Zane-Style Roguelike!

Roguelike, or simply Roguelike, is a Yugi genre.

Simply put, the gameplay involves developing a unique character under randomly generated conditions, constantly challenging deeper levels, and finally battling the final boss.

Around this model, various Roguelike Yugi will generate a large number of gameplay options, add new systems, and revitalize themselves.

Giving Roguelike characters from another world to play with—isn't that a game-changer?

Gong Qiying didn't have such grand ambitions. His current plan was to create a simple and easy-to-understand Roguelike. After all, people from another world had never seen anything like this before, so it was better to start by learning about a simple Roguelike.

Those complex mechanisms were gradually added over time.

Gong Qiying's design for the Roguelike system is as follows:

Adventurers can randomly receive a "blessing" from different factions after each victory in battle.

Unlocking three or more Blessings of the same faction unlocks a class for that faction and grants a unique ability called "Grace." Each class also provides certain bonuses to the adventurer.

The levels are roughly divided into "Combat Level" and "Event Level". There's not much to say about Combat Level; just enjoy the combat.

Adventurers will encounter a series of events fabricated by Gong Qiying in Event Level, making various choices and receiving various rewards, and sometimes even negative rewards.

These events were entirely written by Gong Qiying. Some were to expand the world-building, some were to introduce characters who would appear later, and some were...

Others are simply doing something silly.

After seriously writing down a dozen or so events, he got a terrible headache and needed some lighthearted antics to relax, both for himself and for the adventurers.

Regardless of the level an adventurer challenges, there is a chance of encountering Elite Monsters after completing three levels, and a guaranteed encounter after completing a maximum of five levels. Defeating Elite Monsters will yield generous rewards.

After encountering three Elite Monsters, each level has a chance to trigger the final boss battle, with the probability increasing as you progress, until the trigger probability reaches 99%.

Theoretically, if someone is lucky enough, they might never encounter the final boss. When they get all the blessings and kill the boss with a single blow, they should feel an unparalleled sense of satisfaction.

After winning the battle and receiving the rewards, you will be teleported back to the starting point. All previously obtained blessings, class-related negative statuses, etc., will be refreshed, and you will have to start all over again.

These are roughly the designs that Gong Qiying has created so far.

There are still many things that can be added, such as bonus levels, rest levels, and various unique mechanisms. If it can be improved in the future, it will definitely be a very large system.

But what he needs to do now is to test the reaction of the people from the other world in the simplest way possible, and see how accepting they are.

So far, the response seems to be quite good.

Including Leon and his group, there are thirty-seven adventurers currently in Roguelike mode. These are all elites who can find Hidden paths even in dangerous environments with volleys of arrows, making them perfect for testing.

Some people received a great combination of blessings and were quite happy.

Some people have obtained enough props to handle the situation and are full of confidence.

Someone encountered a bad choice in a random event and is currently in a red-hot state.

Some people were simply too weak to defeat the Elite Monsters and were forced to delete their accounts and start over again and again, until their Spirit Power reached a dangerous level and they died.

Regardless of the reaction, as long as the adventurer is in an excited state, it plays right into Gong Qiying's hands.

I'm not afraid of you criticizing Saine, I'm just afraid you won't react.

Gong Qiying turned to the next page, which listed the current design for bestowing blessings.

Tomb King, Sun, Abyss.

Dark Moon, Chaos, Ancient Dragon.

These six blessings are tentatively considered the mainstream, and the probability of encountering them is the highest.

In addition to these six, Gong Qiying has prepared other blessings, which adventurers have a chance to encounter during their explorations. Currently envisioned blessings include:

Hunter, Ninja, Azure Star, Trainer, Holy Nest, Blood Code.

More will be added in the future.

These can be called hidden blessings, but in some areas they can become mainstream.

When in a Monster Hunter -themed scenario, the blessing of the Azure Star becomes the mainstream.

For testing purposes, there is currently only one Roguelike route in the Zane Dungeon, and only the Gravelord's Blessing has appeared, mixed with a small number of other blessings.

Gong Qiying intended to make the Roguelike mode a feature of the Val Dungeon, rather than that of Sion, which is why he didn't make extensive changes here.

How to integrate the Roguelike gameplay with the Living Dungeon is a problem.

After all, Roguelike crave fast-paced excitement, while life goes on second by second, unless Crimson King erases time.

Fortunately, he has plenty of time to think, the future is long, and there is a lot of room for improvement.

"You've really been a great help."

Gong Qiying stroked the Knowledge Crystal and muttered to himself.

The City Lord Panel in front of him displayed the following text:

[Zane Dungeon, Level 3 Access]

[Val Dungeon, Level 2 Access]

If you click on the Val Dungeon at the bottom, you'll find that its access permissions are completely different from those of Sein.

