[02. This progress bar only calculates the sum of "Points currently held by the player" and "Current Combat Power of the player", including both Adventurer Players and Casual Players.]
[03. When an Adventurer Player dies, their Points and Combat Power are reset to zero, which accordingly reduces the value of the progress bar. When a Casual Player decides to enter the ga, their Points and Combat Power are also reset, which also reduces the progress bar value.]
[04. Ti remaining until the end of the World Ga: 311 days]
[05. Current progress value: 20%]
...
Su Ming’an had long known that at the end of the one-year ga, if the total human Points were insufficient, there would be an annihilation of all humanity.
But she had never been clear whether this assessnt was based on a processional value or the final value.
Now it seed that it was the final value, the sum of the Points and Combat Power of all players still alive at that mont, including those of Adventurer Players who had entered the ga and those who had not.
[Adventurer Player] Upon death, their Points would be reset, and they would return to the Main God Space. They had to undergo a series of tasks in the Main God Space, such as creating strategies and watching livestreams, before they could re-enter the ga with no initial abilities.
Of course, they could also choose to beco [Casual Players], and only by obtaining this status noted in their personal information page, could they acquire Points through part-ti professions and low-level strategies. However, once they decided to beco [Adventurer Players] again to participate in World Replicas, all their achievents had to be reset before they could re-enter the ga.
If it was an Adventurer Player who chose to take a break from a World after experiencing several Worlds, they could not gain Points through the missions available to Casual Players, nor did they need to have their abilities cleared before re-entering the ga.
So of these were rules explicitly announced by the rabbit boss during the opening ceremony, and in later experints, they were gradually supplented by forum mbers.
Thus, having definitively given up their [Adventurer Player] identities to beco [Casual Players], Su Ming’an and Qin Ze gradually lost the mindset to re-enter the ga—they had hardly earned so many Points and did not want to risk losing everything by venturing again.
And now, the progress bar also told her—the final reckoning was based on the final value.
In other words, the Points that were cleared along the way did not count.
"What are you thinking?" Su Ming’an raised her head.
"Solidification," Qin Ze said. "This way... more and more people will be unwilling to enter the ga. Many will return after surviving one or two Worlds with a few hundred Points, and not re-enter the ga—because once they re-enter, they might lose everything due to death. They would prefer to keep the Points they earned from venturing into one or two Worlds and safely accumulate them as Casual Players."
"—But I’m more worried about sothing else," he said. "During the opening ceremony, the rabbit boss ntioned that the higher the Points, the greater the weight in the calculation. I wonder, if a top-ranked player fails in any World, how much the progress bar would lose..."
"That won’t happen," Su Ming’an said. "Su Ming’an won’t fail."
"I know that. I’m talking about other players," Qin Ze said. "In the Fifth World, the top-ranked player Iris failed and lost everything. I don’t know how much that impacted the progress bar."
"I’m afraid the organizers might play dirty," he continued. "They look at the final progress value, and if the last few Worlds are extrely difficult, leading to the failure of all the top-ranked players—that progress value could plumt instantly..."
Su Ming’an suddenly realized.
Her back broke out in a cold sweat.
Although the current progress bar, at 20%, seed very optimistic. There were more than three hundred days left until the end; plenty of ti to push the Points up to 100%.
But it calculated real-ti Points, and the higher the ranking, the greater the weight.
If there was an instance where top-ranked players collectively faced a Waterloo...
"The organizers wouldn’t likely do such a thing," Su Ming’an wiped the sweat from her forehead, her gaze trembling slightly, "From everything shown, it seems fair enough not to set traps in the final instance."
"Who knows?" Qin Ze shrugged, "In their eyes, we are just ants. Have you ever seen children stop playing because of fairness?"
"If there are absolute rules outside of the organizers that could restrict them..." Su Ming’an pursed her lips, and then suddenly relaxed as if comforted.
She looked out the window where the sky was a brilliant blue, the weather was nice, and from here one could see the entire CBD’s diamond-like buildings shimring under the daylight.
"Forget it. These things are beyond our imagination—how could humans of this caliber possibly oppose the organizers? We can only follow their rules." She gazed out at the scenery, watching the people who looked as tiny as ants on the street, and smiled, "Rather than worrying, I should think about what to say when I et Ming’an."
