Global Game: Developing a Knight Clan

Chapter 457 - 76: The Shadow World Situation, The Black Prison Race’s Livestock Farm (Part 2)

So, under normal circumstances.

In a world like this one, before the Black Prison Race decides to harvest the entire world.

The surface world typically only allows clans of the Black Prison Race in their larval stage to operate. They survive by parasitizing hosts, constantly migrating to grow.

As for the Entry Tier Black Prison Race members?

Although they don’t seem to be allowed on the surface during normal times.

But whenever wars of varying scales break out on the borders of the various Kingdoms, or even between certain factions...

this restriction is lifted!

Because battlefields are where negative energy is most concentrated.

When soldiers die, their unwillingness, resentment, terror, fear, and anger all intertwine. This can generate an amount of negative energy that far exceeds the total a normal human could ever produce in peacetime.

Moreover, on the battlefield, the souls of the human dead mix with this negative emotional energy, often raising its power level by more than a single grade.

Thus, in this world, whenever a war occurs...

it’s certain to be the start of a gluttonous feast for the Black Prison Race.

Therefore, once the Human Race of this world goes to war, Entry Tier members of the Black Prison Race—be they Low Tier, Middle Tier, or even High Tier—

even if they don’t directly attack the ordinary humans on the battlefield, can simply use large-scale Emotion Guidance and intervention to surely turn the battlefield into the most terrifying, bloody Hell.

So, when it came to war, even for Players like Yue Xin, and despite the high morale they displayed at their previous gathering...

everyone knew the truth.

Even if they acted like mere Apprentice Knights on the battlefield, keeping their Power within the bounds of ordinary people...

if they stood out too much, they would inevitably attract the attention of the High Tier Black Prison Race.

The Shadow World isn’t small; after all, it’s an entire planet.

In this world, there are two known continents separated by an ocean.

And as for Kingdoms, Empires, and the like, not even counting the Duchies, their total number exceeds one hundred.

One can only imagine how frequent and severe the wars are in such a world, especially with the Black Prison Race pulling strings in the shadows.

Take the one million Players who have currently entered this world.

According to the compiled information, while there haven’t been any large-scale, nation-destroying wars on the two continents, there have been plenty of medium- and small-scale conflicts.

As a result, a considerable number of Players have fallen during this time.

In total, more than thirty percent have already perished.

These Players were either Tierless or Low Tier when they were caught on the battlefield and subsequently fell.

After all, while Low Tier Power is stronger than that of an ordinary person, it has its limits and can be exhausted.

And since Players don’t dare unleash their full strength under the watchful eyes of the Black Prison Race, they can only die filled with regret.

Of course, some Players have tried to unleash their Extraordinary Power right under the noses of Entry Tier Black Prison Race members.

But in the end, without a doubt, once they revealed their Extraordinary Power, such Players were quickly eliminated by the Entry Tier Black Prison Race.

However, even if the Black Prison Race kills a Player, they can’t obtain any information.

After all, a Player’s soul is "encrypted" by the True Game.

Even if they are captured alive, the True Game has a way to force a Player offline, treating it as a game over.

Therefore, in this world that’s basically a livestock farm for the Black Prison Race, the local members left behind simply don’t have the ability to acquire more information.

Of course, the Black Prison Race aren’t idiots.

For instance, three months ago on the other continent, the Black Prison Race discovered a Player using Extraordinary Power. In response, several Saint Tier members led a large number of Entry Tier members to the surface to conduct a rigorous investigation of every ordinary human within that Kingdom.

This process prevented all Players in the area from logging on.

It even caused their characters’ powers to be sealed, forcing them to go with the flow like ordinary people.

Furthermore, even the local forces these Players had developed under their temporary military ranks had their Power and memories temporarily sealed by the True Game’s immense power.

In short, this incident caused the nearly three thousand Players in that region to complain endlessly on the forums.

By the time they could log on again, two months had already passed in-game.