[Permissions: Rogue]

It was precisely because of this newly acquired permission that Gong Qiying was able to construct a Roguelike system within the dungeon.

This permission allows him to freely add Roguelike elements to the dungeon, but sometimes it also imposes restrictions.

When he writes a blessing, the permissions will restrict what he can write. The effect cannot be too overpowered. Blessings that allow adventurers to become gods overnight or turn into trash are absolutely impossible to write.

He had to add restrictions when he wanted to write some powerful blessings, just like Jia Paer became high attack and low health.

When he writes the event, this permission can recreate a series of events that occurred after the adventurer made a choice, but these are just an incredibly realistic illusion.

The most obvious manifestation is that adventurers cannot control their actions within the illusion and can only view it from a first-person perspective.

The advantage is that the monsters appearing in the illusion do not require him to expend Spirit Power; otherwise, even if he were drained of his mental energy, he would not be able to summon Midir.

The various injuries and negative statuses that adventurers suffer will manifest on their bodies as damage to life, reduced movement speed, and lethargy, rather than actually infecting them with certain statuses.

Otherwise, the swordsman infected with the Scarlet Corruption would have already blossomed.

Now, Gong Qiying can add all sorts of harmful elements to the incident without any scruples.

Perfect!

The more Gong Qiying looked at it, the more he felt that this permission was tailor-made for him, and indeed it was.

He only discovered when he first obtained the authority to rule the Val Dungeon that the two dungeons had different authority levels, and the Val Dungeon had to be upgraded from level one again!

At first, he thought it was a terrible concept, but after delving deeper into the Knowledge Crystal, he discovered it was a great thing.

Because it gave Gong Qiying the opportunity to gain more authority.

Gong Qiying had always had a misconception—he thought that all Dungeon Lord had the same privileges, since [Teleportation] and [Mimicry] seemed too commonplace.

Actually, no!

Each city lord has unique privileges!

Each upgrade will generate new permissions based on the characteristics of its dungeon lord, just like [Rogue], which is impossible to appear on other dungeon lords.

Now every upgrade is like opening a blind box; Gong Qiying will always be full of anticipation for what new permissions he will receive.

In addition, Knowledge Crystal also mentioned one point—

Permissions can be stolen.

After Deathmatch, the victor can choose one of the defeated player's dungeon accesses to take away.

However, this would prevent the player from taking over the opponent's dungeon; the defeated player would die, and their dungeon would enter a dormant period.

Whether to prioritize access or the dungeon is a matter worth considering; sometimes, good access is more valuable than the dungeon itself.

Gong Qiying began to look forward to what privileges the Calamity Nest Dungeon would have.

The day of the Deathmatch is drawing ever closer. He just checked and saw that the portrait of Sword Saint Gapar has appeared in the [United Ones] section, although the bond value is very low.

"Let's see if we can kill the Sword Saint a few more times in the next few days, then we can send him to blast fish in the bugs."

Gong Qiying felt that he was both good and bad.

Meanwhile, the adventurers' exploration continues in full swing.

However, some people have already been killed and sent back to the starting point.

It was Malu and Te Er who unfortunately received negative effects in the Event Level and subsequently died at the hands of Elite Monsters.

To their surprise, after they died, they did not return to the campfire, but instead returned to where the dream began—the teleportation chest in front of the dead end.

They originally planned to leave the dungeon once they returned to the campfire.

After all, the distance Firelink Shrine and the Gravesite is quite far, making it too troublesome for the Roguelike to run between them.

But now they've actually sent them back to where the level started. So...

"One more time?" Malu looked at Te Er, who nodded, his eyes revealing a fighting spirit.

He was confident that he would not make the wrong choice if given the chance again, and he was determined to kill the monster that had killed him!

"Rush!"

Sometimes, addiction happens in an instant.

Let's take a look at the Blademaster, who has the most powerful stats among all Roguelike players. He should be able to clear the game without any obstacles, right?

No, he feels like he's about to die.

"There is still no cure for corruption."

Jia Paer's face turned visibly pale; decay had already taken away half of his life force.

If he still hasn't found a cure for Scarlet Corruption by the next level, he'll have to leave the game with regret.

It's so frustrating, so incredibly frustrating.

The first time he died from Curse of Death, the second time from Scarlet Corruption, what about the third time?

He suddenly coughed, his expression full of confusion.

Why should I even suspect that I might die?!

Has spending too much time in the Zane Dungeon made my brain go haywire?

"This underground city makes me feel really uncomfortable."

Jia Paer glanced at the somewhat damaged longsword, but ultimately opened the teleportation chest.

Hopefully, there will be a cure in the next level.

I deliberately wrote the new permissions vaguely.