Hyperdimensional game! The ultimate aesthetics of violent wizards

And they clearly stated that they only give one life because this is the only way for players to take the game seriously. When a player dies, the game company will recycle the dead player's world and reuse it after initialization. It may be used as the host map of an event, it may be used as a prize for an event, or it may be set as a public area.

In short, once a player dies, he loses ownership of the world, and the world will be formatted, which is equivalent to the entire world being buried with him. So even if it is not for yourself or the entire world, you have to live for your family, friends, and partners who have established a deep bond with you. This is the weight that players' lives carry.

According to official data, 137 of the 6666 players have died, and their worlds have been reclaimed and reset by the game company. The official also announced that the first game event will be launched when the community size exceeds two-thirds, that is, people. Since this is the first event, and in order to attract more players to participate, I heard that the official prizes are very generous, and they may take out the world's ownership as a reward.

Chapter 17: A new version, a new god

After exiting the online system interface, Rhine started to fiddle with the game's storage function.

Unlike space props such as storage rings or storage bags in some works, the storage function provided by the game is just a "concept". It has neither physical space nor existence in reality. Except that it cannot store living things, it has almost no restrictions. It is similar to the "backpack" setting in most traditional RPG games.

The storage space of the backpack is divided into grids. A grid can store up to 999 items of the same type, which is what players often call a "group". Each player's initial grid number is 100 grids. If you want to open more grids, you need to pay world coins. The more grids you open, the more world coins you need.

The backpack has no size or weight restrictions on the items that can be stored, there are only two options: what can be stored and what cannot be stored. If something can be stored, even 999 suns (stars) in the sky can be stored in it, and if something cannot be stored, even something as small as a grain of sand cannot be stored in it.

In fact, for the system's built-in storage function, whether it can store or not, and how much can be stored are secondary. Its biggest advantage is the absolute safety of the property. No one except the player can open it, and even the storage space cannot be found. Even if someone kills the player, the other party cannot get the things stored in the system by the player. It is the safest "safe" in the game world.

It is a bit like the "wallet" function in mobile payment software. It is called a wallet, but it has no entity and does not exist in reality. It is just a concept. And once the money is deposited, no one can use it except the person. Of course, if you have the ability to hack into the payment software system, it can only show that you are really awesome. But if you want to hack into the system of "Hyper Dimension Game", it is not impossible, but at least you have to be in the same dimension as them. It's like the most powerful hacker in the second dimension wants to hack into the computer of a computer novice in the third dimension. Is that possible? Why? Is it because the hacker's technology is not good enough? Of course not, it's just that the low-dimensional world cannot have any impact on the high-dimensional world.

In order to prevent players from taking advantage of this feature, for example, when fighting with others for an item, the player can directly throw the item into the backpack after getting it. Doesn't that mean that no one can rob it anymore? Or can it be used to steal things without anyone noticing?

In order to prevent cheating like this, the system has made clear regulations on whether items can be stored: [Items that have not been owned cannot be put into the backpack.] This means that you must obtain the ownership of the item before you can put it into the backpack. Buying and selling, giving as a gift, killing and robbing... etc. are all ways to obtain ownership.

The mall system is open but not fully open. Many functions are still sealed, such as auctions, online transactions, card draws, secret shops, etc. Currently, only the system store that comes with the game is open, and the products sold are all some local world-specific products. In addition to some rare materials, even the so-called magic wand, magic robe, and magic broom, which are called the three-piece set of the mage, are sold. This made Rhine a little excited. He was worried about where to get equipment after changing his job. Although the artifact is good, it is too ostentatious. He still understands the principle of not showing off wealth.

Whether it is a transaction between players, a transaction between players and the system, or the currency used to draw cards from the card pool, unlock the number of backpack slots, etc., the currency used is an official currency called [World Currency]. This coin can only be obtained by completing tasks or killing elite monsters and is a very precious resource.

One world coin can be exchanged for 10,000 gold coins, and one gold coin can be exchanged for 100 silver coins or 10,000 copper coins. According to the purchasing power of Rhine's world, one copper coin is roughly equivalent to one dollar in the real world, so the gold content of one world coin is roughly equivalent to about 100 million yuan (purchasing power) in the player's world.

