Chapter 98: Command-Type Player

【Speedrun in 1 hour 15 minutes, efficiency guaranteed; the post includes an attached video as proof. We charge only 65% of the trial reward, focusing on ultra-high efficiency.】

【Accepting Temple Trial clear orders; payment upon completion, efficiency guaranteed; the content includes three videos with clear runs.】

【Newest record: 1 hour 08 minutes; absolutely no one has a higher record than mine. We charge only 67% of the trial reward, focusing on efficient clearing.】

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……

Ding Yu's success sparked the enthusiasm of technical players to delve into Temple Trials.

From the initial 1 hour 50 minutes clear developed by Ding Yu, other technical players raised it to under 1 hour 20 minutes in just three days.

But as the first person to eat the crab, Ding Yu's income was undoubtedly the highest; forum players analyzed and speculated on Ding Yu's order volume, believing he earned over 30,000 Shou Shou Jili in three days, making countless players envious.

After this, a large number of technical players emerged, began to seize the market, and continuously drove down the charging ratio for carrying clears.

The efficiency of earning Shou Shou Jili continuously declined.

This wave of carrying clears also reignited attention on the importance of skill.

……

Emperor Tomb Mountain Range, Gray Fog Forest.

The Hei Chao Xie Sui gathered densely into a sea, forming an airtight defensive wall to protect the internal Yun Tian Domain Node.

The Corrosion Core, already absorbed by the Hei Chao Xie Sui, continuously drew energy from the node during this period, providing nutrients for the Hei Chao Xie Sui to continuously breed evil spirits, with its strength gradually rising.

Domain Nodes are areas within the Monster World capable of rule-level resource generation, and are the primary targets for various factions to fight over.

As long as one occupies a Domain Node, it means obtaining a continuous stream of generated energy.

The appearance of the insect swarm caused the Hei Chao Xie Sui's expansion pace to restrain.

Coupled with the joint combat operations frequently organized by major guilds, the expansion strategy of the Di Nian Xie Ling controlling the Hei Chao Xie Sui from behind underwent changes.

Protecting already occupied Domain Nodes is a goal more important to the Di Nian Xie Ling than continuing to expand.

This also made many players who had ideas about Domain Nodes grit their teeth in anger; several joint operations ended in failure.

At this moment, outside the Gray Fog Forest, the joint operations organized by major guilds launched again.

The initiator was the guild master of the Shen Tang Guild: Shen Wang.

The game had been open for nearly two months; Shen Wang, who entered the game nearly half a month later than the first batch of players, nonetheless had a considerable reputation on the forum.

When he first entered the game, to make his guild's name known, he boasted on the forum that he would spend 1 billion to infinitely purchase Shou Shou Jili.

At that time, a meme about a transmigrator made many players remember him.

The command battle at Mo Zhui Pit made his fame surge even further.

At this moment, 5 kilometers south of the Gray Fog Forest, Ye Xing, with the two characters "Shen Wang" hovering above his head, was waiting for the moment to arrive.

The joint campaigns he organized had failed several times, but he showed no discouragement whatsoever; instead, he became more excited, studying every day how to capture the Yun Tian Domain Node.

They say every player has their own way of playing, and the way he chose to play was also different from ordinary players.

Although improving personal strength was important to him, he preferred leading his guild brothers to challenge difficulties, continuously conquering one powerful enemy after another through large-scale team battles.

Just last night, he contacted the guild masters of major guilds again to launch a request for joint operations.

To successfully capture the Yun Tian Domain Node, he also specifically had guild managers contact a group of well-known solo player groups in the game.

Except for the hard-core labor teams still fighting each other and starving in the Ni Chao Legion, he contacted any player with some strength, wanting to capture the Yun Tian Domain Node, which had been under siege for a long time without success, in one go with this battle.

Before the battle began, multiple private chat windows floated before Ye Xing.

Shen Wang: Dog Wing, have the brothers arrived yet?

Shen Yi: Don't rush; I, your big brother, am still on the way; I'll notify you when I arrive.

Shen Wang: Once you arrive, launch an attack directly on the Xiu Mu Domain Node; wait until the Di Nian dogs control the Hei Chao Xie Sui to move over and support, then we will launch our attack here.

Shen Yi: Alright, understood.

……

After exchanging with the guild master of the Shen Yi Guild, Ye Xing lit up another chat window:

Shen Wang: Where are the brothers of the Whirlwind Team?

Tornado: Brother, don't rush; we are on the way over.

Shen Wang: Send over a coordinate.

