Global Game: Developing a Knight Clan-Chapter 54: Human Alliance Announcement and World Information

Chapter 54: Chapter 54: Human Alliance Announcement and World Information

[After three days of the game, the Human Alliance Countermeasures Bureau has analyzed the current situation of the ’True Game’ and confirmed the following information. We hope it will be useful to all Players.]

1. In the game, Players cannot tell or imply to the natives that they are "playing a game," nor can they reveal any information about Blue Star or other Players. Any Player who proactively disseminates this information will be warned by the game system on the first offense and will have their eligibility to play revoked on the second. This has been tested.

Countermeasures Bureau Reminder: If Players wish to retain their eligibility to play, please act with caution within the game.

2. In the game, Deities are real. Based on a compilation of information from the Human Empire, the Beastman Empire, the Elf Empire, and various tribes of the Sea Race, the Deities do indeed exist or have existed, although they have not made a Descent in at least three hundred years.

Countermeasures Bureau Reminder: Do not misuse the names of Deities. The probability of inviting disaster is extremely high.

3. The Elf Empire is currently discussing launching a full-scale war against the Human Countries across the Eastern Realm. This is in response to the increasingly excessive expansion of human settlements in the Eastern Realm and their egregious practice of enslaving Elves. A decision is expected in anywhere from six months to three years.

Countermeasures Bureau Reminder: All Players in this region should be mindful of their safety. If you are in possession of Elf slaves, please handle the situation with caution.

4. Northwest of the border between the Beastman Empire and the Human Countries is a deadly Ancient Battlefield. This area, covering at least one million square kilometers, is saturated with a dense necromantic aura. Large numbers of Undead have already appeared on the region’s periphery, suggesting a potential undead plague.

Countermeasures Bureau Reminder: Players in this region should be mindful of their safety, constantly monitor the number and scale of the Undead, and, if conditions permit, consider leaving the area.

5. The various coastal tribes of the Sea Race near the Oakland Continent are experiencing a decline in fish yields. There is a high probability that these Sea Race tribes will come ashore to raid human and elven coastal settlements.

Countermeasures Bureau Reminder: Players in this region should be mindful of their safety. Those with the means to do so should consider leaving the area.

6. The Truth Church in the human Eagle Kingdom may soon erupt into a full-scale civil war against the kingdom’s Royal Family. The conflict may be instigated by the Eagle Kingdom’s neighbor, the Red Rock Kingdom.

Countermeasures Bureau Reminder: Players in this region should be mindful of their safety. Those with the means to do so should consider leaving the area.

7. After three days, there are currently 5,468 active Players, with 3,155 having been eliminated. This represents a decrease of approximately 36.59% from the last count.

Countermeasures Bureau Reminder: The elimination rate has dropped significantly compared to the second Inference Day. We urge all Players to remain prudent and continue exploring all facets of the True Game.

8. The Human Alliance Countermeasures General Bureau advocates that all active Players should remain united. Provided your own interests are not compromised, do not commit selfish acts that harm other Players.

[Note: The above constitutes all information released to Players by the Human Alliance Countermeasures General Bureau at this time. Its purpose is to provide Players with a broad scope of valuable intelligence and to enhance the overall Player experience. The Human Alliance Countermeasures Bureau assumes full responsibility for the authenticity of the information published.]

[Notice: To ensure the overall Player experience, the Human Alliance Countermeasures General Bureau once again encourages Players to post information about major in-game developments, while still protecting their personal privacy. The Human Alliance Countermeasures Bureau will collect, organize, and verify all information on the forums, subsequently providing daily intelligence updates. This is all for the benefit of every active Player, and for the future of the more than ten billion citizens of the Blue Star Alliance.]

Upon entering the game forums, the pinned post Lince saw was this very announcement.

’Intelligence released by the Human Alliance Countermeasures Bureau?’

’And they’re even claiming full responsibility for its authenticity?’

’It definitely has an official feel to it.’

Lince was a bit surprised, but he understood after a moment’s thought.

