Chapter 230: Not a Bug, It

Chen Xuan was a long-time player of "Hero vs. Demon King," a game supposedly ported casually during hardware debugging for a virtual helmet, an old title from decades ago whose copyright had long expired, but because it was the world's first virtual reality game, it attracted widespread attention.

So after rounds of franchising, operation, and repeated updates, it somehow survived for years; recently, a company claimed their new game was finally complete, and Chen Xuan thought this trash game would finally die—only for the designers to suddenly pull a new stunt on him!

"So you could've done this all along, but since there was no competition, you just slacked off, right? Now that a competitor's out, you suddenly show real skill?"

Chen Xuan watched dozens of cultivators on the game forum turning into the Flash, zipping and sparking everywhere outside the main gate, and his teeth gritted.

"Ding-ding-ding…"

An extremely retro ringtone rang out; Chen Xuan tapped his wristwatch, and a voice immediately came through—

"Genius, have you seen the video of 'Three Thousand Thunder Bolts'?"

"Just saw it. Is this the Talisman and Spell's ability? Ten Talismans mean ten spells? Has anyone figured out the other nine?" Chen Xuan paused the video and asked.

"Ten? This time the game pulled a massive one—just in the Zhen Talisman alone, there are more than ten spells. I'm calling you to help me make a table and calculate this; it's too complex, I think we'll have to brute-force it."

Listening to the voice on the other end, Chen Xuan frowned:

"Is it really that extreme?"

"The strategy groups are all in an uproar. Search the videos—'On the Use of Talismans,' something like that—you'll see when you watch. When you channel Qi through a Talisman, it produces corresponding effects: sometimes stronger, sometimes weaker. Then, if you actively interrupt the casting process—cutting off your own spell—it triggers all kinds of outcomes.

"For example, 'Three Thousand Thunder Bolts' seems to be triggered by manually interrupting the casting speed-up skill. At first we thought it was a bug, but later we found that if you can sense and control your mana bar, and push Qi into it, you can trigger it too. That's when we realized it's a mechanic—in xianxia terms, injecting Qi into the Talisman in different ways produces different effects."

"Now that you mention it, it feels a bit like Noita," Chen Xuan thought for a moment and named a game from over a decade ago. The other side paused, then said:

"Exactly—that's the vibe. This Talisman is a spell-programming engine; each one integrates different properties, but actively sensing and draining the mana bar is insanely hard. Everyone's still trying by interrupting casting bars. You should make a cultivator account right away—this game's entire nature has changed!"

"Alright, I'll check it out first," Chen Xuan said, then hung up immediately.

Like hell he'd level a alt—those cost a fortune!

"Let's see what's actually going on," Chen Xuan searched for "On the Use of Talismans," clicked the video, and immediately saw an old acquaintance holding a (Xun) Talisman launching into a long-winded explanation.

Chen Xuan skipped ahead rapidly, dragged the progress bar to the spot with the most comments, and saw the research maniac's entire body spiraling into the sky.

"Everyone sees this: same skill, same instant interrupt—Zhen Talisman gives you Three Thousand Thunder Bolts, but Xun Talisman just blows you up into the air. But don't think that's the end—we're still using the same displacement skill, 'Feng Xu Talisman.' This time, we interrupt the casting halfway. If you can't time it right, turn on an AI prompt. Okay…"

As the research maniac said "Okay," his character drew a talisman paper, accompanied by a faint blue glow. Before Chen Xuan could even think what would happen, the character's figure suddenly blurred—and the next instant, appeared over ten meters away.

If that were all, it'd just be a different visual effect—but the key was, he was floating in midair!

"Next, same skill—this time, let's try a mountain…"

"…."

Chen Xuan watched the research maniac continuously demonstrating the triggering effects of various Talismans, and felt a flicker of interest—but he didn't immediately create an alt. Instead, he put on his helmet and logged into his Elemental Magic account.

Mages have plenty of skills requiring casting time and sustained channels—let's test it with a mage first!

……

"Gidora! Can you do something about those Talismans? The dungeons are completely overrun! This is insane—I thought the dungeons were just going faster lately, but when I went in, holy crap, over fifty people were slashing with blade light!"

Feng Xue's research lab was shoved open as Bi Gelei burst in, waving her arms wildly.

Feng Xue sighed:

"It's just a dungeon—they can't beat your true body anyway."

"But… but…" Bi Gelei stammered, unable to finish. Feng Xue looked at the vampire pretending ignorance and sighed:

"What exactly is bothering you? Get to the point."

"I just noticed your reaction speed is too fast, so I'm warning you," Bi Gelei instantly dropped her goofy expression, hands clasped before her:

"No one wants to sit and wait. Except ash and bone powder, everyone dragged in here was once a strong one with the title 'Demon King.' But most only realize after one or two 'sieges' that escaping via the world's given 'methods' is nearly impossible. Your reaction speed is too fast."

"Isn't fast good?" Feng Xue frowned. Bi Gelei sighed:

"Because each month's siege is routine—usually one person leads the attack, while others test their new ideas, so there's a default schedule. But every three years, new players arrive, and newcomers are always the most skeptical. Even if you tell them, they won't listen. So everyone tacitly lets them keep attacking until they realize they can't escape. If you don't do it, we have to reshuffle the schedule, and some plans…"

"I get it, I get it. Don't worry—I already planned to have my true body attack a siege anyway. Just tell me where it won't interfere with you, and I'll pick one."

Feng Xue shrugged indifferently. He'd long suspected these Demon Kings weren't following game rules obediently; for days they'd acted like NPCs, making him almost believe they were real ones—but now it seemed they were waiting for something big!

Of course, it didn't matter either way.

Hearing Feng Xue say that, Bi Gelei exhaled in relief. This new player was far smarter than expected—she'd truly feared he was the type who, with a bit of brains, thought everyone else was stupid.

(End of Chapter)