And so began the first all-out war between Oath players and Netherworld Village players.
Although Carl had forcibly pushed Migard, the newly crowned "Ragebait Queen," to the front line to draw most of the fire, he had still underestimated the offensive from Oath's official team. More accurately, he had underestimated just how determined the Empire faction was to cripple Netherworld Village.
After Version 1.5 went live, the entry permissions for every Netherworld Village player's Open World were changed. Approval was no longer required. Anyone could enter directly.
This was most likely Madam Calamity's doing. As an existence standing at the very peak of Elysium, she was already capable of temporarily altering the ga's rules.
For example, she had previously blocked Oath's combat assist functions.
As a result, the Open Worlds of countless Netherworld Village players were hit by a coordinated invasion from Oath players, Imperial War Beasts, and Imperial soldiers.
Carl had also underestimated just how far these people were willing to go.
So Netherworld Village players wanted to log into their main Oath accounts to help, but because there was no friendly-fire system, they could only stand by and watch. They had no way to intervene.
The Monster Hunter abilities Carl had implented for Hasumi did prove useful in this battle, but the Empire's side quickly discovered the greatest weakness of a Long Sword user.
Once they were surrounded by more than two enemies, they were imdiately at a severe disadvantage.
Even Carl himself would start cursing the mont he had to face more than two monsters at once while playing Monster Hunter.
However, with the help of Pokémon, other players, and the Abyssal Knights, the Netherworld Village players barely managed to hold the line.
Carl's public opinion war also began to show results, mainly because Migard was... far too innocent.
As a rcenary who had spent years marching across battlefields, Migard was basically a little girl in front of Carl when it ca to internet warfare.
During her livestream, Carl prepared a list of famous lines for her to say at the right monts.
In Migard's view, these lines were all highly provocative and could effectively intensify the conflict between Oath players and Netherworld Village players.
While reading them, she might have even been wondering why Carl kept handing her weapons to use against his own enemies.
For example, while experiencing Pokémon gaplay, Migard said with complete sincerity, "The Pokémon we Netherworld Village players catch are far too weak. They're nothing like the lords in Oath, who get to catch so many powerful Pokémon every week."
And also, "Does Netherworld Village's combat have an attention disorder? Stop moving around! As a loyal fan of stationary combat, I'm about to run out of breath!"
"Putting treasure chests in such obvious places? Oath players really have it too good!"
In any case, as far as Migard was concerned, she had absolutely exceeded the conflict-incitent targets set by Madam Calamity.
And she certainly had.
Migard's stream of god-tier remarks successfully turned into classic quotes circulating across every major online forum.
The result was that ordinary players, who simply wanted to enjoy the ga, began using those quotes to roast Oath and its fanatics with brutal efficiency.
anwhile, the brainwashing of Oath's loyal players began to loosen slightly.
Netherworld Village had already allowed a large number of forr Oath loyalists to taste a better gaming experience.
Migard's livestream and her many classic quotes exposed Oath's nurous problems to even more of those loyal players.
Just as Oath's reputation was gradually declining, Carl received an invitation from Oath's official team.
This was likely the real purpose behind Oath and the Empire launching an all-out invasion together in Version 1.5.
They wanted to drag Carl to the negotiating table.
Of course, destroying Netherworld Village in one fell swoop would have been even better, but the number of Oath players secretly playing Netherworld Village had far exceeded their expectations.
So they could only settle for the next best option and propose a so-called win-win deal to Carl.
Naturally, Carl had no reason to refuse an official invitation. Besides, his main body was no longer in the Main World anyway.
The person accompanying Carl to this eting was Anan. The leader of the Abyssal Knights made no attempt to hide the fact that she now stood on Carl's side.
Oath's official team had even specially allocated the first half of Version 2.0 to the Abyssal Knights in an attempt to win her over.
"What did you co to for this ti? An amnesty offer? Or sothing else?"
Carl arrived at the City Hall of the City of Glory in the Main World and scanned the official representatives who had co for the negotiation.
The Academy Head, Madam Calamity, and Kuro, who had not appeared in a long ti.
It could be considered an all-star lineup from Oath's side.
"If you could be bought that easily, we wouldn't have needed to spend so many resources forcing your hand," the Academy Head said, still unable to speak calmly to Carl.
"Boss, let talk to him."
Kuro lightly pushed up his black-rimd glasses.
"Got promoted?" Carl noticed that Kuro's authority seed to have increased significantly.
"You could say that. Although I have always known that the NPCs in Elysium possess intelligence and qualify as digital lifeforms, Carl Agata, you are still an exception among exceptions."
Kuro walked past the Academy Head and Madam Calamity, approaching Carl directly.
"This ti, on behalf of Oath's official team, I want to offer you a win-win proposal."
"Actually, having the Empire stop its invasion would already be a win-win," Carl said.
As he spoke, he pointed a finger at Madam Calamity. He really had not expected this oversized mother dragon to cause him so much trouble.
"There's no need to be so hostile. Our proposal is very simple. We hope you can add more paid content to Netherworld Village's gaplay."
As Kuro spoke, he held a small notebook in his hand.
Inside were probably the key points Oath's official team wanted him to communicate to Carl.
"What?"
Carl's first reaction upon hearing this proposal was confusion.
