Chapter 303: What Serious Player Doesn’t Have Some Kind Of Spiritual Sense By Now?
“Starting with eight thousand people right away, did the game manufacturer finally figure it out this update?”
“This game has already updated to 0, and I am still digging holes in the Test Space /(ㄒoㄒ)/~~”
“Unlocking the maps of the other three regions, this update is too awesome, but when will we newcomers be allowed to explore? We have been confined to within a hundred kilometers of Chiyue Town this whole time, it feels like all the monsters were killed by veteran players. I ran in the wilderness for more than a full day and did not manage to grab a single monster. It was always a bunch of old-timers gang-beating one poor Crocodile Fang Rhinoceros. I strongly request adding more monsters on the map.”
“Thirty-two hours of updating, how am I supposed to live through that? Please, dear devs, let me in, I am fine with mining for free.”
The players on the forum looked at the first official announcement and started commenting below. Some were ecstatic, some were unhappy, and most were shocked that this official update actually required thirty-two hours, leaving all the players able to enter the game feeling helpless.
Given that many of them log on at least eighteen hours a day, players had long since treated High Martial Arts Descend as the main part of their lives. Especially daily cultivation, that is practically unshakable, you could say they are working harder than when they were in school.
Now that they suddenly cannot cultivate, everyone feels uncomfortable all over.
But before they could discuss for long, the version update announcement was released, making everyone who was still talking involuntarily gasp.
Version 0 Great Expansion Era main update content is as follows.
The upper limit of online players is increased to eight thousand, and afterward five hundred more players will be added each day.
Unlock free exploration in the Wushan Region. All players who enter the game can freely explore the entire Wushan Region, with no more restrictions.
Open three New Maps: the Tianhe Region, Barren Ridge Region, and Ice Plains Region. Once your Level reaches the Bone Forging Realm, or you become a Martial Arts Hall Core Disciple, you may freely explore them.
Unlock new clothing and new clothing for core disciples. The new clothing has more functions. Players only need to spend Martial Arts Hall Points and Contribution to redeem it at the Martial Arts Hall.
Enable permissions to hire NPCs within the town. Any shop and garrison base in Chiyue Town can freely recruit NPCs to assist with work.
Unlock caravan gameplay in town. Any player who has reached Beginner Martial Artist and has a shop in Chiyue Town can register a caravan by spending Martial Arts Hall Points and Contribution. You may freely carry goods to travel with the town caravans everywhere to trade goods.
Unlock stronghold hiring function. By applying to the Martial Arts Hall, once the stronghold is confirmed safe, the Martial Arts Hall can dispatch NPCs to assist players in collecting resources at the stronghold.
Fix some bugs and add more weather systems.
……
Fang Zhen: “Could this be a mistake? Did they release the Public Beta map by accident? O_o”
Twilight of the Gods: “It is not just new maps and new gameplay. These new clothes are insanely broken, they are literally divine weapons for wilderness cultivation. One piece of clothing weighs a hundred tons, even those in the Bone Forging Realm can use it. And dual attributes are too fierce. If you roll two medium-boost attributes for qi and blood and qi and blood circulation, that is basically invincible (⊙_⊙;)”
Xiao Yuan Ye Feng Kuang: “So much updated at once, I have to redo my strategy guide again O__O”
……
The new version update content made both players who have not entered the game and those already in the game drool.
First, it increases player count straight to eight thousand, and then the daily openings increase by five hundred. This undoubtedly makes it easier for reserved players to be selected.
And the newly opened maps and unlocked permissions also move both new and old players.
Because anyone who has paid attention to High Martial Arts Descend knows this game’s maps are huge. Any random leveling map covers hundreds of kilometers in radius. Other games would not dare to even think about doing this; it is too labor- and resource-intensive.
Just the Wushan Region alone has more than forty cities and over a thousand towns. You could say the game is vast without limit.
Previously, everyone could only freely explore within a hundred kilometers of Chiyue Town. Now the entire Wushan Region is unlocked, which leaves many players dumbfounded. It is like being overstuffed.
Before, that hundred kilometers around Chiyue Town was enough to keep everyone happily busy. Now the area has increased by at least a thousand times. Anyone who sees this would feel surprised and shocked.
Even people who have not played High Martial Arts Descend can see how magnificent this map is. Being able to freely explore such a vast map is enough to make their hair stand on end just thinking about it.
“Dear devs, I wronged you. I am definitely playing this game!”
