Chapter 88: The Hunt for the Free Game Production Rights

by Afuhfuihgs

Chapter 88: The Hunt for the Free Game Production Rights

It had been a week since the beta test for Cosmic Ossuary, the game developed by Han Yurim, had launched.

Publicly, the server was more infamous for its treasure hunt than anything else.

A lot had happened in that short time.

<Han Yurim really is a crazy lunatic.>

(A clip of the chief engineer Han Yurim kidnapped, forcefully overloading the Black Hole Engine.)

“She kidnapped a guy with a face that practically screams ‘betrayal’ and threatened him? Hilarious.”

—”So physiognomy really is a science?”
—”But to be fair, he did have the face of a backstabber.”

<No matter how many times I watch this, it’s insane.>

「Amid the downpour of bullets, Han Yurim’s sword carved a perfect arc.

With each strike, the space pirates—the battle troops of Polarner—fell helplessly to the ground.

Kiiing—. Someone had activated an Awakening ability. The bullets scattered across the battlefield suddenly lifted into the air.

As expected from a hexagonal-type ability, this control-based Awakening skill excelled even in shipboard combat.

The bullets surged toward Han Yurim from all directions, as if time itself had rewound.

The awakened warrior of Polarner smirked slightly. In his mind, he had already won.

And then—

Han Yurim’s sword moved at an unbelievable speed, slicing through the incoming bullets.

The Polarner warrior, momentarily shocked, tried to muster more power to reactivate his ability.

Too late.

“I told you, my specialty is reinforcement-type abilities.”

That was the last thing the Polarner Awakener saw.」

<What even is Han Yurim’s level of control in this game? Should I call it hyper-realistic?>

“The high level of freedom makes it difficult, but you really have to play it yourself to understand. That was an absolutely ridiculous feat of control.”

—”How do you know? Are you a streamer or something?”
┗”I once streamed briefly to show my friends. Even that was enough to get into the server.”
—”I tried streaming for an hour once… Should’ve applied for the beta.”
—”They’re opening up more spots soon. You should apply.”

<Arena’s 8,282,918th attempt at hijacking a spaceship… failed. LOL.>

(A clip of Arena getting melted by a plasma beam.)

“This game looks brutal. No one’s even succeeded in infiltrating yet.”
—”I haven’t played, so I can’t say for sure, but this strategy doesn’t seem to be the intended way to clear it. If you’re forcing something that isn’t meant to work, of course it’s hard.”

—”Can’t they just memorize attack patterns?”
┗”The attack patterns are random and even adjust in real-time. You have to approach it as if you’re actually infiltrating a giant battleship. If you treat it like a normal game, you’ll never succeed.”

Gamers were the kind of people who cleared shooting games without firing a single shot, finished RPGs while keeping the protagonist at level 1, and solved puzzle games using glitches within a day.

Naturally, Han Yurim’s Cosmic Ossuary had been relentlessly dissected, experimented on, and exploited in every conceivable way within just a week.

Thanks to that, the game’s structure was starting to take shape.

<Worldbuilding Breakdown of Cosmic Ossuary>

Here’s a summary of the known factions:

The Human Empire
- A colossal superstate dedicated to protecting humanity.
- Its influence is so vast that it makes present-day superpowers like the United States look insignificant in comparison.
The Free Alliance
- A collective term for all those unaffiliated with any major power.
- Every player starts as part of the Free Alliance.
- The category is broad, ranging from semi-independent nations under the Human Empire’s shadow to full-fledged pirate groups, autonomous states, and even lone adventurers.
- As long as you’re not officially aligned with the Human Empire, you fall under this label.
The Iyrr
- A term for monstrous cosmic entities.
- The primary enemies of humanity, to the extent that one could argue they own the universe.
- They are vast in numbers and incredibly powerful.

—”Iyrr is clearly ripped straight from Iron. LOL.”
—”What kind of traumatic experience did Han Yurim have with Iron to create a game like this?”
—”What is Iron, anyway…?”

<Basic Strategy Guide for Cosmic Ossuary>

Based on everything uncovered so far, here’s a general strategy:

Avoid forming large alliances from the start.
- Large groups have poor weaponry relative to their size, making them prime targets for pirates.
- If you do team up, don’t stick together constantly. Instead, gather resources individually before regrouping.
Prioritize speed when choosing a spaceship.
- If you focus entirely on evasion, even a basic ship can be hard to catch.
Forget fancy tricks and just level up.
- Awakening potential is absurdly high. If you develop your character properly, you won’t even envy entire fleets.

—”Awakened abilities are insane at max level, but can you even reach that in two weeks?”
┗”Of course not. But even mid-level Awakening abilities are broken. They’ll probably get nerfed before the full release.”

With over 300,000 viewers tuning into Han Yurim’s streams alone, and potentially millions more across other platforms and MTube, analysis of the game was advancing at a breakneck pace.

And that wasn’t limited to gameplay details.

<So where exactly is this ‘Free Game Creation Ticket’?>

[Free Game Creation Ticket].

