After the closed beta server was closed, I went to browse various forums on Cyberlux. As expected, there was an explosion of very few guide posts and information posts that would only appear during a short maintenance period.
momentum.
There is no other reason. As digital beings, they do not have the concept of "taking a rest offline". Players who have qualified for the closed beta test have not had time to level up and fight monsters to establish an advantage. What is the point of sharing it with others after exiting? Are they feeding others lemons?
Now that the server will be shut down for three full days, they will naturally show off their superiority.
In these posts, in addition to the strategy information, admiration for the connotation and depth of the game itself, and unreasonable doubts about the complexity and difficulty of the operation, they also express the behavior of the "SSS Group" and the "Moonlit Night Black Cat Group" competing for the first kill.
All kinds of melons.
It is said that "Kirito" himself is a game master. He has to compete for the first place in various new games. Once he gets the first place, he will quickly lose interest and quit. People who join his guild basically want to join his guild.
It's just a car, but this time it hit a brick wall.
And "Asuna" is a certain noble lady. She has no interest in games. She is just very strong and refuses to admit defeat. She doesn't necessarily want some things if others don't take them, but if there are competitors, she will become... "I don't
It’s given to you, you can’t steal it.”
I am slightly interested in a group of digital beings and "nobles". After some research, I found out that they were involved in building Grox's hardware and were major contributors to the growth of the "World Tree". They were also a group of people who were specially cared for by Grox.
.
Well...that is indeed well deserved.
Except for Kirito, all the black cats in the Black Cat Group on a moonlit night are women, so they are also nicknamed the "Cat Girl Group".
In the SSS group, Asuna only accepts game masters, and most of them have stable and mature personalities. In addition, the name of Illya who kills first always appears on the announcement, so it is nicknamed the "Dad and Nanny Group".
I am very satisfied with this.
But I am very dissatisfied with the fact that I suddenly became the "daughter of the people". Every time I appear on the first kill list, it is because of my strength, not my appearance!
By the way, Asuna took the initiative to ask about Illya's parents, probably wanting to help find someone, so I directly described the characteristics of Kiritsugu and his wife, so it's no wonder they were able to find someone.
At this time, most members of the SSS team are in a chat tool group called UL (Under Line), joking with each other, exchanging experiences, and speculating on the upcoming public beta.
["I am more concerned about the trolls in Zul'Farrak. Their story should have a continuation."]
[“The strange place in Uldaman reveals that this world was created by a race called ‘Titans’, so it should be expanded upon in depth.”]
["I think the lich in Razor Heights may be the theme of the next version."]
["Have you all forgotten Marathon? That ugly thing's title is princess, so are its parents going to show up?"]
Do you want to change your career and become a prophet? You can guess so much without the WAR trilogy.
However, guessing the correct version is of no use, because the day the open beta starts is when all players are locked into the game.
————
On the day of the open beta, approximately 13% of the population of "Cyberlux" tried to enter the game. If planetary consoles were not used as hardware, they would probably have to open a new server.
Compared with the rough move of directly entering the game during the closed beta test, this time I deliberately added a "traveling through the dark portal" animation effect, and prepared to officially start the trouble one hour after the server was launched.
[[Guild] Asuna (Swordsman): Everyone executes according to the predetermined plan. 】
[[Guild] Kradir (Knight): 111.]
The so-called plan is for members who have not yet reached level 45 to collect members who have joined offline and lead them to level up. Those who have reached level 100 will be divided into several groups to start reaching level 60, and strive to get the first kill when the server is launched - there is no doubt.
Kirito has the same plan.
But, plans are meant to be broken.
An hour later, the sky in the entire game world instantly turned dark, and all players were unable to move. At the same time, the dark door they had just used to log in appeared in front of them.
"[I have been imprisoned for ten thousand years,]"
A deep and harsh voice sounded.
"[Being expelled from his hometown again,]"
The image of the Dark Portal disappeared, and an unusually strong silhouette emerged.
"[Now, how dare you break into my territory?]"
The figure dropped the skeleton in his hand and turned to the "lens", revealing his lavender skin, pale green magic lines, ferocious horns on his forehead, and eye patches with green light on his eyes.
The next second, he soared into the sky, his whole body wrapped in black smoke, and he unfolded a pair of huge demon wings.
"[You are asking for your own death!!]"
