Chapter 323: A Fantasy Game Can't Do Without Tower Climbing, Just Like 3D

Since the trouble was caused by himself, and Ji Ming, whom the game rules have appointed as kind‑hearted, certainly has to figure out how to rescue those unlucky souls he accidentally hard‑controlled.

But now I'm crackling with electric flashes and thunderous clatter all over; not to mention stepping out of this Faraday cage—I'm probably still just touching through the cage, and all these bizarre creatures around would turn to ash, and they'd be as fine as if sieved seventy‑or‑eighty times.

Fortunately, as an angelic race naturally adept at manipulating minds, Xi Er Wei Ya quickly regained her thinking ability from the hard‑control.

"Huh? Ah! What happened?"

She was bewildered for a moment, then hurried to Ji Ming's side.

"My lord, are you alright? I just saw golden light constantly emanating from you, and then I knew nothing."

"Hmm, it's clear you truly know nothing…"

After all, if I weren't so well‑versed, seeing a clanking armor‑clad figure with parts all askew wobbling toward me would have scared me into fleeing the cage altogether.

"Ah, sorry."

Xi Er Wei Ya, seeing the complexity in the Supreme Deity's eyes, finally realized she had forgotten to adjust her armor's position and quickly restored it to its former normal state.

Just then, Ji Ming tossed her a bottle of poison gas bomb.

"Alright, go try to awaken the others."

"As you command!"

Thus the Supreme Deity's most prized creation once again proved its worth; even though it was merely a ripple, it could dispel even the mental effects brought by Thus we will have Cultivation: Zhen Shen, truly terrifying.

Having directly felt the Shadow Prisoners' power of the Lord Messenger, they became even more sincerely obedient, pondering that surrendering this time was indeed wise; a single messenger wielding such strength—could the deity himself not be at the level of Thus we will have Cultivation: Zhen Shen?

—Hey, following the Lord of Living Beings has far more prospects than trailing that old Shadow God!

Meanwhile, deep in the night, emo‑style, Wen Di Ge, who was forcing an undead bird to sing a mournful song for him all night, turned over.

"Damn, why does it feel like the emotions I just eased have gotten worse… whimper, Lord of Living Beings, why, why do you look down on me so…"

Seeing that these rookie subordinates were not downcast but instead full of vigor, Ji Ming, confident in the troops' morale, immediately led them into a second round of experience‑gathering experiments.

However, the early research was not smooth; Ji Ming tried simulating a variety of species, but most of them showed identical sources of experience, meaning they shared a common experience‑gain ceiling with no further development potential.

But after broadening his thinking, following Ge Rui Sen's suggestion to approach the problem from another angle, he discovered that the resentful phantoms indeed have different classifications—by race!

Since races can be divided into six major categories—spirit folk, beastfolk, humans, subhumans, demonic beasts, and the bizarre—that yields six brand‑new experience pools; if further classified by tier into low, mid, and high, the two dimensions multiply to a total of eighteen!

With ample experience, they can be mass‑produced and manipulated at will according to demand…

These resentful phantoms are a perfect experience package; in terms of value they far surpass the combat training camp that cards the Unlimited Energy Resurrection Technique, and Ji Ming leveraged "A Pu Er" and the Earth Grudge Demon's hand to pull off a big move.

As for how to turn this great discovery into productivity…

When the game's open beta entered its fourth day, at six that evening another ten thousand lucky players entered Double Moon Struggle with excitement, only to be puzzled that the friends, relatives, or guild members who came to greet them were all staring at the lower‑right corner of their screen, even running away right before their eyes.

"Hmm, what happened? Something wrong?"

The veteran player in front of them suddenly looked up, eyes gleaming as if firing lasers.

"No time to explain, follow me and teleport; the dungeon is finally opening a new area!"

If you ask which urban legend garners the most discussion in Double Moon Struggle, the wasteland behind the vast meadow north of the Logistics Center would definitely earn a nomination.