“The game manufacturer is not just feeding us fantasies, right? This is way too exaggerated. Releasing more than forty cities at once, over a thousand towns, and so many wilderness areas. Even if I play for ten years, I might not finish it all. If this is real, I will eat noodles while doing a handstand.”
“Brother, never mind ten years, I feel like my whole life is not enough. You are only talking about the Wushan Region. This time they also opened three other regions, which you can only freely explore after reaching the Bone Forging Realm or becoming a core disciple.”
“What do you mean brother, call me beautiful big sister!”
……
Everyone on the official forum, seeing the latest version update content, was either exclaiming or doubting. They felt this update was too fake. Even those masterpiece titles on the market would not dare to brag like High Martial Arts Descend. One after another they posted on the forum, questioning this version update and even presenting examples and arguments.
They felt that in this world, there is not yet such technology to create a virtual map this large. This is almost as big as an entire planet. Saying they created a planet would not be an exaggeration.
For a time, the click counts of various discussion threads alone exceeded tens of millions. As for the number of debate threads, it surpassed a million, leaving the platform’s management staff stunned, wondering what kind of game this was. People who had not played were acting like they were on stimulants, analyzing all sorts of “fake map” theories, while those who had played the game were explaining.
The intensity of the arguments was more exaggerated than for many so-called masterpiece games.
Yunhai City, top floor lounge of Spark Fitness Center.
“These people are unbelievably dumb. They have never played High Martial Arts Descend and are already calling for a boycott.” Yi Ye Fu Yun looked at those players claiming High Martial Arts Descend was just empty promises and was speechless. “These people do not even know what High Martial Arts Descend is like inside or how it feels, and they just assume the map is fake. Do they not stop to think whether High Martial Arts Descend even needs to draw big pies to attract players?”
Now, without any promotion, High Martial Arts Descend has already exceeded nine million reservations. Among this year’s new domestic games, it is already in the top ten, and even some large game guilds and real estate companies are thinking about entering High Martial Arts Descend.
It is easy to foresee that once High Martial Arts Descend enters Public Beta, it will absolutely explode in popularity.
And compared to those who have not entered the game, any player who has reached Martial Artist Level will more or less sense how special this game is. Even setting aside map size, this special nature alone is enough to let High Martial Arts Descend become a game that affects the whole country and even the entire world.
Just as Yi Ye Fu Yun was planning to stay on the forum for the day, the door was suddenly kicked open.
Dressed in a dark blue tight short-sleeved top and shorts, hair in a high ponytail, Ye Qinglu walked in. Sweat was still on her forehead, clearly from a recent workout.
“Big sis, why do you never knock? How many times have you broken my lock?” Yi Ye Fu Yun looked at the approaching Ye Qinglu, utterly speechless.
“Cut the nonsense. I am here to tell you, log on early tomorrow morning.” Ye Qinglu wiped her sweat with a towel and said casually.
“Log on?” Yi Ye Fu Yun’s eyes lit up. “Big sis, do you have a way to enter High Martial Arts Descend early?”
Right now, High Martial Arts Descend had just started updating; they would not be able to enter until at least the day after tomorrow. Being able to log on tomorrow morning would be amazing, like sneaking in almost a whole day early.
“What are you thinking?” Ye Qinglu gave Yi Ye Fu Yun a sidelong glance. “At eight tomorrow morning, Immortal Road Eternal goes Public Beta. The leader has already sent word. At that time, all Azure Travelers gather in Immortal Road Eternal.”
“Big sis, you still plan to play Immortal Road Eternal?” Yi Ye Fu Yun was a bit surprised.
After going to the Underground Black Boxing Ring, he thought Ye Qinglu would give up Immortal Road Eternal and focus entirely on High Martial Arts Descend. He did not expect her to still play Immortal Road Eternal.
“I definitely will not play it all the time, at most log on occasionally. After all, the Azure Travelers network is important, the people in it are not simple.” Ye Qinglu explained. “You had better go meet them too. It might help you in the future when you apply for pioneer qualifications. If possible, I also want to recruit people into High Martial Arts Descend so our Azure Sky Defense Group can become stronger.”
“Recruit people from the traveling group to join?” Yi Ye Fu Yun’s eyes lit up.
As a legendary group in the Virtual Game World, Azure Travelers has only a bit more than twenty members, but each is outstanding. If they could recruit a few into the Azure Sky Defense Group, surpassing Heavenly Might and Mythical Paradise would not be impossible.
“I can only say I will try my best.” Ye Qinglu shook her head. “Azure Travelers was built by the leader personally. Anyone who can enter is someone who shares his ideals. With the leader focused on Immortal Road Eternal, convincing others to play High Martial Arts Descend will be hard.”
