Chapter 222: a08 Update! Career System!

【a. 0.8 Update Announcement:

1. New Career System added!

To enrich gameplay and in response to the requests of the vast majority of players, "Catastrophe OL" has now added a Career System!

As a supplement to gameplay, the Career System does not affect a player's ability to learn skills; it is independent of the skill system and only provides semi-permanent attribute and resistance buffs. At the same time, specific careers will grant players special abilities. For example, players who transfer to the Acolyte career can claim an Undead pet at the Career Transfer Altar, and upon reaching the maximum career level, they can transfer to Death High Priest, gaining the ability to command an Undead legion!

Career levels can be upgraded by taking on career quests at the Career Transfer Altar. There are no racial restrictions, and upon reincarnation, the original career level will be automatically inherited. However, it should be noted that players must carefully consider their own race and future playstyle when choosing a career. For example, a Warrior's aura has negligible effect on a Little Demon who is innately poor at melee combat, while the Knight career's Deterrence Aura will conflict with a Succubus's Charm talent.

Furthermore, the buffs provided by a career are related to that career's "Legendary Degree," and the accumulation of Legendary Degree requires the collective effort of players of that career. Methods to obtain Legendary Degree include, but are not limited to, fulfilling the commandments on the Career Altar and completing quests issued by the Career Altar. Let the vows you have sworn spread far and wide in the game world, and you will become stronger!

The six careers currently open are: Graveyard Warrior, Graveyard Knight, Graveyard Assassin, Graveyard Archer, Graveyard Mage, and Graveyard Acolyte.

For more gameplay, please explore on your own!

2. More selectable races:

b. Biological type: Synthetic Human (Initial attributes 3/3/3/3/3) (Talents: No Fatal Weakness, Bleed Immunity) (Minimum Soul Level requirement: Common) (Reincarnation cost: 2000) (Initial resurrection cost: 200)】

The official website of "Catastrophe OL" was as lively as ever today.

Especially with the sudden release of the a08 update announcement, it pushed the already intense discussions on the forum to an even higher climax!

Zhi Shi Xue Bao: "6666!"

Jing Luo Nan Bei: "Awesome!!"

Sha Diao Dong Xi: "Can a class representative summarize this?"

Cun Kou Lao Da Ye: "Damn! You need a summary for this? Just donate your eyes to someone who needs them."

Qu Ma Tou Zheng Dian Hai Ou: "Congratulations, the development team finally remembered that 'Catastrophe OL' is a closed beta game."

The previous a07 version was from before the new year.

Although the content of this update isn't much, it did add a brand-new gameplay mode, so no one can blame the dog developers for not working anymore.

Ye Zhiqiu: "When I pre-ordered the test, I was thinking that the new race 'Synthetic Human' could play as adventurers, and I wondered if it hinted at a major update to the Career System. I didn't expect two major updates to be crammed into one. (Sweat)"

Gai Shi Ying Xiong: "The developer daddy is too conscientious!"

Zhu Tou Ren Qi: "Give it up, buddy. That guy has never appeared on the forum. Even if you lick his boots, he won't give you an extra chicken leg."

Gai Shi Ying Xiong: "What do you mean lick his boots! This is from the bottom of my heart! (Anger)"

Tu Long Yong Shi: "Dog developer: Cheat code has been credited. (Funny)"

Hu Wan: "Developer: Your account is gone. (Funny)"

Tu Long Yong Shi: "Don't, brother! I was just joking! (Panic)"

Wan Bu Qi: "Does Brother Ye plan to switch characters to play? (Funny)"

Ye Zhiqiu: "Forget it. I've been playing as a Skeleton Soldier for so long that I'm already used to it. Switching races might not necessarily improve my strength. It's better to just transfer to a Skeleton Mage."

Xie Pu Rou De Hou Mi: "Speaking of which, career strength seems to be related to the strength of players in that career? The more people who grind the same career, the higher the career strength?"

Wo Lai Zu Cheng Tou Bu: "Got it, I'm transferring to Mage right now!"

