Chapter 74: Drawbacks of the Soul Soul Growth System (Sixth Update)

"Don't charge in alone! All brothers online, gather at the exit of Emperor Tomb Village; we'll charge out together in a moment."

"I thought the Black Black Tide would be terrifying, but it's just this; we've turned it into a Musou hack-and-slash Cultivation Mode. So satisfying."

"Although the Guide says this is only the lowest-level Black Black Tide, and the evil spirits' strength barely reaches the Waning Moon tier, satisfaction is all that matters."

"Party looking for strong DPS to farm levels together. No taunt Soul Souls or other support Soul Souls needed; DPS only."

"If only there were a healer Soul Soul that could restore health. While killing through the Black Black Tide is exhilarating, our sustainability can't hold up; once stamina or mental energy is exhausted, we die."

The Black Black Tide had already ravaged the Emperor Tomb Mountain range for an entire day.

The players who originally planned to fight a cyclic resurrection tournament in Emperor Tomb Village were now ecstatic.

The enemy's weakness exceeded their expectations.

The low-Black Tide evil spirits, newly born, were nothing more than experience and sacrificial power monsters in the players' eyes; their lethality was pitifully weak, yet their numbers were vast.

The new players who entered the game in the previous batch had previously complained about encountering a Waning Moon scenario right upon entry, with monster difficulty being too high. However, after encountering the Black Black Tide, they completely turned the tables, discovering their strength was sufficient to charge in and out seven times within a low-intensity Black Black Tide.

The thrill of slaughtering evil spirits even made veteran players feel the nature of the game had changed.

Compared to the previous soul-like survival Cultivation Mode of painstakingly mining and forming parties to challenge high-hunting-grade evil spirits and monsters, the emergence of the Black Black Tide transformed the game's nature into a Musou hack-and-slash Cultivation Mode.

The only trouble for the players was that insufficient sustainability meant every exhilarating slaughter ended with them being locked in a small dark room for an hour.

Every departure from Emperor Tomb Village was a charge with no return, until their souls returned to Emperor Tomb Village.

In contrast to the players' joy, the Earth-Nian Evil Spirit, who had created this Black Black Tide catastrophe, fell into distress.

At this moment, atop the high tower platform of the Domain Node, the Earth-Nian Evil Spirit watched as the Black Black Tide swept across the Emperor Tomb Mountain range.

During this period, it discovered a very serious problem.

As the Black Black Tide spread to nearby areas, its intensity not only failed to increase but was constantly weakened through contact with the mysterious race calling themselves 'players.'

To investigate the origins of these mysterious creatures, it had personally gone to track them.

The result was an unbelievable conclusion.

These lives calling themselves 'players' did not seem to be beings of this world; rather, like itself, they came from other worlds, descending upon this land by crossing the barriers of the Monster World.

In other words, this player race was also an invading force of the Monster World.

However, their method of invasion was incomprehensible to him; they descended through the world barriers one after another, sometimes dozens at a time, sometimes alone, and without any tactics or coordination.

Upon contact with the Black Black Tide he controlled, members of the player race would only fight mindlessly until their lives ended.

This was extremely inconsistent with the military structure an invading force should possess; it was completely scattered sand, lacking any systematic combat capability.

Yet, precisely this small force with negligible lethality had become a hidden danger he could not resolve.

The player race possessed a rule-based characteristic that even the Evil Eye could not decipher: upon death, they would completely dissipate, unable to be absorbed by the Black Black Tide, and evil spirits killed by player members could not reintegrate into the Black Black Tide either.

The battle had become a prolonged war of attrition between the two sides.

It did not know how much reserve strength the player faction possessed; if things continued as they were, the Black Black Tide's intensity would only grow weaker.

Encountering an insurmountable major trouble on its first expedition to this world made the ambitious Earth-Nian extremely furious, yet it had no perfect solution; the only thing it could think of was to continue consuming the player race's reserve strength through the Black Black Tide, grinding down the player faction bit by bit.

In a war of attrition, the Black Black Tide legion in Earth-Nian's eyes was virtually invincible.

Before this, it had followed invasions into two minor worlds.

In the early stages of invasion, the descending Black Black Tide legions were always in a disadvantaged position.

Especially when invading the Dungeon World, the commander leading the Black Black Tide had less than Commander-tier combat strength, even inferior to several of the strongest lives in the Dungeon World.

However, during the long years of the Black Black Tide legion sweeping across the world, the comprehensive combat strength of the various faction alliances in the Dungeon World was constantly weakened, while the Black Black Tide legion's combat strength climbed rapidly; by the late stages of the war, the commander's combat strength had advanced to the Monarch tier, and he himself had advanced to the Commander-tier warrior in that battle.

