the Pokémon Centers."
Dorian stopped pacing. "Like... a game inside of the game?"
"Yeah," Bem nodded, pulling up a structural code document. "I mean, we literally already did exactly that with the Journey of the Prairie King arcade cabinet inside the Stardew Valley saloon. We just build a pixelated 'type' icon inside the Pokémon Centers where players can play the stylish, 64-bit versions of game for rare items."
The team fell silent, processing the idea.
Logan snapped his fingers, a grin spreading across his face. "Yeah, that could easily be done! Besides, restricting the visual information down to a pixel style in those arcade battles could act as another set of high-difficulty challenges for the hardcore players. It forces them to rely purely on mechanics rather than visual cues."
Dorian's golden eyes lit up. A wide smile broke across his face. "That could absolutely be done. Yeah... Yeah! That's brilliant, Bem."
Dorian swiped his hand across the console, shifting the entire holographic projector from visual concept art over to the structural framework for the Pocket Monsters project.
Bem immediately took the lead, diving into the core game design. He rapidly explained the turn-based combat mechanics, the elemental type-matchups, and the mathematical calculations required for the complex capture-rate formulas he had already drafted in the background. It was still strictly in the planning stages, but the foundation was terrifyingly solid.
On the other side of the table, Liseli and Ross Dalle were deeply engrossed in the massive folder of creature design sketches Dorian had uploaded the night before.
Every once in a while, Dorian would casually glance over to gauge Liseli's reaction to the original 151. After he finished tweaking a damage-scaling formula with Bem, Dorian walked over to his Head of Art.
"So," Dorian asked, leaning against the table. "How is it?"
Liseli scrolled through the glowing sketches, her stylus tapping against her chin. "The main player avatar. 'Red' is really cool. Classic silent protagonist. But I'm still wondering... why exactly is this one the mascot of the entire game?"
She tapped the screen, pulling up a sketch of a chubby, yellow electric mouse.
"I mean," Liseli continued, squinting at Pikachu. "Why not one of the three main elemental starters? Bulbasaur is right there."
Dorian just smiled warmly, feeling a wave of deep nostalgia. "I don't know. I just really like Pikachu. How about you?"
Liseli hummed thoughtfully. "If it were up to me, I'd definitely use Eevee as the primary mascot. The evolutionary potential is a massive marketing hook. Or maybe Jigglypuff. It's perfectly round."
Ross Dalle let out a deep, booming chuckle from beside her. "I do have to say, Arthur... some of these creature designs seem intentionally ridiculous. Especially this one." Ross pointed one of his large hands at the sketch of a wide-eyed, completely helpless-looking orange fish flopping on the ground. "Magikarp?"
Logan spun his chair around, holding up a finger. "Hoo, do not underestimate the floppy fish, Ross. I read Arty's developer notes on the evolutionary tree. That useless thing evolves into a massive, terrifying sea dragon called Gyarados."
Kasavin, who had just finished handing over the last of his external PR files to Raja, walked over and chimed in, adjusting his glasses. "The evolutionary mechanics are fascinating. Though, I must admit, I personally favor the design of Charizard. A majestic, winged fire-breathing entity. It commands respect."
Bem leaned back in his chair, staring at the ceiling dreamily. "I would love it if I actually had a real Snorlax. Just imagine writing code while being completely cuddled by a giant, soft, sleeping bear. Hmmmmm."
"Well," Logan declared proudly, "it's 'Big Man' Blastoise for me. Nothing beats twin hydro-cannons."
Liseli frowned, looking at Logan in utter confusion. "Why do you keep calling it 'Big Man' Blastoise? That isn't in the official name."
Logan shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. Arty's internal design notes on the Blastoise file literally had a note attached to it that just said 'Big Man'."
Dorian burst out laughing, unable to contain himself.
It was a completely absurd, obscure inside joke from his past life. He had attached a reference to an old, viral internet music track about Blastoise into the official Accord design documents because his Mnemonic Echo had perfectly preserved the ridiculous meme song.
"Don't worry about it, Logan," Dorian laughed, wiping a tear from his eye. "Just an inside joke."
…
As noon approached, the main junction room transformed from a creative brainstorming hub into a high-tech corporate recruitment center.
The holographic table was cleared, and instead, it projected a life-sized, high-definition holo-feed of the first applicant. For the rest of the day, a continuous stream of the galaxy's most talented, nervous, and ambitious developers materialized in the center of the room.
Dorian intentionally took a step back. He sat comfortably in his chair, resting his chin on his hand, and let his newly appointed department heads do almost all of the talking. He watched with a quiet sense of pride as Logan aggressively grilled a senior network engineer on server-side latency, as Liseli kindly but firmly critiqued a 3D artist's shading techniques, and as Ross Dalle made a nervous sound designer explain their Foley process.
They were leaders confidently building their own teams.
Hours passed in a blur of technical questions, portfolio reviews, and rapid-fire coding tests. Finally, the overhead lighting in the studio shifted from a bright, productive white to a warm, relaxing amber.
