Nothing is more mesmerizing than the vast darkness of the boundless sea of stars, and nothing can compare to the secrets hidden within that endless galaxy. Humanity dwells on a small island called Ignorance in the midst of a dark ocean. This ocean is vast beyond measure and filled with infinite secrets—but we were never meant to sail too far or probe too deeply.
For when the day comes that we piece together all fragmented strands of knowledge, the true world revealed before us—and humanity's place within it—will either drive us mad, or force us to flee from that terrible light into the peace of a new dark age.
So long as you calmly accept your sins and cross the black abyss, what awaits you shall be eternal wonder and glory.
————— Special Crossover Mission [The Unspeakable Challenge] has begun. All players are welcome to participate.
Participate my ass!!!
Staring at the promotional text in the crossover section, Duanmu Huai's hair stood on end. If he had been holding a tablet, he would've thrown it straight out the window!
Of course he had played this crossover mission in the game before.
And honestly, the rewards were extremely good.
The best reward among them was the Reality Stabilization Anchor.
For players, that thing was practically a divine artifact for countering Chaos Gods!
Whenever a Chaos God appeared, the Warp's erosion of reality would follow, twisting and distorting the world. The Reality Stabilization Anchor could halt that erosion, forcibly stabilizing reality and preventing it from slipping into the Warp.
To be honest, if he'd had this thing back on the rookie planet, Duanmu Huai could've just tossed one beside each portal and sealed off the Warp passages completely.
But…
Think about it the other way around.
If the reward was something as absurdly powerful as a Reality Stabilization Anchor, how easy could the mission possibly be?
The difficulty was off the charts!
The content of [The Unspeakable Challenge] wasn't complicated. In short, players entered a world, assumed an identity, and solved various incidents within it—uncovering the truth behind them and resolving the source.
Put bluntly, it was basically making players act as detectives. Murder cases, missing persons, bizarre supernatural events…
If that were all, it wouldn't be so bad.
The problem was that behind every single incident lurked certain unspeakable, indescribable Great Existences dwelling in the darkest, deepest corners of the world!
Every time players encountered these Great Existences, any emotional fluctuation would cause them to lose [SAN] points. The more intense the emotional reaction, the more [SAN] they lost. If [SAN] dropped to zero—
[GAME OVER].
Start again.
Frankly, this was extremely unfriendly to players.
This wasn't like ordinary missions where you could just shoot everything and be done with it. Many players complained that it felt like being teleported from an FPS battlefield straight into a horror film like The Ring. Jump scares everywhere.
Sure, encountering Chaos Gods in the main storyline could be frightening too—but the main story didn't have a [SAN] system. You could be scared and still keep playing.
This crossover mission, however, had a strict [SAN] limit.
And it had another disgusting feature:
When a player's [SAN] dropped too low, the world itself would begin to change in their perception.
A full-[SAN] player saw a normal world.
A low-[SAN] player might see the ground covered in flesh, streetlights transformed into white ribs, the bulbs replaced with writhing eyeballs…
Drop further, and even NPCs would no longer appear human—instead resembling masses of wriggling worms fused together…
Ugh.
Just describing it was nauseating.
For easily frightened players, this mission became a vicious cycle:
Get scared → lose [SAN] → world starts distorting → become even more frightened → lose more [SAN] → world distorts further → [SAN] hits zero → [GAME OVER].
For many players, this mission was extremely difficult—not because of monster stats or puzzle complexity, but because the [SAN] system ignored character attributes and directly measured player emotions.
The stronger the emotional fluctuation, the faster [SAN] drained.
And emotions couldn't be faked.
Thus, the ones who ultimately cleared it were either cold-hearted as iron—or completely thick-skinned and carefree. Many players tried and failed.
The lower their [SAN], the more afraid they were of hitting [GAME OVER]. The more cautious they became, the easier they were to scare.
Ironically, the carefree idiots cleared it more easily.
Though after seeing them post-clearance, it was hard to tell whether they went insane because of the mission—or had already been insane beforehand.
Incidentally, when the event first launched, too many players were scared off by the [SAN] system. After massive complaints, the developers released a small patch:
They added a potion called Rationality Stabilizer to the shop. Drinking it restored a certain amount of [SAN].
However, using it reduced your final mission rating.
The more potions you used, the lower your rating.
And of course—
It cost money.
That company was greedy as hell…
But obviously, he wasn't going to get that luxury now.
He opened the system shop and confirmed there were no Rationality Stabilizers.
He sighed.
Next question—
Who to bring?
In the game, some players brought NPC companions into this mission world.
It was a terrible mistake.
At first, many thought: division of labor! I handle combat, NPC handles investigation!
Great idea, right?
Wrong.
NPC [SAN] plummeted to zero.
When they exited the mission world, those NPCs were either insane or permanently crippled.
Players were dumbfounded.
They had painstakingly cultivated those companions—
And now they were lunatics?
This was the second reason the devs added Rationality Stabilizers.
For those unwilling to spend money to heal their NPCs?
If you won't even spend money, how dare you say you love her?
Yet another proof that the company was shamelessly money-hungry.
But what truly frightened Duanmu Huai wasn't that.
In the game, crossover missions were essentially previews—"outposts"—for enemies players would face later in the main storyline.
In other words—
If this mission appeared here—
Did that mean I'm about to face some unspeakable horrors for real?!
Wait…
Suddenly, he recalled when he had slain the Elden Beast in the Lands Between. Its form had reminded him of certain Great Existences from the infinite cosmos…
So I guessed right back then?
Damn it… that's not good news at all.
Unhappy or not, the mission had to be done.
Not taking a Reality Stabilization Anchor would be idiotic!
Now the real problem—
Who to bring?
He began analyzing.
High-intelligence types were out. Higher intelligence meant higher inspiration—making them more susceptible to perceiving unspeakable truths.
So Anne, Guleya, and Philine were excluded.
Ranni and Olgis were also out. According to player records, machines were particularly vulnerable in that world. Though Ranni and Olgis weren't robots, they were artificial beings. Too risky.
So ideally—
Someone naturally optimistic, thick-skinned, always cheerful, mentally resilient…
Do I even have anyone like that around me?
Anne, Guleya, Lumiel… too smart.
Ranni, Olgis… artificial.
Bambi, Kura, Odell, Shirley, Eclair, Kanami… too weak.
Satra, Sezer, Howzer, Hornet… busy rebuilding demon territories.
That left…
Suzune and Lorena.
Hmm.
That might actually work.
Lorena, as a devout believer, had firm faith.
Suzune was genuinely carefree and giggly all the time.
Their abilities were useful too—Lorena's iron fists and healing, Suzune's scouting and vigilance.
Of course, it depended on them.
So Duanmu Huai found Lorena and Suzune and explained the situation.
"Suzune wants to go! Sounds super fun, meow~ o(=∩ω∩=)m"
As expected, Suzune excitedly raised her hand first.
Lorena thought for a moment, then nodded resolutely.
"I'm willing as well, my lord knight. I believe this may be a test of my faith. I will not flee from it! For me, this too is a form of training!"
"Alright then."
Since Lorena had said so, Duanmu Huai didn't object.
"Make preparations. We're setting off!"
(End of Chapter)