Victor couldn’t believe his old online friend was still stuck on this question — it left him a bit speechless. Just how perverted was he?
However, there was a grain of truth to this thought. Magi, by virtue of their significantly extended lifespans and immense powers, stood at the zenith of this world’s hierarchy. Yet, such a broad spectrum of power also meant a wide spectrum of behaviors. Some Magi lived lavish lives, succumbing to corruption and indulgence. In their pursuit of pleasure, they trample upon taboos without a second thought. This was especially the case for Bloodline Magi, as some strange and often bizarre hybrids were born because of their union with other extraordinary life forms.
Among Magi, homosexuality was neither an anomaly nor a rarity. The unconventional nature of their magical abilities even allowed some to transition between genders, intentionally or accidentally. There existed among them unique individuals who could seamlessly shift between male and female forms, displaying attraction to both genders with equal fervor. Victor himself had witnessed an incident where an Alchemist — a subset of Magi adept at concocting potent potions and elixirs — underwent a gender transformation due to a botched experiment.
Undeniably, to the uninitiated eye, the Magus community was the most perverted and diverse community in existence.
Shifting his attention, Victor checked the reaction channel, which had been flooded with a continuous stream of incoming messages.
“Is this game that awesome?”
“I’m sold! Can I pre-order ten copies?!”
“Wait, if this tech is real, isn’t it better to use it for work?”
“Haha, this guy must be out of his mind! Still talking about work!”
“Seriously? You guys are falling for this nonsense?”
“I’m skeptical too. Give me closed alpha access, then I might believe it!”
Among the flurry of comments, many expressed doubt about the game’s existence. It was only natural, as skepticism was a part of human nature. Victor understood their disbelief; if someone had approached him with such claims before he experienced it himself, he would likely spit at the other party.
CyberWarlock (GM): “Apologies for my delayed response; I was immersed in work and didn’t notice the group’s activity. Storm Bringer’s summary is quite accurate, and I’d like to provide some additional insights.”
Victor had reviewed what Storm had shared and knew it was time to address a few of the concerns he raised. Of course, this was done in the game-reviews channel, as an admin must have given him access so he could post where other members wouldn’t interrupt him.
CyberWarlock (GM): “First of all, it’s about player stats. This game prioritizes the existence of magic above all else, so what makes players distinct from each other is their aptitude for magic and elemental affinity, which are set at random. As for HP and MP bar, rest assured that we are actively exploring their implementation to ensure seamless integration.”
The notion of incorporating an MP bar within the attribute panel was feasible due to the quantifiable nature of infused mana. If Victor used himself as an example, his reserve of 148 infused mana allowed him to cast approximately a dozen or so Aleph-tier spells. This provided a quantifiable measure for tracking infused mana consumption per spell.
Conversely, the concept of an HP bar posed a challenge, given its non-quantifiable nature. But the Shadowlink Mark could monitor a player's physical condition, which may allow for a pseudo health bar to be created. Victor also considered adding mana aptitude and other attributes to the status screen in the future.
CyberWarlock (GM): “Moving on to the topic of the death penalty. Storm’s guess is largely accurate. Alongside a one-day respawn cooldown and a deduction of merit points, players will also experience a partial setback in their meditation progress. It’s important to remember that this game bestows players with a form of ‘experience points’ by logging out from the game, which is in the form of practicing a meditation technique. The process will take several hours at a minimum since we want players to have a healthy life balance.”
Victor wasn’t entirely certain about the extent of progress loss upon death, pondering whether players would regress to the beginning of their current stage or suffer some other penalty. However, he conjectured that as players advanced to higher ranks of progression, the respawn cooldown would likely extend, potentially spanning weeks or even months, because of the increasing difficulty of incubating powerful bodies.
He also considered the fact that if all the incubation pods were occupied, dead players would have to wait until the current incubation process finished, as there wouldn’t be any spots for them to use. Well, he figured that could be addressed when it became necessary. For now, this much explanation should suffice.
CyberWarlock (GM): “Regarding character appearance and gender customization, I regret to inform you that this feature won’t be feasible. Similar to the unpredictability of reincarnation, the in-game body is an adaptation of your real-world physique with appropriate modifications to align with the game’s setting. If you are not satisfied with the appearance of the character, options like magic elixirs or transformative magic can be considered. Don’t worry, this enhancement is slated for future implementation within the game.”
This was something that Victor could potentially manipulate if he wanted to, but he didn’t want to fall down the rabbit hole of dealing with the potential risks associated with causing gender identity issues or the ensuing public backlash…
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
But then Victor realized one oversight: There were all sorts of people with all kinds of genders living on Earth, especially in the US. The more the game developed and opened up to other countries, the worse this problem became if Victor didn’t open up options for them. As a result, he would later amend the form to include these genders as well. It was not that Victor was in support of such a thing, but he didn't want to cause any trouble down the line.
However, if players of primary genders were insistent on this matter as well, Victor wouldn’t stop them, but they would have to strive for the options he had laid out, which wouldn’t be simple even for him. As for the possibility of having coordination problems because of differences in physiological structures? They would need to manage those on their own.
Storm Bringer (Acolyte): “Oh come on! I want it now!!”
(Storm Bringer has been timed out by the server owner for 10 minutes.)
ZeroXScyth (Acolyte): “Stick to the topic, please!”
SuperNovaX (Acolyte): “Understood, server owner.”
