Alex asked the driver to head back home, then rode with Jake to the car modification shop.
This modification shop usually had few customers. Its real value lay in serving Jake and the circle of young racing enthusiasts he ran with. Basically, a few orders each month were enough to keep the operation running smoothly.
The shop had two floors with a total area of nearly 10,000 square feet. The first floor housed the workshop and parts showroom, while the second floor contained offices and a lounge area, all very nicely decorated.
There was even a professional VR gaming pod in the lounge, convenient for customers to play games during their downtime, and various office equipment and supplies were readily available.
"Let's take this one!" Alex chose a larger empty room on the second floor.
"Alright, I'll have someone clean it up for you later!" Jake said.
"By the way, Jake, there's one more thing. Can you ask around if anyone you know has programmers who are familiar with the 'Infinite Realms' engine and can use the editor proficiently? It would be best if they have experience developing Infinite Realms dungeons. Please introduce them to me. Salary and benefits are negotiable. Also, for game artists, they must have experience!" Alex said.
In order to complete the game development work in the shortest time possible, he needed at least two or three people who were proficient in the "Infinite Realms" engine and editor with relevant dungeon development experience. He also needed at least one artist to facilitate the work and adjustment of art resources.
But time was tight and recruitment was a lengthy process. If he posted job listings, it might take at least three or four days, or even more than ten days to find suitable candidates, but the competition wouldn't wait for anyone.
Alex himself had no experience in game development. If it weren't for the information age, where many things could be researched online, he wouldn't even know who to recruit.
"No problem, I'll ask around later!"
"By the way, don't tell anyone that you're helping me find people, and don't mention my entrepreneurial venture to anyone. I can't let my parents know about this, otherwise my dad will definitely ship me off to military school immediately!" Alex said seriously.
"Don't worry, I know what's at stake!" Jake patted Alex's shoulder. He naturally understood that this matter had to be kept secret.
Afterward, Alex used the VR equipment in the shop to log into his social accounts.
He remembered that there were programmers among his guild brothers. If he mobilized his friends in the guild, he might be able to find the right candidates more quickly.
The core members of their guild also had a private chat group. Although they had never met in person and didn't even know what each other looked like or did for work, this didn't prevent them from forming friendships through the game.
At least in the virtual world, everyone was a very familiar good friend.
However, ever since Alex's gaming account was sold and he was restricted from internet access, he hadn't appeared in the group again.
Now when he opened the group chat, there were countless messages inside. Most of them were about his whereabouts, various bad news about the guild, and reminders for inactive members to quit the group.
Seeing these, perhaps influenced by the emotions of the original owner of this body, Alex felt a mixture of complex feelings.
"GUY's, I'm back!" Alex sent a message in the group, and the chat immediately exploded.
"Boss, you finally showed up! What happened?"
"Yeah, President, why did you suddenly disappear? Why did you sell your account?"
Everyone had a lot of questions.
Alex immediately explained to everyone what had happened to him during this period. Of course, he only told half the story and left out the other half.
"Oh—so that's how it is! I understand, my dad is like that too!"
"Okay, I'm glad you're alright. We were really worried that something might have happened to you!"
"Don't be too sad, you can always start over if you lose your account!"
"Damn it, those Shadow Lords bastards are so despicable, they even bought your account specifically to humiliate people. How wicked!"
"Yeah, we couldn't figure out why you sold the account to that guy!"
"President, will you still play games in the future? We're all waiting for you!"
"Yes, there are fewer than a hundred people left in the guild now, and the guild headquarters has been occupied by the Shadow Lords and their cronies. If you don't come back, the guild might be completely disbanded!"
"Everyone, don't worry. It won't be long before I return to Infinite Realms. At that time, I will definitely lead everyone back to the top and crush those Shadow Lords bastards without leaving a single piece of armor!" Alex said passionately.
Since he had traveled through time and space to become Alex in this world, then they were the same person. Although Alex didn't agree with what the original owner had done before, he was still moved by the words of these people in the group, and it even triggered the original owner's emotions and memories, making him unable to help wanting to do something.
