The Nebula’s Civilization

Eldar asked, “Then is our next opponent Dagon or Cthulhu?”

Puzzled, Lunda asked, “Dagon? Cthulhu? What is that?”

“Oh, so you don’t know Lovecraft. To explain…”

Sung-Woon cut Eldar off and said, “Doesn’t matter if it’s Lovecraft or Warcraft in my opinion. The intellectuals of the continent don’t always use the same terms as we do. Their language is translated with some level of accuracy before being displayed in the system windows.”

Eldar pouted since they had been excited to give Lunda an explanation, but soon nodded in agreement.

“I guess so. After all, just because there were Vampires doesn’t mean that ancient relics related to Bram Stoker would appear. However, I do think the species’ name has some bearing on the discussion.”

“How so?”

“The Vampires that you all dealt with were different in specific aspects, but they still had the characteristics of typical Vampires that we recognize. The first continent didn’t exactly say so, but that probably was the case for them as well.”

Sung-Woon agreed that much.

“Yes.”

“So we should be able to guess the characteristics of this species by using their name as a hint?”

Eldar nodded.

Sung-Woon then said, “It is a valid point. So are you suggesting that this world, like The Lost World as a game, is influenced by Earth?”

Wisdom interjected, “You could also think of it the other way around, Nebula.”

“What do you mean?”

“The Earth might have been influenced by this game.”

Sung-Woon replied, “That’s an interesting hypothesis.”

“Have you never thought that while playing The Lost World? Imagine this. There were many species on Earth during ancient times, but the player with Humans as their main species won the game. And for Maximum Efficiency, they wiped out all species other than Humans.”

Maximum Efficiency was a strategy that was often employed in The Lost World. Variety in species was valuable in itself, but conflicts were liable to arise, which would cost resources. So before the game reached the second half, it would be possible to greatly reduce the possibility of unrest by emphasizing tribalism and eugenics. That way, the game would proceed without much conflict.

Of course, Sung-Woon didn’t consider it an orthodox strategy. Even though it cost a steady amount of resources to deal with conflicts, it was still less than the cost of bringing about the extinction of all other species for Maximum Efficiency. It was only a strategy employed for fun.

Then Sung-Woon said, “You don’t think the historians, geologists, and paleoanthropologists of Earth are stupid, do you? If a game like The Lost World happened on Earth, there would certainly be traces of that.”

“...Maximum Efficiency was just a joke. But you should admit that this planet is a real world just like Earth. And in that sense, this place is the same as Earth.”

Sung-Woon got back to the point.

“So Eldar, it seems you know the most about Deep One. Can you explain it?”

“Of course!” Eldar replied with a somewhat proud look. “Deep One first appeared in P.H. Lovecraft’s short story Dagon, but the actual characteristics of it were from the same author’s The Shadow Over Innsmouth…”

“Sorry to interrupt, but can you get to the point?”

With a sullen expression, Eldar replied, “They live underwater.”

“That wouldn’t be their only characteristics.”

“There’s something that isn’t really portrayed in other stories influenced by Deep Ones. If you interact with this species or get cursed, you can turn into them.”

“Interact? Can that happen just by trading with them?”

“...Uh, no. Well, if blood gets mixed?”

Crampus interjected, “Can they spread like Vampires and Werewolves?”

“That’s hard to say for sure. Eldar, what else?”

“Uh, they might be fanatics? They serve ancient gods such as Dagon or Cthulhu.”

“It’s hard to say that’s useful information. The Vampires we encountered were like that too despite not being portrayed with such characteristics. Anything else?”

Eldar frowned and thought for a moment. “Oh, in one of the live productions, they live by hiding so they don’t get caught.”

“In what way?”

“The main character visited what they thought to be an ordinary village, but it turned out to be a village conquered by Deep Ones, and the villagers cooperated with them.”

Sung-Woon looked at the other players.

Crampus said, “That’s important. It means that they might have invaded our lands without us knowing.”

“And there wouldn’t have been a Clash of Civilization event if the player hadn’t recognized the encounter to begin with.”

“We should conduct a full investigation on the entire coast. What kind of Divine Revelation should we give the priests?”

“I think it would be enough to say that new spies of the evil god have appeared underwater.”

Jang-Wan asked, “Would they have reached all the way to my Stone Cave?”

“There’s no way to know. But it’s not a bad idea to take preemptive measures.”

A brief exchange of information took place between the players along the southern coast.

Wisdom said, “If you guys don’t mind, could we move on to talk about the fourth continent?”

“Nothing has been revealed yet. Is there anything more to talk about?” Sung-Woon replied while waving his hand behind his back. In response, the white spider, Hillove, took the dead Deep One and disappeared into the darkness.

“For example, the fourth continent might be in the deep sea.”

“That would be difficult to confirm. And wouldn’t the word ‘continent’ suggest that it’s above water? There’s something else I’d rather point out.”

“What is it?”

Sung-Woon said with furrowed brows, “It’s just a speculation, but this is what I think. The maximum number of participants in the game is 32. A total of 27 players came from Earth. But two new players have appeared and gotten eliminated, and a third has just popped up.”

“...So you’re saying that two other evil gods will appear other than Sha-Cha, right?”

“To be exact, they might have already appeared on that new continent… If it really is a continent, there would be lots of empty land, right?”

The players murmured among themselves or fell into thought. That wouldn’t be ideal. They didn’t know what Sha-Cha was like, but Jeol Woo-Bi had brought a unique species to the world, and they weren’t bad at playing the game. At least they couldn’t be dismissed as mere NPCs.

