Chapter 74: The Drawbacks of the Painful Painful Minghun Growth System (Sixth Update)

"Don't charge alone, brothers online, gather at the exit of Di Zhong Village, we'll charge out together in a moment."

"I thought the Black Tide was terrifying, but it turns out it's just this, we've turned it into a Dynasty Warriors mowing mode, so satisfying."

"Although the guide says this is just the lowest level of Black Tide, and the strength of the Evil Spirits barely reaches the strength of a Waning Moon-level Evil Spirit, satisfying is all that matters."

"The team lacks strong DPS to level up together; do not mock Painful Painful Minghun or other support Painful Painful Minghun, we only need DPS."

"If only there were a Healer Painful Painful Minghun who could heal; although we can kill satisfyingly against the Black Tide, our stamina simply cannot hold out, and once physical or mental energy is exhausted, we die."

……

The Black Tide has been ravaging the Di Zhong Mountain Range region for a whole day.

The players who originally planned to play a loop of respawning in Di Zhong Village are completely over the moon.

The weakness of the enemies was beyond their expectations.

The low-tide Evil Spirits that were just born are nothing but experience and Shou Shou Jili monsters giving away experience in the eyes of the players; their killing power is pitifully weak, yet their numbers are enormous.

The newbie players who entered the game in the previous batch were previously complaining about encountering a Lower Crescent Moon scenario immediately upon entering the game and the problem of excessively high monster difficulty, but after meeting the Black Tide, they completely turned the tables, discovering their strength allows them to charge in and out seven times within the Black Tide of low-tide intensity.

The feeling of killing Evil Spirits satisfyingly has even made veteran players feel the nature of the game has changed.

Compared to the previous hard work of mining, forming teams to challenge high-hunting-level Evil Spirits and monsters in a Souls-like survival mode, the appearance of the Black Tide has changed the game's nature into a Dynasty Warriors mowing mode.

The only thing that troubles the players is that insufficient stamina causes them to be locked in a small dark room for an hour after every satisfying kill.

Every time they leave Di Zhong Village, it is a charge with no return, until their souls return to Di Zhong Village.

Compared to the players' happiness, the Di Nian Evil Spirit that created this Black Tide sweeping disaster is plagued by distress.

At this moment, atop the Gao Ta platform of the Domain Node, the Di Nian Evil Spirit's gaze follows the Black Tide sweeping through the Di Zhong Mountain Range region.

During this period, it discovered a very serious problem.

In the process of the Black Tide spreading to nearby regions, the intensity not only failed to increase, but was constantly weakened upon contact with the mysterious group calling themselves players.

To investigate the origins of this mysterious group of creatures, it once personally went to track them.

The result yielded an unbelievable conclusion.

This group of life forms calling themselves players does not seem to be creatures of this world, but like it, comes from other worlds, descending upon this land by crossing the barriers of the Monster World.

In other words, this player group is also an invader of the Monster World.

But the method of invasion left him feeling incomprehensible; they actually descended by crossing the world barriers one after another, sometimes dozens at a time, sometimes even arriving alone, with absolutely no tactics or coordination.

After contacting the Black Tide he controls, members of the player group only fight blindly until their lives are extinguished.

This is extremely inconsistent with the army structure an invading force should have; it is completely a disorganized mess, with no systematic combat power whatsoever.

Yet this small force with absolutely no killing power has become a hidden trouble he cannot solve.

The player group possesses a rule characteristic that even the Evil Eye cannot decipher: upon death, they dissipate completely, unable to be absorbed by the Black Tide, and the Evil Spirits killed by player group members also cannot reintegrate into the Black Tide.

The battle has become a mutual war of attrition.

What it does not understand is how much reserve strength the player force actually has; continuing in this current form, the intensity of the Black Tide will only grow weaker and weaker.

Encountering an unsolvable major trouble on the first expedition to this world made the ambitious Di Nian extremely annoyed, yet there is no perfect solution; the only thing he can think of is to continue using the Black Tide to consume the player group's reserve strength, wearing down the player force bit by bit.

In a war of attrition, the Black Tide army in Di Nian's eyes is invincible.

Before this, he had followed invasions of two small worlds.

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

Especially during the invasion of the Dungeon World, the commander leading the Black Tide had combat power of less than a Commander level, with strength even inferior to the strongest few life forms of the Dungeon World.

