"If Arale had a physical body, she'd be an instant idol in the Imperium. Seriously, who doesn't love a cute loli angel?" Daniel mused, nodding with satisfaction at the projection.
"Master," Arale's voice brought Daniel's wandering thoughts back to reality.
"Arale, what can you do at this stage?"
Arale held up her fingers and began to count. "I can absorb knowledge, optimize designs, improve computing models, control unmanned intelligent machines, conduct reverse engineering research and development, and much more."
"If I have enough materials, I can upgrade the Imperial Glory into an even more powerful warship."
"And Arale is highly bound to her Master, able to share abilities and strength. I can handle many tasks, you just give me the word."
Daniel stroked his chin. This was definitely a game-changer. The reverse engineering capability alone was off the charts. The Imperium is sitting on countless high-tech relics. If they could be reverse-engineered and mass-produced...
The sky's the limit for unifying the galaxy and restoring humanity's former glory. Forget the long game—if they could churn out seven or eight hundred ships as powerful as the Blackstone Fortress or the Phalanx, who in the entire galaxy would dare to give me lip?
Every race that's currently talking trash and clamoring for war would be singing folk songs and holding hands. The Silent King and has-beens like Abaddon would be old news.
"Arale, starting today, you'll be responsible for guiding the Saints, issuing their missions, and calculating their rewards. The player-facing systems—the Contribution Point, Reputation, and Honor systems—are all yours to manage."
"For scientific research, your first priority is to optimize the Tomorrow-series exoskeleton power armor. My requirement is that it needs to be cost-effective and rugged—suitable for mass deployment to ordinary soldiers."
The current Imperial Guard is so poorly equipped that many wars are won only by throwing bodies at the problem. They've been roasted by the Tau for being "space barbarians."
Daniel planned to start small with Planet Atomal. A few tweaks here and there, and humanity could reclaim technology and rationality.
When hundreds of millions of armored soldiers and a magnificent Colossus fleet are sent to the Far East battlefield, he hoped the Tau still had the nerve to maintain their arrogant attitude.
"The computing power model for the Tomorrow series has been established, and optimization is in progress. This will take 32 hours and 21 minutes."
"I have taken over the Contribution Point, Reputation, and Honor systems, and have already optimized player-related tasks."
Daniel showed a satisfied look. "That's the ticket. Go ahead and do your work. I'll give you a shout when I need anything else."
"Okay, Master."
Daniel turned on the projection and switched to the chat group interface. The group chat was buzzing, hitting 99+ messages a minute.
Just then, Arale reappeared next to Daniel. "Master, would you like me to create an official game website for you? And also handle routine maintenance?"
"You can see the chat group?" Daniel looked at Arale, slightly surprised.
Arale explained, "Arale and the Master are highly bound, sharing life, soul, and all abilities. As long as you allow me to connect, Arale can connect with the outside world."
Daniel agreed. "Okay, let's create an official website. Using just the chat group is walking on thin ice; it could crash any minute."
"Okay, Master. Just a few minutes." Arale nodded obediently.
A few minutes later, an official website interface appeared in the projection.
"All set, Master."
The interface was simple but included all the basic functions. It also had a large Reservation option.
Daniel checked it and was slightly dissatisfied. "The page is too bare bones. Put the data on the Imperial Glory and Planet Atomal in there. Don't leave it so empty."
"Got it."
Arale updated the information and functions according to Daniel's ideas, allowing new visitors to immediately grasp the current game content.
After confirming that everything looked good, Daniel opened the group chat interface.
The social slave who was captured by the emperor and used as a slave: "@Everyone, the game's official website is officially online. Future updates, announcements, and expansion packs will be posted there."
"The official website has also opened reservations. Once slots open up, we'll randomly select candidates from the sign-up list for professional testing. Strategy guides and bug reports can be submitted directly to the official website and will be reviewed by a dedicated person."
"We've also opened a forum where everyone can post strategy guides, tutorials, and experiences. Featured posts will earn rewards. We've also enabled the recording function. Players can upload their recorded videos to the Imperial Glory database. If they're assessed as high quality, they'll be sent to the players."
After posting this, Daniel disappeared again.
"Holy cow, they finally launched an official website!"
"It's clear this dev is so laser-focused on the game that they don't have a head for business."
"The game has been in beta for over two weeks, and the official website is only now going live? I'm dying!"
Robert, looking at the chat, immediately clicked on the official website. It was pretty bare bones. The database just contained introductory information about the Imperial Glory and Planet Atomal; the rest was blank.
"This company is leaving money on the table!" Robert complained.
He clicked the reservation option. When he saw the prompt that his reservation was successful, and that the current number of reservations stood at 5,500, his heart sank.
There were only 600 slots opening up this time, but thousands of people had signed up. If the selection was random, the probability was just a few percentage points. "This is a long shot," he thought. When will I finally get to serve the Emperor?
In a university dorm room in the real world, George had just gotten back from class and opened the chat group. He saw the news about the official website update, along with updated player guides, photos, and uploaded videos.
He immediately lit up. "That's enough material. I can make another video in my 'Slave to the Emperor' series."
His blogger account had made several Warhammer OL videos. They blew up instantly, went viral, and his subscriber count skyrocketed. He even received a reward from the Guide in the game for making a significant contribution to the Emperor.
The Guide promised him that once he settled in, he would be given a position as a recruiting officer, specifically responsible for recruiting soldiers for the Emperor and collecting currency.
"I gotta keep my nose to the grindstone," George thought. He knew how hard it was to secure a position in the game. So far, only a handful of players had managed it, usually due to their professional skills or significant in-game contributions.
Having a position would be a huge boost for future development. In a completely real game world, if you want to advance, you have to start at the bottom. Today he's recruiting; tomorrow he could be commanding an army.
Aboard the Imperial Glory, Daniel closed the chat group and the official website interface, leaving the operation to Arale.
At that moment, a golden light curtain materialized.
Special Mission: Resurrect Roboute Guilliman
Reward: A generous amount of EXP points, a Legendary Weapon
Special Mission: Resurrect Sanguinius
Reward: A generous amount of EXP points, a Legendary Power Armor
Special Mission: Finding the Lost Jaghatai
Reward: A generous amount of EXP points, a God-Level Weapon
Daniel thought he was seeing things, so he rubbed his eyes and looked again. The golden light curtain was still floating right in front of him.
"Is the Emperor hosting the variety show 'Where Are My Sons?'" Daniel muttered. "Why are all the new Special Missions about finding my sons? And why does it feel like the workload is getting out of hand?!"
He complained silently. The Emperor sure knows how to pile on the work. In the beginning, his sole task was just to lure the players in to do the heavy lifting. After hitting Level 10, the Emperor launched a bunch of limited-time missions. Now, he's got a special mission to retrieve the original Primarchs.
It's true that no good deed goes unpunished.
At this rate, the level requirements must be increasing exponentially. "Next thing I know, I'll be asked to tackle the Eye of Terror and the Maelstrom!"
The new Machine Spirit Arale is going to handle all the player systems, which is a big relief! What Primarch do you think Daniel should prioritize resurrecting first—Bobby, Dracula, or Genghis?