Chapter 150: Fabricating Backgrounds, Observing the Environment

Colorful Mist Coast, Evil Moon Domain.

After wandering through the camp for a lap and noticing no players paying attention to him, Di Nian turned and departed.

The Black Black Tide players he created were now indistinguishable from normal players in appearance; for the next phase of intelligence gathering, he decided to operate within the Evil Moon Domain.

According to combat records, if a player team suffered casualties while engaging the Black Black Tide, they would voluntarily merge with nearby squads.

He decided to join a player squad through this method to avoid excessive conversation within the camp.

After all, his understanding of player culture and customs was extremely limited, and too much dialogue risked exposing flaws.

Only in fierce combat environments would players reduce their communication during contact.

Entering the Evil Moon Domain, the Di Nian Evil Spirit used the sensory perspective of his projected avatar to search for a target, soon locking onto a player squad.

Ten-plus minutes later.

A figure pierced through the churning black mist, rushing toward a player squad engaged in battle.

Behind him, the surging Black Black Tide followed closely, continuously spawning evil creatures within the roiling black fog.

"Brothers, my teammates are all dead; can I have a spot? I'm a magic caster."

Hearing this, the players fiercely battling the Black Black Tide evils all turned to look at the approaching figure.

The opponent had used an armed vehicle to render a bizarre blue hairstyle; his features were rather youthful, looking like a boy of about eighteen.

"Kid, get straight into the group; I'll help you break free," the bearded middle-aged man leading the squad shouted, releasing his Crimson Gang Qi outward as he actively approached, then grabbed the boy's arm and flung him toward the rear of the formation to aid his escape.

Mixed-group phenomena were very common in the Evil Moon scenario.

When many fixed player teams suffered heavy losses while resisting the Black Black Tide, they would choose to intermingle with nearby player squads, cooperating to maintain survival and continue earning Sacrificial Power rewards.

Therefore, regarding the magic-casting player who suddenly applied to join, none of the squad members paid it any mind.

Seeing how easily he had infiltrated a player squad, the Di Nian Evil Spirit felt secretly delighted.

Countless failures had finally yielded success, filling him with a profound sense of accomplishment.

Facing the surging evils attacking from ahead, the Di Nian Evil Spirit condensed an Ink Flame Fireball and hurled it directly into the Black Black Tide.

The struck Black Black Tide evil immediately erupted in raging ink-colored flames on its surface, with the impact effect perfectly simulated.

This was also a setting the Di Nian Evil Spirit had planned in advance.

If there were only visual effects without actual damage manifestation, he would inevitably arouse suspicion among the player members during combat.

Thus, he pursued both approaches simultaneously.

Controlling the projected avatar of the Black Black Tide, he altered the performance effects of the Black Black Tide and its evils based on the template player's actions.

Since both offense and damage absorption were controlled by him, naturally, no issues would arise.

Regarding damage manifestation, he could precisely drain a portion of energy from within the Black Black Tide to fabricate a weakened state.

During the fierce battle, the Di Nian Evil Spirit would occasionally shout common phrases used by players in combat:

"Keep it up, brothers; the rewards from this wave aren't low."

"The Di Nian Bully is utterly detestable, damaging our potions and bullying us for being few; he deserves to be executed by all."

"Great performance, brothers; take down these dog-like evils."

Throughout this process, the Evil Eye atop the High Tower also provided real-time data guidance.

For instance, he needed to occasionally conjure a potion to drink, matching the behavior of players in combat.

He could not allow details to reveal any clues.

Initially, Di Nian's behavior did not make the squad players feel anything was wrong; they even thought their new teammate was quite good.

Not only was his output powerful, but he also shouted passionately throughout, fighting with great diligence, far better than those players who liked to slack off.

But soon, members of the player squad noticed something amiss.

They realized that although this player was fighting hard, he had never sent a group join request.

Free output at his own expense for potions?

This behavior completely defied the logical thinking of a normal player.

No matter how fierce the battle, profit was always what players cared about most; otherwise, there would be no need to seek cooperation with nearby squads.

Yet the newly joined player remained in a state of fiery intensity throughout, yet never sent a team request; this behavior was highly unreasonable.

More importantly, during the fierce battle they were all using squad voice chat, making direct shouting very inconvenient.

Recalling the recent hot topic on the forum discussing the "Di Nian Infiltration Tactics," they immediately formed a hypothesis.

