Chapter 117 - 115: The Essence of the Game, Underground City Arrangement

[New map, something’s wrong with the Karte Continent. All the Players’ gameplay seems to be focused on grinding monsters to level up.]

RainisGrayishWhite: "As everyone knows, on the first beta map, Players had many different gameplay paths. But in the second beta, especially for Players on the new map, things have changed. You can see it from the second beta videos—the whole style of the game has turned into just killing Giant Demons for item drops and EXP. Is this reasonable?"

Wei’s Guitar: "Of course it’s not reasonable! Reasonable my ass! On the new map, out of the 200,000 second-wave Players, almost seventy or eighty percent chose the Human Race. But the key is, how terrible is the Human Race’s situation in the New World?! They’re almost all slaves. You want slaves guarded by Giant Demons to go kill Giant Demons? How is that any different from suicide?"

DontCloseYourEyesWhenItsDark: "I know, right? Doesn’t the True Game give any warnings beforehand? I’m so done with all those streamers’ early promotions telling us it was best to pick the Human Race or whatever, saying that turning into some weird monster would be an eyesore. FML, good thing I was smart and didn’t rush into it, or I would’ve gotten a GG at the start."

StarAtNine: "From the looks of it, the Human Race Players in the New World are having a miserable time. Out of 200,000 Players, it’ll be a miracle if even half of them are left after one Inference Day."

MiddleFingerAcrossTheWorld: "Half? You’re being optimistic. Just watch. The Countermeasures Bureau should be able to collect and report the total number of surviving Players soon!"

"..."

The Player forums were buzzing with discussions about the Second World.

It even overshadowed the sudden disappearance of the Chief Player.

’A test... With 200,000 Players, and given the situation on the Karte Continent, it’s certainly not easy for Human Players to avoid getting killed right off the bat. The non-human players will definitely have a much better time.’

’But is such a test really necessary?’

Lince was trying to understand the logic behind the True Game’s actions.

After all, based on the information the True Game had provided, the Oakland Continent was the perfect place to nurture Players from Blue Star.

’Wouldn’t it be better to wait for these Players to grow stronger, then connect the two worlds and stage a full-scale confrontation?’

’Besides, the original number of Transcendents on the Oakland Continent and its five great Races should have been enough to wage war against the Giant Demon Empire, right?’

’So, does the True Game’s so-called "100% open world" mean it has successfully seized full authority over the Oakland Continent, or are there deeper reasons why it hasn’t gained complete control yet?’

’After all, if the True Game really had full control over the Oakland Continent, why go to all this trouble to cultivate Players?’

’Couldn’t it just have the native factions of the Oakland Continent and the Giant Demons of the Carter Continent fight a war between civilizations?’

’From this perspective, does it mean the True Game actually has no way to command the five major Races and factions of the Oakland Continent?’

’No matter how you look at it, it’s impossible?’

’Is that why it needs to borrow a hen to lay its eggs?’

’Borrowing the Oakland Continent’s ’hen’ to lay the ’eggs’ of Blue Star’s Players?’

’To cultivate a Power of its own?’

’In that case, what’s the current situation with the native Deities of the Oakland Continent?’

’Have they been resurrected? Or are they still not back, with a progress bar slowly filling up?’

’Or perhaps, the True Game itself has some kind of deal or contract with those fallen Deities?’

Thinking this way, Lince suddenly felt like he understood many things.

’The True Game’s rewards couldn’t possibly come from nothing.’

’After all, with constant consumption, how could it possibly sustain itself indefinitely?’

’Even the ever-increasing number of Players suggests that the True Game itself is in some kind of ’growth phase’ or ’expansion state’.’

’Then there’s the Divine Tier Giant Dragon Bloodline I possess.’

All of this was as good as telling Lince that the disappearance of the Dragon Race from the Oakland Continent was definitely related to the True Game.

’So, what exactly happened to the Dragon Race that vanished from the Oakland Continent?’

’Are they all dead?’

’Or have they been hiding behind the True Game all along?’

Thinking about all this, Lince felt as if he had been pushed to the crest of a raging wave.

’Riding this crest won’t be easy.’

The Gate of Truth had even established a beachhead in the Second World.

Invisibly, everything Lince did was being pushed forward by the True Game from behind the scenes.

As for whether the final outcome would be good or bad, Lince couldn’t judge.

After all, reality itself was on the brink of disaster.

’Someone was bound to become this "wave crest"; if not me, it would have been someone else.’

So, compared to being an ordinary, unremarkable person, Lince was already very satisfied with everything he had gained.

’Cherish the present!’

’Just try not to be the old wave that gets washed away on the shore by the new one.’

Regarding the True Game’s move to drop 200,000 new Players into the Second World, Lince only needed to know one thing: there was definitely a logic to it.

Furthermore, it was related to the True Game’s so-called "increasing openness" of the second map and the "Rule Erosion Level."

’So, the role of the Players is actually the key to strengthening the True Game’s rules and allowing them to erode the New World?’

’Then how do the Players provide this kind of feedback?’

