System Announcement
I was momentarily surprised. I thought, "Oh, maybe the system will give us some information," and I relaxed a bit, hoping to get some clarification from the game.
The murmurs and conversations ceased completely, and the crowd fell into absolute silence, everyone anxiously waiting for the words that the hologram of that moderator had to say.
Everyone longed to hear that they were working to fix the problem or that it was just a first-day glitch, at least that's what everyone hoped for.
However, what happened next was exactly what I feared the most.
The administrator operating the skin let out a heavy sigh, sending shivers down my spine and the other players, who must have also felt a wave of nervousness.
"Is that a GM?" someone around me asked.
"It seems like it, but it's dreadful," replied a girl.
Numerous whispers like those could be heard, but much of the people remained silent, waiting.
Then, the GM's hologram moved to silence all of us. His hand was even worse: long and bony, with three fingers that disgusted me.
After everyone quieted down, the man spoke.
"Players, welcome to my world, welcome to Galactic Conquest."
At first, I didn't fully understand. His world? He's a GM, so he can manipulate the system however he pleases. He can do whatever he wants, so why is he now saying it's his world?
I was dumbfounded, unable to process it all. The GM continued to speak.
"My name is Logan Bell. Right now, I'm the only person who can control this world."
"W-what...?" I murmured, astounded by his statement.
I remained rigid, in a state of shock. Maybe, in real life, I was left breathless due to the shock.
It's Logan Fucking Bell!
If I were gay, he'd be my man. I'm a damn fanboy of his.
This person who was a game designer, a lawyer, and a physics genius. The damn man is the sole responsible for bringing this game to life. It took him 15 years. He started as a small company, and now he had 10 game companies in the palm of his hand.
He was the game director and the one who developed the Yoritaka headsets. He's a damn genius.
I know his damn life, from when he was a child to when he entered university. His progress, even his interviews. I know everything about him.
As a player, I had immense respect for him.
However, I never saw him involved in the tests that were done for the news or in the GM role. This left me with a big question: why had he now become a GM?
I tried to exert myself to the maximum with my few neurons to understand his words, but it seemed increasingly difficult to make sense of what he was saying, and as if it were a bad joke, all my effort went to waste when he spoke.
"It seems like all of you have discovered that the log-out button has disappeared from the menu. Well, I'll inform you that this is not an error or a glitch. It's part of the 'Galactic Conquest' system."
"Um... Part of the... System? You mean it's not an error?" someone murmured beside me.
Without giving time to think, the hologram continued speaking with its commanding voice, silencing the murmurs.
"Until you find the planet of the yoters and defeat the final boss, you won't be able to log out voluntarily."
The mention of the planet raised new questions in my mind. We didn't have ships or clues about its location.
But what Logan said next erased my doubts and increased panic among the players.
"Furthermore, the Yoritaka headset is locked. Dismantling or interrupting the game from the real world is strictly prohibited. If you attempt these things..."
There was a moment of silence, and the silence of 40 thousand people was terrifying. It was astounding how a few simple words could hush and terrify the entire crowd of players.
"Your Yoritaka headset's signal sensors will emit a strong electromagnetic pulse, destroying your brains and halting all vital functions."
I looked around in shock, just like the others who were as bewildered as me.
It was as if my mind was trying to deny the facts, trying to deny that my thoughts were correct, and that we were trapped in a deadly game with 40 thousand people. Logan's brief but lethal statement left me frozen and with my heart racing.
Destroying our brains...
In simpler words, killing us.
Any user who turned off their headset or unlocked the seal and removed it would be murdered... That's basically what Logan was informing us.
People in the crowd started murmuring among themselves. They didn't panic, scream, or cry. They were like me, in shock, trying to grasp that all these statements were real.
A man around me began to laugh, a dry and emotionless laughter. "Haha... What is this fool saying? It's impossible for the headsets to kill us. Besides, you're not Logan Bell, he'd never be stupid enough to create a deadly game and release it on the market, right?" His voice cracked with his last sentence, showing that he, like all of us, was terrified.
But this was possible. The hundreds of signal sensors in the headset emitted small electromagnetic pulses to send signals to your brain. Logan himself had explained it.
The headset was like a microwave; if there was enough power, it was possible that the headset could make the water particles in our brains vibrate and fry them with the heat of friction.
It was the same situation that was seen in "Sword Art Online."
"It may be possible that it happens, but he must be bluffing," I spoke to myself, although some people managed to hear me. "Unless the headset is unplugged, but..." I fell silent.