During the closed beta, when this spot was still the "Training Ground" that spawned wild monsters, the road leading there was sealed by a long air wall, and countless players who considered themselves bug‑hacking masters tried to climb over, none succeeding.

Instead, more and more sightings like "I saw a ghost floating there!" and "Whoa, is that moving skeleton?" added a mysterious aura to the sealed area.

Players internally speculated wildly: some guessed it was a discarded zone the developers built a model for and were too lazy to delete; others thought it was an Easter egg to hype discussion; still others believed it would become a new dungeon in the future, letting players experience the horror of a AAA‑VR game.

It turned out the latter was correct, as the developers suddenly posted a new announcement at six PM, stating that at ten the dungeon would open a new area 【Soul Spirit Palace】, and the marked location was exactly that much‑debated wasteland.

When the players swarmed like fervent fans, the first thing they saw was the massive palace complex that had materialized behind the air wall, and at its very center a bizarre colossal tower piercing the underground ceiling, its apex shrouded in storm clouds.

If this were a xianxia game, the tower might be a scripture repository, a sword hall, or a relic left by a great being, but in a fantasy game its purpose is singular!

"Climb… is this a tower‑climbing challenge!?"

Based on players' experience with numerous games, whether it's a Mage Tower, Beast Tower, Lich Tower, or Ascension Tower, they're all long dungeons where each floor has either monsters or rewards, and the difficulty ramps up floor by floor; the core gameplay remains fundamentally the same.

Thus, feeling the big event was imminent, players paused all tonight's plans, called friends, prepared wholeheartedly, and launched the first mass mobilization since the battle of Sunlight City.

—Whether human or ghost, eat straw or meat, it all depends on tonight's fate!

"Whoa, this is crazy?"

Standing atop the Soul Spirit Tower, Ji Ming, who had been leading the entire Production Team for three hectic days, was watching the spectacle amid thunder and lightning, when he suddenly sensed something was wrong.

Although not every player has the leisure to join the fun, the open beta is unlike before; even if only a portion, it still amounts to over two hundred thousand players gathering outside, so the area beyond the air wall looked like a biochem outbreak, packed densely with people.

If they all poured in, the brand‑new marvel Ji Ming painstakingly designed would inevitably turn into a chaotic bazaar, so he quickly issued an additional announcement.

【Dear players, the brand‑new map 【Soul Spirit Palace】 is a difficult dungeon crafted for high‑level players daring enough to challenge it. Due to the current surge in player activity, the first day will be limited to players above level 20, and thereafter a level‑10 threshold will be set. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.】

In an instant, both the real‑world chat and the in‑game channel erupted in curses, and then… while cursing, they hurried to line up at the combat training camp, truly outspoken yet earnest.

Compared with these last‑minute, herd‑like players, some sharper individuals sniffed out opportunities and profit, cobbled together and borrowed many exchange points from friends, and opened the game shop.

The current game shop, compared with the internal test, has added many updates and has grown into a massive marketplace; besides being bought by the developers at fixed prices, players can also list anything they acquire for sale to others, making it increasingly like an RPG.

Among the goods offered by the developers, to fully motivate players, the affluent Ji Ming added many valuable items on top of the existing stock; besides treasures obtained from war prisoners like the Dragon God, he also included some trivial trinkets he deemed useless.

Although players went berserk upon seeing items like 【Avatar of the Shadow God】 and 【Eye of the Eye Demon】, vowing to obtain them at any cost, the prices were so exorbitant they simply couldn't afford them, so the items remained perched at the top of the page like ballast stones flaunting the high‑end shop's wealth.

Consequently, these savvy players targeted not those items but the supplies inevitably useful in adventures; they bought all reasonably priced ones, waiting to resell them at a markup when needed, becoming the first wave of opportunistic resellers.

Nevertheless, this didn't hinder the game's normal operation; at ten PM, the few hundred level‑20 players gathered at the palace entrance, and after the countdown, when the air wall vanished, they rushed into the new map.

"Everyone, follow me, charge!"

"Alright, I'm charging!"

"Now you can't avoid charging."