The Black Prison Race failed to find any anomalies and eventually had to leave. However, the number of Middle-High Tier Black Prison Race members roaming the surface in that region increased significantly.

In any case, the local Players were naturally frustrated by this, as it directly impacted the time and speed of their development.

Therefore, if they wanted to avoid following in those Players’ footsteps...

the Players around Russell City, including Yue Xin, had to be much more careful.

However, the Players in the Russel Region had their own advantages.

Namely, the area around Russell City is a region of mountains and hills.

The population isn’t very dense.

Consequently, any wars that break out in this region definitely can’t compare to those on the plains.

Besides, the Andrews Kingdom and its rival nation don’t just go to war in the Russell City area each year; battles break out in nearly six cities along the border.

This type of warfare has become the norm.

In fact, because these wars break out annually, their scale is actually very small.

They are often just small-scale brawls initiated by the border cities on both sides, with some minor support from nearby cities further back.

And in these brawls, the forces on either side rarely exceed ten thousand.

Often, both sides will just send out a so-called "vanguard army" of the old, weak, sick, and disabled to slaughter each other face-to-face. Afterward, while keeping a wary eye on each other, both sides will slowly withdraw their troops and end the annual war, almost as if just going through the motions.

Of course, this outcome is tacitly accepted by both nations.

But, having done this so many times, both sides still fear a "boy who cried wolf" situation.

Thus, Low Tier espionage activities on both sides of the border are always most frequent right before a war begins.

Ultimately, this is so each side can scout the other Kingdom’s troop movements before the war, ensuring their front lines won’t be broken in a single wave.

Obviously, this kind of thing has happened many times on the continent.

So, all the nations are clearly on guard.

Of course, even with their precautions, the nations sometimes can’t defend against the possibility of sudden intervention from the High Tier Black Prison Race.

After all, mortals cannot see the Black Prison Race.

A High Tier Black Prison Race member only needs to influence an army’s commander to turn a "performance"—one that both sides had tacitly agreed upon—into a real war.

In short, in this world, the lives of mortals are truly worthless.

Whether one lives or dies depends entirely on the mood of the High Tier, or even stronger, members of the Black Prison Race.

However, because this world is something of a livestock farm...

normally, although High Tier Black Prison Race members will occasionally take on human form to "play" in the various nations, or even incite wars between human kingdoms out of interest...

these wars are usually limited in scope.

Until the final harvest, the Black Prison Race generally refrains from inciting large-scale, nation-destroying wars.

But they will ceaselessly provoke small-scale wars.

Just like in the border city of Russell City right now.

Although the border war is a convention born from years of conflict between the two nations...

to ensure this small-scale war persists year after year, providing the local Black Prison Race with its annual supply of nourishment...

so, above Russell City, the same black, smoky cloud that Yue Xin had seen before was now covering the entire city.

In fact, after Yue Xin had previously entered Russell City, he had seen from a distance, right above the City Lord’s Mansion...

a High Tier Black Prison Race member in human form, sitting on a rooftop, bored but watching with great interest the endless stream of ordinary humans in the city below.

To this High Tier Black Prison Race member...

watching humans toil diligently like ants was perhaps one of their few pleasures.

It’s just like how many humans keep ants in an ant farm or raise fish in a tank.

Simply observing the ants and fish as they live and reproduce is enough to bring them a unique sort of pleasure.

However.

As Players...

’...as for who is the ant and who is the keeper, only the future will tell.’

Even if the Shadow World wasn’t as simple as many Players speculated, and might even be the Star Empire’s next great enemy in a war of civilizations...

the Players were still very confident in the existence of the True Game, the Dragon God, and the Star Empire.

Because from an ordinary Player’s perspective...

if this civilization were truly unbeatable, how could the True Game have successfully invaded it and deployed a million Players?

So, all the Players were waiting.

Waiting for their own Power to grow, and waiting for the moment when the True Game, the Dragon God, and the Star Empire deemed it time to begin the war of civilizations.

And before that, the only thing they had to do was to continue accumulating Power in secret.

That was all.