What's going on?
I'm hiding in a trench getting shelled, and the incredibly absurd enemies opposite are about to charge. Why have I inexplicably become a planner again?
Just as Andrei was wondering, the electronic mechanical voice in his mind continued to sound:
"Players forum has been opened."
"NPC template has been opened."
"Shop is ready, affinity adjustment function enabled."
"Quest release authority has been opened."
"Please confirm character creation rules, Players' arrival location, and Players' permissions."
Seeing this series of prompts, Andrei blinked.
So he really gets to be the planner!
But he immediately realized that this system seemed to be able to recruit Players from another world and make them work for him!
That's great!
The terrifying Fourth Calamity is famous throughout all the heavens and myriad worlds; wherever it passes, not a blade of grass grows, and wails of sorrow fill the land!
Although the Fourth Calamity generally has various minor issues, if he can ensure they are used for his own benefit, it's quite good.
Most importantly, he urgently needed Players to save his life!
So Andrei quickly found a corner and swiftly began operating on the panel.
He suddenly discovered that when he operated on the panel, the surrounding environment seemed to instantly freeze.
However, he wasn't sure how long this stillness would last. Was it time-limited, or could it continue indefinitely?
Thinking of the multi-legged armored vehicle that was about to charge the position, Andrei quickly sped up his operations.
For character creation rules, he simply set it to random face generation. All characters created would use the gray-uniformed Soldiers around him as templates.
There was no other way; Andrei had considered open face customization.
But considering the Players' various bizarre operations, he was afraid that Players would end up creating a bunch of ancient god faces, instantly turning into Cthulhu kin.
So it was better to just use random face generation; at least there wouldn't be a bunch of strange-looking guys.
And the Players' arrival location was set by Andrei right beside him, to prevent them from running around.
He summoned Players to save his life, not to help fill the lines!
As for Players' permissions, Andrei decided to set them aside for now and slowly patch them as the game unfolded, but he did add a few basic permissions:
Players cannot use words like "Players" and "game" when speaking, to avoid unnecessary trouble.
At the same time, the Players' nicknames they set themselves would randomly transform into a Russian-style name when heard by outsiders. This allows Players freedom in naming while preventing a bunch of messy names from being too jarring.
Regarding names, Andrei wasn't entirely sure what kind of country he was currently in, or what its naming conventions were.
But considering his own name sounded like an old Russian, he simply made the name conversion Russian, making all names Russian-style.
In addition, regarding the Players' character creation classes, Andrei directly replicated Battlefield 1, using the Battlefield "potato" templates as the Players' templates, which are Assault, Support soldier, Medical Soldier, and Scout.
Next, after completing these settings, Andrei began to write the initial quest.
After some operations, a prompt popped up on Andrei's system:
"Basic settings completed. Planner, please note: you currently have a total of 1000 influence points in this world. As you and your Players have more influence on this world, your influence points will further expand!"
"Based on your settings, the value is estimated: summoning one basic Player costs 100 influence points. Reviving that Player also costs the same price. Please set the Players' initial resurrection point!"
Andrei looked around and set the initial resurrection point in the dugout he had been hiding in earlier.
Mainly, there was no more suitable place nearby.
The system showed that the resurrection point must be in an unoccupied building.
However, in the position before his eyes, only that dugout met this requirement.
After sorting all this out, Andrei clicked to recruit Players, recruiting five at once.
It wasn't that he didn't want to recruit more, but he had to reserve resurrection opportunities for Players, otherwise, if Players played a game and found that dying meant it was over, who would continue playing?
As Andrei clicked to recruit, at the same time, in another parallel world, a software program appeared in the virtual game pods of several veteran war game Players.
"Damn it, this operation is purely elementary school level! What kind of smoke screen is this?"
Lin Hao Yu, who had just finished a round of battle royale and was frustrated by his absurd teammates' smoke grenades, couldn't help but curse.
After closing the game, he originally wanted to just exit the game pod and call it a night.
But he suddenly found that, at some point, another game had appeared in his game library.
"Huh, how did I not know when I downloaded this game? It's bundled installation again!"
He was about to click uninstall, but when he saw the ferocious diesel mech and gear logo on the game icon, his hand hesitated.
He had to admit, the dieselpunk style mech really suited his taste, especially since this type of game was quite niche, with hardly any good ones online.
"Forget it, I'll play it and see. If it's not good, I'll uninstall it. It's not that much time!"
Saying this, he re-closed the game pod, clicked on the game, and entered immersion mode.
As soon as he entered the game, there was a grand war CG.
Watching the punk mechs galloping across the land, the modified Soldiers with various appearances, the crisscrossing complex trenches, and the desperate roars of ordinary Soldiers as they charged.
He had to admit, the game's CG production was truly excellent; the visuals had reached cinematic levels!
After the cutscene ended, it was time to choose a game name. Seeing that there was no face customization program, he immediately gave it a mental thumbs down.
After entering his usual game ID, Hao Nan Ge, a class selection interface appeared before him. Looking at the four available classes, he couldn't help but complain:
"Good heavens, they're not even trying to hide it. It's clearly copying Battlefield!"
As he spoke, he chose an Assault class, following his usual gaming habits from Battlefield.
This game seemed quite similar to Battlefield, so it should be easy for an old Player like him to pick up.
As he finished choosing his class, a white light quickly spread before his eyes. When the white light receded, he found himself a tall Soldier holding an M1918 trench gun and wearing a gray, Russian-style military uniform.
Beside him, four other Players had chosen the game's four main classes.
..."Hmm, alright, a small squad has been assembled!"
Lin Hao Yu shrugged. Then, as he looked at the officer standing motionless beside them, a quest bar immediately appeared before their eyes:
"Main Quest: Protect your Company Commander, Andrei Konstantinovich Vorontsov, and survive under his leadership!"