William Carter also got to know the other members of the design team, but their attitude toward him was rather indifferent, not particularly enthusiastic.

After all, everyone was just muddling along, waiting for things to happen—no one knew if the project would even exist in three months. If the project really got axed, these people would either be reassigned to other teams or laid off. In this situation, no one was in the mood to make new friends.

Moreover, William Carter wasn’t sure if it was just his imagination, but it seemed like the others didn’t have a good attitude toward Brian Clark either? He seemed to rub people the wrong way.

In the afternoon, William Carter continued reviewing the design documents.

The design documents in this world were quite different from those in his previous life—they used a special format. Once the documents were written according to certain rules, the editor could automatically implement a large portion of the work, greatly reducing the workload for programmers.

That’s why game development progressed so quickly in this world. For example, with a mobile game like “Mecha Era,” a new version could be released every two weeks.

So if William Carter wanted to write documents himself, he’d first have to learn this special format; otherwise, the programmers definitely wouldn’t do the work for him.

As William Carter was reading the document, Brian Clark, who was sitting next to him, suddenly said, “You’re pretty good at drawing, right?”

William Carter looked at him. “I’m okay. Why?”

William Carter felt something was off. Ever since he’d met Brian Clark, Brian Clark had been bringing up the topic of “you’re good at drawing,” either intentionally or unintentionally—he’d mentioned it at least three times.

William Carter was indeed good at drawing, but what did that have to do with his current job?

Brian Clark said in a matter-of-fact tone, “I sent you a concept sketch. Go ahead and turn the concept sketch into a finished illustration.”

William Carter glanced at his computer screen. Brian Clark had already sent over a drawing file—a concept sketch for a new mecha.

Chapter 8: Struggling a Bit More

William Carter frowned. “I can do concept sketches, but not finished illustrations.”

Brian Clark’s face darkened. “The concept sketch is done. Now we just need the finished illustration.”

William Carter shook his head. “Doing concept sketches can barely be considered part of my job, but finished illustrations are the work of an illustrator. That’s not my responsibility.”

Brian Clark was even more displeased. “We’re short on illustrators for the project right now. Can’t you just do it temporarily?”

William Carter still shook his head. “If we’re short on illustrators, Manager Foster should handle it—either by hiring someone or borrowing from another project. That can be solved. I’m an intern in the design team; this isn’t part of my job.”

If William Carter were a clueless newcomer, he might have been fooled by Brian Clark. Usually, newbies just do whatever work they’re given, not even knowing how to refuse.

But William Carter knew very well that this wasn’t part of his job at all!

The key point was, what’s the salary for an illustrator versus an intern?

An illustrator’s monthly salary is at least 8,000, and a slightly more experienced one gets twelve or thirteen thousand. Someone at William Carter’s level would be even more expensive.

Right now, William Carter’s position was an intern in the design team, with a monthly salary of only 4,000. Doing this work was basically working for free.

And it wasn’t just about one drawing. If William Carter agreed this time, there would definitely be a next time, and the time after that. Who knew—maybe in the future, at least half the illustrations would end up on his plate. He could forget about doing design or writing documents; he’d be stuck drawing all day and would end up in the art team.

So William Carter didn’t even hesitate—he refused outright.

Brian Clark’s face immediately turned awkward. He’d thought that a fresh graduate, a complete newbie with no experience, would be easy to push around.

But William Carter shot him down without a second thought!

Brian Clark scowled. “You won’t do the work I give you? Then what do you want to do?”

“Of course, I’ll do the work that’s part of my internship.” William Carter remained unmoved. “Or maybe I should ask Manager Foster to confirm whether doing finished illustrations is part of my job?”

“…Heh.” Brian Clark fell silent.

He had nothing to say, because according to the normal division of responsibilities, this really wasn’t something William Carter should be doing. If it got escalated to Jason Foster, Brian Clark would have no ground to stand on.

Their conversation ended with an “oh” and a “heh”—it was definitely an unpleasant parting. Their relationship was already this strained on the first day; there was little chance of fixing it in the future…

William Carter didn’t care. There was no way he was taking on this work. If he did it once, there’d be a next time, and he’d be working for free for months. Why should he?

William Carter could more or less guess what Brian Clark was thinking.

Right now, the “Mecha Era” project was barely hanging on. Judging by Brian Clark’s attitude, he still wanted to struggle a bit longer. Whether it was truly for the good of the project or just to pad his own resume, he wanted to achieve something while he was the world architect.

But the reality was, they were short on staff and funds. Brian Clark wanted to release a new version and introduce cool new mechas to boost revenue, but there just weren’t enough artists. They were understaffed.