Spica66

This was the first time I released an extra chapter, so I put a note on the top. In case that readers prefer a genuine first-person experience, you can skip extra chapters.

After graduating with a master's degree in psychology, Thomas was transferred to the Bangkok branch to oversee players' behavior.

During 3 years working as head of the department, he had observed the players watching them grew stronger or discovered new mechanics. At first, he was fascinated. But, everything became stale recently. Almost every player chose to follow existing paths that rankers paved, as what gamer called meta slave. Without anything new, Thomas's work had become a mundane job.

While the middle-aged man was monitoring data on the screen, a young man had rushed in hurry.

"Chief! You... huff huff... You might not believe what I found."

"Damn it, Vin... How many times have I told you to knock before entering?" Thomas grunted. "Did someone get a legendary item again?"

"Boss, if it were about rare items, I wouldn't bother you," Vin said before placing a tablet on the table. "It's a black player."

The black player was the nickname for a player who used a black ID card.

The number of cards was limited. This is special game ID provided Gaia Grand Quest's illegal contents where it was often used as an upper-class playground. With sex, drugs, and other illegal content, players were able to enjoy full synchronization without restrictions. 

However, that freedom came with risks. Without safety, death from unbearable pain and overstimulation could be problematic for the company's reputation. That was why the company had to put opium inside the capsule to decrease the synchronization rate in case of an emergency. Even if a player died, Gaia Corp didn't have to take responsibility due to the end-user agreement.

"Did they die because of in-game overdose? These people..." Thomas sighed. He didn't show a slight concern about what his junior wanted to present.

"Don't be quick, boss— You have to see this." Vin pushed the tablet towards the middle-aged man.

As Thomas took a look at the tablet, both his eyes became wide open while he kept swiping the screen back and forth.

"Total in-game playtime is 9 days. She has been cultivating for 5 days— She was attempting to do reverse circulation more than 500 permutations. The total death from internal bleeding is 6."

"Un... unbelievable. It gave me goosebumps." Thomas shuttered with a smirk.

"Amazing, right? After learning simultaneous flow, she keeps adjusting the ratio to the right amount and finds qi paths that avoid both flow clashing. But to think that she tried to go through the possible with cultivation..."

“Brute-force, haha... What a crazy bitch. Does she want to become a drug addict?”

Brute-force in terms of programming and problem solving referred to achieving through a large amount of attempt instead of focusing on efficiency. Without knowledge, practicing special power like qi was risky, Not just qi, but controlling power internally. A single mistake could potentially kill the player. To go through all combinations meant this user accepted the risk without a second thought.

"There's a fine line between genius and insanity."

"Oscar Levant... Looks like the marketing team will have something to be hyped soon.— Do we know her? It's SC Vajra who won the black cards auction recently."

There was a trend of e-sport teams using black cards recently with a belief that life-threatening pain would increase the player's senses. Of course, SC Vajra, one of the best e-sport teams in Thailand didn't miss the chance to try out this new way of training.

"But she's not on their substitutes. And she's not part or related to chaebols. There's a possibility that Vajra is secretly raising a new player."

"Who knows— Hey, Vin. Want to take a bet?"

"What bet?"

"How many months before she appears on the news? The winner gets 2 epic items from the loser."

"1 year. No matter how amazing they are, to gain recognition out of half a billion users isn't easy." Vin had his point. Similar to other entertainment industries, GGQ has over 500 million active players. For one to stand out from the rest, it was similar to shouting in a concert.

"Too long. I think it's 8 months."

"Haha! Boss, you should prepare to say goodbye to your sword." Vin put a smug on his face.

"I'm curious when 50 item slots are gone."

They kept teasing each other with excitement. They didn't know that the approaching storm would come sooner than they thought.