2002 Chapter 2002. Servers
Jack, John, Jeanny, Grace, Paytowin, and Linda appeared near the lakeside pavilion in Chris' secret garden.
"She can come as well?" Jack pointed at Linda.
"I asked Chris to let her come. What I'm going to discuss has something to do with her," John answered.
Chris and Wilted were inside the pavilion discussing something while looking at the projection. Chris shut down the projection when Jack and the others entered the pavilion.
"So, what is this urgent message you need to talk to me about?" Chris asked.
"I want to confirm something and at the same time, ask for your help," John answered.
"My help? I'm not a philanthropist, boy. I can't just help everyone who has a problem. I help you fight Apollyon because I consider him a part of my responsibilities, but that's it."
"Oh, no worry. The help I'm about to ask is also your responsibility, and only you can assist in this matter."
"Hm… What are you talking about?" Chris asked.
"Remember when Spring Crown asked you about the missing people?" John asked.
Chris' expression slightly changed upon the question. "What about it?" He asked in return.
"I think you perfectly know the answer to that question and have the means to find the missing people."
"What makes you say that?" Chris asked.
"I remember you offered Wilted to come here if we fail to take out Master," John said. He then asked Wilted, "Has he told you what that offer is about?"
Wilted shook his head. "No. I didn't ask since I have no intention of taking up the offer."
"Well, my mother and I are here to take up the offer," John said.
"John, what is this about?" Jeanny asked.
John's eyes were on Chris, gesturing if Chris wanted to answer that, but Chris remained silent. So, John turned to Jeanny and asked, "Before I answer that. Let me ask you all a question. What do you think is the world's population? I mean, our past world's population."
"Uh… I never keep track," Jack said.
"It's eight hundred million people," Paytowin answered.
"Do you people know how many players are in this new world?" John asked again.
Everyone shook their heads.
"We have around eleven million human players in Themisphere," John said.
"We have that many?" Jack asked.
"You don't know your own country's population?" Paytowin asked with contempt.
"Why would I bother with how many players in the country?" Jack asked back.
"Please shut up, you two," John said. He then resumed, "It is difficult to get a clear census at this stage considering players from other countries can easily come in now, but that is the estimated number for only the human-raced players counted by city officials. I assume the world system put in an average of around one million players in each metropolis after the tutorial period."
"We have twelve metropolises," Jack said.
"Themonium only became a metropolis later. Themisphere has eleven metropolises when we players enter this world," John corrected. "These metropolises where we players entered after the tutorial period are termed main cities. I have checked. All seven countries possess eleven main cities. If you put an average of one million players in those main cities, how many players do you get?"
Jack was still counting when Paytowin answered, "Seventy-seven million!"
"Damn it!" Jack cursed.
"Hehe," Paytowin displayed a prideful face.
"This is not a quiz, you two," Jeanny chided.
"So, we can assume that in this entire game world, we have seventy-seven million, or probably eighty million people. However, our past world has eight hundred million. If our census is correct, the players in this world only amounted to ten percent of our past world's population. Where is the other ninety percent?"
Everyone turned to Chris, who looked away as if he wanted to gaze at a nearby tree.
"I will answer for him," John said. "The answer is something that is pretty common in the gaming industry. In a multiplayer game, you can't have too many people inside a game. There is a limit. Too many people, the game will crash. How do the game providers solve this issue?"
"Different game servers!" Jack exclaimed.
"Correct," John said.
Jack turned to Paytowin and made a winning pose.
"Guys, not a quiz!" Jeanny chided again.
"During the promotion of Second World, the game was lauded as one that can become a true second world for all the people in the world," John said. "It is said it could hold so many people that everyone could play on the same server. This, of course, is just boastful. Even with modern technology, there is still a limit. Plus, not all the people in the world play games. I bet Trigitech developed a game server that could hold around eighty million people and had several backup servers to accommodate in case the first server was too crowded."
