Chapter 998 - Intersection of Past, Present, and Future (3)
“Of course, we’re aware that you have lots of doubts because we have some questions of our own.”
Arthur, who didn’t fit the image of the Dark Dragon in Rhode’s mind, pushed up his glasses again and spoke in a gentle tone. Judging from his appearance, perhaps one wouldn’t think that he was a millionaire and the CEO of the B&M Company, not to mention how Rhode couldn’t imagine him as the Dark Dragon. At this moment, Arthur seemed more like the kind of professors who hid in their own world, researching unpopular specialties.
“Firstly, how much do you know about the Dragon Soul Continent?”
“Basically everything I know is from the background setting of the game listed on the official website.”
Rhode answered without hesitation. He crossed his arms and gazed at the four of them with his ice-cold expression as usual. It wasn’t because he was displeased with them. Instead, this was his behavioral reaction whenever he analyzed information or went deep in thought.
“But I heard from Alice that there seem to be hidden facts, especially between the dragon soul heirs and the Creator Dragons…”
“You’re right.”
Arthur nodded in affirmation. Then, he extended his hand and a mysterious and intricate three-dimensional map appeared above his palm. Rhode instantly recognized that it was the Dragon Soul Continent, made with the four main elements as the foundation, the Seven Fantasy Boundaries as the pillars, and the dragon souls as the walls and roof. The entire world was as though a miniature world inside an oval glass bottle.
“We’ve explained the background settings clearly. From a certain degree, it does seem to be the truth of this world. But… what I need to tell you is about everything that happened before.” Arthur spun his hand and the map began to operate on its own like a rewinding movie. Then, everything was gone, leaving behind a rich, flourishing, and beautiful land.
“You aren’t aware that war between Chaos and Order has been ongoing for years, so long that the dragons decayed and earth crumpled. In fact, we aren’t aware of why Chaos and Order broke out in a war. But the war happened and engulfed every corner of the world we live in.”
Arthur continued her words.
“Chaos in this world doesn’t have its own conscious and mind. It is simply a natural presence, while humans build their very own Order. Order has been destroyed time and time again, but was quickly rebuilt by them. We are deeply interested in this totally different civilization system, which was why we decided to conduct our research here to find a solution to rescue our world.”
“I understand what you meant.”
Rhode nodded to Arthur’s words. Then, he knitted his brows dubiously.
“But… what has this got to do with you guys making this game? Frankly, judging from your goal, you guys should be researching topics like nature, science, human philosophy, et cetera…”
No matter what it didn’t seem too reasonable or logical to relate game development and rescuing the world. The four of them looked at one another and smiled. Then, Serena said.
“In the beginning we had a deep interest in the game itself. Then, we were surprised that we could borrow the civilized technologies of this world to create an actual virtual-reality world. This was why we had this thought: If we could turn our world completely into comprehensive data and present it in the form of Order, would we stand a chance in resisting the attack of Chaos? For that we began our experiments, borrowing the civilization of this world and using our knowledge to create the game, the Dragon Soul Continent.”
Serena smiled.
“I think you may or may not have noticed the importance of Order. The most important thing to Order is the rules, Mr. Rhode. As a top player in the past, you should be aware of that. Even though the level of freedom in the Dragon Soul Continent is really high, there are a lot of rules and systems in place, right?”
“You’re right about that.”
Rhode nodded. No matter how real a game was known as, it wasn’t as though one was playing in ‘The Matrix'[1] and came up with a virtual-reality world to dominate the world. In the game—level, experience points, MP value of spiritual power, health, success rate of forging, et cetera—all of these could be presented by data. The data itself was the rule. One would level up after gaining experience points and the relationship between the mastery of skills and damage output were all fixed rules.
“Now that you’ve awakened dragon soul powers, you should have noticed that the dragon soul protection of this continent is really primitive, where Order can only be strengthened through the abstraction of spiritual powers from the dragons’ worshipers. But this isn’t enough. We imagined if the continent could be like this game, where several rules and concepts were merged with the continent as one, and everything had been turned into data by Order, we could use many different ways to abstract spiritual powers and strengthen Order. For instance, whenever people increase their strength, masteries and likabilities in one another, their every action will solidify the Order barrier of the continent, allowing it to display its formidable strength! This way, Chaos will not easily invade the Dragon Soul Continent anymore…”
Rhode’s expression changed slightly.
“So… what you meant was… you are trying to transfer the system of the online game into the real world of Dragon Soul Continent?”
[1] A 1999 science-fiction action film.