Chapter 68: Flaws in the Soul-Core Growth System (Part 6)

"Don't charge in alone! Brothers online, gather at the Imperial Tomb Village exit. We’ll charge out together in a bit."

"I thought the Black Tide was scary. Turns out it's just this? They've turned it into a 'Dynasty Warriors' mowing mode for us. So satisfying."

"Even though the guide says this is just the lowest-level Black Tide and the strength of the evil spirits barely reaches the Crescent-level, it's just pure fun."

"Our team needs high-output players to grind levels. No Taunt Soul-Cores or other support Soul-Cores. Only output."

"If only there were a healer Soul-Core. We can mow down the Black Tide, but our sustainability is non-existent. Once stamina or mental energy runs out, we're dead."

……

The Black Tide had been ravaging the Imperial Tomb Mountain range for a full day.

The players who had originally planned to play a cycle of resurrection matches in Imperial Tomb Village were having the time of their lives.

The weakness of the enemy exceeded their expectations.

To the players, the newly birthed low-tide evil spirits were simply experience monsters that delivered EXP and sacrificial power. Their lethality was pitifully weak, yet their numbers were vast.

The batch of newbies who had entered the game earlier were complaining about encountering a Waning Moon scenario right at the start, finding the monster difficulty too high. But after meeting the Black Tide, they completely turned the tables, discovering their strength was enough to charge in and out of the low-tide Black Tide seven times over.

The feeling of mowing down evil spirits even made veteran players feel like the nature of the game had changed.

Compared to the previous Soul-like survival mode of mining and teaming up to challenge high-level evil spirits, the appearance of the Black Tide had turned the game into a "mowing" mode.

The only thing that bothered players was that their lack of sustainability meant they were locked in the "small dark room" for an hour after every killing spree.

Every departure from Imperial Tomb Village was a one-way charge, until their souls returned to the village.

Compared to the players' joy, the Earth-Thought Evil Spirit who created this Black Tide disaster was falling into distress.

At this moment, on the high tower platform of the domain node, the Earth-Thought Evil Spirit’s gaze followed the Black Tide as it swept through the Imperial Tomb Mountain region.

During this time, it discovered a very serious problem.

As the Black Tide spread through the nearby areas, its strength not only failed to increase, but was constantly being weakened through contact with the mysterious group calling themselves "players."

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

The result led to an unbelievable conclusion.

These lifeforms calling themselves players did not seem to be creatures of this world, but, like it, came from other worlds, descending upon this land by crossing the world barrier of the monster world.

In other words, this player race was also an invader of the monster world.

But the method of invasion was hard for it to understand; they descended by crossing the world barrier one after another, sometimes dozens together, sometimes arriving alone, with absolutely no tactics or coordination.

After coming into contact with the Black Tide it controlled, the player race members would only fight mindlessly until their lives were extinguished.

This did not fit the legion structure an invading force should have at all; they were completely scattered, with no systematic combat power.

Yet, such a small, non-lethal force had become a hidden danger it could not resolve.

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

The battle had turned into a war of attrition.

It did not know how many reserves the player force had. If things continued in this current form, the strength of the Black Tide would only get weaker and weaker.

Encountering an unsolvable major problem on its first expedition to this world made the ambitious Earth-Thought very annoyed, yet it had no perfect solution. All it could think of was to continue consuming the player race's reserve forces through the Black Tide, grinding down the player force bit by bit.

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

Before this, it had followed and invaded two small worlds.

In the initial stages of the invasion, the descending Black Tide legion was always on the weaker side.

Especially when invading the Dungeon World, the commander leading the Black Tide had less than Commander-level combat power, and its strength was not even as good as the strongest lifeforms in the Dungeon World.

But over the long years that the Black Tide legion swept through the world, the combined combat power of the various alliances in the Dungeon World was constantly weakened, while the Black Tide legion's combat power climbed rapidly. By the late stages of the war, the commander's combat power had advanced to King-level, and it had also advanced to a General-level warrior in that battle.

In the end, the Dungeon World met its doomsday moment of being swallowed by the Black Tide under their final wave of attacks.

Therefore, in the eyes of the Earth-Thought Evil Spirit, the Black Tide legion feared nothing more than a war of attrition. With the characteristic of rapidly breeding evil spirit lifeforms, no force could compete with the Black Tide in a protracted war.

The disadvantages when first clashing with other forces, or wars where the sides were evenly matched, all represented an inevitable victory in the eyes of the Earth-Thought Evil Spirit.

……

Origin Altar.

In Qi Sheng's mind, the data fed back by the guide appeared, showing the gains brought by the player legion fighting the Black Tide for 29 hours.

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

The income was showing explosive growth.

Following this trend, the raging Black Tide would significantly improve the overall strength of the player legion.

According to the guide's feedback, the Earth-Thought Evil Spirit had already drained the reserve energy of the Sky Abyss domain node, but in order to occupy the domain node in the Imperial Tomb Mountain region, it was borrowing energy from other Black Tide nodes, attempting to create more evil spirit lifeforms. In Qi Sheng's view, this behavior was simply borrowing money to upgrade his player legion's combat power.

