The Purpose of a Boss

Hearing this, Xiao Yu felt a little annoyed. It seemed that apart from being able to be arrogant at the beginning and kill a few heroes, he had been constantly encountering various defeats, and in the end, he was even killed? This was too ridiculous.

"What if they can't beat me?" Xiao Yu suddenly asked.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Zhang Xinghun seemed a little confused about Xiao Yu's meaning.

"I mean, what if those players are too weak to defeat me?"

Zhang Xinghun shook his head. "That's impossible. The purpose of a BOSS is for adventurers to defeat. If you don't die, how will this expansion end? So you absolutely cannot die in the early stages of the expansion, but you will definitely die when the expansion ends."

We've also considered the possibility that adventurers won't be able to defeat you. If an adventurer team can't defeat you, we'll weaken your strength while simultaneously strengthening the adventurers' strength, alternating between the two each month, until the adventurers finally defeat you.

Xiao Yu thought to himself, "Damn, is that even possible?" But then again, it makes sense; what boss isn't pushed by adventurers? But he still decided to give it a shot; after all, living is better than dying.

Although the game company's previous agreement stipulated that if a contracted player's character died when required by the storyline, the game company would provide compensation, it is still not as valuable as being alive.

After thinking for a moment, Xiao Yu suggested, "How about this: because the Elemental King's power is too great, the Chaos Elemental cannot be completely killed. Therefore, with the help of the adventurers, the heroes ultimately defeated the Elemental King and sealed him in the Twisting Nether, instead of killing him. That way, if I need to appear in the future, I can still show my face, right?"

"I see," Zhang Xinghun seemed a little hesitant. "Sealing it would also work, that way there would be follow-up plot developments, so let's tentatively call it sealing." He said, making a few changes in his notebook.

Xiao Yu finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Wait a minute, why aren't we in this scene?" The Samat the Dracolich suddenly spoke up, and his words resonated with many others. This time, thirteen monster factions had been selected.

Zhang Xinghun said, "Of course you'll have a role. What I just told you is just the outline of the main storyline of the expansion. There are many side stories I haven't mentioned yet. We'll do a statistical analysis and add all the bosses related to elemental energy into the Rise of the Elemental King storyline. They can either become the Elemental King's subordinates or allies. Each boss will have their own side story."

We'll write about the specific plot details later.

In addition, there are some bosses who have no connection with the Elemental King, and you will also have your own independent storylines. This is what we will discuss next. You should know that this expansion is "Rise of the Elemental King", so it is naturally themed around elemental creatures. All bosses related to elements have the opportunity to appear. However, the other selected bosses cannot be idle either. After all, there can't be only one villain in a world. Others also need to form different monster forces to fight against the adventurers.

They can cause trouble, but they certainly can't be as powerful as the elements.

At the same time, in order to achieve a more grand effect, the merging of other BOSS and monster forces is inevitable.

All Undead bosses can be considered the Scourge's vanguard; if the next expansion focuses on the Undead, it would be a good opportunity to build anticipation.

The same applies to demons and Dragon Clan; basically, the major monster factions need to be merged.

This way, you can lay the groundwork for the second and third expansion packs. Your performance in this expansion pack is also very important, because if you perform well enough and lay out enough plot, the chances of you being the main character in the next expansion pack will be higher.

Other bosses without a clear system, such as beast-type bosses or ogres—niche bosses—could be introduced as world bosses in expansion packs, giving players more diverse choices.

At this point, Elena Sunstrider suddenly spoke up, "So, in this expansion, our storyline is to be left to our own devices, rather than being designed by you?"

"That's right," Zhang Xinghun nodded and explained, "I've done a lot of game scriptwriting before. In those games, the game content was completely controlled by the official team. The process of every plot event and the life and death of every plot character were all arranged in advance by us. We just wrote the script and then followed it. But the game Sky World is a bit special. First of all, there is the concept of plot-driven deaths. Once a plot character dies in a plot event, it's a real death, unlike other games where you can kill and die repeatedly."

Secondly, each game character possesses free will, and we cannot control them in every aspect. Therefore, in many situations, players need to use their own judgment.

For example, as we mentioned before, the plan for the Elemental Tide event is to have a few hero characters die to create atmosphere, but we won't directly determine who dies or how they die; that will be left to your discretion at the time."

"In other words, whoever is unlucky dies?" the Dragon-Slaying Sword Saint suddenly interjected.

Zhang Xinghun shrugged. "You could say that, but in reality, it still comes down to strength."

