MMORPG : Rise of the Interstellar God

PARIS—SEVERAL HOURS AFTER THE BATTLE OF CRONOS I

A press conference was taking place in Paris, one that would go down in history.

Three MMO superstars were on screen:

Akiko Hiroki, AKA "Mario," from the SuperGuild "Toxic."

Enzo Romano, AKA "Ceasar," from the SuperGuild "Renovatio Imperii."

William Woke, AKA "Lucifer," from the SuperGuild "Lord of War."

These three had come together to announce a historic alliance between their guilds, an alliance with the goal of capturing the Cronos system.

Not for Federation, nor the Orc Empire, nor for any NPC faction!

No, these three called for all players to join the Great Coalition and help create a nation-state for the Eternals themselves!

This press conference drew a record audience of one billion viewers, an announcement of such magnitude that some in the media speculated that this was as meaningful an event as the announcement of war between two real-world countries.

It was truly an astounding thing that three SuperGuilds had joined forces—let alone that many lesser guilds agreed to support them. After many years of the corporations which ran these SuperGuilds in different MMORPGs warring against and subverting one another, nobody expected them to unite like this!

Together, it was estimated that the Great Coalition already had over a million players, as well as dozens of ships. Beyond that, millions more players, both solo and in various smaller guilds, were predicted to join in the Coalition's goal.

The news of the Battle of Cronos I and the players' responses to it filled the news. People talked about it night and day, with many in the media claiming one side or another should be supported.

Choosing a side became as culturally important as choosing a political party, which boosted "Horus's" popularity even further! It had already been the most played MMORPG of all time, but it seemed there was really no ceiling on its hype! Even those who didn't play video games started to become seriously interested in it.

***

In the game, Apophis was so bombarded with messages that he decided to just ignore them all.

Since he was considered the strongest player in "Horus," his decision to choose a side would be considered one of the most important events in MMORPG history.

In response to all the events following the Battle of Cronos I, Apophis held a guild meeting—the first since Eclipse's creation—in his suite at the Royal Palace of Terra hotel.

Everyone was there, including Laurent, under the nickname of "JackRipper." Though he was still only lvl 1, Apophis had lent him some money to pay for his trip from Era and to help him start playing.

Apophis took the floor and began the meeting.

"Thank you all for coming so quickly. We have two topics to discuss. The first is the future of Eclipse! As you can see, since its creation, the guild really hasn't developed at all. We haven't recruited anyone except JackRipper, and he just barely joined today.

"Except for the guild chest, which contains an even 3,560,000 GC, thanks to my taxes as planetary governor of Era, we haven't invested anything into the greater functioning of the guild.

"This is my fault, due to how busy I've been lately. Unfortunately, I don't think I'm going to become less busy any time soon. Therefore, I recommend Lotus to take my place as guild leader. She'll devote all her time to developing the guild, but I'll remain the external image and will still serve as a director. What do you all think?"

Lotus was astonished! Although Apophis had spoken about this a few times, to see it come true was incredible! Especially since the guild had quite a lot of funds just waiting to be invested into guild development.

Hulk answered in a sarcastic tone. "As much as I love small guilds, the more the game grows, the more manpower we'll need for our ambitions. Look at what the SuperGuilds are doing on Cronos I! Together, we're the strongest team in the game, but just imagine if you were able to share your secrets with an army of our own! Eclipse could really have its own army and solar system one day."

White, in a teasing mood, said enthusiastically, "Here's to a woman in power! It can only produce good things!"

Only Chocolate seemed reserved. "I like our little guild of five people, actually. But I trust you, Apophis. If you think we need to develop further, I'll approve of the strategy."

JackRipper, though new, spoke up as well. "Well, I just joined you, and Alexander's my friend, so I don't exactly have an impartial opinion... But I'm definitely not going to say no to having such powerful companions as you! The more the better, right? And it would be nice to have some people on Era sharing their EXP with us!"

Apophis nodded decisively. "Well, then, it's decided!"

Apophis selected the guild menu..

Notification: The player "Lotus" has been promoted to leader of your guild "Eclipse."

Lotus's first action was to create a special member rank which she named "Supreme Leader" with the same privileges as the leader. Then she added Apophis to this. She also created the rank of "Founder" with advanced privileges and appointed the other four guild members to it.

White gave a light-hearted laugh. "The new guild leader's already done more in one minute than you did in three and a half months, Supreme Leader!"

Apophis took the joke with a smile. After all, he'd never been strong in management skills, as they'd never interested him. He wanted to keep both his freedom and his power of decision in the guild, so this was a decision that made sense.

He would keep his directorial power, but wouldn't be forced to manage every detail of Eclipse. This was what the SuperGuilds themselves did. The star players didn't have time to be administrators, for their growth in the game itself was what made people admire them. Though they had authority, they were more icons of their guilds than actual leaders.

Apophis spoke again. "Now, let's talk about the situation at hand. Which side will we choose in the war?"