Vampire Princess Guide in Progress - Volume 1 Chapter 5

Chapter 5: The Game with No Exit Button

***

“Brother Nolan, what does this mean?”

Croft displayed a puzzled expression after receiving this message, or rather, it forcibly popped up on the system panel, a notification visible to all players.

“I don’t know, nothing like this happened during the beta test, even if it’s an easter egg…”

Nolan slightly furrowed his brows. Though he knew this seemed like a standard virtual reality game easter egg, the moment this prompt appeared, he still felt an inexplicable uneasiness in his heart.

The reason was likely that the message was completely unclear.

In the past, Nolan had only encountered situations where games would prompt a disconnection and forced exit due to network fluctuations, but this prompt was telling players they had disconnected from reality?

Not only did this reversed information create psychological pressure, but the name change of the game system also gave people a sense of unease.

Star Terminal, as a replacement for the game system’s name, might have a better effect in terms of player immersion, but for a system settings page, simplicity and clarity were usually preferred, with no need for excessive embellishment.

Moreover, at the same time, Nolan also discovered that many game settings could no longer be changed.

In 《Floating Island: Fragments of the Stars》, the graphics in this virtual reality game were fixed, but sound could originally be adjusted to a certain degree. Other settings such as tactile feedback, most importantly the 【Pain Settings】 section, had now become grayed out.

If this were just a virtual reality game easter egg or prank, there would be no need to lock these settings too.

Why go this far?

And even stranger, Nolan found that his character tab had changed without him noticing. His originally rectangular character frame had been split diagonally into two equal halves by a cold dividing line.

Below his character “Nolan,” there was what appeared to be a 【Locked】 darkened background, another locked character — Tilia, the account he had used during the closed beta test and which should have been deleted by now.

Was this… data that hadn’t been deleted?

And now, after clicking on the character tab, the system actually prompted him that his other account was currently located on the fourth level, which made sense, as that was precisely where Nolan had left his character when he ended the beta test.

Why was it preserved? And why was it showing him where his archived account was located?

Or when did this appear?

It definitely wasn’t there before he was fighting monsters… Did the official database encounter an error?

“There might be some issues, Croft.” The various anomalies gave Nolan a vague sense of foreboding.

“W-what’s going on? This is my first time playing this game. Do we have to play for a certain amount of time before we can log out? To maintain the game’s daily active users? Or something else…” Croft seemed to be trying to find a reasonable logic for the game officials’ actions.

Nolan didn’t speak, just stared intently at the game panel.

This situation wasn’t right, it seemed like some kind of bug had occurred.

And in reality, no one knew what the consequences would be for players if a bug appeared in such a massive game.

Typically, this would be the time for officials to make an announcement…

At that moment, in the distance.

A beam of light shot up from the Pure White Holy City into the sky, instantly piercing through the clouds.

The shattered clouds scattered like frightened pigeons, revealing twisted cracks in the brilliant sky. Then, an even larger beam of light, as if a deity were descending, enveloped the entire city from the opened sky.

“This light is…”

Nolan raised his head, looking up at the brilliantly lit sky in the distance.

The next step, if things went as expected, would be 【Forced Summons】.

Indeed, the reality soon matched Nolan’s prediction. Shortly after something descended from the sky onto the Pure White Holy City, a teleportation magic circle appeared beneath all players’ feet, forcibly summoning them to the Central Plaza of the Pure White Holy City.

By the way, there was a landmark building in the Pure White Holy City that hadn’t been introduced before.

At the highest point of the Central Plaza, there stands a statue. This massive deity statue, carved entirely from white star stone, rises as if emerging from deep foundations. Its enormous outline occupies nearly a quarter of the entire plaza, making players appear like ants in comparison.

Most players wouldn’t spend time reading the game manual and naturally wouldn’t understand the background setting of this game world.

But Nolan had the fortune to glance through it and knew that the deity statue was the representation of the 【Star Lord】 in the game’s setting. It was said to be the creator of this entire floating island, and in this world, deities existed, with the Star Lord being just one of them.

“Hey! What’s going on? Even for an easter egg, this is going too far! Why are the game settings changed?!”

“If this is a game event, could it end quickly? Don’t restrict our freedom in real time! I need to pick up my daughter from kindergarten soon and don’t have time to participate in this!”

“Kayaba Akihiko! I know it’s you, stop hiding and come out!”

The Central Plaza, filled with forcibly summoned players, was overwhelmed with voices of discontent. Clearly, no one would believe this absurd prank for the moment, but Nolan could detect a hint of panic in some players’ mocking shouts.

When virtual games become too close to reality, the events that occur naturally carry more weight.

Standing among the crowd, Nolan simply raised his head, looking at the motionless deity statue in the plaza, originally it was just a statue, depicting the Star Lord leaning back on the throne, resting his face on one hand.

But after that beam of light fell on the city, something subtle seemed to have changed.

What exactly… was it?

Nolan gazed at the awe-inspiring statue, feeling sweat in his palms for the first time in the game.

「Welcome to this world, chosen children of the stars.」

An ethereal voice, seemingly coming from a distant beyond, immediately silenced the commotion in the plaza. Everyone looked up, searching for the source of the voice.

Finally, they saw the massive statue sitting on the throne open its eyes.

「I understand your confusion. Just now, in what you consider a game, a fundamental change has occurred, a complete reversal of the underlying logic, causing you to not yet accept the sudden situation.」

「As for the reason, it’s simply because just now, the game system (Star Terminal) underwent a major adjustment.」

「Half an hour ago, your existence in this world was maintained only through a form of ‘projection,’ but now the game system has completely transferred your ‘physical’ bodies.」

“What gibberish is this! Making a game and acting like you’re a god! What a cliche plot!”

“My cabinet moved, I’m out!”

“Exactly! I want to exit the game, or I’ll sue your game company! Don’t be all mysterious with me. I can’t handle this anymore. I want to go home! I want to go home!!”

“Wait, not being able to exit is one thing, but can someone explain what ‘disconnected from reality’ means?”

“Haha, this is interesting. The event is so realistic, perfectly recreating the scene!”

The plaza was filled with players’ clamoring voices, seemingly unwilling to listen to the statue’s incomprehensible words.

The steadfast statue, however, ignored all the commotion and everyone’s demands, continuing unhurriedly:

「All players should have received that notification.」

「— Disconnected from reality, as the literal meaning suggests. You no longer exist in what you consider reality. Whether your soul or body, everything has completely descended into this world.」