What had originally been a scouting mission was forcibly turned into a head-on clash by the Three Great Player Alliances.
This battle made the players realize just how powerful the Ghost General Shanna's forces were. After this incident, the player factions became much more united, and there was less PK in the wilderness.
The reason was simple: the leaders of the three strongest player alliances at this stage had held a meeting.
This battle had undoubtedly left them feeling stifled. Afterward, they decided to put aside their temporary conflicts and join forces to uproot the Ghost Overseer Camp at the forefront of the Liuli District.
The result of peaceful development was that the Ghost Mountains became overcrowded. Massive numbers of players gathered there to hunt and improve their strength.
Fortunately, the Ghost Mountains possessed a special field where ghostly creatures continuously spawned, much like respawns in a game, ensuring that players would not run out of monsters to kill.
As they ventured deeper into the Ghost Mountains, stronger creatures such as resentful ghosts, vicious ghosts, and White-Haired Zombies began to appear, putting the players through untold hardship. It was painful, but joyful.
At the same time, the rise of Battle Online attracted a large number of gold-farming studios.
After all, the 1:800 exchange rate for Soul Coins was simply too tempting.
However, the gold-farming studios were dumbfounded to discover that this game could not run multiple clients. Accounts could not even be lent to others. No matter what methods they used, they could not crack the game.
Lu Wu even saw merchants on the gaming black market offering high prices for cracking software, hoping to run multiple Battle Online clients.
Many online hackers threw themselves into researching it as well, but the outcome was obvious. The game still had zero cheats and zero merchants. That remarkable record sent Battle Online soaring in popularity once again.
Lu Wu was naturally brimming with confidence about this. Battle Online was, after all, bound to the soul. How could multi-client cheats possibly exist unless a player had two souls?
At the same time, taking players' suggestions from the comments into account, Lu Wu and Bei Li made another trip to the underworld.
With Bei Li, the all-purpose little assistant, they also connected the helmets to the server, solving the players' problem of recording videos in the game.
The appearance of this feature was even more beneficial for promoting the game. Players uploaded their recordings to major video platforms, undoubtedly increasing the game's exposure.
The number of players also continued to grow, reaching 150,000. As a result, many technically skilled players emerged.
The three technical players who caught Lu Wu's attention most on the forum included a player named Na Lanlan, who hand-drew a terrain map showing the monster distribution across the Ghost Mountains, along with annotations of each monster's weaknesses.
This map solved many of the troubles faced by newcomers to the game.
Another player named Dwarf King used the new recording feature to display the map he had explored on the forum Platform173 had specially created for Battle Online.
According to Dwarf King, he had hardly fought any monsters after entering the game. Instead, he explored this underworld with the mindset of a traveler.
What astonished him was that not a single scene in the game had repeated scenery, and everything was incredibly realistic. After wandering the land of Beiqi for seven days, he felt he had explored only a small portion of it, yet it had still been a feast for his eyes.
At the same time, his map let players know what lay beyond the boundaries of the Netherworld region.
On Dwarf King's map, the fog of war around the Netherworld had completely vanished, revealing four wilderness regions: the Ghost Mountains, which players knew best; the Langya Scorched Earth Zone to the west; and, farther ahead, the Cliffs of Desperation and Death Forest.
According to Dwarf King's description, all these regions contained bizarrely shaped ghosts and monsters. Fortunately, he had been cautious enough to travel that far, though he was ultimately swallowed whole by a massive viper in Death Forest.
The in-game screenshots taken by Dwarf King left the players in awe. The world was so vast, and there were so many strange and fantastical places beyond their familiar surroundings.
However, at the end of his post, Dwarf King reminded players that adventure required strength. In order to explore this underworld, he had decided to level up properly before resuming his journey as an adventurer.
Dwarf King's post remained pinned in Battle Online's discussion section for a long time, attracting the attention of many players and reigniting their desire to become stronger.
The final player was called One_Punch_One_Kick. According to him, he had once been a firefighter, but lost an arm and a leg during a disaster relief operation. The blow was too great, leaving him completely despondent, and he had even attempted to take his own life.
After being fortunately rescued, he began to resent life and hate the unfairness of his existence, living on in self-abandonment.
After several twists and turns, he came into contact with games and began using everything virtual to numb his life.
At least in games, he was whole. Yet it all still felt fake to him, completely devoid of reality, like prosthetic limbs.
But when he stumbled upon Battle Online and tried it, he was shocked into believing that his hands and feet had returned. The utterly real sensation brought tears to his eyes. It was the first time he had felt that his lost limbs truly existed again.
At the end of his post, One_Punch_One_Kick offered his heartfelt thanks to the game's developers.
One_Punch_One_Kick's post moved many players, but it also made them recognize the terrifying realism of Battle Online. It could actually allow a disabled person to truly feel the limbs he had lost.
Below that post, alongside the comfort offered by many players, others also expressed their gratitude. Through the game, they had found people around them who shared the same painful experiences and a place where they could be whole again.
This time, Battle Online gained many more devoted fans.
Many players voluntarily requested a recharge system on the forum, hoping Battle Online's operators would quickly open payment channels to improve their gaming experience.
Wu Guoyi even personally called to ask about it.
Lu Wu, however, was quite helpless about the matter. Soul Coins were not even enough for building the Netherworld. If he truly opened a recharge channel, he estimated that the more than 20,000 Soul Coins he had would be drained in seconds.
So Lu Wu could only brush it off with excuses such as the game still being in development, free access being better for its growth, and avoiding widening the gap between players.
Battle Online's flourishing growth also made Lu Wu feel pressure.
Although the current gameplay experience was quite polished, it was not rich enough. He needed to design more interesting gameplay as soon as possible.
After reading countless player suggestion posts, Lu Wu's vision for Battle Online's gameplay became even more complete.
First of all, this game did not necessarily have to be a combat game. It could also be open and casual.
For example, in the future, if they captured the Glazed Tile Region from Ghost General Shanna, players who enjoyed fishing could fish in the Underworld Sea beside the Liuli District.
According to Bei Li, the Underworld Sea contained many rare fish, some of which could even increase the strength of a soul body.
Aside from selling them to the shop, players could also consume them themselves to increase their strength.
For another example, beneath the Cliffs of Desperation lay Rock Ghost King's territory. That region contained many Yin Turbid Lands, making it a good place to cultivate newly born spirit creatures.
If they captured that region, they could also unlock the ability for players to raise pets, and even cultivate battle pets that could assist in combat.
This underworld was filled with limitless possibilities. So long as players could imagine it, it could all be developed into gaming fun.
Before you continue