What disaster? This was a true God of Wealth.

[Living the poor life of frugality with sacrificial power for too long, the feeling of sudden wealth is truly satisfying.]

A joyful expression appeared on the surface of the guide water ball floating beside Qi Sheng, and then it continued:

[Recalling the days when we were near bankruptcy and waiting for death before recruiting players, the days ahead with hope now are simply heaven.]

The guide's words also filled Qi Sheng with immense emotion.

Before finding Earth, he and Yan Ming's consciousness shuttled through countless broken and shattered worlds, watching the remaining sacrificial power inventory dwindle, to the point where it was almost insufficient to hide Imperial Tomb Village independently from the monster world. They had already prepared to welcome death the moment the Imperial Tomb Village barrier shattered.

At that time, Yan Ming even proposed extracting the last of Imperial Tomb Village's sacrificial power to walk out of the village and fight to the death, stating that he would rather die in battle than welcome death by waiting for it.

Fortunately, he stopped Yan Ming and chose to consume the remaining sacrificial power to continue searching for worlds that had not collapsed.

When they were at the end of their rope, a massive blue planet appeared in their consciousness's perspective.

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

The guide's current emotion was exactly what he was thinking in his heart.

The player legion proved with facts that the plan he conceived back then was not a problem.

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

The feeling of watching the player legion grow rapidly was very magical.

There was a joy and satisfaction in watching the children he created grow bit by bit.

And his Imperial Omen body, with the help of the players, had also housed 17 types of Origin power, making his strength several times stronger than before the recruitment plan started.

The most obvious feature was that after switching to the Imperial Omen form, the scarlet flames burning on his body became much deeper in color.

Just as the guide said, everything was developing in a good direction; the dead end where they were once at their wits' end had ushered in a bright future path.

Without thinking too much, he switched his perspective to the player perspective, his consciousness rapidly shuttling through different player perspectives and the latest information refreshed on the forum.

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

[Brand new sustainability school, Star Pulse combination test tower simulation effect demonstration.]

Live streamer: Steel Giant Arm.

Content:

Recently, mowing down the Black Tide has been satisfying, but I also discovered a problem. There is a special evil spirit in the Black Tide called "Shadow Raid." I'll put the analysis screenshot of Shadow Raid below.

(Attached: Analysis information)

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

[Shadow Raid (Evil Spirit)]

Hunting Level: 5

Target Introduction: A low-level evil spirit lifeform born from the Black Tide, immune to low-intensity physical damage, can cause continuous damage to the target through parasitism.

……

Everyone must have encountered this evil spirit lifeform; it can be considered the most troublesome monster in the Black Tide.

Once entangled, it's impossible to dispel, and you can only endure the constantly worsening injuries. I found that many people died from being parasitized by Shadow Raid.

My understanding of the low-difficulty physical damage mentioned in the introduction is that it cannot be eliminated in one hit; just cutting it in half allows it to heal quickly, and the facts are indeed so. I defeated Shadow Raid several times, but it healed quickly. Only energy and elemental damage can cause substantial damage to Shadow Raid.

This problem bothers me a lot. Since I was a kid, I've only preferred melee combat and don't like playing ranged mage-type professions.

It's the same in this game. I chose Black Armor Snake at the start, paired with Broken Blade Soul-Core; both are melee Soul-Cores.

I was completely helpless when encountering this disgusting monster.

To solve this problem, I thought of the test tower and decided to simulate and find the answer inside.

As a result, I really combined an optimal solution for the existing 17 types of Soul-Cores.

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

(Attached: Demonstration video.)

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

Player "Steel Giant Arm" first showed the four Soul-Cores he paired: Broken Blade, Power Savage Axe, Bone Fire, and Qi Eating.

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

"Star Pulse inlay display finished. Next, I'll explain the combat logic of this Star Pulse combination."

"Considering that some evil spirits and monsters can only be substantially damaged by energy and elemental Soul-Cores, I thought about whether melee combat could also have elemental damage, a dual cultivation of magic and martial arts."

Saying this, Steel Giant Arm waved his hands, and suddenly two weapon spirits floated on his left and right.

The weapon on the left was the Broken Blade, and the one on the right was the Power Savage Axe, which fell into his hands and were gripped tightly.

At this time, the Bone Fire Soul-Core was activated, and ink-colored flames quickly spread from the player's body to the weapons, coating the two weapon spirits with a layer of burning flames.

"I'm sure there are brothers who are confused about why I want to dual-wield weapons. Weapon spirits can be fused and then choose forms freely. For example, the Broken Blade and Power Savage Axe in my hands can be fused, and I can freely choose the blade or axe form. After two-in-one, it has both breaking effects and output amplification effects."

"Here I must mention the issue of weapon attack frequency. As a veteran melee player, the dual-wielding form can significantly increase my attack frequency. After getting used to it, it's very easy to use. Left hand breaks defense, right hand crits; it's very fierce in actual combat."

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

After explaining his combat logic, Steel Giant Arm changed his tone:

"But relying solely on Broken Blade, Power Savage Axe, and Bone Fire, there is a serious flaw: sustainability is very weak. In less than five minutes, mental energy will be exhausted, and you will fall into a dizzy state."