Tornado: (Emperor Tomb Mountain Range: Coordinate 3283.1224).

……

While switching screens to communicate, the number of players outside the Gray Fog Forest continuously increased.

At the same time, at the Xiu Mu Domain Node northwest of Feng Bo Tan, members of the Shen Yi Guild launched a fierce assault.

The battle immediately attracted the attention of the Di Nian Xie Ling, which decisively mobilized the Hei Chao Xie Sui gray fog from nearby areas to converge on the attacked Xiu Mu Node.

Learning the situation through Shen Yi's feedback, Ye Xing gazed at the Gray Fog Forest, then activated the perception perspective of the Eagle-Headed Demon.

The extending perception tentacles radiated outward from himself as the center; everything became exceptionally clear, and even the floating trajectories of dust in the air could be easily captured.

Shen Wang: Brothers, stop chatting in the regional voice channel; prepare to launch a general assault. Except for the guild masters of major guilds, no other players should speak.

Shen Wang: Give everyone five minutes to stock up at the Shangcheng. Every magic-type player must prepare 15 bottles of Spirit Potions for me; melee players must equip 15 bottles of Recovery Potions. You can buy more but not less; once the fighting starts, there will be no time to buy potions... Also, don't think about saving money; use the potions as needed. Once we capture the Yun Tian Domain Node, all losses will be recovered. During this time, I will observe everyone's actions; players who perform well will receive an extra cash bonus.

Shen Wang: Have you all bought everything? Now, players following the Gargoyle tanking build and players following the Monster build, move to the very front of the formation to assemble, serving as the first line. Black-Armored Snake and Artifact Spirit builds, and other melee-style players, follow behind the Gargoyle players to serve as the second line. Magic Defense builds and Control builds take the third line... Magic damage dealers take the fourth line. Players using the Ben Lei Painful Painful Minghun take both sides of the battle formation. All members of the Fan Zui Guild take the very rear to hold the line, preventing Hei Chao Xie Sui coming from other directions and protecting the magic damage dealers.

Shen Wang: Now, push toward the Gray Fog Forest for me!

Accompanying Shen Wang's command, the joint assault team, already formed into a battle formation, advanced toward the Gray Fog Forest.

As the player team approached, the surging Hei Chao Xie Sui, as if stimulated by something, suddenly accelerated the breeding of evil spirits.

The Hei Chao Xie Sui surged forth like dumplings being dropped into boiling water; the surging black fog rolled up waves and actively slammed down fiercely toward the joint assault team.

Shen Wang: Magic Defense players, raise shields overhead, quickly!

Accompanying Shen Wang's roar in the voice channel, the players in the battle formation who chose the Magic Defense build all raised their heads and released their characteristic abilities; immediately, light shields appeared above the battle formation, rapidly expanded, and connected with each other, forming a defensive barrier composed entirely of energy.

Boom!

The black tide that was struck down was repelled by the light shield barrier, followed by the Hei Chao Xie Sui raging and sweeping through.

A great battle was about to erupt.

God King: Players of the Thunder Rush have activated their ability traits; hold the line against the Hei Chao Xie Sui attacking from both flanks.

After the order was issued, players embedded with the Painful Painful Minghun on both sides of the battle formation crackled with "pitter-patter" sounds; upon activating their trait ability, they transformed into glowing spheres of lightning, rolling slowly forward with the formation. The moment any Hei Chao Xie Sui attacking from the sides made contact with these lightning bodies, they were shattered and absorbed.

God King: Gargoyle players charge forward to draw the Hei Chao Xie Sui's fire; other melee DPS players maintain formation and push forward, protecting the backline magic DPS. Do not let the Hei Chao Xie Sui break through the battle formation. Magic DPS, follow my command and strike together; we will push inward bit by bit.

God King: Next, the Magic Defense flow plays freely. Those with perception, activate perception to lock onto the ghost dolls; before they self-destruct, cast a light shield on your front-line teammates. The rest of the players continue to follow orders.

God King: Magic players, prepare. Those with clones, activate your clones. 3, 2, 1, unleash skills to clear the path.

In an instant, countless ink-black fireballs rose above the battle formation, tearing through the sky, and fell upon the churning black mist like a meteor shower.

A single wave of assault swept away vast swathes of the black mist, carving out a channel for forward advancement.

God King: Gargoyle and Monster Flow players, accelerate your forward push. Speed up your steps; hold the gap open and do not let the black tide fill it. Backline magic players, prepare for the second wave of assault to clear the path.

