Evolution Online: Building a Kingdom with 100\% drop rate-Chapter 20: Ch-: Undercurrents (1)

Back in the real world, in a spacious luxurious room which seemed to be made of pure gold, ten individuals sat around a round table made of white marble. Each of the men and women seemed to carry an air of authority about them that could intimidate anyone with a single gaze.

There were rows of guards behind them, armed from head to toe with top-notch technology and weapons, as they stood straight.

The round table consisted of the heads from each of the top ten families who controlled the entire world from the shadows—individuals so prominent that even presidents and top company owners had to clear their busy schedules when they wanted to talk to them.

"Everyone should have already guessed the reason for calling this emergency meeting?" one of the men spoke, his eyes sweeping across the other nine individuals. No one said anything, but the temperature of the room seemed to drop even further as everyone tensed, and some had grim looks on their faces.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the power and influence that we—the top ten families—have monopolized for decades and even centuries are in jeopardy because of this... this new game called Evolution Online which was released one week ago," the man said as he rose from his seat, and a projection appeared in front of them.

"I am sure you all have been using your resources to investigate the game. I want to hear all of your opinions," the man said as he waited for them.

Bang

"What’s there to discuss? We must have the government remove the game immediately!" a woman said as she slammed her hand on the table.

"Do you think they haven’t been trying? For some reason, neither the government nor even our top hackers can remove it or even trace the creator behind it—it’s like it popped out of nowhere," said another person in a grim tone.

"Can you believe it? When I heard that this game can turn someone into a superhuman and give strength to humans to allow them to bend steel, if I had not seen it with my own eyes, I would have thought he was pulling my leg and would have had him killed for wasting my time... This game—we need to plan countermeasures quickly."

"Is it really that serious? I was in retreat and disconnected from the world for a few days," asked a woman with a frown.

"Yes. Everyone, as we know that items can be brought out of the game the same way players can get powers from the game, I had a few people run some tests on an armor from the game to see how effective modern weapons are..." the man said as he pressed a button on the remote, and a large screen appeared which started to play a video.

The first video that appeared showed soldiers shooting bullets from machine guns onto the armor, and not a single scratch appeared on it, which made everyone in the room raise an eyebrow in interest.

The second video showed rocket launchers firing hundreds of rockets at the armor, and everyone’s expressions changed when they saw the same result—not a single scratch on the armor.

Then the third video showed multiple cruisers attacking the armor, and only this time did a crack appear on it.

The room fell into pin-drop silence as the only sound of breathing could be heard.

"Is this real? It’s not fake or made by AI?" one of the attendants asked in disbelief.

"No, I wish it was, but everything is real," said the man, and then continued, "He also did another test—how players or Awakeners fare under the might of modern weapons. See this."

Another video started playing, which showed a player nervously looking at a row of tanks and planes all targeting him, and he only had a sword in his hand.

Boom

The planes, tanks, and soldiers all launched attacks on him. When the attacks hit him, he was injured, with blood dripping from his body, but he managed to stand up and counterattack. First he jumped and almost reached the same height as the planes and cleaved through them with his sword, and then attacked the tanks.

After some time, the entire army was obliterated, and the player was left panting heavily with injuries covering his body.

"As you can see, modern weapons are not very effective against the Awakeners, and the losses outweigh the benefits in taking down a player," the man said as he spread his hands.

Seeing this video, their grim expressions turned even darker.

"So, does anyone have any idea how to counter our situation?" the man asked as his eyes swept across the room, but every family head remained silent.

"Your Roshfield family has already conducted these experiments, Ryan. Don’t you have any solution for this?" a woman asked as everyone’s eyes turned toward the man.

"Indeed, I do have a plan," Ryan said with a smile as he turned to look at his guards. "Give them the plan."

The guards then walked toward the family heads and gave them folders, and they started flipping through the documents.

"Guilds? Awakener Academy?" someone mumbled as these two terms appeared in the file.

"As you can see, we have no way of stopping this. It’s better we join the trend than go against it," Ryan paused and then continued. "I have been reading the online discussions and saw that every player is talking about forming guilds in the game, so I decided—why not form them in real life?"

"Everyone, this is a great opportunity for our families to become even stronger. We previously had to act from behind the scenes to form our private armies, and they were weaker than those of many countries. But now, if we allow the formation of guilds, we can recruit Awakeners publicly."

"Not only that—if we fund an Awakener Academy and provide the best benefits, we can attract talented Awakeners, recruit them into our guilds, and monopolize them."

Ryan said with a smile as he could see the gears turning in their heads. As expected, when they heard the vague idea from his mouth, their eyes gleamed with greed and hunger.

"Agreed."

"The Scarlet Family agrees."

"My Lionheart Family also agrees to the proposal." 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

"So it’s decided. We will influence the government to pass this bill and announce that anyone can form a guild by obtaining a license from the government," Ryan said, and the others nodded in agreement.

"Everyone, there is another matter I would like to draw your attention to," Ryan said as he tossed another file to them.

"Faceless," someone said with a raised eyebrow.

"Hey, isn’t this the top player on the leaderboards?" a family head said as he recognized the name.

"Yes. I would like everyone to use their resources to find his real identity," Ryan said.

"Haven’t the hackers found his real identity yet?" someone asked with displeasure.

"No. The player’s real identity is also hidden by the game like the creators. If they do not reveal it themselves, it seems others won’t be able to find their identity. Even the top hackers failed."

"Just offer him money to reveal his identity," someone said casually.

"There have already been many companies and small families offering millions and even billions of dollars, but there has been no response. Either he is rich or extremely cautious," Ryan said with a shrug.

"Hmph, we will find him anyway. If there is nothing else, I will go and play the game and get stronger," said one of the heads as he left the room, and the others also started leaving.