"Just add more monetization points. Carl, don't you understand? Your monster battles already have a system where you can earn Contract Stones by selling character skins, don't they?"
"In Netherworld Village's later gaplay, you can absolutely add more content like that. And not only through skins."
Kuro did not seem to understand these things very well either. He could only read from the notebook, listing the monetization points Carl could exploit in Netherworld Village's gaplay.
"For example, paid resurrection after death, or periodically releasing paid companion characters for Netherworld Village exploration. The Pokémon gaplay could also introduce yearly Pokémon, monthly Pokémon, and similar limited units."
This long list of examples was most likely the counterasure Oath's planners had co up with.
"Wait, wait, wait. What kind of win-win proposal is this? You're asking to kill myself."
Carl was not a simple robot like Hasumi or the Saintess.
He was not going to be fooled into floating off to heaven by a few casual lies from human planners and writers.
Carl knew very well what Netherworld Village's foundation was. More accurately, he knew what the foundation of every truly fun ga in the world was.
"What do you an, asking you to kill yourself? It's better than refusing to study monetization at all!"
The Academy Head could not help but cut in at this point.
"The other day, I had my planners study the various monetization points in Netherworld Village! We found that as long as you want to make money, you can definitely make a fortune with Netherworld Village!"
"Can you bring over soone I can actually communicate with?"
Carl could not even be bothered to answer the Academy Head's question. He directly asked Kuro to quickly bring over a planner who actually understood the job.
"Although I don't understand why you are so... resistant to adding more monetization points to Netherworld Village's gaplay," Kuro said, stopping the Academy Head once again and calming himself down to continue the discussion with Carl.
"But please listen to explain the current reality of Elysium, as well as so of the background story and underlying logic. After that, Carl, it won't be too late for you to make your judgnt."
Carl gestured for him to continue. At the very least, Kuro was the kind of person who could be reasoned with.
"First of all, the resources of Elysium's world are not infinite."
Kuro pulled up a map of Oath's continent.
The territories of the Empire, the Holy Nation, and the Free Alliance, locked in their three-way standoff, appeared before Carl.
The area where players were currently active, the City of Glory, was located exactly at the point where the borders of the three nations t.
"The Calamity Virus is eroding this world at every mont."
As Kuro spoke, at least a third of the territories belonging to the three great nations on the map behind him beca stained in varying shades of crimson.
So parts of the Holy Nation were so deeply stained that they had turned almost black.
"This is the Plague Torrent. Over ti, corrupted areas will completely transform into monster hives. What Elysium can do is excise the areas that are already beyond saving."
"The excision process is not completed all at once. Before that, Elysium will dispatch forces like the Abyssal Knights and the Calamity Legion to purify the region, seal as many monsters inside as possible, and then cut away the land bit by bit."
As Kuro explained, the territories of the Holy Nation, the Empire, and the Free Alliance on the map had already undergone several cycles of excision and reconstruction.
"What you're trying to say is that every ti Elysium reconstructs those lands, it consus an enormous amount of real-world resources?"
Carl instantly guessed what Kuro was trying to tell him.
"As expected, communicating with an NPC like you, one who knows the Saviors co from reality rather than another world, is truly a fascinating experience."
Kuro nodded at Carl with great approval.
"Correct. In reality, we still have not been able to determine the true origin of Elysium."
"But to maintain its existence, we have built an enormous number of server storage facilities, so even hundreds of stories tall. Every ti Elysium excises a piece of land, it ans that an entire server storage facility has been completely contaminated by the virus and scrapped."
At this point, Kuro directly stated the reason why he, or rather Oath's official team, was demanding that Carl quickly add a large number of monetization points to Netherworld Village.
"Elysium needs to constantly replace and upgrade storage equipnt in order to repair itself. The maintenance costs of Oath's world are much higher than you imagine."
Having said this, Kuro glanced at the Academy Head, organized his thoughts slightly, and used everything he had learned to continue negotiating with Carl.
"What I an is this, Mr. Carl Agata. Netherworld Village is a ga with imnse revenue potential. As long as you are willing to develop its monetization points, you can definitely make a huge profit. Its revenue could even rival the current Oath."
As Kuro spoke, the Academy Head pointed at herself from the side, as if reminding him that there was another important matter.
"Oath itself is a ga with monetization points far lower than ordinary online gas. Coupled with the massive maintenance costs required by Elysium, the revenue pressure is enormous. So, would Mr. Carl be willing to separate from Oath's revenue system and operate independently?"
Carl did not answer Kuro imdiately. Instead, he stared straight at him and finally asked one question.
"When you said the phrase 'the revenue pressure is enormous,' did you laugh? Because I seem to rember Oath bragging recently about being the number one ga in global revenue."
"Could it be that you're one of those legendary revenue fans? When your own ga's quality is so bad that there's nothing else to praise, the only thing left to brag about is how much money it makes, right?"
Carl really wanted to say that the biggest reason Oath's quality could not improve was standing right beside him.
These bloodsucking parasites who only devoured revenue and produced nothing.
"My answer is, impossible! In fact, I'm the one helping you pay off your debts. Haven't you realized that?"
At that mont, Carl dropped all pretense.
"With Oath's quality, how do you even have the face to et the whales who spent thousands of dollars on p ga? Doesn't your conscience hurt?"
(To be continued.)
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