Having fought many times and mastered the attack rhythm of the black tide, Ye Xing appeared completely at ease during the initial confrontation with the Hei Chao Xie Sui.

As a unified battle commander, he was well aware of his role.

The ability characteristics of different Hei Chao Xie Sui, the offensive rhythm when the black tide surges, the ability traits of different Painful Painful Minghun, and the strengths of different Star Vein combinations... all of this was knowledge he had to master before issuing battle commands.

Only then could he better define the roles different flow players would play in team battles.

If one could not even master these basics, the role of a unified battle commander would lose its meaning.

Moreover, every battle command was, in Ye Xing's eyes, a process of self-improvement.

Accumulating experience through actual combat, improving his command rhythm and adaptability, and perfecting the flaws in his command.

While commanding, he would also praise players who performed excellently.

By this method, he strengthened team cohesion, mobilized player morale, and enabled them to perform better in battle.

However, when encountering stupidity that could no longer be tolerated, he could not help but curse loudly.

Under God King's command, the combined battle formation pressed the black tide deeper into the Black Mist Forest.

Ahead lay a dense forest of towering trees; if they continued forward, the battle formation would inevitably be split and cut apart by the woods, severely affecting the efficiency of the advance.

How to solve this problem, Ye Xing had already devised a solution before the battle began, while studying the map.

He decisively issued an order in the small regional voice channel:

"Magic players, target the forest ahead. Burn the trees and ensure the battle formation continues to advance."

Once the order was given, the fireballs rose into the sky and fell, smashing into the forest.

Driven by the wild winds stirred up by the surging black tide, they transformed into writhing ink-black fire dragons, spreading at a terrifying speed.

The towering flames illuminated half the sky green.

They also inflicted continuous burning damage on the Hei Chao Xie Sui raging within the Grey Mist Forest.

The ink flames of Xiong Xiong burned vast numbers of trees into ash; a pungent smoke filled the air, mixed with the charred scent of charcoal.

The fire grew fiercer and fiercer, like a hungry beast opening its maw toward the depths of the Grey Mist Forest, devouring as it advanced.

Along the way, tree trunks crackled under the ink flames; thick smoke rolled up, blocking out the sky and sun, as if shrouded by a heavy black veil.

The entire forest resembled a massive furnace; during the process, numerous withered plants corroded by the black tide twisted and died.

At this moment, Ye Xing spoke up, ordering the team to slow their advance and wait for the thick smoke to clear.

Finally, the great fire gradually died down, and the wild winds dispersed the thick smoke.

As far as the eye could see, the ground was covered in ash and debris remaining from the burned trees.

Except for the still-churning black tide, the once-dense forest of towering Gao Da grey trees had vanished, leaving only scorched earth spreading forward.

Having destroyed the forest blocking the path, the view suddenly opened up, and Ye Xing issued the order to continue advancing forward at this moment.

A new round of battle erupted.

During this period, Ye Xing, whose nerves were taut the entire time, constantly poured spirit recovery potions into his mouth.

The Eagle-Headed Demon's perception vision was the key skill for him to control the direction of the situation.

He had to maintain the maximum range of perception vision throughout, which caused his mana (spiritual energy) to drain like flowing water, requiring him to drink spirit potions at all times to replenish the consumption.

If the perception vision were to break, being in the center of the battle formation, he would find it difficult to judge the direction of the situation with his naked eyes alone.

For instance, just now when burning the Grey Wood Forest, although the thick smoke rolled up, his perception vision could penetrate the smoke to continue observing changes in the battle.

During this time, he discovered that players from various guilds, their vision obscured by the thick smoke, showed signs of the battle formation becoming disorganized as they continued forward.

Thus, he urgently ordered them to slow their steps, waiting until the smoke cleared and vision became sharp before demanding an accelerated advance.

Before the battle, he had prepared 80 bottles of spirit potions to ensure the endurance of his perception vision for observation.

At this point, the battle formation had advanced into the Grey Mist Forest; Ye Xing understood that a true fierce battle was about to arrive.

The most difficult aspects of the Yun Tian Domain node, besides the Hei Chao Xie Sui protecting this area, were the corrupt plants generated deep underground by the corruption core, generally level 35 and above, extremely difficult to handle. At this moment, he issued the order:

"Brothers, get ready. Those in poor condition, drink potions to replenish immediately. Gargoyle Flow brothers, continue moving forward, create distance from the formation, and absorb the first wave of entanglement damage when the corrupt plants explode. Magic Defense Flow, switch to the second row of the battle formation. Once mana is full, prepare to cast light shields to protect the team."

