I summoned the Fourth Scourge in Warhammer

Chapter 11 Players Face to Face with the "Designers"
The three-day closed beta test passed in the blink of an eye.

The moment the countdown reached zero, Ruan Wenbo and all the players felt an irresistible force pulling their consciousness away from the Astral Army soldiers' bodies. However, the expected feeling of returning to their original Earth body did not occur.

Their consciousness seemed to penetrate a thin membrane, arriving in a bizarre and fantastical space. All around them were colors and light constantly churning, merging, and separating, like an overturned palette of paint, or the very beginning of a cosmic nebula, filled with indescribable chaos and beauty.

The players were momentarily stunned, but soon they noticed the strange creature floating in front of them. It seemed to be composed of countless flickering data streams and beams of light, its form constantly changing, defying accurate description in human language.

Just as everyone was filled with doubt and surprise, the creature spoke a gentle voice. Although it had no mouth, the voice resounded directly in everyone's minds.

"Hello, my name is Bit, and I'm the game planner for this game. This is a follow-up interview after the closed beta test ends. Do you have anything to say or any questions you'd like to ask? I'll answer them to the best of my ability."

"plan?"

"Is this what game designers look like?"

The players looked at each other in surprise, but quickly accepted the setting.

Ruan Wenbo looked around and asked curiously, "This is... the subspace designed by your production team? It looks like a paint palette..."

“That’s right, this is the subspace,” Bit admitted. “However, a thousand people will see a thousand different subspaces, and different senses will see different things. I’ve given you a cognitive filter, so this place looks relatively ‘normal.’ In the future, never rush into the subspace without the protection of the Geller field, otherwise, even if you’re not devoured by the creatures inside, the flood of information will be enough to instantly overwhelm your biological processors.”

After finishing, Bit added, "By the way, you guys also have a cognitive filter on you while you're in the game, but its only function is to block discussions about 'games' and 'Warhammer.' What do you think of this filter? Is it necessary to remove it in the upcoming closed beta?"

Ruan Wenbo thought for a moment and spoke first: "I don't think it's necessary. This filter is quite good. Otherwise, if we accidentally start chatting and the NPCs overhear us, they'll think we've gone crazy or are disloyal to the Empire. Being dragged away and shot by the political commissar wouldn't be a joke..."

“Okay, then let’s keep things as they are from now on.” Bit readily accepted the suggestion.

At this moment, [Ruthless Assassin] eagerly raised his hand: "Friend system! I strongly demand the addition of a friend system!"

Bit seemed to wave its hand, though to the players it was merely a ripple of light and shadow. "It's all arranged for you. Now take a look!"

As soon as the words were spoken, a simple friend list interface appeared in the players' field of vision. [Ruthless Assassin] happily sent a friend request to Ruan Wenbo immediately.

Having addressed this pressing need, Ruan Wenbo then asked, "Regarding the death penalty system, I'd like to ask how it specifically works? Since your development team wants to create such a realistic game, there should be a self-consistent logic behind this death penalty, right?"

“That’s right,” Bit replied. “When a player dies and is resurrected, their cognitive filter is replaced with a new one. In the eyes of all non-player creatures, you are a completely new and unfamiliar individual after being resurrected. Therefore, they will naturally not allow this ‘stranger’ to inherit the position, merits, and interpersonal relationships of someone who has nothing to do with him.”

Ruan Wenbo's eyes lit up, and he immediately grasped the key point: "But the players won't be affected by this, right? In our players' eyes, he is still himself."

“Of course.” “Does that mean,” Ruan Wenbo’s speech quickened instantly, “that as long as we can form a force entirely composed of players, and that the force’s organization is officially recognized by the Imperial Military Affairs Department, then even if a player in the force dies, as long as the player commander of that force is willing, he can still be reinstated after being resurrected?”

“Of course,” Bitt answered affirmatively. “In theory, the appointment and dismissal of officers require the approval of the Department of Military Affairs. But in reality, given the Star Force’s consistently alarming casualty rate, the Department of Military Affairs simply has neither the time nor the capacity to manage the promotion and appointment of junior officers. In most cases, these decisions are made by the military commander of the unit alone.”

Upon hearing this answer, the other players were once again impressed by Ruan Wenbo's sharp thinking. At the same time, they also sensed the game's astonishingly high degree of freedom in Bit's response—as an official planner, he was actually allowing, even encouraging, players to exploit the rules and use various means to circumvent death penalties!
“I have a question,” said the Eagle Sheriff, who was now Oglin, raising his hand. “If I die and am resurrected, will I still be Oglin?”

“Changes in race and attributes are not subject to death penalties,” Bit replied seriously, “unless you intend to delete the character and create a new one.”

"As for the resurrection point," without needing anyone else to ask, Bit himself stated, "whether the resurrection point is fixed in a certain area or allows resurrection on the spot depends on the weakness of the local reality barrier. In areas where the reality barrier is thick and stable, it is impossible to establish a resurrection point."

One player immediately realized: "So, if we wipe out all the cultists, weaken the warp erosion in this area, and thicken the veil of reality, we won't be able to resurrect on the spot anymore? We'll have to run back to our corpses and pick up our own gear after we die?"

“Yes,” Bit replied affirmatively.

Players were once again stunned, as their actions would directly impact the rules of the game world, a level of interaction they had never experienced before in any game.

At this moment, the player who had dared to try Warhammer cuisine earlier, whose ID was [Flying Eagle], spoke up.

“I also have a few questions,” Flying Eagle said. “First of all, the game’s data panel is too rudimentary. Every time we are summoned, all we can see is our ID and some basic physical data. There isn’t even a skill tree. Is this how it was designed, or are we not yet at the level where we can access skills?”

He paused, then asked his second question: "Also, I'd like to know if the server is still running after we log off? If the server is continuously running, do our characters simply disappear from the spot, or do they just go to sleep like NPCs?"

Bit pondered for a moment, though the players perceived him to have given an answer almost immediately.

“It was my oversight to mention skills,” Bit said with a hint of apology. “I will design a skill tree interface for you to help you organize and plan your abilities more intuitively. You should be able to see it during the second closed beta test.”

This answer cheered the players up; having a skill tree meant having a growth path and more diverse gameplay.

"As for your characters after you log off," Bit continued, "this world is real and constantly operating. Your bodies, as containers for your consciousness, will naturally fall asleep once there is no one to control them."

This answer stunned everyone. It meant that even if they logged off, their "characters" wouldn't enter some kind of safe haven, but would remain in place like a sleeping soldier. If the position were breached while they were offline, the consequences would be unimaginable.

The game's realism and hardcore nature once again exceeded their expectations.

(End of this chapter)