Carl followed Irene to the academy's conference hall.
Though it was called a conference hall, the overall atmosphere felt more like sothing that could be used as a witch trial court.
The seating was arranged in a circular formation, with the Headmaster standing at the very center as the speaker. Even the windows were made of stained glass with a strong religious style.
Carl pulled Irene along and found a seat in the farthest corner of the room.
As the lowest-ranking three-star character, he had no intention of getting involved in the popularity competition among the five-star characters.
Although the various things he planned to do in the future would definitely not remain hidden from Oath's operators, during the early stages, it was better to stay low and observe.
"Eight five-star characters, thirteen four-star characters, fifteen three-star characters. All thirty-six chosen ones are present. Please take your seats and maintain silence."
Human.
The Headmaster, who looked strikingly similar to Gandalf, suddenly spoke from the center of the hall.
The mont Carl's gaze landed on him, he imdiately realized sothing.
This man was, to be precise, a human from the real world.
The Headmaster was part of Oath's operations team, or perhaps even a ga planner.
He had disguised himself as the Headmaster of Elysium Academy and had co to instruct the ga characters on how to interact with the players who would soon arrive.
Because humans in the real world could not interfere with Elysium's operation, the relationship between the ga company that created Oath and the characters within it was not that of creator and creation.
It was closer to a company and its employees, or perhaps more like an idol agency and its idols.
Ga companies in this world taught characters how to better interact with players.
More importantly, they taught them how to get players to spend more money on them.
Thinking about it this way, it really did resemble the relationship between an idol agency and idols.
Players spending money to pull characters was like voting for them.
The cruel part about mobile gas, however, was that no matter how much players spent to pull a popular character, after a year or two, that character would fall out of favor and be abandoned by the developers.
Only those with exceptionally high popularity might receive an SP form.
After confirming everyone was present, the Headmaster began the eting.
"Tomorrow, the Saviors you have been waiting for will arrive in this world. The academy will activate a multi-worldline magical barrier, and each Savior will possess an independent worldline."
"I believe you have already set up secondary consciousnesses to act on your behalf, but I still hope you will practice dividing your primary consciousness into multiple parts as much as possible."
At this point, the Headmaster was explaining one of Oath's key features.
Oath was not an MMO where all players shared the sa map. Its advertised feature was a single-player exclusive open world.
Of course, the ga still had co-op systems, even though the player limit had not yet been implented. Players could invite a large number of friends to explore together if they wished.
Therefore, the characters present were not exclusive companions to any single player. After launch, they would have countless versions of themselves across different worldlines.
However, their main consciousness could not manage all those versions.
So the developers provided secondary artificial intelligences that perfectly mimicked their personalities and behaviors.
For example, Carl's main consciousness could currently only split into three parts, aning he could only interact with three players at the sa ti.
If other players encountered "Carl" in the ga, they would only be interacting with a pre-programd NPC version.
Of course, Carl could switch his consciousness into any of those NPC versions at any ti.
The five-star characters, being stronger, could divide their consciousness into more parts, but even that had limits.
So they would likely prioritize building relationships with influential players, such as opinion leaders, big spenders, and top-tier players.
After finishing the explanation about gaplay chanics, soone in the hall suddenly raised a hand.
Carl looked over. It was a burly warrior-type character.
If he rembered correctly, this man was one of the seven standard five-star characters, serving as an Annihilation role.
"I have had a question since enrolling," the man said. "Headmaster, why did you give such an important limited position to the weakest and least experienced among the eight of us?"
As soon as he asked, the other six standard five-star characters also turned toward the Headmaster, waiting for an answer.
Although Elysium granted these chosen characters extraordinary powers to match their five-star status, many of them had already trained in such powers or even fought in real battles.
Unlike soone like Irene, who had been forcibly placed into the gacha pool and was still inexperienced.
From Carl's perspective, this Annihilation five-star was the strongest present, both in power and presence. He had every right to ask that question.
Why was the first limited character not him?
The Headmaster gave a simple answer that shut him down completely.
"Because you are male."
"The Saviors arriving are mostly male. I do not believe a male character like you has enough appeal to make them spend large amounts of Contract Stones."
"Pfft."
Carl nearly burst out laughing but quickly suppressed it and put on a serious expression.
The five-star Annihilation character's face turned extrely ugly.
Carl also wanted to complain. So male characters are discriminated against too? When will male characters finally rise in mobile gas?
But his real thought was that Oath's developers at least had so sense.
At least they did not make the first limited five-star a male character and sabotage the ga's launch.
"Then what about ?"
Another voice sounded from the side of the hall.
It belonged to a mature-looking woman in mage robes.
Carl rembered she was a five-star standard character in the Arcane role.
With a hint of dissatisfaction and sarcasm, she said, "I am also female. As the leader of the Church's mage corps, I am clearly stronger than that deputy knight from the Empire's Dawn Knights."
"Why give such an important limited position to that little girl instead?"
She indeed had the potential to be a limited character.
Unfortunately, the Headmaster's next sentence nearly made her choke.
"Because you are too old."
"Our research shows that young girl-type characters are the most effective at stimulating Saviors to spend Contract Stones. You are already around thirty-five or thirty-six. Many Saviors do not like older won like you."
"Headmaster…"
She was visibly angered and about to snap.
"Everyone, please calm down. There is no need to argue over my charm."
A refreshing voice suddenly drew everyone's attention, including Carl's.
The speaker was Oath's first limited character, the five-star Annihilation, Radiant Dawn Knight, Hasumi.
Just as the Headmaster had said, she was a perfect beautiful girl character.
Soft golden hair, flawless features, and a modified court knight outfit designed with a more feminine style, complete with a skirt and absolute territory.
Combined with her confident and radiant aura, she gave off a sense of freshness, charm, and brilliance.
Carl could confidently say she was the kind of character even female players would call "wife."
"Our goal is to eliminate the Calamity alongside the Saviors. Though we serve different nations, once I gain the Saviors' support, I will ensure they save everyone."
Her speech was full of confidence, as if she already believed she would beco the most popular character in Oath.
At this mont, the Headmaster stepped in to smooth things over.
"The Church need not worry. The next limited character will be your Saintess, and the story will provide plenty of spotlight monts to attract the Saviors."
On the surface, this sounded like balance.
But in Carl's eyes, it was already a death sentence for Hasumi.
He could easily imagine that from the perspective of a planner who knew future updates, there were many more limited characters waiting to be sold.
To that planner, even this highly anticipated launch limited character was just a product nearing its expiration date. Sell as much as possible while the hype lasts.
Poor Hasumi had no idea what awaited her.
Hopefully, when she saw future limited characters with stronger stats and flashier effects, she would not end up crying under her blanket, complaining that gas were supposed to be about gaplay, not effects.
(To be continued.)
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