Chapter 0 Proluge
I guess the reason is clearly related to what happened yesterday.
While I was wasting time at home, I received an email.
｢ Announcement to all of you who enjoyed ‘Space Survival’: Our
development team is recruiting closed beta testers for the sequel. If
you wish to participate, please press the acceptance button at the
bottom.｣
Space Survival.
It is a survival RPG game where you choose one of the various species
existing in the vast space and survive, explore, and evolve.
The part that caught more of my attention here is ‘various species.’
I have always been fond of aliens, monsters, and different species since I was a child.
‘Space Survival’ is a game that perfectly embodied my fantasies.
Sometimes, I became a metallic gremlin and devoured human ships, and
other times, I transformed into a mutant monster and slaughtered enemies
in ground battles. And at other times, I became the leader of a
collective intelligence organism, leading the charge to conquer planets.
I played all sorts of space creatures that would be in a kid’s
nightmare, but there is one species that I enjoyed the most and played
for the longest time.
‘Unidentified Aggressive Space Morph,’ or UASM for short.
I called it ‘A-morph’ by combining the A from ‘Aggressive’ and ‘Morph.’
A-morph is a space monster inspired by the creature in the classic
movie “The Thing,” which acquires genetic information from its victims
to enhance itself.
At first glance, it may seem like a cheating species since it has no
limits to its power growth, but it had a notorious reputation due to its
extremely difficult survival difficulty and innate risks unique to the
species.
What I mean is that it is true that it becomes stronger over time,
but it starts off so weak that it cannot do anything properly, no matter
how much it wants to.
In survival games, it’s important to survive for a long time and
accumulate resources, or you end up in the snowball effect, but the
A-morph is a race with a mechanism that reverses this trend. Since they
keep dying in the early stages, their opportunities to become stronger
are reduced, and if they cannot become stronger, they continue to die in
a vicious cycle.
However, one could argue that one can survive if they work hard, but
for the UASM, there is a fatal flaw that made this difficult.
The fatal flaw is that they were unable to communicate or cooperate with other players.
According to the setting, the UASM only sees other species as either live prey or genetic material to be collected.
Crazy game developers actually implemented this in the game.
It goes without saying, that it is a huge risk for a multiplayer game
if communication and cooperation among players are not possible. It can
lead to frustration, conflicts, and a negative player experience.
It is essential for game developers to ensure that players have ways
to communicate and work together, especially in survival games where
cooperation is crucial for long-term success.
In the beginning, they are weak, because they are unable to cooperate with other players.
The two disadvantages synergized in a negative way, making the A-morph the worst minority race in space survival.
To the extent that the rumor that SM, the latter part of UASM, is an
abbreviation of sadist (game company) and masochist (user), is an
accepted theory in the community.
Why did such a garbage race become my favorite race? The reason is simple.
I was fascinated by the fact that they were a species that could
evolve and become stronger freely according to their choices and will.
‘Well, other than that, there are other things because I like Eric.’
As they say, those who enjoy something are usually the strongest at
it, and I was one of the hardcore gamers who had achieved the highest
difficulty achievement in the game as a galactic conqueror with A-morph.
The community called me an honorary A-morph, and a xenophile.
T/L/ Note- A xenophile is a person who loves foreign cultures, customs, and people. It can be positive as it promotes diversity and multiculturalism.
However, there is no eternal king.
I had no choice but to quit the game for normal reasons.
‘I totally forgot that people have to go to school these days….’
And that’s for two years in a row.
It’s an obvious result since I didn’t go out of the house and only played games.
I had to graduate, so I temporarily quit playing games and focused on
studying. Because of that, I didn’t even know that a sequel was in
development.
Anyway, Space Survival is my favorite game. What gamer wouldn’t be
excited about the sequel to a game that’s like a second life? So, of
course, I clicked “accept.”
‘This is the result of that decision.’
I scratched my forehead which is covered by a shell with my right “second” leg.
I scratched my forehead covered in a shell with my ‘second’ right leg
and then, feeling itchy on my back, I decided to use my ‘fourth’ left
leg this time. As I scratched my back, a translucent piece of skin came
off at the tip of my claw.
If someone asks how a human can have four pairs of legs, you can answer like this.
‘I have four pairs of legs because I’m not human.’
As I looked down at the first front leg I was standing with, a sigh
escaped me. The sensory aid device hanging from my chin swayed lightly
in response to my breath.
My hand’s form is far different from that of humans or mammals.
The long and slender shape of the legs, divided into three sections,
reminded me of the legs of a spider or an insect, and at the end of each
leg were two cute claws that served as fingers.
It felt like my hands weren’t mine, but the claws on the ends of my
long, thin, three-segmented legs were as if they were urging me not to
turn away from them, flicking in agreement with my will.
As I followed my gaze along the legs, the body had a long and slender
shape, resembling that of a snake or a lizard. The back and belly were
covered in a hard exoskeleton, which didn’t give a flexible impression.
The sides were made of soft flesh, unlike the hard shell on the back,
and three pairs of legs of the same shape as the front legs protruded.
Finally, there is a thick and flexible tail extending from the
buttocks, and the sharp stinger at the end of the tail is my only
weapon.
I know what this little grotesque creature is.
My favorite race in Space Survival, the A-morphs.
A race with infinite potential, which made me the ruler of the galaxy in Space Survival.
….A hatchling, to be precise.
｢ Species: Unidentified Aggressive Space Morph
Status: Hatchling
Goal: Survive
Attribute: Hyper-sensitivity 」
I have, possessed the weakest race in a universe filled with all
sorts of monsters and transcendent beings competing for dominance.
