Ch.24Lone Wolf vs Troll (2)

My plan was simple.

“Jessica, as soon as the base upgrade is complete, there’s something we need to build first.”

“What would that be, Commander?”

As Jessica’s rabbit ears twitched with curiosity, I pointed to the status window I had open.

“From this list, we’ll only build the Resource Synthesis Production Facility, then immediately proceed with the base upgrade.”

“What?”

Naturally, Jessica was surprised by my statement that I wouldn’t follow the steps gradually, and her eyes widened in shock.

“Commander, that means the Shipyard, Research Lab, and Technology Management Center will be delayed even further?”

And when Jessica said that, for some reason, explanation windows for those facilities naturally appeared before me.

—————————————-

<Shipyard>

<An essential facility for fleet production.>

<Capable of producing all small and medium-sized ships up to cruiser class>

—————————————-

—————————————-

<Advanced Research Laboratory>

<A place where various technologies can be developed and applied>

<Research point buff +10%>

<Enables additional research applicable to ships and superhumans>

—————————————-

—————————————-

<Advanced Technology Management Center>

<A place that thoroughly manages previously developed technologies to prevent hacking attacks and leaks>

<+50% defense success rate against other users’ hacking attacks>

<5% additional research points when developing additional technologies>

—————————————-

The explanation windows seemed to be screaming “PLEASE DON’T ABANDON US!!!” with all their might.

I felt my mood shift in an odd way.

Nevertheless, I had no intention of going back on my decision.

“In our current situation, starting with minor upgrades won’t allow us to catch up with other users or pirates’ development.”

“I see…”

After confirming my firm resolve, Jessica seemed to accept that there was no need to say more.

She nodded, showing her determination to carry out my orders.

“Is there anything else you’d like me to do, Commander?”

“Hmm… tasks.”

Of course, the matter at hand wouldn’t be implemented for at least two days.

Jessica was asking me what she should do “right now.”

Looking at Jessica, I continued to ponder various things…

‘Come to think of it, there’s nothing to do.’

No matter how much I thought about it, nothing specific came to mind.

I dropped my contemplative posture and quietly addressed Jessica.

“I don’t think there’s anything else to add. Handle the rest as you see fit.”

“Yes, understood, Commander.”

As Jessica immediately immersed herself in her work following my order,

I opened the community to check what information was available today.

Of course, I also kept the global chat window open to check for any important real-time news.

—————————————-

-[Ah, I want to have s*x!]

-[Just do it with your character]

-[No, not that, I meant I want to eat chicken]

-[Oh.]

-[Chicken is legit]

-[But does chicken even exist in this world? All the meals we get are like protein blocks]

-[But they taste like spicy chicken, soy sauce chicken, and even fried chicken. Let’s have a drink]

-[It’s just the taste…]

—————————————-

As always, the global chat was rolling with random topics today.

I wanted to see what was happening in the community, so I clicked on the first post I saw when I entered.

—————————————-

Title: Current User Alliance Situation (Real-time updates)

Author: Temporary Wiki Historian

Content: [Image showing multiple circles with alliance names written inside]

Given the current situation, users have started forming temporary clans or alliances to band together since a few days ago

So I decided to organize this information for myself and for you guys to see

Just keep in mind I’ve only included what’s been revealed in the gallery

I don’t know how many actually exist

Comments

-[Why are there so many?]

-[Looks like there are dozens?]

-[Is this for real?]

-˪[Yeah, I included everything that was rumored to be an alliance, but it’s impossible to confirm how many people are actually in each alliance clan]

-[Do your job properly, Hassan, and bring us more detailed information]

—————————————-

‘What is this?’

Unexpectedly, there was a detailed post about alliances forming among users.

‘Did I sleep for another week or something?’

Content that wasn’t visible yesterday was suddenly appearing in abundance today.

Regardless, I quickly skimmed through the gallery posts to avoid falling behind this cursed trend.

After about an hour of exploration, I could draw a simple conclusion:

‘Ah, I see. Both newbies and veterans are forming teams in advance because they think it’s hard to survive as solo players.’

As I organized my thoughts, I found myself shaking my head.

Of course, that didn’t mean I thought user alliances themselves were wrong.

From veteran alliances to villain alliances formed by weeding out trollers and gathering only “unitable” villains.

It was true that if there was mutual agreement, users banding together would be more advantageous for survival.

Oh, of course, there was the minor issue that when users banded together, pirates would also band together to attack them.

But users who had survived this far could easily handle incoming pirates through divide-and-conquer tactics.

My concern was actually something else…

—————————————-

Title: Looking for this f*cking bastard

Author: MetalSlime

Content: [Image of a base under air raid]

When they suggested forming an alliance, I moved my base with someone else, but as soon as we arrived, this guy attacked our base with his fleet lol

Then the bastard told us to become his slaves if we wanted to live

The funny thing is, we each had 2 cruisers, while this gold-rank idiot only had destroyers

So I got pissed off and sent out everything from the base regardless of whether they’d get hit

This coward immediately ran away with his base

If anyone knows where this bastard is, please let me know

Offering 2000 minerals as reward

Comments

-[Bounty ON]

-[Wait, he did that even though he was outnumbered and facing stronger opponents?]

-[LOLOLOLOLOL what an idiot LOLOLOLOL]

-[His intelligence seems quite lacking]

-[With all the talk about backstabbing in alliances lately, he probably wanted to cash in too]

—————————————-

As could be seen from the newly posted “bounty” (…?) post,

Unlike the existing clan system where alliances were enforced by the game system,

This was more like a verbal contract based solely on trust and credit between individual users.

There was absolutely no way to prevent users from backstabbing each other like this.

Especially for someone like me who had been living as a solo player from the start, joining such alliances without understanding could be an extremely dangerous choice.

—————————————-

Title: Hate these noobs already implementing the king-god knowledge clan system

Author: Commie

Content: Isn’t it annoying how they’re already sucking up to each other even before the clan system is released?

And what they’re doing is trying to control resource zones which is f*cking annoying, right?

Agree? Yeah you agree

Comments

-[Is this a noob or a middle schooler?]

-[This is difficult]

-[Finish your sentences, damn it]

-[Isn’t this the guy who tried to join an alliance but got kicked out for acting like an idiot?]

-[So it was jealousy all along]

-[Speak your true feelings!!!]

—————————————-

I thought it would be best to quietly monitor the situation while focusing on upgrades for a while.

==========

But about a week after I had that thought.

<You have lost a resource zone!>

‘Sigh.’

I was forcibly made to understand why other users had been pursuing alliances.