Chapter 8: Missing Chunk and Community Server
meat6beat9master:
i think yvell is ded
Kenja450:
wdym
meat6beat9master:
offline for 3 days now
9A-Corvet:
Maybe he finally found a job?
>rippingjobapplication.gif
Kenja450:
RIP
meat6beat9master:
corpo slave arc
In the darkness of a room littered with used paper soda cups, burger wrappers, and empty energy-drink cans sat a young woman in a cat-eared hoodie in front of a gaming computer.
Ants roamed the small, cheap coffee table she used in place of a proper desk, and the occasional roach could be seen crawling around the potato chip crumbs and soda spills on the floor.
Despite the whole mess that was her room, the woman, slouched over in front of her computer, continued gazing blankly into the screen, reading through messages on Chaos.
9A-Corvet:
Orio, you live in the same city, right? Can you check on him?
The young woman furrowed her brow in annoyance.
Click. Clack. Click. Clack.
OriOP:
why should i?
9A-Corvet:
Please? It’s rare for him to be offline for this long. He has nobody else to check on him.
Kenja450:
>gayge.png
9A-Corvet:
I’m being serious.
“Ugh.”
The hooded young woman always hated it when people urged her to do things. She always preferred living her life on her own terms, and there was nothing she hated more than peer pressure.
Click. Clack. Click. Clack.
OriOP:
if your so worried why dont u do it
meat6beat9master:
just remembered you went to uni together corv
9A-Corvet:
Look, I’ll even pay you for the trouble. Please, just go see him.
“Hmm?”
The hooded young woman tilted her head, feeling a little confused.
The Corve she knew was always stingy with money. So stingy that he swore he’d never touch a gacha game or pay for game cosmetics and items in his life.
So naturally, she found it a bit suspicious that he’d go that far for a university acquaintance.
As far as she knew, he and Yvell weren’t that close offline or online. While they weren’t strangers, they weren’t particularly close friends either.
Click. Clack. Click. Clack.
OriOP:
how much
9A-Corvet:
Check DMs.
“Huh?!?”
The hooded young woman’s eyes shot wide open upon reading through the numbers Corve proposed.
It was a considerable sum. Not the kind of money you’d readily hand out to a stranger.
This was getting even more suspicious, but…
“... I really need a new GPU.”
GPU prices have really gone crazy since the pandemic hit a few years ago.
She wanted to upgrade her gaming rig before the release of a new Olden Kings DLC, but her recent cosplay gigs haven’t earned her as much as she hoped they would.
Click. Clack. Click. Clack.
OriOP:
this isnt a scam right
9A-Corvet:
Look, I’ll pay you half right now if it means convincing you. Tell me your Rush App details.
While the woman remained skeptical, she figured it wouldn’t hurt to give Corve a chance.
He always seemed like a stand-up guy among this shoddy group of terminally online losers, though they weren’t close enough for her to be sure of his character.
Most of the people on this Chaos server were strangers to each other offline, after all.
It was only by sheer coincidence that some of them had or developed loose connections to each other offline.
Ding.
“... So he was being serious.”
OriOP:
fine ill do it
9A-Corvet:
Do you know his unit number? I’ll tell you how to get to his street from the station.
OriOP:
you really worried huh
>gayge.png
9A-Corvet:
You know that I actually have a girlfriend, right? I'm not like you single losers.
>rabbitclockmeme.png
OriOP:
fuck off
“Piece of shit normie!”
BAM!
The hooded woman slammed her fist on the coffee table, causing soda to tip and spill onto the floor, and a frightened cockroach to scurry away.
Then, she let off a sigh of frustration before picking up her phone from its charging station.
“... He already paid me. I’ll mark the condo on Yooble Maps.”
An hour after departure, upon reaching Yvell’s condominium building, she looked up at it, completely baffled.
“... Why is there a whole chunk missing?”
“Making ropes and stuff with plant fibers is harder than I thought. How the hell do they make it look so easy on those ‘ancient tech’ videos?”
After leaving the grieving young woman alone, I decided to try my hand at making twine. But my NEET ass couldn’t figure out regular grass from usable hemp. Hell, I didn’t even know what hemp looked like.
