301. Code Zero (6)
The moment I felt strongly that I needed to wake up, the connection to Pangea Chronicle was easily terminated.
[hmm? What, you came back early today?]
When I opened my eyes in bed, the devil gave me a rare welcome sound. It looks like he was quite bored while alone.
But Seongjin didn’t have time to deal with him right now. As I lifted the silver disk heading straight to the workshop, the Demon King muttered sullenly.
[That’s right. you are good I always go out to fun places alone… … .]
No, I’m not playing. You just go and do what you have to do.
And even if you found out what kind of disgusting guy I met earlier, would you be able to say something like that easily?
‘… Should I ask the chef if he has any bear meat left?’
But instead of scolding the guy, Seongjin said something outrageous. Perhaps it was because I had direct contact with his soul, but his lonely mood was conveyed without any filtering.
[What? really? good!]
Fortunately, the Demon King’s mood shows a sharp upward curve.
[Bear meat~ Bear meat~ Bear meat with a strong aroma and fiery taste~]
‘… … .’
You’ve eaten so much, aren’t you sick of it? Such a simple guy.
Anyway, Seongjin, who was internally relieved, hurriedly operated the key and opened the portal.
“Wow, you came quickly.”
When we arrived at the workshop, Dexter had already come out of the dive capsule and was turning on his laptop.
“So what? “Is this something you need to discuss carefully with me?”
Instead of answering, Seongjin pointed to his laptop with his chin.
“Ah, yes. Time error compared to the guidebook. “I thought I should look into it a little more closely.”
Dexter’s expression was quite serious as he said that.
“It was a problem that the boss room was just opened, but there were too many other small timing errors. Due to the way the Homunculus Engine operates, once a user logs in, there can be absolutely no lag. But there were so many strange things today.”
“It’s not just about time, is it?”
At Seongjin’s point, the dwarf engineer asked with wide eyes.
“what?”
“The detection range of close-range warriors increased, and there was a fairly large error in the range of archers. “The orc wizard even tried to cast impossible high-level magic on low-level monsters.”
That’s because the evil spirit Hayes destroyed them all before casting.
“It’s not just time, Dexter. “Everything was a mess, from the physical distance to the level and door opening and closing conditions.”
Fortunately, just as Seongjin had predicted, it was all within a range that could be responded to, so no major damage was suffered.
If it had been any other party than theirs, they would have inevitably been wiped out.
“… Yes, that’s right. “There are those too.”
Dexter, who was nodding his head, asked a bit absurdly.
“But no matter how I think about it, it’s amazing. “How did you catch all of that?”
“What are you talking about all of a sudden? “You told me the strategy in detail at the beginning, right?”
“No, but… … .”
Are you memorizing it all?
Dexter looked at him with a skeptical look, but Seongjin easily ignored such unimportant suspicions.
“So what? “The ‘Thunderstorm Bone’ the Orc King was talking about.”
“Ah, yes. There was something strange about the boss from earlier too. “Then shall we start from there?”
Dexter displayed the Pangea Chronicle main screen with a shocked expression on his face. It was a screen showing the goddess Justitia, standing majestically with her eyes covered by a cloth, appearing in the foreground.
The illustration stands out with the golden window and long blonde hair that are familiar to Seongjin.
“Thunderstorm Bone, as explained before, refers to a ‘user.’ An anti-hero who destroys the long-standing order and brings about the destruction of the world. Well, it is a setting that ultimately brings a new order and prosperity to the world.”
“It’s not that fresh.”
Dexter nodded at Seongjin’s honest impressions.
“That’s right. In fact, Pangea Chronicles is a game that has nothing special if you look at its content. “The main story is so-so, and the worldview is a mass-produced game made up of things you’ve probably seen before.”
Since it is the only online game made with the Homunculus engine, it differentiates itself from other games by providing an unprecedented sense of play.
Isn’t this the same as creating an actual normal world? As a result, it will provide users with a vivid sense of reality without any room for 3D motion sickness.
“This is also the case with the goddess Justitia, the most important setting in this game. “He is an old-fashioned character who has caused concern several times in the past in games released by Impulse Soft.”
“It’s inevitable since the game director is the same,” Dexter added.
Click, click, click.
After he clicked on the site a few times, a site introducing classic RPG games appeared before Seongjin’s eyes. But really, there was a clumsy drawing of Justitia made up of dots!
“Chronicles of Astria?”
“It’s another name for Justitia. Starting with Part 1, ‘The Call of the Goddess’, to Part 8, ‘Astria of Darkness’. “It’s a popular game that launched a fairly long series.”
“Hmm.”
Seongjin caught his eye for a moment on the title of the last episode, ‘Astria of Darkness’.
“The same goes for ‘Thunderstorm Born’, which refers to users. Traces of similar games remain. “If you think about it, the monsters and dungeons, as well as the kingdoms and place names on the world map, are nothing more than slightly modified versions of previous games.”
In addition, there is a system where you can collect NPCs and use them as subordinates, or a mini card game that can be played in a tavern.
All types of popular games were installed in the Pangea Chronicle system, with some modifications.
There were many people who were clearly sarcastic about that point.
Among the sites that Dexter shows in passing, one picture that someone posted as a joke stands out.
A scene from another game where a warrior wearing a bone helm is engulfed in flames and shouts ‘Perstard Los!’ And below that, an image of Thunderstorm Bone shouting ‘Mustard sauce!’ while caught in a thunderstorm is synthesized like a meme.
“If there are many similar things to this extent… … .”
