A Strange Trial, the Origin of Talent Stones

These guys are all incredibly smart.

Although they didn't completely guess Gao Linzhi's talent.

But he guessed the most important part correctly.

Gao Linzhi's current strength is largely due to spending money on in-game purchases.

If Gao Linzhi spend money on in-game purchases, he can only be revived 24 hours after dying once.

This takes an extremely long time.

This completely rendered many of his bug-exploiting tactics useless.

First, you can't rely on repeatedly reviving in the same spot to kill the BOSS.

Second, resurrection Teleportation is not possible.

Third, you can't rely on resurrection to fight bosses or avoid monsters.

The game was actually well-balanced during the design process.

Whales (players who spend a lot of money on the game) won't be stuck at level one.

If the game is normal, and they get stuck at level one, they will be completely crushed by other whales who spend a lot of money.

So what if you can resurrect indefinitely? Others can resurrect too, it just takes them a little longer.

The only problem is that the game is incomplete, preventing others from spending money on it, which is something Gao Linzhi can't do anything about.

No one can fight Gao Linzhi to the death.

Of course, he knew that he absolutely shouldn't ask Gao Linzhi what his talent was.

If he dares to ask, his death is imminent.

There's absolutely no way the other side would reveal such a trump card to anyone else.

You can guess, but you absolutely cannot ask.

He's not stupid.

Boredom then quietly faded away.

He used his connections to find out about Empty 2086's skill system.

Although the information was confidential, it wasn't difficult to find out.

After all, Empty 2086 is different from Gao Linzhi; he has interacted with far too many people.

Bored soon, he found a major client he frequently dealt with.

The other party is also a large family.

They have a long-standing need for Revival Stone, high-level runes, and health/mana potions.

Boredom simply tells them that they have priority when the Revival Stone is auctioned next time.

The other party generously sold the Kongkong information.

Empty 2086 made many deals in order to achieve his goal of stealing Gao Linzhi's ranking.

In the course of such transactions, much of his information is inevitably exposed.

When you come into contact with people, it's inevitable that you'll expose information.

From the most basic reconnaissance techniques to tracking, espionage, and undercover work...

There was also the layered speculation and analysis of the expert team.

In addition, although Kongkong failed, he was still second on the Overall Ranking, which is worth analyzing.

As a result, the details of Empty 2086 were completely exposed.

After a lot of running around.

Soon, boredom struck, and I came to report:

"Boss, that Kongkong talent must be a talent for reducing one's own presence."

"And it can be upgraded."

"Many people unconsciously overlook his presence when they are in contact with him."

"Someone once said that if Kongkong were to commit Secret Room murder, all he had to do was kill the person, close the door, and stand in the corner."

"No one would notice that he was in the room."

"The above information comes from analysis by professional teams at several large companies, with an accuracy rate exceeding 98%."

Gao Linzhi nodded.

Wow, they've just discovered Empty 2086's trump card.

That's the power of family and company.

"Furthermore, Empty 2086, in conjunction with its talent, has learned a series of related skills."

"Stealth, invisibility, evasion... his skill set mainly focuses on these three."

While idly chatting, he handed over an analysis report.

"Furthermore, he may possess some assassin skills, suggesting he may develop a career as an assassin in the future."

"He also has some ranged attack methods, as well as some stealth spells to conceal his level and strength."

Upon hearing this, Gao Linzhi nodded.

There is indeed something in this Kongkong.

It has to be said, this is the skill of a high-level player.

Focusing on a unique point, we concentrate on developing and continuously amplifying this characteristic using various skills.

This is precisely the typical path for Ordinary Player to rise to prominence.

Develop your own unique characteristics, highlight your relative advantages, and then use these advantages to acquire more resources, and then use those resources to snowball and make up for your weaknesses.

For example, playing an assassin or a healer.

In fact, the game developers also use various professions to highlight the features that players want.

This is precisely one of the key aspects of gameplay; only with a wide variety of options can players experience more enjoyment.

Of course, this also requires a certain amount of luck.

Bad luck; his weakness killed him.

Gao Linzhi then instructed Wuliao to continue inquiring about the talents and systematic skills of other advanced players.

I was bored and thought the boss wanted to know himself and his enemy, so that he would never be defeated.

After all, it's one thing to learn one Kongkong, but how can you possibly learn everyone else's?

That's impossible.

So he agreed and went.

However, the single-player game behind him revealed the truth.

"Your boss wants to learn from everyone's strengths and adopt all the systems that others have developed."

"That's impossible. Skill slots are limited, and even if there were a way to get more, it would be very difficult," Bored retorted immediately.

