[Translator: Dawn]
[Proofreader: Karane]
Circuit's online community websites went into a state of panic ever since what happened yesterday.
[Misc.] Can they even recover from this incident? [118]
The fact that an NPC manipulated the crystal ball of a popular broadcasting channel and cast a spell to prevent the broadcasting station from arbitrarily stopping the transmission seemed a little elaborate.
Moreover, the character in the game even declared war on the 'Players' breaking the 4th wall, so the shocked reaction from the people was incredible.
Although some have dismissed them as 'Players Sanction' or 'Clean Campaign Events' that are conducted regularly, the overwhelming opinion was that the level of violence involved definitely exceeded the limit.
Many Players voiced their concern about the too realistic virtual reality AI, and the Players who felt it as if the AI's were even trying to invade reality gave their opinions or threw their thoughts out.
Of course, many other Players have already experienced disputes against NPCs just as many times as Mose, or even few times more than Mose.
Some have posted about their wonders and speculations on what kind of terrible instances that Lidornn may have had to experience from Players.
Circuit TV had quickly paid the victims, which were the cast and the production teams of the channel, compensation for psychological damage. And the official Circuit TV SNS account, and the casts were filled with words of comfort from many people.
If words of consolation were not given to the people who were sacrificed as scapegoats and died such horrible deaths, the mentality of the victims might fall into an irreversible state.
The Players immediately started to form raid parties in order to defeat Lidornn.
Many had their eyes on this emergency event quest wondering what the reward might be.
Almost millions of Players have come together in order to defeat and put a stop to Lidornn's tyranny.
***
Reaper Scans
[Translator - Dawn]
[Proofreader - Karane]
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***
Everybody in the 13th Party logged out except me.
The Asparagan Square was still filled with people having intense discussions on what had just happened, so intense and loud that it almost ripped my eardrums apart.
Putting such turmoil behind, I returned to the SkyLord, picked a room among the countless other rooms within the ship, and lied on a bed with a thin silky blanket to cover me.
The faint noise of the crowd coming through the window calmed me down.
At that moment, Khea quietly sneaked into the room I was in and carefully sat down on a chair in the room.
Then she handed the wooden cup she was holding in her hand to me.
"I brewed Kefile tea leaves."
And before an explanation window appeared, I quickly took a sip from the cup ignoring the boiling heat of the liquid.
Usually, this would burn my tongue and mouth, but thanks to one necklace I was wearing the pain disappeared within a single second.
"Khea, how are you feeling?"
I asked how she was doing after I calmed down due to the subtle fragrance and the temperature of the tea.
Her eyes were sparkling brighter than anything in this room.
"What kind of answer do you want to hear?"
She dragged the chair she was sitting on closer to the bed in order to talk to me face to face.
"What 'kind' of answer? Do you have more than one answer to give?"
"It seemed like you wanted to be comforted."
For a split moment, I just stared at her face while holding the cup in my hand. Khea awkwardly shook her head as she opened up to speak.
"Don't get me wrong. Honestly speaking, nothing really came to my mind about the incident that just happened."
"I've been in war since I was born. I've been fighting so I don't get abandoned by my parents, or fall prey to a wolf. I've been fighting in order to survive as a slave, and to not lose to people who curse my blood as a half-elf. Wars such as that."
She smiled as she continued to bring up her past as if they were really nothing.
"I've been fighting many wars in order to survive, and to keep myself safe. I don't have any room to care about a war about someone else, at least for me."
She crossed her legs, and placed her elbow on top of her knee. Then she placed her chin on her palm and stared at me.
"Sorry, I should've said something more comforting."
She was apologizing to me. There weren't any signs of sarcasm or criticism in her eyes.
Her eyes were bright and sparkling like sapphires scattered in the sea.
"Frankly, this isn't really the first time something like this had happened."
"This isn't the first time?"
I took a sip from the cup and leaned my upper body towards her. Her shoulders trembled in anxiousness as she tilted her head back.
"Yeah, the world we live in is like… well… It's like a box made out of the Morail wood."
"Morail wood?"
Every time she spoke with a hand gesture, I could sense her unique fragrance.
"Yep, It's a tree that has a lot of holes on its branches. A box made out of such a thing is much like the world we live in."
"Why?"
"According to the magicians, This world is in an unstable state in which many dimensions open and close. So it's easier to understand this concept if you are thinking of a box made out of the Morail wood which has holes in lots of places. Every other races that are not human, which is native to this world, are from those holes."
"That's quite a surprising story."
I exclaimed at the endless volume of this game's lore with my eyes wide open.
Wow. I honestly never thought that the developers composed lores of this world in such a direction.
There was a reason why the exploration progress in the game never went above a two-digit number, even though there were hundreds of million people playing the game.
This world was unimaginably colossal than anyone expected! Perhaps, bigger than the world I live in!
"That was how the 'Elves' who were called the Sages of the Forest showed up in this world. And of course, humans and elves fought for a long time over their prosperity. After a very long time, they had finally calmed down and came to somewhat of a union. However, there has always been discrimination and persecution against mixed-bloods such as half-elves."
Khea frowned her face in bitterness as she spoke. Her cat-like eyes drooped slightly.
"Half-elves are treated very poorly in this world right now."
She got back to her usual expression again and tilted her head.
"And this time, there appeared people like you, Mose. And quite a lot of them. And they were all adventurous and brave people like you."
I nodded my head.