Later, when he asked Makoto, Hedgehog Head and Jack, his guess was confirmed. One world coin can be exchanged for 16 billion yen, 10 billion yen (Magic Index) and 26 billion yen (Type-Moon) in their modern world. The reason for such a big difference is that the purchasing power is different in different times. Makoto's daily world is not much different from the convergence of the real world, while Hedgehog Head's Magic Index is in the near future world, and Jack's Type-Moon is in the world of the s.

In other words, in order to support his daughter's dream, Rhine's uncle bought several magic books for Irena. The price of a magic book usually starts from a few gold coins, so buying several magic books would cost more than 200,000 gold coins! Moreover, in addition to magic books, there are also magic wands, magic brooms, robes, magic props, experimental equipment, experimental materials, etc., which require expenses. It is impossible to get them without several million gold coins. No wonder people say that magic is played by rich people, because most people can't afford it!

Rhine received an initial capital of 100 world coins in today's job transfer (main story) mission. If all of them were converted into gold coins, that would be 100 million coins! It's no exaggeration to say that he is now a super rich man worth over billion in this world!

However, anyone with a little bit of brains would not use all the precious world coins to exchange for gold coins, because currency can only be exchanged unilaterally, and gold coins cannot be exchanged for world coins. It can be said that anyone who has read a little infinite flow or system flow novels knows that the precious points or points cannot be used to exchange for money in the early stage, but to exchange for some rare items that cannot be bought with money or to improve their own strength. Because he does not need money yet, Rhine does not plan to exchange some gold coins.

After understanding the previous ways of playing, Rhine finally turned his attention to the mission system. No matter how high the degree of freedom of a game is, no matter how much it claims to be an open world transformed from the real world, its definition is still a game. And for a game, if the main mission is missing, it is soulless and incomplete.

Although a small number of players think that it doesn't matter whether the open world has a main storyline or not, most players still hope that the game can have a main storyline, otherwise they will not even have the goal and motivation to grind. For this reason, the system releases main storyline tasks with different contents according to the world where each player is located.

But it should be noted that no matter it is the main quest, side quest, activity quest or hidden quest, all quests issued by the system are accepted by the players voluntarily, and they can do it or not. There is no punishment such as forced execution or attribute deduction after the quest fails, and there will be no loss. According to the game company, this is really just a game, not a "main X space" or a "Gangster Paradise", and the official will not hold a battle royale event like "Squid Game" or "Shocking Game", so everyone does not need to be so nervous, just play the game with an enjoyable attitude.

Of course, if someone wants to find excitement and chooses the world mentioned above, if they are executed by the Lord God or Paradise because of mission failure, the game company will not interfere, because this is the way to play in their world. "Hyperdimension Game" is equivalent to a platform with all games. They only provide players with a world for games and will not interfere with the players' gameplay. Isn't the world like the Lord God Space also a way to play?

Of the 137 people who died officially, 132 of them were from the main god space, paradise world, or similar worlds, while only 5 players like Rhine who chose a normal world died.

However, everything has two sides. Although the risk of this type of world is high, the benefits are also huge. Two systems means double the rewards, plus the resources of the infinite world. Whether it is potential or growth rate, it is far beyond the reach of other players. For example, it takes Rhine and others ten or even more than ten years to grow into the God Realm, while they only need a few years.

Currently, 80% of the top 100 players in the game are from the infinite world, and the top 30 are monopolized by players from this type of world. What’s even more exaggerated is that the top five players have all achieved legends, and one of them, nicknamed the God Lord, has even achieved the pinnacle of legend. I believe that this game will soon usher in the first god realm.

But there is nothing to compare. Three or four years is enough time for players of Infinite World to conquer several or even dozens of worlds. With the assistance of the dual systems and in the kind of life-or-death growth environment, it is hard not to become stronger.

Although Rhine likes to seek excitement, he feels that the infinite world is too tiring. He comes here to play games, not to be played by games. He hates the feeling of being helpless, so he has never considered the infinite world.

Although the players of the Infinite World are very strong now, this may not be the case in the future. First, the attrition rate is too high. There are at least 300 gamblers who choose the Infinite World, but one third of them have died at the beginning of the game. It is hard to say how many will be left in the later stages of the game. Second, in the later stages of the game, the players of the super worlds such as the Chendong Universe, the Marvel Universe, the Dragon Ball Universe, and the Primordial Universe have almost grown up, and by then, there will be basically no place for the players of the Infinite World. Each generation has its own god. In the early stages, it is the home field of the Infinite World players, and in the later stages, it is the home field of the Super World players.