Wo Lai Zu Cheng Tui Bu: "Take me with you!"

Wo Lai Zu Cheng Dang Bu: "+1"

Ye Zhiqiu: "...... (Sweat)"

With the launch of the new version and the establishment of the Career Altars, the players of "Catastrophe OL" had new fun. For a time, there were many more people returning to the Graveyard to "pay a New Year's call."

Deep in the Beifeng mine, with flashes of ghostly green light, various Undead and demons walked out of the teleportation array, then followed the navigation straight to the nearby Career Transfer Hall, joining the long queue at the entrance.

In the center of that solemn and majestic hall, six stone steles connecting the ground to the dome stood towering.

Clear and transparent faith crystals were embedded in the center of the steles, with rows of ancient Nether-script carved on both sides of the crystals, emitting a ghostly green spiritual light.

Those Nether-scripts recorded the commandments and blessings of different careers.

For example, absolute loyalty to the Graveyard, the importance of life and reverence for death, and never attacking those who serve the Demon King, etc.

If these commandments are violated, corresponding punishments will be received. Conversely, if these commandments are followed, different blessings will be received based on the career level.

For example, the Graveyard Warrior gets a 10% strength increase, the Graveyard Knight enhances bone hardness, the arrows shot by the Graveyard Archer gain Nether energy bonuses, and the Graveyard Assassin gains a passive ability to hide their aura in the dark, etc.

In front of each altar stood a High Priest in robes, and behind each High Priest stood five Acolytes.

Their faces were covered by hoods, revealing only a pair of eyes flickering with soul fire.

Under the command of the High Priest, they would perform the baptism ritual for the players and grant them the bonuses of different careers.

"Damn... this is too realistic." Following the queue into the hall, the Pig-headed Knight looked around, deeply shocked by the solemn and eerie atmosphere.

It was hard to imagine.

This towering hall was actually built deep in the mountains, and it was gnawed out bit by bit by the mouthparts of Cave Spiders!

Watching the Pig-headed Knight looking around, the Minotaur Warrior nervously reminded him.

"Buddy, act normal for a while, don't get blacklisted by the NPCs."

Hearing this, the Pig-headed Knight was immediately unhappy and cast a dissatisfied look at the old cow.

"What do you mean act normal? Am I not normal usually?"

The surrounding players showed subtle expressions on their faces and distanced themselves from him one after another.

And just a short distance away, 【Yi Kou Men Le Hua Xue Chi】, who had finished the baptism, let out an excited weird cry, shouting "It's done," and rushed out of the hall with the two Skeleton babies he had summoned, not knowing what he was going to do.

This guy actually transferred to a Graveyard Acolyte!

However, considering his usual gaming style, taking the summoning route is within reason.

Having two scapegoats following him was better than throwing his own life away.

Withdrawing his gaze from the hall entrance, Ye Zhiqiu steadied his mind and walked toward the High Priest who was watching him.

The Nether-colored light emitted from the Graveyard Mage altar shrouded his head.

In an instant, he felt a special power pouring into his body and soaking into his soul.

That feeling was hard to describe in words; it was as if the magic elements floating around him had become a bit closer to him.

Just as Ye Zhiqiu was carefully feeling that surging energy, the High Priest in front of the altar watched him expressionlessly and spoke slowly in an eerie and hoarse voice.

"Player 'Ye Zhiqiu', are you willing to use the magic wand in your hand to fight for the Demon King and defend the glory of the Graveyard..."

Ye Zhiqiu looked solemn and nodded respectfully.

"I am willing."

The High Priest nodded slowly, took a golden cup from the hand of an Acolyte beside him, and scooped up a ladle of clear and transparent liquid from the pool under the stone stele.

He chanted obscure and difficult incantations, then stretched his hands forward and poured the liquid in the cup onto Ye Zhiqiu's head.

The cold touch passed through the skull and went all the way down along the spine, soaking into every bone.

And to Ye Zhiqiu's surprise, just as that cold touch flowed through his chest cavity, he suddenly felt a warm current surge from the depths of his soul, and it quickly filled his whole body.

