Padak, Can You Really Say No After Eating This?
*Grooo... grooo...* With Hero and BigFella out on their stroll, I was savoring the quiet bunker, lulled by Sora's gentle snoring. Those rascals had bolted out the pet door I'd installed for them and hadn't come back yet. I knew they had solid combat prowess, so no worries there. Besides, it wasn't like I had the bandwidth to fuss over them right now.
A true gallery troll had finally reared its ugly head—one worthy of the Ark Gallery. The ghoul-and-skeleton deep-kiss meme I'd teased uploading ages ago was setting the place on fire.
Just disrec and dip
"Eugh, fucking gross..." Honestly, the meme's shock value was subpar. After surviving modern tactical nukes, this was just cute. The real issue? Those maggots crawling on the ghoul. I wasn't immune to corpses either. Those were once people, or something like it.
"Gotta ban this one, right?"
> Finally, the first ban. I was worried you'd forgotten the feature.
"Haven't forgotten... but they've all been too weak to warrant a ban so far."
Were people here just too pure? The trolls' posts and memes lacked punch—lame descriptions, bad angles. Show 'em real ones, and the whole gallery might collapse.
> You must have some resistance. It was tough for me.
Sora struggling? Looked like I needed to lower the ban bar big time. I gifted my first historic troll a 3-day ban.
'Anon' has been banned for 3 days.
Reprimanded a malicious user. 5P reward issued.
...Huh? Bans give points?
"Uh, Sora? Got a reward for the ban."
> Rewards scale with the mana vented from the malicious intent.
"Wait, so I've been suffering without this till now?"
> ...Banning non-malicious users incurs penalties too. You did well overall.
Sora hesitated, then sugarcoated it. Guess I'd suffered pointlessly. My tactical nuke tolerance was biting me now. Since Sora found it tough, time to accelerate the Padak forced conscription plan.
Just found a tactical nuke that dirtied my eyes. Past trolls were too lame to bother with, but this one's leveled up the game.
Plus, with all the new features, solo modding's getting burdensome.
So, time for Padaks.
Plan: One per race, subject to change.
Rewards: Whatever I feel like.
Shift: 24/7.
Applicants: Reply "Hand!"
No applicants? I'll pick who I want.
That's it.
"Posted like that... and registered." With this, I'd fish for my ideal candidates easily.
> Rain, a question.
Sora's rare query. Probably about the notice.
"Haha, notice is weird, huh?"
> Yes. Feels like you're discouraging applicants.
Spot on. No plans to pick from applicants anyway. Greed-driven ones slack off. Best to cap loyal gallery regs.
"Exactly. Applicants will mostly be trash. I already have candidates in mind."
> Then why post the notice?
"Just building pretext. 'Posted notice, no good applicants, so forced appointment.' That vibe?"
Pure buildup for conscription. If a gem applies, great.
> I see. Effective indeed.
Sora agreed. Once I briefed the Padaks on ban criteria, her suffering ends.
"Woof! Woof!"
My good boys were back. Per Sora's training, they greeted, then headed to the bathroom to wash paws. Genius dogs? Their smarts irked me now.
"Amazing. Hard to believe they're the same pups from days ago."
> Not hard. They're smart kids.
Sora didn't mind their cleverness. Just me then. Time passed glaring at the rascals; comments probably piled up. Checked the notice.
...
That's it.
Everyone clocked the danger—no gonik replies. But our WorldTreeGuardian didn't care, posting away. Perfect Padak material. I wiped drool. Excluding her, reactions as expected. Wait till night, then conscript.
Thus, I'll forcibly conscript fitting gallery users at my discretion.
Refusals accepted... but whether I accept them is my call.
Suspicious types: Prep your excuses.
That's it.
Padak appointment prep done. They'll freak on appointment, so invite to chat, bribe with rewards first. If they still refuse post-bribe? Real busy folks.
I invited my handpicked Padak candidates to chat.
Sharp. I shipped the pre-carted pizzas. Refuse after this? Unbribeable.
"Can they say no after this bribe? I don't think so."
> Agreed, Rain. That food is exquisite.
Sora concurred. We'd shared it for dinner; she loved it. Chicken took 40 mins—pizza longer? Left a message not to interrupt meals, then waited leisurely.
[Moderator: Ping chat when done eating ]