Chapter 823: December 17th: Blazing Beat Up Part 6
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The Channel System. This refers to the branching or integration of recognition.
The game Shangri-La Frontier hosts an enormous number of active users within a single world. But hasn't anyone ever found it strange? Even now, with new users continuously joining, and considering that not every single player from the start of service has migrated to the New Continent, why isn't the Old Continent map—which isn't exactly infinite in size—completely saturated with players?
At the very least, there were no reports at launch of the Rampant Forest being buried under a sea of players, or of massive, winding queues forming to challenge the Gluttonous Giant Serpent. In a massive city like Thirdrema, the number of NPCs isn't just ten or twenty; if you combine a massive number of players with a massive number of NPCs, it wouldn't be strange for a population numbering well beyond several thousand to be packed inside Thirdrema. So why isn't that the case?
That is exactly due to the Channel System. Players are each allocated to specific channels, making it fundamentally impossible for them to even perceive users in other channels. Simply put, it's like operating the multi-server play environments common in MMOs all within a single server.
So why do something so roundabout? Explaining that would require delving into the existence of the World Administrator, who itself believes without a shadow of a doubt that 'ShanFro is a single world,' and makes those around it accept it as well, so I will omit that for now.
The important point is that the Channel System is merely a branching of recognition occurring within a single server; even if only a dozen or so people appear in someone's field of vision, in reality, there are hundreds present. And simultaneously, if the "conditions to be recognized across multiple channels" are met, a specific individual can be recognized by all players......... You just need to understand that much.
The important point is...............
"It worked!!"
"Basically, when it's in this form, its main body is wide open!!"
"The eyeballs stopped! Push, push, puuuuush!!"
The sight of them landing a clear "effective blow" in the battle against the Smoldering Great Crimson Wings, the voices of the players who witnessed it, and the exposed "opening" of the Great Crimson Wings were conveyed across the channel barriers to all players fighting in this location.
"Kyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!"
Having a massive chunk of its flame wings—which could be called its symbol—ripped away, the Great Crimson Wings let out a metallic shriek, but immediately generated energy to reconstruct its wings. However, once prey has exposed a weakened state, you can count on starving predators to swarm in for the kill.
"When its eyeballs are out, it's completely unguarded!"
"OiKatzo, should we press the attack?"
"No, the fact that it has a defensive form and an offensive form means the group jump rope starts now!"
Right after OiKatzo shot down the question from Eternal Zero, who was holding an Enthalpy Eater, the countless Scorching Eyeballs deployed in the sky vanished all at once.
"It's hardened its defenses!!"
"Smash it open!"
"Ah, you idiot! I told you touching it with physical attacks is an instant out!!"
Catching sight of several players turning into ice statues in a battlefield that was rapidly falling into chaos due to the sudden surge of excitement, OiKatzo raised his voice.
"When that thing defends with ice, shatter its defense with ice magic! When it deploys eyes, hit the main body! Physical specialists stay on standby! Brace yourselves, magic classes!!"
OiKatzo doesn't possess the kind of scheming nature to force through a meticulously prepared script like Pencilgon.
OiKatzo doesn't possess the kind of forceful nature to naturally drag others along with his momentum in the moment like Sunraku.
Therefore, OiKatzo unifies people by showing them results. He doesn't treat people's lives—friend or foe, player or NPC—as shogi pieces, nor does he charge ahead of everyone else dictating 'you will run down this path regardless of whether it's right or wrong'; instead, he earns trust by demonstrating the outcome of "if we do this, we win."
That is precisely why the magic classes present recognized OiKatzo, who had shown them results, and followed the instructions echoing across the channels, slamming countless spells into the Smoldering Great Crimson Wings. The magic, initially disorganized, converged into the optimal solution through repetition, and the figure of the Smoldering Great Crimson Wings was gradually chipped away, growing smaller.
"Does this mean physical classes are unnecessary in the first place?"
"───No, that's not it."
It was Eternal Zero who denied the muttered soliloquy of someone watching the scene.
Despite being a player with one of the most absurd appearances in ShanFro, having shrunk his physical body down to that of a five-year-old child, when it comes to information related to Behemoth, he alone holds an amount of information rivaling the Library clan.
This is because Eternal Zero, who has repeatedly browsed the database by achieving a state of "studying with Mama" that is somewhat incomprehensible to ordinary people, has also actively participated in debates with members of the 【Library】 stationed at Behemoth, making him well-versed in various information......... including the threats of Genesis that the Divine Age once faced.
"The Smoldering Great Crimson Wings was treated as a low-threat entity during the Divine Age. That's because it showed almost no hostility while it was concentrating on energy production...... But the Behemoth's data stated that when the Divine Age civilization utilized it as an energy source, it engaged in hostile actions."
"And the main point is?"
"The heat is nothing more than a secondary effect; that thing's true nature is...... a 'mass of inexhaustible power.' Not just thermal energy, that thing can wield all forms of 'power'!"
To know. That is the fundamental principle in the world of ShanFro. Recognition leads to understanding, and understanding leads to countermeasures.
OiKatzo has experience fighting the Wandering Great Azure Plague. Of course, the Smoldering Great Crimson Wings and the Wandering Great Azure Plague are completely different monsters, but...... they are both "Genesis Kin".
In that case, when will it start doing what it hasn't been doing so far?
There is only one answer.
"Boooooooooooooooooooommmmmm............!!"
───It is the most loyal kin to the God.
───That butterfly, which merely wished for the eternity of its own species, did not resist becoming a part of the Great White God, and faithfully fulfilled the role asked of it.
───However, eternity means stability. If that is to be shattered, the butterfly must protect itself with its own power.
───Therefore, the butterfly...... the being that once fluttered as a concrete lifeform in the distant antiquity, begs the White God.
───Grant me a moment's respite. Grant me permission to wield all the power originating from my body, the offerings dedicated to God, as I please.
───The remains answered.
『The covenant binding the Smoldering Great Crimson Wings is undone───』
『The massive crimson frame resurrects───』
『Primal Revolve!』
───Rampage to your heart's content, O Great One who once bestrode mountains and rivers.
Author's Afterword
The recognition that Red = Fire is a rather modern-influenced one.
Even before the Divine Age, in the Genesis Era, a certain species prior to becoming the Nira-Butterfly was a mass of far more primitive and primal power.
Because it had a weak sense of responsibility, it didn't particularly resist being scouted by the White God.
Nira-Butterfly: "As long as you feed me, I don't really mind being assimilated."
Also, regarding the Channel System, it's something I've been conscious of since around the Dragon Calamity War, so it's not as sudden a setting addition as it might seem. Because I didn't depict it during the Dragon Calamity, there hasn't been a good timing to insert an explanation for it until now...
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