The Data Cage, Desires with a Price

The news of a new quest being added to the Emperor's Tomb Mountain Range instantly ignited the Forum.

Upon learning that the final reward of the hidden quest chain represented by the black exclamation mark was a Primal Monster, the expressions on all the players' faces became quite interesting.

Primal Monster and resource nodes are the core objectives for faction development in the eyes of players.

The exact number of Primal Monster in the entire Monster World is completely unknown.

However, each time a Primal Monster is taken in, it can change the player ecosystem and even give rise to entirely new gameplay styles.

From the two major schools of magic and warrior in the past, it has developed into nine major schools today.

The more choices available in the Soul Repository, the more gameplay systems can be expanded upon.

Therefore, capturing Primal Monster is an obsession for many players and a glorious moment that can be recorded in history.

To paraphrase a player on the Forum: "Having screenshots of the Containment of the Origin Source gives you a lot of confidence on the Forum. You disagree? I'll show you the Containment screenshots and ask you this: I've contributed to the guild and added ingredients to the Monster Soul Bucket, what about you?"

However, in the process of containing Primal Monster, luck often outweighs effort.

Some players fished by the sea all day without doing anything, and then received a level 1 Primal Monster as a gift after dying and being reborn in other areas.

There's no need for a fight; a mere wave of the hand is enough to suppress it into the Soul Repository.

Some players form large teams, travel across mountains and rivers, and Conquest everywhere, but they never even see a shadow of Primal Monster.

Therefore, luck plays a crucial role in containing Primal Monster.

But to everyone's surprise, the Di Nian Bully actually offered a convenient service for containing Primal Monster.

This eliminates the need for players to search, providing them with a direct path to obtain Origin Source Elements through effort.

The related discussions intensified on the Forum.

A post by Detailed Study Faction player quickly rose to the top of the Forum's trending list.

After five years and eight months since the server opened, the Newbie Village has finally refreshed its quests, and this time even hidden quests have been introduced!

Oh no, the Newbie Village really does feel like Newbie Village now!

Posted by: Little White Mouse.

content:

Brothers, I logged off yesterday to handle some family matters.

When I logged on today, I saw on the Forum that the Di Nian Bully had posted a large number of Primal Monster in the Mission Market —my first reaction was to rub my eyes and then pinch my thigh hard.

pain.

This is not an illusion.

When I first saw this news, I genuinely thought I was still asleep; it seemed so illogical.

Before this, a few friends and I had already Di Nian Bully is.

A warrior from the Black Tide System, who should have been the Deterioration, instead of thinking about how to destroy the world and kill everywhere, took the lead in creating an "Evil Spirit Alliance," becoming an NPC that issues quests, dutifully giving us quests and rewards, and ordering us around.

The contrast made us laugh for ages.

The purpose is not hard to guess. It must be to take advantage of the fact that players can kill and eliminate enemies to deal with some troublesome matters. Secondly, it is also to relieve the pressure on the Di Nian Bully. Once players accept the quest, they will naturally not cause trouble for him.

This is a completely open conspiracy.

But what's the problem? The problem is that it gives too much.

Black Tide Crystals can be considered as Sacrificial Power, and the mission rewards are incredibly generous.

As a result, the Mission Market has grown larger and larger, and many top guilds and warbands have begun to establish long-term presence in the Mission Market, genuinely Di Nian Bully alliance to expand its territory and fight against other forces.

We were joking in the group chat that the Di Nian Bully missing compared to real NPCs was giving out physical rewards.

Similar to other games, NPC rewards are diverse and cannot be limited to just currency.

However, if they were to give us physical items like knowledge transfer or weapon forging blueprints, we players definitely wouldn't be happy. What use would those things be to us?

It cannot be eaten, nor can it be directly converted into attributes.

The result—I never expected this.

The Bully actually offered a "physical reward," and it was a bombshell: Primal Monster.

In the eyes of players, no physical reward is more valuable than Primal Monster.

I saw the screenshots uploaded by the guys, and the strongest one in them is actually a seventh-generation Origin Source with Hunting Level of 13, which is simply outrageous.

This means that in the Di Nian Bully will provide convenient services for the development of our power system.

So, I have a sentence in my head that I must shout out on behalf of all players, "Di Nian Bully, you still say you're not an NPC?"

With its comprehensive service including a task system, reward system, and physical rewards (top-tier ones at that), it's almost as good as a real NPC, except it's practically being punished by having an exclamation mark above its head in the main square of Emperor's Family Village.

