Chapter 224: Monster Legion Challenge (Requesting Monthly Votes)

After the weapon system went online.

A large number of players participated in the evaluation, and strategy posts kept flooding the forum.

However, many players were still waiting for the evaluation and strategy post from Night Is Coming.

This had become a habit for many veteran players after every new feature launch: wait for Night Is Coming to release a strategy guide before using the new feature according to its content, avoiding waste or mismatch of sacrificial power.

Five hours after the weapon system went online, Night Is Coming's evaluation and strategy post finally appeared on the forum.

Subsequently, it rose to the top of the forum popularity chart at a speed comparable to a rocket launching into space.

["Sorry to keep everyone waiting; I tested the new feature a bit longer to figure it out. Come straight here for a detailed interpretation of the update content."]:

Poster: Night Is Coming

Content:

No nonsense, straight to the goods.

The weapon system updated this time consists of two parts.

They are the main body material and the weapon's enchantment particles.

Among them, the characteristic effects attached to the weapon's main body material cannot be changed once the selection is completed.

For example, if you choose "Ghost Steel" as your main body material, then strengthening and upgrading the weapon can only increase the bonus for mental energy consumption reduction; it cannot integrate attributes attached to other main body materials.

Enchantment particles can be understood as additional strengthening accessories for the weapon.

Every time you upgrade the weapon's main body, you can integrate more enchantment particles, and the effects of these particles can be stacked infinitely.

Assuming your weapon is level 100, you can have 506 enchantment slots (starting with 11 slots); if you fill them all with Armor-Piercing Particles, you will obtain a penetration-style weapon with an armor-piercing effect reaching a value of 2530.

Therefore, the strengthening of the weapon system can be divided into two parts: main body strengthening and enchantment strengthening.

But none of that is the main point.

The main point is that enchantment particles can be combined in different ways to produce resonance characteristic effects.

Next, I will display the resonance effects I have tested:

Corrosion Particles (15+) + Decay Particles (20+) + Darkness Particles (15+) = Touch of Decay (Resonance Characteristic)

The effect of this enchantment combination is that, on top of the original damage performance of the enchantment characteristic, it can cause a decomposition effect on matter it contacts.

When I used a weapon resonating with Touch of Decay to contact the weapons of dummies in a simulated scene, I found that their weapons would dissolve rapidly (see video attachment).

Bloodthirsty Particles (37+) + Toxic Particles (35+) = Symbiosis of Blood and Poison (Resonance Characteristic)

Resonance Effect: The Bloodthirsty Particles absorb the target's life energy after dealing damage, while the Toxic Particles convert part of that energy into poison and feed it back to the target; each attack absorbs a small amount of health points while injecting poison into the target, causing additional damage.

Strong Elemental Resonance: 12 types of elemental energy, with each type's enchantment particles reaching 35+.

Resonance Effect: All elemental damage effects from the enchantments receive a 10-fold amplification.

Blaze Particles (10) + Gale Particles (5) = Scorching Flame Storm (Resonance Effect)

Resonance Effect: The high temperature of the Blaze Particles combines with the wind pressure field of the Gale Particles, causing the weapon to generate a scorching flame vortex upon attack; each attack deals fire damage to the target and surrounding enemies, and the range of the flame vortex expands as attack speed increases.

In this test, I combined a total of 39 resonance effects.

The various combinations of enchantment particles are very interesting; I got so hooked I almost forgot to post the evaluation strategy.

The most interesting part is the many functional enchantment resonances.

For example, Tenacity Particles + Gale Particles + Freedom Particles = Wind Spirit Shield (Weapon Resonance).

Taking a shield as an example, the resonance effect of Wind Spirit Shield uses a wind pressure field to form an airflow barrier on the shield's surface, capable of deflecting ranged attacks and reducing melee impact force, while the shield itself is very light and does not affect the user's movement speed.

This set of resonance characteristics is very suitable for lone-wolf style magic-system players, effectively providing them with their own damage-soaking player protection.

One point must be mentioned here: the most critical particle among all particles is the Infusion Particle.

It allows players to input their qi and blood and mental energy into the weapon, combining it with the weapon's characteristics before releasing it.

For example, my Ink Flame Fireball can be attached with multiple types of elemental enchantment particle damage.

The above is the preliminary strategy for this evaluation; if there are new discoveries later, I will continue to add explanations in this post.

What is certain is that the combinations for weapon resonance are far more than the 39 types I tested; other gameplay styles await development, so I suggest everyone try it out—it is very fun.

Comment Section:

Jasmine Milk Green Tea: The weapon system is very interesting; I read the previous brother's strategy, saying that integrating Freedom Particles into the weapon's main body allows one to change the weapon's shape at any time. That's too awesome; you can switch to whatever weapon shape you want whenever you like.

