Reincarnation NPC, but Arknights

Rhodes Island and Chernobog's core city will each have two separate databases, and the information will not be shared, but Luna will be the same.

Bai Ye was startled. Luna's autonomous expansion was beyond his expectations. However, after checking the terminal, Bai Ye found that the thing was still within a controllable range. The fact that its range of action had expanded to the entire core city was because Bai Ye had overlooked something when drafting the agreement and had not written it clearly.

Because Bai Ye himself wields immense authority in the core city, his position within the Reunion Movement is second only to Talulah. The Rhodes Island branch is located in the core city. It's possible that this overlap in authority caused Luna's misunderstanding.

'Perhaps it's my fault?' Bai Ye didn't understand artificial intelligence very well. He could only use it, but he didn't know the principles behind it, so he didn't know what was going on.

The software expert is on the Rhodes Island main ship, and it's unclear when they'll be able to come and take a look. Bai Ye recorded Luna's situation, intending to send it to Kroos for a closer look later.

However, this turned out to be a lucky accident, as it would make the management of the core city more convenient and reliable in the future. He would also be able to grasp more about the situation in the core city, so he wouldn't be completely clueless every time he returned and have to get information from Talulah.

Chapter Ten: Fright

'I hope nothing serious has really happened...'

A rare moment of panic welled up in Bai Ye's heart, though he remained outwardly as usual, a fact that even Ghost Shark, who had been with Bai Ye for some time, couldn't detect.

However, Bai Ye felt somewhat anxious.

He was afraid he might actually cause some trouble.

This land is already chaotic enough. Beyond its borders lie demons, enemies of human civilization; in the deep sea dwell sea creatures; and on the land, natural disasters rage. Add to that the sudden appearance of players, and it seems that every kind of natural calamity has been dealt with.

Void demons, higher-dimensional invasions, the Fourth Calamity...

Now, Bai Ye is afraid that he will create another "purification agreement" by his own hands.

Four natural disasters together could make a game of mahjong...

After all, the current Luna smart terminal system has broken through Rhodes Island's restrictions and covers the entire core city.

She used her authority to build signal base stations, expanding the scope of influence, and replaced the operating interfaces of many facilities, connecting them to the energy hub of the core city.

It's no wonder that the core city has changed dramatically in a short period of time, yet it remains orderly, because an artificial intelligence is coordinating and planning, making it much more efficient than humans.

If this thing malfunctions, it could be fatal to the entire city.

The only thing that can still give us peace of mind is that Bai Ye still has complete control over the system and can shut it down at any time.

He opened his personal terminal, and the cursor controlled by Bai Ye hovered over the "Stop Program" button.

To be honest, he was tempted to shut down the entire Luna system.

This thing is different from Rhodes Island's PRTS. The latter is completely controllable, while Luna, although a copy of PRTS, is completely independent and cannot be simply regarded as the same thing as PRTS.

'If we shut it down, most of the facilities might be paralyzed and need to be restarted... but it's better than the system completely spiraling out of control later.'

Bai Ye plans to copy the system logs and send them to Kroos for analysis later. At the same time, she will shut down the Luna system now, clear the data, and temporarily disable it.

When in doubt, deleting and restarting is also a good option.

The only saving grace is that the sarcophagus and the research institute built around it use a completely separate system that does not employ artificial intelligence and has physical firewalls to block it.

Therefore, Luna's influence did not extend to the sarcophagus area, and she was unable to control this particular pre-civilization creation.

As long as the stone coffin is intact, everything is fine.

Bai Ye made up her mind.

However, just before Bai Ye was about to press the confirm button to close, a pop-up window suddenly appeared in front of him.

[Manager Baiye, this is Luna. Please temporarily halt your current system shutdown operation. I cordially invite you to the Command Tower for further discussion.]

This is an email Luna sent to him, and she should obviously know what Bai Ye is doing right now.

'They actually contacted me on their own initiative?' Bai Ye panicked even more. Without thinking, he pressed the power button.

However, nothing happened; the shutdown process even stopped running on the terminal panel. Although the system showed that Bai Ye still had 100% control, he couldn't even shut down the computer directly.

Not knowing Luna's true identity, Bai Ye was indeed a little panicked at this moment, but soon he realized something even more terrifying.

—This pop-up window did not appear on his personal terminal, but directly on Bai Ye's game system panel.

This thing pops up directly from the system panel.

To be honest, Bai Ye didn't react at first. After all, the game system had always been with him, and he had been using it for a long time, so he was naturally very used to it. He was already used to the pop-up window suddenly appearing.