"Qi Meng Yuan, analyze him!" the squad leader, positioned at the very front, spoke in a grave tone over the voice channel.

Hearing this, the female player standing beside the Di Nian Evil Spirit turned her head to glance at him.

With the Analysis ability activated, information flooded into her mind.

Upon seeing the analysis title [Black Black Tide · Player], the female player known as Qi Meng Yuan instantly could not hold back.

"Boss, we have a Di Nian Evil Spirit mixed into our squad."

"I knew there was a problem; where has a player ever joined a group without immediately applying? It's definitely a Six-Eared Macaque created by the Di Nian Evil Spirit."

"Boss, what should we do? Take him out?"

"No, more output means less dividend to split; why kill a Di Nian Evil Spirit helping us work for free? Keep it."

"Right, don't kill it; the Di Nian Evil Spirit infiltrated our squad to investigate player intelligence, so it certainly won't let us be easily killed by evils. With it here, we have an extra layer of invisible protection; after all, the Di Nian Evil Spirit has died so many times and finally managed to infiltrate a squad—it won't easily let go."

The squad leader's idea immediately gained the approval of the other teammates.

They had previously seen players on the forum suggesting that one shouldn't expose the Di Nian Evil Spirit but simply take it along to fight evils.

They never expected that a joke would actually come true for them.

With such a benefit of getting free labor, naturally, they were unwilling to miss the opportunity.

Having figured out the pros and cons, the squad members began their dramatic performance, occasionally offering encouragement to the Di Nian Evil Spirit.

For example: "Brother, your output is amazing," "Great performance," "Beautiful!"

The responses from the player squad members made the Di Nian Evil Spirit feel that this disguise was a success.

However, he did not lower his guard, knowing that players had a method of consciousness communication, so the possibility of exposure still existed.

As time passed, the squad members gradually grew fatigued.

But just as they had guessed, the intensity of the attacking Black Black Tide was also clearly weakening, obviously not wishing for them to die just yet.

If this had been before the Di Nian Evil Spirit joined the squad, they wouldn't have found anything unusual in the changes to the Black Black Tide's intensity.

After all, the intensity of the Black Black Tide would adjust according to the fierceness of combat in other regions, so sudden increases or decreases were quite normal.

But this time, with the Di Nian Evil Spirit right beside them, the reason for the weakening Black Black Tide intensity was self-evident.

This made the squad players secretly delighted; they even began to not want to let the Di Nian Evil Spirit leave.

During the retreat, they communicated about this in the voice channel:

"Boss, the Di Nian Evil Spirit definitely wants to contact us to get player intelligence; if he can't provide useful intelligence, he'll surely run. Think of a way to keep him here."

"How would I know how to keep him? Everyone brainstorm some ideas; having such a free magic caster paying for his own potions is just too good; I don't want to let him go either."

"I have an idea: since the Di Nian Bully wants player intelligence, then our value in his eyes is providing intelligence. So, we can gradually provide false intelligence to make him work for us for free."

"Nonsense, the Di Nian Evil Spirit approached us certainly for intelligence, but the question is what intelligence should we provide? This intelligence must be attractive, yet cannot be given all at once; it must be crafted like a TV series, fed slowly."

Regarding how to keep the Di Nian Evil Spirit, the player squad members engaged in heated discussion.

But no matter what, they could not think of a feasible plan; failing to provide sufficiently attractive intelligence meant the Di Nian Evil Spirit would leave.

To solve this dilemma, the squad leader chose to post on the forum for help:

[Encountered a difficult problem; posting on the forum to ask all you big shots for advice. For any feasible suggestion, I will reward 100 Sacrificial Power.]

OP: Three Liang One Pot of Wine

Content:

Recently, hasn't everyone been discussing whether we can trick the Di Nian Evil Spirit into working for us?

I actually encountered this; he's already been working for me for three hours, but the problem is how to keep the Di Nian Evil Spirit from leaving.

I need an interesting player background story and some intelligence that sounds very sensational; everyone, please give some suggestions.

Comments Section:

Tian Chi Bao Zi: Isn't this simple? What the Di Nian Evil Spirit most wants to understand is definitely our players' underlying information and ability characteristics. Starting from this angle, just splice together some content from real-world myths and sci-fi novels.

