Healthy Competition

Healthy Competition

Crimson Plains.

Duan Xing sat on a twisted dead tree, gazing at the groups of players brawling in the distance, utterly bewildered.

After interacting with them for the past few days, he had discovered that these mysterious creatures possessed the special ability to switch into monster forms to fight.

Although their bodies were frail, their abilities were not weak.

But he still could not understand the logic behind these mysterious creatures' behavior.

From his observations, the mysterious creatures often gathered together and searched across the mountains and plains for evil spirits and monsters, then ganged up on them. They were extraordinarily belligerent.

Yet they did not do this to fight over territory or resources, and hunting monsters was not even for food. It seemed they simply wanted to have a fight, then leave with smiles on their faces.

Today, he discovered an even stranger phenomenon.

These mysterious creatures had actually begun fighting among themselves.

In Duan Xing's view, internal conflict within a race was not a problem. Even within the Tidal Rebellion Legion, where he served, the various factions had differences in ideology.

The problem was that just moments earlier, these mysterious creatures had been lining up in orderly fashion outside the cavern, chatting and laughing as they waited.

Then, for some unknown reason, they had suddenly started fighting viciously, using extremely brutal methods with the sole purpose of killing members of their own race.

This behavior of erupting into deadly combat at the slightest disagreement left Duan Xing with a head full of question marks.

The last time they had risked their lives to save him had been the same. Before that, he had killed several thousand mysterious creatures in succession. Logically speaking, in their eyes, he should have been an enemy beyond redemption.

Yet when he was about to be killed, these mysterious creatures had fought desperately to rescue him, sacrificing the lives of a large number of their own kind.

Duan Xing could not understand the logic behind any of this.

"I don't get it."

After murmuring softly, Duan Xing lowered his head and looked at the runic mark in his hand. His expression immediately turned dejected.

Everything had gone smoothly on the way here, but he could not go back.

Without the shuttlecraft to help transmit a signal, he could no longer find his way home, and he did not even know where he was now.

At the thought of this, Duan Xing ground his teeth in hatred.

The shuttlecraft was protected by damage-resistant runic armor. In theory, as long as it suffered external damage, the Runes Armor on his body would receive a signal, allowing him to hurry over quickly.

Furthermore, the shuttlecraft also had a positioning function. Even if it were stolen, he could rapidly locate and lock onto its position.

Yet, strangely enough, the shuttlecraft had vanished into thin air despite not being damaged or moved.

Other than these mysterious creatures, he could think of no other possibility.

This was also why he had recently been observing the mysterious creatures' movements, trying to find out where the missing shuttlecraft had gone.

"Fan Zui Group members, gather at Emperor's Tomb Village! Twist the heads off those Shen Yi Guild bastards! Anyone who bullies our people will pay the price."

"Boss, we've contacted Ban Zhuan Group. They're on their way here. Once they arrive, we'll gather up and charge."

"We've contacted Youngster Group as well. They're waiting in the Crimson Plains. We'll join up with them once we get there."

The battle over the Soul Crystals had continued until now. The two major guilds had become truly enraged, summoning their members and preparing for another battle.

Even Li Tie, who had always acted alone, had been called back to participate.

After the forces led by Fan Zui Group gathered at Emperor's Tomb Village, they advanced toward the Crimson Plains in a mighty procession, and a new round of chaotic warfare began once more.

Aside from the forces of both sides, there were also many spectators caught up in the melee.

They had nothing to do with either of the battling guilds and had purely come to watch the excitement.

During the battle, they also discussed the two guilds' strength on the forums.

The hottest topic was Li Tie of Fan Zui Group, also known in-game as "Da Tie," the player ranked first in Body Tempering.

At this stage, there were quite a few players who had opened their second star vein, but Li Tie was the only player with Body Tempering Level 5. In human form, he could inherit all the attributes of five monster souls.

His combat prowess was outstanding in this chaotic battle.

The battle-ax formed from the fusion of five Artifact Spirit monster souls was tremendously powerful. It swept through the melee unhindered, and no player from the Shen Yi Guild could withstand a single blow.

The spectators launched into heated discussions about this.

Black Night Long: This guy is seriously strong. His strength can definitely rank among the top three of all players, maybe even first place. The peak output of the Artifact Spirit Style is way too brutal. Watching it makes me tremble. He really is killing one kid with every slash—he's gone berserk.

Dark Land Is So Fun: What absurd damage output. All I can say is that he got lucky. He entered the game earlier than us, and the few Primal Monsters near Emperor's Tomb Village were very weak in the early stages. He killed five of them by himself. He really made a fortune.

Humanity Rises: Stop talking big. Even if you encountered a Primal Monster, you wouldn't have the strength to hunt it. I've seen this guy in other games. He's Fan Zui Group's elite fighter, extremely fierce. I heard he participated in the real-world war that suppressed the foreign races back then.

I Won the Lottery: His strength may be impressive in reality and in the game, but he's still lacking on the forums. The average forum user has Star Veins Level 20 and Body Tempering Level 20. The thirteen Monster Souls currently available aren't even enough for us to socket and use all of them (Funny.jpg).

Amid the discussion, the players were all deeply interested in the Artifact Spirit Style developed by Li Tie.

Among all the existing Monster Soul combinations at this stage, it was the most brutally damaging melee Star Veins style.

After Li Tie's battle-ax struck its target, it inflicted effects such as armor penetration, increased damage, and mental impact. Its lethality was astonishing.

Under Li Tie's charge, the Shen Yi Guild suffered a one-sided rout.

The battle came to an end after lasting more than an hour, concluding with the Shen Yi Guild's crushing defeat.

But this did not mean the hatred had vanished. Every spectator understood that the two guilds had thoroughly become enemies.

If players from the two sides encountered each other outside in the future, a battle was inevitable.

Just as the watching players had guessed, the members of the Shen Yi Guild gradually came online an hour later. However, they did not immediately begin their revenge. Instead, they chose to spam the regional voice channel, offering to buy Sacrificial Power.

Their intention was obvious: they wanted to increase their combat power before fighting Fan Zui Group again.

This caused the purchase price of Sacrificial Power to soar once more.

The Shen Yi Guild's president offered a purchase price of 200 to 1 for Sacrificial Power and stated that players willing to sell large quantities could receive an even higher price.

This sent the bricklayer players into a frenzy of joy. It meant that the real-world returns from killing the same monster would increase.

As for the conflict between the two major guilds, the spectators all expressed their support.

Qi Sheng naturally knew about the clash between the two major guilds, having observed it from the shadows.

He had no intention of stopping them.

Before transmigrating and inheriting Di Zhao's solid Origin Source, he had loved all kinds of games and been a loyal gamer.

When he first created the Challenger System, he had already considered the issue of competition between players.

In MMORPGs, there were many factors that stimulated players' desire to grow stronger. One major factor was conflict and competition between players.

To pressure players into spending money, many games would even deliberately set up resources that needed to be contested, provoking conflicts between players.

Some game companies would even specifically recruit a group of "plants" to cause trouble in the game or join different game guilds, provoking fierce confrontations between players on both sides and increasing their desire to spend money and grow stronger.

From the perspective of growing stronger, the motivation brought about by players fighting each other far outweighed the losses caused by internal friction.

As the pressure from external forces such as the Black Tide Legion increased in the future, players of the same faction would inevitably choose to cooperate in facing it.

(This chapter ends.)