But during the long years of the Black Tide army sweeping the world, the comprehensive combat power of the alliance of various forces in the Dungeon World was constantly weakened, while the combat power of the Black Tide army rose rapidly; by the late stage of the war, the commander's combat power promoted to Monarch level, and he himself promoted to a Commander-level warrior in this battle.

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

Therefore, in the eyes of the Di Nian Evil Spirit, the Black Tide army fears nothing more than a war of attrition; with the characteristic of rapidly breeding Evil Spirit life forms, no force can withstand the Black Tide in a prolonged war.

The disadvantage during initial clashes with other forces, or wars of equal strength, in the eyes of the Di Nian Evil Spirit, all represent inevitable victory to come.

……

Meng Yuan Chu Altar.

Data information from the guide's feedback floated into Qi Sheng's mind, showing the gains brought by the player army fighting the Black Tide for 29 hours.

After deducting the consumption of player death and resurrection, the Black Tide brought him 580,000 Shou Shou Jili gains.

Income showed explosive growth.

If this trend continues, the raging Black Tide will greatly enhance the comprehensive strength of the player army.

According to the guide's feedback, the Di Nian Evil Spirit has already emptied the reserve energy of the Tian Yuan Domain Node, but to occupy the Domain Node of the Di Zhong Mountain Range region, it is borrowing energy from other Black Tide nodes, attempting to create more Evil Spirit life forms; this behavior, in Qi Sheng's view, is simply borrowing money to upgrade his player army's combat power.

What calamity? This is the true God of Wealth.

【Having lived too many poor days of frugally using Shou Shou Jili, the feeling of suddenly becoming rich is truly satisfying.】

A joyful expression floated onto the surface of the guide water ball hovering beside Qi Sheng, then it continued:

【Recalling the days when we were nearly bankrupt and waiting to die before recruiting players, the days now with hope for the future are simply paradise.】

The guide's words made Qi Sheng's heart feel extremely emotional as well.

Before finding Earth, he and Yan Ming's consciousnesses shuttled through countless collapsing and shattered worlds, watching the remaining Shou Shou Jili inventory dwindle, even becoming almost insufficient to hide independently from the Monster World's Di Zhong Village; they had already prepared to welcome death at the moment the Di Zhong Village barrier shattered.

At that time, Yan Ming even proposed extracting the remaining Shou Shou Jili of Di Zhong Village to walk out of Di Zhong Village and fight to the death, stating he would rather die in battle than welcome death by waiting to die.

Fortunately, he stopped Yan Ming, choosing to consume the remaining Shou Shou Jili to continue searching for worlds that had not yet collapsed.

When all hope seemed lost, a huge blue planet floated into view under the consciousness perspective.

At that moment, the heart was filled with endless joy, and the feeling at that time is still clearly remembered by Qi Sheng.

The guide's sigh at this moment is none other than the thought in his own heart.

The player army has proven with facts that the plan he conceived back then was not flawed.

Although at the current stage the player army is only clashing with the weakest low-tide forces of the Black Tide faction, far from being able to contend with the true main force of the Black Tide, the growth potential has already been demonstrated in this battle.

The feeling of watching the player army grow rapidly is very strange.

There is a joy and sense of fulfillment in watching the child one created grow little by little.

And with the players' help, his Beneath Di Zhao body had already accommodated 17 Meng Yuan Chu powers, making his strength several times greater than before the recruitment plan began.

The most obvious feature was that after switching to the Beneath Di Zhao form, the scarlet flames burning on his body turned a deeper shade.

Just as the guidance said, everything was developing in a good direction; the originally desperate dead end had welcomed a bright future path.

Without thinking much, his vision switched to the players' perspective, his consciousness rapidly shuttling through different player viewpoints and the latest information refreshing on the forum.

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

【New Endurance Taoliu Sect, Breath-Eating Dual-Wield Star Vein Combination Test Tower Simulation Effect Demonstration.】

Streaming Player: Steel Giant Arm.

Content:

Recently, the Black Tide has been thrilling to kill, but I also discovered a problem: a special evil spirit called "Shadow Strike" exists within the Black Tide. Below is a screenshot analyzing the Shadow Strike.

(Attached: Analysis Information)

The monster in the attachment looks like a shadow sliding along the ground, with no specific form.

【Shadow Strike (Evil Spirit)】

Hunting Grade: 5

Target Introduction: A low-level evil spirit life born from the Black Tide, immune to low-intensity physical damage, capable of causing continuous damage to the target through parasitism.