Bing Xue Ultimate Researcher: Here's a reference direction for you: the mythological template of the Honghuang system. Splice together the various spells and abilities within it to weave a background setting that sounds intimidating. Ordinary settings definitely won't interest the Di Nian Evil Spirit; expand the Honghuang settings and you can't go wrong with the bluff. In summary, the worldview must be huge, and the player race must be awesome.

Hei Ye Jiang Zhi: Hahaha, you really got lucky; you're asking the brothers on the forum to write a novel for you, right? The price of 100 Sacrificial Power is too low; I suggest raising it (moves bricks, hands on hips, laughing wildly.jpg).

Da Yu Likes Xiao Yu: Brother, take my advice: don't splice together mythological system templates; this clearly doesn't fit the player race setting. You should construct a complete background system based on the abilities we use. The setting should be similar to the Black Black Tide: a super power spanning multiple worlds, maximizing the prestige. Use some phrases that sound intimidating right off the bat; you can even combine the settings of known races and powers like the Ascension Clan, Soul Return Clan, Ancient God Clan, Extreme Joy Clan, Mechanical Legion, etc., then fuse and utilize their settings.

Under the collective brainstorming of the forum players, the background setting for the player race was gradually perfected.

Enthusiastic players spliced together the settings given by different users, added their own ideas, and began writing a novel in the thread.

In the background setting, starting from the distant dawn of time, the player race, after long ages of development, entered a cosmic era named the "Mythological Age."

In this era, technology and mythology intertwined, ancient deities coexisted with emerging players of various races, weaving a magnificent epic spanning multiple worlds.

It also mentioned the five core universes controlled by the player race: the Light Universe, Shadow Universe, Mechanical Universe, Elemental Universe, and Void Universe. Each world possessed unique ecosystems, civilizations, and belief systems; players living in different universes mastered different abilities, yet members of the player race in every universe were closely connected, linked through a vast consciousness entity.

Among them, magic-casting players generally came from the Shadow Universe and Elemental Universe.

Players using military hardware came from the Mechanical Universe.

Players skilled in close-quarters killing came from the Void Universe.

Players skilled in functional support came from the Light Universe, and so on.

This post was upvoted and pinned, receiving a reward of 100 Sacrificial Power from the OP.

Three days later.

Atop the Evil Eye Tower, the Earth Chant Evil Spirit fell into deep thought.

He felt the intelligence provided by the Player Clan was far too abstract.

Over these three days, he had created numerous player unit types and made contact with different Player Clan squads.

Not a single clone was exposed, proving that the player templates he crafted had indeed achieved a level of perfection indistinguishable from the real thing.

However, problems arose in the collection of intelligence.

He discovered the intelligence provided by the players was too chaotic to be pieced together into a complete background profile.

The first player squad he contacted claimed they hailed from a Mythic Era controlling multiple super-worlds, possessing five core worlds that produced Player Clan units.

The second player squad claimed they came from the Primordial World, where the powerful beings behind them possessed abilities such as being indestructible through ten thousand tribulations, untouched by karma, and impervious to all laws.

The third player squad claimed they originated from a world controlled by someone named Doraemon, possessing countless conceptual-level abilities and the power to spontaneously generate any item; to prove it, one casually conjured a can of food without him detecting any spatial fluctuations, confirming it was created from nothing.

The fourth player squad he contacted presented yet another different worldview...

In summary, every member of the Player Clan held a completely different understanding of their racial background, with settings that were mutually incompatible.

This caused him to doubt his own infiltration plan.

He dared not imagine what other absurd background systems might spill from the players' mouths if he continued making contact.

There was absolutely no unified narrative.

Although this aligned perfectly with his consistent impression of the Player Clan.

Erratic thinking, impossible to communicate with, mentally disordered... the more contact he had, the more convinced he became that there was something seriously wrong with the Player Clan.

But the problem was, this intelligence was utterly meaningless.

If the Player Clan were truly a super-faction spanning multiple worlds, the Black Black Tide information database should have records of them.

After all, the Black Black Tide had clashed with many powerful factions that crossed worlds, such as the Combat Insect Clan.

Yet, despite the players providing so many powerful background settings, not a single Player Faction had ever encountered the Black Black Tide; he couldn't help but suspect the Player Clan had noticed something amiss with him and was spinning tales to deceive him.

This thought took root in his mind.

He recalled the series of battle scenes that occurred after he infiltrated the Player Clan.

As the images in his memory replayed continuously, the expression on the Earth Chant Evil Spirit's Iron Face changed.