Just to be on the safe side, we'll design a death line for all participating heroes. Before you die, remember to finish reciting your line.

As soon as these words were spoken, the faces of the group of hero players immediately turned rather ugly.

A girl suddenly raised her hand and said, "Wait a minute, if the heroes who die are random, then can we also freely choose the heroes who lead the Alliance and the Horde to attack the Elemental King?"

Zhang Xinghun nodded. "Yes, that's how it's designed in principle. Of course, to take on such an important task, the leading hero must have a high enough reputation in the Alliance and the Horde. Therefore, your performance in the Elemental Tide incident directly affects whether you are qualified to do so in the future."

After the Elemental Tide event concludes, our team will design the detailed content of the subsequent storyline based on your performance during the Elemental Tide.

Upon hearing this, the group of heroes were no longer calm.

Since the decision is made freely, there's a huge amount of room for maneuver. If you're unlucky enough to be wiped out in the Elemental Tide, that's tragic; you'll only get a compensation payment and then be forced to retire.

Conversely, if they don't die and perform brilliantly in the story, they might become a leading hero later on. Everyone who has played many games knows that being a leading hero is arguably the most lucrative job in the game. Adventurers will fight for them, and they can collect kills themselves. They can also play an important role in the game's story, making it a win-win situation for both fame and fortune.

The key lies in the Elemental Tide event. To avoid being killed off by the plot and even stand out in this event, one's relationship with the Elemental King is undoubtedly crucial. Everyone has witnessed the power of the Azathoth, Elemental King. If the Elemental King goes easy on you and lets you perform, you can naturally shine. Conversely, if the Elemental King dislikes you and targets you, you might end up dead.

Having figured this out, many heroes turned their gazes to Xiao Yu, their expressions varied.

Zhang Xinghun ignored the heroes' reactions and instead said while biting his pen, "My biggest problem right now is how to arrange the storyline related to the Elemental King. Because we can't just fight, we definitely need some conflicts and grudges between the bosses and the heroes. That way, the storyline will be more interesting and will spark discussion among the players."

Furthermore, I'll be writing a story novel later, which will require material in this area. By the way, do you know any heroes? I'm referring to heroes who meet Azathoth in the story, not heroes you know in real life.

Xiao Yu nodded. Of course, Azathoth knew many heroes. During his growth, Azathoth had crossed paths with many heroes.

The first one, without a doubt, is Esmehalda, the first hero to summon him, and they went on many adventures together, from the Tower of Amalarui to Draenor.

The second is Mofeitosi, Dragon Knight Lord. The two had some interaction in Stormwind City and also went on an expedition to Draenor together.

The third is Baron Bolvar, who once led the Alliance Expedition to the Lost Island and had some interaction with the Elemental King, though their relationship was not deep.

The fourth is Maiev Shadowsong, who once led the Night Elf Expeditionary Force to invade Draenor with Xiao Yu.

The fifth is the many heroes of the Scarlet Crusade — the Elemental King helped them find the Dreadlord hiding among them, and Taelan Fordring even went on an expedition to Draenor with the Elemental King. That's right, due to being incorporated into the Alliance, most of the original bosses of the Scarlet Crusade became heroes, but a small number of Scarlet Crusade refused to join the Alliance and are still struggling to survive.

The sixth is the chieftain of the Darkspear Trolls of the Horde, who also campaigned on Draenor with the Elemental King.

The seventh is Medivh, who helped the Elemental King open the Dark Portal...

As Xiao Yu recalled the events, he listed out all the heroes he had interacted with in the story and recounted the stories that had happened to them.

Zhang Xinghun checked the information on these heroes.

"Hey, this one's good! Esmehalda, the Kirin Tor Archmage, who once summoned Azathoth to fight alongside him, and he's also one of the heroes shortlisted this time. There's a lot of potential for him to shine here!" Zhang Xinghun shouted into the crowd, "Who is the Esmehalda, Archmage of the Kirin Tor?"

"That's me!" A quiet-looking girl raised her hand.

(Hmm, she's pretty good-looking, quite fitting for a female lead. And a mage and a summoned creature, it seems like some interesting things could happen.) Zhang Xinghun thought, glancing at Esmehalda and then at Xiao Yu. His bewildered gaze made Xiao Yu feel uneasy.

"Hey, why are you looking at me like that?"

"Oh, nothing, just thought of some interesting plot points." Zhang Xinghun said, then suddenly gave a very lewd laugh.