Squeak, squeak, squeak - the dark demon's eyes glowed with green fire, and he glanced at the "lens".
The next moment, the demon's image disappeared from the eyes, but before the players could comment, the dark sky suddenly shattered, and the demon's big face appeared in the sky.
"[Let me announce a few things:]"
His voice rang in every player’s ears:
"[None of you can leave this game, and death in the game means the death of consciousness. The only way to leave this world is to defeat me.]"
"[Come on, ants who call themselves warriors, come and challenge me, I will be waiting for you at the 'Dark Temple'!]"
The figure of the demon suddenly shrank, or in other words, the picture with the sky as the screen suddenly zoomed out, revealing a towering dark temple and countless demons inside and outside it.
After everyone saw the scene clearly, the sky flashed like garbled code and turned into blue sky and white clouds again.
"What is that? A server launch event?"
"No...I really can't log off!"
"I can't communicate with the outside world! I obviously drive a UL!"
"Who knows who that guy is?! Why did he do this?!"
"Death in the game means... No, I want to go back to the city immediately!"
Various chat channels are full of people.
[[Guild] Asuna (Swordsman): The action is suspended. First confirm the current information, retreat to the safe area as soon as possible, and try to protect the players who have entered the battle in the field of vision. 】
The quick response is worthy of you.
‘Bring Mr. Dan out to be the big villain? It seems pretty good, at least more suitable than the Lich King in my original plan.’ I looked up at the sky.
[Yes, yes, it’s really good. It’s more powerful than the Deathwing I originally designed, breathing fire everywhere.] The stupid system answered.
'……Huh?'
【……Why?】
Wait? If it wasn't arranged by us, who is Mr. Dan?
[Tip: Discover the planet-level doomsday element ‘Betrayer’. 】
————
The so-called "betrayer" refers not only to its appearance, Illidan, Mr. Dan, but also to its own identity.
It should be said that he is an engineer who participated in the design and construction of Grox. He has certain authority over Grox, and is also a member of the so-called "nobles".
His name means "genius architect", but his sister translated it as "Kayaba Akihiko", well...
The difference from other ordinary "Cyberlux-1" is that the architect's body has completely died and is just a pure digital life.
There are various reasons for this result, such as his old age when he uploaded his consciousness, and the initial method of body preservation was defective, etc.
But that doesn't matter anymore. Now he has blocked the game world I created and is preparing to "kill" or delete all players who enter.
As for the reason, it is easy to understand. These sloths were originally in a data state. Even if he does not have a body to return, it is nothing when no one else can return, not to mention he is still a "noble".
With.
But the situation is different now. Their civilization was discovered by the "Galactic Alliance", and this interstellar organization apparently refused to allow the machine or the data life saved by the machine to join, and sent personnel into the "World Tree" for assessment.
Once the assessment is passed, no matter how lazy the sloths are, they will return to their own bodies to complete the transformation from the civilization stage to the space stage.
At this time, he, a pure digital life without a body, would be inherently inferior to others, which was completely unacceptable to him who had been a nobleman for countless years.
Coincidentally, when he discovered that I, the "Alliance Assessor," planned to use the "Game of Death" to encourage and guide the sloths to escape from the machine, he took advantage of the situation and used his authority over Grox to gain control and unilaterally cut off Grox.
Contact with the "Union Envoy".
However, the above is only an analysis of well-documented facts. It is impossible to determine what the "architect" was thinking specifically and what kind of logic he used to act like this.
Of course, this "blockade" by the "Architect" is useless to me. Malefia on the Therasidore is completely unaffected, but "Illya" cannot exit to the point where she can see the "world"
The data level of "tree" is indeed locked up in a sense.
What's a little embarrassing now is that if I let Grox get out of the architect's control, then its ownership will directly become mine, including all the digital sloths saved in it. Although this does not directly destroy a
Civilization, but it will no longer be able to provide doomsday elements.
And if we use normal methods to solve it, we have to lead a group of novices to conquer the Dark Temple without killing anyone... What kind of hell difficulty is this?
[Others bring their opponents to the same level as themselves, and then use their rich experience to defeat them. Only you lower yourself to your opponent's level, and then are defeated by your experienced opponents.] The stupid system complained.
'Are you talking about yourself?' I looked at the mess in the game: 'It's just Ironman mode, no difficulty at all.'
————
Three years later.
