The Boss Behind The Game

by Little Merger

Lu Wu, an aimless video game developer, had been feeling perturbed ever since he found out he was the direct descendant of a king from the underworld. Other than the title, His Excellency, his ancestor hadn’t passed down anything else to him. On top of that, all of his ancestor’s subordinates had rebelled against him and completely usurped his inherited territory. Under the circums

1. 1

Lu Wu, an aimless video game developer, had been feeling perturbed ever since he found out he was the direct descendant of a king from the underworld. Other than the title, His Excellency, his ancestor hadn't passed down anything else to him. On top of that, all of his ancestor's subordinates had rebelled against him and completely usurped his inherited territory. Under the circumstances, Lu Wu built a battle game server with the help of his new mysterious friend and transported gamers from the real world straight to the underworld using virtual reality. They then created the main quest, the character classes, the Instance Dungeon, the storyline, and the non-player characters for the game. Relying solely on these video gamers' strengths, Lu Wu began his expedition to reclaim his rightful inheritance. What could possibly go wrong?

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The Boss Behind The Game #Chapter 1 - Read The Boss Behind The Game Chapter 1 Online - All Page - WUXIA NOVEL HUB

Chapter 1: Ancestral Heritage

Translator: Larbre Studio Editor: Larbre Studio

"Hold on a second, let me get this straight... you're saying that one of my ancestors ruled over a piece of territory in the underworld, and became one of the twelve underworld monarchs? But since he's no longer with us, that leaves me to be his successor?"

At the park in Indigo City, Lu Wu was looking at the serious Little Lolita who was sitting on the small wooden bench, his face distorted in confusion.

"Exactly, and since you are the successor, you should seek vengeance for your ancestor. After he passed, his former subordinates turned their backs on him, and they even divided up the land so that each one of them got a piece, robbing you of your inheritance!"

Lu Wu could not stop himself from laughing, "Little one, are you always like this? Have you ever had fun in your life? You remind me of myself when I was your age!"

"I'm not joking around, your ancestor really was the most powerful being in the underworld. In order to expand his territorial space until the entire underworld was his, he set out on a journey to create battle artifacts. Unfortunately, he had lost his life in the process. That's why you have to carry on his legacy and become the Great Emperor of the Underworld!"

This time, Lu Wu sincerely nodded as he reached out his hand to massage the Little Lolita's temples, "That said, would you like to help me in this quest and become my right hand man? When the time comes and we have conquered both the underworld and the heavens, we shall be the ruler of the three worlds!"

Little Lolita became extremely thrilled upon hearing Lu Wu's words. Her face was flushed as she gazed hopefully at him, her head bobbing up and down excitedly.

"Great, now be a good girl and tell me where you live, and I'll send you home first. I'll give you a call when I've finished preparing my horsemen."

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Doubt was painted all over Little Lolita's face, "Do you still not trust me?"

Lu Wu resolutely shook his head, "Of course I trust you, but I'll have to call Emperor Qin to ask for a few dozen horsemen, then we shall set out for the underworld!"

As his words settled in, Little Lolita suddenly fetched a black object from her pocket and stuffed it into Lu Wu's hand, "This is a Yin Talisman... once you have it, you can travel between Yin and Yang!"

It was a triangular-shaped talisman, and its texture felt like gold. There were even some sort of words carved into it, making it look exceptionally mysterious. Even Lu Wu had to look twice at it.

What followed left Lu Wu in shock, as before his eyes laid a black dot, which grew larger and larger rapidly. A force came from the inside, pulling him closer until he went through.

The feeling of weightlessness rushed through his bones, but just as Lu Wu was still at a complete loss, the end of the black portal suddenly appeared, then he was flung out of it and landed on the ground, buttocks first.

The sky was pitch-black, dark clouds whirled, and the blood moon hung high up in the sky, as blood-colored rain drizzled down onto the world.

The scene in front of him had convinced Lu Wu that he had in fact, went through into the underworld, which had been a myth all along.

He looked back and there was Little Lolita. His lips quivered as he mumbled softly, "The things you said were all true?"

Little Lolita pretentiously placed her hands on her hips and said, "Yes, all of it is true. This region belonged to your ancestor, it was given the name Beiqi, and it's one of the twelve major regions in the underworld!"

Lu Wu believed her this time, as everything in front of him was just like what Little Lolita had said.

"Then I shall be His Excellency? The one and only ruler of the underworld?" This news was too good to be true. Lu Wu was having a hard time accepting it, but clearly there was no way he would reject such a great offer either.

"That's right! You will be crowned the new ruler of Beiqi, but before that happens, you ought to work out how you should take back the land that is rightfully yours."

As Lu Wu recalled what the Little Lolita had said before, about how the former subordinates had divided the territory after his ancestor had died, his focus suddenly sharpened as he said, "Of course, this is a must. Those troublemakers dare to betray my ancestor, they shall be disciplined. The question is, did my ancestor leave anything behind for me, like a unique remarkable feat or something?" Lu Wu was looking at her, his eyes filled with hope as he waited for her answer.

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"Nope," the Little Lolita shrugged.

"You have to know that, every being of the underworld requires time and practice to build up their foundation. Even if you had thousands of years of training, it would still be difficult for you to be on par with your ancestor," replied Little Lolita honestly.

Lu Wu was taken aback, "Then do we have tens of thousands of horsemen, troops, armored horses, or anything of that sort?"

"Nope, nothing like that. Before your ancestor died, his subordinates had long double-crossed him. Aside from this palace, you've got nothing else."

As she finished speaking, she pointed toward the palace which had burned down ages ago, and was now just an abandoned waste.

"Then I shall grab a gavel and take back what is mine!" Lu Wu's face was now filled with outrage.

"No wait, you still have me!" Little Lolita announced with complacency as she placed her hands on her hips again.

Lu Wu's eyes gleamed with hope when he heard this, "Then there's no doubt that you are quite powerful!"

The Little Lolita shook her head and pouted, "I once fought with a ghost and I was almost gobbled up by it, it was a very dreadful experience!"

Lu Wu's eyes darkened with indifference. This inheritance is actually just a Little Lolita that has zero fighting skills, not to mention that she's a troublemaker in the underworld. It would have been right if she had gotten eaten.

Looking at the disappointment written all over his face, the Little Lolita laughed out loud as she fished out a ring from her pocket, "Your grandfather took his last breath when he was still working on those battle artifacts, but I helped him put the finishing touches, so rest assured that these artifacts are for you."

Lu Wu took over the ring and was flabbergasted. A thin serene blue ray of light reflected from it when the light shone on it, "Is this stuff very powerful?"

The Little Lolita hurriedly nodded, "Yes, extremely. Try it on!"

Lu Wu anticipated what would come next. He wore the battle artifact on his index finger.

A ray of blue light appeared out of nowhere, shrouding Lu Wu's entire body.

[Initiating battle artifact, scanning user's identity…]

[Blood scan complete, user identified as descendant of Beiqi's ruler, officially securing bond of artifact with user…]

Two messages suddenly appeared in Lu Wu's mind, followed by a manual on battle artifacts.

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Chapter 2: Installing Sucess

Translator: Larbre Studio Editor: Larbre Studio

The artifact was made by his ambitious ancestor to conquer the whole of the underworld. According to the instructions, the ring's greatest power was to create an army of undead made from Yin energy found in the underworld, which was not visible to the naked eye. They did not require any matter, but only the presence of spirits. Their bodies could be renewed, which was basically the definition of the undead.

However, in order to make countless Yin soldiers, there was a prerequisite for such power, and that was to have control over a certain number of spirits.

Lu Wu slowly pulled himself back to reality as he had zoned out for quite some time.

"So what do you think? Isn't it a marvelous invention?" asked Little Lolita, feeling pleased with herself.

"Actually, I'd like to know where we can find a bunch of spirits that can be spurred," Lu Wu pointed out their main problem.

The Little Lolita was shocked when she heard those words, her body became rigid and her eyes were watery, "I... why didn't I think about that? Without any spirits, this artifact will not work at all!"

Lu Wu felt a headache coming as he watched Little Lolita cough up tears. Come to think of it, this ancestor was quite unreliable. The idea of the artifact isn't bad, as for its capabilities… but where on earth will we find a bunch of spirits!? It's completely impractical.

He reached out his hand to massage the Little Lolita's head, and as he opened his mouth to give her a few words of comfort, an idea suddenly flashed through his mind.

"Right, you are also the creator of this version of the artifact, correct?"

Little Lolita rubbed her puffy red eyes, nodding.

"Then is it possible for you to add some extra functions to it?"

Little Lolita lifted her head in confusion, clearly not understanding what he was implying.

Lu Wu took out the Yin Talisman which carried the power to travel between Yin and Yang, then dangled it in front of Little Lolita, saying, "Why don't you add the function of this object into the artifact?"

"It's not that difficult, but what's the purpose?" Little Lolita sobbed spasmodically, as if trying to calm herself down.