"I'm a little confused too. What exactly is your boss trying to do? He's being excessively greedy."

"If you want everything, you'll end up mastering nothing."

"Yeah, I can't persuade them either. They're big shots, so naturally they have their own principles." Boredom is also a kind of helplessness.

The other side has too many resources.

If given the opportunity, he could play at several times the intensity.

This was, of course, just his own imagination.

"Human resources are limited. If your boss continues to run things like this, the account will eventually be ruined, which would be a real shame."

"There's nothing we can do about it; the boss can do whatever he wants."

After getting bored and leaving, Gao Linzhi opened the report to read it.

The above is a lengthy but precise analysis.

The tables, charts, and data... it looks just like an audit report issued by a legitimate company.

It's crystal clear.

"Empty 2086, estimated level 43, possesses multiple Advanced Skill."

"The talent appears to be a stealth-type talent, capable of reducing one's presence and preventing others from noticing them."

"Skill System: Basic Invisibility, Intermediate Invisibility, Advanced Invisibility."

"Basic Perception..."

"Basic Stealth, Intermediate Stealth, Advanced Stealth..."

"Basic Movement Technique, Intermediate Movement Technique, Advanced Movement Technique..."

"Basic Dodge..."

After reviewing the information, Gao Linzhi adjusted his skill bar.

At this moment, his skill list included skills such as perception, stealth, evasion, and movement, but he lacked the stealth skill.

So he combined these four skills together.

Just drag it.

In this way, he essentially imitated some of Empty 2086's abilities.

However, we are still missing the opponent's core ability, which is their core talent: stealth.

Gao Linzhi's talent is the only talent in the game:

[Talent: The Only Ordinary Player (Unique Dark Gold Quality)]

This single talent encompasses all the basic characteristics of Ordinary Player.

In the past, Ordinary Player didn't care about this; they were just used to it.

However, this is an incomplete, realistic game, which makes this basic characteristic of the Ordinary Player all the more precious.

Gao Linzhi later acquired a new talent through in-game purchases:

["Absolute Dodge": Upgradeable, Purple Quality]

At the beginning, it's a beginner level: there's a 5% chance to dodge all damage, including physical and mental damage.

Intermediate level is 7.5%, advanced level is 12%, Expert Level is 18%, Master Level is 25%, and Grandmaster Level is 35%.

With increased spending on in-game purchases, this talent has now jumped from beginner level to Master Level.

The effect is: a 25% chance of dodging.

After all, he was pouring it by the ton, pouring over twenty tons of gold.

In this way, he has one less stealth-type talent than Empty 2086, but one more evasion-type talent.

It still has a 25% Absolute Dodge.

He recalled being swallowed by the massive rocky outcrops.

At that time, the Absolute Dodge also took effect.

Fortunately, it's only 25%, and at most 35%, otherwise, you'd find yourself in the awkward situation of not being able to swallow a giant object no matter what.

After all, it's about dodging all damage, including physical and mental damage.

Although Devouring is not a normal attack, but a special effect attack.

But it did cause harm after all.

This is different from the sea monster devouring in Heroes of Might and Magic, where devouring is a "special effect attack" that ignores the target's magic immunity and Physical Defense.

Gao Linzhi then needs to find another stealth skill and a Concealment Talent.

The core idea is "to follow other people's paths and leave them with nowhere to go."

Although it's not exactly honorable.

However, reality is cruel—imitation, innovation, and then surpassing.

This is almost an inevitable path for most successful forces.

The rise of powerful forces almost always follows this path.

Gao Linzhi then called Xu Gou over and asked him to handle these things.

He trusted Xu Gou more than he was bored.

"Invisibility skills, stealth talents, I understand, sir." Xu Gou immediately went out to carry out the task.

The Corpse Vine also accompanied him.

Xu Gou secretly arrived at the headquarters of the Four Village Trading Company in the village, a new five-story stone building facing the street.

This spot offers a commanding view, standing over 20 meters high, overlooking the entire village.

He showed his token and went to the trading company's intelligence room.

He accessed the intelligence files of the trading company.

Each of these is recorded in a type of script.

The advantage is that it can shield against modern theft methods, such as taking photos and spying.

It can only be opened by a designated person, using a specific code word, and possessing sufficient mental attributes.

He looked around for a while, and then suddenly discovered a piece of information that might be useful.

"When the trading company and Sirius Island engaged in offline trade,"

"They say they've discovered something strange on their island."

"This strange ability can grant a person a certain skill or talent, or turn the skills or talents that a person desires into Skill Stone or Talent Stone."

