Ch.257″I thought I had many frien… ds.”

After the sudden appearance of an unfair event that reduced Tiamat’s affection, I investigated to find out what was going on.

I discovered the so-called “Commander Supplementation Plan,” a secret and terrifying scheme by superhumans to create clones by extracting samples from me.

I immediately mobilized Jessica, Partia, and Ignis, who naturally joined our side, to dismantle this plan and the organization behind it.

And in the process, I tried to forcibly remove the clone production system we discovered, but…

“Noooooooo!”

“Griyanar, this isn’t like you at all.”

“But Commander, I worked so hard to make this!”

Griyanar, who was usually as carefree as a little devil, sprawled on the floor in desperate opposition, insisting this one thing couldn’t be destroyed.

Seeing her about to collapse like a cardboard house, I decided to spare just this one thing.

Of course, in return, I casually asked Griyanar if it would be possible to create an army of superhuman clones.

Griyanar, who had been wailing just moments ago, proved those were crocodile tears by immediately getting up, dusting herself off, and waving her pet tentacle instead of her hand as she flatly refused.

When even Griyanar-Emong said it was impossible, I realized my dream of an awesome superhuman clone army would never come true, and I felt myself becoming dejected.

After abolishing the “Commander Supplementation Plan” (which was actually the “Extract from Commander and Mass Produce Bio-samples Plan”), I decided it was time to address another very important matter.

“…Jessica.”

“Yes, Commander.”

“I think it’s about time we create or join a clan.”

“Oh… finally?”

And that was a change in perspective regarding “clans.”

Although I had reminded myself about this a loooong time ago, I had bad memories related to clans in this game.

I had unconsciously avoided them due to PTSD, but… now that quite some time had passed and those memories had become quite blurry.

I thought perhaps it was time to try creating a clan.

But there was one problem I hadn’t anticipated.

And that was…

—————————————-

<Clan Creation Menu>

˪<Clan Name: (blank)>

˪<Clan Leader: Icarus>

˪<Clan Members: Currently 1 person>

˪<Clan Capital: Minimum 10,000 gold (Current leader’s gold: 41,055 gold)>

<<<Clan Creation Impossible!>>>

˪<Reason: Minimum of 5 clan members required besides the creator>

—————————————-

‘What.’

That’s right.

The problem was that you needed at least 5 friends(?) to create a clan.

As far as I could remember, and even after being transported into this world, such a restriction had never existed.

“Seriously? They used to let people make 2-3 person clans, and even solo clans for concept purposes. Why did they suddenly modify it like this?”

“I wonder the same.”

I wondered what was going on.

Worried that I might be suffering from what I jokingly called “early-onset dementia,” I immediately went to the gallery to look up information about clans.

Fortunately, it didn’t take long to find a question post and replies from someone in a similar situation to mine.

From the post and its comments, I was able to figure out what the problem was.

—————————————-

Title: Why is there a minimum member requirement for clans now?

Author: Manta Black

Content: [Image of “Minimum Member Requirement” warning on clan setup screen.jpg]

I don’t think this existed before

It suddenly appeared

I was just trying to form a clan with 3 friends but got this message

Wasn’t there no restriction like this before?

At least in my memory, you could do it without any member restrictions

Comments:

-[Yeah]

-[At some point a member restriction just appeared]

-[Just make 2 more friends and fill the requirement]

-[It changed with a stealth patch without any notice]

-˪[But existing 1-person or 2-3 person clans weren’t removed, so many people don’t know about it lol]

-˪[Oh really?]

—————————————-

—————————————-

Title: Many people don’t know about the clan member restriction

Author: Anonymous

Content: [Image of clan creation menu.jpg]

Well, now that this topic has come up, more people will know about it

But I don’t know why the restriction was implemented

I heard there were numerous incidents with people messing around with solo or under-5-member clans

So they changed the system because of that

No regular user would know the exact reason

They didn’t even announce it in a notice and just implemented it as a stealth patch, so how would anyone know?

But the funny thing is, while they added the restriction, existing solo or under-5-member clans remain intact

Comments:

-[Devs, what kind of incidents are you talking about?]

-[How could anyone cause problems with that?]

-˪[Dunno]

-[Honestly, I think it’s less about incidents and more about preventing people from messing around with clans]

-[Maybe they didn’t make an announcement because it wasn’t that significant]

-˪[They should still announce it if they’re making changes lol]

-˪[Our game doesn’t do that kind of thing]

—————————————-

There were many other random discussions about this, but to summarize, the “system” had changed.

“Hmm.”

“Has the system changed, Commander?”

“It seems so. Thanks to this, I now know I don’t have early-onset dementia.”

“…Pardon?”

Although there was no way to know exactly why they implemented the member restriction, from searching through the posts, it seemed this change had been in place for at least 2-3 months.

Since the system required it, I decided to first find 5 friends(?) to join my clan.

But just as I was about to start looking, Jessica, who had been watching from the side, stabbed me with a very sharp verbal dagger.

“By the way, Commander, I’m curious about something.”

“Yes?”

“You don’t have any friends, so how are you planning to create a clan?”

“What.”

‘What.’

Seeing her attempt to verbally punch me in the solar plexus as naturally as if performing tai chi, I responded to Jessica’s words with the most calm and unshaken attitude I could muster.

“What are you talking about, Jessica? How could I not have acquaintances?”

Who am I?

The charming Rank 3 player who receives rewards and visits from the three major clans.

The Man of 3.

How could someone like me not have acquaintances? What nonsense.

But despite my confident response, Jessica continued to hit me with painful truths.

“Commander, honestly, how many people have you talked to here who aren’t already in a clan?”

“…Huh?”

That’s right.

What good is having connections?

Arcadia? Betelgeuse?

They’re leaders of mega-clans that rank in the top five.

Ms. Tiara, whom I met recently and still chat with occasionally?

She belongs to the Humanity clan.

And other people… there aren’t any?

‘Wait, why aren’t there any?’

Trying to counter Jessica’s cowardly and vicious fact-bombing, I wracked my brain to think of anyone I knew, but…

“Ma-Marian is…”

“Marian isn’t a commander, Commander.”

There’s no one.

It was a newly realized fact, but I suddenly understood that I had barely interacted with other users while playing this game.

After taking Jessica’s painfully accurate verbal blow, I felt my motivation to create a clan plummet exponentially.