Chapter 90: The Correct Way to Compensate for Weaknesses

Emperor Tomb Mountain Range.

“What the hell is this thing? Its attack is insane—feels even more vicious than the Black Black Tide, chasing me down to bite.”

“This bug’s magic resistance is crazy—had to throw three fireballs to kill one. Melee might finally rise in this version; it’s frustrating. I hope melee stays in the gutter forever—our mages are still the true gods of the meta.”

“The Thunder Roll tactic is kinda fun—just line up with your buddies, switch to Thunderform, and roll forward. The only downside is you’re pretty fragile.”

……

While the rampant Bug Black Tide furiously assaulted the Xieyan High Tower, the Bug Clan warriors on both flanks of the main frontline crossed the boundary of the Phantom Marsh and entered the Emperor Tomb Mountain Range region.

All resources along the way were devoured and consumed.

During this period, the Bug Black Tide made initial contact with players exploring outside.

To the players’ eyes, the frenzied Bug Clan warriors were no different from the Black Black Tide’s evil spirits.

Bug Clan warriors who had not evolved abilities to counter the Primordial Trait showed fierce aggression but lacked any effective countermeasures against players, relying solely on overwhelming numbers.

Undoubtedly, the happiest players were those who chose the melee Star Vein combination.

In the terrifying Black Black Tide, countless non-elemental-damage-resistant evil spirits had already emerged—melee had no advantage unless paired with elemental-damage-based Soul Souls.

For example, lightning enchantment enhanced by the Thunderform Soul Soul, or fire enchantment empowered by Ink Flame.

But pairing with magic-based Soul Souls would inevitably weaken physical attributes.

Yet against Bug Clan warriors, melee players had no need to worry about this issue.

The Bug Clan warriors’ situation was the exact opposite of the Black Black Tide’s evil spirits.

Their crystallized life structure effectively resisted elemental damage but proved extremely vulnerable to pure physical damage.

This discovery thrilled melee players, who all declared that the long-awaited melee-revival meta had finally arrived.

While players enthusiastically discussed the sudden Bug Black Tide, Qi Sheng, lurking behind the scenes, was still watching from the frontlines as the Black Black Tide and Bug Black Tide clashed.

The intensity of their battle far surpassed that of the terrifying Black Black Tide versus the players.

During this time, the terrifying Black Black Tide rapidly consumed node energy to spawn new evil spirits, while the mastermind behind the Bug Black Tide controlled its warriors to frantically gather resources and absorb them to rapidly spawn new Bug Clan warriors.

Both sides were producing troops at high intensity.

Along the main frontline under the glow of the Evil Moon, two waves of different colors converged at the center.

To the north, the Bug Black Tide resembled an endless ocean of crystalline stones, primarily composed of Crystalwing-class units. Under the mastermind’s control, all Bug Clan warriors appeared frenzied and bloodthirsty, their numbers too vast to count, surging forward like tidal waves—each death collision brought shattered carapaces and spurting bodily fluids, filling the air with a pungent stench of blood.

On the other side, the Black Black Tide’s evil spirits crawled from the depths of darkness—born and immediately thrown into battle, dying only to reabsorb into the Black Black Tide, only to spawn anew.

Both sides possessed massive combat units; no matter how many died, fresh forces always filled the gaps, continuing their endless slaughter.

What made Qi Sheng utterly speechless in this process was:

It appeared to be a prolonged war of attrition, where both sides should have suffered continuously expanding losses.

But according to the analysis feedback from the Guidance’s sampled regions, the combined strength of both the terrifying Black Black Tide and the combat Bug Black Tide had not weakened under high-intensity conflict—in fact, both were rapidly growing.

On the Black Black Tide’s side, the Black Black Tide gained energy by having spawned evil spirits kill Bug Clan warriors, rapidly increasing its own strength through consumption.

On the other side, the Bug Black Tide’s mastermind, by continuously collecting scattered pheromones from the Black Black Tide, caused the strength of newly spawned Bug Clan warriors to climb rapidly.

In less than half a day, the Bug Clan mastermind, based on the Black Black Tide’s traits, spawned a new combat unit: the Shieldwing.

Built upon the Crystalwing base, its body gained a thick, shield-like carapace, milky-white under the Evil Moon, glowing with a soft luster, tripling its size and becoming massively heavy.

