Chapter 252: A Brand-new Merit System, And Npcs Are Meant To Be Reverse-pursued?
Obsidian Martial Arts Hall, training ground.
As Lin Qi posted a new announcement on the announcement board and the official forum, the players who received the news all became extremely excited and thrilled for a moment.
“This update is insanely awesome. Two cities are actually going straight to war, and there is no level restriction. Even newcomers can join. New players this round are just too lucky.”
“More than just lucky. This time, the version event even opened the merit system. As long as we use loot before the battle ends, we can exchange it at the martial arts hall for merit. That merit is a good thing. I feel it is even more useful than martial arts hall contribution. Just saving up one hundred merit lets you become a third-class soldier and permanently enjoy a twenty percent discount on the first floor of the cultivation tower in Chiyue Town. I heard that cultivation tower in Chiyue Town is something special, built entirely from energy ore, and cultivation speed inside is absolutely insane.”
“This merit is indeed awesome. I just looked at the newly released merit ranks. From soldier, sergeant, officer, field officer, general, to marshal, the game currently only opens up to the officer level. At soldier level you can already enjoy some discounts on town buildings, while sergeant is really strong. Not only can you buy a team training room in the martial arts hall, it even comes with a primary gravity room, so you will no longer need to fight others over a gravity room for cultivation.”
“The most powerful is still the officer. You can form your own garrison, buy plot of land in Chiyue Town, and freely build a guild base. The plots you can buy are much larger than private residences, and there are no construction restrictions. You can use any materials to build. It is true construction freedom.”
“Officer is indeed great. Saying you can form your own garrison basically means you have the permissions to open a guild. Unfortunately, the required merit is too high. Even just becoming a corporal this time takes ten thousand merit. A second lieutenant requires one hundred thousand merit. To step into a real officer rank, your strength must reach the bone forging realm to become a lieutenant junior grade and have the permissions to buy a garrison station in Chiyue Town. For ordinary people to rush to officer in a single version event is simply impossible.”
For this suddenly launched version event, while the players were indeed interested in such a large-scale battle, they were even more interested in the merit system introduced by the game. Especially after seeing the various permissions that merit brought, many players were fired up with passion.
This was especially true for many newcomer local tyrants and super rich players, whose eyes were shining.
For players like them, what they fear most is not a game being too hard, but a game being unwilling to open permissions.
Previously, during cultivation, even if they had acquired a lot of martial arts hall points, getting a primary gravity room for cultivation still depended on luck, since there were too many people and too few rooms.
Not to mention that due to the one hundred percent virtual degree of High Martial Arts Descend and its value, it was never short on local tyrants and super rich players, and there were also many game guilds settling in. The financial power of those large guilds was extraordinary.
You could say that once a large guild passed a resolution, its financial resources absolutely surpassed those of these local tyrants and super rich players. Competing for cultivation resources became extremely difficult. After all, everyone entering the game understood that the higher your level, the more profit you could gain in the future within the game.
At present, the known worldview of High Martial Arts Descend was vast. Just the Wushan Region alone had more than forty cities, with hundreds of towns, covering more than ten million square kilometers. Yet the game had only opened the City of Light Chasing and the surrounding map. Its future potential was immeasurable and it was definitely the largest and most realistic game they had ever seen.
From this alone, you could see that the game manufacturer’s ambition was immense. They clearly intended to build High Martial Arts Descend into humanity’s second world. Anyone who was not a fool understood how great the game’s investment value was.
Now that the game had opened the merit system, it was simply their gospel.
Not to mention becoming an officer, even if before this version event ended they could become a corporal, that would already be heaven. They would directly own their own private primary gravity room, to use however they liked, with no more queues, enjoying the feeling of VIP treatment.
Blue Star, inside a skyscraper over one hundred floors tall.
“Boss, the documents you asked me to distribute have been sent to all employees.” A female secretary in a short skirt walked into the office. She looked at the young boss who had only recently taken over the company, her gaze full of confusion.
Clearly a young president with assets in the tens of billions, yet instead of spending on eating, drinking, and having fun, he willingly spent money to let employees play a game. And that game was extremely expensive: just the reservation was 4,999, and each resurrection after death in the game cost 648, something ordinary people simply could not afford.
She did not understand why her young boss was so obsessed with this game. He had already poured hundreds of millions into it.
If she had that much money, she could spend her life indulging in pleasure, enjoying a beautiful life, even going to space to travel and see the scenery of other planets. But her boss chose a virtual game instead.
Now it was even more shocking. As long as any company employee could enter that game, the boss directly offered a monthly salary of one hundred thousand, having them work in-game, plus commission. Contracts had already been signed with all employees for a ten-year term.
The world of the rich was truly beyond her understanding.
