Chapter 25: Version Update | Monsters Are Coming
With the 13 million sacrificial power gifted by Iceblade, Qi Sheng decisively launched the third wave of recruitment, planning to issue ten thousand player slots this time.
His target remained the same: players who wanted to experience Dark Land but were either deterred by the game's price or unable to secure a slot.
Promoting the game as a brand-new title would make it difficult to attract new players. No matter how flashy the advertisements, most would dismiss it as false advertising. Therefore, he continued using the Dark Land name to quickly bring in recruits.
That very night, many gaming groups saw Qi Sheng's promotional game link.
Most of these groups promptly kicked him out, assuming he was a scammer.
But still, many players chose to download and try the game, spreading word of it and drawing in even more players.
All ten thousand slots were downloaded in under two hours.
By around 9 PM, a flood of new players began logging into the game.
The previously empty resurrection point in Emperor's Mound Village was instantly overwhelmed by crowds of players.
As the white light flashed continuously, new arrivals began spawning in various areas of Emperor's Mound Village, no longer limited to the resurrection point.
"Damn, this game feels so real. Totally worth the 128,888!"
"Stayed up three nights trying to grab a slot, finally got one! Hahaha!"
"Solo player looking for a team, any big spenders want to take in a little brother?"
—
Emperor's Mound Village buzzed like a bustling marketplace.
Many players began testing the game's realism as soon as they entered, doing things like eating dirt, running, or self-harm (to test pain feedback).
The feedback left players stunned.
A shared unspoken rule quickly developed among this new wave of players: no one mentioned the download link during their chats.
They believed revealing the pirated link might harm the Welfare Officer who had gifted them the game, or even cause their qualification to be revoked.
Assuming that everyone around them had paid real money, many players instead bragged about their supposed good luck in winning the right to purchase the game.
Under Qi Sheng's watchful gaze, these newly recruited players, after being briefed by their Guides on basic game mechanics, quickly left Emperor's Mound Village and began exploring.
Once they formed large groups, the player army began to show its ferocity.
The revived Cursed Soldiers along their paths became prime leveling targets, often swarmed before they could even fully rise to their feet.
Fierce competition over killing rights sparked numerous conflicts among players, with the region chat filled with insults and arguments.
In the northern corner of the ancient battlefield, a player was tightly entangled by three Black-Scaled Serpents.
"Bro, I was wrong! Let me live!"
"You tried to steal my kill? Go respawn in the starter village!"
In the eastern part of the battlefield, a player in Owl-Headed Fiend form was flapping his wings wildly, fleeing with a pack of players chasing close behind.
"There he is, guys! Don't let that bastard escape! Like sneak-attacking and stealing kills, huh? If we can't kill the Cursed Soldiers, we'll kill you!"
In the western part of the battlefield, two teams of players clashed in a monster brawl over the rights to a Cursed Soldier kill.
—
In just ten minutes, over a hundred players had already been sent back to the starter village by their own faction members and entered resurrection cooldown.
The arrival of new players injected fresh vitality into the ancient battlefield.
The power of sheer numbers was now on full display.
When the first batch of players like Li Zheng entered the game, they advanced with extreme caution, always wary of accidentally encountering multiple revived Cursed Soldiers and getting trapped.
But the players from this recruitment wave had the exact opposite mindset.
They were only worried about not finding enough Cursed Soldiers to kill and didn't fear being overwhelmed.
Whenever a Cursed Soldier stirred, nearby players would rush in from all directions like cats smelling fish.
With their numerical advantage, the new players turned early exploration into a sweeping carpet assault.
This left Qi Sheng both amused and helpless as he watched behind the scenes.
The players' behavior validated his initial plan.
He was building a fearless, endlessly potential super army to sweep away all the entrenched monster forces, contain Primordial Powers, and reclaim lost Territory Nodes.
Just then, the Guide appeared beside him.
[Boss, Yan Ming reports that the simulation space is now complete.]
A light screen popped up in front of Qi Sheng, showing Yan Ming's emotionless face.
"My task is complete. I've added many known Primordial Abilities into the test database. Though they may not be available yet, they might be useful in the future."
"Good work."
Qi Sheng nodded and summoned the Challenger System.
As light and shadow interwove, countless mysterious characters surrounded his body.
Among these complex symbols, a new string of blue characters appeared.
At this moment, Yan Ming spoke from the light screen.
"Little Qi, the content has been constructed, but we still need a medium to help players access the simulation space."
Qi Sheng thought briefly before nodding.
"Then let's build a functional structure in Emperor's Mound Village to serve as the access point."
"Understood." Yan Ming nodded as the light screen vanished.
Half an hour later, a Challenger Notification sounded in the minds of all online players.
[Challenger Notification: The game will now update to Version 1.1. Update details are as follows:
A new functional building, the 'Test Tower,' has been added to Emperor's Mound Village. Players may conduct simulation tests on Star Vein embedding, body tempering levels, ability combinations, and item usage inside the Test Tower. Each test costs 1 sacrificial power.
A new 'Forum' function has been added to the game panel, where players can post, chat, and share strategies. Additional features include post tipping and game livestreams (players in death cooldown can still access the forum via virtual interface).]
(This update will be applied online; no logouts required.)
—
As the update announcement played, the ground of Emperor's Mound Village shook violently.
In the ruins of the western district, a tall tower rose from the earth.
The tower was built of black material, its surface glowing with a bluish-purple aura. Its sharp spire pierced the clouds, with a giant crystal sphere slowly rotating at its peak.
This was the test tower created by Yan Ming.
Inside, spatial rule powers automatically opened separate layered spaces, ensuring each player who entered was isolated during their tests.
The new structure quickly became the hot topic in the region chat, and the excitement soon spread to the newly launched forum.
Veteran players currently exploring the Shadowed Cavern were especially thrilled by the update.
They were in the phase of choosing their second or third Monster Souls for Star Vein enhancement and urgently needed the test tower to simulate and plan their future growth paths.