Fang Yun did not rush.
If there was one thing his previous life had taught him, it was that systems failed most often at the moment of impatience. Launching too early, scaling too fast, trusting assumptions instead of data—those mistakes destroyed projects before they even began.
ZeroWing City could not afford that.
He stood alone in the city lord's study as the night deepened outside the window. The sounds of the city were muted—distant footsteps of patrolling soldiers, the low murmur of civilians settling in for uneasy sleep, and far beyond the walls, the faint howls of monsters drifting across barren land.
The system interface hovered silently before his eyes.
No voice.
No guidance.
Only cold, indifferent clarity.
[Energy Reserve: 3 (Unstable)]
Not enough.
Fang Yun already knew the cost.
He focused on the summoning function.
The interface responded.
[Summoning Function: Available]
[Cost: 1 Energy per Summoned Entity]
"One energy per person," Fang Yun murmured.
Simple. Brutal. Honest.
That meant the first summon alone would consume far more energy than he currently possessed. Which also meant the system was not expecting him to summon players blindly.
Energy had to come from somewhere.
He shifted his focus to the recycling function. The city's waste—broken weapons, monster corpses from recent skirmishes, damaged equipment discarded by soldiers—had already been marked in his mind.
The system did not recycle out of kindness.
It recycled because destruction created usable residue.
Conflict was currency.
Earlier that evening, he had authorized the recycling of several storage piles that had been left untouched for months. The result had been minimal—only a few points of energy—but enough to confirm the mechanism worked as expected.
No shortcuts.
No miracles.
He exhaled slowly.
"This is a resource war," Fang Yun said quietly. "Not a power fantasy."
He turned away from the desk and walked to the city map mounted on the wall. Small red marks indicated monster sightings. Blue lines marked patrol routes. Several sections near the outer districts were circled—zones he had deliberately allowed to decay.
Abandoned warehouses.
Collapsed guard towers.
Dead space no one relied on.
Those areas would become the entry points.
Summoning players into the heart of the city would cause chaos. Civilians would panic. Soldiers would react defensively. Confusion would cost lives.
The outer district, however, was expendable.
Controlled risk.
Fang Yun traced the circles with his finger.
"These will be the spawn zones."
The system did not object.
It never did.
---
Beta Scope
Fang Yun returned to the desk and sat down.
"One hundred," he said aloud.
Not ten.
Not a thousand.
One hundred beta testers.
Enough to observe group behavior. Enough to generate conflict, cooperation, and failure. Not enough to overwhelm ZeroWing City's fragile balance.
The system reacted subtly.
[Summon Limit: 100]
No approval.
No confirmation.
Just acknowledgment.
---
Death Cost Confirmation
Fang Yun narrowed his eyes and focused deeper.
Hidden beneath the summoning panel, faint data lines surfaced.
[Death Penalty: Active]
[Mortal Realm 1 Death → Energy Cost: 1]
[Mortal Realm 2 Death → Energy Cost: 2]
His fingers tightened slightly.
"So death consumes energy," he murmured.
That was critical.
Summoning players required energy. Keeping them alive preserved that energy. Reckless deaths would drain it.
This single rule solved several problems at once.
It discouraged mindless suicide
It punished careless groups indirectly
It created peer pressure
It tied player behavior to city survival
In his previous life, Fang Yun had seen countless systems ruined by consequence-free failure. Here, the penalty was shared.
Perfect.
---
Task Authority
He shifted focus again.
Another function emerged.
[Task Issuance: Available]
No prebuilt templates.
No reward tables.
Only a blank directive structure.
Fang Yun tested it mentally.
Objective: Eliminate nearby monsters.
Conditions: Within city territory.
Reward: Experience.
The system accepted the structure but did not activate it.
Tasks could not exist without participants.
That was fine.
It confirmed another rule.
The system responded only to context, not intent.
---
Player Risk Assessment
Players were unpredictable.
That much Fang Yun understood better than anyone.
They would:
Test pain limits
Test death mechanics
Jump off walls
Provoke monsters
Try to exploit the system
He expected chaos.
He planned for it.
"Let them die," Fang Yun said quietly. "Once."
Once was data.
Twice was a lesson.
Repeated deaths would become expensive—for everyone.
The system didn't need to scold them.
Numbers would.
---
Final Checks
Energy was the bottleneck.
To summon one hundred players, he would need one hundred energy points—temporarily reserved by the system.
That meant the city would begin the beta phase with zero usable energy.
No wall repairs.
No emergency creation.
No margin for error.
A calculated risk.
Fang Yun straightened in his chair.
ZeroWing City was already dying slowly. Risk avoidance would not save it.
Only controlled acceleration would.
---
Confirmation
The interface pulsed softly.
[Summon Confirmation Required]
[Participants: 100]
[Energy Cost: 100 (Reserved)]
Reserved.
Not destroyed.
If players survived, energy would stabilize.
If they died—
Fang Yun closed his eyes briefly.
"In my last life," he said softly, "I managed simulations that failed without consequence."
He opened his eyes.
"This one will hurt."
He confirmed the summoning.
The system responded instantly.
No light.
No sound.
Just one final line.
[First Beta Test: Initiated]
Far away, beyond Fang Yun's perception, one hundred forum accounts were marked.
Selection complete.
Fang Yun stood and walked to the window, gazing out at ZeroWing City beneath the barren night sky.
The city did not cheer.
The city did not tremble.
It continued breathing—unaware that the foundation of its future had just been laid.
"This is not a miracle," Fang Yun said quietly.
"It's a test."
And for the first time since inheriting the city, he allowed himself a faint, controlled smile.
---