‘But one to three of them are steadily expanding their forces from the continent?’

And if there were indeed three players, there was a high chance that they would be allies with each other, which meant they would get resources from the entire continent without much conflict.

Then AR carefully said, “Wouldn’t it be better for all the players to unite at least from now on?”

Sung-Woon said, “Firstly, I’m against that.”

“How come?”

“I don’t know exactly where the southern continent is located, but I think it’s close to us. At the current level of civilization development, it would be difficult to get the help of the other continents. They might claim to be helping us while making more requests to us. And we would be the ones to actually undergo any damage.”

AR hesitated and said, “What if all of us here are to become allies?”

“Sorry, but I’m against that too.”

“Why?”

“I’m the one who’s closest to the potential threat at the moment, aren’t I? I don’t want help that’s only for show.”

Crampus laughed at those words.

“I don’t think that’s the reason.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re the closest to the fourth continent. I think I just saw your ambition to defeat the Deep Ones and Sha-Cha before moving to the next continent yourself.”

Sung-Woon replied, “Well, it’s hard to deny that.”

If the fourth continent really did exist, Sung-Woon was likely to suffer the most damage, but on the other hand, he could also be the one to benefit from it the most. With the loose alliance they had formed, they would be dividing the benefits as much as they shared losses.

Crampus asked the other players, “What do you guys think?”

Jang-Wan said, “If he wants to be stubborn, let him be. I won’t oppose it if he's willing to stop the waves at the forefront.”

AR said, “I agree with Jang-Wan. However, if the situation gets dangerous, I will help whenever.”

Wisdom then said, “Alright. Nebula, you may be able to stop them by yourself if it’s you.”

Lunda said, “Do as you wish.”

Then Eldar asked, “M…me? Can I also choose to not help you?”

“No.”

“...I knew you would say that.”

“I’m not particularly against it either,” Crampus said. “But I’m the one who’s second closest to them, and I’m also suffering actual damage because of pirates. Unlike you, I’d like to get a little bit of help from someone else. Nebula, what do you think?”

“Sure.”

There was a moment of silence after Sung-Woon’s reply. He looked at the other players’ faces and said, “It seems that there’s nothing more to discuss right at this moment. I think Jang-Wan would be able to tell Hegemonia given their proximity.”

“Alright.”

“We’ll end things here for today.”

Wisdom immediately exited the chat, AR and Jang-Wan left while saying they would see them later, and Crampus disappeared with a simple goodbye.

Lunda and Eldar were the ones who remained.

Lunda said, “Then I’m gonna get going too. Bye.”

“What do you mean? You have to stay,” Eldar said. “May I go?”

“You stay too.”

“...Ugh.”

Lunda then asked with a puzzled look, “Why? Isn’t the conversation over?”

“It’s just the beginning.”

“But I’m occupying the northern coast?”

Sung-Woon sighed and said, “Did you not hear what AR emphasized earlier?”

“Did she say something important? I didn’t doze off, did I? Eldar, do you remember anything?”

“Hm, I’m not sure.”

Sung-Woon responded, “AR said she would help whenever.”

“Oh, she does seem nice.”

“That’s not it. That means she would intervene between the fight of me and Sha-Cha regardless of my will. And more importantly, Crampus said he would seek help from the others, not me.”

“Huh?”

Sung-Woon wasn’t surprised or upset because he had expected things to go this way. And it was all part of his plan.

“This time, things are unfolding in a different way than the time with Jeol Woo-Bi. The players are all nervous about the appearance of a new enemy, so they won’t be defeated as easily, and their military force seems to be at a similar level to the pirates for now.”

“You mean it’s an enemy that is manageable, right?”

“Yes. Of course, there are still lots of unknown aspects, but not all of us have been doing nothing for the past hundred years. Above all, two of the best weapons available to players will appear from this point on.”

Wizards, and gunpowder.

Lunda and Eldar weren’t the kind of players who would have to ask what that was.

“So even though we’re facing an enemy about whom we do not know a lot, it could be concluded that we could face them. No, Deep Ones or not, I believe we can crush our opponent as long as they don’t have gunpowder. And that’s why I said I would deal with them alone.”

“Then why should we be careful of the other players?”

Sung-Woon explained, “The other players won’t directly attack me when Sha-Cha is still around, but Sha-Cha, Yaboon’s Pirates, and the Southern Archipelago will become the established bridgeheads of the fourth continent. And the other players will come up with any way possible to fight me so that I don’t take the continent for myself.”

Lunda then asked, “The other players will attack you?”

“Yes. For example, they might start attacking with the excuse that they’re going to help me reclaim the Southern Archipelago that was invaded. Then the Astacideas would be influenced by the religion of the player who occupies them. And that player could fight back saying that at least the land wasn’t given to Sha-Cha.”

Eldar said, “That wouldn’t be much different from the scenario where you’ve formed an alliance with them.”

“Exactly. That’s why they told me to do as I wish without forcing an alliance. That way, all parties have more freedom to act.”

If they had formed an alliance, the fight would have to be carried out in a more clandestine manner.

‘Even if it weren’t for Sha-Cha, a fight would have broken out once gunpowder was invented. The battlefield is simply shifted from land to sea, and a variable called Sha-Cha is added into the mix.’

Sung-Woon said, “At the end of the day, this evil god conquest will be between us, Crampus and another player, and Sha-Cha. It’ll be a three-cornered battle involving these three factions.”