Chapter 4772

Schiller put the medical records on Strange's desk. Strange looked up at him with some doubt and asked: "You finished writing them so quickly?"

"Of course. When I was staying with the main universe's Doctor Strange in the Shi'ar Empire, I had him write them for you." Schiller shrugged and walked over to sit down.

Strange picked up his glasses from the side and put them on, examining the few medical records with a critical eye, but he had to admit that his own medical records were indeed well-written, with flawless handwriting, and he had cleared all debts at once, resolving his major worry.

Strange was visibly relieved, then added: "Thanks to both of us, the Elder Council Hospital is finally going to build an electronic medical system. From now on, we can say goodbye to the era of handwritten medical records."

"That's perfect—no handwriting means no need to forge handwriting, and we can copy and paste."

"Don't get too excited," Strange said, shaking his head. "Although it's common for surgeons to delay medical records, last time, our case-related matters had already been noticed by the hospital administration. After this, I might only be able to write them myself."

"There's nothing to be done about it. Who let your interns all be so busy that you didn't consider hiring a few more?"

"The new hires would be just as busy," Strange said. "Never mind, let's not talk about this. How's the main universe doing?"

"There's a huge commotion." Schiller brightened at the mention. "Nick isn't trying to meddle in the main universe to keep them from running around, is he? Coincidentally, Iron Man and Doctor Strange returning had a falling out, fought a battle, and shattered Earth's magical defense network."

"Shattered?!" Strange raised his voice. "Completely shattered? What about the Sanctum?"

"That's the problem." Schiller moved a chair to face Strange's desk, placed his hands on the table, leaned forward, and said: "Nick had someone stir up relations between the main universe's U. S. government and the Avengers, causing the New York Sanctum to be sanctioned by S. H. I. E. L. D., losing a crucial node, leading to insufficient power supply for the magical defense network, so it collapsed with one blow."

Strange frowned and said: "Then Earth is in danger—it could become another major incident. How could Nick be so reckless?"

"I already said, the magical defense network was shattered by those two, and it has nothing to do with Nick. Although the Sanctum's legality has been questioned, its operation isn't easily affected. Doctor Strange returned in time to repair and adjust it, then fought S. H. I. E. L. D. again, and it should be fine. Who knew they'd just keep arguing and even fight in near-Earth orbit? The result was..."

Strange let out a long sigh: "What should we do now?"

"What else can we do? Doctor Strange is busy repairing the New York Sanctum and restoring the magical defense network as soon as possible, while others guard Earth to prevent anyone from taking advantage of the chaos."

"Someone will definitely take advantage of the chaos," Strange said. "With so many things eyeing Earth hungrily, it would be strange if no one came to invade."

"Want to go take a look?" Schiller asked. "Although the main universe people don't really welcome us, now they're in crisis, so if we go over to help, they'll have to grit their teeth and accept it. Moreover, the two most difficult ones are the troublemakers, and they should now have little say left, with their tempers still manageable. You going over would also help avoid causing any real trouble."

Strange furrowed his brows deeply—he clearly wanted to go, but he disliked the main universe people. If it were another universe, the portal would already be open by now.

"You don't need to worry about Krakoa," Schiller said. "The mutants there are already fully settled. The Shi'ar Empire ultimately split, and now the two sides are fighting fiercely, so they probably can't attend to Earth. As long as we deal with the remnant forces in the solar system, there will be no threat."

"Are Matt and the others still there?" Strange asked.

"Of course he is. And Steve too." Schiller explained: "It's not good to keep dumping the kids with the mutants, so they brought their wives and children to vacation on the island. Too bad Peter is still too busy to take a break; otherwise, he could come over for a holiday."

"Alright, I'll go take a look." Strange finally decided. "Anyway, those people can't outscold me. If they dare to talk nonsense, I'll give them a taste of their own medicine."

"Alright, I have to go to work in the Battle Realm now. The big event for this season still hasn't been settled." Schiller also sighed.

As the Battle Realm's opening time grows longer, not counting the test season, there have already been eight seasons. Although various battle passes have sold well, and the purpose of material and information exchange between the multiverse has basically been achieved, the current problem is that there's nothing to do. Schiller even thought about grabbing money and running away.

The issue arises because, after everyone became familiar with each other, the dungeons themed around each universe's major events have basically been exhausted. Multiverse superheroes have all connected with each other—just shout in the communication channel if something happens. Although running dungeons can grant an extra life, there are player limits, and one has to wait; in urgent situations, it's too slow. Most people just shout in the communication channel and directly take the Battle Realm's portal over.

In this case, the dungeons left are only the original ones. Despite many designers participating, the number of dungeons released is still too low. Conversely, to recover players' in-game currency, battle passes are being sold at higher and higher prices. Although the rewards are not few, it has still caused players to complain bitterly, and many are unwilling to buy them.

