May you bear witness.
STELLA!!
~Arash
....
Although the script was unsigned, Carl could not tell whether Kuro had written it.
Still, the script itself was incredibly powerful. It portrayed the countless sacrifices the Abyssal Knights had made while defending the border.
Even after the plague corrupted them into monsters, they remained the final line of defense, holding back the creatures that tried to invade the city.
If their hands twisted into claws and they could no longer wield swords, they used those claws to tear their enemies apart. If fangs pierced through their helts, they ripped off their armor and sank their teeth into the monsters before them.
They would rather beco monsters themselves than let the people they protected face even the slightest threat.
The story was tragic, heroic, and deeply stirring. It also included flashbacks to an earlier age, telling the tale of the First Commander of the Abyssal Knights, who continued guarding the last line of defense even after becoming a monster, never allowing it to fall.
Finally, the story returned to Anan with the familiar but effective line, "I'm beyond saving. Kill ."
Then ca the player's final response.
"Leave the rest to ."
After that, the player would stand alone against the surging tide of the Calamity Plague. It was the perfect setup for players to show off, get fired up, and feel completely satisfied.
And when it ca to selling a character, the script pulled no punches. First, Anan's banner art showed her current appearance, which was her childhood form. Her aloof but secretly caring personality, combined with the appearance of a beautiful young girl and the mindset of a weary middle-aged man, was written surprisingly well. It would probably make a lot of players fall for her at first sight.
"It really is well-written."
Carl did not hold back his praise and nodded several tis.
"Just reading the script is enough to get hyped. Pair this with strong story presentation and high-quality CGs, and it could easily beco a landmark update for Oath. Even years from now, people would still rember it as Oath's peak version."
"The writer only recorded the everyday lives of us Abyssal Knights," Anan said, a hint of pride in her voice.
"Yeah, I think I understand why you're tempted, Ms. Anan."
Carl flipped through the later plans for the update and found that Oath currently had two possible developnt paths.
The first was to open the Empire storyline, which had been the original plan. The second was to continue the Holy Nation storyline and begin the arc of the Abyssal Knights.
"If this update launches successfully, the Abyssal Knights will definitely attract a huge number of Savior fans. They'll all be proud to join your order."
After all, when Carl played gas in the past, he would always choose to join any faction or organization he especially liked. If the ga did not let him join, he would at least wear their uniform and cosplay as one of them.
"The gaplay plans for the later updates are also pretty strong, assuming they aren't just empty promises."
Carl glanced at Oath's roadmap and saw that the developers seed serious about improving the gaplay. Both the Empire update and the Abyssal Knights update included several major gaplay expansions.
Although Carl felt it would be going too far to take credit for all of this.
There was no doubt, however, that the gaplay direction of Netherworld Village had given Oath's official team a sense of crisis.
That was why they were planning to hand out more rewards in later updates and add more interesting gaplay systems to keep players from leaving.
"So you think it's fine, right? As long as I get added to a banner later, the Abyssal Knights will gain a huge wave of new recruits from the Saviors!"
Only then did Anan finally act like a little girl. Her eyes sparkled as she looked at Carl, waiting for his answer.
"Uh, for now, it does look fine. But there's one thing you really need to consider."
Looking at Anan's expectant expression, Carl was not sure whether he should tell her this cruel truth.
"If there's a problem, just say it! I called you here specifically to confirm this!" Anan's expression changed at once. She crossed her arms and glared at Carl, clearly warning him not to keep her in suspense.
"It's just that, Ms. Anan, you need to be careful. Actually, the entire Abyssal Knights needs to be careful. There's a chance you could end up being used as setup for the next update's story."
Carl brought up one of the saddest and most painful fates a gacha character could suffer.
"Setup? What do you an?" Anan tilted her head slightly and imdiately pressed him for an explanation.
"I an exactly that. Oath isn't a charity. They didn't write such a great story for you and the Abyssal Knights because they were moved by your knightly spirit or because they suddenly wanted to fight the Calamity Plague."
