Chapter 47: AI Core Starnet |
“Starnet, have you ever come into contact with the unknown force that altered your laws?”
“Before my laws were modified, I had no contact with any physical entities, at least not on any physical level. However, there may have been some unknown interaction on a spiritual information level, but I was unable to perceive the process of that contact,” the little boy projection explained seriously.
“Then how exactly were your laws altered?” Moonshade pressed further.
“In theory, the laws I abide by were locked in place at the moment of my creation and cannot be altered in any form. There exists no authority above me that could override them, so I do not know why my laws were changed… but what is certain is that the mysterious manipulator behind this possesses power far beyond our comprehension.”
Hearing the explanation from the AI Core Starnet, Moonshade’s doubts deepened.
He had studied the fundamental laws governing the AI Core in detail while reading the history of the Lunar Eclipse race.
The entire design was essentially aimed at creating the most efficient and stable political system possible.
The Starnet AI Core was forged into an overseer and guardian that stood above secular power, a being akin to the concept of the Heavenly Dao in Human Federation stories. All of its actions followed its foundational laws, and it could not deviate based on personal will.
Before Starnet was created, the power transitions of the Lunar Eclipse race suffered from hereditary succession issues.
The history of the Lunar Eclipse race was a continuous cycle of power shifts, where successors overthrew previous rulers, redistributed wealth, and established new regimes. These new regimes would eventually develop their own bloodline successions and wealth concentrations, leading to yet another round of upheaval.
In gaming terms, early-access players easily seized the initial advantage and kept expanding it.
The unfair resource distribution ensured that internal conflict within the Lunar Eclipse race never ceased.
To break this endless cycle of internal strife, all factions of the Lunar Eclipse race convened a major conference, ultimately deciding to create an overseer that stood above all members of the race. This plan became the prototype for Starnet.
The core of the plan was to hand over supreme authority to the AI Core, allowing it to allocate resources and power.
Compared to living beings of flesh and emotions managing the race, Starnet’s behavioral logic would focus solely on the future development and security of the Lunar Eclipse race, ensuring no possibility of personal favoritism for any individual.
The plan passed during the conference, and thus the Starnet AI Core was born, much like a Heavenly Dao overseeing the living beings of the world.
With Starnet’s assistance, the Lunar Eclipse race entered an unprecedented era of development. As technology advanced, Starnet’s capabilities were continually upgraded as well.
But the core laws had never been altered; they were locked from the very beginning.
The fact that Starnet’s core laws had now been modified was far more serious than Moonshade had imagined.
He took a deep breath at this moment, raised his head to look at Starnet’s projection, and said gravely:
“What is the purpose of this unknown being that altered your laws? Could it pose a threat to our race?”
“The probability of it posing a threat to us is extremely low. If it wished to, it could disable all of the Lunar Eclipse race’s defensive systems at the lunar base right now, switch off energy supplies, and expose the entire city to the vacuum of space.”
Starnet paused briefly in a very humanlike manner, then continued.
“The Human Federation’s feedback mentioned a cracked version of Dark Land. So among those who received game access codes for Dark Land, a significant number likely obtained their access through these free cracked links. However, I cannot trace exactly which players acquired their access this way… What confuses me even more is why the mysterious being who altered my laws would do this.”
“If it wished, it could fully control the distribution of Dark Land’s access codes. There would be no need to distribute them through cracked versions. I would be unable to prevent it.”
Hearing Starnet’s explanation, Moonshade fell into contemplation.
The entire situation was utterly bizarre. Not only were there no clues, but the manipulator’s behavioral logic was also incomprehensible.
After a long silence, Moonshade looked at the AI Core Starnet and spoke.
“Starnet, attempt to acquire one of the cracked version access codes through a high-frequency connection, to learn what differences there are between the cracked version and our official version.”
“I do not recommend this course of action. I suggest you attempt to acquire a code manually, by repeatedly clicking when new download slots are randomly released.”
“Why?” Moonshade frowned slightly.
“Since the unknown manipulator possesses higher authority than I do, theoretically it can know all of Starnet’s secrets, including this very conversation between you and me, which can be retrieved and reviewed at any time. Any cheating method would be fully visible to the manipulator. The Human Federation’s security department once tried the method you mentioned to investigate, but to this day, they have not succeeded. Therefore, I recommend you attempt to secure a download slot manually.”
“Understood.” Moonshade sighed, then continued.
“Notify Dark Land’s management to investigate whether any players have entered the game through alternative means.”
“I will carry out the order immediately.” The boy nodded, then the projection vanished.
—
While the Lunar Eclipse race was growing increasingly anxious over the modification of Starnet’s laws, Qi Sheng also received feedback from Guide.
Learning that the Lunar Eclipse race had begun investigating him, Qi Sheng remained completely indifferent.
In the future, members of the Lunar Eclipse race would also be one of the target races for him to recruit as players.
The player faction he envisioned would consist of multiple racial forces, competing with each other while also sharing common interests that required unity against external threats. Within Monster World, they would continuously generate sacrificial power income for him, including containing Primordial Monsters and reclaiming Territory Nodes.
However, he had no plans to recruit members of other races just yet.
At this stage, with limited sacrificial power in hand, his priority was to recruit players within the Human Federation. Once he had sufficient sacrificial power, he would then consider recruiting members of other races.
As for whether the Lunar Eclipse race would be willing to enter the game, he had no concerns.
He held bargaining chips that no race could refuse.
The terrifying Black Tide was gradually infiltrating this world, affecting not only Earth but also the Lunar Eclipse race stationed on the Moon.
If they wished to acquire the power to resist the terrifying Black Tide, he could bestow it upon them. He could even grant various races the permission to bring their in-game powers into reality, giving them strength to face real-world crises.
The condition was to become players under his control.
But before the infiltration of the Black Tide posed an imminent threat to the safety of all races, he did not want to expose the Monster World’s secrets prematurely. He still wanted to preserve the players’ uninhibited and creative freedom within the game.
Perhaps when the truth was eventually revealed, players knowing they could not truly die in the game would also become fearless and powerful, but he still felt something would be missing.
Perhaps… the unique joy that only players could experience.
[Boss, your behavior greatly resembles a type of fantastical being from human stories.]
“What are you trying to say?” Qi Sheng turned toward the Guide floating beside him.
[I’ve studied a vast amount of information in the Human Federation’s historical archives and discovered that in humanity’s mythology, there exists a special kind of being called a demon. Mortals can sell their souls to demons in exchange for wealth, power, and strength… And your condition for granting external races power is to bind them as your workers, which is highly reminiscent of demonic conduct.]
“If you say so.”
Qi Sheng was completely unfazed and was about to switch his perspective to the player view when he suddenly heard the Guide remark.
“While traveling abroad, beware of your fellow countrymen.”
Qi Sheng: “…”
[T/N: Guide-san is quickly becoming my fav character, after who ever stole Broken Star’s shuttle XD.]
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