“I get it.” Yi Ye Fu Yun could not help feeling regretful, but he still planned to meet them.
The members of Azure Travelers are all his idols. If High Martial Arts Descend had not bewitched his heart, he might be following in Azure Travelers’ footsteps in Immortal Road Eternal right now, making a name for himself.
Now that High Martial Arts Descend is undergoing a major update and he has nothing else to do, going to meet the group is not a bad idea.
Early the next morning.
With the information provided by Ye Qinglu, Yi Ye Fu Yun quickly entered one of Immortal Road Eternal’s continents and arrived in a village called Baiye Village.
Immortal Road Eternal has twelve continents in total, hundreds of cities, thousands of villages, and over a hundred sects. Players can choose their birthplace at the start, namely their initial village, and these villages belong to various sects.
As people who had participated in the Internal Test, Azure Travelers had already chosen the Divine Firmament Sect, which has the most opportunities and the highest cultivation method potential. There are twenty-eight villages under the Divine Firmament Sect, and among them, the village with the highest chance of becoming elder disciples of the Divine Firmament Sect is Baiye Village.
Azure Travelers knew this because during the Internal Test they met a very powerful NPC elder of the Divine Firmament Sect, who also appeared in several trailers for Immortal Road Eternal.
With the help of this NPC elder, Azure Travelers gained overwhelming advantages during the non-wipe Internal Test, obtaining many opportunities and ranking firmly in the First Tier in terms of strength. So the Azure Travelers decided that everyone would develop under the Divine Firmament Sect.
As Yi Ye Fu Yun appeared in Baiye Village, the whole village was extremely lively.
Baiye Village originally had only a few hundred villagers, but now more than a hundred thousand players had gathered there. It was packed with people, full of hawking and chatter, and players filled the streets looking for tasks, happily busy.
“Damn, this game is god-tier. With so many people playing, I do not feel any lag, and this realism is way beyond other masterpiece games. I could play this my whole life.”
“These NPCs are so smart, they can chat with people freely.”
“Form a party to go to the wilderness, Level 3 pig hunting, looking for a few with good skills. Pork can be exchanged for basic skills at the village chief. Anyone who wants to level in the wilderness, do not miss this.”
……
Looking at the players in Baiye Village and hearing those familiar lines, Yi Ye Fu Yun felt deeply moved, even a bit nostalgic.
“Sure enough, after playing hardcore games like High Martial Arts Descend for too long, other games feel a bit off.”
After wandering around Baiye Village briefly, Yi Ye Fu Yun soon found Ye Qinglu, who had also participated in the non-wipe Internal Test.
At this time, Ye Qinglu wore a pure white martial robe and carried a green-glow long sword on her back, like a swordswoman from ancient times. Her Level showed as Level Nine, just one Level away from stepping into Level Ten and advancing to the Qi Refining Realm.
Next to Ye Qinglu stood Qian Ren E Gui, whom Yi Ye Fu Yun had met once at the Underground Black Boxing Ring. Nearly two meters tall, carrying eight long swords on his back, he was also Level Nine.
The two of them together made the surrounding new players envious, wishing they could cling to their legs.
“Let’s go. The leader is probably getting impatient.” Qian Ren E Gui said as he saw Yi Ye Fu Yun join them, talking as they walked. “Now that it is Public Beta, the area around the village is no longer suitable for leveling and doing tasks. But during the Internal Test we learned about a quest to quickly join the Divine Firmament Sect. You have to kill a Level 12 Great Demon in the Thousand Needles Forest outside Baiye Village. If it drops a demon core, you can go to the Divine Firmament Sect and have a chance to become that elder’s disciple.”
“During the Internal Test, the time was too short. With just a few of us, we had no chance against that Great Demon. Now that everyone is here, we should be able to take it down.”
As Qian Ren E Gui explained while walking, it took them only an hour to reach the depths of the Thousand Needles Forest. There came a burst of commotion and the sounds of metal clashing.
“Something is wrong. That is player-versus-player fighting. Let’s go!”
The moment he heard it, Qian Ren E Gui rushed toward the Great Demon’s location. Level One Yi Ye Fu Yun and Level Nine Ye Qinglu followed close behind.
Passing through a withered grove, they soon saw a large group of people in a chaotic battle beside a giant double-horned python. One side was the twenty-some Azure Travelers; the other side had over a hundred people, all wearing clothes with the same guild emblem.
And that emblem was very familiar to both Qian Ren E Gui and Yi Ye Fu Yun.
