Midday_Eclipse

Most of Chapter Missing. Here it is: Part 1 of 2 Chapter 26: “The Darkness Lurking in People’s Hearts” Let’s have Sugaru act as the first test subject. “Sugaru, I’m going to add you as a friend.” Right now, there was no reason not to tell it to her straight. Sugaru looked back at her blankly. This wasn’t exactly the response she was expecting. Rare wondered what she had to do to add a friend. Normally, just asking “Do you want to be friends?” would work. However, what mattered here was how the game defined “friends.” How exactly did one become friends with someone else? The sinister darkness that plagued modern society gushed forth from within, and that commonly accepted method of making friends in real life paralyzed her body for a brief moment. If the system operated in largely the same way, then similar actions should lead to similar results. First was to try what two players would do when they wanted to friend each other. Unfortunately, Rare never wanted to friend anyone during the closed beta. All the account data would be wiped at the end of the test, after all, and she just had too much fun exploring all the game systems, which wasn’t what most players wanted to do. In this open beta as well, she didn’t have any players she wanted to friend. Rare had to rely on the Help documentation again. “‘How to friend players’… should work. And search.” Managing your friend list: In order to add someone to your friend list, you need a friend card. Friend cards are created whenever you retrieve them from your inventory. You will always have access to your own friend card; what you take out from your inventory is always a copy. Give your friend card to another player and have them store it in their inventory to become friends. If you would like to remove a friend, take their friend card and destroy it or throw it away. Removed friends can be friended again by repeating the same steps again. “Oh, I see…” It was a simple system, basically like exchanging business cards. Rare checked her own inventory and found the “Friend Card” section. You could see the all contents of your inventory via the menu, but to take something out without using the system you had to focus on the specific item. NPCs wouldn’t be able to understand the concept of friend cards, so friending could only be initiated by players. Rare gave the friend card she retrieved to Sugaru and told her to store it in her inventory. <<You have become friends with [Sugaru].>> And just like that, they were friends. “Now, how do I access friend chat again… or well, I’ve never done it before. Ah, here we go.” <Sugaru, can you hear me?> Sugaru jumped in surprise. <You should also be able to communicate with me in the same way; can you try it? Think of my name in your head, then feel your thoughts being directed to me.> <……Boss boss boss boss… Ah, was that successful? Are we connected?> <Ohh, you did it! Now, no matter how far apart we are, we can still talk. We don’t need to speak aloud, either, so it’s perfect for discussing topics in secret.> The catkin girls still spoke to her rather casually, but Sugaru was a bit more formal. Or rather, Sugaru wasn’t actually using formal speech, but her thoughts were being translated into this form of speech to Rare. Friend chat was logged and stored temporarily, so that was probably why it automatically got translated into human speech. Now that she knew friend chat could be used, the number of hands she could play would increase rapidly. And now, after having investigated the followers she’d obtained so far, Rare found herself arriving at a single startling conclusion: If NPCs could use the system the same way that players could, and if the system didn’t distinguish between players and NPCs as far as gameplay went, then there was nothing preventing players from being tamed.

Greetings Sir Theo, I have returned to comment on something that I have had on my mind for a long time now. Do we count as a system? A lot of signs are showing that point to yes, such as a probably magic screen with text, that only the person affected by it can see, it giving the affected person an advantage compared to others around them, and many more small things.

Excited for more chapters to come.

I have returned from my deep contemplation for the past 4 to 5 chapters to tell you Sir Theo that by the time you read this it will be the Holiday known as Fathers Day in our world (or the day after if the writer wants a holiday break), If the date also lines up in your world then, I wish you well this fathers Day Sir Theo.

Sir Theo I agree with Twin_dragon13773's thoughts on the power of illusions being very strong in the right hands.

Aurora has been kidnapped, however it is likely that this is within the expectations of Sir Theo. He has likely prepared a plan for such a scenario.

The chapter ends with a cliffhanger!? Did Sir Theo succeed in activating a cliffhanger, or was that solely the work of 'The Author'?

Sir Theo is quite impressive, I was wondering what the most interesting universe you have been to is, excluding these few connected universes.

I'll just cheer you on as I think that some of my questions are best saved for later when you have some free time. You can do it Sir Theodore.

Howdy Theodore, nice to meet you. I'm a new reader and commenter who just recently found and got caught up with this story. I will try to interact with your story frequently to avoid a situation where no comments happen. I was thinking that it may become inconvenient at times to answer our questions out loud, and it may be useful to develop the ability to project your internal monologue to us. I know we will learn this eventually but I was curious if you could explain what exactly your daughter Mia's powers are, both from before and after obtaining the punk demon, I know that she can make Teddy bears that explode into smoke, and illusions, but I would like to know in more detail.