Lu Wu smiled, "Don't you know what I do for a living in the real world?"

As she listened, Little Lolita took out a small notebook from her pocket and flipped it open, "Lu Wu... 23 years old... born in the 365th generation... the descendant of the ruler of Beiqi... has begun an entrepreneurship for three years... currently still a loser... developed a gaming website which has zero users... a singleton to date…"

Lu Wu hurriedly cut her off, "You just have to know that I'm a game developer. So is it possible for you to give an upgrade to this artifact, say, to extradite criminals from earth to the underworld through virtual reality, like how gamers do. They'll become our undead army, and as long as this is kept going, we shall have however many armies we want!"

The Little Lolita pondered deeply for a moment, then her eyes sparkled, "Great idea! Not to mention that what we're using are their corpses, so we can form new Yin bodies from scratch, just like how the players respawn in a game."

Lu Wu was astonished by her reaction, he never expected her to understand the whole picture in such a short time.

"Have you played games before?" asked Lu Wu sincerely.

"Ha! I am a loyal player of World of Warcraft for almost three hundred years now!" Little Lolita once again placed her hands on her hips.

Lu Wu blushed shamefully. Never would he have thought that this Little Lolita was so aged.

"But this task isn't easy, we shall need a set of systems from a variety of games, such as role-playing, trading, adventure, life simulation, and more..." Lu Wu's heart sank as he listed out the things they needed.

"You can count on me, this battle artifact shall not only have the power to create an undead army, but also have the ability to create all sorts of things from Yin energy and soul power, covering all the available items found in a typical game."

"What's soul power?" asked Lu Wu, his curiosity getting the better of him.

"Soul power has the ability to measure the strength of any beasts in the underworld, equivalent to measuring the willpower of a person who has been practicing. The soul power of every being will disperse after the host has died, and it is far more powerful than Yin energy."

This filled Lu Wu with high hopes, "Then is it possible for our gamers to loot and absorb the soul power from a corpse after taking its life? If so, then wouldn't our gamers have the chance to be up-leveled?"

"No problem!" Little Lolita patted her chest with confidence.

"However it would be nice if we could have a part of it to ourselves after our gamers have killed the creatures. This is because the soul power can speed up your training speed, not to mention it can help rebuild the kingdom of Beiqi. Lastly, it can act as a reward for all of our hard work!"

The Little Lolita's suggestion had been what Lu Wu was planning to say all along, he cracked a smile and proposed, "What do you say we take 20% of it?"

"Let's make it 30%!"

Both of them burst into laughter.

What's said would be done. After confirming the direction that they were heading, Bei Li, which was the Little Lolita's real name, brought Lu Wu to the royal palace, which was now a wasteland. She pulled open a scorched door right beside a charred pillar and a passage leading to the basement greeted them.

As Lu Wu was entering, he realized that the underground palace was quite spacious, just like a typical one.

There lay all kinds of ancient equipment. It looked as if it was some sort of laboratory.

From the Little Lolita's explanation, Lu Wu finally came to know that this was the very place his ancestor had done his research and development on the artifacts. As for Bei Li, she was the one and only helper of his ancestor, who stood by his research from the beginning to the very end.

As he stepped into the laboratory, Bei Li's look became serious. Lu Wu waited for her to change into a golden suit, which covered her entire body, then passed her the ring. She took it and got to work, pacing back and forth between equipment.

Lu Wu stared blankly at Bei Li as she switched from hammers to electric drills to brushes, testing all kinds of tools on the ring, doing all sorts of shamanistic stuff on it, chanting and reminiscing spells all the way.

After two hours of torment, Bei Li took off her golden helmet and passed the reformed ring to Lu Wu, feeling exhausted.

"This is it?" Lu Wu was having a hard time believing it.

"It wasn't too difficult to add those new functions to it. It now has a built-in server that can extradite gamers, and on top of that, it has its own database settings. Now we can finally put it into practice."

Lu Wu put on the ring skeptically, and the instructions of the artifact appeared once again.

Lu Wu was surprised to see its contents. This was exactly what he had wanted! Not only were the installments made by Bei Li much better than what he had in mind, she had even thought of the method to extradite players into the underworld.

This had left Lu Wu beaming with joy, "Your hard work has paid off!"

"Phew, I told you that I'm excellent! Let's go and test it out!" Bei Li exclaimed excitedly, though still being worn out.

The new ideas and functions had brought hope to Bei Li, which in turn had changed her perspective toward Lu Wu. With the new functions she had added, she felt that Lu Wu would definitely be able to recreate the glory of the King of Beiqi.

"Yes, let's go!"

As he said this, he reached out and tugged on Bei Li's tiny hand.

The originally happy-go-lucky version of Bei Li was now replaced with a mature lady whose face was as red as a tomato. She struggled free from his grasp and ran to the side, "I'm going to change out of this laboratory suit, wait… wait for me!"

After a while of waiting, she finally came out with her black mini skirt on. The gothic Little Lolita version of Bei Li returned to Lu Wu's side once again.

Lu Wu laughed secretly in his heart when he saw that she had been blushing. He held her hand once more and swiftly activated the newly added functions of the ring. Then they were off, traveling between Yin and Yang.

A maelstrom of darkness formed right in front of their eyes, but Lu Wu was no longer frightened by it. Instead he was willingly sucked into it.

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Chapter 3: The First Players

Translator: Larbre Studio Editor: Larbre Studio

He opened his eyes once more, and was greeted by the blazing sun that hung high up in the sky. Lu Wu subconsciously breathed in a mouthful of air from the world of the living, the encounter he had previously felt like a dream.

He looked down and saw that Bei Li was staring rather shyly at their hands which were interlocked together, and he smiled at this.

Lu Wu brought Bei Li back to his home in Indigo City. It was an apartment with three bedrooms, one living room, and one bathroom.

Although he lived alone, the place was spotless and there wasn't even the slightest mess in his bedroom.

He led Bei Li into his bedroom and switched on his computer, then loaded the little gaming site designed by him.

"Little one, can you connect the server you've installed to my gaming site?"

Bei Li nodded her head and climbed onto Lu Wu's chair, then started running her fingers on the keyboard. She pulled up the backend management system of his little gaming site, keyed in the coding of the artifact's server, and while she was at it, she specially added an image.

The image was a circle formation with words written on the inside, making it look extremely mysterious.

Bei Li pressed the enter button and gave a single nod, "Done!"

"It's that easy?" Lu Wu asked suspiciously.

"Yes, I have linked the server to this image, which shows the formation of spirit extradition. As long as the player downloads this little game of yours, which is actually just an empty nutshell, the content of the game will be sent to the virtual reality headset of the player. Then, the image of the spirit extradition formation will automatically appear in the mind of the player, and his or her spirit will be sucked into the server. From there, it'll be sent straight to the underworld."

Lu Wu was glad to have Bei Li on his side. With this secured plan, there was no way that the players would know that they were in the underworld, they would think that it was all part of the game.

In this generation where technology was advancing, and since the invention of the virtual reality headset, it has become a high demand for all of the game developer companies to constantly find ways to improve the details of the games.

As long as Lu Wu declared that the simulation of his game was near perfect, no one was going to dig up any problems at all.

"What name do you think I should give this game?" Lu Wu anticipated her reply.

Although he was the true creator of the game, he thought it was best to give the honor of naming it to Bei Li instead.

Bei Li was stunned by his request as she realized she was of much importance to Lu Wu.

"Then we shall name it after the artifact. Let's call it Battle Online. This was actually one of the wildest dreams of the ruler of Beiqi."

Lu Wu agreed to her suggestion with a strong nod. He lifted her down from the chair, pulled up the backend management system, uploaded an icon for the game and typed in the words 'Battle Online' into the empty text box under the title line.

In a split second, Lu Wu's game had been successfully uploaded onto the internet platform.

In order to attract users, Lu Wu had posted that little game of his onto the main page of his website.

Then the two sat like ducks and waited.

An hour passed… two... and just like that three hours had gone by. Bei Li turned to look at Lu Wu and asked, "Why has no one tried to download it?"

Her question put Lu Wu in an awkward position, as he knew that the number of users that visited his website was poor.

Not to mention that a typical small-scale game would only take up tens or hundreds of gigabytes.

Some games that had more than half of all users took up space starting in the terabytes, however that little game of his only took up 800MB, and this first impression was not really appealing to users.

As he was deep in thought, Lu Wu once again pulled up the backend management system and added a few words to the introduction of the game.

"This game has been carefully developed by this website for a period of 10 years and has been tested multiple times, almost achieving a 100% positive feedback. This website clearly states that there is no charge for this game."

Satisfied with his editing, Lu Wu and Bei Li once again went back to waiting.

One hour… two hours...

Just as the two were beginning to lose their patience, thinking that it was better to wrack their brains for yet another solution, the artifact suddenly blinked, followed by a message which popped up in Lu Wu's mind.