As for her, she was miserable. Not only did she have to work for the boss during the day, but as someone chosen by the game, she would also have to work for the boss at night in the game. Life was simply unbearable.
“Very good, but the company still has too few employees. Have HR recruit more people, preferably professional game workers.” The young boss nodded.
“Boss, roughly how many do you want to hire?” the secretary asked.
The young boss thought for a moment and said, “Let us start with five thousand. I plan to set up a new department, called the High Martial Strategy Department. These people will all enter this new department. As long as anyone can get into the game, their treatment will be as I said before.”
“Yes.” The secretary did not ask more. She turned and went directly to the HR office.
After the secretary left the office, the young boss lay back into the virtual game pod beside him.
“This version event is rare. I must gather more manpower before the war starts, then rush to become a sergeant and make those guys die of envy.” The young boss could not help but curl his lips into a smile.
As one of the super rich players in High Martial Arts Descend, after entering the game he immediately saw its huge potential and began his preparations early.
Since High Martial Arts Descend had been opening one hundred slots every day lately, several employees under him had already been selected. As more slots opened, his position in the game would become increasingly advantageous.
While many super rich players and local tyrants were preparing in secret, several major teams operating far away in the Mountain of the Dead were also shocked by this news.
“Version event, merit system… No, we must hurry back!” Fang Zhen looked at the report brought by the team members and could not help feeling anxious. “If we go back too late, we may not even catch the scraps of the battle.”
“Brother Zhen, we are going back now?” Saiwai Qiangke was stunned. “Then what about that temporary stronghold of the Smiling Skull we found?”
They had worked hard for so many days and finally found an undiscovered Smiling Skull stronghold. This was a rare opportunity.
Last time, because of the temporary stronghold of the Smiling Skull, they had missed out on considerable earnings. If they left now and another team discovered it, they would not even have a place to cry.
Fang Zhen thought for a moment, feeling it would indeed be a pity to give up, and suggested, “In that case, let us hit that stronghold first, grab a wave and run. How about it?”
“That works.” Li Ranxing nodded in agreement. “And I think we should prioritize grabbing type-two and above energy potions. They will not only help us break through later but also replenish our energy consumption during the war.”
“Fine. When the time comes, I will hold off the stronghold leader. You take the chance to grab more.” Chen Ya said.
“Captain Chen, are you sure you can handle it alone? That is a blood condensation realm boss.” Fang Zhen looked at Chen Ya, who had volunteered to block the boss, a bit worried.
Last time when the major teams attacked the temporary stronghold of the Smiling Skull, that battle was definitely one of their hardest. They were wiped out more than ten times just to slightly injure the leader, who eventually escaped.
Now their strength had improved significantly thanks to supplies. Everyone had been desperately gulping down potions and had grown a lot stronger. Li Ranxing and Chen Ya’s cultivation methods had just reached one hundred percent proficient and could now impact the bone forging realm.
But they were ultimately organ refining realm martial artists, and the gap with blood condensation realm martial artists was huge. Even after activating transformation, the gap was still large. Even with more than ten of them besieging, they were no match for a blood condensation realm opponent. The level suppression was overwhelming.
“I can handle it alone. I want to test a martial skill I learned from an NPC.” Chen Ya said with certainty.
“You mean that female NPC who could create clones?” Fang Zhen could not help recalling Precia, who had previously been fleeing through the Mountain of the Dead. That female NPC was incredibly strong. Even seriously injured, she could fight an entire group alone, and her footwork was truly impressive.
If he could learn from her, he would definitely have taken her as a teacher, but she had never appeared again, leaving him nowhere to learn.
“Yes. At the time, I recorded her combat video and used the quantum supercomputer to run tens of trillions of simulations to restore it. I also combined it with my Eight Leaves One Sword Style. This stronghold leader is perfect for a test. Every transformation consumes a huge amount of energy potions, and this martial skill can barely be used only after I transform. If I do not test it on the stronghold leader, it would be a real waste.” Chen Ya nodded.
“The quantum supercomputer can be used like that?” Fang Zhen was shocked.
He had long known that the quantum supercomputer was powerful at simulation and deduction, but he never expected it could be used directly to reverse-engineer NPC martial skills.
“This is entirely because High Martial Arts Descend has a one hundred percent virtual degree, which makes reverse deduction possible. In other virtual games it would be impossible. I do not know the in-game data, but if it were a fully realistic environment, I would only need to input real-world data directly.” Chen Ya said with a smile. “At first I thought it was unlikely, because High Martial Arts Descend only advertised a one hundred percent virtual degree. If I input real-world data and there was any deviation, the reverse-engineered martial skill would be unusable. And beyond actions and muscle exertion, the flow of energy or internal force in NPC martial skills is another huge problem that I have to figure out myself.”