"After all, we don't specialize in magic-type Soul-Cores; we still focus on melee Soul-Cores. The problem of weak mental energy leads to us not being able to release ink flame abilities for a long time like players who specialize in Eagle-Head Demon, so sustainability is very weak."

"So I added Qi Eating as the fourth Soul-Core option... I want to emphasize here that the Qi Eating Soul-Core is not only suitable for magic-type players..."

Hearing this, Qi Sheng already understood the combat mode of this Star Pulse school.

The left hand uses the Broken Blade to break defense and apply a breaking mark, the right hand uses the Power Savage Axe for heavy output, the Bone Fire Soul-Core enchants the weapon spirits, so both dual-wielded weapons carry the elemental damage of ink flame entanglement, and an additional Qi Eating is added, responsible for blood and mental energy recovery, maintaining the ink flame enchantment effect.

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

Moving through the monster group in dual-wielding form, the performance was eye-catching. During this time, he kept opening his mouth to inhale air, and white airflow formed a vortex in his mouth.

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

wordMaYa: Thanks for sharing the Star Pulse school, brother. It looks good and is much more practical than those brothers sharing advanced schools. Those schools with Soul-Core combinations that haven't been housed yet look strong, but who knows when they can be used. I just like this kind of practical Soul-Core combination guide. Post bookmarked.

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

No Money to Pay, Just One Life: Thank you so much. I was just worrying about this problem, how a pure melee player should deal with special monsters like Shadow Raid. I saw your guide post as soon as I got on the forum. I decided to follow your school, but I don't like dual-wielding. Fusing weapon spirits is more suitable for me (Tip: 1 point of sacrificial power)

Night is Coming: Good brain hole, but this school has a very serious problem. After the body tempering level reaches the standard, attribute inheritance occurs. Power Savage Axe and Broken Blade mainly increase physical fitness attributes, but Qi Eating and Bone Fire Soul-Cores mainly increase mental energy attributes. The two types of Soul-Cores conflict. Theoretically, players who choose four melee Soul-Cores will have much higher physical fitness strength than you, making this school look gorgeous, but it just adds an enchanted elemental effect. The strength is not as good as players with four melee Soul-Cores. I don't think it's practical.

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 losses. The physical fitness of this school is definitely not as strong as four melee Soul-Cores. Does Brother Night have any good suggestions?

……

Looking through the reply information, Qi Sheng discovered a setting problem he hadn't paid attention to before.

The guide-party player "Night is Coming" in the post raised the problem of this Star Pulse pairing, which reminded Qi Sheng of the setting flaws in Star Pulse combinations.

At the current stage, the evolution points obtained by players hunting evil spirits and monsters are shared by all inlaid Soul-Cores.

For example, if a player inlays three Soul-Cores and kills a monster to obtain 120 evolution points, the obtained evolution points will be distributed equally, and the strength of the three Soul-Cores will be improved synchronously.

This leads to the problem of being unable to focus on cultivation.

The Star Pulse school provided by player Steel Giant Arm has this problem. The levels of Bone Fire and Qi Eating Soul-Cores only need to reach a level where mental energy recovery speed is sufficient. Injecting too many evolution points instead becomes an obstacle to improving strength. The extra evolution points can be completely focused on the cultivation of Broken Blade and Power Savage Axe.

In the future, as the combinations of Star Pulse schools increase, this problem will become more and more serious.

Balanced distribution instead becomes a drag.

Qi Sheng, who discovered the problem, immediately had the idea of modifying the settings.

How to modify it, he had already found the answer while looking through the comments.

He decided to add an "adjustment function" to the acquisition of evolution points, giving players the authority to freely distribute evolution points.

Without thinking too much, Qi Sheng immediately started practical testing.

Summoning the Challenger System, suddenly countless jumping characters appeared, rotating around his body.

In a flash of thought, the guide beside him began to cooperate with him to simulate building a new evolution point distribution system.

Ten minutes later, a brand new panel appeared in front of Qi Sheng, with five big characters printed on it: "Evolution Point Distribution."

In the center is the Soul-Core inlay column, with five simulated inlaid Soul-Core displays. Below the Soul-Cores are percentage progress bars that can be dragged, which can be freely distributed by dragging.

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

Choosing one-click balance, the progress bars below the five Soul-Cores will automatically adjust to 20%, sharing the evolution points obtained from hunting equally.

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

The appearance of the new function will completely solve the problem of being unable to focus on cultivating Soul-Cores, giving players more free reinforcement choices. Specific Soul-Cores can adjust the distribution to 0% after reaching a certain level, no longer sharing hunting evolution points.

It completely solved the problem of combat power weakening caused by overly balanced reinforcement mentioned in the post.

Testing completed, Qi Sheng decided to start a new round of updates and provide the new function for players to use.

And this is exactly the significance of his constant collection of player information. Every update is to ensure players have a better gaming experience, obtain more convenient function usage, and then create more sacrificial power gains.

Achieving the Imperial Omen True Body starts with caring for players.