The weight of what he had just done hit Gok like a tidal wave. China—gone. An entire country wiped off the map, its land reduced to a gaping void. But what shook him even more was the realization that the billions of people who had once lived there weren't just gone—they had somehow been transported into Rankers.
---
Gok sat at his desk, staring at the Infinite Blade in his hands. His thoughts swirled, a whirlwind of disbelief and confusion. How could one swing of the blade have done this? The realization was both terrifying and mind-boggling. In an instant, he had caused a catastrophe, not just in the real world, but in the game as well.
He opened Rankers again, his fingers hovering over the keyboard. The game loaded with its usual vibrancy, but something was different. The normal streams of messages and updates had been replaced with a flood of panicked reports. The player count had skyrocketed—billions of new players had just appeared in the game, all of them from China. His heart raced as he scrolled through the notifications.
> [System Alert]: Mass Transport Event Detected. Over 1.3 billion players have entered the game from Real-World Region: China. Player transition completed with significant anomalies.
He couldn't believe it. The moment he swung the blade, the entire population of China had been ripped out of the real world and placed into the game. Was it possible to control something like this?
The more he thought about it, the more his fear turned into guilt. He'd unintentionally torn apart the very fabric of reality. But the worst part? He didn't know how to reverse it.
---
As he logged in, he was hit by the sheer scale of the situation. He'd been used to the typical hustle and bustle of Rankers, but now, the virtual world was teeming with new players—Chinese players who had no idea what had happened. They were confused, frantic, and utterly disoriented.
Gok wandered through the streets of the starting city, seeing an overwhelming number of players running around, chatting, and asking questions. They were all speaking in Chinese, trying to figure out where they were and why they'd been transported here. Panic spread like wildfire.
He realized with a jolt that it wasn't just the land of China that had been wiped away—it was the people too. These players weren't just avatars in a game; they were real people who had somehow been transported into the world of Rankers.
The game was never meant to handle this many people. The servers were already starting to lag, and Gok could feel the pressure building. If he didn't act soon, things were going to spiral out of control.
---
I can't just leave them like this.
Gok closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. He had to fix this. If the Infinite Blade could do anything, he had to use it to set things right. He couldn't change reality with the Reality Shift—not yet, at least. But he could create something that would give these displaced people a chance to survive.
Without hesitation, he drew the blade and held it high.
"Let's see what you can really do."
He swung the blade in a wide arc, a massive burst of energy erupting from its edge. The blade hummed with a power Gok had never felt before. A wave of energy rippled through the game world, and before his eyes, the land began to shift.
Mountains rose from the earth, large and jagged, forming a massive shelter in the center of the city. It was a fortress—a towering structure designed to protect and house the 1.3 billion new players now trapped in the game. The shelter sprawled for miles, fortified by walls and gates large enough to accommodate thousands. Gok's heart raced as he watched the shelter materialize. It was the first step in trying to give these people a chance, a place where they could be safe until he figured out what to do next.
---
The new players began to notice the changes. Some of them stood in awe, others began to shout, pointing at the massive shelter that had appeared out of nowhere. They weren't sure what was happening, but they were starting to come together. Gok saw some groups already forming, their confusion slowly giving way to a desire for unity.
But the reality of the situation was still too much for many to process. Gok overheard snippets of conversations as he walked through the crowds of new players, most of them speaking in frantic tones:
> "What happened? Why are we here?"
"Where is our country? Where is China?"
"This isn't a game! This is real!"
The realization that they weren't just inside a game—they were in another reality altogether—hit them hard. Panic began to set in again, but the presence of the shelter gave them hope. It wasn't much, but it was a starting point.
---
Gok knew that this was only the beginning. He had just begun to scratch the surface of the power the Infinite Blade held, and now the responsibility weighed heavily on him. The blade had transported an entire population into a game world, and now it was his job to keep them safe.
But he couldn't help but wonder: What would happen if I kept using the blade like this?
Could he control its power? Could he undo what he had done?
He looked out at the shelter—his first real act of redemption. It was more than a place of refuge. It was a chance to rebuild, to give these players a fighting chance in a world that wasn't their own.
But it was only the beginning. The Infinite Blade had given him power, but with that power came the looming question of what would come next?
/Spoiler: Zodiacs/
---