Everyone has surely encountered this evil spirit life; it is considered the most troublesome monster in the Black Tide.

Once entangled, it cannot be dispelled; one can only endure the constantly worsening injuries. I found that many people died from being parasitized by the Shadow Strike.

My understanding of the low-difficulty physical damage mentioned in the introduction is that it cannot be destroyed in one hit; cutting it in half allows it to heal quickly, which is indeed the case. I shattered the Shadow Strike several times, but it always healed quickly. Only energy and elemental damage can cause substantial harm to the Shadow Strike.

This problem has troubled me greatly. Since childhood, playing games, I have only favored melee combat and disliked playing ranged mage-class professions.

It is the same in this game; at the start, I chose the Black-Armored Snake, paired with the Po Sui Yin Painful Painful Minghun. Both of these are melee Painful Painful Minghun.

Facing such disgusting monsters, I was completely helpless.

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

As a result, I actually combined an optimal solution from the existing 17 Painful Painful Minghun.

No more nonsense; next, I will directly release the demonstration video.

(Attached: Demonstration Video.)

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

The player "Steel Giant Arm" first displayed the four Painful Painful Minghun he had paired: Po Sui Yin, Li Man Axe, Bone Fire, and Breath-Eating. These four Painful Painful Minghun.

Then, the Steel Giant Arm in the demonstration scene began to explain the characteristics of this Star Vein combination.

"The Star Vein inlay demonstration is over. Next, I will explain the combat strategy of my Star Vein combination."

"Considering that some evil spirits and monsters can only take substantial damage from energy and elemental Painful Painful Minghun, I wondered if melee combat could also possess elemental damage, allowing for a dual cultivation of magic and martial arts."

Speaking thus, Steel Giant Arm waved both hands, and instantly two weapon spirits floated on his left and right.

The weapon on the left was the Po Sui Yin, and the weapon on the right was the Li Man Axe, which fell into his hands and were gripped tightly.

At this moment, the Bone Fire Painful Painful Minghun activated. Ink-black flames rapidly spread from the player's body to the weapons, coating the two weapon spirits with a layer of burning flames.

"I suppose some brothers are very confused: why do I dual-wield weapons? Weapon spirits can completely merge and freely choose a form. For example, if the Po Sui Yin and Li Man Axe in my hands merge, I can freely choose either the sword or axe form. After combining the two, it possesses 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 proficient, it is very easy to use. The left hand breaks defense, the right hand delivers critical hits; it is extremely fierce in actual combat."

"Combined with the ink-flame enchantment of the Bone Fire form, physical damage comes with elemental damage."

After explaining his combat strategy, Steel Giant Arm changed the tone of his speech:

"But relying solely on the Po Sui Yin, Li Man Axe, and Bone Fire has a serious drawback: endurance is very weak. Within less than five minutes, spiritual energy will be exhausted, leading to a state of dizziness."

"After all, we do not primarily cultivate magic-class Painful Painful Minghun; we still focus on melee Painful Painful Minghun. The problem of weaker spiritual energy prevents us from releasing the ink-flame ability for long periods like players who primarily cultivate the Eagle-Head Demon, resulting in very weak endurance."

"So I added Breath-Eating as the fourth Painful Painful Minghun option... Here, I must emphasize that the Breath-Eating Painful Painful Minghun is not only suitable for magic-class players..."

Hearing this, Qi Sheng already understood the combat mode of this Star Vein Taoliu Sect.

The left hand uses the Po Sui Yin to break defense and apply the Po Sui Yin mark; the right hand uses the Li Man Axe for heavy strikes and output. After the Bone Fire Painful Painful Minghun enchants the weapon spirits, both dual-wielded weapons carry the elemental damage of swirling ink flames. Additionally, Breath-Eating is added to handle blood and spiritual energy recovery, sustaining the ink-flame enchantment effect.

After explaining the Star Vein composition strategy, the Steel Giant Arm in the demonstration scene summoned the test panel to summon monsters.

Moving through the group of monsters in dual-wield form, his performance was outstanding. During this time, he constantly opened his mouth to suck in air, with white airflow forming a vortex in his mouth.