Okay, jokes aside, let's analyze this seriously: what exactly is the purpose of the Di Nian Bully, or rather, the "Evil Spirit Alliance" behind it, launching this "hidden quest chain + Primal Monster reward" model?

I have a few preliminary speculations.

The first step is to further bind the high-end combat forces within our "village-level community".

Using our most desired "Monster Soul" as bait, they lured us deeper into the "Bully Alliance's" war machine and mission system, to complete the alliance's assigned, more difficult and complex "hidden missions."

It's tantamount to using our power to help them achieve their strategic goals.

The villagers all know about the Bully's situation. He started fighting with us as soon as the server opened, and he's been holding out for several versions. Compared to other Evil Spirit, his stinginess is practically ingrained in his bones. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say he's mentally ill.

Why are they so stingy? It's because they were terrified of being poor back in the day.

In its early versions, it was repeatedly crushed by local groups due to near-exhaustion of resources, and was almost wiped out several times. It survived the low period by relying on the survival tactics of the natural disaster walls, and only then did it manage to reach its current strength.

These hard times instilled in the Di Nian Bully an almost perverse desire and obsession with resources. It wanted to divide every bit of Black Tide energy into eight parts, striving to use it wisely and not wasting a single bit.

Facing the Insect Race, the Bully may have a tough time, but at least he can get a few bites.

However, for us players, it's purely an expense; there's absolutely no return.

The daily expenditure on resources is by no means a small amount.

For this resource-obsessed Bully, the days of only spending and not receiving made him extremely uneasy.

It must have been itching to find a way to extract some resources from us for a long time, but it just hasn't found the right approach yet.

After all, we're not stupid; there's no way we'll just hand over our resources.

It's impossible to succeed by deception.

Back then, they wanted to infiltrate our Player Camp as "Black Tide players," but the scam failed as soon as it started.

And the Primal Monster gave it just the right opportunity.

Many of you may have forgotten that back then, the Bully actually used Primal Monster to test us players.

At the time, we used "Ice Mist Breath" Origin Source observe whether players could gain power from Primal Monster, and it proved to be true.

This step foreshadowed something important.

Now that the Mission Market is operating stably, we have established certain cooperative projects with the Bully.

What was foreshadowed years ago has become an opportunity.

Primal Monster are worthless and useless to Evil Spirit spirits, but to us players, they are highly sought-after treasures that everyone is fighting tooth and nail for.

If a million could buy a Origin Source, I believe many fellow villagers would be willing to spend that money.

This is an honor that allows players to speak more loudly on the Forum; after successful containment, screenshots must be permanently posted on the player's personal Forum page.

The Di Nian Bully clearly understood the significance of the Origin Source to us.

Using this pile of "waste" as bait to create a hidden quest chain mode, it seems like a freebie for us, but in reality, it's a risk-free and highly profitable business.

It eliminates the need to spend resources as rewards, allowing players to compete fiercely to complete challenging tasks and help the Evil Spirit Alliance solve various thorny problems. This saves far more resources than simply issuing tasks directly.

Although it doesn't directly take existing resources from us, the essence of the task chain model is genuine open source.

The process of players completing tasks creates value for the Evil Spirit Alliance; the saved rewards and the troubles solved by tasks are all benefits.

This move takes cost-saving and revenue generation to the extreme, perfectly aligning with its abnormally stingy resource usage philosophy.

The Bully's current goal is to Definition a completely new standard of value through the Primal Monster.

In the future, player-to-player trading, teamwork, and even internal competition may all revolve around "Primal Monster".

The Bully Alliance, meanwhile, firmly holds the position of publisher, driving us to do the work.

In summary:

The Di Nian Bully, seemingly absurd and generous, is actually terrifying upon closer examination.

Its scope has transcended the typical NPC setting; it's more like a game designer.

They subtly guide and even Shaping our players' behavior patterns.

But unlike those game designers who always try to slow down the game's progress and annoy players, this Bully is genuinely generous!

The response was precise and effective, directly addressing the ultimate needs of all the villagers.

The newly launched hidden mission mode offers unprecedented opportunities.

This creates a path for us players to contain the Origin Source through effort.

But there's no such thing as a free lunch, especially when Bully treats you to a meal.

I estimate the upcoming mission mode will be incredibly exciting.

Everyone, get ready. This mode could be a shortcut for us to contain the Primal Monster.

Judging from the trend, as the Bully Alliance continues to expand, more and more node Evil Spirit will join, and the number of Primal Monster that can be sent to the Imperial Family Mountains will also continue to increase.

Therefore, my conclusion is: even knowing that we are being used, it is definitely a landmark event for our Player Camp.