It became apparent that the players seemed to be utilizing him for combat.

Although the players' behavior wasn't overtly obvious, the look in their eyes when gazing at him definitely contained a subtle, hard-to-detect amusement.

After piecing together vast amounts of information to form a continuous playback of memory imagery, the Earth Chant Evil Spirit ground his teeth, producing a "creaking" sound.

He felt like a complete fool; while it seemed he had successfully infiltrated, in reality, he was being manipulated by the players to fight against his own Black Black Tide legions.

The issue was that during the process, he had worked incredibly hard, maximizing his damage output, fearing that if he overacted, the players would become suspicious.

"Evil Eye, have I been deceived?"

The Earth Chant Evil Spirit's clone turned to look at the Evil Eye floating behind him, asking with a sorrowful expression.

"Do not doubt; having compiled all video records of the battles you participated in, although there is no conclusive evidence, it is basically certain that you were discovered long ago. The Player Clan is using you and the Black Black Tide under your control to fight, treating you as a free combat unit."

"The intelligence provided to you is also invalid; it never mentioned the specific rule-based powers we wanted to know, nor the underlying architecture of the Player Legions, or even why they are launching an offensive against the Black Black Tide. They only fed you grand background narratives, keeping you hooked with top-down explanations to make you provide combat output for them, or even treating you as a get-out-of-death-free card when confronting the Black Black Tide."

Hearing the Evil Eye's affirmative answer, the Earth Chant Evil Spirit involuntarily clenched his fists.

He had thought his infiltration plan was flawless, believing the nearly perfect player templates would never raise any issues.

He never expected to have been discovered by the players long ago.

But the detestable Player Clan did not expose him; instead, they chose to treat him with mockery.

In other words, he had been played for a fool by the members of the Player Clan the entire time.

Feeling his pride wounded, the Earth Chant Evil Spirit viciously gritted his teeth and lifted his head, deciding to vent his suppressed mood by controlling the Black Black Tide to crush the members of the Player Clan.

What the Earth Chant Evil Spirit did not know was that the Player Forum had been discussing the infiltration tactics he formulated over these past few days.

They even jokingly referred to his proactive contact with players as: "Hang an Earth Chant Evil Spirit during battle, and achieve twice the result with half the effort."

Countless player squads had even pre-written sufficiently attractive stories in advance, just waiting for the Earth Chant Evil Spirit to make contact, so they could freeload a free combat unit without spending any potion costs.

The Primordial Altar.

Realizing the Earth Chant Evil Spirit was no longer providing free labor units to the players, Qi Sheng knew the Earth Chant Evil Spirit had completely abandoned the infiltration plan.

After all, the Player Legion was a very chaotic system, with every player having their own ideas.

Although some players on the forum stated that everyone must unify their background settings and then provide intelligence to the Earth Chant Evil Spirit through stories extending from those unified settings.

Very few players adhered to this rule.

When contacting the Earth Chant Evil Spirit, players provided whatever background settings they personally liked.

This inevitably aroused the Earth Chant Evil Spirit's suspicion.

Lasting until the third day was already quite good; in fact, he had discovered the Earth Chant Evil Spirit's suspicions long ago, but chose to persist in order to gather more intelligence.

By the third day, the excessive volume of information caused the Earth Chant Evil Spirit to completely snap.

This infiltration plan had clearly struck a blow to the Earth Chant Evil Spirit's pride, causing him to subsequently launch several waves of evil surges, sending large batches of players into small black rooms to sulk in isolation.

But viewing the Earth Chant Evil Spirit's infiltration plan from a macro perspective, it was undoubtedly perfect.

The problem lay in the fact that the players possessed a communication and connection system similar to an internal intranet, along with the Guidance acting as a "demon-revealing mirror"; even if the Earth Chant Evil Spirit created player disguises detailed down to the cellular level, they would be instantly exposed.

More importantly, the Earth Chant Evil Spirit and the Evil Eye were always the targets monitored by the Guidance.

Their every action was carried out right under the nose of the Guidance.

The asymmetrical rule-based abilities meant that the moment the Earth Chant Evil Spirit's infiltration plan was born, its outcome was already determined.

If the target of the Earth Chant Evil Spirit's infiltration had not been the players, one could be certain this plan was nearly perfect, and the vast majority of racial factions would have been infiltrated.

But he chose the wrong target, which destined his failure.