He also believed that in the future when he made money and achieved financial freedom, he could decide whether to spend money on games or not.
At that time, he would rebuild the Immortal Guild and make it the strongest guild in the region.
"Oh right, getting back to the point, I'm planning to start my own dungeon development business, and I'm in urgent need of some programmers. I remember there's someone in the group who's a dungeon development programmer?"
"I'm here, President!" said a person with the online name Ares123.
"Boss, you want to be a dungeon supplier? Awesome, we support you!"
"We must support you!"
"I want to work with you, but I don't know how to program, waaah!" said several other guild members.
"President, where is your company?" asked Ares123.
"The city!"
"Really? Oh my god, what a coincidence! I'm unemployed and I was planning to come to the city to look for a job!"
"Perfect, then come work for me. I won't let you down in terms of salary and benefits!"
"Boss, I'd support you even if you didn't pay me! I'll buy a plane ticket and come see you tomorrow!"
"Excellent!" Alex didn't expect to find the first programmer so easily. It turned out that connections really were resources.
"Is Kagura here?" Alex @-mentioned the girl named Kagura in the group again.
This girl was an excellent 3D modeler, especially in character model design. Alex's game character image had been custom-tailored by her.
In the game "Infinite Realms," in addition to using the game's powerful character creation system to design the player's character image, players could also change their appearance by purchasing skins in the mall.
Additionally, some really wealthy players could also choose private customization services to create unique character images, but the prices were also very expensive.
Besides the official ones, many dungeon suppliers also provided private customization services.
However, customized skins could only be completed through transactions, and the official platform would charge a fixed transaction tax. This money was real currency, not gold coins that could be obtained by killing monsters in the game.
In order to create a unique look for her character, Kagura had registered as a dungeon supplier.
But she didn't open her business to the public. Currently, she had only created character models for her very close friends in the guild.
Moreover, each price was set according to the official tax rate, which meant that after the official tax was deducted, she didn't make a single penny.
From this perspective, this girl named Kagura was probably someone with plenty of money and was also a very loyal person, although she remained silent most of the time.
She never actively spoke in the group and lurked for long periods, but Alex knew she was always there because every time he @-mentioned her, she would appear immediately.
"Here!" This time was no exception.
"Are you interested in working on a game dungeon with me?" Alex asked.
He had a tentative attitude about it. After all, it would be great if Kagura could join. She was a very thoughtful and creative person, and her technical skills were absolutely excellent.
"I'm far away from you and can't get there, but if you have any questions or need help, feel free to contact me and I can help you solve things remotely!" Kagura replied.
Alex wasn't surprised by her answer: "Okay, I feel relieved knowing you've got my back!"
…
Over the next two days, Alex went to Jake's shop every day under the pretext of learning car modification from Jake.
Seeing that Alex seemed to have found new interests and that he was in very good spirits and mood every day, his mother Sarah felt relieved and stopped watching him so closely.
Alex drove out by himself every day and had all three meals at Jake's place.
Ares123 arrived in the city as promised and met Alex in person.
This was the first time they had seen each other face-to-face. Although they were a little awkward when they first met, they had known each other in the game for a long time after all, so they quickly became familiar with each other.
Ares123's real name was David . He was a chubby, short guy wearing black-framed glasses. He was about five years older than Alex and had worked at a domestic game company for more than two years.
Moreover, he had actually tried to make dungeons in "Infinite Realms" by himself when he was in college, so he had quite good experience in this area.
Jake also helped find a programmer and an artist. The programmer was Tom and the artist was Sophie . They were about the same age as David, but they were both dedicated players of "Infinite Realms" and had solid work experience in Infinite Realms dungeon development.
At this point, the small team had been initially established.
"From today on, our studio is officially established!" Alex said enthusiastically in the office.
David, Tom, and Sophie all applauded. They had no idea that the world's top gaming company of the future was stepping onto the stage of history at this very moment.
Throw some Powerstones plz.