"Within the last month, we have managed to reach 172 billion Conclave users, with over fifty billion being concurrent," Sarah reported, addressing the Emperor, the heads of the three ministries, and the directors of the imperial agencies during a topic-specific Imperial Council eting. This session had been called to review the progress made in the first month of the expansion campaign.
The room remained quiet, but their expressions betrayed the storm of thoughts behind their composed façades. Although they had expected the Conclave to hold staggering numbers, no one had anticipated a figure of this magnitude, and worse, it wasn't even ten percent of the entire Conclave population. They had only deployed VR towers and wormholes across roughly eight percent of the total territory during the first phase. And that figure didn't even account for the people in already-covered zones who still hadn't received their VR devices, either because the allotted free units had already been claid or because news of the rollout had yet to reach them.
Each attendee processed the news through their own lens of responsibility and concern. John, the Empire's war minister, imdiately thought of how to prepare for the possibility of fighting such a vast population.
The Head of the Bank of the Universe, an experienced economist, felt a chill run down his spine as he calculated the amount of END that would need to be printed to sustain comrce in VR, a number so astronomical that if the rollout of it failed it would make the Zimbabwe's 2008 inflation rate of 89.7 sextillion percent seem like child's play in comparison.
The other ministry heads were similarly stunned, each trying to assess the implications through the scope of their own departnts.
"Since the first six months of logging in are free, many tried it out, either to see if their governnts were telling the truth or simply because the devices were handed out at no cost. But now, with each passing day, new users in already-covered regions are growing by at least a billion daily. It's starting to beco a part of their everyday lives," Sarah continued, addressing the Imperial Council.
She pointed to the adaptive asures taken to optimize user experience. "Using the data we've gathered, we've started tailoring tutorials to match each civilization's cultural context and cognitive patterns. The results have been positive, the average tutorial ti has already dropped from one hour to just thirty minutes. With further refinents, we expect it to stabilize at around ten minutes in the near future."
She listed other developnts as well: "We've integrated local languages and slangs into the universal translator. The VR device's scanners are providing real-ti data within a 200-ter radius, allowing us to fine-tune planetary maps. We're also identifying local cultural interests to incorporate into regional events in preparation for the future rollout of the integration with the real world economy."
But not all the updates were positive.
"With the hyperrealism of the system and the lack of initial restrictions, so treated the VR like a lawless land. At least 300 million users have already been banned, many for attempting to use the platform for torture or extortion, exploiting the VR's resistance to permanent death. Others were slave owners using it to punish their slaves without physically damaging them, or trying to profit by forcing them to sell themselves in VR while preserving their 'value' in the real world. And then there were those with old grudges, unable to kill each other in reality, they attempted to do it in the VR, and not even in sanctioned arenas."
Sarah paused, rubbing her temples. This part of the report always gave her a headache, it reminded her of just how dark things could get.
The truth was, the Conclave had as many cruel individuals as humans did, perhaps more in so ways. The prevalence of slavery, and worse, its social acceptance in parts of the Conclave, made such cruelty far more aggressive and visible, especially when there were people who could be mistreated without public backlash.
As Sarah continued outlining the more disturbing trends, the council's mood turned somber. Every mber processed the implications differently, but a single unified thought seed to pass between them: they had to act.
Their gazes all converged on the Emperor. His expression remained calm and unreadable. So too were the faces of the ministry heads, as though they knew sothing the others didn't.
The room stayed silent for a long mont after Sarah's report ended, the atmosphere heavy with the weight of what had been said. Then, the Emperor slowly leaned forward, his hands clasped in front of him on the table.
His eyes, sharp and cold, swept across the room. "It was inevitable," he said, his voice calm but carrying an edge that quieted even the shifting of chairs. "We're not dealing with a utopia. We're integrating civilizations with histories older and often more brutal than our own. Expecting them all to behave simply because we gave them access to sothing new would have been naïve."
He paused. "But make no mistake, that doesn't an we will tolerate it. The majority of their behavior was expected. We left the initial rollout deliberately lenient, precisely to observe how they would respond. Once we have enough data, ideally after at least twenty percent of the Conclave population has accessed the VR, the Ministry of Justice, in cooperation with the Conclave governnts, will step in to introduce rules tailored to the behaviors displayed so far."
"Until then, all violators of the basic rules will simply be banned. Once the VR-wide regulations are implented, they'll be allowed a second out of three total chances before facing a permanent ban."
The head of the Ministry of Justice gave a firm nod, indicating he had been inford and that preparations were already underway.
When he was done with his response, Aron offered her words of thanks, acknowledging that she was currently doing the work that would normally fall under governnt oversight. But because GAIA Technologies had been tasked with managing and stewarding the VR system, which the governnt was indefinitely leasing from them, it made her effectively the second-most important person in the eyes of the Conclave's leadership.
She was followed by the head of the Imperial Transportation Agency, responsible for the implentation and oversight of the Wormhole Highway component of the plan.
"At this mont, all transportation through the wormholes consists of either governnt military vessels or logistics ships related to Phase One. So far, there is no civilian movent to report." He paused briefly.
"That said, we had to eliminate a few pirate groups that attempted to seize control of one of the newer wormholes opened far from the capital star system. Fortunately, it was resolved with no casualties on our side."
He adjusted his posture and continued, his tone serious and professional, though internally, he could barely contain his pride.
"Based on current projections, we expect to cover at least twenty percent of all Conclave territories within the next two months. After that, we will initiate a temporary pause to evaluate the technology's impact and adjust our strategy for the next phase accordingly."
His report was short, mostly because the wormholes were not yet available to the public, but he treated it with the gravity he believed it deserved. And why wouldn't he? Out of nowhere, his once-overlooked agency was now poised to beco one of the most powerful in the Empire, second only to the Internet Agency, working with GAIA Technologies on the VR infrastructure, and a few others riding the wave of expansion.
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