Whenever that phrase came up, Han Yurim would say, “The Free Game Creation Ticket is just one of the prizes.

Its official name is Dae-Bibo (Grand Compensation). Some people might want meal tickets instead, right?”

But no one listened.

By this point, viewers had started tuning out half of what Han Yurim said.

“We’re not looking for the Free Game Production Rights. We’re looking for the Grand Treasure.”

“The Grand Treasure? If you don’t acknowledge that someone else might want the wine I carefully selected, I won’t solve the hint.”

“Finding a single treasure in this vast universe is harder than looking for a needle in a haystack. So, I placed them in places where they’re likely to be.”

“Since everyone plays differently, there are three in total, one in each faction.”

Does anyone know what this means?

They were placed in places where they’re likely to be…

-Doesn’t that mean you have to defeat boss monsters to get them?

Looks like there’s one Free Game Production Right in the Human Empire, the Free Alliance, and Aier.

-The one in the Human Empire is probably with the Emperor, and in the Free Alliance, it should be found through adventure.

-The problem is Aier.

The paradox of omniscience: knowing the logic of all things doesn’t mean you can become omnipotent.

The fact that there’s no way to attain omnipotent power is also included in omniscience.

It’s the same here.

Now, all the participants, including the viewers, had a general idea of where the [Free Game Production Rights] were. At least, two out of the three locations were identified.

However, knowing something and obtaining it were two entirely different matters.

The Human Empire—the guardian of current humanity.

And stealing the possession of the Human Empire’s living god, the Emperor?

Impossible without transcendent power. It would be faster to join the Human Empire and earn it as a reward.

Aier was an even bigger problem.

Those creatures had conquered more than half the universe while making enemies of every intelligent lifeform.

Killing them to obtain the [Free Game Production Rights]?

It was possible—someday. But achieving it within the short two-week event was unrealistic.

Aier may be grouped as one, but all its monsters live as they please.

The moment you lay a hand on the Emperor, the Human Empire will issue an extermination order.

-That’s true, but how do you even kill that monster?

The Aier entity most likely to have the [Free Game Production Rights] was the space tentacle monster that players encountered at the beginning.

(A clip of the space tentacle monster effortlessly crushing a massive battleship like a toy.)

This thing? LOL.

As a result, the participants split into three groups.

Those who just wanted to enjoy the game.

Those who traveled the universe, probing any suspicious-looking planets.

And those who seriously intended to take on the Human Empire and Aier.

The first group, the ‘just want to enjoy the game’ faction, simply played the game.

“Yo, this game even has androids? …Wait a second.”

<[○○] donated 2,000 won.>

-LOL, my reincarnated daughter just entered the game.

“Damn, why is everything so expensive? Did they do this on purpose?”

Despite knowing the game’s tricks, they either ground for money or…

<[○○] slurped up 1,000 won.>

-How about leveling up and then challenging it?

“Han Yurim succeeded even when she was low level.”

They took on seemingly impossible challenges.

The second group, the ‘poke every suspicious-looking planet’ faction, did exactly that.

If it seemed off, they investigated it.

“This looks artificial.”

<[○○] donated 1,000 won!>

-Where?

“Look here. The shape resembles wings. It symbolizes freedom.”

<[○○] donated 1,000 won!>

-You’ve lost it.

Of course, their search wasn’t easy.

Cosmic Ossuary was a game on a mind-boggling scale. Investigating each and every planet was like searching for a needle in a desert.

“Move to the Pegasus constellation coordinates. The Free Game Production Rights must be there.”

But giving up wasn’t an option.

It was the [Free Game Production Rights], after all.

Based on Han Yurim’s hint—“placed in places where they’re likely to be”—players unleashed their wildest theories.

<[SB] Could this be it?>

Freedom-related numbers—1776 (the year of the U.S. Declaration of Independence).

July 4th (U.S. Independence Day, using 7 and 4).

The Aquila constellation, linked to the eagle, a symbol of freedom.

So, by combining these details to find the coordinates…

(A space map displaying a specific set of coordinates.)

Could it be here?

-This is insane, LOL.

-Hey, let’s try this exactly as it is, LOL.

<Yo, I think we actually found it, LOL.>

Planet [RA] looks suspicious right from its appearance.

-Wait, is this for real?

-Drop the stream link.

A man landed on the blatantly suspicious planet and shouted Eureka.

“Holy shit, I found it!”

[Ba-ba-bam! Congratulations! You have won the Think Big Award. We will give you a gold star sticker and 100 gacha tickets.]

“Holy shit, I didn’t find it! And this game doesn’t even have a gacha system—what the hell am I supposed to do with these tickets?!”

That’s how countless players, each in their own way, got closer to the Grand Treasure.

And then…

More than half the server’s participants had gathered.

-Wow.

This is incredible.

-And the server will probably keep adding more players, LOL.

Finally, the last group.

The ‘seriously trying to take on the Human Empire and Aier’ faction.

They held a war council.

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