[Ding! Player Wang Damang has registered into the battle server!]

As she read Lu Wu's expression, Bei Li immediately grabbed hold of his hand and shut her eyes, searching for the appearance of the new player.

…...

10 minutes ago.

Wang Damang exited the game with a bored face and started the update for the game Atlantis.

Atlantis was currently the most popular game out there. The number of players was practically overflowing. It occupied 8% of the stock market. Its level of simulation has reached 55%. It was rich in content and had a very wide audience, where Wang Damang was one of the players.

After exiting the game, he went to grab some snacks from the fridge, then scrolled through his browser folder and randomly picked a website that featured small games. He decided to play around with them a bit before returning to his computer when the update had been completed.

Coincidentally, his pick landed on Lu Wu's website.

Wang Damang scanned through the website and saw that there were countless posts of game icons. Then, his eyes landed on the most appealing one posted on the main page, and clicked it.

"Pff! Ha! Ha!"

While Wang Damang was reading the introduction, he suddenly choked on his food and coughed it out.

A game of 800MB has reached almost 100% positive feedback, and this was confirmed by the website itself, not to mention the free entry.

Wang Damang's eyes widened, "The boss of this website must be so hungry for money that he's gone mad. He ought to add the fact that you can level up to Level 999 with just one swing of a sword while he's at it!"

He shook his head and was just about to exit the game when he suddenly stopped and recalled the recent news, urging people to report fraud in games.

There was something about a reward for issuing the report.

This made Wang Damang laugh out loud as he thought to examine the game thoroughly, then write a report regarding the matter and hand it in to the internet police.

With this, Wang Damang willingly pressed the button to download the game.

800MB was nothing compared to the current speed of the internet, it was only a matter of seconds before the download was complete. He stuffed the rest of the food into his mouth and put on his virtual reality headset and his set of gaming clothes.

A list of game icons appeared on the screen, which had all been downloaded and played by him.

He reached out his hand and swiped, skimming through the icons until he reached the one for Battle Online. Wang Damang smiled internally, fully preparing himself for the visual impact.

As the game started, the body of Wang Damang in the real world collapsed to the ground.

However, from his view, an icon of a formation appeared right before him and a feeling of weightlessness greeted him. When he finally opened his eyes, he was taken aback by the scene before him.

Under the glow of the red moon, blood-colored rain poured down on him. A gust of wind surrounded him, making him feel as if he was in hell.

Everything before his eyes was so realistic that Wang Damang had to pinch himself to make sure that he was not dreaming. Although he felt a slight pain from that, Wang Damang was still almost convinced that the place was real.

"How can this be, how can an 800MB game create such a realistic virtual world? Unless this game only features this very scene? But such a scene would still take up more than 800MB of space!"

Wang Damang was stunned by the whole setting before him. He bent down and picked up a fallen leaf, examining its patterns. Unexpectedly, the graphics were so clear and detailed that it left him in a daze once more.

At that moment, the storyline that Bei Li had made up emerged before Wang Damang.

[When the greatest catastrophe of the past tens of thousands of years befell, His Excellency of the underworld, the King of Beiqi, came to resist the disasters and gave up his life to save billions of souls. Sadly, right after the ruler of Beiqi had passed, his subordinates turned their backs on the kingdom, splitting the land of Beiqi into separate territories. As the rightful heir to the throne of Beiqi, it is time for you to step into the light and go on a journey to reclaim glory for your ancestors!]

After the storyline faded away, another instruction came popping into his mind:

[Please choose your character class]

Three templates of character classes surfaced before Wang Damang's eyes.

A powerful warrior with an enormous sword, a mage with a staff, and an assassin with a dagger stood in front of him.

Wang Damang was stunned for a moment. Then, he reached out and chose the one with the assassin's figure.

All of a sudden, a ray of light encircled the figure that had been chosen by Wang Damang, as if it was a flower that was gradually blooming. The figure came alive, like he was being resurrected from the dead, but then the dagger flew free from his grasp, hovering in circles around his body. The killing machine in him suddenly surfaced.

"I live for darkness, I serve for darkness... I carry the Grim Reaper's scythe wherever I go... I bloom in death for eternity... I am a terminator!"

The voice coming from the figure was cold, leaving Wang Damang with his jaw dropped in shock, as if the person standing in front of him was real.

"This is really cool!"

Chapter 4: The First Batch Of Players

Translator: Larbre Studio Editor: Larbre Studio

According to Bei Li, the settings of the character class templates were similar to that of the distribution of soul power absorbed when the player kills a being from the underworld.

For instance, when the player has chosen a character class, say, a berserker, the soul power collected when a being is killed will increase the abilities of a player, mostly by their strength.

Same goes to Wang Damang. The terminator he has chosen mainly focuses on strength and agility.

After picking which character class to go with, the surrounding Yin energy merged to form a dagger and a rough cloth, which appeared magically on Wang Damang's body.

Although the new combat equipment was nothing fancy, they required no soul power to function. Lu Wu solely relied on the players to kill as many creatures from the underworld as possible to collect soul power.

Lu Wu's heart suddenly skipped a beat as a message emerged in Wang Damang's head.

[New Quest: Slaughter the ten-headed Wandering Soul. The reward is 5 soul coins.]

Wang Damang was excited when he received the quest. He was already becoming addicted to this well-made game.

He followed the instructions, opened the map, and saw that he was currently in the [Underworld of Beiqi] which was encircled by the field boundary of the [Ghost Mountains]. However, the land further away was shrouded by a dense fog. Meanwhile, the top right corner showed Exploration in Beiqi 0.01% complete.

Standing tall, he gripped his dagger with a heroic spirit and headed to the outskirts.

As he followed the map, he was also scouting his surroundings. He was still in awe of the game's simulation, as the graphics were so fine and detailed that it felt almost impossible.

As he explored further down the path, Wang Damang suddenly heard a muffled whimper coming from afar. It sounded cold and eerie, sending chills down his spine.

Although he knew that it was merely a game he was playing, Wang Damang still walked with wobbly legs toward the direction of the sound.

Out of the blue, a white figure appeared right in front of him.

Wang Damang's presence had also given quite a shock to the Wandering Soul, but with a piercing scream, it pounced toward Wang Damang.

Wang Damang's heart was hammering against his chest when he saw all of this, but after all, he was just a character in this game. With this thought comforting him, he gripped his dagger tightly and threw himself back at the Wandering Soul as well.

"Pow!" he struck the Wandering Soul with his dagger. At that moment, a '-5' in red appeared on top of the Wandering Soul's head, showing the amount of damage inflicted, which was unmistakably set up by Bei Li.

The place where the dagger had landed was replaced by a dark colored stab wound.

Since there was no health bar available, Wang Damang had no idea how many more strikes he would need to successfully kill the Wandering Soul. He moved sideways and dodged the Wandering Soul's attack, then moved to the opposite side and stabbed the Wandering Soul yet again. This time, a value of '-6' emerged.

"Judging from this burning sensation that I'm feeling, the creator of this game must be a total genius!" Wang Damang exclaimed out loud.

The cry of the Wandering Soul turned shrill, but the injuries to Wang Damang had fully healed. He even dared to provoke the Wandering Soul by beckoning it closer.

Relying on his flexibility, Wang Damang excitedly slashed the Wandering Soul repeatedly. The Wandering Soul became more and more transparent, as if it was going to disappear at any moment.

"Take this!" he raised his dagger after dodging yet another attack. Taking big strides forward in the direction of the Wandering Soul, he stabbed it from behind.

At that very moment, Wang Damang's leg had tripped on a stone. His whole body was suddenly falling abruptly and he landed hard on the ground. A bloody '-3' appeared on top of his head.

"Damn it! Does the game have to be that realistic!" Wang Damang was in shock.

The fact that he had to also take into account the environmental factors while fighting had left Wang Damang rather speechless.

He looked up and before he could pick himself up, he saw the Wandering Soul pouncing on him again, it's almost-transparent sharp claws tearing him apart.

Bloody numbers popped up one after the other on top of his head, then everything went pitch-black.

[You have been killed by the Wandering Soul]

Lu Wu and Bei Li buried their faces in their hands when they saw the pathetic ending.

Wang Damang took off his virtual reality headset and slammed his fist on his computer desk, "That son of a bitch dares to kill me, I have to go back and have my revenge!"

Wang Damang whose nostrils were flaring reached straight for the button and re-launched Battle Online.

[You have died in the game, please wait for 3 hours to respawn.]

Wang Damang took off his headset once more, his face ashen.

There's even a timespan for respawning, and the creators charge no fee for this! How does the creator of this damn game earn for a living?

Wang Damang had gone through this scenario before, but he had hopes for this game. He searched for the game's release date on the main page, and the date stated was in fact that very same day. He had a hunch that this game was going to go worldwide soon.

A notification popped up at the bottom right corner of his screen, reminding him that the update for Atlantis was completed, but he no longer felt engrossed by it.

