The dust stirred up by the troop transport convoy gradually settled, leaving Robert and his ninety-nine "subordinates." He looked at the group of people before him; the ten old ones were fine, having at least experienced one battle, but the ninety new ones were completely out of it. Some were curiously stroking the mud walls of the trench, while others tried to strike up conversations with those around them, making the scene a bit chaotic.
Commanding a group of players?
A bead of cold sweat trickled down Robert's forehead. This was arguably the most impossible task in the world. Players were known for their free-spirited, undisciplined nature. Making them obey another player's command was as difficult as teaching an ogryn advanced mathematics.
Just as he was feeling anxious and wondering how to start in a way that would command respect from this group, a light blue virtual screen automatically popped up in front of him.
Main Quest Triggered
Mission Objective: Lead the other 99 players to defend the current position for at least one day (24 hours).
Failure Penalty: None
Mission Progress: 10 / 86400
At the same time, a surprised commotion arose in the crowd.
Ruthless Assassin quickly ran up to Robert, his face filled with excitement: "Boss! Boss! My system panel says I've triggered a main quest, it says Defend the position for at least one day under the leadership of the new Company Commander, Dr. Dixy Normous!"
As he finished speaking, other players also chimed in, saying they had received the same mission prompt.
A warmth immediately surged through Robert's heart, and he felt like bowing to the game dev on the spot.
Game dev, you truly are a great person!
If Terrabyte were standing in front of him at that moment, Robert would probably rush forward without hesitation, embrace him, and give him two big kisses.
With the system quest to back him up, and him adding a bit of his own authority, the difficulty of commanding instantly dropped from hell mode to a beginner's tutorial!
The system panel prompt also made Robert realize that now was not the time for sentimentality. He quickly calmed himself down and brought up his personal panel, wanting to see what specific updates this second closed beta had compared to the last one.
The UI interface still maintained a minimalist style, without any flashy decorations, allowing Robert to immediately spot the differences from last time.
Game ID: Dr. Dixy Normous
Position: Temporary Company Commander, 13th Company, 102nd Regiment, Perditia Astra Militarum
Faction Merit: Ordinary (3 / 1000)
Legendary Status: Unknown (0)
Skills: Master Chainsaw Sword (x / x) (Temporary), Basic Shooting (13 / 100), Basic Melee (7 / 100)
Body Data: Skull Strength - 10.3 / 10.5 (Current / Max), Thoracic Resistance - 10.1 / 10.5 (Current / Max), Liver Function - 9.6 / 10.5 (Current / Max) ...
Robert didn't ponder on his own; he tentatively used his mind to click on each line of text. Sure enough, the dear game dev had thoughtfully added detailed annotations to each attribute.
Game ID: No need to explain, it was his in-game ID.
Position: Could be understood as authority.
Faction Merit: The explanation for this was the most crucial: it was both the "experience points" necessary to advance in rank and the "currency" circulating within the faction. Advancing in rank unlocked the authority to exchange for more and better equipment and supplies, and exchanging these items required consuming Merit. It was worth noting that Merit, once accumulated to its cap and a promotion was achieved, would not be consumed. There were only two ways to consume Merit: exchanging items at the shop on the panel, and Merit being reset to zero due to death.
This required players to make reasonable plans, finding a balance between "accumulating Merit to increase authority" and "consuming Merit to exchange for equipment to ensure survival." After all, if a person died, no matter how much Merit they accumulated, it would all be for naught.
At the end of the annotation, the game dev also specifically added a small line: Unless your superior is willing to approve a newcomer taking over the Merit and assets of someone who has died.
Upon seeing this, Robert's heart skipped a beat. Although the game dev had already expressed support during the first closed beta conversation, having it written directly in the game's annotations still exceeded his expectations.
Only then did he realize how immense the authority and binding power of his "Temporary Company Commander" position was over other players! If he wished, whether other players' hard-earned Faction Merit could be inherited after their deaths was entirely up to his word!
Now it seemed, even without the system quest's help, as long as he wasn't brain-damaged, utilizing this power well could also effectively unite other players around him to jointly defend the position.
As for Legendary Status, the annotation was vague, only stating that it represented a player's reputation within the Empire, with its specific function unknown. Robert didn't pay too much attention to this; for him, a mere temporary company commander on a remote planet, this was too distant.
The Skill Bar was also easy to understand. Robert specifically took a closer look at his "Master Chainsaw Sword." The annotation showed that the reason this skill was in an unquantifiable state (x / x) was entirely due to the special effect of the chainsword named Xeno Exterminator he held, and had nothing to do with his own muscle memory or combat skills.
Finally, the Body Data was even more interesting. The annotation stated that "Max Strength" referred to the character's base value after dying and resurrecting. This value could be permanently increased through a series of methods such as gene modification surgery, high-intensity physical training, and even warp energy erosion, while decreasing it was extremely difficult. "Current Strength" was the character's current physical state, and this value was very easy to decrease; conventional situations like fatigue, injury, hunger, and illness would all lead to its temporary decay.
At this point, Robert's thoughts drifted. He mused that, according to this setting, for warp-infused powerhouses like Primarchs, to increase their strength cap, they probably just needed to shake their bodies, roar "Power, I command you to emerge!", and their stats would skyrocket like they'd activated Kaioken… except for Guilliman.
While Robert was studying the panel, a high-pitched voice suddenly rang out from among the new players, carrying a hint of doubt and relief: "Hey? Look, if this main quest fails, why is the penalty 'None'? Is this game so lenient? I thought failing would deduct Merit or even delete my account."
This statement immediately caught the attention of other new players. They all brought up their mission panels to check and found it was indeed true.
"It's true, there's no failure penalty."
"Then what's there to be afraid of? At worst, we just can't hold it, there's no loss anyway."
"Haha, this game dev is quite humane."
The discussion atmosphere immediately became relaxed, and some players even showed "I see" expressions, seemingly feeling that the pressure of the mission had suddenly decreased.
However, just then, a faint voice rose from the crowd, not loud, but clearly reaching everyone's ears: "I say… is there a possibility that the so-called 'no penalty' is because the system doesn't need to set an additional penalty at all?"
The voice paused, then continued: "The fall of a position usually means the complete annihilation of our defending forces. All of us will die, and death itself is the greatest penalty — Merit reset to zero. At the same time, our temporary company commander will also be removed from his post due to mission failure. By then, he naturally won't be able to approve us inheriting anyone's Merit. Isn't this the most severe penalty?"
These words were like a bucket of ice water poured over the heads of the players who had just been enthusiastically discussing, and the boisterous atmosphere immediately froze.
Everyone fell silent. They pondered carefully and found that these words were absolutely spot-on, with impeccable logic. Yes, if everyone was dead, what more penalty was needed? Death in this game wasn't as simple as respawning after a countdown; it was a real asset wipe.
A few seconds later, a more enthusiastic response erupted from the new player group than before, but this time, the direction had completely changed.
"Holy crap, Boss's analysis makes sense!"
"Company Commander! Dr. Dixy Normous, Sir! Don't just stand there, hurry up and command us!"
"Right, right, right, we're all noobs, how exactly do we play this game? Hurry and teach us!"
"Company Commander, please give the order! We promise to obey commands!"
The new players immediately eagerly expressed their stance, each looking at Robert with eyes full of anticipation and trust, as if he were the only sun that could lead everyone out of the Novice Village.
Robert was also enlightened by those words. He secretly looked approvingly in the direction the voice came from, silently noting down the ID of the speaking player in his heart — Joker.