"Are there any players in the Crimson Plains area who can come help? This level 14 Rageclaw is down to its last sliver of health, and I'm the only one left in my squad. I can't hold out much longer. Need backup! (Coordinates attached)"
"Looking for monsters in the Ancient Battlefield area to help me land the finishing blow. The monster needs to be weakened first, then I'll deliver the final hit. Cash compensation via bank transfer (price depends on the monster's level). Preferably somewhere near me; don't message me if you're too far away. (Coordinates attached)"
"Fan Zui Group is recruiting strong players. Must be level 8 or higher, preferably with real-world combat or martial arts experience. Message me privately about compensation."
"Can all these recruitment messages stop flooding the screen for a minute? I just want to ask one thing: what's wrong with the idiots wandering all over the Ancient Battlefield and stealing finishing blows? Why don't they just find a team and grind for levels like normal people? They just have to run around being obnoxious? Did your mother even—"
"Hahaha, I'm dying. A squad just got wiped out while surrounding a level 13 Curse-Eye. I got there, saw it was nearly dead, and swooped in for the finishing blow. Free Evolution Points and Sacrificial Power! Thanks to the guys who did all the work first. Hearts!"
Qi Sheng sat cross-legged atop the Origin Altar.
He reviewed the various feedback players had given while exploring the Monster World, gathering issues that needed improvement in the next update.
The influx of new players had sharply increased the Sacrificial Power produced each day.
According to the statistics from Guidance, each player contributed an average of 3 points of Sacrificial Power to him per day, and the yield continued to rise steadily as players leveled up.
The regional voice channels, once deserted, had grown unusually lively in recent days.
Every minute and every second, players were discussing the game or recruiting teammates to explore the Monster World together.
The growing player population brought in more Sacrificial Power, and progress had also been made in containing Primal Origin.
Just half an hour ago, a 17-player squad had discovered a First Generation Origin monster called "Duskshadow" in the Ancient Battlefield.
The monster looked like a mass of black mist and could shift between corporeal and incorporeal forms. While it was in its mist form, only elemental attacks could hurt it.
Its hunting level was 8.
After encountering it, the 17-player squad had launched an attack. Following half an hour of grueling combat, they successfully killed it and contained it in the tenth slot of the Primal Containment Wall.
When news of the successful containment appeared in the regional channel, it drew the attention of a large number of players.
It was also the first time the newly joined players had seen a regional notification announcing the successful containment of a Primal Origin.
After quickly reviewing the various messages players had sent, Qi Sheng opened his eyes.
The stream of information surging through his mind abruptly came to a halt.
After observing players for the past two days, he had carefully summarized their feedback.
Two key issues needed to be addressed.
The first concerned communication channels.
In his original design, he had divided online player chat into three channels: squad chat, regional chat, and world chat.
Squad chat was a private channel for the player's current team. Players outside the team couldn't view or participate in the conversation.
The regional channel covered large areas of the Monster World, such as the Emperor's Tomb Mountain Range, rather than subdivisions within the range like the Crimson Plains, the Ancient Battlefield, and Spirit Artifact Valley.
The world chat channel was the largest chat channel. All players could participate, no matter where they were in the Monster World.
The arrival of ten thousand new players had filled the once-quiet regional chat channel with all sorts of messages. As a result, requests were quickly buried and difficult to fulfill.
For example, when a player in the Crimson Plains asked for help from nearby players, large numbers of players in the Ancient Battlefield kept flooding the channel with recruitment messages. This had forced players in the Crimson Plains to flood the channel as well just to make their requests more visible.
Qi Sheng thought that in the next game update, the chat channels could be divided into more detailed categories.
On top of squad chat, regional chat, and world chat, he would add a local-area channel.
This local-area channel would display the location's name directly.
For example, if a player was in the Ancient Battlefield, the local-area chat channel would be called "Ancient Battlefield Chat." If a player was in Emperor's Tomb Village, it would be called "Emperor's Tomb Village Chat," and so on.
More specific chat channels would significantly improve the efficiency with which players could get the help they needed.
The second issue concerned grinding for levels.
In his original design, he had divided the ways players could level up by killing monsters into two types.
The first was that the player who landed the final blow—the one who actually killed the monster—received all the hunting rewards.
The second was that players who participated in killing a Primal Origin shared the rewards.
In retrospect, this system wasn't fair to players.
He had seen players complain in the chat channels more than once that the game's finishing-blow mechanic had created a horde of "kill stealers."
Kill stealers were players who didn't want to fight monsters themselves. Instead, they wandered around looking for monsters other players had nearly killed, then swooped in to land the finishing blow.
Qi Sheng thought competition between players was a good thing. Conflict and rivalry could significantly strengthen players' desire to grow and become more powerful.
But cutthroat competition would only ruin their gaming experience.
To prevent this from happening again and to give players a better experience when grinding for levels, he decided to change the system so that instead of the player who landed the final blow receiving all the rewards, the squad that dealt the most damage to a monster would share the hunting rewards. If a player wasn't in a squad and dealt the most damage, they would receive all the rewards themselves.
He planned to add these two new features in the next update.
Just as Qi Sheng was thinking about what else needed updating, a spatial vortex suddenly appeared in front of him. The Guiding Water Orb emerged from it and hovered before him:
[Boss, there's something going on with the phases of Evil Moon.]
Hearing this, Qi Sheng immediately switched his view to the Guidance avatar outside Emperor's Tomb Village.
He shifted his gaze to the sky. The waning crescent hanging high overhead was shrouded in a thick haze, making it indistinct. Its phase seemed highly unstable, and ripples spread across its surface as though it were undergoing some unknown change.
As time passed, the dark red material that made up the waning crescent slowly shifted downward.
Evil Moon suddenly blazed with a dazzling blood-red light.
In an instant, the Black Tide energy enveloping the Emperor's Tomb Mountain Range surged violently, and the ground trembled.
Players exploring outside looked up at the sky, unsure what was happening.
Then they were startled to see the surrounding scenery begin to warp and change. It was like a stone had been tossed into a still lake, sending ripples across the surface. Everything within sight became blurry and distorted.
At the sight, Qi Sheng immediately realized that the moon phase over the Emperor's Tomb Mountain Range was switching to the waning crescent.
He promptly sent a game notification to all players.
Before you continue