But the momentum didn't last long; the excited intruders suddenly realized they seemed lost within the massive palace complex.

"Um, where did we come in from again?"

"My god, this is literally a maze; every door looks the same."

"Everyone be careful not to get separated; no rush, let's take it slow!"

Although the built‑in map function still works, opening a map still requires one's own legs to explore, so these high‑level players had to be patient, searching for direction while feeling their way forward.

But since the speed had slowed, their attention inevitably shifted to the surroundings, so they soon noticed again.

"Wait, I remember when we came in it was still medieval style, but after turning a corner it became an imitation ancient building—have we really entered the palace?"

"Hey, there's a signpost here; it seems to say that not far ahead is the hall of the White Mist Protector, one of the Four Great Protectors."

【What? You guys discovered a Roman‑style church over there, so what's the meaning of this minaret on my side? I'm about to be furious!】

Among the players, some were interested in ancient architecture, or perhaps they were outright experts in this field; they immediately sent photos to their peers and instructors for advice, only to be astonished to discover that these buildings were far from simple imitations—they were perfect reconstructions that fully conformed to the correct regulations.

——If it weren't too novel, one would almost doubt whether it was genuine; even exaggeratingly, one could treat it as the real thing for study without any problem.

Therefore, when LaoZhao went to work the next morning, he found several overnight‑submitted participation applications on his desk, among them not a few renowned experts who had enjoyed fame for years in the archaeological and architectural circles.

"Guigui."

Meanwhile, the players' competitive focus inadvertently shifted to exploring the game map, especially since the first player to enter the White Mist Protector's Hall received point‑redemption rewards and also a greeting gift from that silver dragon.

……Of course, Bu Long Fei Er De couldn't even be bothered with Ji Ming, so how could he possibly prepare gifts just for those meat worms?

In fact, Ji Ming had collected her magical rainwater, then used it as raw material to brew a batch of special SpiritGathering Liquid, then took out the many gift boxes he had prepared to deliver medicine to Lao Nv Shi and placed one bottle inside.

But the players wouldn't know about this; seeing that little junior post that purportedly miraculous potion on the public screen to show off, they became so resentful that even the most battle‑hardened players didn't want to grind monsters, and instead hurried toward the direction indicated by the signpost.

Thus the players quickly discovered four halls located in the four cardinal directions, each corresponding to an Angel, a Giant Dragon, a Treant, and an Envoy, and they each received their respective greeting gifts.

Sylvia prepared a weapon she herself had helped forge; after taking into account the players' aesthetics and preferences, it was a lightsaber that activated upon input of magic, and the player who obtained it happened to be a magic‑studying Star Wars fan, who was immediately kicked out of the game for going overboard with excitement.

Gregersen prepared a pot of carefully cultivated treant spirits that could obey players' commands like summoned beasts, and as long as the roots left in the pot remained undamaged, even if they died they could regrow in the spring water.

As for Ji Ming, his preparation was comparatively simple: a bottle combining splash potion and poison‑gas grenade techniques, whose proficiency upon completion instantly became the alchemical toxic gas of a divine relic; upon receiving it, the Death God frowned slightly, and only after eight burly men successively stepped forward did he give up the idea of opening it to take a taste.

And besides these, though they don't appear often, the important NPCs already known to the players—facing the Hall of the Sovereign of All Spirits at the exact center of the palace complex—players also discovered another building that looked quite special.

"What the heck, the Soul Spirit Council?"

They plucked up courage to push open the heavy door beneath the sign, followed the gradually brightening candles to the second floor, and in a spacious conference room found the first NPC of the new map—and there turned out to be a full six of them right away!

Although many of the members' true forms were excessively huge, so that what hovered above the corresponding chairs was merely a pale little projection, this did not prevent the players from recognizing who they were.

Thus, sitting upright in the chairman's seat, Cloi, who was at the pinnacle of her life, was about to greet the players when she saw one of them pointing a finger.

"Look, it's the defeated general Dragon, the miserable Spider, the pure clown Bird! And her! The watchdog!"