"But... what?" a girl with tears in her eyes asked me, but this time another player responded.
"40 percent of the headset's weight is the battery, but all this is absurd! What if there's a power outage or something?!" he said, losing his senses in desperation.
Logan spoke as if he had heard the man.
"Specifically, moving away from an external power source for 10 minutes, being out of the system for more than two hours (the Internet), or any attempt to unlock, dismantle, or destroy the headset. If any of these conditions are met, the brain destruction sequence will be initiated. These conditions were presented and approved by the government and the public through mass media in the outside world. By the way, there have already been several cases where relatives or friends, ignoring the warnings, tried to forcibly remove the Yoritaka headset, and the result was as promised..."
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He took a short breath before continuing.
"...Unfortunately, I must report that 739 people have already left the game and the real world, forever."
Long, sharp screams could be heard in the crowd, but most players couldn't believe it. They couldn't accept that all of this was happening, and some clung to hope, refusing to believe Logan Bell's shocking revelations.
The tension in the air was palpable as the reality of their situation settled into their minds.
I tried to deny it, to think that all of this was a cruel joke from the game's creator and that he would soon clarify everything. But deep down, an uncomfortable sense of fear was taking hold of me, and the reality of the situation was becoming increasingly difficult.
My body began to shake violently from nervousness. My thoughts tried to say one thing, but my body wouldn't respond.
"739 people have died..."
That phrase echoed in my head as a reminder that I had been right from the beginning, that this game had always been potentially deadly.
If what Logan said was true, had more than 700 people already lost their lives?
Chills ran down my spine as the reality of the situation hit hard.
The expressions on the faces of the other players ranged from fear to despair.
But what did we know? The deceased could have been beta testers, parents just looking for a moment of relaxation after work, children, or even women who just wanted to have a good time.
Their brains were fried...
Was that what Logan was trying to tell us? Was he warning us? Damn it.
A girl in front of me lost her composure and started screaming.
"You're just trying to scare us! How could Logan do such a thing to his players? He wouldn't be capable of that. Stop with the jokes and let us out of here. We don't have time for your shitty meeting. We're not up for this disgusting prank. I don't want to play your sick opening. This is just a simple welcome event... right?" She fell to her knees on the verge of tears.
Inside my head, I was the same, wanting to punch that GM. I thought it was a sick game and that all of this was just a joke...
But as if he wanted to kill all our hopes of getting out of here, Logan spoke.
"Players, there's no need to worry about the bodies you've left behind on the other side. At this very moment, all the televisions, radios, and the Internet, absolutely everything, are desperately reporting this situation, including the deaths. The danger of having your helmets removed has disappeared. In a matter of moments, making use of the two hours outside the system, you will be transferred to hospitals or specialized institutions and given the best treatment. You can relax now... and focus on completing the game."
"It can't be...."
Then, deep cries of despair and tears echoed everywhere. Men, women, and teenagers who were desperate to get out collapsed into deep despair.
And finally, I lost control.
"What the hell are you saying?! Do you want us to play your damn creation?! Do you want us to sacrifice our lives playing a shitty game?!"
I couldn't stop shouting as I glared at that hologram, my breath was fast, and my helplessness only grew.
How could I be so stupid to think this wouldn't happen in real life? I was too naive, and now I'm paying the damn consequences.
"This is no longer a game!" Logan announced with a calm voice.
"I request that you understand this entire situation, players. Galactic Conquest is no longer just a simple game; it's a second reality... From now on, any way to survive in the game won't work. The moment your HP reaches zero, your avatar will cease to exist, and in the real world..."
I already knew what he was going to say.
"You'll have brain death."
A shiver ran through my body as I looked at my health bar.
100/100 HP, that was my life energy.
But if it reaches zero, I'll die. If I have a bad day, miscalculate, or just have bad luck and that little bar hits zero, I'll die... electromagnetic waves will reach my brain, and I'll die. My brain will be fried.
I can't imagine what would have happened if I had just dived into the game without knowing this. God, I would have died.
Plus, beta testers said the game was very difficult; they barely liberated a planet in the month they played. That the combat was very realistic, and you'd die with just 3 shots.
This guy wants us to complete the game... God.
An RPG is for dying, dying as many times as necessary to learn, to learn from your mistakes, level up, and acquire skills. But here, you can't. Once I die, will I die? And the worst part is I can't exit the game; I'm forced to play this deadly game until it's finished.
Perhaps it'll take us months... even years to finish this crap. I could die in that time.
"I won't allow that shit..." I muttered to myself.