After this interlude, Qi Sheng no longer paid attention to the Earth Chant Evil Spirit or the battles within the Evil Moon Scene.

In the past two days, the Winter Snowfield region had contained two more Primordial Monsters.

The first Primordial Monster was contained by the veteran player "Lone Wolf Assassin": Insight.

[Insight (Third-Generation Primordial)]:

Primordial Trait: Upon active release, enters Insight Vision, allowing the discovery of weak points on a target; the specific effect of Insight is influenced by the user's mental strength and the target's vitality intensity (the higher the user's mental strength, the more obvious the Insight analysis effect; the higher the target's vitality intensity, the weaker the Insight analysis effect).

After releasing the Insight trait, the world seen by the player turns gray and white.

Living beings in the eyes appear as aggregates formed by countless crimson light points; by observing the intensity of the light emitted by these crimson points, one can distinguish the target's weak points.

The lower the intensity of the light points, the weaker the defensive power of that body part.

The appearance of this Soul Soul significantly boosted the strength of the "Mark" Soul Soul.

The Star Vein combination build with the most likes on the forum is: Weak Point Strike Build.

For the Star Vein combination, it uses: Scattered Arrows, Extreme Speed, Gang Qi, Brute Force, Shatter, Mark, and Insight.

The combat characteristic of this combination is to use Insight to identify the exact location of the target's weak points, then apply a guaranteed-hit mark using Mark, allowing subsequent attacks to precisely strike the weak points, achieving a continuous weak-point-breaking damage output effect.

The second Primordial Monster was contained by the Tianyu Clan player "Monochrome Alarm Clock": Blood Reflect.

[Blood Reflect (Second-Generation Primordial)]:

Primordial Trait: Upon active release, generates a vitality barrier enveloping the body, capable of reflecting elemental and physical attack effects; the specific reflection effect is influenced by the Soul Soul level, the user's vitality intensity, and the intensity of the attack endured (Note: Cannot reflect mental shock-type damage; cannot reflect fatal damage).

After the debut of the Blood Reflect Soul Soul, the strength of the Tank-type builds rose by a whole tier.

It gave Tank-build players a means of dealing damage without compromising their own defensive strength.

The only drawback of the Blood Reflect Soul Soul is that each activation consumes a large amount of vitality, severely testing the timing control of Tank-build players.

If one can execute precise reflections every time, the damage performance in the Trial Tower is astonishing.

It can even be paired with special effects builds like Deadly Poison to increase the damage values caused by the reflection.

This is a Soul Soul that fits technical Tank-build players even better, causing Tank-build players who hadn't received enhancements for a long time to rejoice wildly.

In terms of Star Vein combination sets, the most liked combination on the forum is: Gargoyle (Petrify), Thirst for Blood, Blood Reflect, Roar, Sluggish, Black Armored Snake (Deadly Poison).

This combination consists entirely of Soul Souls that primarily amplify vitality intensity.

While maximizing damage tolerance, it also possesses considerable damage output capability.

The combat method in the Trial Tower is to use Petrify to absorb damage, use the Sluggish Domain and Roar for melee crowd control, followed by continuous healing from the Thirst for Blood Soul Soul, and finally, pair the Blood Reflect Soul Soul with the Black Armored Snake Soul Soul to launch a counter-attack while absorbing damage at critical moments.

The debut of these two new Soul Souls has significantly boosted the strength of both Tank builds and Ranged Physical Damage builds.

Many players who enjoy trying new gameplay styles have already begun using these two new build combinations.

After scanning the forum content regarding gameplay reviews of these two new combinations, Qi Sheng switched his perspective to the Winter Snowfield region.

A comparison of the three exploration regions.

At the current stage, the region with the highest exploration progress is the Colorful Mist Coast region.

Players have already explored and discovered five islands overseas, as well as numerous alien factions, and have found multiple domain nodes in the dense forests behind them.

The scene expansion degree has already surpassed that of the Emperor Tomb Mountain Range region.

Next is the Emperor Tomb Mountain Range region; due to being constantly restricted by the two Great Bullies, player development and exploration of new areas in the Emperor Tomb Mountain Range have hit a bottleneck, unable to expand as freely as the Colorful Mist Coast.

Ranking last is the newly opened Winter Snowfield region.

This region is also considered the most abstract hunting area in the eyes of the forum players.

Although the Lord of Blessings in the players' eyes makes progress every day, the legion system he creates is truly too abstract.

