Chapter 25: Version Update

With the 13 million points of sacrificial power gifted by Ice Blade.

Qi Sheng decisively launched the third recruitment round, this time planning to release ten thousand player slots.

The primary targets remained those players who wished to experience the Land of Darkness but were hindered by the game's price or the difficulty of securing a copy.

Promoting recruitment under the guise of a new game would clearly make it difficult to attract new players.

No matter how extravagantly it was described, players would only regard it as false advertising, so he still had to continue rapidly recruiting new members under the name "Land of Darkness."

That evening, game links promoted by Qi Sheng appeared in numerous gaming group chats.

The vast majority of these groups chose to kick him out, labeling him an online scammer.

Nevertheless, many players chose to download and experience it, then further promoted the game, drawing in even more players to join.

The ten thousand qualification slots were completely downloaded in less than two hours.

A large number of players began logging into the game around 9 PM.

The resurrection point of Emperor Tomb Village, originally empty, was instantly overwhelmed by the figures of players.

Accompanied by the constant flashing of white light, newly entering players could only respawn in various areas of Emperor Tomb Village, no longer confined to the resurrection point.

"Holy crap, what a realistic game; spending 128, 88 on this wasn't a loss."

"I stayed up late snatching for three rounds; finally, I got my hands on one, hahaha."

"Solo player looking for a team; are there any whale big shots willing to take on a lackey!"

Emperor Tomb Village was as bustling as a vegetable market.

Many players began performing outrageous antics the moment they entered the game.

Eating dirt, running, self-abuse (testing pain feedback)... they used various methods to evaluate the game's realism.

The feedback they received left the players exclaiming in disbelief.

While marveling at the game's realism, the players who entered during this recruitment round all tacitly avoided mentioning the download link when communicating with one another.

They believed that exposing the pirated link might cause harm to the "welfare officer" who had gifted them the game and could even lead to the revocation of their hard-won qualifications.

Subconsciously assuming that other players around them had spent real money to purchase the game, many players actively boasted during conversations that they had been lucky enough to draw a game purchase qualification.

Under Qi Sheng's watchful eye, the players from this recruitment round, after learning the basic game settings from their nearby guides, departed Emperor Tomb Village one after another to begin exploring outward.

Once the player army reached a certain scale, its ferocity began to show.

The cursed soldiers reviving along the way became the preferred targets for players to level up; most were swarmed like tigers pouncing on prey before they could even stand up.

In order to compete for the right to kill cursed soldiers, conflicts arose among the players, and the regional chat channel was flooded with curses.

In a corner of the northern ancient battlefield, a certain player was tightly coiled by three black-armored snakes.

"Bro, I was wrong, please let me live."

"Who told you to steal my mob? Die and go back to the novice village!"

On the eastern side of the ancient battlefield, a player whose initial form was an eagle-headed demon frantically flapped his wings and sprinted, with a group of players chasing closely behind.

"Brothers, that's the bastard; don't let him escape! He likes ambushing and finishing off weakened targets, right? If we can't kill the cursed soldiers, we'll kill you!"

On the western side of the ancient battlefield, two teams of players erupted into a monster battle over the right to kill cursed soldiers.

In just ten minutes, over a hundred players had been sent back to the novice village by players from their own faction, entering resurrection cooldown.

The addition of new players also brought a bit more vitality to the ancient battlefield.

The strength of numbers was demonstrated thoroughly at this moment.

When the first batch of players, including Li Zheng and others, had entered the game, they had proceeded with extreme caution during their exploration, fearing they would suddenly encounter multiple reviving cursed soldiers and become trapped.

However, the players appearing in this recruitment round had the exact opposite mindset.

They only feared they wouldn't be able to grab a cursed soldier; they had no fear whatsoever of there being too many cursed soldiers.

Whenever a cursed soldier rose, nearby players, like cats smelling fish, pounced from all directions.

The advantage in numbers allowed the new players to turn the early-game exploration Cultivation Mode into a carpet-style sweeping advance.

This made Qi Sheng, observing from behind the scenes, feel both amused and helpless.

The players' performance also validated his initial concept.

To forge a fearless, infinitely potential super army to help him sweep away the various monster factions, contain the Primordial Power, and reclaim the lost node domains.

Just then, the Guide suddenly appeared beside him:

【Boss, the feedback testing space for Yanming has been completed.】

Subsequently, a light screen popped up before Qi Sheng, showing Yanming looking at him expressionlessly:

"My task is complete. I have added many known Primordial Abilities to the test database; although they may not be found at the current stage, they might be useful in the future."

"Hard work."

Qi Sheng nodded and waved his hand to summon the Challenger System.

Amidst interweaving light and shadow, countless mysterious characters enveloped his body.

Among these complex and numerous characters, a new string of content composed of blue characters appeared.

Yanming, within the light screen, spoke at this moment:

"Little Qi, the content construction is complete; we still need a carrier to assist players in entering the testing space."

Hearing this, Qi Sheng thought briefly before nodding:

"Then construct a functional building within Emperor Tomb Village to serve as the interface for players entering the testing space."

"Understood." After nodding, Yanming caused the light screen to dissipate.

Half an hour later, a Challenger notification rang in the minds of all online players:

【Challenger Notification: The game is about to undergo version 1. update. Update contents are as follows】:

1. A new functional building, the "Testing Tower," has been added to Emperor Tomb Village. Players can conduct simulated tests within the Testing Tower for Star Vein Embedding, Body Tempering Levels, Ability Combinations, and Item Usage. Each test costs 1 point of sacrificial power.

2. The game function panel has added a "Forum" feature. Players can post on the forum to communicate and share strategies. Additional features such as post tipping and game live streaming are also available (players can still access the forum function via the virtual interface even while in death cooldown).

(This update is an online update; players do not need to log off and wait.)

Accompanying the update notification, the ground of Emperor Tomb Village shook violently.

In the ruins of the West District, a tall tower rose from the earth.

The tower body was constructed from black material, its surface covered by a layer of blue-purple halo; the sharp peak soared high, pointing straight at the clouds, with a huge crystal ball slowly rotating above it.

This building was precisely the Testing Tower completed by Yanming.

Inside the tower, spatial rule forces automatically created layered spaces; different players entering the tower would enter different layered spaces, ensuring they would not be affected by other players during testing.

The appearance of the new building quickly sparked heated discussion in the regional channel, with the fervor spreading to the newly launched forum feature.

Especially the veteran players currently exploring the Dark Cave felt great anticipation regarding this update's content.

They were all at the second or third Soul Choice stage of Star Vein Strengthening and urgently needed the Testing Tower to simulate and test their future growth directions.

(End of Chapter)