Faction Sentiment

Unfortunately, more than half a year of pirate tutorial grinding, combined with the sudden simultaneous debut of three brand-new factions, had produced a thoroughly unpleasant side effect.

There were simply too many players who, despite having spent a realistic half-year doing nothing but the tutorial, had somehow developed a pathological habit of shunning actual newbies. Ask a question in chat, and all you got back was mockery and scorn.

Sob. How tragic.

But it seemed the world was not composed entirely of sad things. Griyanaar, who had been watching me scour every possible avenue in search of a way to make her stronger, finally spoke up.

"My, my, Commander. Are you by any chance doing all this to make me stronger?"

"…You can see that for yourself, so why ask?"

"How truly touching. To think you'd work this hard even for someone like me."

Whether she was being sarcastic or sincere was anyone's guess. Griyanaar shook her head at me, then rested a half-gloved hand on my shoulder and opened her mouth again.

"But you know… if you want to make me stronger and put me to work at the same time, all you really need to do is build me a proper research laboratory, no?"

"…Ah."

"Looks like our dear Commander forgot quite a few things while he was away."

Taking Griyanaar's advice at face value, I immediately opened the base construction window.

And then I saw the resource costs — the ones everyone said exploded into "soul-crushing" territory starting at Tier 5. I quietly closed the construction window and shot Griyanaar a look of pure, innocent lamb-and-fawn pathos.

"Commander? I already know you have more than enough resources for this."

"…"

"Why not just build it? Then you can freely enjoy that body and power of mine you've been so desperately craving, no?"

"Do you really have to take everything just to feel satisfied?"

"My, my. The way you put that, it almost sounds like I'm some wicked witch out to plunder every last scrap of the Commander's precious resources…"

"Ugh."

"Come on, cheer up, Commander. Think of it as sacrificing a little now to reclaim your future happiness ♡"

As if my hesitation were utterly ridiculous, she sidled up beside me while I was still agonizing over the decision.

"And if possible… since you're planning to join hands with the Space Kaiju anyway, do make it the Biology Research Lab… ♡"

She giggled like a little devil and blew a soft puff of air against my ear.

A short while later—

"Commander, the mineral resources remaining at ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the base have dropped below ten thousand."

"I… have purchased something. Namely, a future in which I will suffer agonizing humiliation at Griyanaar's hands…"

"…"

Griyanaar's wickedly clever and lethal temptation — her recruitment tactics, if you could call them that — had flowed as smoothly as water and guided me straight into ordering the lab's construction. The only minor hiccup was Jessica, who managed the base's resources, coming running over in a mild panic.

At any rate, once I'd given the order to build the Biology Research Lab, I decided to stash Griyanaar in the existing Advanced Research Lab for the duration of construction, so she could at least contribute a little to leveling and base development in the meantime.

She did complain that the facilities there were a bit shabby, of course.

"Oh? Then would you rather go play in the regular research lab instead?"

"Now that I think about it… this place isn't so bad after all, Commander."

Realistically, there was no better alternative available. Griyanaar grumbled, but she vanished into the lab all the same, and proceeded to enjoy a thoroughly cheerful and exciting research lifestyle.

With every superhuman under my command now thrown into leveling work, I figured it was about time to do a little gallery browsing and pick up some fresh intel. I opened the community window.

And the moment I stepped into the gallery, what greeted me was…

A completely out-of-nowhere gale of inter-faction hatred had swept through the board. Players like me, who had just gotten up and finished their daily quests, could only stare in blank confusion.

Of course, our friendly neighborhood veteran eventually wandered over, explained the whole mess, and left.

Watching the community like that left me with a thoroughly complicated feeling.

Faction Sentiment (2)

And whether I felt complicated about it or not, the gallery — already thoroughly steeped in regional… no, faction sentiment — had become a blazing chaos of pure, unfiltered pandemonium.