Who in their right mind would go out to play this deadly game? The answer is no one. If you lose, you die, so everyone will want to stay in this city, everyone will want to survive until someone finds a solution.
"I know what's going on in your little heads," Logan said. "Staying in a safe city until it's all sorted out. But I'm afraid that will never happen. You must play, explore space, and fight to complete the game, so you can be released. And I give you my word that it will happen."
The 40,000 players fell silent.
"Reconquer the lost planets and explore beyond what's been explored until you find my coordinates. Find the coordinates of my creation and destroy it. Complete the game, and you will be freed."
Completing the game? Is he saying that we have to form armies, fight against a powerful extraterrestrial race, and conquer planets to find some coordinates?
"There are over 400 planets..." I muttered.
"We're going to take years!" shouted a desperate player. "How the hell are we going to do that? None of us here knows how to play! Besides, the same beta testers said it took them a month to conquer a planet."
When they opened the beta, they only selected 2,000 people to test the game, 2,000 out of 40,000 people. And when they went to the first planet, they spent day and night for a month until they managed to conquer a planet.
The tense silence turned into murmurs among the players. Most were terrified, and I doubt anyone wants to leave here.
I made an effort to compose myself and look back at that hologram.
I would have to complete this damn game, or I could never return home. I wouldn't be able to see my family, my sister, or my mother again. If I die, I won't be able to live a life. I won't be able to have a family.
If my HP bar reaches zero, everything will be over. Everything will go to hell, and my brain will end up fried by electromagnetic pulses.
Just a few hours ago, I was sharing time with my family, celebrating my birthday, eating cake, and laughing.
Will I never have those moments again?
Will I never be able to spend time with my family?
Is this my reality now? Trapped in a game until it's completed?
"And one more thing," he declared, "the customization system was more than an ornament, to see the creativity of some, but I'm sorry, I don't like them." He snapped his fingers with his right hand.
More murmurs filled the air, but the vast majority of players until suddenly the avatars of the players began to be enveloped in a white light, covering them completely.
I looked at myself, but I realized that I wasn't being illuminated, and some players around me weren't either.
"What's happening?" I asked aloud, but I was only met with "I don't know."
It took 2 or 3 seconds for everything to return to normal, but now everyone's faces were different, more... real? Then I began to analyze those words that Logan said: "creativity," "didn't like." What sense does that make?
"That's better," said the hologram with a cynical smile. "In case you have any doubts, your avatars no longer exist, now you are just yourselves, just like in real life, and there won't be any voice modulators either, so you can be more aware that you are in a second reality."
That was bordering on the cynical and nonsensical, causing more panic among people, making them see that they are just ordinary people who can die at any moment. Damn bastard.
"That's why that light didn't affect me," I told myself, remembering that I chose my real-world appearance.
The helmet had high-intensity signal sensors covering my entire head, so it could not only tell what our brains looked like but also our faces.
Also, for some reason, I knew the height of the players who, prior to the change, averaged 180 centimeters, and now the vast majority had noticeably decreased or increased. I had entered my height, which was 175 centimeters, so it didn't change at all.
And that's not all; their body builds also changed. The build and contours of some players became larger.
All of this was easy to explain, as the helmet, when you first put it on, requested calibration. It asked for certain things here and there, and that's how it could determine your real body.
"He told us that this is the reality," he said, referring to Logan Bell and pointing to his avatar and the life bar representing his life in the game.
We were a perfect copy of ourselves, reflected in our avatars in this new and frightening reality.
Amid sobs, someone asked in distress, "B-but why is he doing this? Why us?".
And as always, the man did not disappoint and simply spoke with an undisturbed and confident voice:
"You're wondering, why would I, the great Logan Bell, ruin Galactic Conquest? Why am I doing this? Or you might also be thinking, is it a terrorist attack? But the truth is, it's not."
His voice showed no remorse, not a hint of emotion. He spoke seriously and emotionlessly.
"There's no particular reason," he continued, "First, I was inspired by that Sword Art Online novel. I found it fascinating how 10 thousand players were trapped in a video game. But later, there was only one purpose: to observe. To observe how ordinary people like you survive in a game. It's simply fascinating."
After a short pause, he spoke again, though many were lost in their own thoughts due to the panic in the air. Most of the players didn't want to die.
"Now, I've finished the welcome to Galactic Conquest," he said. "A manual has been added to your inventories, in any case... Good luck, players."
The last sentence sounded weak, more like an echo, and as if it were a bad joke, the hologram finally disappeared. However, now another hologram appeared, displaying a message.
And so we're back to the beginning.