The combat Cultivation Mode is like an acrobatic performance.

Many players just want to hunt properly, but during every battle, they can't help but burst out laughing, disrupting their own attack rhythm.

For example, just as a player is about to launch a fatal attack, the opposing Bliss Evil Spirit suddenly delivers a heavy punch to their Iron Face; this sudden absurdity always makes players burst into uncontrollable laughter.

But compared to the Bliss Black Black Tide and the Bliss Insect Black Tide, the most abstract element in the Winter Snowfield is undoubtedly the area shrouded by the "Bliss Divine Lamp."

This region undergoes rule changes every moment, and these changes are beyond the control of the Lord of Bliss.

Browsing the forum posts reveals that many players have already complained about this area.

For instance, a normally functioning player entering this zone will find that whenever their mind intends to step forward, that step inevitably becomes a retreat.

Then, step by step, they walk backward out of the scene covered by the Bliss Lantern.

Only after consulting the Guide did players learn this result stemmed from a change in the scene's rules, causing their thoughts and bodies to produce opposite feedback; thus, when a player controls their body to step forward upon entering the scene, they instead step backward.

There are many such abstract rule changes.

For example, time acceleration: time flows faster within the scene than in the outside world.

Language garble (non-voice chat channels): words normally spoken by a player suddenly turn into a heap of gibberish incomprehensible even to themselves, making it impossible to convey normal meaning, as if they suddenly became mentally impaired.

Gravity reversal: heavier objects become lighter within the scene, while lighter objects become heavier.

Taste confusion: the flavor of all food within the lantern's coverage changes; originally unpalatable food suddenly becomes delicious, while originally delicious spiritual food becomes inedible; although the generated effects remain unchanged, the taste experience is completely inverted.

These are all relatively abstract rule changes.

Secondly, there are some extremely dangerous rule changes, such as the normal flow of blood within the body reversing, causing players entering the scene to die within a short time.

Others include the cessation of bodily functions, extreme weather, and so on.

The most dangerous incident recorded on the forum involved a player who, upon just entering the lantern-covered scene, had their flesh and blood scatter, leaving only a skeleton, yet absurdly remained alive.

It can be observed that every time players enter a scene covered by the Bliss Lantern, they encounter different rule changes.

Qi Sheng also conducted a detailed analysis of the Bliss Lantern regarding this matter.

Among the three replicated systems constructed by the Lord of Bliss, this is the system that consumes the most Bliss Power.

The Lord of Bliss cannot control the rule changes at all, causing the scene to remain constantly in a state of rule distortion; without the power of rules to govern it, maintaining the scene consumes vast amounts of Bliss Power every moment.

Through the Bliss Lantern structure, Qi Sheng could perceive the ambition of the Lord of Bliss.

He wished to create a special rule similar to a "lantern," thereby controlling a scene and becoming the god who dictates the rules within that scene.

If the Bliss Purple Black Tide and the Bliss Insect Black Tide are the weapons in the eyes of the Lord of Bliss, then the Bliss Lantern is the strongest shield.

By expanding territory through the Purple Black Tide and Insect Black Tide, he sits firmly within the self-defined rule scenes of the Bliss Lantern, fearing no external assault; any power entering these self-defined scenes can be nullified.

This is also the core reason why the Lord of Bliss is willing to invest massive resources into developing the Bliss Lantern.

He wants to hold both a sword for expanding borders (the Purple Black Tide, the Insect Black Tide) and a shield for guarding territory and preserving himself (the Lantern).

The combination of these two constitutes the strongest legion system in the eyes of the Lord of Bliss.

However, having an idea is a good thing; whether it succeeds is entirely unknown, and the subsequent investment in research and development is an astronomical figure.

After all, for these three systems to succeed, one must create the power of rules capable of bearing the systems.

The resources required for this are immeasurable.

To explain it in the words of forum players: with every resource investment, a group of pitiful living beings is literally pleasured to death within the Bliss scenes.

The reality is indeed so.

Every advancement made by the Lord of Bliss requires a large number of living beings to contribute Bliss Power as a foundation.

At this moment, Qi Sheng's consciousness shifted toward the Snow Ridge region of the Winter Snowfield.

Here lies a domain node called Void Origin Peak, which can produce Void Origin Stones that expand space.