Extra Spicy Sea Surface: I tested out a very awesome enchantment particle combination... the resonance effect is "Dance of Light and Darkness"; when attacking, one strike deals light-attribute damage, the next deals dark-attribute damage, and after the opponent suffers damage from these two opposing attributes, they also take elemental conflict damage. The output effect is explosive; without wasting any Star Vein slots, a melee fighter can become a magic warrior.

Antarctic Bear Wanting to Go to the North Pole: Everything is good, but the weapon prices are so expensive, and the upgrade costs are high too. Especially the Space Particles; a single one costs thirty thousand points of sacrificial power. Why not just rob people instead? I feel the weapon system is more suitable for those who have already opened many Star Vein slots and currently lack the sacrificial power to open new ones, allowing them to continue improving their strength through the weapon system.

Pee Higher Than the Sky at 18: I've decided; I'm going to make a warhammer weapon, so enemies will take one look and think I'm a berserker, daring not to approach, but in reality, I'm a mage. The deception level is maxed out. From now on, I will be the server's first Warhammer Magic God.

Lan Qiu Twenty-Seven: The weapon system is so complicated; why not give us an encyclopedia of enchantment resonances to choose from? My brain cells are almost burnt out. I'd better wait for the big-shot strategy experts on the forum to release detailed templates. People like me, who are lazy, are suited to just copying ready-made templates; I can't research this at all. I've already hoarded thirty thousand sacrificial power, planning to spend it all at once on the weapon system. I'm going to craft a version-defining divine artifact!

The popularity of the weapon system continued to ferment on the forum.

Various combinations of enchantment particles also began to emerge one after another, with players of different styles discussing weapon enchantment combinations and the selection of main body materials.

On the other side.

In the space of the Weapon Forging Room.

Having finished posting the strategy analysis, Night Is Coming summoned the event interface at this moment.

After the weapon system went online, a "Weapon Forging Competition" event also launched alongside it.

The event is divided into three leaderboards.

They are the Repulsion Leaderboard, the Defense Leaderboard, and the Function Leaderboard.

The method to enter the leaderboards is simple: use your own forged weapons to defend a village in a virtual scene.

Waves of monsters will attack one after another, and the strength of the monsters will continuously increase as time passes.

Each time a wave of monster attacks is repelled, you will enter the challenge for the next wave of incoming monsters.

At this moment, the data displayed for the player ranked first on the Repulsion Leaderboard is 7 rounds, 87.8%.

This means that the player currently ranked first failed to defend the village during the seventh wave of monster attacks.

The ranking method for the Defense Leaderboard is different; the monsters' attacks will be directed at the player, with rankings based on the amount of damage taken.

The damage taken data for the player ranked first is: 192,423 points.

The Function Leaderboard is yet another new style of gameplay.

It requires players to fight alongside an army to defend the village; during this period, players need to assist the army warriors through weapon characteristics, with rankings based on contribution points.

The methods for obtaining contribution points are divided into three types.

Players must use weapon characteristics to provide healing, damage mitigation, status buffs, and other non-direct combat methods to obtain points.

Damage output cannot calculate contribution points; the challenge ends only after all allied forces have perished.

In the event, all player characters have identical attributes that cannot be modified.

The weapon level is set at level 100, and the enchantment particles integrated into the weapon cannot exceed one million points of sacrificial power.

The top hundred players on each leaderboard can receive event rewards.

Among them, the top three players on each leaderboard can receive a Weapon Forging Voucher worth thirty thousand points of sacrificial power, which can be used directly as a deduction in the forging room.

Players in other ranks will receive the same reward of ten thousand points of sacrificial power.

He transitioned to the scene through the event page.

After a brief sensation of weightlessness, what appeared before Night Is Coming was a vast wasteland; there was no green vegetation in sight, only dry, cracked earth.

Behind him was a small village, and he stood at the position of the village exit.

Immediately following this, a challenge panel floated before him, with the weapon templates saved in the forging room displayed below.

Among the 39 saved templates, he selected the resonance with the highest output, "Path of Scorching Flame," setting the weapon to level 100.

Before participating in the event, he had already adjusted the quantity of enchantment particles.

The weapon's appearance remained that of gauntlets.

But the moment he clicked confirm, a challenger prompt popped up in his mind:

[Challenger Prompt: This weapon template has already been used; please switch to a weapon template that has not been used in the challenge event.]

(Note: In this challenge, the first player to use a weapon resonance will bind that resonance characteristic, making it unavailable for other players to use; limited to the event space only.)

"Damn!"

Realizing that the combination he had published on the forum had been used by other players, he had no choice but to change his resonance characteristic.

After some selection, he finally chose the weapon template with the "Death Conduction" resonance.

This time, no prompt about it being used appeared.