Especially after the public test, each season must have a theme, and this theme must match unique gameplay. For example, the first season's theme was "First Encounter," which had a dedicated lobby for greetings and two unique player dueling arenas. These were designed to let superheroes get to know and understand each other.

The second season's theme was "Construction." Besides opening terrain editing mode, the store also sold more building materials and furniture packs, and launched the "Lego Brick City" dungeon gameplay, allowing players to freely build their preferred city models in Lego Gotham or Lego New York, even usable as blueprints for real-world city renovations. This was to promote player unity and prepare for stabilizing real-world conditions.

The first two seasons were beginner seasons. Starting from the third season, the difficulty increased. The third season's theme was "Earth." The previous Battle Realm-New Earth was reopened, incorporating realistic modern warfare gameplay, allowing many superheroes without modern war experience to indulge their military fantasies, while also teaching many superheroes how to fight on a large battlefield.

The fourth and fifth seasons focused on deeper player interaction and puzzle-solving. Most are dungeons that restrict identity and abilities. This allows them to set aside superheroes' superpowers and further understand each other's personalities and behavioral logic. Batman groups basically united during this season.

The sixth and seventh seasons were duel seasons. The main feature was a superhero brawl. Various arenas and player-versus-player dungeons were set up. Multiverse wars also occurred during these two seasons.

And now the eighth season, Schiller is willing to call it the "Dark Season." Simply put, it's about continuously increasing dungeon difficulty to challenge superheroes' physiological and psychological limits. This design, while indeed providing a place for superheroes to train, is mainly because if you don't raise dungeon difficulty, they'll truly speedrun it.

Arkham Batman is not a launch player. He joined after already accumulating many dungeons. But he's handy—he can clear six or seven dungeons in one night and still return during the day to serve as his president. That kind of combat dungeon is no match for him, and story puzzle dungeons can only delay him a bit. Moreover, in later player-versus-player dungeons, he slaughtered so much that the multiverse heard of him and trembled.

For such a player, if you don't put out a few dungeons challenging physiological and psychological limits to stop him, he'll quit soon. Although it's not necessary for him to play, if he gives negative feedback in the Batman community, Batman will surely think running dungeons is a waste of time. Everyone will stop playing, and then this game will basically be over.

Schiller has encountered the problem that all game developers worldwide face: the game is too simple, so hardcore players find it unchallenging, breeze through it, fail to attract hardcore players, cannot extend gameplay time, and feel the game lacks content. But if the game is too hard, most casual players will complain bitterly, feel strong frustration, and lead to mass exodus of mid-to-low-level casual players—same result, no show to put on.

Moreover, continuously operating games are more prone to overturning due to balance issues. Fortunately, Battle Realm previously accumulated many ordinary dungeons, so newcomers have something to play. But if this continues, they'll finish all previous content, start challenging the new season, and find that most dungeons require you to be either Batman or Superman, or even demand Batman's wisdom and Superman's physical strength—fundamentally not made for people to play. Negative reviews will surely increase.

Moreover, the ninth season of the Dark Season will open one week later. The entire design team is scratching their heads, and the unique gameplay still hasn't been settled. If they can't think of anything, even working overtime won't make it happen.

Schiller returned to the Battle Realm office, sat down at his desk, and began to sigh. Owen poked his head out from the desk beside him: "... Did you think of something?"

Schiller shook his head and said: "I'll go back and search the memory bank. I remember someone once proposed many suggestions—maybe they can be used."

Then he began to meditate with closed eyes at his desk, and indeed went back to search his memories. Since almost everyone knows he's a designer and administrator, many suggestions are made to him, especially from Batman. He thinks Battle Realm's model is still good and doesn't want this game to shut down. Because Battle Realm doesn't accept cash investment, Batman can only offer suggestions based on wisdom. Many suggestions are practical, and after revisions, they indeed improved. For example, the previous terrain editing feature and improvements to various chat functions.

Schiller focused on searching memories related to Batman. However, precisely because Batman's suggestions are all useful, nearly all have been implemented, and he is clearly a pragmatic person who hasn't made any suggestions in major planning and creative aspects.

Schiller then recalled the escape room dungeon he once participated in. He vaguely remembered someone proposing a suggestion back then. So he searched again and discovered that back then, they had already said to bring the player-designed dungeon feature to the forefront.

Although that was said, it was actually just pie in the sky. The release date is undecided, basically equivalent to creating a new folder. Whether this feature can actually be implemented, and to what extent, remains completely uncertain—no progress at all.

But this is actually a good idea. Instead of making a game, why not make a game platform, letting others create and sell games, with middlemen profiting from the price difference? After all, these few administrators and designers' creativity still can't compare to the countless players of the multiverse.

"I have a solution." Schiller shouted after waking up, and all the administrators gathered around.