"Ten," Chris finally spoke. "There are ten such servers."
"So, what John says is true?" Jeanny asked.
Chris shrugged.
"When you asked me to come to you if things went South…"
"It is to flee to one of these other servers. Even with Master's Godly power, he can't move between worlds," John answered Wilted for Chris. "There are nine other worlds similar to this one. A parallel dimension, you might call them. The people missing from this world are in one of those worlds."
"You have a way to move to the other worlds?" Wilted asked Chris.
Chris sighed. "I do have one, but I will tell everyone here first. I'm not allowing frivolous travel between the servers. The rules that govern this world have become complicated due to its merging with the real world. Opening a door through parallel dimensions might cause instability."
"But you are ready to do it when you plan to flee this world with Wilted," John said.
Chris shrugged again.
"Which means it is safe as long as you don't do it too often," Linda joined in.
"Theoretically…," Chris answered.
"Then, that's what you are going to do!" Linda exclaimed.
"Hey, lady. Don't think you can force me to do things I don–"
"My youngest son is in the other world! You will take me there! Or I swear to God…!"
"All right, all right. Mother, please, let me handle this," John said to Linda.
Linda turned away with a huff.
John turned back to Chris. He then said, "You heard what my mom said. My little brother, whom I never met, is in one of these other worlds. I'm going there to search for him. You are going to get me there because as I said earlier, it's your responsibility. You… will… take… me… there…! Or I swear to God! I'm going to make you regret you ever created this world…! Do… we… have… an… understanding?"
Chris gulped. He could see how these two are related.
"We will take you there," Wilted said in Chris' stead. When Chris gave her a look, she said, "We owe it to them. You would have to flee to the other world anyway if Apollyon won. Now, you don't have to. Whatever method you use to open the way, use it for them."
"You don't know about the other servers?" Jack asked Wilted.
"I don't. As he said, the original plan was only one server that held roughly ten percent of the world's population. I don't know that other servers exist."
"They are the work of Apollyon and Mia," Chris informed. "They don't want this new world to be too crowded even before they rule it, so they add the servers in secret. Considering Mia oversaw the corporation's finances, it was easy to pull it off."
Jack was trying to remember who Mia was. Grace reminded him it was Mistress' real name.
"Wow, ten game servers, eh?" Jack said. "I guess I am lucky my grandfather is in the same server as me. I can't imagine how clueless he would be if he was on a different server. The same goes for you and your mother… Though not so with your brother."
"Master must have intentionally hidden him away on a different server," Linda said. "This way, he could be sure to always keep me in line."
"That's right. Under normal circumstances, the world system will prioritize those with familial and social connections to be on the same server," Chris said. "But if you are familiar with the concept of six degrees of separation, you will know at one point, everyone is connected to everybody. The world system will have to cut the line at some point. In your case, I do believe Apollyon had a hand rather than your younger son getting the bad lottery."
"How do you open the way to another world?" John asked.
"How else? By using a special tool available only to me, of course," Chris answered.
"You can use it anywhere at any time?"
"I can. But as I mentioned, I prefer not doing it often."
"How about opening the way every two years?" John asked.
When Chris gave him a questioning look, he added, "Unless you know which world my brother is in. I doubt we will hit the jackpot in the first world you sent us to. We will use those two years to search around. If my brother is not there, we will move to another world."
"What if we sent more people to help you look?" Jeanny suggested.
"No! I won't accommodate more people!" Chris exclaimed.
"It's fine. The two of us will be okay. This is our family matters, after all," John said.
"I wish I could help," Jack said.
"You can if you join us," John returned.
"Hehe. Maybe one day. I want to enjoy adventuring this world first."
"So, do you want to leave immediately?" Chris asked.
"In a couple of days. There is still something I want to take care of," John replied.
Before you, fact checkers, point out that the world’s population is 8 billion, I want to say the world where Jack came from is not ours (even if it shares a lot of the same cultures) :)