Chapter 102
Chapter 102
"Good grief. I managed to seize the initiative at the last second."
While monitoring the treasure vault on a monitor, the woman in a white coat—Rosetta—speaks.
"I'm grateful to Ms. Nadra. Thanks to the report she left, desert exploration finished easily. A truly simple job, wasn't it? 99."
A single player enters the monitor room. A boyish woman wearing a mask marked '99'.
Her player name is 99. The very person who stole the treasure from the vault.
"Sure. That security was a joke. Here, the promised goods."
"Thanks."
99 tosses Rosetta a pouch holding two Triads.
The instant Rosetta catches it, 99 leans in, grabbing the collar of the white coat.
"Oh my, what's wrong? Rebellious phase?"
"......You promised to gather champions from other games, and it's for this petty burglary? Huh?"
99 speaks in a low, murmuring voice laced with anger.
"We're people who lost our passion for other games—people bored with games. You swore you'd light a fire in us again. So what the hell is this? It's been half a month since we came to this game, and we haven't done a single decent job."
"Look at the monitor. That person will light the fire in all of you."
99 looks at the monitor—at the sniper shown on screen.
"Her name is Shiki. She's the one I'm most wary of in all Oceanus. When it comes to toppling Oceanus, she'll be the biggest obstacle."
"Heh."
99 lets go of the collar and focuses on the monitor.
"I don't sense an ounce of ambition, though."
"Keep watching and you'll see. I put a bounty on her and sent a swarm of bounty hunters, yet she never showed even a fraction of her true strength. Boycotting can wait until after you've actually seen how strong she is."
Rosetta sits back in her chair and studies 99's profile.
As the battle progresses, 99 becomes glued to the monitor, the corners of her mouth rising enough to be visible even through the mask.
(World fighting-game champion, RTA speedrunner, and FPS queen. These three are already top-class players in this organization. After two years operating as Green Ice, the pieces are finally in place.)
Operating as Green Ice, Rosetta had faced one major problem in expanding the terrorist organization: a shortage of capable players. She could gather numbers, but not quality.
Every famous player already belonged to some organization; none joined hers.
Infinity Space is a game where player skill can break numerical superiority. Without powerful players, nothing begins.
So she pulled in top talent—not from inside this game, but from other games.
Emperor of fighting games: Kamui Shindou.
Witch of FPS: 99.
Champion of RTA: Sonic.
She called out to them directly on social media and lured them in with clever words and negotiation.
(Michael Jordan, called the god of basketball, could have gone pro in baseball. Bo Jackson left top records in both baseball and American football. There are many examples of athletes who succeeded in one sport and then challenged another.)
The so-called multi-athletes.
Because their underlying physical ability is high, some can compete with top players of other fields after only a little experience. Taking this example, Rosetta hit on the idea of recruiting elite players from other games.
(Games are the same. Someone who has mastered one game can manage another reasonably well. If they're world-champion level, even more so.)
Rosetta possesses vast assets and materials, so she could prepare anything they needed for training. She became their instructor herself and drilled them. In the brief span of half a month their levels rose to 120, and their skills grew to match those levels.
(Kamui, 99, Sonic. Plus the mass-produced humanoids based on their ability data, subordinates stationed throughout Oceanus, copies of White Meteor, and the Triads. The forces are ready... I'll bring Oceanus down. This colony—will be mine.)