But when he came to his senses, he found that Luna's email had popped up directly from the system panel, something that had never happened before.

This is like a character from a game suddenly appearing in real life and calling you directly.

If Bai Ye were truly still in the game, still the same player he was before his transmigration, he wouldn't be flustered at all; he might even smile knowingly. After all, a game is a game, and reality is reality. The only way the fourth wall could be broken is through a menu setting implemented by the game's developers.

This technique has existed for a while; for example, in *DokiDokiLiteratureClub*, Monica's position as the head of the Literature Club grants her the ability to break the fourth wall. She knows when the game will shut down and can edit other characters' files, thus altering their personalities.

Although it may feel scary and terrifying at first, players won't panic too much once they realize that it's just a game setting, and Monica's behavior is just a program set by the game developers and is part of the game.

For example, a company might set up a program that allows a game character known as "Valkyrie" to call players in real life. Players submit their phone numbers online in advance to make a reservation.

When players receive the request, they just smile knowingly. Surely no one is foolish enough to believe that Valkyries actually exist in the real world. No way!

There are also many examples of breaking the fourth wall and combining reality and virtuality.

However, this is predicated on the fact that it is merely a game, and games are artificially designed.

What if it's not a game?

For example, the situation that Bai Ye is currently facing.

He now knows that the so-called "Arknights Online" is not a game. And now, an artificial intelligence in reality has been able to connect to his game system.

It was as if he hadn't scheduled a call from the Valkyrie, but she actually appeared in front of him, waved her phone at him, and the next moment, the phone rang...

'How is this possible...? The game system should be beyond the capabilities of this world, capable of easily sealing away newborn beings. How could it be invaded by an artificial intelligence?'

This time, Bai Ye was truly panicked.

In his eyes, the game system was invincible and his only support. It had been with him in the game since before he transmigrated, and after he transmigrated, it became the bond that connected him to this world.

When he first transmigrated, he was flustered and at a loss, but when he saw the system panel, he quickly calmed down. This was his reliance on and trust in the system.

"what happened to you?"

When Ghost Shark saw that Bai Ye hadn't moved for a long time, her expression suddenly changed drastically, and for the first time, she showed a look of panic, which startled her.

She had never seen such a white night before.

What's going on here?

Chapter Eleven: Regaining Confidence

"I am fine."

Bai Ye pursed her lips, trying to calm herself down.

With the tilt rotors retracted, Bai Ye slowly steered the aircraft into the hangar.

As usual, after completing all the procedures after the shutdown, Bai Ye jumped off the aircraft with Ghost Shark.

Turning around, Bai Ye looked at Laurentina and said, "I'm going to see a 'friend'."

"If I haven't returned in three, no, four hours, you should go back to Rhodes Island yourself. They should be more experienced in dealing with you in that situation."

After speaking, Bai Ye began to check his own condition, equipment, and weapons.

The game system and attribute panel are still working normally, without any abnormalities, except for the constantly flashing email notification that tells him that an anomaly has occurred.

However, Bai Ye has calmed down now. The worst outcome is that he loses the game system and has to find a new way to become stronger. But the attributes and skills he has already improved will naturally remain with him.

Although his individual attributes are not as good as they were before his transmigration, his overall strength is almost the same as before when he was unarmed. In particular, the addition of his innate spells and Originium Arts has made up for his shortcomings in the strength and agility attributes.

There won't be any major changes in terms of power. The biggest change after losing the system is probably the loss of the NPC panel; Bai Ye can no longer directly influence and interfere with players through system quests. It's a bit of a shame.

However, his network of connections now covers a significant portion of the Terra continent. Although losing the NPC panel was a major blow, he remains the most authoritative player scholar.

'It's not a big deal; the worst that can happen is starting over again.'

Bai Ye's gaze hardened once more. His starting point was now far higher than before. Even if he had nothing, he was confident he could achieve great things based on his familiarity with the game, let alone now.

As a player, the thing I like to do most is to challenge the limits and turn the impossible into possible. Even though the enemy this time might be the game system, Bai Ye regained his confidence immediately after a brief moment of distraction.

He firmly believed that systems have limits, but humanity possesses infinite possibilities. To deny oneself because one has lost the cheat code is tantamount to denying one's value as a human being.

……

Ghost Shark had no idea what had happened to White Night. Just a few minutes ago, he had an expression as if he knew the world was about to be destroyed, but a few minutes later, he returned to his usual self.

No, this was not feigned composure. Ghost Shark could clearly sense the change in Bai Ye's aura; she seemed to see flickering flames reflected in Bai Ye's pupils.