Ultimately, under their final wave of attacks, the Dungeon World welcomed the apocalyptic moment of the Black Black Tide devouring the world.

Therefore, in the eyes of the Earth-Nian Evil Spirit, the Black Black Tide legion feared a war of attrition the least; bolstered by the trait of rapidly birthing evil spirit lives, no faction could contend with the Black Black Tide in a prolonged battle.

The disadvantages faced during initial engagements with other factions, or wars of evenly matched strength, all represented inevitable victory in the eyes of the Earth-Nian Evil Spirit.

The Primordial Sacrifice Altar.

Data information fed back by the Guide floated in Qi Sheng's mind, detailing the gains brought by the player legion fighting the Black Black Tide for 29 hours.

After deducting the consumption of player deaths and resurrections, the Black Black Tide had brought him a sacrificial power profit of 580,000.

Income was growing explosively.

If the current trend continued, the ravaging Black Black Tide would significantly boost the comprehensive strength of the player legion.

According to the Guide's feedback, the Earth-Nian Evil Spirit had already drained the reserve energy of the Tianyuan Domain Node, but to occupy the domain nodes of the Emperor Tomb Mountain range, it was borrowing energy from other Black Black Tide nodes, attempting to create more evil spirit lives; in Qi Sheng's view, this behavior was akin to borrowing money to upgrade his player legion's combat strength.

What calamity? This was the true God of Wealth.

[Having lived in poverty, frugally using sacrificial power for so long, the sudden feeling of becoming rich is truly satisfying.]

A joyful expression surfaced on the surface of the Guide's water sphere floating beside Qi Sheng, before it continued:

[Recalling the days before we recruited players, when we were nearly bankrupt and waiting to die, these days with hope for the future are simply heaven.]

The Guide's words filled Qi Sheng's heart with immense emotion as well.

Before finding Earth, he and Ye Ming's consciousnesses had traversed countless crumbling, shattered worlds, watching their remaining stock of sacrificial power dwindle, nearly insufficient even to hide independently within Emperor Tomb Village of the Monster World; they had already prepared to meet death the moment Emperor Tomb Village's barrier shattered.

At that time, Ye Ming had even suggested extracting the last remnants of sacrificial power from Emperor Tomb Village to go out and fight to the death, stating he would rather die in battle than welcome death by waiting for it.

Fortunately, he had stopped Ye Ming, choosing to consume their remaining sacrificial power to continue searching for an uncrumbled world.

When all seemed lost, a huge blue planet appeared in his consciousness's field of view.

In that moment, his heart was filled with endless joy; a feeling Qi Sheng still remembered clearly to this day.

The Guide's current sigh was none other than the thought in his own heart.

The player legion had proven with facts that the plan he had originally conceived was sound.

Although at the current stage the player legion was only engaging the weakest low-Black Tide forces of the Black Black Tide faction, far from being able to contend with the true main force of the Black Black Tide, their growth potential had already been demonstrated in this battle.

Watching the player legion grow rapidly felt strange.

It carried the joy and satisfaction of watching a child one had created grow bit by bit.

Furthermore, with the players' help, his Emperor Omen Body had accommodated 17 types of Primordial Powers, making his strength several times greater than before the recruitment plan began.

The most obvious characteristic was that after switching to the Emperor Omen form, the scarlet flames burning on his body had become a deeper color.

Just as the Guide said, everything was developing in a positive direction; the dead end that once seemed insurmountable now welcomed a bright path to the future.

Without further thought, he switched his vision to the player perspective, his consciousness rapidly shuttling between different player viewpoints and the latest information refreshing on the forum.

At this moment, a post on the forum caught his attention.

[Brand New Sustainability Build: Demonstration of Simulated Effects in the Test Tower for the Dual-Wield Star Vein Combination of Food and Qi.]

Streaming Player: Iron Giant Arm.

Content:

Recently, killing through the Black Black Tide has been exhilarating, but I've also discovered a problem: there is a special evil spirit in the Black Black Tide called 'Shadow Strike.' Below is an analysis screenshot of Shadow Strike.

(Attachment: Analysis Information)

The monster model in the attachment resembled a shadow gliding along the ground, lacking a concrete form.

[Shadow Strike (Evil Spirit)]

Hunting Grade: 5

Target Introduction: A low-level evil spirit life born from the Black Black Tide; immune to low-intensity physical damage types, capable of inflicting continuous damage on targets through parasitism.