Of course, no matter which one it is, it has nothing to do with Rhine, because there is no God Realm in his world, but he doesn't care, because this is a stand-alone game, no matter how awesome the people in other worlds are, what does it have to do with him? Even for game activities, the official will divide them into different venues according to the realm of the players, and there will not be a situation where the peak legends and apprentices compete on the same stage, nor will the players of the super power world and the daily world be lined up together.

Moreover, when a player with a higher realm goes to a player with a lower realm, the realm of the player with a higher realm will be automatically limited to the limit of what the world of the player with a lower realm can accommodate. It is similar to the devil in Magical Index who must infinitely weaken his realm to the limit that the world can bear if he wants to descend into the world, otherwise the entire universe will be blown up if he descends directly, so there is really no need to care too much about the difference in strength and realm between players.

Chapter 18 Main Mission

Main Quest 1: [World Ruler] Some people are born in Rome, while others are born as cattle and horses. However, kings, princes, generals, and ministers are all born with different species! Go, conquer the world, the whole world belongs to the king, and all the people are the king's subjects. Your reputation will be known to everyone, and your great deeds will be known to everyone. The world will submit to you, and all living beings will cheer for your existence! As the oldest king Gilgamesh said, "The king recognizes, the king allows, and the king carries the whole world on his back!" But before conquering the world, you first need a territory and build your own power.

Mission requirements (first ring): Become the monarch of a country. (Not achieved) Additional explanation: The mission difficulty will be divided into five levels: common, rare, epic, legendary, and mythical. The higher the difficulty of the mission, the richer the reward. The mission reward is calculated according to the difficulty when the player submits it, and it cannot be obtained repeatedly. Please choose carefully.

城邦国君主奖励：100000EXP、世界币x500、五星随机眷属召唤券x1、士兵x10000、一级主城x1、君主圣印（伯爵）x1、穿越者大礼包（白?普通）x1。

诸侯国君主奖励：200000EXP、世界币x1000、五星随机眷属召唤券x2、士兵x50000、二级主城x1、君主圣印（侯爵）x1、穿越者大礼包（蓝?稀有）x1。

大公国君主奖励：400000EXP、世界币x2000、五星随机眷属召唤券x3、五星自选眷属召唤券x1、士兵x100000、三级主城x1、君主圣印（公爵）x1、穿越者大礼包（紫?史诗）x1。

王国级君主奖励：800000EXP、世界币x5000、五星随机眷属召唤券x5、自选五星眷属召唤券x3、士兵x200000、四级主城x1、君王圣印x1、穿越者大礼包（橙?传说）x1。

帝国级君主奖励：2000000EXP、世界币x10000、五星随机眷属召唤券x10、自选五星眷属召唤券x5、士兵x500000、皇帝圣印x1、穿越者大礼包（彩?神话）x1。

Main Quest 2: [The Strongest in the World] The four seas are raging with clouds and water, and the eight wastelands are shaking with wind and thunder. We are not creatures in a pond. Once we encounter wind and clouds, we will turn into dragons. The peak of legend is not the end of the journey, but the starting point of a new world. Only those who have crossed the abyss are qualified to push open the door to the root, ascend to the position of the devil and transcend the constraints of the world; only gods can forge ahead in the darkness and forge ahead, and embark on the road to eternal life; only those who reach the realm of gods with non-god bodies are qualified to challenge the abyss. But before challenging the abyss, you must first reach the extreme of humanity.

Mission requirements (first ring): Human Extreme. (LV21/LV99) Additional explanation: The mission difficulty will be divided into five levels: Common, Rare, Epic, Legendary, and Mythical. The higher the mission difficulty, the greater the reward.

Task rewards are calculated based on the progress made when the player submits the task, and cannot be obtained repeatedly. Please choose carefully.

