Chapter 59

Colonies can be created by spending enormous amounts of chips.

What kind of colony to make is up to the creator, and what kind of country to build is also up to them. Of course, it's impossible for one person to fund it alone, so usually 50,000 to 100,000 players cooperate to build one.

It takes an enormous amount of effort, but the romance makes it worthwhile. After all, you're creating a world. If it were me, I'd build a colony with a post-apocalyptic setting. Needless to say, a lone-wolf like me could never cooperate with tens of thousands of people.

"It's pretty far from here, so it'll take three minutes~"

"Okay!"

I boarded a rocket-type spaceship with Chacha-san. She handled the controls.

"All right, then let me explain the super basics to Shiki-ccho."

"O-Okay, please do!"

"The number-one feature of a colony is that every player who enters a colony is given a 'class'."

"Class...?"

"Think of it as a rank. Or you could call it a role. Which classes are available depends on that colony's king, but basically there are four types: police, citizen, criminal, and invader. Oceanos also uses these four as its base. Police have the role of protecting the colony, citizens are ordinary residents, criminals are those who have committed crimes, and invaders are people who have entered the colony illegally."

"Sounds straightforward."

"Yep~. Okay, here comes the quiz! What changes when your class changes?"

Probably the stats, right. If criminals receive stat debuffs, selfish acts would become harder. But letting the king decide stat changes could upset game balance. So...

"Rights, I'd guess."

Like police getting discounts when shopping, or access to various facilities. Conversely, criminals might be unable to shop inside the colony, or have restricted areas. Those kinds of differences in rights do exist.

"Rights do change, sure. For example, police have the right to change a citizen's class to criminal. But that's not the core. The correct answer is: when your class changes, the death penalty changes."

"Death penalty... unexpected."

"For instance, police and citizens have the usual minimal death penalty—half your chips lost and one hour of stat reduction, plus any items you couldn't bring back to your My House or base. But if criminals or invaders are killed, they respawn in jail. After that, they're judged according to the colony's rules. Whatever unreasonable punishment is handed down, you can't complain. Lots of people delete their account the moment they're arrested."

That was unexpected. But it's a good system.

If they can confiscate all your items, seize all your chips, or detain you for months, it becomes a major deterrent.

"So it's safe, exactly because of that."

"Exactly! In a colony you can shoot and kill someone while they're sleeping in a capsule bed. But in Oceanos that's a serious crime. If that crime is discovered, your class will be changed to criminal."

The law protects your sleep, just like in real life.

(But that means as long as you can escape outside the colony after committing a crime, there's no problem.)

No matter how serious the crime, if you can get away scot-free, it's fine. After all, the class system only applies inside the colony. The more confident someone is in their abilities, the easier it is to become a criminal.

"Oh, we've arrived."

It's a spherical planet enclosed by a transparent membrane. Like a capsule toy placed over Earth. That is the third colony "Oceanos".

Directly above Oceanos is a giant glass sphere. The glass sphere glows red. Is that sunlight?

"What's that glass sphere?"

"Hmm, short version or full version?"

"Um?"

"Should I give you the short explanation of that glass sphere, or the long one?"

"The long one, please!"

I love sci-fi after all!

"That's a mirror ball substituting for the sun. Its official name was Solar Diffuser or something. It gathers sunlight and acts as the sun. There are several suns, but lots of planets are near them, so it's hard to build colonies close to the sun. So we build about twenty solar collectors around the sun. Devices that gather sunlight. They concentrate the sunlight into beams and beam them at that mirror ball."

"So it diffuses it inside and acts as the sun?"

A thin beam of light from far away reaches that mirror ball. That must be the sunlight brought by the collector.

"Exactly. Colonies are much smaller than Earth or other planets, so a mirror ball that size is enough."

It's like a light bulb. From the sun (main power supply) through the collectors (cables) to the diffuser (bulb).

"Now, let's enter the reception center."

Reception... probably means check-in.

"See that spherical facility connected to the colony? That's the reception center. If you enter the colony without registering as a citizen at reception, your class becomes invader. Chacha-san is already registered, but you aren't yet, Shiki-ccho."

The spaceship enters the reception center's hangar. We disembark and move from the hangar to the reception area.

It's like a city hall... I take a numbered ticket and wait a few minutes, then when my number is called I go to the counter. A guide-girl handles the reception.

'Please enter your account code, player name, and purpose for visiting the colony on this tablet.'

I receive a tablet and sit down to enter the required information.

One of the fields is 'recommender', so I enter Chacha-san's name.

'Accepted. Please wait a moment.'

"With this you should get a three-day visa (entry permit)."

Chacha-san explains from the seat next to me.

"If the visa expires, does your class change?"

"Yep. You become an invader. But if you own a My House within the colony within three days, you get a six-month visa, so don't worry."

"I see~"

It's so detailed it doesn't feel like a game.

I like this level of detail, but some people probably struggle with it.

'Sorry to keep you waiting.'

The guide-girl hands over a metal card.

'This is your visa. Valid for three days.'

"Thank you very much."

"It works even if you store it in your item pouch, so you can digitize it."

I digitize the card and store it.

'Apologies, but Shiki-sama, please do not use the regular gate—use this orbital elevator to head to the mother base.'

"Mother base?"

"The headquarters. The center of the country, where the king and the main forces are."

"Do all first-time visitors to the colony go through there?"

Chacha-san shrugs.

"No way. First-time visitors are absolutely not allowed in. It's the core, you know? A mass of classified information? There's no way they'd let in a player with little information and unknown background."

Huh? Then why...

"Who do you think called you here, Shiki-ccho? Guide-girl?"

'Rikusen-sama.'

"Wha!? No way!!"

Chacha-san jumps up in surprise.

"Um, who?"

Rikusen? Never heard the name.

"Rikusen-san is the third king of Oceanos. And the former leader of the strongest team, 'Yggdrasil', that Sheena-ccho and Tsubasa-ccho originally belonged to."

The one who got the Infinity Arts and quit the team.

"From your perspective, maybe a rival?"

"A rival? Wh-why?"

Chacha-san grins.

"Because that person is—the strongest sniper in this game."

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