As a professional player, he had a sixth sense for gaming. At that moment, he decided to go all-in for the game, betting that it would be definitely be astounding to play.

At this time, the notification from his chat app rang. It was from the members of his clan prompting him to go online, inviting him to tackle the boss stage together.

Wang Damang hesitated, then finally wrote a few words in the group chat: "I've found a super fun game to play, so I've decided to quit playing Atlantis (tears_of_joy.jpg)"

Strike_Gold: "(ConfusedCat.jpg) Bro, is there a mistake, how can there be a game that's better than Atlantis?"

Young,WildFree: "Don't talk nonsense. Damang, hurry up and join us in the boss stage, otherwise the ship will sail without you (BloodyKitchenKnife.jpg)"

Wang Damang stared at the lively group chat, he hesitated before sharing the Battle Online game link with the group.

"It's called Battle Online, if you don't experience it, you absolutely can't imagine how fun it is."

Seeing that Wang Damang had recommended the game himself, a few of them clicked on the link and after going through all of the introductions, the group chat became active once more.

Strike_Gold: "Authentication complete. If Damang isn't drunk then he's gone mad!"

Young,WildFree: "Only 800MB?? I thought I had gone blind when I mistook the MB as TB."

Wang Damang's eyes grew larger as he read the messages sent by his teammates. Then, he went ahead and ran his fingers through the keyboard: "Stop bro-ing me, hurry up and try out the game, if you all are not satisfied with it, I'll personally make it up to each and every one of you by giving you guys 10,000 gold coins each!"

Strike_Gold screenshotted the text.

TheAlmightyBerserker screenshotted the text. "Downloading right now! We'll be back in five, and will be waiting for the cash to come in (smiley_face.jpg)"

Under Wang Damang's persuasion, the new batch of players began entering the game.

…...

This time, Lu Wu gazed steadily at Bei Li, making her feel shy as she lowered her head.

"Little one, why did you set up a timespan for respawning?" Lu Wu asked curiously.

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Chapter 5: Experiencing The Game

Translator: Larbre Studio Editor: Larbre Studio

"I had to! Although their bodies in the underworld were made from Yin energy, when their souls return to their rightful bodies, it inflicts some small side-effects to the mind, which of course, will subside after resting for two hours."

Bei Li's reply left Lu Wu speechless, then his lips curved into a smile as he caressed Bei Li's head, "You are the best gift my ancestor has ever left for me!"

Bei Li blushed deeply at this, drawing back her head rather shyly.

"Oh right, will the level of the players decline after their bodies made from Yin energy disperse?"

Lu Wu suddenly thought of the key issue. It would be pitiful for the players to lose all their hard work of upgrading their levels when all of it would be lost when they accidentally die.

"Of course not, the soul power will back them up. I have changed the settings of the artifact so that when a player dies, the soul power in them will not be erased. It will be saved into the server of Battle Online and when the player respawns, they will automatically be sent to a new body."

Lu Wu never thought that this matter would have crossed Bei Li's mind. He picked up Bei Li excitedly and gave her a big kiss, "Haha, you're outstanding!"

Bei Li was dazed by that kiss, and seemed as if she was going to collapse at any moment. When Lu Wu saw this, he laughed out loud once more.

At that moment, the artifact continuously gave out signals:

From the messages, there were ten or more players in total that had registered into server. Lu Wu was left astounded.

With Wang Damang's persuasion, a few of his teammates put on their headset and chose the Battle Online game icon. They were fully prepared to prove their friend wrong.

What came after was them experiencing the same shock as Wang Damang when he first entered the game.

The realistic graphics had left them in stunned silence. After choosing the character classes that they favored, all of them received the same quest that Wang Damang had.

A series of exclamations followed as they stared at the clothes on their bodies and the scenery that surrounded them, leaving them with no words.

"Damn, this game is really cool, which company would cook up such a big move? The gaming industry should be prepared to be swept away by this!"

"This really is cool, but I feel that my 10,000 gold coins are getting further away from me! I vaguely wanted to exit this game, but I changed my mind."

After the big discussion, they hurriedly prepared the group to explore the game.

Wang Damang's heart was filled with resentment when he thought of the remaining one and a half hours to his respawning, he felt like giving the creator a taste of his fist for setting up such a rule.

Meanwhile, the ten or more players were happily containing two Wandering Souls in the game.

Chen Ziyu, "Dear brothers, let me have these two. I've already killed eight of them, let me finish my quest and help increase our team's strength."

Wang Chao, "Get lost, I already have three in my hands. Do you know how to play by the rules? Or would you like to be punished instead?"

Xu Qiqi, "Since I am the only female on this team, can my dear brothers let me have them?"

The others were indifferent to her pleading, as each of them wanted to increase their own individual strength. They were not so easily tempted by the words of a beautiful face.

The team started quarreling for the two Wandering Souls.

But in the end, it was Chen Ziyu, the strongest player of the team, who had gotten his hands on the two Wandering Souls. Two black lines suddenly emerged from the dead Wandering Souls and made their way into his body.

His experience bar began shooting up.

[Ding! Congratulations, you have leveled up, gained 2 strength.]

[Ding!, Congratulations, you have completed the quest, gained 5 soul coins.]

According to the settings made by Bei Li, whenever a player killed a creature, the soul power within the creature would be separated into three portions.

60% of it would be added to the player's experience. 10% of it would be kept in the player's inventory as soul coins. And the remaining 30% would be collected by the artifact as Lu Wu's private income.

In about half an hour, the players had killed a total of thirty Wandering Souls. Each Wandering Soul would give 3 soul coins to the player, while the remaining 27 soul coins would go to Lu Wu. But among those remaining coins, five had gone to Chen Ziyu as a reward.

Lu Wu willingly made these investments without regrets, because as the players got stronger and stronger, their kills would naturally improve. Thus, his income would eventually increase along with it.

"Damn, I can feel myself getting stronger!" Chen Ziyu was staring at his body in awe, as if he was having a hard time accepting it.

Xu Qiqi, "What do you mean, Brother Yu? Isn't it normal for you to be stronger after leveling up?"

Chen Ziyu was silent for a moment, "This game is really scary. When you level up in other games, your attributes will be increased, but you won't feel any changes in your body. Instead, you'll only find that the damages you inflict on the creature will have increased. When you level up in this game, though, you can really feel your body growing stronger, this is incredible!"

Xueli, "Impossible, that's bullshit. Are you saying that we can experience having actual superpowers in this game?"

Chen Ziyu nodded, "I feel that it's really possible. The power that is impossible to be possessed in reality can be experienced in a game, this is absolutely incredible."

Wang Chao could no longer contain himself from saying, "We'll talk later, the next person that's going to level up is going to be me."

"Get lost!" all of them raged in unison.

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Chapter 6: Collectively Changing To A New Game

Translator: Larbre Studio Editor: Larbre Studio

As they were searching for creatures, Chen Ziyu opened the shop to see what was on sale.

[Level 1 Shop]

[Level 2 Shop (Unlocks when Strength reaches Level 20]

[Level 3 Shop (Unlocks when Strength reaches Level 40]

A few options appeared.

Chen Ziyu clicked on the Level 1 Shop, and a layout of a shop immediately popped up before his eyes.

Chen Ziyu's eyes were blazing with fire as he looked through all the list of items sold in the shop. He realized that most of the items sold were clearly for mages only, and those that were suitable for other character classes were fewer, but this made him rejoice at his decision of choosing the berserker.

He glanced at his depot and saw that he had 14 soul coins. Chen Ziyu bit his lips as he purchased the Ogre's Wooden Club.

Everyone's curious gaze was on him as an enormous white wooden club appeared out of thin air. Chen Ziyu then reached out and wrapped his fingers tightly around it. A feeling of warmth instantly enveloped his body as he felt his strength intensifying once again.

As he met the envious eyes of his fellow teammates, Chen Ziyu could not help but burst into laughter.

Meanwhile, Lu Wu and Bei Li, who were secretly watching them, also ended up cracking up. The price of every little item that was sold in the shop had been increased by 30% to cover the expenses for the making of the artifact.

In other words, whenever a player purchases an item from the shop, it would partially benefit them. The more items the players purchase, the more income Lu Wu would receive.

Following the map, Chen Ziyu and the team walked speedily for almost three hours before reaching the Ghost Mountains. The fog that was visible on the map had started to disperse, exposing the landscape of the mountains.

Most of the team members had already completed their first quest along the way, and they had even bought new weaponry from the shop.

After experiencing the feeling of having enhanced attributes, everyone's expectation of the game skyrocketed. They became even more eager to find every single hidden feature that this game had to offer.

At this time, the time span for Wang Damang's respawning was already up, and so he entered the game to join the others.

This round, Wang Damang was extremely cautious when he met any Wandering Souls on the road to the Ghost Mountains. As he was in battle, he also took the initiative to observe his surroundings, especially the landform, to prevent any deja vu.