Not only that, but I was terrible at binding these fibers together and choosing which fibers to use.
I was never the arts-and-crafts type, so I couldn’t do much with what I had.
As a result of my lack of craftsmanship skills, I wound up making brittle, misshapen strands.
With few other options, I went to consult with Bear, the village chief, but he didn’t know how to make twine either.
“Daughter, make, few. Me, not, know.”
“I-I see.”
True to his name, the man was an imposing figure. He was a giant compared to the lame, flimsy-bodied hunters he commanded.
Bear explained that it was usually the women of the village who crafted things in their spare time. There used to be a hunter who learned how to craft various things from his mother, but he recently died on a failed hunt. It seems that he was the only person who could make twine besides the village chief’s daughter.
“Was his name ‘Fish’ by any chance?”
“Yes. Fish, strong hunter. But, lizard, too strong. We, many, but, beast, too much.”
Fish, unsurprisingly, was the son of one of the village’s fishermen who fished with spears at the nearby river. Unsatisfied with fishing, Fish wanted to hunt bigger game, so he learned to hunt under Bear, who taught him well. That was how he got to know the village chief’s daughter.
“Normies should explode, seriously.”
“Normies, what?”
“Forget I said anything.”
Although I was slightly annoyed, I wasn’t without sympathy.
I’ve lost a few precious people in my life as well, and those experiences hurt me deeply. But having somebody lash out at me in anger like that was a first.
Though I suppose it wasn’t really me that she was angry with, but rather Esphera.
… No, that’s not really much better. If anything, that kind of pisses me off a lot more.
“Twine, me, ask, daughter, make?”
“No, it’s fine.”
It would be rude of me to have her father push her into making the stuff.
Sigh.
I still recall that look on Esphera’s face — a flash of guilt hidden behind flames.
She likely blames herself for being unable to protect her faithful.
I’d like to tell her that she shouldn’t feel so responsible for Fish’s death, but I don’t exactly have the Charisma stats to pull off a persuasion check like that, even if I know what I want to say.
A constellation deity like Esphera is naturally responsible for her faithful, but their job should remain at guidance and support at best.
While Esphera is perceived as a motherly figure who protects her children, she can’t exactly just put them in a padded room for the rest of their mortal existence.
Her followers’ perception of her would surely twist into that of a tyrannical goddess who steals away their freedom and autonomy if she did exactly that.
For that very reason, the best course of action is to provide the villagers with a means to defend themselves from these powerful magical beasts and other forces of nature, which is what we’re trying to achieve here. But…
“This is rough. I wonder if I can convince his daughter to teach me how to make twine?... No, I doubt it.”
Twine was surely going to be a game-changer.
Shelter. Defenses. Weapons.
Twine could reinforce these flimsy huts that, at best, used clumsy wooden joints made by bashing and scratching wooden ends with stones, and at worst, just randomly stabbed long branches into the ground to form misshapen walls.
Twine could help with building durable fences to keep away the smaller and weaker beasts that come to bother the village now and then, like that damn familiar-looking bird that could get me sued by just talking about it.
And most importantly… weapons.
Slings and bows. Classic early-game weapons for many colony-sims.
Hunting with spears has proven quite challenging with roided-up animals running around the place.
The human body is simply no match for a beast empowered by mana, so it’d be best not to fight on their level.
Range weapons to deal with these magically evolved beasts from a distance were the answer to that.
“Maybe I should get Rock and Stone to help me look for the right plants. They’re hunters, so they should know a lot about the lay of the land around here.”
Just as I was about to look for the bald brothers, a familiar voice called out to me from behind.
“Lord Yvell, have you finished conversing with the village chief?”
“Yes. It seems that the matter concerning the fences will have to be postponed in the meantime. Did you have something you wanted to tell Bear?”
“No, Lord Yvell. I came to look for you.”
Hm?
“There is something that I must request your help with.”
A god is bored.
When their followers are doing just fine, and you have an eternity to waste, just what is one to do?
This was a question one god raised once upon a time.
"Oog." The god muttered incomprehensibly, a hint of annoyance in his voice.
The god was born in a world called Earth, and elevated to a constellation after his death went viral on the internet.