Everyone has definitely encountered this evil spirit life; it counts as the most troublesome monster in the Black Black Tide.

Once entangled, it cannot be dispelled; one can only endure the continuously worsening injuries. I've noticed many people dying from being parasitized by Shadow Strike.

My understanding of the 'low-difficulty physical damage' mentioned in the introduction is that it cannot be destroyed in a single strike; cutting it in half merely allows it to heal quickly, and indeed, I have shattered Shadow Strike multiple times only for it to heal rapidly. Only energy and elemental damage can inflict substantial harm on Shadow Strike.

This problem troubles me greatly; from childhood to adulthood, playing games, I have always favored melee combat and disliked playing ranged mage-class professions.

It's the same in this game; I chose the Black Armored Snake at the start, paired with the Shattered Blade Soul Soul, both of which are melee Soul Souls.

Facing such disgusting monsters leaves me completely helpless.

To solve this problem, I thought of the Test Tower and decided to simulate within it to find an answer.

As it turns out, I really did combine an optimal solution among the existing 17 Soul Souls.

Without further ado, I'll directly present the demonstration video next.

(Attachment: Demonstration Video.)

Qi Sheng's consciousness clicked on the video, and instantly a virtual scene manifested in his mind.

The player 'Iron Giant Arm' first displayed the four Soul Souls he had equipped: Shattered Blade, Mighty Axe, Bone Fire, and Food Qi.

Subsequently, in the demonstration scene, Iron Giant Arm began explaining the characteristics of this Star Vein combination.

"The Star Vein embedding display is concluded; next, let me explain the combat logic behind this Star Vein combination of mine."

"Considering that certain evil spirits and monsters can only be substantially damaged by energy and elemental-type Soul Souls, I wondered if we could grant melee builds elemental damage as well, achieving dual cultivation of magic and martial arts."

As he spoke, Iron Giant Arm waved both hands, and instantly two Artifact Spirits floated to his left and right.

The weapon on the left was the Shattered Blade, and the one on the right was the Mighty Axe; they fell into his hands, and he gripped them tightly.

At this moment, the Bone Fire Soul Soul activated, and ink-black flames rapidly spread from the player's body onto the weapons, enchanting the two Artifact Spirit weapons with a layer of burning blaze.

"I'm sure many brothers are puzzled as to why I'm dual-wielding weapons; Artifact Spirits can completely fuse and freely choose their forms. For instance, if my Shattered Blade and Mighty Axe fuse, I can freely choose between a blade or an axe form; after combining the two, I gain both the shattering effect and an output amplification effect."

"Here, I must mention the issue of weapon attack frequency. As a veteran melee player, the dual-wield form can significantly increase my attack frequency; once mastered, it's extremely useful—left hand breaks defense, right hand lands critical hits, making it ferocious in actual combat."

"Plus, with the ink flame enchantment from the Bone Fire form, physical damage comes with inherent elemental damage."

After explaining his combat logic, Iron Giant Arm shifted his tone:

"However, relying solely on Shattered Blade, Mighty Axe, and Bone Fire has a serious drawback: sustainability is extremely weak; mental energy will be exhausted in less than five minutes, plunging one into a stunned state."

"After all, we do not primarily cultivate mage-type Soul Souls; we still focus on melee Soul Souls, and the issue of weaker mental energy means we cannot release the ink flame ability for as long as players who primarily cultivate the Eagle-Head Demon, resulting in very weak sustainability."

"Therefore, I added Food Qi as the fourth Soul Soul option... It is important to note here that the Food Qi Soul Soul is not only suitable for magic-system players..."

Hearing this, Qi Sheng already understood the combat Cultivation Mode of this Star Vein Sect.

The left hand uses the Shattered Blade to shatter defenses and apply a Shattered Seal, while the right hand wields the Mighty Axe for massive attack output; after the Bone Fire Soul Soul enchants the weapon spirits, both dual-wielded weapons gain the elemental damage of Ink Flame entanglement, and consuming Food Qi restores health and mental energy to sustain the Ink Flame enchantment effect.

After explaining the conceptual framework of the Star Vein composition, the Steel Giant Arm in the demonstration scene summoned the test panel to call forth monsters.

Moving through the monster horde in a dual-wield stance, the performance was outstanding; throughout the process, he constantly opened his mouth to suck in air, forming a vortex of white airflow within his oral cavity.