It leverages our most desired rewards to motivate us, and both sides benefit from it.

Finally, I can't help but shout:

Di Nian Bully, you're really pushing the boundaries of villainy! Your business has expanded from destroying the world to managing NPCs, and now you're even stealing the game planner's job, huh? Brother Di Zhao, take a look at this!

Comment section. "First comment, Rat's analysis is spot on! The last sentence cracked me up! Brother Di Zhao, you need to do something about this Bully. This guy wants to be an NPC now, did he get your permission?"

"Putting everything else aside, just for the seventh generation of Origin Source, I'll give up. Who knows? I've been a player for four years and haven't even seen a shadow of Origin Source. This Bully has directly put a shortcut in my face. Fine, I'll take it, I'll grind myself to death to get it."

"Here's a little-known fact: I realized back then during the Ice Mist Breath incident that there was something fishy about the Bully directly giving us the Origin Source Bully. Now that I think about it, it turns out the bully was conducting Origin Source compatibility test for us back then." A scheming dog confirmed.

"So—we're actually working for the Di Nian Bully this time? And the pay is from Primal Monster? Damn, I'm actually kind of tempted by this blessing. I'm moved to tears. Finally, there's a containment method that doesn't discriminate based on appearance. The Bully may not be human, but this time he's really humane."

"This Bully everyone's perspective! This isn't just a game planner, this is clearly a top-tier operations manager! They know what the players want, a hundred times better than those who just make empty promises. I suggest Brother Di Zhao give this Bully a Best NPC award at the end of the year (lol)."

The heated discussion sparked by the Di Nian Bully is intensifying on the Forum.

In particular, many of the Origin Source code analysis screenshots have sparked heated discussions among players.

The most popular one is not the seventh generation of Origin Source, but the fifth Origin Source: Shadow Summon.

Veteran players are no strangers to this Monster Soul.

The idea of Summoning Stream gameplay was already in place at the beginning of the server launch.

The core foundation of this concept is Shadow Summon (PS: mentioned in Chapter 26).

Its special effect is to summon Shadow Warrior to fight for you; the specific number and strength of the summoned warriors are affected by your own mental strength.

The post that made him famous in the Black Night Approaching" section offered three Astral Veins preview combinations.

One of them is known as the Shadow Legion.

Centered around Shadow Summon, and inlaid with a set of amplifying Monster Soul attributes, the Shadow Legion's Combat System is constructed.

Many veteran players have been looking forward to this Monster Soul.

More than five years have passed, Shadow Summon has still not appeared in the Soul Repository.

Unexpectedly, the starting point of the Summoning Stream in the eyes of this veteran player would appear in this way.

The appearance of Shadow Summon has also brought ecstasy to countless Summoning Stream players.

This means that the core Monster Soul of the Summoning Stream has been expanded to include another one.

This Monster Soul's strength is even greater than other Monster Soul in the current Summoning Stream.

Because Shadow Warrior are a unit system, not just a single type of unit.

Summoning Stream players can simply socket only Shadow Summon, giving all other gem slots to support-type Monster Soul.

In order to obtain new Monster Soul, many top teams have begun to take action, accepting the hidden missions represented by the black exclamation marks, and fighting to contain the Origin Source.

Throughout this process, the Di Nian Bully monitored the operation of the new mode from the tower platform.

It could not determine the value of the Primal Monster.

It doesn't care how awesome the characteristics of any Primal Monster are, because it can't understand them anyway.

It only cares about one thing: which one do the beast players want most?

Every choice a player makes will be incorporated into a newly developed dynamic value analysis system.

The operating logic of this system is very simple. First, the system initially builds a core test pool with 50 Origin Source. These are the first batch of test samples it obtains from various nodes in the alliance. Each Origin Source is assigned a unique number, corresponding to a hidden task chain. The initial number and difficulty of the tasks in the task chain are initially set uniformly.

However, the exact number of quests behind each Primal Monster remains a secret from the player.

Players can only see the phantom of the Primal Monster and Primal Monster number; they cannot directly analyze how many quests follow this monster, or even the specific difficulty of those quests.

At this stage, players can only make choices based on their needs.

The core operational logic of the system is to convert the player's choice of the quest chain into an increase or decrease in the value weight of the corresponding Primal Monster.

The system monitors the number of players accepting each quest chain represented by Origin Source, the progress of completion, and the intensity of team involvement in real time. If a large number of players choose the quest chain for Origin Source #12, or even if multiple top-tier teams choose the same quest node, the system will directly determine that this Origin Source is a core need for the players and automatically upgrade it to #12.