This was, of course, something unprecedented at the time. Older constellations were naturally surprised by this circumstance, but paid it little heed.
The situation was an anomaly, but because they couldn't understand its underlying mechanisms, they chose to ignore it.
As far as they could understand, the god was no threat to them, so they paid even less attention to the newborn god.
Simply put, they were dumb boomers.
"Oog." The god muttered, curiously.
Technology was quite the curious subject to the newborn god. It has always observed humans using strange contraptions from afar. They were machines that helped make their jobs easier. Tools that helped one do the work of ten.
When the newborn god was elevated to a constellation, he decided to finally indulge his curiosities. Against the warnings of kind fellow constellations, he descended onto Earth and decided to purchase an item that was always on his mind.
A gaming computer.
"Oog."
"I see you want one custom-built. If you can tell me your budget, I can arrange for somebody to help you with the build plan. You can forward the specific details of the specs you want to him."
"Oog."
"... Holy shit. Are you some oil baron's kid? Or are all furries just chaebols in hairy disguise? Just handing away this much in cash so easily is insane."
"Oog."
"I-I understand. I thank you for putting so much trust in our shop."
The employee performed a deep bow, clearly burdened by the sheer weight of the money he was entrusted with.
The customer left, seemingly satisfied. Though it was hard to tell.
"Oog."
After some time had passed, he set up his gaming computer and got to exploring It didn't take long for him to become well-acquainted with the internet space.
After looking up hundreds of animal videos, he eventually stumbled upon video games with animal mascots throwing barrels around and racing in carts, and then, after that, online communities that talked about those video games.
It was then that he realized what the constellations needed at this very moment.
Community.
Many of the ancient gods he was acquainted with, he was certain, wouldn't be able to adapt to the use of computers. Videos were like entirely different realms for them, while video games would be simply too difficult to maneuver for their ancient boomer minds.
So the answer to the question of constellation boredom would surely be community.
For that reason, he started passing around phones he purchased with extra money he earned from selling skins online to various gods. The phones naturally came pre-installed with the Chaos app.
"So, you wish for me to make use of this... strange device?"
"Oog."
"I cannot understand what you are saying, but I will assume that that is your intention."
"Oog."
"A gift is a gift. I will accept."
Though he struggled to communicate with entities that weren't his followers, he managed to teach many constellations how to use the phones and the Chaos app, and had them all register their accounts one by one.
He invited them all into one server. A server he hosted, which he simply called the "Constellation Community Server."
Boulder_Masochist:
I find these creatures to be quite fascinating.
>dungbeetle.png
PantheonST0RMDaddy:
A disgusting creature suits a lowly deceiver such as yourself.
DemonKingofUnification:
@#1Olymp***y Foul temptress! What is this unsightly book you had sent me!?
>odasfinestnobunana.jpeggy
#1Olymp***y:
Is it not a fine piece of art? This thing they call 'BL'... Oh, how I envy the creativity of your people.
DemonKingofUnification:
I will report your username for foul language!
#1Olymp***y:
Don't you dare!
The community was thriving. New arrivals were coming in regularly. And the server's host was diligent in bringing more constellations into the community. The server host even started acquainting himself with constellations from other universes.
There was one in particular who drew his interest. One who hadn't settled on a username yet. A newborn constellation who was born as a creation deity.
%-*x:
I... want to make a world where my followers can be happy.
It happened right around the time the server host got hooked on a game called 'Dark Worlds.'
In it, he grew addicted to leading armies of his kin around, fighting off gun-wielding humans and conquering the world. It reminded him of a movie he watched, which was a major blockbuster classic Out of curiosity, he checked the game's multiverse gallery and found an interesting world.
A world where a World Tree sprouted in a barren world, and its elven children gradually grew in number and cared for it until its roots reached across every corner of its biggest continent. On a whim, he sent a picture of this world to a junior constellation he had grown acquainted with recently.
A junior constellation who hadn't fixed the gibberish she accidentally typed in for her username.
%-*x:
I would like to see more of these, please!
And so, the server host sent her more.
Little did he know, this small action would wind up twisting the very fate of a mortal we've grown more than familiar with.