This was a life structure reconstructed by the mother queen, specifically designed to counter the Ghost Child—its milky-white carapace contained multiple defensive layers capable of progressively nullifying the area damage from Ghost Child self-explosions.

Crucially, the Shieldwing’s heavy carapace could open like wings to protect the Bug Clan warriors behind it.

Both sides were rapidly evolving through racial traits.

This sight left Qi Sheng dumbfounded.

It felt as if the Black Black Tide and the Bug Black Tide were grinding experience together, leveling up in tandem.

What should have been a war of attrition had been turned into a glitch by these two infinitely potent races.

In any other game, this would clearly be a ban-worthy offense.

But as the war dragged on, victory was gradually becoming clear.

The moment the Bug Black Tide became locked in a prolonged war, victory had already begun tilting toward the terrifying Black Black Tide.

In terms of growth through consumption, the mother queen relied only on nearby resources and could not strengthen itself by devouring evil spirits, whereas the Black Black Tide could absorb partial nourishment from the corpses of slain Bug Clan warriors.

In growth speed, the Black Black Tide clearly outpaced the Bug Black Tide.

But what puzzled Qi Sheng was that the Bug Clan mastermind showed no intention of ending the war—it continued to mass-produce troops.

At this time, players on the forum had begun noticing the war between the Black Black Tide and the Bug Black Tide.

【Live stream of an insanely epic battle—so intense, even more thrilling than holographic movies! Come to my stream!】

Poster: Assassin Walking on the Edge of a Blade.

Content: Black Black Tide vs. Bug Black Tide Brawl—Live Stream Link (Redirect)

……

Entering the live stream, the player’s Guidance avatar, equipped with the “Dusk Shadow” Soul Soul, switched to Shadowform for distant observation.

On screen, two boundless torrents continuously collided, shaking the earth beneath their battle.

The live stream’s comment section was especially lively:

ThisBeaver: Holy shit, this scene is insane! Wait—didn’t we just add another enemy to our faction? According to Guidance’s analysis feedback, these Bug Clan are just a tiny fraction of a massive swarm. We’re probably gonna Iron Face dozens of powerful hostile factions in the future.

WindWhirlCloud replied to ThisBeaver: You’re wrong. It’s not that our player faction will Iron Face dozens of enemies—the game’s core setting makes players just one of many potential factions. Haven’t you noticed the Bug Black Tide and Black Black Tide fighting each other? The future will be a massive free-for-all—NPC factions hate each other and attack on sight.

NightFalls: The guy above is right—same as my thoughts. In the game’s setting, our player faction is just one among many. Elsewhere, where we haven’t expanded, all races are already locked in brutal resource wars… Also, while everyone’s busy, let me drop an ad: anyone with excess Sacrificial Power, sell me some. I’ve died twice trying to leave the village alone—spent 10 minutes online, got locked in the penalty room for two hours. I’m about to go insane. (Explorer wiping tears.jpg)

BerserkChicken replied to NightFalls: Holy shit, the missing person’s back! The forum was just discussing why you vanished—some guessed you hit real-life trouble. One guy said he knew you in real life, called you, and found out you got captured by Iron Bull City, and 18 Iron Bull males repeatedly fucked you 100 times.

EvilCounter: Wait, aren’t we players the protagonists here? How’d we become spectators? The Bug Black Tide and Black Black Tide don’t even care about us. I’m gonna charge over and show them who’s boss.

DivineWing: The battle scene is brutal, but the new Bug Clan are better than evil spirits—kill them and you get Evolution Points and Sacrificial Power, plus extra materials you can offer to Emperor Tomb Elder for more Sacrificial Power. Overall, the rewards are higher than killing equivalent-level evil spirits. I’ll organize a guild push soon.

DivineKing replied to DivineWing: You idiot, Wing. While the Black Black Tide’s distracted, go seize a Domain Node! Gather your guys and meet me at the Emperor Tomb Village gate—we’re hitting the Gray Mist Forest to try and capture the Yun Tian Domain Node. Been craving the Spirit Field rewards for ages.

……

After 20 hours, the war between the Bug Black Tide and the Black Black Tide came to an end.

The Bug Clan warriors, unable to advance to the Xieyan High Tower, retreated like a receding Black Tide under their mastermind’s call—some, however, crossed the regional boundary from the flanks and entered the Emperor Tomb Mountain Range to begin exploration and information gathering.

This process resembled players clearing map fog.