Unable to hide the surprise in his heart, he raised the finger bones of his right hand, his mind moved slightly, and soon a wisp of flame shot out from his fingertips.

The blessing of the Mage career could actually accelerate spellcasting!

Realizing this, Ye Zhiqiu's heart was shaken.

He originally thought that the Mage career only increased attribute values, but he didn't expect it to also improve his elemental affinity!

That was not an attribute written on the character panel, but a hidden rule he had explored during long battles!

In this game, there exists an attribute that is not displayed externally. The higher the value of this attribute, the faster the release speed of the same spell, provided other attributes remain unchanged!

Just as he was shocked by his own changes, the High Priest standing under the altar looked at him with a smile and said.

"The ritual is over, congratulations on completing the baptism of your inauguration..."

"From now on, you will be a glorious Graveyard Mage, fighting for the glory of the Graveyard."

"I hope you will abide by the commandments on the stone stele and the vows you made before the stone stele. Violating them will cause you to fall into an abyss from which there is no return."

"The Demon King will watch over you forever, until the end of time, until all things perish..."

"I will remember your teachings, I will abide by the creed until the end of time!" Suppressing the excitement in his heart, Ye Zhiqiu left the altar and gave his place to other players who were still queuing. Watching Ye Zhiqiu pass by the side of the queue, Hu Wan, who was waiting in another queue, hurriedly grabbed him and asked impatiently.

"How does it feel? Any changes?"

Looking at the expectant eyes of the surrounding players, Ye Zhiqiu thought for a while and nodded.

"The changes are quite big. Not only is the spellcasting speed faster, but the intelligence attribute has also increased by a chunk. If my character strength was 10 before, it's 12 after the transfer... at least for me."

The surrounding players showed surprised eyes, especially Hu Wan, who said enviously.

"A 20% increase in strength?"

Ye Zhiqiu nodded.

"Pretty much."

Faster spellcasting not only means higher DPS, but also means shorter attack front and back swings, reducing the time of stiffness.

For him, whose character positioning is a melee Mage, that increase in spellcasting speed is even more considerable than the attribute increase.

Of course, if it's a Little Demon career that is mostly a stationary Mage, the impact might not be that big.

Everything is in the content!

Especially if focusing on mental magic, he feels that transferring to an Acolyte might be better instead.

According to the official setting description, the career blessing of the Acolyte focuses on the strengthening of mental power, while the Mage focuses on the strengthening of intelligence attributes.

Although the recommended playstyle for the Acolyte career is summoning, it doesn't necessarily have to be summoning.

For example, the Little Demon who is innately good at mental attacks is the most typical example. They can completely choose an Acolyte to play as a Mage.

However, looking at the long queue in front of the Mage altar, Ye Zhiqiu guessed that nothing he said would be of any use.

Just because of a sentence he said on the forum yesterday, all the Little Demon players in the Graveyard went to queue in front of the Mage altar...

Just as the players were queuing to go to the Career Transfer Hall to complete their inauguration, Luo Yan, standing on the high platform in front of the hall, was also quietly watching them.

As more and more players entered the hall, he, like Ye Zhiqiu, discovered an interesting phenomenon.

Due to the overly realistic skill system, Mages who rely on skills have never been a popular career, but this time, there were unexpectedly many players transferring to Mages, even exceeding the sum of the other five careers.

"It seems that the Mages of the Graveyard will become legendary first."

Thinking of this, Luo Yan's heart suddenly moved, and he said in a half-joking tone.

"You You, do you think I should also hang a Mage title to play with?"

To be honest, he was really a bit tempted.

Spellcasting speed and attribute bonuses are also very useful to him. Although he doesn't have many opportunities to fight, who would complain about being too strong?

However, after hearing Luo Yan's words, You You couldn't help but complain.

"Demon King, you already have so many titles, do you still need to hang a Mage title? If you think you are not strong enough, can't you just add a buff to the Flame King title?"

Luo Yan was slightly stunned.

"Can this also be done?"