五百年时限：神意结晶（白?普通）x100、深渊门票x10、全属性点+100、自由属性点x100、技能点x100、世界币x1000、穿越者大礼包（白）x1。

一百年时限：神意结晶（蓝?稀有）x50、深渊门票x20、全属性点+200、自由属性点x300、技能点x200、世界币x2000、穿越者大礼包（蓝）x1。

三十年时限：神意结晶（紫?史诗）x20、深渊门票x50、全属性点+300、自由属性点x500、技能点x500、世界币x5000、穿越者大礼包（紫）x1。

十五年时限：神意结晶（橙?传说）x10、深渊门票x100、全属性点+500、自由属性点x800、技能点x800、世界币x10000、穿越者大礼包（橙）x1。

七年时限：神意结晶（彩?神话）x1、深渊门票x200、全属性点+800、自由属性点+1000、技能点x1000、世界币x20000、穿越者大礼包（彩）x1。

"Wow, no wonder the authorities have repeatedly emphasized that there will be no punishment even if the mission fails." Rhine complained wildly in his mind after reading his main mission.

Generally speaking, the main quests of the game start with running errands, slacking off, and doing odd jobs in the Novice Village. After leaving the Novice Village, the game guides players to advance step by step.

This game asks you to become a king or reach the ultimate human level right from the start! Isn't this like a hero who has just left the novice village and defeated a slime-level monster, and then received a mission to defeat the devil? (Great, you have learned how to kill monsters and can challenge the devil.)

Although the main mission was very difficult and challenging, and there would be no penalty for not doing it, Rhine still decided to do it! Because the system gave too much.

Apart from anything else, he was envious of the 7 million experience points that were the highest level reward. For a late-stage professional who needed an astronomical amount of experience points for each level up, million experience points was like a blessing from heaven! It also greatly shortened the time required to complete the main mission . If he wanted to challenge the highest level reward of the main mission , he had to complete the highest difficulty of the main mission , otherwise it would be impossible to achieve the peak of legend within years.

The system didn't force you to do the main quest, but after seeing these generous rewards, can you still remain indifferent? Even if the system doesn't urge you, you will force yourself. Rhine really doesn't like the feeling of being forced to do things against his will, and he doesn't know what other players' main quest rewards are, but there is no doubt that the system gives too much.

Although it is still unknown what Dependent Summoning Tickets and Self-Selected Summoning Tickets are, considering the card drawing function that has not yet been opened in the mall system, the conquering of the world mentioned in the mission introduction, and the cities and soldiers rewarded by the mission, Rhine guessed that it may be related to another kind of game play called business strategy.

These summon tickets are most likely hero-level units. If possible, he wants to get his "wife" here. Don't get me wrong, she is really his wife, the kind with a marriage certificate, but not a real wife, but a cultivation game called "Azure Lane". When the time comes, he wants to build a navy composed entirely of ship girls.

Speaking of business strategy games... As a Class A war criminal, no, Paradox player, Rhine is very familiar with them. In Crusader Kings, we spare no effort to legally launch and win a war.

To achieve our goals, we can marry a wife we ​​don't like, use our daughters, sisters, and even our biological mothers as bargaining chips, set up tempting traps to recruit claimants, and even sell our souls to the devil. In Europa Universalis, we abandon the damn legal principles and titles, and are free to launch wars one after another, although we still need some real or fake reasons to appease those unruly people.

Faith, nation, hegemony, claim, core, even a dirty word, we can use all the reasons that we don't even believe in to launch wars one after another. We rely on muskets and cannons to ravage the whole world, and launch the most severe punishment on all countries that dare to be even a little backward and weak! Always uphold the truth that backwardness will be beaten. We sent blankets stained with smallpox to the Indians, and we exchanged cheap glass beads for precious slaves, just to send them to sweatshops without light.

In order to reduce the cost of public security, we naturally raised the butcher knife to the indigenous people... Thanks to all this, we were able to build a magnificent empire and complete the primitive accumulation of capitalism. In Victoria, in order to consolidate our position on the original basis, we had to shift domestic conflicts and start external oppression and colonization. We destroyed every old antique who was unwilling to "civilize" and trampled underfoot, invading and occupying the output of every inch of their land, plundering every bit of their property, and trampling on all their rights, whether important or unimportant.

We use drugs and racist lies to appease our rule, and use all kinds of despicable but effective methods, such as poison gas, to consolidate our rule. After all the "backward empires" have been divided up, we start looking for the next prey. In Hearts of Iron, we tear off all disguises, and for our own political demands, we can squeeze the blood and flesh of all people without hesitation. We hang veterans on the tracks, we use fake bonds to plunder all the investments that can be cheated, and we use massacres and persecutions to plunder the assets of minorities.