This post received many likes from players, and the comment section was very lively:

Word Ma Ya: Thanks, brother, for sharing the Star Vein Taoliu Sect. It looks good and is much more practical than those brothers sharing advanced Taoliu Sects. Those Taoliu Sects combining Painful Painful Minghun that haven't been accommodated yet look strong, but who knows when they will be usable? I just like this kind of practical Painful Painful Minghun combination guide. I have bookmarked the post.

Destiny Protagonist: Thanks, big brother, for sharing the guide. I absolutely love the dual cultivation of magic and martial arts combination.

No Money to Spend, One Life to Bet: Thank you so much. I was just worrying about this problem: how should pure melee players deal with special monsters like the Shadow Strike? I came to the forum and saw the guide post you published. I have decided to follow your Taoliu Sect, but I don't like dual-wielding; merging the weapon spirits suits me better (Tip: 1 point of Shou Shou Jili).

Night is Coming: Nice brainchild concept, but this Taoliu Sect has a very serious problem. After the body tempering level meets the standard, attributes are inherited. The Li Man Axe and Po Sui Yin mainly increase physical constitution attributes, while the Breath-Eating and Bone Fire Painful Painful Minghun mainly increase spiritual energy attributes. These two types of Painful Painful Minghun conflict. Theoretically, players choosing four melee Painful Painful Minghun will be far superior in physical constitution strength, making this Taoliu Sect look flashy but merely adding an elemental enchantment effect. Its strength is inferior to players with four melee Painful Painful Minghun. I think it is impractical.

Steel Giant Arm (OP) replied to Night is Coming: Damn, it's actually Brother Night. The problem you mentioned does exist, but to deal with special monsters, there must be a trade-off. The physical constitution of this Taoliu Sect is definitely not as strong as that of four melee Painful Painful Minghun. Does Brother Night have any good suggestions?

Scrolling through the reply information, Qi Sheng discovered a setting issue he had not paid attention to before.

The guide-posting player "Night is Coming" in the post pointed out the problem with this Star Vein combination, which made Qi Sheng think of the setting drawbacks regarding Star Vein combinations.

At the current stage, when players hunt evil spirits and monsters, the evolution points obtained are shared among all inlaid Painful Painful Minghun.

For example, if a player has inlaid three Painful Painful Minghun and kills a monster to obtain 120 evolution points, the obtained evolution points will be evenly distributed, and the strength of the three Painful Painful Minghun will improve synchronously.

This creates a problem where focused cultivation is impossible.

The Star Vein Taoliu Sect provided by player Steel Giant Arm has this problem. The levels of the Bone Fire and Breath-Eating Painful Painful Minghun only need to reach a point where the spiritual energy recovery speed is sufficient; injecting too many evolution points actually becomes an obstacle to improving strength. The excess evolution points can be fully focused on cultivating the Po Sui Yin and Li Man Axe.

In the future, as Star Vein Taoliu Sect combinations increase, this problem will become increasingly severe.

Balanced distribution has instead become a drag.

Qi Sheng, having discovered the problem, immediately formed the thought of modifying the settings.

How to modify them; he had already found the answer while scrolling through the comments.

He decided to add a "tuning function" to Evolution Point acquisition, granting players the authority to freely allocate Evolution Points.

Without further thought, Qi Sheng immediately began practical testing.

Summoning the Challenger System, countless flickering characters instantly appeared, swirling around his body.

In an instant, the guidance beside him began to cooperate with him to simulate the creation of a new Evolution Point allocation system.

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

At the center was the Painful Painful Minghun inlay slot, displaying five simulated inlaid Painful Painful Minghun; below each Painful Painful Minghun was a draggable percentage progress bar, allowing free allocation of percentages by 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 below the five Painful Painful Minghun to 20%, equally sharing the Evolution Points gained from hunting.

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

The emergence of this new function would completely solve the problem of being unable to focus on cultivating specific Painful Painful Minghun, giving players more freedom in enhancement choices; once a specific Painful Painful Minghun reached a certain level, its allocation could be adjusted to 0%, no longer sharing in the hunting distribution of Evolution Points.

This thoroughly resolved the issue of combat power weakening caused by overly balanced enhancements mentioned in the post.

With testing complete, Qi Sheng decided to launch a new round of updates immediately, making the new function available for players to use.

And this was precisely the meaning behind his constant collection of player information; every update was for players to enjoy a better gaming experience, obtain more convenient function usage, and then generate more Shou Shou Jili revenue.

Achieving the true form of Beneath Di Zhao begins with caring for the players.

(End of this chapter)