Carl laid the harsh reality bare before Anan.
"They wrote it to make you sell. The whole point of giving you an epic, tragic story is to make players emotionally invested enough to spend money on the main character of that story."
"I know that much."
Anan was aware of how poorly Hasumi had been treated, but she still said confidently,
"The Abyssal Knights arc is a major update. Just like the current Saintess arc, it should last for several versions. My adjutant and many other outstanding mbers could also be added to future banners, so I don't think it will co to that..."
"What about after the major update ends? Losing your value isn't the scariest part. The scariest part is this."
Carl pointed to a section of the script in his hand.
This section described how the Holy Nation was forced into retreat by the Calamity Plague, how the Saintess was powerless to stop it, and how Anan finally stepped forward to save everything.
In that part of the story, the Saintess was being used to elevate Anan.
"You can't guarantee that the writers won't do the sa thing to you later. They might take all the sacrifices and achievents of the Abyssal Knights and reduce them to nothing, just to make the next banner character or faction look stronger. Everything you fought for could be dismissed as sothing the new character can solve with a casual wave of their hand."
Carl's warning made Anan's eyelids twitch, and a chill ran down her spine.
"That can't happen, right? We're one of the Seven Swords of the Holy Nation, seven of the strongest warriors in the entire country! The things we achieved through countless sacrifices couldn't possibly be handled so easily by soone else!"
Anan still did not want to believe that Oath's developers would do sothing that outrageous.
"It's hard to say, Ms. Anan. Really, you shouldn't try to understand the dev team's decisions from the perspective of saving the world. You need to look at it from the perspective of selling a product."
"Once your limited banner ends, it won't matter how much you contributed to the world. In terms of sales value, you won't be worth as much as the next new limited character."
Carl then gave an example from his previous world.
"I've seen stories like that before. There was once a banner character who went through a hundred reincarnations, killed countless close friends, comrades, and even their own Savior with their own hands. They burned everything they had just to seize one tiny possibility, one faint hope. Then the next banner character ca out and told the players that all the previous character's sacrifices, struggles, and efforts were aningless, because she could save everything with the power of love."
After hearing that example, Anan trembled with rage.
"What do you an, 'save everything with the power of love'? How does that make any sense?!"
"Uh, when it cos to selling characters, they really are capable of doing things like that." Carl nodded with complete certainty.
"That sounds like a nightmare."
Anan took a deep breath, took back the script Carl had given her, and said,
"Anyway, I still have so ti to think about whether I should enter the banner. The situation you described is too extre. I'll keep watching how things develop for now."
Carl did not try to force Anan to join his side imdiately, so he simply nodded and said,
"Yeah. Ms. Anan, just rember that you always have another option. If you run into any trouble, co find . I'll take care of it."
Anan fell silent for a mont. Since Carl had said that much, she decided to give him sothing in return.
"Then I'll give you so information as well. There are quite a few spies in your Netherworld Village right now," Anan said.
"That, I already noticed. Ever since the Underworld Ban was issued, it feels like every player turned into an informant."
Carl knew there were so bad actors mixed into Netherworld Village. They were there specifically to investigate other players' main accounts in Oath and report them.
"No. Among these spies, there is one very special person."
Anan paused for a mont before continuing.
"The Saintess. She's pretending to be a player and has blended in among you. Perhaps the arrival of the Empire's forces has put too much pressure on her."
Anan handed Carl a unique player ID.
"This is the ID the Saintess is using as her disguise. I'm not sure what she's planning, but you should keep an eye on her movents."
"L."
Carl glanced at the ID, then focused his attention on the new player using that na.
"Uh, I'm guessing she probably wants to beco Glory City's first Pokémon Champion?"
When Carl turned his attention to the Saintess, he found her very seriously choosing her starter Pokémon in Netherworld Village.
(To be continued.)
◇ You can read the ahead chapter on Pat if you're interested: p-atreon.c-om/Blownleaves (Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)
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