We slaughtered prisoners, burned land, and destroyed factories, just to destroy the enemy's vitality. If necessary, we would send the elderly and children to the battlefield, and we would also burn the whole world. In the stars, we put ourselves above the whole world. We regard aliens as food, batteries and collections. We use the most efficient methods we can think of, slaughtering them again and again on a planetary basis, and we are willing to pay any price for this, including but not limited to sending hundreds of millions of our compatriots into the mouths of evil gods.

From the ancient Roman era to the distant interstellar era, we have never regarded people other than ourselves as "people". They represent nothing more than consumables. We lie, we invade, we betray, we subvert all traditions in the world, we are pragmatists, legal principles, marriage, faith, nation, insults, claims, and even ideology are just our tools; we use them for economy, stability, manpower, colonization, invasion, subversion, puppetry, expansion, and all obstacles will be trampled under our feet. This is the wisdom and glory of Paradox players who continue to explore and forge ahead. (Original author: Sharp-toothed and sharp-mouthed Tucao. Some details have been modified and will be deleted after infringement notification.)

The reason why all Paradox players are called Class A war criminals is because the highest level of war criminals is Class A, and the crimes they commit in the game would be punishable by death in real life by the lightest punishment for them.

Of course, this is also because games are just games after all. You can do whatever you want in the virtual world. After all, what dies is a bunch of data. Even if you do something evil like destroying the world (planet), you won't feel the slightest bit of guilt. We are all 7+ kids playing coloring games. How can we have any bad intentions? When Rhine thought about playing business strategy games, he started to get excited. He is an old Paradox player. Of course, he couldn't inherit all the ways he played Paradox. That would lead to him being taken to the International Court of Justice.

But it's still possible to learn from it.

Chapter 19: The Empire in Danger

Although most of the actions of Paradox players are indeed inappropriate from the perspective of ordinary people, in fact, according to Rhine, the darkness of the empire is even worse than what Paradox players have done. For those nobles and high-ranking officials of the empire, for the sake of profit, not to mention their own daughters, even their "closest relatives" can be used as bargaining chips.

Kidnapping, extortion, assassination, exploitation, seizing women, human trafficking, collusion between officials and bandits, harsh tyranny... They did almost everything that villains would and wouldn't do. Their stench was even more corrupt than that of the imperial ministers and high-ranking nobles in "Akame ga Kill". Thinking of this, Rhine seemed to understand why his uncle was unwilling to take his wife and daughter home. That was not home, it was clearly hell on earth! The uncle obviously didn't want Irena and her daughter to have anything to do with these darkness.

However, no matter how miserable the people of the empire are, it has nothing to do with Rhine, because he himself is the largest noble in the empire and a member of the evil forces. He has enjoyed the utmost luxury since he was born. Even his dog eats delicacies from mountains and seas, and the tableware used by the servants are all made of gold and silver. He deeply understands what it means that while the rich have wine and meat, there are people freezing to death on the streets.

The main reason is that his family is not just an ordinary noble family, but the highest ruling class below the royal family. Compared with the princes who still need to be controlled by the emperor, the biggest difference is that his father can obey orders but not announcements. In other words, he obeys the central government's dispatch, but maintains his independence and self-reliance. He can disobey the summons and summons of his superiors (the emperor); even if he needs to see the emperor, he does not need to kneel or disarm.

Therefore, although the duchy is still a part of the empire in name, in fact, except for the annual tribute and salary to the empire, it is a completely independent and autonomous subordinate state. Each of the five duchies has its own army and complete laws, and even the empire cannot interfere at will. Compared with the so-called frontier officials and local lords, this is the real local emperor. If the main task 2 was not limited by time, he could have waited for his father to abdicate, so that he would not have to rebuild a team.

"Hiss~ The setting of this Sovereign's Seal looks a bit familiar... I seem to have seen it somewhere." Rhine fell into recollections and racked his brains to recall the memories of his past life.

"Ah! I remember now, it seems to be a series called "Emperor's Seal Wars." Although he has not watched many series, and although this series is somewhat unpopular, he is sure that he has watched it.

Because the plot of this work is really shocking, it is hard for him not to remember it. The content of the story mainly talks about the "Three Kingdoms" in another world, and the green-haired male protagonist is naturally Liu Huangshu in another world. Relying on the halo of the protagonist, he picked up wives, cities, subordinates, land, and finally picked up the throne of the emperor. But the one who left the deepest impression on the audience was not Liu Huangshu as the protagonist, but the black uncle as the supporting role. You are not wrong, this black uncle is really the black uncle in the original plot, and he also gave the male second's fiancee a cow. This plot really shocked him.

