Dimensional Strike

In Beijing, on the campus of the University of Finance and Economics.

Xu Pengkun maintained his usual three-point, one-line lifestyle.

No longer addicted to games, he resolutely followed his self-set study plan.

However, today, the conversation of two passing classmates after class caught his attention.

"Hey, did you hear Legend of Mir is free now?"

"No idea, I just topped up my game card last night."

"Not the official one, there's a new Legend of Mir you can play without spending money, and you level up super fast!"

"Really?"

"I'm a liar if I'm lying. Come on, I'll take you to the internet cafe to see it."

The two walked away, chatting.

Could it be the private server of Legend of Mir that Haozi mentioned?

Recalling Haozi's words on the train, Xu Pengkun decided to investigate. He packed his things, slung his backpack over his shoulder, and left.

There was only one internet cafe on campus, and the two people from earlier were most likely talking about this one.

Upon arriving at the internet cafe, nearly half the people were playing Legend of Mir. Xu Pengkun didn't log in to a computer but wandered the aisles, stopping occasionally to observe.

He noticed that the Legend of Mir some people were playing seemed a bit different; the experience points from monsters were several times higher than usual, which was quite exaggerated.

The equipment on these players was incredibly good. It was as if Judgment and Dragon Pattern were commonplace, and Blazing Fire and Divine Beasts were abundant.

Xu Pengkun opened a computer and found a dragon-shaped icon under Legend of Mir on the system desktop. Below it read: Blue Legend.

With a research mindset, he double-clicked the icon to launch the game.

He casually registered an account, created a Warrior, and killed a chicken.

Whoa, he leveled up directly, and the experience points overflowed. However, due to the level cap mechanism, even a lot of experience from one monster could only grant one level.

Xu Pengkun controlled his Warrior, wielding his blade to kill chickens, deer, and cats in the novice village.

Following the optimal leveling route, after 1 hour, his Warrior had already reached level 20.

Back then, his Taoist had taken over ten hours to reach level 20.

This private server's experience was actually 10 times that of the official version.

Moreover, the drop rate was quite high; a few monsters would yield a massive drop.

The small time investment brought Xu Pengkun immense shock!

Even with his self-proclaimed strong self-control, under the stimulation of a large amount of dopamine, he found it hard to resist. This showed the fatal attraction of private servers to ordinary players.

Under the guise of paying and logging off, Xu Pengkun probed the network administrator.

It turned out that the internet cafe owner had requested this private server to be installed a few days ago. It now had 10 times the experience and 5 times the drop rate, all pre-set.

It could only be played in their internet cafe. Since the installation of this private server, the internet cafe's business had been packed almost every day!

On his way back, Xu Pengkun pondered, changed his mind about returning to his dorm, and instead rode his bicycle outside the campus.

Three hours later, Xu Pengkun returned to school again. He took out his phone and called Chen Hao.

"Hello, Haozi, that Legend of Mir private server you mentioned has appeared at our school's internet cafe."

"Currently, it seems to have two features: 10x experience and 5x drop rate. This private server can only be played within the school's internet cafe LAN; it hasn't been put online."

"You don't need to tell me, I've already scouted the internet cafes around the school, and they don't have it yet. It shouldn't have spread widely."

"Holy crap? You're already working on it? Let me know if you need any help."

"Damn, I was just being polite, and you actually have work for me! You're not shy at all!"

"...Yeah, okay, I got it. Send it over when you're ready!"

"Get lost, I'm hanging up!"

Hanging up the phone, Chen Hao shook his head. Modifying the drop rate and experience, the two most basic aspects of a private server, was incredibly basic.

No rush, let the bullets fly for a while.

He looked at the Legend of Mir optimization plan he had spent two days compiling on his desk, integrating the essence of later Legend of Mir private servers and borrowing some profit models from other games!

A small cut to the buttock, let you all see what a true Legend of Mir is!

I don't believe that standing on the skull of a giant won't earn me a lifetime of glory! Chen Hao's chest surged with emotion.

Half an hour later, Chen Hao's mind was as calm as water, and he cautiously adjusted the code as if treading on thin ice.

This triggered an almost instinctive reaction, making him recall his precious (and maddening) experience of taking over a garbage system that had gone through countless hands shortly after he joined the company and performing secondary development on it.

The same lack of comments, the same mountain of shit-like code, the same unfamiliar programming language.

Is this the level of Korean programming?

This made him

Feel pain and happiness simultaneously!

Chen Hao didn't back down; instead, he was eager to try, wanting to show them what elegant iteration looked like!

First, he classified the source files, verifying them through code logic and general naming conventions, then tackling them one by one.

Starting anything is difficult.

Drawing on reference books and his existing programming foundation, he gradually got the hang of it, improving his speed with each modification.

While Chen Hao wasn't a neat freak in real life, he was meticulous in the world of code. He wrote comments first, then the code, not allowing a single misplaced format.

He hadn't planned on open-sourcing, but even so, while reviewing the previous code, Chen Hao outrageously added comments to it.

When he got tired, he'd just crawl onto his desk and sleep. After waking up, he'd continue coding. When hungry, he'd make do with instant noodles and cola.

He had to admit, he only enjoyed those first few bowls of instant noodles. After two days, they tasted like chewing wax, serving only to fill his stomach.

A few days later, Chen Hao's eyes were circled with dark bags, but he still looked energized. His manual skills hadn't suffered.

The monster, equipment, skill, and map modules had all been optimized!

Looking at the date on his phone, he realized that an entire week had passed since he'd started his seclusion, though he'd thought it was only two or three days.

Impatiently, he created a Taoist in the game, switched back to modify a few parameters, set his level to 35, rubbed his hands together, and controlled the Taoist to teleport directly into the new map for a stroll, five Divine Beasts following behind him.

Various powerful monsters gathered in the center of the map, moving around. Chen Hao approached, and without him needing to do anything, his five Divine Beasts charged, taking down each BOSS in a single hit. No BOSS could withstand a second strike. Equipment rained down, covering the ground so much that Chen Hao had nowhere to step. It was all top-tier gear that the game developers themselves would dream of.

Tsk tsk~

Even as a pervert himself, he felt this was perverse after playing it.

But he couldn't go all out from the start. He needed to play the long game, reel in the big fish, and release information bit by bit, like squeezing toothpaste.

It was like playing single-player games in high school. A normal game's lifespan was usually 20-40 hours. Then, cheat codes appeared, and with a few clicks, the game was modified.

The protagonist became invincible, and the game was cleared in a few hours, making it utterly boring!

A wife is not as good as a concubine, a concubine is not as good as a stolen pleasure, and stolen pleasure is not as good as the inability to steal. Having more tricks, more unfamiliar limited editions, that's the thrill of it!

Based on this, Chen Hao stroked his chin, contemplating. The entire numerical system needed optimization to be configurable; it had to be changed.

Some equipment models were too conservative; they had to be changed.

A teleportation NPC needed to be added here; it had to be changed.

Continuously experimenting and combining his past gaming experience, Chen Hao unearthed one by one the areas that needed modification.

For a time, Chen Hao was once again immersed in the world of Legend of Mir, digging and digging and digging.