He first attempted the "Repulsion Challenge"; his consciousness touched confirm, and the earth shook.

[Repulsion Challenge Started. First Wave of Incoming Monsters: Goblin Army.]

Gazing into the distance, dust rolled fiercely at the end of the wasteland.

A group of goblin-like monsters surged toward the village.

Leading them was a huge creature, with the five characters "Goblin Chieftain" hanging above its head; it stood over five meters tall, waving a thick spiked club in its hand, and with every step it took, the ground trembled.

Behind it, dense ranks of goblin infantry held crude weapons, converging into a green Black Tide that swept across the land.

The gauntlet worn on Night Is Coming's right hand burst forth with brilliant light as he suddenly raised it.

Instantly, the weapon characteristic activated, and several black energy orbs flew into the sky, plummeting down into the goblin army.

Immediately, large swathes of goblins were rapidly dissolved, turning into pools of black water.

The characteristic of the Death Conduction resonance activated at this moment, triggering a chain reaction within the goblin army.

Spreading rapidly like a virus, swathes of goblins fell after being infected, similarly melting into pools of black water.

Even before they could approach the village, the goblin army had already been completely melted away.

[Challenger Hint: First round challenge successful. Repel challenge continues. Second round incoming monsters: Shadow Wolf Pack and Corrupted Treants.]

As the first wave of the Goblin army was annihilated, the wasteland scene automatically initialized, returning to its original state. From the far horizon came a low howl, followed immediately by the dense emergence of pairs of ghostly green eyes, roaring as they sprinted madly toward his location.

Behind the Shadow Wolf Pack, giant Corrupted Treants rose from the earth, following the wolves in their assault.

This round presented no difficulty whatsoever.

The gauntlet in his hand was level 100, with the base item alone costing 505,000.

The equipped enchantment traits were even more expensive; the total combined price reached 1,489,300, making it effortless to slaughter low-level hunting mobs.

After the ability was released, the resonance effect of Death Conduction activated once again.

Swaths of Shadow Demon Wolves and Corrupted Treants fell; the battle ended without even needing a second release.

[Repel challenge continues. Third round monsters: Flame Trolls and Lava Worms.]

The remnants of the second wave of monsters had not yet fully dissipated when the sky suddenly turned crimson.

On the horizon, the figures of countless massive Flame Trolls materialized.

Their bodies were composed of scorching magma, and every step they took left burning footprints on the ground.

The difficulty of this challenge had clearly escalated; the panel introduction on the right side of his vision indicated that Flame Trolls possessed ranged attack capabilities, able to condense fireballs to inflict large-area flame damage.

They needed to be killed within a certain distance, otherwise the village would be destroyed.

Behind the Flame Trolls, the earth cracked open, and Lava Worms burrowed out from underground.

The monsters attacking this time had significantly improved damage tolerance; even under the influence of the Death Conduction resonance effect, they held on for quite a while before dying.

Yet the greatest strength of Death Conduction lay in its ability to spread rapidly.

With dense waves of monsters attacking, it could quickly transmit through the entire army; he still completed the challenge with great ease.

[Repel challenge continues. Fourth round monsters: Frost Giants and Ice Spiders.]

The heatwave brought by the third wave of monsters had not yet subsided when the sky suddenly turned gloomy and a biting wind howled forth.

Frost Giants emerged from glaciers appearing at the far horizon.

Their bodies were made of solid ice; wielding massive ice-crystal warhammers, every step they took left spreading frost marks on the ground.

Beneath the feet of the Frost Giants, dense swarms of Ice Spiders followed.

The spiders' bodies were transparent as ice and moved with extreme speed, becoming clearly visible within his field of vision at a rate observable by the naked eye.

Then came the fifth round, the sixth round... Relying on the contagious effect of the Death Conduction resonance, he successfully reached the currently highest stage on the leaderboard: Round Seven.

[Repel challenge continues. Seventh round monsters: Undead Legion and Death Knights.]

The distant sky suddenly turned dim, and thick black mist appeared at the edge of the earth.

The neigh of a warhorse broke the silence.

An Undead Legion composed of skeletons, zombies, and ghosts revealed itself from the black mist, vast in number.

At the very front of the monster legion, Death Knights mounted on burning warhorses launched a charge.

In this round, as night approached, he failed to succeed; the village behind him was utterly destroyed by the Undead Army, freezing the challenge progress at: Round 7, 18.72%.

The killing power of the Death Conduction resonance was not strong; what made it powerful was its contagious effect.

Against monsters of lower strength, it possessed super-high killing efficiency, capable of destroying an entire monster legion with a single strike.

But faced with monster legions whose defensive strength had clearly improved, it appeared extremely weak, with killing efficiency that was far too low.

He summoned the challenge leaderboard interface.

He discovered he hadn't even made it into the top 100 of the Repel Leaderboard.