After all, the Human Alliance had a lot to gain from this. It would expand their influence among the Players and even allow them to recruit more people to their side.

’With so many benefits, if I were in their shoes, I’d do the same.’

It wasn’t his place to meddle in their affairs, but Lince had to admit the Human Alliance had played their hand beautifully.

Judge the action, not the intent. Regardless of their motives, the fact that the Human Alliance was compiling intelligence and sharing it with all Players was an undeniable boon.

’How hard would it be for a single person to gather all this information?!’

’You could work yourself to death and still might not get much actionable intelligence.’

’What’s more, Players had to be online eight hours a day. Factoring in rest, how much time did that leave to sift through countless Player posts or Inference Day videos?’

Furthermore, after just one day, when the next inference began, much of the information would become outdated or irrelevant. The effort required to compile all this was therefore immense.

Therefore, after seeing the Countermeasures Bureau’s post, regardless of their underlying motives, Lince had to give them a mental thumbs-up.

But a thumbs-up was all he would give.

Still, the content of this post was extremely useful to Lince.

For example, the fact that Players couldn’t tell or imply the truth about the ’game’ to the natives, or even mention anything about the real world or other Players, on pain of punishment by the game.

This rule alone was highly significant for Lince.

’I’m so conspicuous right now. If another Player gets jealous, things could really spiral out of my control.’

Since Players could perform a Consciousness Descent into the Game World, it made sense that their very consciousness was subject to the game’s rules. It wasn’t hard to understand how the True Game could enforce this.

As expected, if the True Game was bold enough to release video compilations of Players in the real world, then it must truly possess the Power to protect the personal interests and almost all the privacy of every Player.

With this one rule, the True Game had truly thought of everything, leaving no loopholes for malicious Players to exploit.

Aside from this first piece of information, other parts were also somewhat useful to Lince.

For instance, the news of the Elf Empire preparing for a major move might buy his Swamp Territory some time to develop. After all, if a full-scale war against an Alien Race broke out in the Eastern Realm, the Eagle Kingdom would undoubtedly have to divert elite troops to help form the Human Alliance Army and confront the Elf Empire.

As for the threats from the Ancient Battlefield of the Undead and the coastal raids by the Sea Race, that information wasn’t specific enough to be of much use, but it was still good to know.

Lince completely ignored the part about Deities being real.

The number of eliminated Players had decreased significantly, but that was to be expected.

After the high elimination rates of the first two days, the other Players must have learned to be more cautious. Still, three thousand eliminated Players was by no means a small number.

’Perhaps the second wave of closed beta access will be granted after the next two or three Inference Days.’

Lince felt a bit helpless about that, but there was nothing he could say.

His attention then returned to the sixth item on the list—the news of the conflict between the Truth Church and the Eagle Kingdom’s Royal Family.

’This conflict between the Church’s authority and the Royal Family’s power involves a neighboring country? One that’s actively instigating it?’

This was something Lince hadn’t expected.

Perhaps after he logged in tomorrow morning, he could have York send someone to investigate it discreetly.

But York was just a low-ranking Baron in a Duchy, after all. In short, he couldn’t get his hopes up.

It didn’t have a huge impact, though. It was enough that he was aware of it. Besides, any internal strife among the Human Race was beneficial to him, so he didn’t really care.

Also, the more Lince thought about the sixth item, the more something seemed off.

’This message... it’s almost as if the Countermeasures Bureau is deliberately sending me a message, isn’t it?’

’Have I caught their attention?’

’Are they trying to curry favor with me?’

Lince was confused, and his suspicion only intensified after he browsed through the currently popular threads on the forum.

Nothing!

This time, even though he was so conspicuous—even becoming the nominal number one Player—the Countermeasures Bureau hadn’t posted anything about recruitment or even tried to dig up information on him.

’It’s way too quiet, man.’

Of course, there were plenty of threads on the forums from other Players trying to track him down.

At this, Lince quickly formed a hypothesis, and he immediately entered his private chat group.