She brushed a stray hair behind her ear; her ear tips and cheeks flushed with a light rosy hue, seemingly letting go of the previous incident where Qin Ze had offended her. She returned to her seat and clicked open the World Forum.
Whenever big events are about to unfold, the World Forum is always the first place people visit.
The World Forum appeared to have been "renovated" by the organizers, and looked less rigid than at the start. Upon entering, a brief loading screen appeared, and a deliberately beautified chibi version of Boss Rabbit smiled a seemingly innocent and friendly smile at the players.
The scale briefly swayed on its belly, then everything dispersed, revealing the entire interface of the World Forum as the fog seed to clear.
On the hopage, the most conspicuous were the series of hot posts titled [Global Human Progress Bar].
People are very adept at keeping up with real events; apart from the nurous posts, a newly added [Real-Ti Topic Discussion Area] in the bottom right corner of the World Forum was also constantly filled with people chatting:
[The progress bar just appeared; I really thought the organizers were going to set an impossible value, just to watch us despair!]
[My God, the progress value is actually twenty percent! That’s really great! It looks totally manageable!]
[Indeed, I was terrified every day, afraid that when ti’s up, everyone would be dood, but it turns out the organizers are this friendly, which is truly fortunate!]
[This way, I don’t have to rush into the fray now. Given the current progress, it seems safer to be a Casual Player storing points...]
[Group of thirty seeking Artisan occupation players for forging, direct ssage only, all can ]
[Adventurer Players might lose all their points at any ti; it’s not stable at all. Casual Players are like safes, they don’t lose everything upon death, so those who aren’t very strong might as well beco Casual Players and accumulate points slowly rather than entering the instance and dying suddenly, making it all pointless.]
[Suddenly I understand what the Number One Player in the First World ant by "Grading"—who should do what, instead of entering the instance again and again, dying, and losing all the progress, better stay safely in the Main God Space as a Casual Player accumulating points. That person really does have foresight, predicting the current chanisms... Could they really be deployed by the organizers?]
[Damn, doesn’t anyone feel bad for Miss Iris? Since she died in the Fifth World, she hasn’t made a sound, and her posts aren’t updated anymore, I wonder how she is...]
[...]
Su Ming’an quickly scanned through the discussions.
Since the progress bar had only just appeared, many were inexperienced and even though the discussions were fervent, they had not yet considered the issues Su Ming’an and Qin Ze had just ntioned. However, soon, so hot posts began to summarize the situation.
[(Featured) Analysis of the Global Human Points and Combat Power Progress Bar]
A post with high popularity appeared in her view, its title format nostalgically reminiscent of a highly popular post from the early days of the world ga.
Upon opening, it was indeed posted anonymously; this player seed to prefer doing good deeds without leaving a na, quietly leaving very insightful analyses on the forum.
The progress bar had just appeared, yet this player had quickly posted an exceedingly detailed ssage—Su Ming’an didn’t understand how this person managed to summarize so quickly.
She scrolled through the post, starting to read.
[Hello, everyone.
Just now, the world ga issued an update alert, the much-feared "total points inadequacy leading to a mass wipeout" chanism is gradually becoming clear to us.
The organizers seem not to have completely hidden it but have instead displayed it openly to everyone—does this also an that our fears of "upsetting the gaboard" and "the organizers just playing with humanity" might have a turnaround?
A ga is only worth looking forward to if it has clear rules and conditions for winning.
And now, we are anticipating this ga’s endga.
I believe, given the current progress, even if there are so crises, what will likely greet us in the end is the victory of all humanity—let first congratulate us, even if it’s just my hopeful expectation.
Of course, faced with such chanisms and progress, we should remain vigilant in our excitent...]
Subsequently, Su saw that this player had listed several recomndations for alerting players, exactly matching what she had just thought of.
They also suggested that those suited to go down should beco Adventurer Players, and those who are not should peacefully accumulate points as Casual Players without continuously switching roles, as that would needlessly erase many points each ti.
They also pointed out, since it’s unknown how points are weighted between Casual and Adventurer Players or how Combat Power is calculated, it is recomnded that those who can should participate, at least experiencing one or two worlds and returning with so Combat Power.
