[Option 1: Idiot, you really want to go and save her! Give up!]
[Option 2: Are you stupid? Don’t think you’re so powerful. Two fists cannot defeat four hands. The Ashen base has just begun to develop, and you cannot let it be destroyed! Give up!]
[Option 3: Momo is a succubus! How could a succubus be afraid of such things? It’s possible that Momo has already had a lot of experience, and the Succubus Queen is just deceiving you. There is no such thing as a virgin succubus in this world. Give up!]
[Option 4: Send troops, declare war on the five bases of Blue Dye, Stone Hammer, Aisin, etc., then march towards the Enchanted Forest, capture the Succubus Queen, and rescue Lena.]
….
‘Every time I think back to that moment, I still feels a bit of emotion’
At that time, Renji’s in-game power was in the latter half of its rise, whether it was the size of the base or the construction of the army, there was still a lot of room for development before reaching the bottleneck.
‘Although conquering the world was always my goal in the game, these other human bases would have to be attacked by my forces sooner or later.’
‘But the most prudent plan was definitely to first conserve strength and store up energy, then defeat them one by one. Even later, when they saw the expansion of my power, there was no need for me to come to them; given the character of most base leaders, who fear death and covet life, perhaps they would take the initiative to surrender to me.’
‘In the later stages of the game, when I occupied half of the continent’s territory, the remaining base forces didn’t need me to wage war anymore. They were scrambling to join the territory of the Ashen Empire’
‘But at that time, my top combat power was actually just Nova and Zero. Suthia, serving as a healer, was already showing signs of fatigue in the era of bases and armies.’
‘The combat power of the Ashen base was indeed strong, plus, having me as a “player” perspective for command, it could be said to be invincible in battle. But at that time, the population of the Ashen base added up to just over a hundred thousand, and the Ashen army had less than fifty thousand, of which a few thousand were logistical troops.’
‘In comparison, the five bases I had to face –?Aisin base had about two hundred and fifty thousand people, Stonehammer a bit less, also at the hundred thousand level, but from the name, it can be seen as a fortress built on a rock basin, very easy to defend and difficult to attack.’
‘As for the Blue Dye base, not to mention, it was the regional tyrant at that time, like a boss among the bases, with a total population of more than half a million, and the number of troops was even half of that, shown on the panel as two hundred thousand. Although there was certainly a lot of exaggeration in that number, the gap in quantity was clear at a glance’
The remaining two bases, although relatively weak, also had populations at the hundred thousand level. The five bases combined, the number of troops would probably be more than ten times that of the Ashen army.
Under such circumstances, where Ashen Base had to be the attacker with fewer numbers, you can imagine the difficulty, destined to rely on countless “rollbacks” to have a chance of success.
Indeed, just a chance.
In the game “Fallen Chronicles,”?even if players could save and rollback, it still doesn’t mean all problems could be solved. For example, with natural disasters or attacks by tainted Miasma waves, rolling back a hundred times would be useless.
On the contrary, Renji has seen too many players on the forums who were full of confidence when they saved their game, only to find out later that their previous decisions were wrong, leading to a complete collapse, with no way to go back, ultimately turning their save file into a “dead save” and furiously criticizing the game.
‘When it comes to the choices involving Lena, choosing a less challenging option would have been acceptable just to keep an extra save slot open. However, the issue is that I was limited to only one save slot in the extremely difficult situation.’
Like with the previous choices involving the Succubus, Renji dared to “accidentally” slip because the “consequences” of those choices were not long-term, requiring no further use of the save feature, hence no risk of overwriting.
But this time it was different.
Waging war against five bases would at least take a week to complete this campaign, and it was inevitable that he would need to use the save function during it. Once he used the save, it meant overwriting the previous save, which also meant that he had no chance to go back and make a different choice.
After all the effort put into the highest difficulty of “Fallen Chronicles,”a game no one has ever completed, to have such a “heaven-sent” start, if it turned into a “dead save,” it would mean all efforts were wasted. he might never encounter a starting companion like “Suthia,” an early-game war goddess, no matter how many times he restarted.
‘But.’
‘How should I put it?’
‘Firstly, it’s not because Lena includes “Wanderer,” “Fortune Teller,” and later “Succubus Princess” among her initial options, giving her several more portraits than others from the start.’
Renji just felt that if he didn’t dare to take a risk even in a game, wouldn’t that be too much of a failure?
The campaign took even longer than Renji had anticipated, a full half month to finally conquer, with countless attempts to find the optimal solution and repeated saving and loading.
The risk was great, but naturally, so was the reward.
After successfully incorporating these five bases, the game’s progression greatly accelerated, expanding the Ashen base’s power several times over and truly setting it on the path to becoming the Ashen Empire.
Moreover, a somewhat belated realization struck Renji, discovering another point.
‘Precisely because I chose to speed up here, it indirectly caused a butterfly effect, allowing me to establish the empire before the “World Tree” was corrupted and withered by the Tainted Miasma, thanks to the Succubus race knowing about the existence of the “Elven race” and having the strength to go and save them’
According to Lena’s diary, the biggest aid in understanding the world’s truth for the her and Miyuki was from that native World Tree.
Although Fallen Chronicles is calculated in real-time, with all maps being completely random and each player’s world being different with different characters, some “basic elements” that constitute the world are still the same. Such as the races like humans, demi-humans, Succubi, machines, etc., like the Tainted Miasma, gathering places, shelters, and bases as upgrade paths. Landmark buildings are also one of the “basic elements” that constitute the world.
Similarly, there are the Succubi’s Forest of Enchantment, the Undead’s Land of Skeletons, the Demi-Human’s Orc Plains, and for the Elven race, it is the World Tree.
Combining the true nature of the world from the diary, it wasn’t difficult for Renji to understand that each player’s world has a “native” World Tree, serving as an incarnation of the cosmic World Tree, somewhat like a proxy server.
However, if the player’s “progress speed” through the game isn’t fast enough to reach the Elves and save the World Tree before the Tainted Miasma corrupts it, then even if they later succeed in defeating the Miasma and saving the world, that native World Tree would still be irreversibly lost, equivalent to a complete loss.
Whether the World Tree exists or not, whether this “proxy server” is broken, has no impact on the “first playthrough” of the game. It’s considered a neutral building that players can’t control and doesn’t have any special functions; the initial Renji didn’t pay much attention to it.
But looking back now.
Renji became clearer on why among the players of “Fallen Chrnonicles”, only he had the option to start a “second playthrough.”
It’s not only because of the highest difficulty choice, having powerful and well-backed Eclipsers like Lena and Miyuki.
An equally important reason is the greatly “accelerated” progress through the game due to Lena, which saved the World Tree.
And subsequently, successfully contracting Miyuki, allowing the World Tree to be cared for by a more powerful Elf and to revive and grow.
In game terms, the state of the native World Tree is the hidden condition for unlocking the “second playthrough,” an absolutely indispensable part.
‘Thinking about it this way, my impulsive decision really reaped huge rewards.’
‘At that time, not knowing so much about the future, just as a player outside the screen, I was also very excited and felt it was a huge gain.’
‘Not just because of winning battles and expanding power, but don’t forget, in the fourth option at that time, besides declaring war on the five bases, there was another sentence.’
‘Head towards the Forest of Succubi, capture the Succubus Queen, and save the imprisoned Lena.’
Players are actually quite strange.
When playing visual novels, they always want to find the story, but when playing serious games, they always look for something more titillating.
Renji can only say, back then, he, with eyes bloodshot from staying up all night, spent half a month planning to overturn the five bases, and the allure of this final reward segment played a significant role.
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