"Pardon the interruption, Team," Gawain's voice chimed smoothly. "But it is officially the end of the designated working hours. I strongly advise the team to disconnect to maintain optimal mental health parameters."
Dorian stretched his arms over his head, letting out a long yawn. "Alright, you heard Gawain. That's a wrap for today, everyone."
The team groaned in collective exhaustion, stretching their stiff limbs and rubbing their eyes.
"Compile your notes tonight," Dorian instructed as they began to pack up their things. "Give Raja the finalized list of the people you actually want to hire by tomorrow morning. He will handle the official offer letters and the logistics."
Raja, who had been silently observing the entire process from the corner of the room, offered a crisp nod. "I will have the contracts drafted and the Non-Disclosure Agreements ready for deployment."
The team waved their goodbyes, filing out of the studio toward the residential wings of the compound.
Several minutes later, the massive underground hangar bay doors of the Kepler estate hissed shut as the Millennium Falcon settled onto its landing gears.
Dorian powered down the ship's repulsor engines and unbuckled his pilot harness. He looked over at the co-pilot seat.
"So," Dorian said casually, leaning back. "How was your first official day at work, Raja?"
Raja unbuckled his harness, his thick blue tendrils shifting slightly. He looked thoughtfully at the console. "It was... enlightening, sir."
"Oh?" Dorian raised an eyebrow. "Expound, please."
Raja smiled, a rare expression of genuine warmth breaking through his usual corporate mask. "I have spent my entire career managing high-end talent. I have walked the halls of the 'Big Three' galactic record labels and sat in the boardrooms of the 'Big Five' production studios. Yet... I have never seen employees in a creative industry be so remarkably relaxed."
Dorian chuckled as they stood up and walked down the boarding ramp. "Maybe it's because we aren't desperately chasing money. Stardew Valley and Hades generated enough passive sales revenue to comfortably support all of us for the rest of our lives. There's no survival panic here."
Raja shook his head firmly. "No. That is not it. I have seen incredibly wealthy, highly successful companies before. Even when profits are breaking sector records, there is always an underlying, suffocating unease among the employees. A fear of being replaced, a fear of the executives, a fear of the bottom line."
Raja stopped at the bottom of the ramp, looking directly at the young teenager. "The difference here, Arthur... is that you do not treat your team like cattle."
Dorian's eyes widened in genuine shock. He frowned, deeply offended by the very concept. "They are my team, Raja. They are the people who built my dreams into reality. Of course I wouldn't treat them like cattle."
Raja let out a soft, knowing laugh. "You would be profoundly surprised to see how strangely the other CEOs of the Core Worlds would look at you if you said that out loud. You are an anomaly, Arthur. And it is exactly why your studio will conquer this industry."
Meanwhile, across the galactic net, the primary Avalon forums were experiencing a massive surge in traffic. The first wave of interviews had officially concluded, and the applicants were flooding the boards, desperate to vent their adrenaline.
…
[Thread: Survived the RTS Interview! (NDA Safe Thread)]
Posted by: CodeMiner77
"Okay, I literally just finished my holo-interview. My hands are still shaking so badly I can barely type. Just a reminder to everyone: WE ALL SIGNED HEAVY NDAs BEFORE THE CALL. Do not discuss the technical questions, the game concepts, or the engine specs. But my god, we have to talk about the vibe."
PixelPlower:
"Was it an in-person interview? Did they fly you out to their HQ?"
CodeMiner77:
"No, it was all done via high-sec holonet link. But it didn't feel like a standard corporate call. It felt like stepping into an ancient throne room."
SoundGuy_Cal:
"BRO, YES. I just got out of mine for the audio department. I thought I was going to pass out. I felt like I was being encircled by the planetary governors of the Accord."
OneWayWrite:
"Can confirm. It was genuinely terrifying for the first five minutes. So, who actually interviewed you guys? Because I couldn't see any faces."
CodeMiner77:
"Right?! They didn't project their own faces! When the call connected, I was just standing in the middle. And surrounding me were just the silhouettes of six figures sitting around a table. You can't see who they are, but you can feel them judging you."
TryHard_99:
"Six silhouettes? That sounds like standing trial before the Judge. That is incredibly intimidating. Did they grill you?"
SoundGuy_Cal:
"That's the craziest part! The setup is terrifying, like some shadowy secret society, but the actual people behind the silhouettes are unbelievably nice! Once the interview started, they were literally just joking around with each other."
OneWayWrite:
"Yeah, I was so nervous I stuttered through my first lore presentation, but the silhouette that seemed to be the Production Head just calmly told me to take a breath and wait. The Audio guy had this massive, booming laugh, and the Art Director sounded like a cheerful person."
CodeMiner77:
"The Head of Programming completely roasted my net-code efficiency, but then immediately gave me a tip on how to optimize it. It was less like an interview and more like a masterclass. Whoever the 'Council of Six' is... I am a fan."
Void_Watcher:
"Six silhouettes. A studio hidden on a planet. Creating masterpieces that defy the industry. It's like a story in legend."