“It seems that in addition to “Witch’s Journey”, a second plot world has appeared. I wonder how many plot worlds this anime world has integrated. It’s really exciting.” Rhine said with emotion.

Rhine read the introduction of the Seal of the Monarch and found that it was exactly the same as in the original book. In simple terms, the Seal is a powerful buff with a large range. After the Seal is activated, it can greatly improve the morale and physical abilities of the soldiers under your command. It also has a series of buffs such as strengthening the sharpness of weapons and the toughness of armor, reducing the pain when injured, etc.

With the blessing of the Seal of the Monarch, even a group of rabble (peasants) can burst out with powerful combat power comparable to that of an elite division after the explosion. The most outrageous thing is that this buff state has no side effects. It will not say that the army will fall into a weak state after the buff state ends, thus losing its combat capability. And the higher the level of the Seal, the wider the range of the buff, and the stronger the buff effect. If he can take down the Seal of the Emperor, who in this world can stop his army?

Although the rewards for the main quests are pretty good, they seem a bit insignificant compared to the last reward. Even if there are no other rewards, the traverser gift pack alone is enough to make people excited and unable to refuse. No matter what, he will challenge the main quest with the highest level of difficulty.

Because this is a "golden finger" gift pack that can give out top-level bloodlines, natural devil fruits, the Mystic Eyes of Death, the Rinnegan, the Divine Purification Demon Slayer, the Xuanyuan Sword, the Sword of Separation, the Supreme Magic Ring, and other super-strong bloodlines, supernatural powers, and various artifacts! In front of it, other rewards are just icing on the cake.

Gift packs of low quality might contain junk, but at least the things from gift packs of orange quality or above, no matter how junk they are, can become the golden finger or killer weapon for the time travelers to survive and travel the world.

Maybe someone among the 10,000 players has actually opened Saiyan bloodline, Mystic Eyes of Death, Divine Purification, the Third Permanent Mechanism, Star Creation Map, etc. These Dio's amazing gold fingers. The more Rhine thought about it, the more excited he became, and the more he thought about it, the more he couldn't hold back his restless heart, because the eternal artifact he used to make a living was opened from the mythical quality time traveler gift pack. Although he hoped to open abilities or bloodline rather than artifacts, after all, no matter how powerful the equipment is, it is just an external thing, and only abilities and bloodline are truly his own things.

Although what Rhine got from the gift pack was equipment instead of abilities or bloodline, and the equipment he got was auxiliary equipment instead of the weapon-type equipment he wanted, there is no doubt that he can easily reach the top of the world with this artifact.

He didn't dare to think about reaching the root, and crossing the abyss was still too far away, but at least he was confident that he could listen to the will of heaven with a human body and reach the realm of God with a non-god body.

He didn't know what the other three people got, but from the conversation with Hedgehog Head, he could tell that this guy must have gotten something extremely good, otherwise he wouldn't have been so arrogant as to want to pull out Aleister's catheter and even want to fight with the leader's God of Magic. It can be seen that Hedgehog Head either had a brain attack or his golden finger gave him the courage. Rhine would first believe that it was the latter.

"Although the main quest looks difficult, if you think about it carefully, you will find that it is not as difficult as you imagined. The difficulty lies in how to complete the mythical main quest. After all, as far as the quest is concerned, I am the first heir to the Duke's throne. If I ignore the various processes and only look at the results, I can at least get the third-tier reward. As for the second main quest, unless you are a really lazy player, as long as you play normally, you can reach the human extreme (maximum level) within 30 years, right?"

"But the problem is that the difference between the third tier and the fifth tier is too big. It's like heaven and earth! The other rewards are fine. You can still play even without them. It's nothing more than saving a little time. It's dispensable. But the time traveler gift pack is different. It's something that can change your life. Who knows if you can get it next time if you miss this opportunity. No matter what, you must get it. Otherwise, even if you complete the mission, it will be a huge loss."

"It seems... we need to take a long-term view." At this moment, Rhine did have some thoughts in his mind. He didn't know who had just said that he would never inherit the title of Duke, but now he started planning again. It's really tempting.