You You nodded her abstract head.

"Of course! Isn't it up to you how to spend the power of faith? And, isn't it a basic operation to strengthen your own title with the power of faith? For example, the Emperor of the Empire obtained immortality through this method, right? And there are the successive God-chosen ones of the Campbell family. The legends they wrote with their own experiences, aren't they actually strengthening their own titles?"

Hearing this, Luo Yan immediately opened up his thinking.

That makes sense!

"Why didn't you say so earlier?"

You You said aggrievedly.

"You didn't ask me."

Luo Yan: "......"

Fine.

He indeed hadn't asked, and this couldn't be entirely blamed on You You for not saying it.

However, even if he had asked before, it wouldn't have made much sense. After all, with the spread of the Flame King legend at that time, even if he added various auras to the title, the increase he could obtain would probably be quite limited, or it could only consume the power of faith to maintain.

If the buff of this title could only be enjoyed by himself, it would undoubtedly be a very losing thing, after all, he doesn't have many opportunities to take action personally.

Just as Luo Yan was thinking about what kind of buff to add to the Flame King title that would be more suitable for him, the players in the Career Transfer Hall had already completed their transfers one after another, and they all went toward the teleportation array with the still-warm buffs.

The number of monsters in the labyrinth is limited and insufficient for testing the buff strength of the job system; by comparison, the front lines of Planet Kao are much more suitable as a leveling ground for combat-class players.

With such high-frequency use of the teleportation array, even though he took a free ride on the Chaos Gate outside the Brass Pass, Luo Yan consumed quite a lot of magic crystals, and in just half a day, he consumed half a month's worth of usage.

However, compared to the cost of the power of faith, the loss of those magic crystals was nothing.

Building the entire Career System cost him one million points of faith, and at the same time increased the maintenance cost of 10,000 points of faith per day.

【Faith Value: 1.8 million】

【Daily Net Growth: 40073】

His spirit sank into the sea of consciousness. Looking at the balance of faith on the stone stele in the depths of his sea of consciousness, Luo Yan couldn't help but feel a pain in his heart, so much so that the idea of adding a buff to his title was diluted quite a bit.

"...... This is probably the most expensive update since the launch of 'Catastrophe OL'!"

One million points of faith is enough to upgrade a Silver-tier soul to Gold-tier. This not-so-small expense almost wiped out half of the wool he had sheared from Lei Ming City!

You You, who was floating on the side, comforted him.

"It's okay, Demon King, at worst you can just go to Lei Ming City and harvest another wave! Anyway, the people there are almost becoming your shape."

Luo Yan glanced at You You.

"Who did you learn this saying from?"

Although that's the logic, why does it feel weird coming out of her mouth?

You You smiled shyly and said proudly.

"Of course I learned it from your players."

Unable to complain about this guy's smug look, Luo Yan shook his head and waved away the operation interface floating on the stone stele.

"...... I hope this investment is worth it."

Pain is pain.

When he actually spent this power of faith, Luo Yan didn't actually have much hesitation.

After all, faith is not something that earns interest if you save it; you can only get greater returns if you spend it.

The six careers updated this time are actually like the titles of human kingdoms.

When players spread the legends of these titles on the Aus continent and spread the prestige of "Graveyard Knight" to adventurers, the Career Altars maintained by Acolytes will automatically harvest the power of faith from them, and the faith map of the Graveyard will also expand accordingly.

Most of the power of faith harvested through the Career System will be used to strengthen the blessings of various careers, that is, to enhance the players' buffs, and a small part will be extracted into the main faith crystal as the "faith tax" levied by the Demon King.

This is a long-term investment.

Although it is a loss in the short term, with the activity of the players, this investment will sooner or later generate a surplus.

By that time, the Career System will not only no longer need him to subsidize 10,000 points of faith every day, but it might even provide him with a dividend of tens of thousands of points of faith every day.

Thinking of this, Luo Yan felt a little comforted in his heart.

"...... Just pretend it was lent to the players first."

(End of this chapter) ===== CHAPTER 223 =====