Information gathered by Bug Clan warriors was transmitted back to the mastermind.

In response to the Bug Clan’s withdrawal, the Black Black Tide under Earth Nian ’s control did not pursue.

Because Earth Nian realized that the player faction had begun assaulting Domain Nodes across the Emperor Tomb Mountain Range as the Black Black Tide contracted.

The base crystal had been ambushed—Earth Nian flew into a rage and decisively unleashed the Black Black Tide once more to ravage the Emperor Tomb Mountain Range region, reigniting conflict with the players.

But the prolonged war against the player faction left Earth Nian deeply frustrated.

Though fighting the Bug Black Tide was difficult, at least the Black Black Tide could grow stronger by devouring Bug Clan corpses.

But fighting the player faction was the complete opposite.

Although the player faction’s threat and pressure were far less intense than the Bug Black Tide’s and relatively easier to handle, the Black Black Tide suffered only losses with zero gains during the conflict.

Earth Nian ’s understanding was that his controlled Black Black Tide was still in its low-Black Tide phase—the consumption strength was insufficient to digest the player faction’s peculiar life structure.

Only when the Black Black Tide’s consumption strength reached a certain threshold could it counter the strange trait of players’ life energy instantly merging into the heavens and earth upon death.

As a result, the Emperor Tomb Mountain Range region became a complete mess.

Players vs. Black Black Tide evil spirits.

Players vs. Bug Clan warriors.

Black Black Tide evil spirits vs. Bug Clan warriors.

The three factions engaged in a chaotic three-way war, each viewing the other two as enemies.

That the war between the Black Black Tide and Bug Black Tide evolved into this three-way chaos was precisely the outcome Qi Sheng was pleased to see.

If the Bug Black Tide and Black Black Tide kept grinding each other, their strength would only keep climbing.

Although under the Four Rules of the Monster World, players need not fear death, their development speed would still be hindered.

The game Cultivation Mode would shift from the current “god Cultivation Mode” slaughter back into the harsh, Souls-like progression.

……

That same afternoon, as the war between the Black Black Tide and Bug Black Tide ended.

While rapidly scanning forum posts, Qi Sheng came across a thread that made him laugh and groan—players had pulled another insane stunt on him.

【I finally solved the unsolvable problem—epic guide drops! Please donate to this genius!】:

Poster: Performance Artist.

Content:

Cough, no more nonsense—let’s get straight to the point.

I’m sure everyone’s faced decision paralysis when building Star Vein combinations.

Choosing a magic-based Star Vein combo means weak defense and poor mobility—especially when you need to run, your short legs can’t match melee Star Vein players. Your only advantage is ultra-high output and ranged striking power—the best monster-killing efficiency in the meta.

But if you choose a melee Star Vein combo, you gain defense and mobility, and your movement speed is several times faster than magic Soul Soul users—but your damage output is severely lacking, and you can’t perform ranged or AoE attacks like magic Soul Souls.

The weaknesses of both Star Vein schools are glaring.

So I wondered: could we combine their strengths and compensate for their weaknesses?

This idea sparked inspiration after the Bug Black Tide entered the Emperor Tomb Mountain Range.

Among the Bug Black Tide, there’s a special unit called the “Travelwing”—according to Guidance’s analysis, it’s the Bug Black Tide’s resource-transporting troop.

When I reviewed the analysis data, I suddenly had an epiphany.

Why can’t players create a mount to boost mobility?

Although the game has no mount system, every player can transform into a monster form—technically, anyone can become a mount.

Let me describe to you the combat system I’ve envisioned.

I’ve chosen a magic-stream Star Vein build paired with my best buddy. I fight mounted on his back in my main form, while he transforms into a Black-Scaled Serpent form (a 13-meter-long black-armored serpent—he follows the Monster Flow growth path, and since entering the game, his Nascent Soul has always been the Black-Scaled Serpent, never switched). Together, we form a powerful combination with high output, mobility, and defense.

At my command, my best buddy charges across the battlefield with me on his back. All I need to do is stand atop his head and cast spells—I don’t even need to move my feet.

After multiple tests with my best buddy, we’ve identified two ideal mount forms.

They are the Black-Scaled Serpent and the Roar (Bear form).

These two monster forms serving as mounts are simply perfect.

Their massive size means insects can only reach my best buddy’s knees when they leap up—posing zero threat to me riding atop. Plus, since my best buddy is always moving, it’s extremely difficult for enemies to climb up and kill me.