This post received a large number of likes from players, and the comment section was extremely lively:

Word Ma Ya: Thanks, bro, for sharing the Star Vein Sect; it looks good and is much more practical than those brothers sharing overpowered sects. Those sects with unrestrained Soul Soul combinations look strong, but who knows when they'll actually be usable? I just love this kind of practical Soul Soul combination guide. Post saved.

Destiny Protagonist: Thanks, big bro, for sharing the guide; I really love this magic and martial dual-cultivation combination.

No Money to Spend, Only Life to Bet: Many thanks; I was just worrying about this problem—how pure melee should deal with special monsters like Shadow Strike—and then I saw your guide post on the forum. I've decided to follow your sect, but I don't like dual-wielding; merging weapon spirits suits me better. (Tip: 1 point of Sacrificial Power)

Night Is Coming: Interesting conceptual brainstorming, but this sect has a very serious problem. After the Body Tempering rank meets the standard for attribute inheritance, the Mighty Axe and Shattered Blade primarily boost physical attributes, whereas the Food Qi and Bone Fire Soul Souls primarily boost mental energy attributes. These two types of Soul Souls conflict; theoretically, players choosing four melee Soul Souls will have physical attribute strength far superior to yours, making this sect look flashy but merely adding an enchanted elemental effect, with intensity inferior to players with four melee Soul Souls. I deem it impractical.

Steel Giant Arm (OP) replied to Night Is Coming: Damn, it's actually Brother Night. The problem you mentioned does indeed exist, but to deal with special monsters, some loss is inevitable. The physical attributes of this sect certainly aren't as strong as having four melee Soul Souls. Does Brother Night have any good suggestions?

Scrolling through the reply messages, Qi Sheng discovered a setting issue he had previously overlooked.

The guide-party player "Night Is Coming" in the post raised an issue regarding this Star Vein combination, leading Qi Sheng to consider the inherent design flaws in Star Vein combinations.

At the current stage, when players hunt evil influences and monsters, the Evolution Points obtained are shared equally among all currently embedded Soul Souls.

For example, if a player has embedded three Soul Souls and kills a monster to gain 120 Evolution Points, those points are distributed evenly, synchronously increasing the intensity of all three Soul Souls.

This creates a problem where focused cultivation is impossible.

The Star Vein Sect provided by the player Steel Giant Arm suffers from this exact issue; the levels of the Bone Fire and Food Qi Soul Souls only need to reach a point where mental energy recovery speed is sufficient. Injecting excessive Evolution Points into them instead becomes an obstacle to increasing overall strength; those extra Evolution Points could be entirely focused on cultivating the Shattered Blade and Mighty Axe.

In the future, as the number of Star Vein Sect combinations increases, this problem will become increasingly severe.

Balanced distribution has instead become a burden.

Upon discovering the problem, Qi Sheng immediately formed the idea of modifying the settings.

As for how to modify it, he had already found the answer while scrolling through the comments.

He decided to add a "Regulation Function" to the acquisition of Evolution Points, granting players the authority to freely allocate Evolution Points.

Without further deliberation, Qi Sheng immediately commenced practical testing.

Summoning the Challenger System, countless jumping characters instantly appeared, revolving around his body.

In the turn of a thought, the Guidance beside him began cooperating with him to simulate the creation of a new Evolution Point allocation system.

Ten minutes later, a brand-new panel materialized before Qi Sheng, emblazoned with five large characters: "Evolution Point Allocation."

In the center was the Soul Soul embedding slot, displaying five simulated embedded Soul Souls; beneath each Soul Soul was a draggable percentage progress bar, allowing free allocation of percentages through dragging.

The maximum could be set to 100%, the minimum to 0%, and at the very bottom was the "One-Click Balance" button.

Selecting One-Click Balance would automatically adjust the progress bars beneath the five Soul Souls to 20%, causing them to share equally the Evolution Points gained from hunting.

After testing the connection feedback effects between the functional panel and the Challenger System, Qi Sheng nodded in satisfaction.

The emergence of this new function would completely resolve the issue of being unable to focus on cultivating Soul Souls, offering players freer enhancement choices; specific Soul Souls, upon reaching a certain level, could have their allocation adjusted to 0%, ceasing to share hunting-derived Evolution Points.

This completely solved the problem of combat strength weakening due to excessive balance in enhancement, as mentioned in the post.

With testing complete, Qi Sheng decided to immediately launch a new round of updates, providing this new function for player use.

And this was precisely the significance of his continuous collection of player information; every update was intended to provide players with a better gaming experience and more convenient functional usage, thereby generating greater yields of Sacrificial Power.

Achieving the true form of the Emperor Omen begins with nurturing the players.

(End of Chapter)