’Is it because the Players are products of the True Game themselves, so all their actions have some kind of unseen influence on other worlds?’

’And in turn, this provides some kind of benefit back to the True Game?’

Lince felt his guess was probably not far from the truth.

After all, it was a logical deduction, wasn’t it?

Otherwise, how could new Players with their meager strength possibly fight against Giant Demons?

Forget 200,000—even a million of them without any real strength would just be little snacks for the Giant Demons.

This would do nothing to overthrow the Giant Demons’ rule over the Karte Continent. Instead, it would be a complete waste of these Players’ slots, and even a waste of the Power the True Game consumed to project them.

’Wouldn’t it have been better to drop all the second-wave Players onto the Oklar Continent to develop slowly, then pull them into this world to fight when the time was right?’

Therefore, based on all the intelligence he currently had, Lince had reason to believe the conclusions he had drawn.

Lince wasn’t actually that concerned about the situation of the second-wave Players.

Now that he knew most of the true situation, Lince realized that as a Player at the "crest of the wave," he was the one who needed to be even more careful.

He couldn’t even afford to make a mistake.

Because a mistake could mean facing a major failure on the Karte Continent.

This would, in turn, inevitably affect his progress on the Oakland Continent and even his evaluated status within the True Game’s hidden mechanics.

Thinking of this, Lince checked the current time.

It was already past 2:20 in the morning.

The next game’s Inference Day was in three days.

For these three days, the in-game time was synchronized with the real world, and he could choose not to use Descent.

But he had to use the great reward he had just obtained.

’I can’t let this low-level Underground City go to waste.’

’Time is everything. Three days means three hundred Professionals. If used well, four or five hundred days after the next Inference Day, York could command an army of over thirty to fifty thousand Professionals comparable to Low Tier Transcendents!’

’While this force can’t yet influence the battlefields of High Tier beings, quantity can lead to a qualitative change. It would be more than enough to conquer the Eagle Kingdom!’

’An army of thirty to fifty thousand Professionals?’

The mere thought made Lince’s scalp tingle.

But, on second thought, Lince realized he had miscalculated, and badly.

Because only a Level 10 Professional from the Underground City could be considered Entry Tier. Below Level 10, they were at best the quality of Mercenaries or Elite Soldiers.

They were comparable to Tierless Demon Beasts.

Moreover, he also had to consider the number of Professionals who might die in the Underground City each time.

There was also the possibility of people awakening non-combat, life-skill-based Professionals, and so on.

Therefore, Lince thought, just by the end of the next Inference Day, it would be a good outcome if Dawn City could get three to five thousand Professionals comparable to Tier One. Or perhaps even getting over a thousand would count as a victory?

Of course, there might be a few people with exceptional luck and strength who break through to Tier Two or even Tier Three.

But they would be an absolute minority, and their luck would have to be heaven-defying.

The Underground City was no joke. The Karte Gods had created it to temper the Human Race, and even for their own amusement.

Once inside the Underground City, life and death were uncertain.

Furthermore, this low-level Underground City didn’t allow for parties yet. After entering, everyone would be randomly teleported to different locations on the map.

This undoubtedly increased the risk of death for ordinary people.

They were both worlds with Deities.

The Oakland Continent was high-magic, while the Karte Continent could only be considered mid-magic.

A key difference was likely that the death rate in the Underground City was far higher than one might imagine.

Moreover, the number of successful Professionals it could produce wasn’t necessarily better than the number that developed naturally on the Oklar Continent.

Just thinking about this, Lince realized that the Underground City was a true test of human nature.

’Order all the soldiers to venture in?’

’The consequence would likely be difficulty with future recruitment.’

After long consideration, Lince decided to let York make the choice himself.

He would also let the soldiers of Dawn City and all the civilian slaves choose for themselves!

Whether they were willing to gamble for a future or live in hardship until they died.

Lince believed that as long as a suitable system of rewards and punishments was established, there would be no shortage of people willing to risk their lives in this cruel, slave-based society.

Besides, there were still very, very many Human Race slaves under the Giant Demons in this world.

Dawn City didn’t need so many slaves who were just like the walking dead.

Lince didn’t plan to interfere with the specific execution.

In any case, this was a chance for York to think for himself.

It wasn’t just the slaves who needed to grow and be tempered; York, his number-one Pet, needed it too.

Lince couldn’t possibly handle everything personally.

’If I plan out everything for York, what would his value be?’

’Just a pure Pet?’

With these thoughts in mind, after scrolling through the game forums for a moment, Lince closed his eyes again.

As he closed his eyes, a top-down view, like playing a game on a computer, naturally appeared in Lince’s mind.

During this process, Lince didn’t necessarily need to use Consciousness Descent to inhabit a body.

He just needed to switch his perspective to York, and he could communicate with him via a so-called Oracle.

As for placing the Underground City, Lince just needed to find a spot in the top-down view and use Mind Manipulation.

Just like that, Lince quickly selected a location.

Lince planned to place the Underground City on the mountain peak outside the Left City of Dawn City.