"So, to put this simpler. This time we, the players, have appeared in this world, and it is our fate to be hated and discriminated against by various races that already inhabit this world, right?"
"Yes, and no."
Khea raised her finger once more.
Her mind occupied with talking, she brought her head closer to right in front of me. The scent of flowers intensified.
"Mose, your people are special. You have received the blessing from Bellica. Often called the 'immortals'. People who fit perfectly with the 'seekers' prophesied from the 'Bellica Mythology' appeared."
She tried to continue but she suddenly stopped and shook her head.
"Hm, anyways. Many people of this world welcome the 'players'. Thanks to the players, many races were able to make great progress. It is also true that the literature, technology, and civilization of this world have developed rapidly.
Oh, yeah! I heard that 'sunglasses' are very common in your world, right? Goodness! It is a true blessing to have something like that. The Church of Bellica calls it a 'godly gift that enables us to accept our Lord Bellica with our own eyes'."
Like a high school girl who couldn't control her excitement on the school trip bus and kept speaking, Khea showed all kinds of expressions as she continued to talk.
"But the thing is."
I was mesmerized by her beautiful smiling face, but when I saw her sudden change of expression, I suddenly came back to my senses.
And quickly took a sip from the cup of tea once more.
I was confident that I would have become immune to this kind of thing because of the time I trained with her in the Sanctuary, but I was wrong by a long shot.
"Uh… yeah, go ahead."
It was my turn to speak now. Thankfully, it didn't sound too obvious because of the sip of tea I had in my mouth. I tried to lead the conversation as naturally as possible.
"Some of those people say that many accidents happen because they are too bold, which leads them into being reckless."
"...Right."
"A few days ago, a player who ruthlessly murdered two women was held on trial at the 'Barvid Tribunal'. That player was sentenced to the 'Medeium Spell Prison'."
"Medeium Spell Prison?"
"It is the worst punishment that an immortal could receive. It's a curse of the abyss. The player's soul is banished to the endless void. Permanently."
Just thinking about it for a moment gave me goosebumps.
The virtual reality of
Seemed to have even the business processes of the management team and customer center replaced in a way that was implemented into this world itself.
Without a doubt, 'Medeium Spell Prison' must have been a punishment equivalent to the 'permanent bans' given out to players who had broken rules.
"And the incident that happened this time must be involved with another incident in a similar manner. One thing different is that this time, they had messed with a wolf den instead of a beehive."
I was afraid of this situation since I never thought players would be treated this way by the NPCs ever.
Considering the incidents of racism that occur frequently in real life, this confrontation was the worst situation a player could encounter in this virtual reality.
"Prince Lidornn had declared this war of his own. To your people, Mose."
"Khea, do you hate players too?"
"Nope."
She said with a shrug.
"I honestly like players a lot. Players don't discriminate against me just because I am a half-blood."
She seemed very accustomed to such a situation but very subtly as she spoke out.
A delicate smile, a beautiful fragrance that befits that blooming smile.
It was the difference in experience.
The life she had lived to this point, must have been very difficult.
That was why this incident was nothing more than just a familiar event to her.
However, in essence, this is a 'game' nonetheless., For us, the players, who came to enjoy the 'virtual reality games', this case was really a frightening event.
The game had received comments from people saying that 'the game is trying to invade reality', or 'the creation is killing its creators'.
A friendly entertainer that appeared in many TV shows was brutally murdered by a character in a game.
In addition, the appearance of threatening players by manipulating broadcasting signals, which was a technology in real life, was indeed an unimaginable event even in the game of
Khea, who was sitting right in front of me, felt more like a colleague of mine and a Sworder of Asparagan rather than a highly developed AI, so I can't even fathom how Lidornn may have appeared to the public.
"Thanks for thinking that way."
As I said, she flipped her ebony hair with her slender fingers and showed me a soft smile.
With her tanned skin due to being exposed to sunlight, she looked at me with dreamy green eyes like a nebula in space.
"That player is you, Mose."
She stared at me without averting my gaze.
The universe in her intense eyes floating on her perfect, almost sculpture-like face,
Really felt like it was sucking me in.
At that moment I wondered if she might have a feeling for me, she shrugged and opened her mouth again.
"I wish every other player were like you, Mose. So they could understand our thoughts. Oh, how great would that be? "
She looked at me with an intense gaze with her cheek on her palm. My heart started to heat up.
The heat rose from the back of my neck and onto my ears, causing both my ears to turn completely red. After a while, she opened her playful lips again as a blush spread around my face.
"What's wrong? Your face has turned red. Were you thinkin' of something?"
"The tea! It's 'cause the tea's too hot!"
I tried to retort with a loud response to her provocative remarks, but she just leaned her back and started to laugh.
Suddenly, the panic that I received from Lidornn and as a player melted away like cotton candy soaked in water.
This brief moment I spent listening to her stories, and imagining her situation, gave me an opportunity to shake off the fear that was holding me back.
As I had a playful quarrel with Khea, I made up my mind to fight my own war without fear.
It made me think about the damage Lidornn would cause to the people who wanted to play the game purely and normally without harming this world.
And that was the moment when the goal of my war was set.
'Lidornn. I'm going to put a stop to your tyranny.'
Khea and my laughter continued to come out of the small room among the numerous rooms inside the gigantic ship with countless gold decorations.
In the meantime, it seemed that rain started to pour from the sky, and the cold visitors slowly knocked on the window of the ship, as if they wanted to display their existence.
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