Furthermore, the player in first place on the leaderboard had changed.

First Place: SealDoesNotReadNews (Weapon Resonance: Path of Blazing Flame)

Challenge Progress: Round 9, 39.83%

This player was using precisely the resonance combination he had mentioned when posting.

Clicking on the player's name, a video of the challenge process popped up in the interface.

A resonance combination composed of Flame Particles plus Gale Particles, along with other enchantment particles, resulted in explosive output efficiency.

In the video, each time the player swung their greatsword, a flame tornado would generate and sweep forward, submerging all monsters in its path in blazing fire.

During the first few rounds of the challenge, basically swinging the sword three times to generate three flame tornadoes was enough to end the battle.

It was not until the ninth round, when the Infernal Legion appeared, that the output of the Path of Blazing Flame began to falter, ultimately resulting in the village being swallowed by the Infernal Legion.

Just as he was preparing to check information on other players on the leaderboard, the first-place position on the Repel Leaderboard suddenly changed.

First Place: HappyRiceNoodleRoll (Weapon Resonance: Chain of Shadow Lightning, Core of Eternity)

Challenge Progress: Round 12, 89.83%

This player's weapon was equipped with two sets of weapon resonance.

Regarding this, Nightfall did not find it strange.

Weapon resonance traits inherently had no restrictions.

As long as the weapon's level was high enough, theoretically, countless resonance effects could be stacked.

However, the vast majority of players basically chose only one weapon resonance effect, developing that specific resonance to its maximum potential.

For example, he had recently discovered "Weak Elemental Resonance."

By continuing to add elemental-type enchantment particles, it could be upgraded into Major Elemental Resonance, Strong Elemental Resonance, and so on.

Therefore, a weapon specializing in one resonance effect would possess higher intensity for that single resonance.

Filled with curiosity, Nightfall clicked on the player's name.

The scene presented showed a female player standing before the village, holding a staff.

After the challenge began, the combined effect of stacking Chain of Shadow Lightning and Core of Eternity left Nightfall stunned by its brilliance.

One could see that during the battle, dense black arcs of electricity danced within the monster legion; this was likewise an offensive-type weapon resonance possessing a conduction trait effect.

Although its transmission effect was far inferior to the Death Conduction he used, its output intensity was more than one grade higher.

The female player, currently ranked first, had even nearly passed the twelfth round of the challenge, but ultimately fell to the Dragon Legion attacking in the twelfth round due to insufficient output.

After finishing watching, he then checked the rune resonance combinations of other players on the leaderboard.

In truth, the vast majority of weapon resonances were not suitable for players in the early stages; the characteristic particles required for inlaying were indeed too expensive.

However, among them was one resonance combination he felt was very suitable for players to use during their early transition; the name of this weapon resonance was: Wings of the Void.

The manifested effect of this enchantment combination was that it could greatly extend attack range.

Standing at the village entrance, one could attack targets at the very limit of vision, striking the incoming monster legions from across the distance, while also carrying the Void Erosion characteristic effect, resulting in very impressive output performance.

With two days remaining until the event ended, he could anticipate that even stronger weapon resonances would continue to appear in the coming days.

After roughly browsing the Repel Leaderboard, he then checked the Defense Leaderboard and the Function Leaderboard.

The resonance combinations capable of ranking on these leaderboards all displayed exceptionally brilliant performances.

They allowed him to see quite a few wonderful resonance combinations.

A desire to challenge the rankings also arose within Nightfall's heart.

After exiting the event scene, he returned to the Forge scene.

Next, he intended to attempt integrating more enchantment particles into his main weapon, seeking even more powerful weapon resonance combinations.

Primordial Altar.

In Qi Sheng's mind, the latest player production information continuously flashed by.

The weapon system had officially gone live.

Within this functional system, various characteristic effects from the Enlightenment Shop had been integrated.

However, unlike the "time-limited" rule characteristics in the Enlightenment Shop, all the characteristic effects he replicated using Sacrificial Power existed eternally.

Since the eternal effect of a single characteristic was too expensive, it was simply beyond what players could afford.

Therefore, he segmented them into enchantment particles, allowing players to collect and purchase them bit by bit.

Furthermore, building upon the foundation of eternal characteristics, he integrated the knowledge systems of the Four Gods, creating a weapon system that could be freely customized.

This ensured that weapons were no longer merely simple tools, but could also possess various highly interesting gameplay mechanics.

After browsing the forum for a long time, Qi Sheng glanced at his remaining Sacrificial Power.

Next, he decided to launch a new round of recruitment as soon as possible.

This time, he planned to distribute five hundred thousand player qualifications to the outside world.

Secondly, he also needed to open a new spatial node to accommodate the new players, helping them grow rapidly.

(End of Chapter)