At the sa ti, they concluded, "from now on, the scenario of moral coercion will likely decrease," because people clearly understand that top Adventurer Players are indeed critical, and those defeated by them are simply "not suited to be Adventurer Players."
They also ntioned, since the weighting chanism is currently unclear, these recomndations will later be adjusted to help everyone better push the progress bar forward.
After all, every person, whether participating or not, after this chanism was introduced, is working to earn points for all humanity, and there should be no distinctions of high or low, noble or humble.
Additionally, they also proposed a brand-new perspective...
...
"A progress bar for all humanity?"
Walking, Su Ming’an quickly looked up, seeing the rapidly scrolling comnts and also the blood-like progress bar within his view.
"Progress at twenty percent?"
He was sowhat surprised.
But soon, he would rapidly summarize many details from the detailed descriptions in the comnts, including so phenona not ntioned in the comnts.
—This twenty percent didn’t seem very optimistic.
Although many people in the Main God Space were thrilled by this, celebrating the future of humanity, and everyone seed instantly to have found their guidepost, excited about the past efforts, he knew that all was not so simple.
[Solidification].
[Identity].
[Adventurer Player] and [Casual Player].
Under this chanism, those who originally struggled with adventures would only feel more at ease with comfort, although, for their own final ranking, they would still try everything to improve themselves. Without the constant threat of global annihilation hanging over their heads, humans would gradually relax.
...Although for him, this was good news, this chanism automatically helped people self-locate, filtering those suitable for adventure. Instances of moral coercion would also diminish, and the focus on him would grow more intense.
But under such a chanism, the pressure on the top-ranked players would be extrely great, because once they failed, it was a significant setback for the entire progress bar.
For those ranked lower, however, the pressure dropped sharply because even if they failed, they could try again. Without the eradication pressure, they could take a more relaxed stance towards this "ga world".
Like a shuttle Otherworld ga with the pain of death, people might fear the pain but would not feel the heavy pressure and intense fear as before.
He still rembered how people behaved in the First World—fearful of their first death, they struggled frantically to survive, and as ti went on, their attitude towards instances beca increasingly casual.
Once, while browsing the forum, he even stumbled upon many "Experience Death Organizations," "Extre Sports Organizations," "Otherworld Parkour Organizations," going crazy in suicidal actions or engaging in high-altitude extre sports to experience the thrill between life and death. They recorded their own deaths and uploaded the videos to the forum, gaining many fans, and even created polls asking fans "how they would like to see them die next".
So people used various thods to summon the boss rabbit, perform big rituals, set up altars, chop down plaza statues, self-mutilate, disembowel themselves, jump into plaza fountains to drown, or even loudly insult the organizers; they acted as if they had let go of themselves, completely fearless of death, and could still laugh loudly in the face of pain.
Humans are always full of variety.
In such a world, anything could happen.
Su Ming’an rubbed his temples, contemplating the changes this progress bar might bring.
Then, he saw so comnts:
[The Number One Player wouldn’t really be sent by the organizers, would he... On the forum, soone ticulously analyzed all his theories, including the Lighthouse Theory’s [Grading], exactly what the organizers hoped for...]
He was stunned.
Then, as if controlled by an internet army, similar comnts started appearing one after another. Though these comnts weren’t noticeable among the nurous discussions, once their numbers increased, they beca easy to spot.
[Su Ming’an has the highest position, his Points and Combat Power so significant. If he deliberately fails in the last World, causing the progress bar to plumt...]
[It may not necessarily be that he was sent by the organizers, what if his special identity gave him so advantage? It’s clear to the keen-eyed, he’s too close to those NPCs, and every role assigned to him is very special. Even in desperate situations, there’s always an Observer or so other special-status player to help him...]
[He understands the instances too well, especially like this in the Fifth World, as if everything was planned neatly, proceeding smoothly day by day.]
[A regular student being able to do this? I really don’t believe it, I really don’t believe his identity is as it appears.]
[Even if he wasn’t operating under the organizers’ orders, he’s so aloof, and he’s taken so many resources from other players, once he fails, who knows how many people will need to cover his gaps...]
[...]
Su Ming’an watched these comnts, then shifted his gaze.
Under a withered banyan-like tree in his line of sight, a youth with blood-red butterflies perched on his shoulders was quietly watching him.
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