“If the real data is even slightly off, all my attempts become a waste. But fortunately, High Martial Arts Descend did not exaggerate its claims. After experimenting these days, I finally touched the threshold. Next is to test the result.”
“In that case, can we reverse-engineer that blood condensation realm leader’s martial skills?” Fang Zhen’s eyes lit up.
That blood condensation realm leader was overwhelmingly strong, strong in every aspect.
Neither Luo Wu Shang’s extraordinary martial skill nor Lu Fanchen’s extraordinary martial skill had any effect on him.
The reason was that the blood condensation realm leader also had extraordinary martial skills, with an even greater background.
He had mocked them for overestimating themselves, thinking that merely using extraordinary martial skills was enough to deal with a blood condensation realm. He said clearly that any blood condensing realm master had to have mastered at least two extraordinary martial skills, or they could not become blood condensation realm at all.
And that leader boasted his extraordinary martial skill was special, one that could be listed as a sequenced martial skill, far beyond ordinary extraordinary martial skills.
The final result of the battle proved his words. The dozen of them were no match. Even when they desperately tried mutual destruction more than ten times, all they managed was to exploit a hard-found weak point and inflict a minor injury.
In Fang Zhen’s view, the extraordinary martial skill used by that blood condensation realm leader should be a martial skill exclusively given to NPCs by the game, essentially a strengthened version of extraordinary martial skills that ordinary players had no chance to learn, belonging only to NPCs, which made NPC bosses so strong.
If they could reverse-engineer it with the quantum supercomputer, they would be incredible in the future.
He clearly remembered how powerful that sequenced martial skill used by the blood condensation realm leader was. It was not a weapon skill nor a fist or kick skill, but manifested internal force into a tangible form, transforming it into a huge golden lion. With a single strike, all of them died on the spot and an entire mountain peak was flattened.
As for the martial skill’s name, he remembered it well: Golden Roar.
If he could learn it, then whether it was Luo Wu Shang or Lu Fanchen and the others, they would probably no longer be his match, and he could return to the top ranks.
“That is worth trying.” Chen Ya’s beautiful eyes also lit up.
Previously she had only thought about reverse-engineering friendly NPCs, completely forgetting they could also reverse-engineer hostile NPCs.
“In that case, you two handle delay and recording. I will take the others to raid the warehouse.” Li Ranxing, seeing how interested the two were in reverse-engineering NPCs, did not join in. His only goal now was to quickly impact the bone forging realm and become the first person in High Martial Arts Descend.
Back on Mecha Continent, his targets had only been those few players from the top 4 in the nation teams. But after playing High Martial Arts Descend, he found that the experts in this game were truly numerous, and there were many who could match him in talent.
Now, if he wanted to stand out and widen the gap, he could only break through to the bone forging realm as fast as possible. As for martial skills, in his view, that could wait.
After he spoke, Fang Zhen and Chen Ya split up from Li Ranxing and the others. Fang Zhen and Chen Ya headed straight to the Smiling Skull stronghold to draw attention, while Li Ranxing and the others snuck in to grab what they could and run.
While Fang Zhen and the others were taking action, in a cave in the Mountain of the Dead.
Suddenly, a terrifying surge of qi and blood erupted from within the cave. The overwhelming force of it made Twilight of the Gods and the others resting outside feel their bodies sink, almost collapsing onto the ground.
However, after lasting for a few seconds, that surge quickly dissipated, and Twilight of the Gods and the others felt the pressure lift and relaxed.
“Sister Wu, did you break through to the bone forging realm?” Twilight of the Gods could not help but look at Luo Wu Shang emerging from the cave, filled with surprise.
Zhang Qing Wei and Zhao Hu also looked at Luo Wu Shang in astonishment.
Compared to before, Luo Wu Shang’s qi and blood had clearly undergone a qualitative change. The impact of their own dispersed qi and blood, when facing Luo Wu Shang’s, was completely like eggs hitting a rock, fragile and powerless.
Such intensity of qi and blood clearly did not look like something an advanced martial artist could achieve.
Luo Wu Shang shook her head with a laugh. “What are you thinking? I have not even learned the third level of the cultivation method. How could I have reached the bone forging realm?”
“Then, Sister Wu, why is your qi and blood so strong now?” Twilight of the Gods asked in confusion. “I feel it is more than a level stronger than an advanced martial artist’s.”
“I did have a breakthrough,” Luo Wu Shang said with a smile. “Just now, the cultivation method second level reached the perfection realm. By the way, why are you all gathered here? Did another transport convoy enter the mountains?”
“There is indeed something. Sister Wu, see for yourself.” Twilight of the Gods nodded and sent Luo Wu Shang the latest announcement from the martial arts hall.
