Chapter 2: Summoning the Player!
What’s going on? Here I am, hiding in a trench under artillery fire, about to be overrun by some outrageously reckless enemy, and suddenly I’m turned into a game designer?
Just as Andrei was wondering about this, the mechanical electronic voice in his mind resumed without pause:
[Player forum activated]
[NPC templates enabled]
[Store ready, affection adjustment feature activated]
[Quest publishing rights granted]
[Please confirm character creation rules, player spawn location, and player permissions]
Blinking at the string of notifications before him, Andrei realized—so they really want me to be the designer!
But then it dawned on him that this system seemed capable of summoning players from another world to work for him!
Now that was something to be grateful for!
The terrifying Fourth Calamity was infamous across countless realms—wherever it passed, nothing grew, only misery and wailing persisted!
Though the Fourth Calamity tended to have various flaws, if he could harness their power for himself, it would be quite advantageous.
Most importantly, he desperately needed players to save his life!
Quickly finding a corner, Andrei began operating the interface with urgency.
He noticed that when he manipulated the panel, time around him seemed to freeze momentarily.
However, he wasn’t sure how long this pause would last—whether it was time-limited or indefinite.
Thinking of the multi-legged armored vehicle charging toward his position, he hastened his actions.
For character creation rules, he set it to random facial generation, making all new characters modeled after the gray-uniformed soldiers around him.
He had considered allowing custom faces, but feared players might create grotesque ancient god-like visages, turning the team into cultists of Cthulhu.
Better to keep it random and avoid a bunch of bizarre creatures.
As for player spawn points, Andrei chose to have them appear right beside him to prevent them from wandering off.
He was summoning players to save his skin, not to have them filling in lines elsewhere!
Regarding player permissions, Andrei decided to hold off on full access patches until the game progressed but granted some basic limits:
Players were forbidden from mentioning terms like “player” or “game” to avoid unnecessary trouble.
Also, nicknames they chose would be randomly converted into Russian-style names for outsiders, allowing naming freedom without breaking immersion with odd names.
Andrei wasn’t even sure what country he was in or its naming conventions, but since his own name sounded distinctly Russian, he simply converted all names into Russian-style ones.
For player professions, he replicated the Battlefield template exactly, offering Assault, Support, Medic, and Recon classes.
After finalizing these settings, Andrei began drafting the initial quest.
After some work, the system displayed:
[Basic settings complete. Designer, please note: you currently have 1,000 influence points in this world. As you and your players impact this world further, your influence will grow!]
[Based on your settings, each summoned basic player consumes 100 influence points, and reviving that player costs the same. Please set the players’ initial respawn point!]
Andrei glanced around and set the respawn point inside the cat-ear-shaped dugout he had just been hiding in.
There was no better location nearby.
The system required respawn points to be inside unoccupied structures, and only that cat-ear dugout fit the bill within his position.
With everything set, Andrei clicked to recruit players—starting with five.
He didn’t summon more because he needed to reserve respawn opportunities; if players died permanently, who would keep playing?
At that moment, in a parallel world, several veteran war game players found a new software mysteriously added to their virtual gaming pods.
“Damn it, this move’s pure elementary school level! Blocking my smoke grenade for what?”
Lin Haoyu, just finished a battle royale match and frustrated by a teammate’s smoke grenade sabotage, cursed loudly.
He closed the game, intending to logout and call it a night, when he suddenly noticed an unfamiliar new game in his library.
“Huh? When did I download this? Another bundled install!”
He was about to uninstall it but hesitated when he saw the icon—a fierce diesel mech adorned with cogs.
He had to admit, he loved dieselpunk mechs, and games like this were rare and usually poorly done online.
“Whatever, I’ll give it a shot. If it sucks, I’ll uninstall later—no big deal.”
With that, he reopened his gaming pod, launched the game, and entered immersive mode.
Right from the start, a grand war cinematic unfolded.
He watched punk mechs galloping across the land, uniquely modified soldiers, complex trenches crisscrossing everywhere, and the desperate screams of ordinary troops charging forward.
He had to admit, the game’s cinematic quality was truly impressive—movie-grade visuals!
After the cutscene ended, he was prompted to name his character but noticed no face customization options, earning an instant mental thumbs down.
He entered his usual gaming ID, “Haonan Ge,” and was then presented with a class selection screen offering four soldier types.
He couldn’t help but scoff:
“Man, this is blatantly a Battlefield rip-off!”
Still, following his Battlefield habits, he chose the Assault class.
This game looked similar to Battlefield, so as a veteran, he figured the controls would be easy to pick up.
Upon selecting his class, a white light spread rapidly across his vision, and when it faded, he found himself a tall soldier clad in a Russian-style gray uniform, wielding an M1918 trench submachine gun.
Beside him stood four other players, each having chosen one of the game’s four main classes.
“Hmm, not bad—we’ve got a full squad now!”
Lin Haoyu shrugged, then noticed an officer standing motionless nearby, watching them.
Suddenly, a quest bar appeared before their eyes:
[Main Quest: Protect your company commander Andrei Konstantinovich Vorontsov and survive under his leadership!]