There is no way around it. Just like not every player likes game activities but participates for the event rewards, Rhine also has to consider seizing power for the main line rewards.

Although the game does not specify the rules of play, it can be seen from the rewards given by the main quest, which include cities, soldiers, heroic units, and monarch seals, that the system is encouraging him to play the game as a business strategy game.

However, unlike traditional strategy games, players have almost no authority. Specifically, you can't adjust the time (fast forward) or skip rounds as you like, and you can't recruit troops and capture cities with a few clicks of the mouse. All operations need to be done by the player himself... So if he really wants to build an empire, how long will it take?

More importantly, he has self-awareness. It's okay for him to play strategy games on the computer, but is it too much of a compliment to let him become an emperor in reality? He doesn't have the confidence to become a king in another world just by reading books like "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and "The Prince".

Speaking of the Three Kingdoms, he felt that there was a person whose behavior was worth learning from. Don't get me wrong, this time it wasn't Prime Minister Cao, but someone close to him. After thinking it over, he felt that stealing a country was much easier than building an empire from scratch. Isn't this just a goal? (Sima Yi: Just report my ID card.)

It was unknown whether it was the power of the plot behind the scenes, or whether his father could no longer hold back. When he was still in the Duke's Mansion, Rhine had already noticed that his father seemed to be ready to make a move. Ask him how he knew, don't forget that he had spent almost half of his time in his father's study in the past three years, both to avoid assassination and to have peace and quiet, and to collect more information about this world.

Since he was just a little baby who was less than three years old, and he was very quiet when reading, not noisy or noisy, and had no sense of existence, his father did not deliberately avoid him even though he knew he was still there. After all, what could a two or three-year-old child know? Besides, this person was his own child. So several times when he was reading in the study, he ran into his father's secret agent reporting to him some confidential information that would be enough to cost him his life if it were leaked.

Why is it called brain-destroying intelligence? Let me give you a few examples to make it clear.

Margrave Alfred said he would not send troops until the situation became clear, but he would find a reason to transfer the imperial border guards and hold back the local troops that were rushing to the central government. If successful, Rhine must be made the crown prince, and his position as crown prince cannot be abolished for any reason; if unsuccessful, he will personally lead an army of 300,000 to kill the rebels.

Duke McDowell said that he would raise troops from the east on the agreed date and aim at the imperial capital. The prerequisite is that Rhine's father can indeed persuade the other dukes to join the army. If successful, he needs the empire to allow and recognize the independence of his principality and not to invade the principality for any reason; if he fails, he will lead his subordinates to leave the empire and join other countries.

Although Duke Philips in the south of the empire clearly stated that he would not send troops to the imperial capital, he said that he could delay the imperial prince who was heading north to provide support. The specific method was to deploy troops at the border with the prince's territory, so that the prince would not dare to leave easily with his troops. If the prince really wanted to support the imperial capital without even caring about his family, then he would officially join the war and chase the prince's reinforcements from behind. (If the prince didn't even want to care about his family, it meant that the empire really couldn't hold on. If the prince didn't move his troops until the end, it meant that the rebellion had failed.)

As for the last Grand Duke of Albania, he had the idea of ​​rebellion long ago, but he was always concerned about the attitudes of the other dukes. After all, although the empire was corrupt and there was nothing to fear, the Grand Dukes were relying on absorbing the nutrients of the empire and were more vigorous than each other. If he rebelled without understanding the attitudes of the other Grand Dukes, the dukes might take advantage of the situation and divide his territory under the pretext of suppressing the rebellion. But now that the other Grand Dukes had the intention of rebelling, he would naturally not miss this rare opportunity. He did not discuss the conditions and directly said the lie that whoever enters the imperial capital first will be the emperor.

Chapter 20: The Irredeemable Empire

Wow, whoever enters the imperial capital first will be the emperor. Rhine was so shocked when he heard this. He was sure that these dukes were serious and not just pretending. They were really going to stage a real-life drama of various princes fighting against Qin. Because three of the five dukes who protected the empire were pointing their swords at the imperial capital, and the only prince who stood on the side of the royal family was held back by another duke.

Today's empire is no longer the super empire of thousands of years ago, where all nations came to pay tribute, the common ruler of the southwest, and hundreds of cities. In these long thousands of years, the empire has gradually been corrupted by power, and its glory has gradually been swallowed by darkness. The once towering tree is now rotten to the roots. Even in the prosperous imperial capital for thousands of years, the land under the emperor's feet has also bred countless corruption and darkness, and the former paradise has become a hell on earth.

