_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Yeah… the thought processes of immortals were impossible to follow.
He didn't dwell on it. Frieren, under Gabriel's "tutelage," had already gone off to study some e-book titled One-Minute Charm Hacks.
Hopefully she wouldn't get led astray.
Outside, cicadas droned and the summer breeze drifted in through the window.
Thirty minutes flew by.
A notification chimed in the chat group—
[System Message: Group upgrade complete. New features have been added.]
Following the on-screen guide, Rosen glanced over and saw that, sure enough, a couple of new options had appeared under the group's file tab:
Group Quests and Group Live Stream.
Only two features, yet the update had taken longer than expected. Still, Rosen decided to check out exactly what they did.
A few minutes later, he gave a small nod.
As he suspected, it was just like he'd guessed.
First up, Group Live Stream—a members-only streaming platform where one person could start a broadcast and the rest could watch in real time.
Next, Group Quests—a little more elaborate.
The chat group could randomly generate quests, and members who completed them would earn points as rewards.
Members could also post their own quests, setting whatever rewards they wanted. But once the quest was completed, they were required to deliver the promised reward. If they didn't have enough, the system would automatically deduct the equivalent amount of points.
And if points were insufficient, it would randomly take away one of their abilities, convert it into equal-value points, and hand that out as payment.
The most important part, though, was the "World Travel" function.
Once a quest was posted, members could choose whether to accept. If they did, and the member whose world it was approved, they could travel there to complete it.
Other than that, members couldn't directly harm each other.
"So basically… friendly fire is off?"
This was starting to feel more and more like a video game.
The moment the excitement settled in, members began popping up one after another.
Shut-in Angel: "Finally!"
Shut-in Angel: "The world-travel feature is here at last! I love you, devs!"
Blizzard from Hell: "Pretty sure there aren't any 'devs' for this group. And if there were… just how strong would they have to be?"
Shut-in Angel: "I'm just expressing my joy! Two major updates in thirty minutes—compare that to those game companies that take half a day for one patch. This is amazing!"
Shut-in Angel: "And there's streaming now! Makes chatting way easier! Who's gonna stream? I'm ready to send tips!"
Bad Woman: "The group quest thing should be useful. Seems designed for members to help each other out with problems."
Blizzard from Hell: "Given we can't hurt each other, that's probably it."
Bad Woman: "Not necessarily. Just because direct attacks are blocked doesn't mean there aren't other ways to harm someone—like hiring locals in their world to attack them, poisoning their food, or, say, blowing up a building so the rubble falls on them. Technically, that wouldn't count as 'attacking a group member.'"
Shut-in Angel: "Ugh! Don't say stuff like that! Can't we just have fun together?"
Bad Woman: "I'm just warning you. We all get along now, but sooner or later, someone with a nasty personality might join."
Shepherd: "No need to overthink it. If the system bans friendly fire, there's probably another safeguard to prevent us from hurting each other."
Rosen, meanwhile, couldn't help thinking… nasty personality? Who could beat Makima in that department?
This was the woman who used her subordinates like disposable tools, signed a contract with Japan's Minister of Defense so that any injury she took would be randomly transferred to a random citizen—and all for her own goals.
Hardly what you'd call a "good person."
Maybe he was judging her too harshly… but he wasn't about to drop his guard. Not when she was literally the Control Devil.
Saeko: "When do quests refresh?"
Shut-in Angel: "No idea. How's your situation over there?"
Saeko: "For now, still okay. But there are more zombies on the streets every day. At night, I can hear some strange howls—that's probably the mutated ones, right?"
"..."
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________