The players active in this area are also very abstract; they have a heavy sense of stealth, lightening their footsteps to sneak into the mining district, then activating their avatars and Speed Soul Souls to begin mining.

For these players, this game Cultivation Mode is extremely thrilling.

Every swing of the pickaxe feels like a profit gained, while life enters a countdown during this process.

To steal ore more effectively, this group of players has even devised many bizarre tactics.

There are even specialists responsible for drawing fire, helping other players in the team successfully steal the ore.

In response to the series of ore-stealing behaviors by players, the Snow Ridge Desolates are exhausted from coping; their limited intelligence prevents them from devising counter-strategies, leaving them completely led by the nose by the players.

The line of sight shifts to the Void Origin Peak mining district.

What comes into view is a long, narrow tunnel illuminated by a dim blue fluorescent light; the radiance originates from strange fungi densely covering the cave walls, and the air here is filled with a pungent sulfur-like odor. Ore-stealing players generally cultivate in this area, and at this moment, dozens of players are diligently chiseling the rock walls.

Looking deeper inside, the end of the tunnel opens into a vast underground cavern.

Counting crystal-clear, dark blue crystals hang high from the cavern ceiling, like stars in the night sky, adorning this dim place with mystery and magnificence.

This region is inhabited by Snow Ridge Desolates, whose height approaches one hundred meters; they move about here, growing by absorbing the energy dissipated by the Void Origin Stones.

After multiple generations of evolution and iteration, these life forms, which advanced from Snow Fluff Balls, have acquired powerful physiques, but only their intelligence evolution failed to keep pace.

Continuing to probe deeper into the mine pit, passing through intricate ore veins, Qi Sheng saw a scarlet suspended crystal emitting brilliant, scattered light.

This is precisely the node crystal of the Void Origin Peak domain.

Beside the node crystal lay a Snow Ridge Desolate approaching 120 meters in height; analysis revealed its hunting level had already reached level 118.

This is simply not a monster that players at the current stage can contend with.

Observation concluded, Qi Sheng's consciousness jumped to the second domain node in the northwest region of the Winter Snowfield.

This domain node is referred to as "Falling Leaves" in the parsed information; it is a Level 2 resource domain possessing spiritual farmland area twice as large as that of Cloud Field.

Compared to Void Origin Peak, which is guarded by Snow Ridge Desolates, this place is protected only by a group of monsters with an average hunting level of 39.

Originally, major guilds had prepared to move in and capture this domain node, but recently, the profits generated by the Evil Moon Domain on the Colorful Mist Coast have been higher; with Earth-Nian Evil Spirits chasing them to feed them, many large guilds have shifted their targets to the Evil Moon Domain, resulting in this domain node not yet being contained.

The line of sight then jumped to the third domain node, the fourth domain node... After reviewing the detailed situations of the four domain nodes, Qi Sheng's consciousness returned to the Primordial Sacrificial Altar.

Recently, the Earth-Nian Evil Spirits created for him a deduction of sacrificial power for daily consumption, bringing his reserve sacrificial power to 129.4 million, enough to recruit nearly 130,000 new players.

He decided to launch a new round of recruitment plans, issuing 100,000 player quotas.

Doing so would indeed cause space congestion and difficulty in movement during unexpected situations.

However, under normal circumstances, it would not affect player activities.

Players after resurrection basically do not stay long in the space; they all head outside the space to engage in activities, hunting, and so on.

Deceased players simply wait in the little black room for resurrection.

Unless an event similar to the door-blocking incident in the Colorful Mist Coast area occurs again, normal circumstances will not affect player activities.

According to the Guide's calculations, the space area can at most accommodate another 120,000 players.

Recruiting 100,000 players this time is entirely feasible; the remaining nearly 30 million sacrificial power will be kept in reserve for emergencies and for the consumption required to create the pet system.

During this period, sacrificial power production has surged, but obviously, this cannot last long.

Once the Earth-Nian Evil Spirits finish stealing resources, the welfare period will end; he still needs sufficient resource reserves in hand to deal with unexpected situations.

As for the targets of this recruitment, human players will still be the priority, with 60,000 quotas issued.

This decision is based on two factors.

First, he was once a member of the human race, so he carries some personal sentiment.

But this is not the core factor.

The core factor is that humans are the ethnic group with the largest population scale within the Earth Alliance.

Just as the Star Net analyzed back then, he does not care what the starting point of each race is.

Extending the time dimension, all Earth races stand at the same starting point, with no obvious differences.