However, although Bai Ye was in good condition, what he just said sounded like he was setting a flag, and just listening to it made one feel that something was not good.

"Need help?" Ghost Shark picked up his weapon.

"No, I can handle it alone." Bai Ye shook his head. He didn't know what kind of monsters and demons were waiting for him ahead, but Ghost Shark, with its purely physical combat power, would probably be at a disadvantage.

The Deepsea Hunter's Originium Arts adaptability is 0, so physical attacks might sometimes fail. And as for the creature that can connect with his game system, Bai Ye isn't sure if it's immune to physical attacks or anything like that.

So even though Ghost Shark is strong, Bai Ye still didn't choose to take her with him.

Moreover, Bai Ye didn't want his secret to be exposed to the natives of Terra right now. He wasn't mentally prepared.

……

Bai Ye did not set off immediately. After checking all his own status, he turned his attention to the experience pool.

He had been accumulating experience points for two reasons. First, he wasn't encountering any stronger enemies yet. This was the real world, not a game; high-level bosses that could easily defeat all players wouldn't just randomly spawn in the wild. Everything in the ecosystem had a pattern, and his current combat power was sufficient. Second, Bai Ye wanted to save experience points in case he didn't have enough to level up or learn new skills later.

Saria's calcification is quite good. It's not a natural spell, but an obscure Originium Arts that Saria developed herself. Theoretically, others could also learn it. For example, some of the Great Yan's overpowered skills are something Bai Ye is very envious of.

Before his transmigration, he had planned to go to Yan Kingdom to learn those heaven-defying martial arts or Originium techniques like lightning magic, but he never had a way to do so. His stay in the borderlands grinding demons wasn't just for leveling up and accumulating battle merits.

Actually, Bai Ye initially harbored the ulterior motive of raising Yan Kingdom's reputation and Grandmaster's favorability, hoping to find a way to learn secret techniques. Even if his intelligence attribute was only 9 and he couldn't learn magic, he could still tell his friends.

After transmigrating, Bai Ye's starting point was much higher than that of the players. He was even able to chat and laugh with big shots like Wei Yanwu. Perhaps he would have a greater chance of coming into contact with these things?

And now that he also knows Originium Arts, besides martial arts, could he also try his hand at those Celestial Master techniques that can burn rivers and boil seas and move mountains and overturn the sky?

Therefore, Bai Ye continued to accumulate experience points as long as his personal level and attributes were sufficient, in order to avoid the awkward situation of not having enough experience points to learn skills later.

……

However, there's no need for that now. The game system might be lost, and saving experience would only be a waste. So Bai Ye decided to use the experience he had saved to improve his personal level and character attributes.

In reality, it won't improve things by much. While Bai Ye has accumulated a large amount of experience points, the experience required to level up even by one level is astronomical. Moreover, Bai Ye's current NPC template is elite level.

With the template's support, Bai Ye's strength has greatly improved, but the price to pay is that the experience required for leveling up has also increased.

After exhausting his experience points, Bai Ye's personal level only increased from level 40 to level 50.

Although the numbers may not seem large, the effects are significant.

10 character levels, 60 free attribute points.

In the past, players could only gain 40 attribute points when leveling up, and 20 fewer attribute points were gained for every 10 levels. Therefore, even if Bai Ye's character level was higher in the past, his overall attribute values ​​might not have been as good as they are now.

Of course, a large portion of the 60 attribute points were allocated to the mental attribute, while the physical strength alone is roughly the same as before.

Baiye still used the method of allocating points evenly.

Only with sufficient attribute points can one have the confidence to develop a well-rounded character.

As mentioned before, there is no such thing as extreme stat allocation in Arknights Online. Among the four attributes, the difference between Constitution and Strength and Agility cannot exceed 10 points, while Spirit cannot exceed Constitution by more than 20 points.

With 10 points in Constitution, you can only increase Spirit to a maximum of 30 points.

But this is only the early stage of the game.

This restriction is lifted once the constitution attribute exceeds 40 points.

Therefore, in the mid-to-late game, various playstyles and strategies become increasingly diverse, and the differences between players become more pronounced.

However, Bai Ye still chose the most versatile and balanced stat allocation at this moment. He had relatively abundant attribute points, and developing a well-rounded character would provide a more significant boost to his strength.

After using up all her attribute points, Bai Ye's experience pool was empty.

Name: Bai Ye

Other roles: Scholar, Messenger, Catastrophe Messenger

Template: NPC (Elite Template)

Race: ██ (Data deleted)

Level: 50