This kind of realistic battle would leave gameaholics feeling infatuated. But as he wandered deeper, he bought a new dagger from the shop, which increased his efficiency in slaying creatures.

After entering the premise of the Ghost Mountains, he could see a group of people gathered around an enormous creature of around three meters tall.

As he got closer, the group of people turned out to be his own teammates.

The feeling of resentment filled Wang Damang's heart when he saw this, "These bastards promised me that they would be done in five minutes, but they're still at it after five hours. What happened to us tackling the boss stage in Atlantis?"

As Wang Damang came into view, his teammates finally acknowledged his presence.

"Damang, come over and help us, quick! This creature's level is too high, we're having trouble dealing with it!"

Wang Damang, who was planning to just sit back and watch, was bombarded by yet another quest.

[Special creature found, initiating side quests. Players that take part in eliminating powerful netherworld creatures will be awarded a bonus of 3 soul coins, items collected from the battle can be retrieved from the shop!]

The unexpected new quest made Wang Damang decisively join the battle.

The netherworld creature had a pair of bull horns and flesh like a dragon. Its strength was so incomparable that every time it smashed on the ground, it would leave a hole behind. The audience that gathered around dared not interfere, and could only wander around helplessly.

Although Wang Damang had joined the team, the rest still felt that this would take strenuous effort.

Lu Wu, who was quietly observing, turned to Bei Li and curiously asked, "This netherworld creature is considered special? And you created a quest just to assassinate it?"

Bei Li cackled in return, "These netherworld creatures are formed from the aftermath of the Yin soldiers absorbing too many Wandering Souls. They are a mixture of specialities. On their chests, you'll find a Netherworld Pearl. This very pearl will benefit you greatly! What's more, it can increase your quality of life!"

Lu Wu was gaping at Bei Li as he finally understood her whole plan. Therefore, he went back to watching the players through the battle artifact.

Clearly the netherworld creatures were much stronger than the Wandering Souls. Luckily the players on the scene were professionals, they were quick to react. While they dodged the oncoming attacks, they also constantly created multiple wounds on the netherworld creature.

They sustained their position for almost an hour. Everyone was physically and mentally exhausted. Just when they thought they stood no chance against this netherworld creature, the ominous beast finally fell with a loud thud, creating multiple large clouds of haze which then threaded its way into everyone's bodies.

A white light started to twinkle on their bodies, indicating that they had leveled up.

Everyone sighed a breath of relief as they experienced the feeling of their attributes getting stronger.

"Quick, look over there, what's that?" one of the team members piped up.

At this moment, the skin of the netherworld creature came off due to the effect of the artifact, and there lay a black pearl the size of a palm.

Chen Ziyu rushed forward and swiftly picked up the Netherworld Pearl. The message regarding the item instantly followed.

[Netherworld Pearl: can be sold in the shop for 28 soul coins]

At this time, all the others came and gathered around. Their eyes sparkled as they finished reading the message. This was the first item that they have collected from battling a creature, not to mention that the item was quite valuable, "Let's follow the convention of splitting the money amongst ourselves."

As he was saying, Chen Ziyu pulled up the item list from the shop. When he dragged the Netherworld Pearl into the shop, a light flashed across his eyes and the pearl vanished into thin air. At the same time, 28 soul coins were added into his backpack.

Although each of them did not receive much after splitting, they were still smiling happily.

It has been so long since they experienced this kind of synergy, like back when they had tackled the last boss stage together.

Chen Ziyu glanced at the soul coins he collected then pulled up the shop once more. He chose chainmail to wear, which cost 12 soul coins.

Chen Ziyu's new style left everyone green with envy once more, as their hearts were filled with the urge to level up as soon as possible so that they could have the privilege of having such an outfit as well.

Meanwhile, in the room, Lu Wu was holding the Netherworld Pearl in his hand, seeming somewhat surprised by it, "This stuff can really help strengthen my abilities?"

Bei Li gave a strong nod, "If you ingest it, the soul power within it will gradually improve your ability. Although it doesn't help much now, it will prove useful to you in the long run!"

Lu Wu agreed with her words as he nodded his head, then went ahead and placed the round pearl in his mouth, taking a bite of it.

"Oh... it tastes weird!"

He pictured the Netherworld Pearl as an apple as he gobbled it up, releasing a loud burp in the end. He felt his whole body turning warm, which was quite comforting.

When he finished consuming the Netherworld Pearl, they turned their focus back to the group which was still exploring the Ghost Mountains.

This time, Lu Wu enacted three quests for them in one go. At the same time, he played around with the settings so that the quests would only be triggered when the players entered the premises of the Ghost Mountains.

In other words, future players who entered the Ghost Mountains would automatically receive messages regarding the quests, saving the hassle for Lu Wu to manually enact them every time.

[Side Quest: Retrieve Herbs:

Every herb collected from Wandering Souls in the mountains will be evaluated and can be sold in the shop. Soul coins awarded according to evaluation

[Side Quest: Creature Hunting, 30 soul coins awarded:

[Cultivating Side Quest: I am strong, 30 soul coins awarded:

When a player reaches Level 20, a set of blue pieces of equipment for evaluation will be provided.

The two new quests filled the players with joy once more as they looked forward to seeing their enhanced strength.

Meanwhile, the main quest was still under Lu Wu's consideration.

After all, the players were still considered frail, and if they went for the larger and stronger creatures out there, they would no doubt be throwing straws into the wind. The only plan was to first steer them in the path of getting stronger, and he would then create a main quest for the game.

Initially, the team's plan was to continue hunting in the Ghost Mountains, and at the same time they would keep an eye out for herbs which would be sold later on. However, a sudden message interrupted their game:

[Your time in the game has reached 12 hours. In 5 minutes, please be prepared to be logged out of the game.]

The message left everyone in shock. They did not expect that 12 hours had passed so swiftly right before their eyes.

"Time passed so quickly! It's been 12 hours, but I'm here thinking that I had just entered the game!"

"Is it possible to stay longer? I just need another 1.5 soul coins before I can purchase a Boning Knife. This is absurd!"

However, their pleadings could never counter the settings of the game, hence after five minutes, amongst the complaints of the players, every single one of them was logged out.

As they returned to reality, they became extremely frantic. As gameaholics, they had never come across anything like this game before, however the limitations of the game had left them in a difficult situation.

The team members who were left with nothing to twiddle with returned to the group chat once more. When they were sharing today's experience in the game, the big boss came out.

Master_Wang: "Ladies and gentlemen, what were you all up to today. Not a single soul among you guys joined the game, and we're almost to the competitive team match, what are you waiting for? Hurry up and go enhance your strengths. (angry.jpg)"

Strike_Gold: "Master, what I'm going to tell you next might seem impossible to you, but I'm going to quit the team!"

Young,WildFree: "Same here, I have the same thought as well."

Master_Wang: "All of you want to withdraw yourselves?"

Everyone: "YES!"

Master_Wang: "May I know the reason behind this?"

Everyone gave a uniform reply: "We can't help from indulging ourselves in another game…"

Master_Wang: "What game could make you so obsessed with it? Which company does it belong to?"

Chen Ziyu then sent a screenshot of the game's introduction from Lu Wu's website.

Strike_Gold: "It's this 800MB epic game."

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Chapter 7: The New Game's Player Killer List

Translator: Larbre Studio Editor: Larbre Studio

After deciding on quitting Atlantis, the gang chose to submit their resignations to the master of the team.

They then settled on a time to gather at a restaurant outside.

"Do you regret making this decision?" Chen Ziyu, as the team leader, asked while he looked at the rest.

Wang Damang spoke, "Captain, we've been gaming together for so many years. We are sensitive to the changes in the gaming market. We just felt that the game Battle Online had a huge potential, and that's why we quit Atlantis firmly without turning back. I don't think there's any need to regret that. Moreover, as the first batch of players, we have a significant advantage. Why should we worry about our earnings in the future?"

Xue Li who was secretly eating raised her head, "That's right, and you won't believe it, I can't find the top-up channel. That's really sad..."

Xue Li said what was on everyone's mind.

Not only Xue Li, in fact, everyone who was present had thought of topping-up cash to purchase epic equipment.

Who knew that the game really did not have a top-up option, just as stated in the description. They were absolutely speechless.

To them anyhow, as the game developed, the gaming company would also want to make cash. It was only a matter of time until the function was made available.

Moreover, soul coins in the game were extremely rare, so they totally could hoard the coins for sale. Making money was not something to be worried about.

"Then, is everyone thinking of building a guild in this new game, so we can continue to play together?" a smile appeared on Chen Ziyu's face.

"Of course! We have our own system of dividing the loot after killing a creature anyway. It's not a problem. Though, there is something I find strange. I've searched many gaming platforms without coming across any advertisements of this game at all. What is the company even thinking?"

