Emperor's Tomb Village, Origin Altar.
Standing before the Containment Crystal Wall, Qi Sheng looked over the contained Primal Monsters.
That morning, a new member had been added to the containment cells.
At that moment, cells 1–12 respectively held Stone Gargoyle (Petrification), Eagle Head Demon (Wailing), Black Armor Snake (Venom), Bone Fire (Inkflame), Brute Strength, Shatter, Sweeping Strike, Li Hun, Nether Ghost, Taunt, Dusk Shadow (Shadow Transformation), and Light Shield.
Most of these Primal Monsters were named after their own abilities.
The monster held in the twelfth cell, Light Shield, was a cloud-like creature with a hunting level of just 3. A Lone Player had stumbled upon it while exploring the Crimson Plains.
Light Shield's ability allowed it to use mental energy to create energy shields that could expand and contract freely, resisting all kinds of attacks.
After Light Shield's Monster Soul was contained, it attracted a large number of players eager to test it. Forum users considered it another suitable choice for ranged Astral Veins builds.
The Eagle Head Demon and Bone Fire forms boasted powerful ranged attacks and damage over time. Their only weakness was a lack of survival skills. Neither Eagle Head Demon nor Bone Fire was suited to defense or close combat, leaving them at a clear disadvantage against Monster Souls like Black Armor Snake and Stone Gargoyle at the same level.
The appearance of Light Shield delighted many players who had chosen Eagle Head Demon as their starting form. They believed its Monster Soul could make up for their lack of defense.
But compared to all that, what Qi Sheng cared about most was the Sacrificial Power income.
Of the twelve contained Primal Monsters, eleven were First Generation Origins. Each could provide 10 Sacrificial Power per hour, for a daily total of 2,640.
Taunt, meanwhile, was a Second Generation Origin, capable of producing 50 Sacrificial Power per hour, or 1,200 per day.
That made for a stable daily income of 3,840 Sacrificial Power.
As for the players, after deducting the 10-point Flesh Reshaping cost incurred when a player died, each player generated an average of 3 Sacrificial Power per day (from the shop, Sacrifice, and hunting commissions), contributing over 30,000 to his daily income.
All these gains combined allowed him to issue thirty recruitment slots a day.
As players grew stronger and generated more Sacrificial Power, he would only be able to recruit them faster, creating a positive growth cycle.
After tallying the income, Qi Sheng decided to update the Challenger System right away.
Based on the player feedback he had gathered about their in-game interactions, he had identified four settings that needed to be changed or added.
"Guidance, get to work."
Hearing him, the Guiding Water Orb hovering beside him conjured an arm and saluted him solemnly:
[∠(°ゝ°) Roger that! Getting right to work.]
As soon as it finished speaking, a pitch-black vortex appeared before it. The orb drifted inside and disappeared.
A few minutes later, the Challenger notification sounded in every player's mind:
[Challenger Notification: The game is about to update to version 1.2. The update includes the following]: I. Added shared team experience mode. When in a party, all party members will split the Evolution Points and Sacrificial Power rewards for killing monsters. Hunting rewards will be assigned according to the damage dealt to the monster. The player who lands the final blow will no longer receive all the rewards. II. More detailed chat channels. 1. In addition to the party, region, and world chat channels, a small-area chat channel has been added. It will appear in the chat interface under the relevant place name. 2. Added keyword filtering to chat channels. III. Added a guild feature. After this update, players can visit the new building in Emperor's Tomb Village, the "Guild Hall," and pay 100 Sacrificial Power to create a guild and form a player team. Various guild-based activities will be added gradually in the future. (Creating a guild unlocks a chat channel for guild members.) IV. Added exploration rewards. Players will receive Sacrificial Power for clearing fog-covered areas of the map. V. Added leaderboards. After this update, players can view the leaderboards through the function panel. The rankings are divided into the following categories: 1. Monster Level Ranking. 2. Player Astral Veins Level Ranking. 3. Player Body Tempering Level Ranking. 4. Astral Veins Overall Rating Ranking (rated according to the combined strength of the Monster Souls embedded in a player's Astral Veins). 5. Armed Vehicles (not yet available) 6. Guild Level Ranking (not yet available) (This is a live update. Players do not need to log off and wait.)
The update notification instantly set the player forums abuzz.
Players eagerly discussed the new update.
Game Brick Mover Party: We finally have shared team experience! The old system, where whoever got the kill received all the rewards, was such a pain. Every time someone landed the final blow, the whole team would tear into them. In the end, we could only solve the problem by taking turns getting the last hit.
Shrimp Heart of Pork: Team experience sharing and damage-based rewards will put a complete stop to those kill-stealing dogs running around everywhere. Our team was about to camp the respawn point in Emperor's Tomb Village and kill those bastards who kept stealing our kills. The official update has resolved a major threat. Thumbs up.
Are You a Beaver: Group players are thrilled! The guild feature and shared team experience are exactly what we needed. We can finally form guilds.
The update finished just seconds after the notification appeared.
With the arrival of the leaderboards, many players' names were suddenly thrust into the spotlight.
Of the six leaderboard categories, all except the last two, which were not yet available, became the focus of players' attention.
The top spot on each leaderboard was especially sought after.
The player at the top of the Monster Level Ranking was the first person to enter the game, Li Zheng. His Black Armor Snake form surpassed every other player's monster level, reaching level 19.
One person held the top spot in both the Astral Veins Level Ranking and the Body Tempering Level Ranking.
That player was Da Tie, the first to pioneer the Artifact Spirit Style growth path. Both his Body Tempering and Astral Veins levels had reached level 5, allowing him to embed five Monster Souls and inherit the full stat bonuses of all five at once.
The top spot on the Astral Veins Overall Rating Ranking belonged to Broke to the Bone.
Both his Bone Fire form and his Eagle Head Demon form had reached level 14, giving him the highest overall rating of all players.
As for Da Tie, although he had five Monster Souls, the Evolution Points he gained from combat in human form had to be divided among them. As a result, the five Artifact Spirit Monster Souls averaged only level 5, and his overall rating was lower than Broke to the Bone's.
An hour after the update ended, large numbers of players who had been exploring outside returned to Emperor's Tomb Village and pooled together 100 Sacrificial Power to establish guilds.
The Drunk Gang Guild, the Kindergarten Guild, the Apocalypse Tech Guild... The arrival of the guild system gave many groups a way to communicate privately.
The party voice channel could hold no more than thirty people and could only be created when everyone was in the same region, making cross-region chat impossible.
The guild voice channel, however, had no limits on the number of users or their locations. Even in Emperor's Tomb Village, players could talk to fellow guild members thousands of miles away. It also put an end to the flood of ads in the region chat channel.
Player feedback on this update was overwhelmingly positive.
(End of Chapter)
Before you continue