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PARIS—SEVERAL HOURS AFTER THE BATTLE OF CRONOS I

A press conference was taking place in Paris, one that would go down in history.

Three MMO superstars were on screen:

Akiko Hiroki, AKA "Mario," from the SuperGuild "Toxic."

Enzo Romano, AKA "Ceasar," from the SuperGuild "Renovatio Imperii."

William Woke, AKA "Lucifer," from the SuperGuild "Lord of War."

These three had come together to announce a historic alliance between their guilds, an alliance with the goal of capturing the Cronos system.

Not for Federation, nor the Orc Empire, nor for any NPC faction!

No, these three called for all players to join the Great Coalition and help create a nation-state for the Eternals themselves!

This press conference drew a record audience of one billion viewers, an announcement of such magnitude that some in the media speculated that this was as meaningful an event as the announcement of war between two real-world countries. It certainly seemed that the long-term economic consequences would be similar!

It was truly an astounding thing that three SuperGuilds had joined forces—let alone that many lesser guilds agreed to support them. The history of MMORPGs had been filled with wars and subversions between the different corporations which ran these SuperGuilds, after all. Nobody ever expected them to unite like this!

Together, it was estimated that the Great Coalition already had over a million players, as well as dozens of ships. Beyond that, millions more players, both solo and in various smaller guilds, were predicted to join in the Coalition's goal.

The news of the Battle of Cronos I and the players' responses to it filled the news. People talked about it night and day, with many in the media claiming one side or another should be supported. Not everyone understood exactly how much freedom the players had in Horus, and so there were some who felt that the Coalition was doomed because one NPC faction was surely scripted to win. Nobody paid much attention to these people.

Choosing a side between the three parties in the war became as culturally important as choosing a real-world political party, which boosted Horus's popularity even further! It had already grown to be the most played MMORPG of all time, but it seemed there was really no ceiling on its hype! Even those who didn't play video games started to become seriously interested in it.

***

In the game, Apophis was so bombarded with messages that he decided to just ignore them all.

Since he was considered the strongest player in Horus, his decision to choose a side would be considered one of the most important events in MMORPG history. In response to all the events following the Battle of Cronos I, Apophis held a guild meeting—the first since Eclipse's creation—in his suite at the Royal Palace of Terra hotel.

Everyone was there, including Laurent, under the nickname of "JackRipper." Though his friend was still only LvL 1, Apophis had lent him some money to pay for his trip from Era and to help him start playing.

Once everyone was present—and had gotten over their awe at the city-sized hotel with its astoundingly luxurious accommodations—Apophis took the floor and began the meeting. "Thank you all for coming so quickly. We have two topics to discuss. The first is the future of Eclipse! As you can see, since its creation, the guild really hasn't developed at all. We haven't recruited anyone except JackRipper, and he just barely joined today.

"Except for the guild chest, which contains an even 3,560,000 GC, thanks to my taxes as planetary governor of Era, we haven't invested anything into the greater functioning of the guild.

"This is my fault, due to how busy I've been lately. Unfortunately, I don't think I'm going to become less busy any time soon. Therefore, I recommend Lotus to take my place as guild leader. She'll devote all her time to developing the guild, but I'll remain the external image and will still serve as a director. What do you all think?"

Lotus was astonished! Although Apophis had spoken about this a few times, to see it come true was incredible! She'd started to suspect that he was only saying this to placate her, and now she felt ashamed for having suspected Apophis of such a thing. This investiture of power into her was an incredible display of trust, especially since the guild had quite a lot of funds just waiting to be invested into guild development.

Hulk answered sarcastically, "As much as I love small guilds, the more the game grows, the more manpower we'll need for our ambitions. Look at what the SuperGuilds are doing on Cronos I! Together, we're the strongest team in the game, but just imagine if you were able to share your secrets with an army of our own! Eclipse should really have its own army and solar system one day."

White, in a teasing mood, said enthusiastically, "Here's to a woman in power! It can only produce good things!"

Only Chocolate seemed reserved. "I like our little guild of five people, actually. But I trust you, Apophis. If you think we need to develop further, I'll approve of the strategy."

JackRipper, though new, spoke up as well. "Well, I just joined you, and Alexander's my friend, so I don't exactly have an impartial opinion... but I'm definitely not going to say no to having such powerful companions as you! The more the better, right? And it would be nice to have some people on Era sharing their EXP with us!"

Apophis nodded decisively. "Well, then, it's decided!" He selected the guild menu and pressed an option that he'd pre-selected.

SERVER: The player "Lotus" has been promoted to leader of your guild "Eclipse."

Lotus's first action was to create a special member rank which she named "Supreme Leader" with the same privileges as the leader. Then she added Apophis to this. She also created the rank of "Founder" with advanced privileges and appointed the other four guild members to it.

White gave a light-hearted laugh. "The new guild leader's already done more in one minute than you did in three and a half months, Supreme Leader!"

Apophis took the joke with a smile. After all, he'd never been strong in management skills. Despite his thirst for power, the actual management of others had never interested him very much. He wanted to keep both his freedom and his decision-making authority in the guild, so this outcome made the most sense.

He would keep his directorial power, but wouldn't be forced to manage every detail of Eclipse. This strategy followed what the SuperGuilds themselves did. The star players didn't have time to be administrators, for their growth in the game itself was what made people admire them. Though they had authority, they were more icons of their guilds than actual leaders.

Having promoted Lotus and created a new dynamic between the guild members, Apophis spoke again. "Now, let's talk about the situation at hand. Which side will we choose in the war?"