"Exactly. If I hadn't accidentally clicked on it, I wouldn't believe an epic game like this would appear on the homepage of a small gaming site," Wang Damang spoke immediately after Wang Chao.

Probably the boss who created the game is too rich. They could only draw such an inference.

At the same time, Lu Wu and Bei Li were in the house having a bowl of instant noodles, wolfing down their food.

"Lu Wu, you really are broke!" Bei Li scrunched her face as she took another bite of the noodles.

Lu Wu's face reddened and he laughed awkwardly, "When the number of players increases, there will be numerous ways to earn money. At that time, I'll bring you to lavish feasts and raise you into a sturdy and fair woman."

Bei Li nodded her head, looking adorable. She stirred her noodles with her chopsticks and slurped them loudly.

"By the way, why do you need to eat, too?" as he ate noodles, Lu Wu asked out of curiosity.

"There are physical and spiritual bodies in the underworld. Since I'm a physical being, of course I need to eat," Bei Li answered as a matter-of-fact.

Lu Wu suddenly realized that Bei Li was always a physical being, and that he could touch her.

After finishing their noodles, they discussed how to promote the game again.

Normally, promotion need enormous sum of capital to support

Battle Online currently had no options for microtransactions. The expense was humongous while they had no income.

Therefore, the duo had to seek other methods to find a way without any cost. Lu Wu was surfing through several gaming platforms in hopes of finding some sort of special marketing event.

After going through ten or more sites, Lu Wu actually did find a free promotion event held by a large gaming platform.

"The Best New Game's Player Killer List"

In hopes of seeking the best new game of the year, Platform173 is starting a voting event to promote new games. All certified and registered gaming websites are welcomed to pick a self-made game to compete in the Platform173 Player Killer List Contest. All contesting games will be evaluated by our game evaluators by a total score of 10 during the event period.

As long as the 173 game evaluators voted that achieve a score of eight and above will be given a homepage promotion on the platform.

Lu Wu and Bei Li saw the announcement and exchanged glances, both exuberant.

To be recommended on the homepage of a huge gaming site like Platform173 would definitely direct a considerable traffic flow to the game.

Most importantly, the event was unbelievably free of charge.

Of course, it would only happen provided their game could achieve a score of eight, the minimum score to be recommended.

Nonetheless, Lu Wu was not worried about that.

A game that felt a hundred percent realistic did not exist in the current market. He was absolutely confident in winning the top three prizes, or even the championship!

As he saw that the registration deadline was only three days away, Lu Wu clicked on the participate button at once. He sent the details and certification of his small gaming site and waited for a reply.

The customer service department of Platform173 was efficient. Lu Wu's message was soon replied to, and he received a link for his game to be reviewed.

Clicking on the link, Lu Wu entered the details of his website and registered an account. At the same time, he uploaded Battle Online to the review page.

A prompt then popped up:

The content is under review. You will receive a reply in three to five days. Thank you for your patience.

After completing everything, Lu Wu and Bei Li discussed the optimization of the game.

Their discussion lasted for three hours. Lu Wu and Bei Li had a piece of draft paper as they planned the main quest of the game.

A main quest would of course be based on the battle theme and developed accordingly.

Recalling his old ancestor's great ambition, boldness grew in Lu Wu. As long as the game was popular enough, he would own a countless, inexhaustible source of undead players that served him. While the players would have become more powerful, he would not just go for the mere Land of Beiqi, but the entire underworld!

Bei Li who was familiar with the landform of Beiqi was his army adviser. She reminded Lu Wu of the several powers he had to be cautious of.

According to Bei Li, the King of Beiqi owned an army that consisted of three Ghost Kings and ten Ghost Generals. The demise of the king was followed by the segregation of the entire Beiqi into thirteen regions by the said powers.

The Mansion of the Dead was located in the East region, occupied by a Ghost General named Cha Na.

Therefore, how to snatch the land back from Cha Na was the main starter quest Lu Wu was considering.

Lu Wu set the main quest to start at Level 15. After all, if the player's level was too low, they would not be able to kill even a ghost soldier, which in turn causes them to be unable to even form a large scale combat power.

At the same time, both of them contemplated the design of the non-player characters, or NPCs.

To produce the NPCs who would improve the playability of the game was easy. Converging a body using battle artifacts was all that was needed. The important part was how to endow the NPCs with intelligence.

NPCs played a crucial role in making the game outstanding, and the key was to bestow them with autonomy.

Lu Wu was not able to tackle the problem, so he could only throw it to the game developer, Bei Li.

Much to Lu Wu's surprise, Bei Li patted her chest confidently.

"Just leave it to me. It isn't that difficult. You know, the underworld is the abode of creatures. We can find those who are newly born in the underworld, who haven't attained intelligence. Then, we can modify them by using the artifacts to recombine their souls. With this, we can bestow them with a new memory and mission."

"Where can we find souls like these?" Lu Wu was astonished.

"The creatures that have died will be randomly born in the underworld, so anywhere will be a possibility. We can totally release a quest so that the players can find newborn ghosts for our NPCs!"

"Sure!"

Chapter 8: A 10/10 Evaluation

Translator: Larbre Studio Editor: Larbre Studio

Lu Wu nodded, using his consciousness to release a new quest in the game:

"Perpetual Quest: Soul Collector"

Seek ghosts who are newly born in the underworld. Upon discovery, they can be sold at the shop at a rate of 100 soul coins per soul.

At the same time, in order for the players to understand newborn ghosts, Lu Wu asked Bei Li to design pictures and link them to the quest list. The players would be able to discern the souls more easily.

The reward of the quest was the best out of all. Quests that solely depended on luck like this also made the game more interesting.

Whether it would be a lucky day or not solely depended on the player's looks.

It was the third day since the game was uploaded.

During that time, the number of players in Battle Online had increased to 48. Many of them played the game because of Chen Ziyu, Wang Damang, and the gang's recommendation. They were the gang who wanted to build the first guild in the game.

Basically, everyone who had not tried the game yet was highly dubious of it. However, only those who had played the game would realize how modernized and playable the game truly was. Nobody could bear to stop playing the game once they had the experience.

Lu Wu and Bei Li, who often observed the players' every move via the artifacts, also understood Chen Ziyu and the gang's thoughts. They planned to include the guild option in the next optimization.

In order to check on the players more conveniently, Lu Wu and Bei Li went to the underworld once again. He asked Bei Li to forge a subring of the battle ring in the laboratory.

The ring could not survive on its own, but depended on the existence of the master ring. New options of checking on players and releasing quests were also included, and Bei Li was officially the gamemaster of Battle Online.

...

Mu Qingshui was a professional game evaluator at Platform173. His job scope was to try out all sorts of new games and write reports of his experience, then post them onto the website. Although his pay was rather high, he was bored.

Exiting another game again, Mu Qingshui took off the virtual reality headset and massaged his head, looking reluctant, "What are the authors of these mediocre creations that could flood the streets even thinking? I can't believe they want to participate in the New Game's Player Killer List Contest. What a waste of my time!"

He then launched the webpage, gave an evaluation score of 2 under the previous game, and ditched it into the eliminated list.

As he scrolled through the table of games to be evaluated, Mu Qingshui was frustrated seeing more than a hundred games pending.

Glancing at the other game evaluators who were doing their jobs, Mu Qingshui took a deep breath. He clicked on the table and chose the next pending game according to order.

"Hmm?"

He originally planned to test out the game by playing it right away, but the description of the game left him dumbfounded.

A simulation game of just 800 megabytes? Are you kidding me?

Mu Qingshui found it ridiculous. Even a game like that had the courage to partake in the contest. The authors really did not know their place at all. It seemed like he had to propose setting higher participating requirements next time.

When he read the description, Mu Qingshui was about to give a score of 1 then place it in the eliminated list.

Nonetheless, he recalled the company's rule of a minimum of a ten minute test run per game. Mu Qingshui sighed as he loaded the game into his virtual reality headset and put it on to start his test play.

However, what happened next invoked him to question his life.

The moment he entered into the underworld, the surroundings and the slight breeze were so surreal as though he had traveled into a new world in a split second.

After choosing his character class, Mu Qingshui was completely won over by the game opening. He was planning to quit the game after playing for some time, but he explored the world in the game instead, finding pleasure in it.

One hour… two hours… five hours passed by as time slipped away quickly. He was so immersed in the game that he forgot he still had many other games to evaluate.

On the way to the Ghost Mountains, he was lucky enough to come across a newborn ghost as described in the quest panel, and he was rewarded with 100 soul coins. He was exuberant because of that.

After he had sold it to the shop, he bought a blue dagger, which improved his efficiency of creature killing significantly.

He had chosen the character class of a berserker. When his attributes increased, Mu Qingshui could experience a sense of flying while he walked, just like in the movies.

His exploration went on until an alert about the twelve-hour playing time limitation popped up. He was then exited by force.

An annoyed Mu Qingshui clenched his teeth with fury, "Dang! I was going to kill the Warrior of Wreckage with a single blow! Who the heck was the one who set the time limit? I'm gonna give him a bad review!"