"Players with the Painful Painful Minghun on both flanks of the team, switch to the first row. Players from the Fan Zui Tuan behind, split into two groups to protect the left and right flanks of the battle formation. Tie Ye's squad is separately assigned to enter the first row; wait for my command to charge and clear the path..."

Amidst the command and coordination, the Yun Tian in the distance came into view.

Under Ye Xing's command, the Gargoyle Flow players broke away from the formation and rushed toward the Yun Tian; instantly, the scene of chaotic demons dancing reappeared.

Countless black corrupt plants, like awakened demons, pierced through surface cracks and shot up, growing and entangling at an incomprehensible speed, weaving into an impenetrable grey-black net.

"Activate Petrification!"

Accompanying Ye Xing's roar, the Gargoyle Flow players ahead activated their petrification forms, and their bodies were subsequently swept up by the raging vines.

And this was precisely the result Ye Xing wanted to see. A new round of orders was issued; dense fireballs rose into the sky immediately afterward, smashing down upon the Yun Tian like a meteor shower.

At the very same time Ye Xing was commanding the team to fight the black tide.

Qi Sheng, lurking behind the scenes, was also monitoring the battle's progression.

During this time, he identified numerous game mechanics needing improvement.

First, the absence of a team mode forced players under command to rely on small-area voice channels for instructions, leaving them vulnerable to external interference.

This was an urgent issue to resolve.

He could easily add a team mode with no player cap, allowing the team commander to pull all players into a dedicated chat channel.

Second, the current system lacked detailed data to help team commanders assess their team's condition.

For example: team survival (death) counts, total team damage output, average team spiritual force consumption, and so on.

These metrics would allow team commanders to better control the battlefield rhythm and understand their team's status.

He could further build on this by adding toggleable team data views, enabling commanders to grasp team information in finer detail and issue more precise orders based on the data.

In Qi Sheng's view, these two mechanics were essential.

In the future, players would face mechanical legions, battle insect swarms, terrifying Black Tides, and other latent forces yet to be discovered.

All these forces possessed commander-type warriors capable of controlling battlefield dynamics.

The intelligent evil spirits and evil eyes within the Black Tide, the dominator of the mechanical legions, the central brain of the battle insect swarms—these commander-type warriors could adjust their side's tactics according to battlefield developments, making combat more efficient.

Player legions could also forge commander-type warriors.

Ye Xing was an excellent reference example.

With more detailed data support, they could better unleash their command abilities in team battles.

Qi Sheng planned to release this mechanic to all players in the next update.

Beyond optimizing the team mode, Qi Sheng also identified a potential issue in combat.

That was: output-type players gained far greater rewards than other player types during domain node battles.

Within the same team, evolution points and Shou Shou Jili earned from hunting and killing targets were shared among all team members.

But in purification mission contribution statistics, only damage output was counted.

For instance, in the purification mission for the Yuntian Node, the top 1000 contributing players received a Spirit Field reward.

Yet under the current contribution calculation, all 1000 reward slots went to output-type players; other support-type players simply could not accumulate enough contribution points to compete.

This meant that output-type players always reaped the greatest rewards from every purification mission.

This was highly detrimental to player legion development.

Output-type gameplay already offered a superior experience compared to support-type players; combined with preferential reward distribution in purification missions, it would drive even more players to choose output-type roles and avoid becoming support-type players.

To address this potential issue, he decided to revise the contribution calculation method in the next purification mission release.

He would include other player actions in the contribution rankings.

Since no healing-type "healer" stream existed among the Geliu Sects at this stage, healing volume could be temporarily excluded.

Other values that could be counted toward contribution, beyond damage output, included damage taken contribution, control effect contribution, teammate protection contribution (traits of Painful Painful Minghun such as light shields), and support buff contribution—all actions that created team advantages.

This new system would ensure fair treatment for players of all streams in purification domain node missions.

As for the calculation method, it could be entrusted to the Guidance Avatar.

The Guidance Avatar's powerful data-processing capability could analyze and determine the optimal contribution calculation method in real time based on battlefield changes.

Henceforth, "purification missions" would no longer be dominated by output alone.

Rankings would instead be based on true contribution data.

As for the ongoing Yuntian Node purification mission, its outcome had already been finalized—he would not alter it.

After finalizing the direction of these new mechanic revisions, Qi Sheng's gaze shifted back to the ongoing battle at the Yuntian Domain Node.

(End of Chapter)