As Seongjin trails off with a not-so-good feeling, Dexter also nods as if he understands.
“okay. You might be right. “Maybe this isn’t just a borrowing, but a game that actually exists.”
okay. Why not?
The Homunculus Engine is a system specialized in taking sources from other worlds and transforming them to suit one’s taste. In that case, there was nothing strange about using an already existing game as is.
-This world was forced to wake up from its egg before it was ready. So, to make up for the ridiculously weak tone, numerous rules were added in a disorderly manner. In such great chaos, the distortion of the world eventually arose.
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Suddenly, the words that Justitia had uttered like a lament appeared in Seongjin’s mind. Did you mean it was literally a game of randomness?
“I had a deep suspicion that it would be so. “This won’t be a game made through a normal planning process.”
According to Dexter’s explanation, it was so.
After the Homunculus engine porting was completed, the time interval between the actual Pangea Chronicle being officially serviced was too short.
“Can you guess how many people and how much work it takes to make one game? There is only one way to reduce that time. “We use old games as sources and put them all together with the Homunculus engine.”
hmm.
Seongjin looked at the laptop screen and opened his mouth.
“But everything is just our guess. “Is there any way to definitely prove that?”
“well? Originally, this would have been unknown to anyone other than Impulse Soft insiders… … .”
After muttering that, Dexter got up from his seat and approached one side of the workshop. In front of the [Homunculus Engine Editor], which was destroyed once before.
“But we have guest ID users and source editors! First, wouldn’t it be a good idea to use an editor to analyze some of the items you stole from the game? “If anything comes from another game, traces of it will definitely remain in the source code.”
“… Does that work?”
When I asked while looking at the tattered crystal boards that still couldn’t find their place, Dexter frowned as if he was offended.
An engine editor that can be said to be the culmination of the Ionian civilization. Since Seongjin was the one who directly caused its destruction, his suspicions don’t seem to be very pleasant.
“I just took a quick look. Even if editing is impossible, it is possible to read the source code, right?”
“Well, okay. good.”
Then there’s something appropriate.
Seongjin searched his pockets and took out several items he had acquired from the Pangea Chronicle. It was several types of binding potions and a small leftover fish cake.
“… Are you saying you are the son of a noble family? But how can you easily put this kind of unidentified food in your mouth?”
Dexter accepted the fish cake with teeth marks with an embarrassed expression.
“Even though I’m a picky eater, I’m not a picky eater.”
“No, picky eating isn’t the problem… “Anyway, what is left over after eating?”
“I feel fortunate that there is at least something left to analyze. “I enjoyed it quite a bit, but for some reason I felt like I shouldn’t eat it all, so I ended up leaving it behind.”
“… … .”
Dexter looked very shocked at Seongjin’s confident answer.
But in the end, it turned out that Seongjin’s premonition was correct. Dexter, who had wasted all the binding potions, reluctantly pretended to be fooled and found something in the fish cake he analyzed!
“also! Seongjin Lee, come here and take a look at this!”
The following text appeared on the screen he analyzed:
〚High Grade 2*8d# Fish Cake #% Warm Snack Shop〛
〚Item grade: B〛
〚Price: 2 Diamonds〛
〚*Current server cannot be checked.〛
Price 2 diamonds?
“what? “Isn’t this an item description from Pangea Chronicle?”
To Seongjin’s question, Dexter answered in a very excited voice.
“of course! For items transformed by the Homunculus Engine, the essence of the source is changed, and the previous information comes to the forefront! “It’s like molting and the remaining shell remains on the surface!”
In other words, this fish cake is really a sauce from another game.
And soon, through an Internet search, they were able to confirm that a restaurant management simulation called ‘Warm Snack Restaurant’ was released by the same company.
“This is a great discovery, Seongjin Lee! Indeed, many of the items in Pangea Chronicle may come from other games! Then, even for rare items, as long as you find the original source… … .”
Then Dexter suddenly chewed his tongue as if he had been stabbed in the back.
“hmm? what?”
“why?”
“No, wait… … .”
And Dexter started searching the Internet as if he was possessed by something.
“I feel strangely uncomfortable. I feel like we’re forgetting something important… … .”
“what?”
Then, Dexter soon showed Seongjin a user bulletin board.
“Do you feel anything when you see this?”
Coincidentally, the place was plastered with posts from all kinds of users crying in search of rare job change items.
-Where can I find the 3rd job change item? ㅠㅠ
-Information on the former essential item, Ice Heart
-Ice Heart Auction House Price
‘… ‘Ice heart?’
Naturally, the information about the ice heart he had been fiddling with with Dexter vividly appeared in Seongjin’s mind.
〚Glacier Troll’s Ice Heart〛
〚A new item obtained from the Gerardu Valley dungeon boss, the Glacher Troll King. You can set the activity conditions of the registered entity and give commands with simple sentences.〛
〚Item grade: A〛
〚*Currently unable to check Northland server.〛
“No, but that was source material for a completely different game? So what about the Northland server… … .”
And while Seongjin continued speaking, he realized something.
ah! Source for other games!
“Back in the early days of this company… … .”
Dexter opened his mouth with a trembling voice.
“We once released a free mini-game. “If I remember correctly, the integrated server at that time was probably ‘Northland.’”
And the game title popped up on the screen.
A simple illustration of a giant ape fighting a white yeti-like monster.
-Kong: Jurassic Island
“Lee Seong-jin… … .”
The dwarf engineer looked up at Seongjin with shaking eyes.
“What on earth did we do with that rare transfer item?”
fantasy,