War God Alliance.
A top-tier giant game guild in the Virtual Game World, with a reputation even greater than Heavenly Might and Mythical Paradise, and a history of over a hundred years.
“Kill! This serpent demon is ours!”
A Level Nine man from War God Alliance, leading the charge, commanded over a hundred people to besiege the Azure Travelers.
Although Azure Travelers had high Levels, they were too few in number. Combined with the many experts from War God Alliance, there were over ten whose fame rivaled Luo Wu Shang’s. For a while, Azure Travelers fell into a disadvantage.
“Let’s go help them!”
Seeing this, Qian Ren E Gui immediately drew his swords and rushed forward.
In the early stage of Immortal Road Eternal, attribute differences between players are small. A Level Nine player has only nine more free attribute points than a Level One player. A Level One player’s basic attributes are around ten each, some as high as twelve, and leveling up does not increase these base attributes. So even if a Level Nine player puts all points into one attribute, a single attribute is only about double that of a Level One player. If the points are spread out, the gap is even smaller.
Even though Azure Travelers were overall more skilled, they were helpless against a human wave early on.
“More from the traveling group?” The leading man of War God Alliance glanced at the charging Qian Ren E Gui and the other two with disdain. “Gui Hou, go get rid of those three.”
As soon as he spoke, an 8th Level man with messy hair nodded and led more than ten people to encircle Qian Ren E Gui.
“Big brother Qian Ren, be careful of these people. They are all War God Alliance core members. Do not let them surround you.” A young woman under twenty in Azure Travelers, dual-wielding sabres and Level Seven, quickly warned.
Hearing her, Qian Ren E Gui’s expression turned serious.
Her name was Can Dao Ru Xue. Although she was a newcomer to the group, her talent was exceptional. In one-on-one combat she was top ten in the entire group. For Can Dao Ru Xue to say this showed that these War God Alliance members were no joke.
“Is being careful enough for this?”
Gui Hou took one step in front of Qian Ren E Gui, his spear stabbing like a sudden rainstorm, leaving almost no room to react.
“Competing for speed?”
Qian Ren E Gui laughed and swung his dual swords like a storm, equally unbelievably fast.
In a short time they traded dozens of blows, and Gui Hou, with the spear, quickly fell into disadvantage. Yet Gui Hou only smiled.
“You are so focused on me. Is that really wise?” Gui Hou glanced past Qian Ren E Gui at Yi Ye Fu Yun and Ye Qinglu and asked teasingly.
While they had been trading blows, the dozen-plus he brought had already gone around and were charging straight at Yi Ye Fu Yun and Ye Qinglu. Given such a disparity in numbers, even vice leader Ye Qinglu would struggle to protect herself, let alone a Level One newcomer from the group whom they had never seen before.
“Damn it!”
Qian Ren E Gui glanced back and saw five War God Alliance experts surrounding Yi Ye Fu Yun, all attacking from every direction, giving him no chance to intervene.
Although he knew Yi Ye Fu Yun had some skill and could handle his bodyguards before, these War God Alliance members were core members whose in-game strength far exceeded those bodyguards. Even he would struggle against five of them, let alone Level One Yi Ye Fu Yun.
As the five War God Alliance experts closed in on Yi Ye Fu Yun from all sides, leaving no room for Qian Ren E Gui to rescue him, Yi Ye Fu Yun simply shifted his steps. As if he had eyes in the back of his head, he easily dodged a blade and a sword from two attackers behind him, letting their attacks graze his clothes and collide with the two attackers in front of him.
“Die!”
One expert at Yi Ye Fu Yun’s side, wielding a nine-ring sabre, brought down a mighty overhead slash at Yi Ye Fu Yun’s fully exposed back.
The sabre fell, wind howling.
The nine-ring sabre that should have split the dodging Yi Ye Fu Yun cleanly in two instead scraped impossibly along the back of his clothes, struck a stone on the ground, split it in half, and sank three inches into the earth.
“This… impossible!”
“How did you dodge that?!”
The man with the nine-ring sabre stared in disbelief at his blade. He had calculated the timing and position perfectly, striking at Yi Ye Fu Yun’s blind spot, yet Yi Ye Fu Yun acted as if he had eyes on his back, stepping half a step forward at the critical moment so the sabre only brushed his clothes. It was simply unbelievable.
“Big brother, do you never use spiritual perception in battle?” Yi Ye Fu Yun turned his head and said, exasperated. “You obviously swung right at me. Did you really take me for a newcomer who has never played a game before?”