Although it has been said before that Rhine's father is definitely not a good person, the reason why he has not become notorious and infamous despite his many evil deeds is that, in addition to the powerful public relations team under him, a large part of the reason is that the living environment of the empire is worse and worse than the territory governed by his father. Especially in the context of the harsh tyranny and high-pressure rule of the contemporary emperor, his father's rule seems so mild.

As the saying goes, we are not afraid of who is the worst, but we are afraid of who is worse than the worst. Although his father also killed people without blinking an eye and often did some bastard things such as oppressing the people and robbing women, it was only limited to his own style of work. He would still compensate what he should compensate, and whether the victims would accept it was another matter. He would kill all corrupt officials, because in his eyes, the money he embezzled was his money.

The people in his territory cannot be said to live and work in peace and prosperity, but at least they have enough food and clothing, and they still have some money left after paying taxes. They don't have to worry about invasions by bandits, robbers, monsters and wild beasts. Social security and food prices are generally stable.

But the people in the empire's territory were not so lucky. Successive years of drought had led to a sharp drop in grain harvests. People could not even feed themselves, but they still had to hand over two-thirds of their grain to the empire. Despite this, the imperial army's food and fodder supply was still in short supply.

Because most of the food and fodder collected went into the pockets of officials, the amount of food actually distributed to the soldiers was pitiful. In the past, even the little soup left over from the officials would have been enough to feed the army, but in the years of famine, the harvest decreased, but the officials' share of deductions did not decrease. They were not lenient at all, which resulted in the army not even having the last bit of soup to drink.

The emperor was incompetent but not stupid. He knew that if the army did not have enough food for a long time, it would be easy for them to mutiny. However, he could not make those corrupt officials spit out what they had eaten because there were too many people involved. There were hundreds of civil and military officials in the court, and eighty to ninety of them were involved in corruption. The situation was really hopeless. Even if the emperor wanted to manage it, he could not do anything about it. However, the army's food and military pay were a problem that had to be solved. For this reason, the emperor specially convened several court meetings.

After several rounds of heated discussions among the officials, it was decided that the wool should come from the sheep. Not only did the court not reduce the taxes of the people during the famine years, but it also increased the intensity of taxation, transferring the burden directly to the people. This measure also led to many people who could not pay taxes being forced to go up the mountain to become bandits, robbers, or they would be used as slaves to pay taxes. In order to eliminate these bandits, the court had to frequently mobilize the army, which in turn led to huge military expenditures.

So who will pay for these military expenses? It can't be the central government anyway. For this reason, the court has introduced a new policy, that is, the local officials in the area where the army suppresses the rebellion will be responsible for the daily expenses of the army, which is equivalent to directly kicking the ball to the local government. But the problem is that the local government has no surplus food! Want those officials to pay for it themselves? No way. So this burden is finally transferred to the people, and the so-called "protection fee" is collected from them again.

The army collects protection fees for protecting the people, isn't that ridiculous? However, this is the current situation of the empire. Even if the so-called protection fees are collected, most local officials will deduct one-third of the military pay when transferring the military funds; most generals will also deduct one-third when receiving the military funds, and middle-level officers will deduct part of the military pay when distributing the military pay. With such deductions at all levels, the military pay that finally reaches the soldiers is already less than one-tenth, not to mention sending the extra money home, even daily expenses have become a problem.

It's good enough to get paid. If you meet a more greedy superior, he will deduct your last bit of military pay. In these chaotic times, it's good enough to not let you starve to death. You still want money? The army doesn't need one more person, and it doesn't need one less person. You can stay if you want. If you don't want to stay, you can leave. This is true. Once a soldier leaves the army, he will really have nothing to eat.

In the final analysis, the policies issued by the court to appease the army ultimately benefited those below them. Although the army that could not receive their pay did not mutiniate, there were many deserters. Most of the soldiers either set up their own factions or joined the ranks of bandits and rebels, thus forming a vicious cycle.

It can be said that in the empire, apart from the ruling class, both the people and the soldiers were oppressed. As time went on, the internal security of the empire became worse and worse, bandits were rampant, the people were living in poverty, and there was grief everywhere. The imperial capital was relatively better, but the people in remote areas often had to eat their own children.