MikeIsHandome1000x (Acolyte): “Hahaha! Classic!”
PleaseBugMeNot (Acolyte): “Could we please focus on Cyber’s input?”
Victor found the situation quite amusing but continued typing without interruption.
CyberWarlock (GM): “As discussed, there is a hidden amity system in the game, and you can build relationships with NPCs. Now, don’t get indecent ideas rolling — doing anything 18+ with them will result in a ban.”
PleaseBugMeNot (Acolyte): “Crap! You must be reading my thoughts!”
(PleaseBugMeNot has been timed out by the server owner for 10 minutes.)
Holy cow! Zero’s no-nonsense approach to muting is strict, but a real time-saver.
Unbothered, Victor continued his explanation.
CyberWarlock (GM): What I mean by this is that the player’s behavior will affect the NPC’s view of them. By fostering positive relationships with certain NPCs, players could yield extra rewards and potentially trigger hidden missions or unlock unique class paths!
Hidden missions and special classes? These aspects would undoubtedly grab the attention of the active members, especially the closed-alpha players.
On top of that, the amity system would encourage them to be bootlickers. This, in turn, would rein in players from acting out of line and thus prevent them from sabotaging the progress of the academy. To top it all off, they wouldn’t have any scruples about doing this since they were just licking the boots of NPCs and artificial intelligence, and they would even be rewarded for their licking!
“Heh, that’s quite the intriguing twist, don’t you think?” Victor muttered aloud.
“Who are you talking to?” Lizbeth gave him a strange look.
Victor brushed off Lizbeth’s question and thought for a moment, but there was nothing else to point out. The academy was too poor right now; aside from his repertoire of spells and magic knowledge, he could fork out a few mana crystals and platinum coins, which wouldn’t last long. Spending AP on such items seemed wasteful, so he could only offer players empty promises.
CyberWarlock (GM): “Do any of you have questions or suggestions you’d like to share?”
Gathering player feedback was of utmost importance. If circumstances permitted, he could consider implementing their ideas. If not, he could placate them with vague promises and tell them he would add them in the future.
MikeIsHandome1000x (Acolyte): “I’m curious, what can we exchange merit points for? I couldn’t find any exchange options in the game.”
Anticipating this question, Victor swiftly typed his response. “We are currently working on designing the in-game economic system. Our aim is to create a fully immersive and realistic in-game economy. It will include everything from production to circulation. This way, both life-skill players and combat-oriented players can truly enjoy the game’s economic dynamics. While the in-game academy will have its own production capabilities, it will largely rely on resources from nearby settlements for sustainability.”
No matter how good mortal craftsmen and builders were, they couldn’t match the golems and undead slaves that Magi commanded. Given that players needed to focus on meditation and enhancing their magical prowess, Victor was hoping to rely on the locals for various academy projects to some degree, including the procurement of essential materials. After all, building an entire technological infrastructure from the ground up would require an extensive timeframe, and Victor lacked the patience for such a lengthy process.
CyberWarlock (GM): “I’d like to take this opportunity to address another related matter. We recognize that the current list of available missions lacks diversity and may have some prerequisites missing in this early phase. To that end, we are actively working on addressing this internally, and you can expect a more varied and comprehensive missions list when you next log into the game.”
Just as Victor had said previously, there was no way to create a perfect system from the get-go. That was why outside perspectives were so valuable. Hence, it was why he encouraged feedback from the players.
CyberWarlock (GM): “Oh, one more thing. In-game changes made in the closed-alpha version are permanent and will be carried out in the subsequent versions. Unless a specific issue arises, there will be no server reset. This also includes your character profile and progress, so please be aware of this.”
Storm Bringer (Acolyte): “Holy shit! This game’s awesome!”
PleaseBugMeNot (Acolyte): “Woohoo! I won’t be losing the progress I made!”
Both of these players reacted hysterically as soon as their timed-out period was finished.
Seeing that the five players had nothing more to add, he asked Storm to put his review onto the game’s official forum, where Lizbeth, acting as the moderator, would pin the post. She had enhanced the official website of the game in her spare time, and it now had not only an official forum where players who had registered could post threads but also an official wiki and update page.
“Master, you sure know how to use every given chance to make me work…” Lizbeth quipped, a self-deprecating smile gracing her features. “Shouldn’t the rewards match the workload?”
Indeed, she was more than just an assistant and substitute for Victor; she served as the main programmer, designer, administrator, and game master. Now she even took on the role of part-time forum moderator. All in all, this versatile fairy donned many hats.
“Alright, alright. For your trouble, I’ll give you some of the mangoes from the gacha I’ve been saving up and whip up some tasty grilled magical beast meat for you, if we have the—”
“It’s a deal!” she said, cutting Victor off and giving him a stern look. “And remember, a promise with a fairy is unbreakable!”
Uhh, she’s pretty tractable in that regard. Well, credit where credit is due, Victor thought, returning to his holographic screen.
Noticing a flurry of friend requests and inquiries flooding his Discord inbox, Victor realized many users were seeking his attention. Some wanted to buy access to the closed alpha, while others sought information about the game or even guidance on game development. Responding to each inquiry individually would be time-consuming, prompting Victor to delegate the responsibility of handling the more serious ones to Lizbeth.
Satisfied that he had gotten all the information out there that he wanted to for now, Victor turned his attention to adjusting the status screen and available missions for players, as he had promised.