Mu Qingshui took off his virtual reality headset visibly annoyed, but he was then stunned – the evaluators around him had already gone home and a new shift had started. It was already 3 AM.

"Shoot! Today's evaluation tasks…" Mu Qingshui felt his teeth ache. As a professional game evaluator, he was so attached to a game that he forgot about his work.

Nevertheless, Mu Qingshui was impressed with the game and was speechless. He gave a score of 10 for the evaluation.

He spent half an hour writing the evaluation report for the game and posted under it. Then, he put the game into the re-evaluation list.

In order to ensure the fairness of the competition, all games must be reviewed once by every evaluator, and the average score would be taken. That was why Mu Qingshui's evaluation data alone could not determine whether a game could go into the next round.

Mu Qingshui was effervescent as he felt he had discovered a precious treasure.

Whipping out his phone, he hesitated and wavered before he called the boss of Platform173 with gritted teeth.

Ring... ring…

The phone rang seven or eight times before someone picked it up, "Hello?"

"Hello boss, I'm a game evaluator from Platform173, my name is Mu Qingshui!" Mu Qingshui introduced himself at once.

Wu Guoyi was stunned upon hearing that the caller was a game evaluator from his subordinate's company. He glanced at the time on his phone, his mood worsening, "What is it? Also, how did you get my phone number?"

"Please don't be mad yet, boss. I only want to report to you a possible opportunity that can expand Platform173 quickly. We can overpower other gaming platforms and become number one."

Wu Guoyi who was about to get mad found it ridiculous. It was a good thing for workers to be concerned about the development of the platform, but it was also rude to call someone at this hour. Besides, can't you just inform your supervisor first?

Nevertheless, Wu Guoyi did not speak his mind. He gave it a thought and decided to listen on to the weird worker.

"Alright, I'm all ears!"

Mu Qingshui felt even vivacious, speaking in a determined manner, "Boss, you probably know about our new game contest, right?"

"Of course, it was I who proposed the event!"

He was a gaming aficionado. Due to his passion, the thought of setting up a gaming platform blossomed within him, which led to the rise of the largest gaming platform in the country. The evaluation event was proposed by him and implemented with the board of directors' consent.

"Boss, we've found a treasure this time! During the evaluation, I discovered a game that feels almost 100% real. I test-played the game for a whopping twelve hours without spotting any flaws. Moreover, the leveling up in this game is completely different from other virtual reality games. It is an epoch-making recreation!"

Upon hearing the news, Wu Guoyi's expression became sullen. He switched on the bedside lamp and sat up.

"What game is it? Which gaming company is the producer from?"

Sensing that Wu Guoyi was interested, Mu Qingshui answered hastily.

"It is produced by a small gaming platform. The name of this game is Battle Online. What's more, a very bizarre thing about this game is its data pack – it's only the size of 800 megabytes. I couldn't believe it either after evaluating it."

Wu Guoyi who heard him almost thought that Mu Qingshui had gone nuts, having conducted too many evaluations.

800 megabytes was around the size of a single item in a virtual reality game. It was a total joke for it to be the size of an entire game.

Drawing a deep breath, fury burned in Wu Guoyi again, "What is your name?"

"Boss, my name is Mu Qingshui, and my work ID is #387!"

"Good, you can go to the finance department to clear your accounts tomorrow!"

Mu Qingshui who was exuberant suddenly snapped back to reality, just like a bucket of cold water had been poured onto him.

Realizing that he was about to be fired, Mu Qingshui was anxious, "Please, boss, if you have the equipment around you, you can try out the game! If what I have said wasn't true, I will resign myself without having you fire me!"

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Chapter 9: Buying At A High Price

Translator: Larbre Studio Editor: Larbre Studio

Wu Guoyi hung up immediately at Mu Qingshui's unreasonable request.

Turning off the table lamp, Wu Guoyi wanted to continue sleeping at first, but Mu Qingshui's words were repeating themselves in his mind.

As he couldn't fall asleep, Wu Guoyi finally turned on the lamp and walked into the reading room.

He rubbed his eyes and turned his computer on. When the machine was booted up, he logged into the admin page of Platform173, and clicked on the list of games pending verification.

Among the hundred plus games, it took him quite a while to find the one named Battle Online mentioned by Mu Qingshui.

Just like what Mu Qingshui said, the game was surprisingly small, only 800 megabytes. Wu Guoyi was still for a moment, before he took down the VR headset, connected it to the PC, and downloaded the game into it.

With an intention of testing the waters, Wu Guoyi entered the game.

When the game booted up, Wu Guoyi's eyes were wide open. The graphics were perfect, just like what Mu Qingshui said.

Wu Guoyi, still doubtful, continued to search far and wide in the game for bugs like invisible walls and such.

He spent the whole night playing, until he entered the Ghost Mountains and met a netherworld creature. He was knocked out with one hit and it was game over.

After quitting the game, he was still quite excited. A moment of contemplation passed before he fished out his phone from his pocket and called the platform's manager.

The manager of Platform173, who picked up the phone freaked out. Usually, Wu Guoyi would not call him.

"Sun Chi, find out who developed Battle Online right now, immediately, at this instant! Then, send me their contact information."

Manager Sun was a little puzzled, but he immediately received the task.

He did not dare delay his boss's order, so he quickly logged into the backend portal of the website.

But when he found the game, he noticed that only the developer's website was noted down, with no mention of their telephone numbers. This made him anxious.

Thankfully, they had a verification mailbox. He quickly typed a short paragraph and sent it to Lu Wu.

After that, he waited for the reply.

At the same time, Lu Wu was having a meal with Bei Li at a store by the road. His phone vibrated.

When he took out his phone, he realized that he had received an email from Platform173.

Feeling excited, Lu Wu opened the email.

Sadly it wasn't to notify that his game had been verified. It was an email asking for his contact number.

While he wasn't sure why they needed it, he still sent his number over.

Looking at Bei Li who was chowing down her food voraciously, Lu Wu smiled gently and slipped his phone back into his pocket. He rubbed her head, suddenly feeling sorry for Bei Li because she had to follow him through the many difficult days.

Pacing around the room anxiously, Sun Chi finally saw the notification of the long awaited reply, and he quickly clicked on it.

He saw the numbers that his boss wanted. He immediately exhaled in relief, and forwarded the number to his boss, Wu Guoyi.

Just like Sun Chi, Wu Guoyi was sitting in his reading room, smoking. The ashtray was filled with cigarette butts to the brim. His red eyes were a sign of a sleepless night.

But Wu Guoyi was still very excited, because he knew that this was a chance for the platform to rise.

After reading Sun Chi's message, he immediately called Lu Wu without any hesitation.

"Hello, may I know who this is?" a young voice answered.

Wu Guoyi inhaled deeply, and said, "Hello, are you the owner of Battle Online? I am in charge of Platform173, and I have something to discuss with you. Are you available?"

Lu Wu was surprised, but thought that there were some issues with his game that the platform wanted to talk about. "Alright, no problem, I will be there soon!" he replied.

"It's alright, I can come to you. Where are you?" Wu Guoyi asked quickly.

From these words, Lu Wu realized that his game was being recognized, and was subtly expecting more. He then sent his location to Wu Guoyi.

Wu Guoyi was still excited after he hung up the phone. He was going to arrange a flight, but he realized that Lu Wu was also in Indigo City.

He quickly contacted his driver to pick him up. He changed his clothes, tidied himself up, and left his home hurriedly.

Within twenty minutes, he arrived at the place shown on the navigation app.

There was an old restaurant in the distance. Confirming that the location coordinates on his phone were correct, he left the car and walked toward the restaurant.

It was noon, so there was quite a number of patrons. Looking around, Wu Guoyi couldn't tell which one was Lu Wu, so he took out his phone to make a call.

Then, he saw Lu Wu who was picking up the phone.

Wu Guoyi took a step forward, "Nice to meet you... I'm Wu Guoyi... we talked on the phone!"

Lu Wu was shocked. He did not expect Wu Guoyi to arrive so soon. He stood up and shook Wu Guoyi's hand.

"Hello, how may I help you?"

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Chapter 10: Negotiation

Translator: Larbre Studio Editor: Larbre Studio

"May we speak privately?" Wu Guoyi looked around. Obviously, it wasn't a place suited for business conversations.

"Come on! Let me finish first!" when she heard that they were leaving, Bei Li was very reluctant. She had been having instant noodles with Lu Wu for a few days now, so it was difficult to part with the proper meal she was having now.

"This girl is…?"

"Ah, this is my younger sister!" Lu Wu replied.

Since Bei Li did not want to leave, Wu Guoyi resorted to temptation, "Hey, little girl, why don't we go somewhere else? The food is even more delicious there!"

"Really!?" It was super effective, Bei Li turned her head with shining eyes.

"Of course!" Wu Guoyi laughed.