The Origin Source.

At the same time, the corresponding subsequent task chain will be adjusted accordingly.

This includes an increase in the number of tasks and a gradual increase in task difficulty, with basic blue tasks interspersed with challenging gold tasks, making players put in more effort for this high-value Origin Source.

Conversely, if a certain Origin Source is ignored and few people accept it, the system will determine that the Origin Source is a low-demand item for players, automatically reduce its value weight, and the corresponding task chain will be simplified accordingly.

The entire adjustment process is dynamic; as players' choices change, the weights change accordingly, and the quest chain is adjusted in sync.

The value assessment of the Origin Source will be continuously revised, so that the difficulty and quantity of each Origin Source's quest chain accurately match its true value in the players' minds.

The most efficient aspect of this system is that it cannot be cracked even if the player understands its principles.

Players might be able to deduce the pattern of "the more choices, the higher the difficulty" from the changes in the difficulty of the quest chain, and might even band together to deliberately block the core Origin Source, for example, collectively abandoning the high-requirement Origin Source #12 and choosing the low-requirement Origin Source in an attempt to make the system lower the difficulty of the core Origin Source.

But it anticipated this, and this model will maintain a pool of 100 Origin Source in the future.

As long as a player takes away a Origin Source, a new Origin Source will be automatically added.

The neglected Origin Source will remain at its base difficulty for a long time until some players can't resist choosing it, which will trigger a weight increase.

The best approach to containment as quickly as possible is to directly select what is most needed, rather than going around in circles and creating unnecessary complications.

Players who try to exploit difficulty levels will only waste a lot of time.

Secondly, there are many Player Camp factions.

Different types of players have different needs. Even if Branch Group band together to hold onto a certain Origin Source, there will always be other teams that break this banding together in order to be the first to contain the Origin Source.

Ultimately, the system's logic will guide the most truthful choice.

In other words, any deliberate actions by the player are like an ant trying to shake a tree in the face of 100 constant Origin Source and the difference between their own needs. Ultimately, the player's deliberate behavior will only be gradually smoothed out by the system's dynamic rules, making the choice that best fits their true needs and allowing it to obtain the most accurate Origin Source value data.

Players' actual choices will allow the system to gradually accumulate data: Which types of Origin Source are players' absolute needs? How many challenging quests can be completed with the value of each Origin Source? How much time and effort are players willing to invest in a single Origin Source?

This data will be continuously accumulated and analyzed by the system, eventually forming a set of criteria for judging the value of Primal Monster.

Once this standard is finalized, it will have complete control over the pricing power of the Origin Source.

Whether it's continuing to release hidden quest chains, engaging in Origin Source Trade with Alliance Evil Spirit, or even launching new Origin Source -related modes in the future, this set of data can serve as a benchmark, allowing each Origin Source to realize its maximum value.

Ultimately, the system will realize its plan by fulfilling the players' needs: turning those needs into actual resources in its hands.

That is, the original idea: open source.

At this moment, the Di Nian Evil Spirit's Perception covered the bustling Mission Market.

What comes to mind is a graph composed of 50 Origin Source, with each Origin Source's number fluctuating according to the player's choices.

Its gaze fell on one of the curves numbered "29".

This Origin Source being is a cloud of black mist, its body constantly changing form, sometimes a warrior wielding a sharp blade, sometimes a mind Control holding a crystal.

[Target 29: Progress efficiency exceeded baseline by 287%, demand assessment: strong, weighting coefficient: increased, subsequent task chain restructuring in progress----.]

After the judgment was completed, the hidden task chain behind Origin Source No. 29 increased from the initial 8 blue tasks to 10 tasks.

Mission 9: [Infiltrate the depths of the Aso Rift Valley to obtain regional intelligence----] (Difficulty: Blue)

10th Mission: [Eternal Night Node, complete an assassination of "Snake-Admiring Warlord"] (Difficulty: Purple)

Due to overwhelming player demand, the original eight quest chains in Origin Source #29 were expanded to ten.

The difficulty has increased beyond the initial blue level, with purple-level missions now appearing.

The Di Nian Evil Spirit watched the rapidly rising curve, its indifferent face devoid of any emotion, yet a strong sense of satisfaction rose within it.

The player's desires, at this moment, are transformed into pulsating curves.

Each fluctuation in the curve adds a solid foundation for future pricing.

Open source doesn't necessarily mean taking money from players' pockets.

It can also create a betting opportunity they can't refuse.

What it does is to position itself as the house, constantly adjust the odds, and collect all the profits generated from the bets.