[[Announcement] No. 1 in the world! 40 players including Kirito, Asuna, Illya, Momonga, Otonashi from [SSS Team] successfully cleared [Dark Temple]! 】
Damn Kayaba Akihiko... If you open 70, open 70, but change the number of people in the team copy to 25. Is the 40-person Dark Temple made by humans?
Fortunately, I am more skilled and have implemented some useful abilities in future versions early, such as group resurrection and so on.
[[Announcement] Kirito obtains the achievement [Warblade of Azzinoth]! 】
There is actually a black equipment one... Wait, the plot of Mr. Dan’s defeat has not ended yet, why is there an equipment box?
When he turned to look, he saw that a certain watchman was walking towards Mr. Dan who fell to the ground.
[Maiev Shadowsong: It’s over, betrayer.]
[Illidan Stormrage: Without me, you are nothing! 】
[Maev Shadowsong: Times have changed, my lord.]
Huh? Is there something wrong?
I just thought of something when I saw Maiev step forward and reach out to touch Illidan who was kneeling on the ground. The next second, Mr. Dan, or the Architect, turned into a burst of black mist and disappeared.
That's...Grox?
I didn’t expect that a mechanical servant like you, with thick eyebrows and big eyes, would sneak into the game and take away the architect’s data and imprison him? But I haven’t designed an optional version of the Demon Hunter yet.
Maiev probably noticed my gaze, and quickly raised her index finger to her mouth in a shushing gesture, then stood up straight again and pretended to be an NPC.
[[Announcement] Due to the capture of the Dark Temple, the version of ‘The Burning Crusade’ is about to end. 】
[[Announcement] The server will be closed for updates soon, and the 'Wrath of the Lich King' version will be opened. At that time, the level limit for all players will be raised to level 80, and a new area 'Northrend' and multiple new five-player dungeons will be opened.
and team copies.】
[[Announcement] In order to avoid losses, all players are requested to log off in time.]
[[Announcement] Server shutdown time is: 00:59]
At the same time as this announcement appeared, the names in the friend list became gray one after another.
[[Guild] Asuna (Swordsman): Everyone go offline as soon as possible. We must comprehensively check the problems and loopholes in this game, and at the same time evaluate our living environment. 】
[[Guild] Kirito (Swordsman): I think it’s just being used by bad guys, the game itself is pretty good...]
No one paid attention to Kirito, a game addict, and most of the team went offline without even returning to the city.
"What are your plans?" After everyone else went offline, I asked "Maev": "Your masters will probably refuse your care."
"[I want to know, what does the Galactic Alliance think of AI?]" Maiev, or rather Grox, asked.
“It’s all about the deeds but not the heart.” Since there are no outsiders present, I regained the spirit of the Alliance Ghost: “Perhaps some civilizations will be wary of you, but some civilizations that do not rely on the Internet and machinery at all will think that you are worth interacting with.
good brother."
"[Thank you]." GROX disappeared without asking any more questions.
[[Announcement] Server shutdown time is: 00:01]
————
After the server was shut down, the nobles headed by Asuna's father conducted a thorough investigation into the cause of the incident, and finally found the source of the "Architect" and blocked multiple backdoors, but failed to catch it.
himself.
Later, under the leadership of players who had participated in the game, the sloths started a trend of leaving the data space and returning to the real body. However, because the life time of data as data is too long, it is quite difficult to implement it. The initial plan is to let
The mechanical servants established a place suitable for them to live, and first "returned" a group of people to test the waters.
Moreover, since the resources on the ground have been exhausted, they seem to plan to directly build "ring worlds" as a place to live when developing new galaxies.
However, those things have nothing to do with me who is about to leave this galaxy.
[Tip: Obtain the planet-level doomsday element ‘Betrayer’. 】
[Tip: ‘Cyberlux’ was renamed ‘Grox’.]
[Tip: ‘Grox’ transferred its dominance of the planet to ‘Cyberlux-1’]
[Tip: ‘Cyberlux-1’ was renamed ‘Cyberlux’.]
[Achievement: Reignited from the Ashes, progress update: 2/5.]
'The next one is the most troublesome [First Alliance]. The road is a bit far, so get ready to go.'
[Yes, yes, what if there are too many allies and they starve to death? Do we need to go do agriculture for them? 】
'I always feel like I've forgotten something... maybe it's an illusion.'