Especially the Roar form—it has sonic-wave stun control. He immobilizes, I eliminate. Our monster-killing efficiency is extremely high.

Here’s a demo video (video attachment).

When Qisheng opens the video, he sees two players standing atop a massive boulder, gazing at the raging insect Black Tide in the distance.

At that moment, one of the players turns to his friend beside him:

“Let’s go.”

Hearing this, the player beside him nods, then switches into Black-Scaled Serpent form. His body twists and transforms into a 13-meter-long black-armored serpent. He slithers down the boulder and lowers his head. The other player steps forward two paces and stands atop the serpent’s skull.

“Charge!”

As the player atop the head issues the attack command, the duo charges into the insect Black Tide.

During the charge, the Black-Scaled Serpent lifts its body, raising the player five meters off the ground. The player atop continuously gathers fireballs and hurls them into clusters of insects.

Whenever the insect Black Tide surges forward, the Black-Scaled Serpent charges sideways to retreat, seeking a location with fewer insect warriors, then lifts its body again—creating a safe, stable output environment for the player on top.

As the video poster said, this combination compensates for the weaknesses of close-range Star Vein and magic-stream Star Vein builds, offering exceptional mobility, defense, and output efficiency.

At the end of the post, the poster writes:

After watching the demo video, I’m sure everyone now understands the power of the Mount Flow.

But no amount of explanation beats firsthand experience—I suggest everyone try it. If it doesn’t work, come back and roast me.

…

The Gold-Spending Elder: I opened this post out of curiosity, but I was left stunned. Dude, you really think outside the box. Among veteran players, there’s a saying: the ultimate gaming setup is never the game itself or hardware specs—the absolute top-tier setup is having a group of good brothers who can have fun playing together.

You’ll understand this saying as you age. As you grow older, the brothers and friends you once played with all start families and careers, your connections gradually fade, until they vanish entirely from your game friend list, becoming permanently dimmed icons.

But after reading your post, I realized this saying can be interpreted literally—and honestly, I’m speechless.

In short… your best buddy is absolutely the top-tier brother. Cherish him well.

Nightfall Approaches: Wait… you can’t… at least you shouldn’t… never mind, I suddenly don’t know what to say. Your concept is theoretically feasible, but there’s one problem harder than fixing the build’s weaknesses: not everyone can find a best buddy willing to be a mount (Four-Eyed Clan’s helpless sigh.jpg).

This Beaver?: Hahaha, bro, you’re truly a genius. I believe your idea is absolutely viable. Also, can I borrow your best buddy? I just asked around in the guild group who’d be willing to be my mount—they’re all cursing me now. Clearly, my best buddy isn’t as reasonable as yours and refuses to sacrifice himself for power.

Drunk on Lunar Eclipse Clan: Dude, your guide is seriously abstract. Solving the Star Vein flow’s weaknesses can be worked out—future Nascent Souls will keep expanding, so you’ll eventually find viable combinations. But the problem of making your best buddy your mount? I’ll never solve it in my lifetime. Your guide is way beyond my comprehension—it’s completely reset my worldview.

Dark Lands Are So Fun: You sold 128,888 for way too cheap. I see you’re getting increasingly reckless with your playstyle. The Lunar Eclipse Clan hasn’t released a mount system, but you’ve invented your own, right? Your insane, outlandish ideas constantly make me feel alienated. I suggest the devs lower the freedom level—your freedom has gone too far; you’re already playing abstract. I can’t even imagine what more bizarre gameplay you’ll dream up next.

Coke with Ice, Chugged: Boss, transfer me 100 sacrificial power right now. I just told my best buddy your idea—he punched my head three times hard and said the method is viable, but only if I become the mount and he switches to magic-stream for ranged output. I refused, and he’s threatening to punch me again. Boss, pay me medical compensation (God of Wealth clenching fist, red-faced.jpg).

…

The content of this post left Qisheng utterly speechless.

As the designer of the Challenger System, he never imagined such an absurd playstyle could exist.

He’s truly turned his basic framework into an art form.

Theoretically, this combat strategy is entirely feasible—but as the forum player said:

This playstyle is a profound insult to brotherhood.

The difficulty isn’t whether the strategy works—it’s finding a best buddy willing to sacrifice himself.

(End of Chapter)