Obsidian Martial Arts Hall, early morning, the rising sun had just begun to glow.
As players emerged one after another from the underground burrow, preparing to report to Lin Qi and settle the Martial Hall Points they had earned that night, they suddenly discovered that Lin Qi had surprisingly not slept in the lounge.
Instead, he was in a newly renovated sparring room, fiddling with something.
"Dojo Master, what are you planning to do with this Mechanical Doll?"
Twilight of the Gods stepped forward, curiosity and anticipation in his eyes, hoping to trigger some new storyline and obtain a new quest from Lin Qi, this NPC.
The Mechanical Doll before them was not large, only around 1.8 meters tall. It resembled a wooden training post, with wires running from it to the generator in the lounge. No one could understand what purpose it served.
But since this was something Lin Qi, an NPC, had made, some new event must have appeared.
After fiddling with the Mechanical Doll a few times, Lin Qi turned to the gathered crowd and pointed at the notice board on the training grounds.
"Starting today, for the Martial Hall's future development, in addition to opening some disciple training functions, there will also be several new rules within the Martial Hall. At the same time, Martial Hall Contribution is now available. If there's anything you don't understand, go check the notice board."
When faced with players whose initiative was far too strong, Lin Qi could only bring out the trump card used by major games—the contribution system.
Otherwise, who knew when his Martial Arts Hall would ever be fully repaired.
Notice One: New Martial Hall Rules. No combat of any kind is permitted within the Martial Hall, nor may any buildings within the Martial Hall be damaged. First offense: warning and a deduction of 200 points. Second offense: confinement and a deduction of 2,000 points. Third offense: immediate expulsion from the Martial Hall. Notice Two: Martial Hall Contribution is now available. Contribution differs from Martial Hall Points. It is a special currency that can only be obtained by completing specific quests. Notice Three: Skill Realm testing is now available. Spend Contribution at Instructor Number One, and players may receive one guided evaluation.
Instructor Number One, in particular, was a devastating weapon for the current players.
Lin Qi had originally been quite troubled over how to keep these battle-crazed people in line. Whenever they had nothing to do, they would give the Martial Arts Hall a few hits. Repairs could not keep up with the players' destruction, yet these players had little enthusiasm for repairing the Martial Arts Hall.
Now, this Mechanical Doll could be said to have solved the problem perfectly.
Didn't these players enjoy practicing the techniques they had mastered in other virtual games?
This Mechanical Doll could analyze a player's Skill Realm and technical level with precision through their demonstrations, then compare them against big data from a century ago to produce an accurate score.
It was like a martial arts instructor giving a student's test paper a precise grade, even if the player had written that test paper themselves.
This way, when the players used self-created martial arts, they would have a rough direction to follow. Though it would not be entirely accurate due to data limitations, it was already more than enough for the current players.
The people gathered around the notice board erupted as they read the latest announcements from the Martial Arts Hall.
"Awesome! After so many days, we finally have a chance to test our skills."
"But what does Instructor Number One mean by technical level?"
"It should refer to our combat level. Physical fitness is physical fitness, and combat is combat. It's just that this guidance is so expensive—one session costs ten Contribution, while repairing a single wall only gives one Contribution."
"It's already good enough that repair quests give Contribution. Didn't you see that the underground expansion quest doesn't reward even a single point of Contribution?"
The crowd discussed the game's newly unlocked features. They were somewhat dissatisfied by how scarce quest Contribution was, but now, if they wanted Contribution, they had no choice but to take on Martial Arts Hall repair quests.
"Sis Wu, do you think the Dojo Master suddenly issuing new rules and activating Martial Hall Contribution means a new storyline is about to begin?" Twilight of the Gods asked excitedly as he looked toward Instructor Number One in the sparring room.
"A new storyline?" Luo Wu Shang could not help reading through the new notice again, and some thoughts arose in her mind. "What makes you think that?"
Repairing the Martial Arts Hall had originally been the game's main quest. Now, Contribution had suddenly been added, and only Martial Arts Hall repair quests rewarded Contribution. That was indeed rather strange.
"Sis Wu, didn't we have a conflict with the White Feather Gang some time ago?" Twilight of the Gods smiled and said in a low voice, "Now the Dojo Master has suddenly brought out Instructor Number One. It's obvious this Instructor Number One was prepared to test our combat strength. Do you think our Martial Arts Hall is preparing to go to war with the White Feather Gang? Otherwise, why test our combat strength?"
"Indeed. We don't even have monsters to fight right now. Testing combat strength at this point should be the game testing us for the upcoming combat main storyline." Fang Zhen nodded, thoroughly agreeing. "After all, this game is still in its beta testing phase. The later opponents can't be set too strong, or we'll all be wiped out. But they can't be too weak either, or there won't be any challenge."
"So they're using Instructor Number One to test our current combat strength, so they can arrange opponents afterward."
"That really is possible. The game development companies I visited before all found batches of skilled gamers for testing." Zhang Qingwei thought for a moment, then looked at Lin Qi, who was still making final adjustments, anticipation in her eyes. "It's perfectly normal for this game company to use us for testing. The previous battles were far too easy, and the game company probably noticed, so they specifically made an Instructor Number One to give us some challenges later."
"Holy shit! Are you all monsters? You managed to analyze all that?" One Leaf Floating Cloud was utterly stunned as he listened to their conversation.
One Leaf Floating Cloud had originally thought this was just a minor update, but he had never expected this game company to have hidden so many twists and turns beneath the surface.
Fortunately, there was no shortage of talented people on their side.
They had forcibly traced the game's future development through a few tiny details.
"In that case, we should make more preparations as well." Fang Zhen looked forward to it. "We gained quite a lot from the last quest. The rewards for the next main combat quest probably won't be low either. If we perform well enough, maybe we'll finally have weapons afterward."
"A main combat quest?" Outlander Gunslinger could not help clenching both fists. "I didn't get a chance last time to see it for myself. This time, I'm definitely going to fight to my heart's content!"
Lin Qi did not hear a word of the players' discussion. Even if he had, he would only have thought these players had gone completely mad for battle.
He was not some demon. He simply wanted the players to repair the Martial Arts Hall. What other schemes or thoughts could he possibly have?
Obsidian Martial Arts Hall, sparring room.
"Finally, it's adjusted!"
After spending nearly three hours on it, Lin Qi had finally completed all adjustments to Instructor Number One.
"Who wants to try it first?"
Lin Qi looked at the players, each of whom had already repaired dozens of walls, and asked with great satisfaction.
"Then I'll go first."
Luo Wu Shang stepped out from the crowd and was the first to volunteer.
During the new book period, please support with monthly votes! Please keep reading! Please recommend!
Before you continue