"It can be achieved as long as it follows its rules."

"But these strange rules are troublesome, and they're dynamically changing."

"To successfully complete the mission, you must send out more than ten people at a time, and the mortality rate is very high."

"It seems like two out of ten people could succeed."

"These ten people must be level 35 or above."

"And there's a cooldown period; it can only be done once a month."

Upon seeing this, Xu Gou immediately became very interested.

Of course, he wouldn't report it immediately; he needed to confirm it before reporting it.

He quickly found the source of the information, a manager who had traded with Sirius Island.

"Manager Liu, what's going on? Is this information reliable?"

"Absolutely reliable. It's already confirmed that they produce Talent Stone there, with a fixed output of two per month, though it's quite labor-intensive," Manager Liu stated confidently.

"How cruel! They're willing to sacrifice lives just to get the Talent Stone."

"By the way, do they sell stealth-type Talent Stone there?" Xu Gou changed the subject and asked.

"I'll go ask right away."

Soon, Manager Liu returned:

"It was produced before, but it was bought by someone else. It's a talent called 'Breath Concealment Aura,' which allows one to lower their aura and make themselves less likely to be detected."

Who is the buyer?

"The buyers said they'd keep it a secret, but I gave them a little something, and they sold the buyer out. The buyer's name was 'Empty 2086'."

Upon hearing this Xu Gou angrily said, "Oh, it really was him. It seems that he had been plotting to steal the master's list for a long time."

"Well, it's hard to say," Manager Liu said, clearly thinking it was nothing serious.

After all, the rankings aren't from one company, so anyone has the right to compete for them.

"What did you just say?" Xu Gou looked at him coldly.

Midtown is not absolutely, but it is definitely not Midtown.

"It's nothing. That Kongkong is really damned. We still have a lot of shortcomings in intelligence gathering."

"Do you remember what you said? Do they also have invisibility abilities?"

"Yes, and I sold them."

"So there's nothing here right now?"

"Yes, their Talent Stone and Skill Stone are very popular. As soon as they are produced, they are auctioned off immediately and sold out instantly."

"Don't they have any stock?"

"Because they are in their developmental stage, we don't store them to avoid hindering their growth and having them stolen by others in the end," Manager Liu said honestly.

"Okay, then you arrange for them to meet in person."

"Good."

Offline, Xu City.

The person in charge of Sirius Island was a Big Black Fatty, over two meters tall, who was clearly no ordinary person.

Xu Gou was a skinny man, over 1.7 meters tall, and the two of them looked particularly mismatched sitting together.

However, the weaker party was the Big Black Fatty.

"Mr. Xu, it's a pleasure to meet you. Both your Wolf Snake Island and our Sirius Island have the character 'wolf' in their names. We are born with the potential to possess great power."

"Hehe, with money comes fate, right?" Xu Gou laughed.

After exchanging pleasantries for a while, the two got down to business.

"Talent Stone and Skill Stone aren't the problem. The problem is that we need people, many level 35 players. And the most troublesome thing about training a level 35 player is the experience required, which requires going into the sea to kill monsters."

"Oh, you mean...?"

"I've heard that you can easily venture deep into the ocean. I'd like to propose a long-term partnership. You provide the manpower, and we'll share the profits. Of course, you can also choose first. In that case, whatever Talent Stone you need, we can arrange them directly," the Big Black Fatty said directly.

"Isn't this tantamount to the slave trade?"

"Don't put it so harshly. Actually, we're playing Main God System. Those people are all volunteers. We are the gods, not slave owners."

"Voluntary?"

"Yes, of course we'll choose volunteers to join this operation. Don't you know how many bankrupts, Wanderer, and debtors there are these days?" the Big Black Fatty laughed.

"They're constantly being pressured, arrested, and detained; they've long hoped for a chance to escape this situation?"

"Also, have you seen the movie 'Squid'?"

"I've seen a little bit."

"Yes, we belong to the director, and the actors are those people. I know you have moral burdens, but don't worry, it's all voluntary. They should thank us for this opportunity to turn their lives around."

"Is that really true?" Xu Gou hesitated.

"Of course, think about it, is there a 20% chance for an ordinary person to turn their life around? No, right? But as long as you participate in the strange trials of our Sirius Island, there is a 20% chance to reach the peak and escape your past mediocrity."

"They should thank us."

"Okay, I'll do it!"

Xu Gou may have a conscience, but not much, especially since he's working for a big shot.

Of course, these details can't be revealed to the big shots.

To save the big boss from having to worry.