Emperor Tomb Village, Primordial Sacrificial Altar.
Standing before the containment Crystal Wall, Qi Sheng swept his gaze over the contained Primordial Monsters.
Just that morning, a new member had joined the Containment Wall.
At that moment, containment cells 1-12 held Gargoyle (Petrification), Eagle-Headed Demon (Grudge Chant), Black-Armored Snake (Deadly Poison), Bonefire (Inkflame), Strength Savage, Shatter, Sweep, Soul-Severer, Nether Ghost, Taunt, Duskshadow (Shadow Transformation), and Light Shield, respectively.
The vast majority of these Primordial Monsters were named after their abilities.
Light Shield, the monster contained in the twelfth cell, was a cloudlike creature with a hunting level of only 3, an unexpected find by a solo player exploring the Blood Plains.
Light Shield's ability allowed the use of mental power to construct energy shields that could expand and contract freely, resisting various types of attacks.
After Light Shield's Life Soul was contained, it attracted large numbers of players to test and evaluate it, and players on the Forum considered it another suitable option for ranged Star Meridian Schools.
The Eagle-Headed Demon + Bonefire form possessed powerful ranged attacks and sustained damage capabilities, lacking only means of survival. Neither Eagle-Headed Demon nor Bonefire was a defensive or melee-type Life Soul, and at the same level, there was a marked gap between them and Life Souls such as Black-Armored Snake and Gargoyle.
Light Shield's appearance delighted many players who had chosen Eagle-Headed Demon as their starting form. They believed Light Shield's Life Soul could make up for their inadequate defenses.
But compared with all that, Qi Sheng cared most about his Sacrificial Power Returns.
Of the twelve contained Primordial Monsters, eleven were First-Generation Primordials, each providing 10 Sacrificial Power per hour, for a daily output of 2,640.
Taunt was a Second-Generation Primordial, producing 50 Sacrificial Power per hour and 1,200 per day.
His steady daily Sacrificial Power Returns stood at 3,840.
On the player side, after deducting the 10-point Flesh Reconstruction cost incurred by player deaths, each player produced an average of 3 Sacrificial Power daily through commissions from the shop, sacrifices, and hunting, contributing over thirty thousand Sacrificial Power Returns to him each day.
Together, this income was enough to issue thirty recruitment slots every day.
As the players grew stronger and brought in more Sacrificial Power Returns, he would only recruit players faster and faster, creating a positive cycle of development.
After tallying his income, Qi Sheng decided to update the Challenger System right away.
From the player conversations and feedback he had previously compiled from within the game, he had identified four settings that needed changing or adding.
"Guide, get to work."
Hearing him, the Guide Water Orb floating beside him conjured an arm and saluted him with a solemn expression:
[∠(°ゝ°) Roger that. Getting to work right away.]
As those words fell, a pitch-black vortex appeared before the Guide Water Orb, which floated into it and disappeared.
Several minutes later, a Challenger notification sounded in every player's mind:
[Challenger notification: the game will soon update to version 1.2. The update contents are as follows]: I. Added a party experience-sharing mode. While in a party, all party members will evenly split the Evolution Points and Sacrificial Power rewards from killing monsters. Entitlement to hunting rewards will be calculated according to damage dealt to the monster; landing the final blow will no longer grant all rewards. II. Refined chat channels. 1. In addition to the Party Chat Channel, Regional Chat Channel, and World Chat Channel, added a Small Regional Chat Channel, displayed in the chat interface by location name. 2. Added a Keyword Filtering Function to chat channels. III. Added guild functionality. Once this update is complete, players may visit Emperor Tomb Village's newest building, the "Guild Hall," and pay 100 Sacrificial Power to create a guild and form a player group. Various types of guild-based gameplay 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 rewards for exploring fog-covered areas of the map. V. Added the Leaderboard Function. Once this update is complete, players may view the leaderboards through the Function Panel. The ranking categories are as follows: 1. Monster Level Ranking. 2. Player Star Meridian Level Ranking. 3. Player Body Tempering Level Ranking. 4. Star Meridian Overall Rating Ranking (rated according to the overall strength of the monster Life Souls inlaid in a Star Meridian). 5. Armed Vehicles (not yet available) 6. Guild Level Ranking (not yet available) (This is a live update. Players do not need to log out and wait.)
The update notification instantly sent the player Forum buzzing with activity.
Players launched into heated discussions about the update.
Gold-Farming Gamer: They finally added party experience sharing. The old setting where whoever landed the kill got all the rewards was such a pain. Every time someone landed the finishing blow, they'd get harshly criticized by the rest of the party. In the end, we could only solve it by taking turns landing the final blow.
Shrimp with a Heart: Party experience sharing and damage calculations have completely shut down those kill-stealing dogs running around everywhere. Our team was already planning to camp the Respawn Point (Emperor Tomb Village) and kill those bastards stealing everyone's kills. The official update has resolved a major potential problem. Thumbs up.
Are You a Beaver?: Group players are ecstatic. Guild functionality and party experience sharing are exactly what we needed. We can finally form guilds.
The update was completed mere seconds after the notification appeared.
The arrival of the Leaderboard Function brought quite a few players' names into the public eye.
Of the six leaderboard categories, aside from the final two that were not yet available, the remaining rankings became the focus of the players' attention.
Especially the players in first place on each leaderboard.
At the top of the Monster Level Ranking was none other than "Li Zheng," the first player to enter the game. His Black-Armored Snake form had surpassed every other player's monster level, reaching level 19.
The same person held first place in both the Star Meridian Level Ranking and the Body Tempering Level Ranking.
He was Blacksmith, the first to pioneer the Artifact Spirit Path of growth. His Body Tempering level and Star Meridian level had both reached 5, allowing him to inlay five monster Life Souls and inherit the full attribute bonuses of all five simultaneously.
First place on the final leaderboard, the Star Meridian Overall Rating Ranking, belonged to So Poor I Eat Dirt.
Both their Bonefire Form and Eagle-Headed Demon Form had reached level 14, giving them the highest overall rating of any player.
As for Blacksmith, although he possessed five Life Souls, the Evolution Points he earned fighting in human form had to be divided evenly among them. As a result, his five Artifact Spirit Life Souls had an average level of only 5, and his overall rating was lower than So Poor I Eat Dirt's.
An hour after the update ended, large numbers of players exploring outside returned to Emperor Tomb Village, pooling 100 Sacrificial Power to establish guilds.
The Dinner Drunkards Guild, the Kindergarten Guild, the Apocalypse Technology Guild... The arrival of guild mode gave many groups an internal communication channel.
The Party Voice Channel could hold no more than thirty people, and they had to be in the same region to establish it. Cross-regional chat was impossible.
The Guild Voice Channel, however, had no restrictions on numbers or regions. Even players in Emperor Tomb Village could communicate with fellow guild members thousands of miles away, while also avoiding the nuisance of advertisements flooding the Regional Chat Channel.
Once this update was complete, positive player feedback poured in.
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