Take "Da Tie" as an example, one of the top-tier players in terms of strength within the player group.

His strength among humans can be called that of a super expert; his combat literacy is far beyond what ordinary players can compare to.

But Li Tie's combat techniques, placed in the Monster World, are not even as good as those of races with low hunting levels, and in the Ancient God Arena, he cannot defeat a fighter with attributes identical to his own but who has experienced hundreds of battles.

Therefore, extending the time dimension, the gap between an ordinary player and a powerful player is very small.

The only things that can widen the gap in growth are time and luck.

Time refers to the growth duration after entering the game; players who obtain the opportunity for early growth are generally stronger.

Luck refers to the extra growth benefits brought by unexpected surprises such as the Snake Ancestor Temple, the Ancient God Arena, the Bliss Palace, and the like.

At least at the current stage, all players are still following the model of attribute crushing and Soul Soul ability crushing.

All tacit cooperation is also conducted on the foundation of these two aspects of crushing superiority.

Therefore, making human players the primary recruitment target does not pose the problem of slowing down the development pace.

Besides the 60,000 quotas for human players, Qi Sheng plans to issue the remaining 40,000 player quotas to the Giant Python Race and the Night Demon Race.

The issuance of these 40,000 quotas is a decision he made after careful consideration.

At the current stage, the player legion system already has players for three combat systems: sky, sea, and land.

However, there are still many problems in the construction of these systems.

The biggest problem among them is the imbalance in the Star Vein Sect.

Magic-system players account for more than half of the total, while the number of players following the Tank Sect is less than 7%, making them the scarcest group among all sects.

This percentage value has seen an increase of 0.52% since recently containing the "Blood Reflection" Soul Soul, but it still cannot meet the demand.

A large number of fixed teams lack Golem Sect players, including guild teams.

This is also a problem frequently complained about by forum players.

They believe the official side should adjust the strength of each sect, focusing on enhancing the attribute values of the Golem Sect, or weakening the attributes of magic-system players.

They want to increase the number of Golem Sect players.

If this were a game, Qi Sheng could indeed solve the problem by releasing a version update to strengthen the attribute values of Golem Sect players, or even by adding several powerful Soul Souls for Golem Sect players to enhance their appeal.

But the problem is that the Monster World is not a game; he cannot improve the strength of Golem Sect players through version corrections.

Furthermore, it is impossible to predict whether the next Soul Soul contained by players will adapt to the magic system or the tank system.

It is possible that the strength of the magic system will continue to rise with the development process, further widening the gap with Golem Sect players.

This would lead to fewer and fewer players choosing the Golem Sect.

Considering the need to fill shortcomings and address weaknesses, Qi Sheng decided to tackle the solution through player recruitment.

After analysis and investigation by the Guide, two ethnic groups from the Earth Alliance entered his field of vision.

One was the Giant Python Clan, and the other was the Night Demon Clan.

Both clans shared a common trait: a fierce clan ethos, an extremely combative nature, and a particular fondness for flesh-and-blood melee combat.

Had it not been for the deterrent pressure exerted by the Lunar Eclipse Clan back then, these two clans would inevitably have unleashed a storm of bloodshed upon entering Earth.

Among the Star Net's entertainment offerings was a live-streaming software called "Bloody Warrior," established precisely by these two clans.

The software broadcast several arena matches between warriors of the two clans every single day.

Reviewing historical live-stream records revealed that members of both clans were obsessed with close-quarters combat to a bewitched degree.

This stemmed from the cultural customs of the two clans; they believed in martial power and worshipped it.

Refining physical quality was a learning curriculum initiated for members of both clans since childhood.

Analysis of historical virtual game data retrieved by the Guide revealed that among players from the Giant Python Clan and the Night Demon Clan, the group choosing melee-type professions reached as high as 89.7%.

Although players from the Giant Python Clan and the Night Demon Clan might not necessarily choose the Stone Statue Sect after joining the game, melee combat remained the major sect with the smallest population at the current stage.

This was the core reason Qi Sheng wished to recruit these two clans as the next batch of players.

With the addition of players from these two clans, the problem of the scarce numbers within the melee sect could be resolved.

Every one of his layouts was considered with the development of the player legion as the core direction.

With his objective clear, Qi Sheng turned to look at the Guide hovering beside him:

"Guide, begin issuing qualifications."

[Got it.]

(End of Chapter)