Chapter 279: Chapter 5: War Considerations, The Power of the Ancient Dragon God

A situation developing on the lunar surface wasn’t a major concern for the Players.

However, once the master AI terminal focused all its processing power on the home planet, the Players lost most of their capacity for information gathering.

After all, any Octopus whose behavior became inconsistent would be the first to die in a world blanketed by AI surveillance.

Thus, once the Players had revealed their existence, there was little need to continue gathering intelligence.

After all, the target had already revealed itself.

Therefore, as massive numbers of Starships began to take up positions in the outer orbit of the Intelligent Mechanism Star, and especially after the giant mechanical Octopus appeared on the moon, the True Game immediately issued a new announcement.

[Urgent Notice: As the master AI for this game map has discovered the presence of Players, the current initial map testing and reconnaissance mission has been canceled.]

[Player ’Ear-tingling Sunshine’, for violating the Player code of conduct by exposing the existence of Players, is hereby stripped of all Player privileges and game eligibility. We advise all Players to take note.]

(Ear-tingling Sunshine: A High Tier Player who played a character from the Oakland Continent’s Elf Race. Now delisted from the game and stripped of all real-world Abilities.)

The sudden announcement stunned all the Players.

After fifty-two years in the Game World, many High Tier Players from Blue Star had also gained permission to enter the game on Inference Day.

As a result, many of these Players had long since begun to treat their lives in the Game World as a second life—or even their primary one.

So, over these fifty-two years, due to the ’hands-off’ nature of the True Game, some Players had all but forgotten its rules.

Some High-End Players, possessing great strength and power in the Game World, had even grown arrogant and conceited.

And this was the inevitable result.

This sudden incident was clearly meant to make an example out of someone.

Naturally, this caused an uproar among Players on the game forums.

"Damn, what kind of moron is this? How dare they reveal our identity as Players in the Game World, especially during a war between civilizations?"

"Total clown. They were probably caught by the master AI and, thinking they couldn’t really die, got all high and mighty with their Player status and let it slip. We’ve seen plenty of people like that in the real world."

"And they were a High Tier, too. I’m speechless."

"High Tier? You think that’s rare? We have nearly six hundred thousand High Tier Players. They’re a dime a dozen now."

"These days, whether it’s the Oakland Continent or the Star Empire, is there any department with real power—in any race, any nation, or any social class—that we Players haven’t almost completely monopolized?"

"Remember when a single Human Race Kingdom was lucky to have a hundred High Tier individuals? And now?" 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

"If it weren’t for the various Royal Families and Emperor Races being Divine Descendants, and if the Chief hadn’t established the Player Association in the Star Empire, I bet a lot of people would’ve tried to become a King or Emperor just for the fun of it long ago."

"..."

The situation was indeed just as these Players described.

The Player population had swelled to enormous proportions.

Six hundred thousand High Tier Players—a number the old factions of the Oakland Continent could never have imagined.

If these six hundred thousand High Tier Players were to gather, forget the one thousand three hundred-plus Saint Tier Players—even a Demigod would likely be overwhelmed and drowned by the sheer drain on their Magic Power.

But things were still under control.

Because Player behavior was limited by the rules of the True Game.

Furthermore, with over twenty Deities having already reawakened on the Oakland Continent, plus the existence of the Players’ Professional Association in the Star Empire, the Player community itself did not pose a significant threat to stability.

Besides, Players were people too.

Especially after they had come to see the Game World as their second life.

They had to consider the safety of their own families, clans, and even children. As such, the High-End Players of this era all had their own core interests and territories to protect.

A lot can happen in fifty-two years. Any remotely proactive Player could have had a whole brood of children by now.

Thus, the Players of today were already thoroughly integrated into every facet of life on the Oakland Continent and even within the Star Empire.

They each had their own lives to live, and it had become very difficult for other Players to incite them into making trouble.

In fact, they were often even more guarded against their fellow Players from Blue Star.

Therefore, in the current state of affairs, while Players influenced every aspect of both worlds, they were also a crucial force for stabilizing them.

As a result, the mindset of many Players had long since changed.

They were no longer just Players, but were truly ’people’ living in two worlds.

They themselves were a privileged class, with the potential to climb even higher—perhaps even to achieve Ascension to Divinity.

Therefore, maintaining the stability of the worlds was, paradoxically, in the common interest of the vast majority of Players.

As for ’rebelling,’ that was even more of a joke.

Rebel against whom? The Chief? Or themselves?

Thus, after this mess, every Player had some choice words for the one who leaked the information.

"Damn it, it hasn’t even been ten days, has it? Who knows how many points the recon mission was worth, but I bet the payout was going to suck anyway."

"It was probably worth next to nothing. It’s just recon, after all. The real rewards come during the actual war phase."

"To be honest, even though they’re an Interstellar Civilization, they don’t seem all that impressive."