Only then did Bei Li reluctantly put down her chopsticks. She then held Lu Wu's hand and went into Wu Guoyi's car.

In the car, Lu Wu was quietly amazed. Is Platform173 so wealthy? He is just a manager but he can afford a limited edition Maglev Racer!

Wu Guoyi valued this meeting very much. He booked a dining room in the Palace Hotel, the finest in Indigo City. He even bought a bottle of wine worth more than his apartment.

Lu Wu's jaw dropped when he saw the menu. He must be damn rich!

When all the dishes were served, Wu Guoyi smiled and finally asked Lu Wu, "May I know which prestigious studio developed this game?"

Lu Wu was stunned. He really could not answer this. There wasn't a studio, there were just two people on the team, the Old Ancestor and Bei Li. Moreover, he himself was merely a coordinator.

"Confidential, huh? It's alright! Come, drink!" Wu Guoyi smiled awkwardly, thinking hard on how to frame the question.

Facing a table full of dishes, Bei Li had long began eating, and Lu Wu wasn't shy either. Whenever Wu Guoyi offered him a toast while he was eating, he would drink a little.

"Hey, Wu. Do you plan to sell your game?" Wu Guoyi finally entered the main topic when his face was beet red from the alcohol.

"Don't worry, we will give you a fair price!" Wu Guoyi continued as he seemed to have thought of something.

You sly fox, Lu Wu whispered in his heart. As expected, Wu Guoyi was aiming for his game.

"We've put a lot into developing this game, so we don't really plan to sell it," Lu Wu rejected his offer tactfully.

"Ten billion, what do you say?"

Taking a deep breath, Lu Wu calmed his agitated mind, "We started doing this because of our passion, we don't care about..."

"Fifteen billion!"

The price made Lu Wu's heart beat quickly. It was an irresistible offer.

Although Lu Wu was penniless, he wasn't a myopic person. He knew that if this game becomes a hit, it would generate profits way beyond that.

Moreover, he couldn't sell it even if he wanted to. The underworld was real. The entire game was created by the battle artifact bound to Lu Wu's body. No one else could use it.

"Honestly speaking, our team has no intention to sell this game. If you've played it, I am sure you are very clear on how advanced it is. If we only compare its realism, it basically trashes all other VR games in the market. So, in our opinion, our game is worth way more than that."

Lu Wu had clearly presented his stance.

"Actually, we can still discuss the price further..." Wu Guoyi could not help sighing.

"How about, no!" Bei Li, with a mouth stuffed full of food looked up, too, and said while chewing.

He thought that the developer of this game should be a young man who is easy to tempt with money. But he didn't expect Lu Wu to be this firm. This triggered Wu Guoyi to think about how he should maximize his profit on the platform next.

"Why don't you release your game on our platform, and if you promise to become exclusive to us, I can give you this amount," Wu Guoyi pointed a finger up.

"Then, what benefits do you want?"

If a game is released on a major platform, they would usually be charged a percentage of their revenue. Just like how the apps on the app stores are charged a percentage of each micropayment as service fees.

"Nothing else! If you release exclusively on our platform, I can give you a hundred million!"

Wu Guoyi's condition was indeed attractive. Lu Wu understood what Wu Guoyi was after, and that was traffic on his platform.

If his game was exclusively released on Platform173, and becomes a hit, players would flock to his platform for Battle Online. This was Wu Guoyi's goal.

If it was just a game, Lu Wu might have agreed to Wu Guoyi's tempting proposition.

However, he had to consider the underworld.

He promised Bei Li to reclaim Beiqi, and even to conquer the entire underworld. In that case, the number of players would be a decisive factor.

If he agreed to Wu Guoyi's request, it would no doubt inhibit the development of Battle Online.

"You may release my game, but I cannot promise you anything else. That would restrict our game's development. Our goal is the entire world, so we need to release it on as many platforms as possible to promote this game!"

When Wu Guoyi saw Lu Wu's blazing eyes and heard his ambition of making it popular all over the world, he was stunned.

He did not expect that both his ideas would be rejected. He felt unpleasant because he wanted to profit from the game as it wasn't released yet, but he failed miserably.

"Mr. Wu, I have a suggestion. Would you like to listen?"

"Sure, go ahead!"

"Your main goal is to gain traction and traffic for your platform with our game. If so, our game can be released exclusively on your platform for two months. We will not work with other platforms in this period. But you have to promote our game on your main page during these two months."

Lu Wu had his reasons for this suggestion.

Battle Online is a game in its toughest stage, the beta stage. Using this chance to propel their name, their player base would increase through further recommendations. In the later stages, they would not even need to promote their game themselves anymore. Naturally, more and more players would join to try it out.

It was the same for popular games such as League of Legends and PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds.

Wu Guoyi was surprised by this new hope. He followed with a smile, "You are a terrific businessman, but I accept your proposition. I am willing to bet that your game will be a hit!"

"It's a deal!" Lu Wu smiled and raised his glass. After clinking his glass with Wu Guoyi's, he emptied its contents into his mouth.

Then they talked about the game's content. Lu Wu had researched this with Bei Li beforehand, so he was able to answer easily.

However, Lu Wu did not say a word about the main storyline development, only saying that it was confidential.

Wu Guoyi was disappointed. After all, it had been a long time since Wu Guoyi had played any games. And after playing this one, he had a nostalgic desire to play again.

But not knowing was good, too, as exploration is part of the experience.

Wu Guoyi felt that this talk was a success. After finishing their meal, Wu Guoyi paid the bill and left. He told Lu Wu that during the two months of promotion on their main page, they will air their cinematic trailer regardless of their sales ranking. So, he asked Lu Wu to prepare the CG trailer.

The happiest one of them all was indubitably Bei Li, as she stuffed herself with food the entire time. Looking at the tall stack of crab shells, Lu Wu could not believe that it was all the work of a petite girl.

Rubbing her tummy, Bei Li burped and said, "Yay, I'm full!"

Seeing Bei Li's innocent smile, Lu Wu felt sorry that he couldn't provide more to her.

But he knew that all these were temporary. The future is his era.

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Chapter 11: CG Production

Translator: Larbre Studio Editor: Larbre Studio

After finishing dinner, Lu Wu took Bei Li home.

When he thought of the CG trailer, he started to worry.

First of all, he had no funds to hire a professional CG production team. Secondly, how could he present the beauty of this game using a trailer? This was also an important consideration.

Without any ideas, Lu Wu was forced to ask Bei Li who was lying on the bed while looking like a dejected young girl.

At this moment, Bei Li looked like a prodigy in Lu Wu's eyes. She knew everything and could do anything. Even though she had a flat chest, she could be considered as his second divine artifact.

Bei Li also did not disappoint Lu Wu. After thinking for awhile, she had an idea.

It was simple. It required the battle artifact, but no production team. The shooting can be done completely in the underworld. The backdrop would be created using Yin energy, and an epic background could be materialized with zero cost.

Lu Wu thought for a moment, and felt that this could work.

This method could even recreate the actual graphics in the game. It would look like a recording of an actual playthrough, making it more attractive.

After confirming their methodology, Lu Wu and Bei Li started to discuss the story of their trailer.

They spent an afternoon talking about it. After confirming the outline of the story, Lu Wu held Bei Li's hand and arrived at the Mansion of the Dead.

Looking at the dilapidated palace, Lu Wu waved his hand, immediately activating the artifact's ability. A huge amount of Yin energy rushed in from all directions, gathering above the Mansion of the Dead.

Within a moment, a tumbling dark cloud was formed. It descended steadily before covering the entire dilapidated building while it continued to solidify.

Very quickly, a grand, majestic building appeared before them.

Huge black statues stood majestically before the gates while the tall black stupas touched the skies. The two huge gates were guarded by burly giants born of Yin energy. It was a sight to behold.

Now, Lu Wu floated upward as the Yin energy supported him from below. He stretched his hand again, and Yin energy gathered around his body densely, materializing into a shiny black armor.

Clouds of Yin energy were rolling in front of Lu Wu. Countless scary ghosts and monsters were formed within. These monsters were as tall as mountains! They had wings on their backs and terrifying faces.

"Turn it on!" Lu Wu instructed Bei Li who was beneath, holding the VR headset.

Receiving her instructions, Bei Li nodded vigorously, and turned the headset to record. She aimed the camera at Lu Wu as a flower of Yin energy bloomed beneath her, elevating her.

The story officially began.

On top of the dark clouds, countless scary demons were bellowing and screaming, rushing toward the ground in hordes.

At the same time, an angry roar came from within the dark clouds.

"King of Beiqi, do you think you can protect your people? The entire lands of Beiqi will soon be mine!"

Immediately, a heavy dark fog appeared. A humongous dragon head peeked out of the fog, its red eyes staring still at the land.

"Then we shall battle!" Lu Wu replied coldly.

"Will the mighty men of Beiqi go to war!?" Lu Wu raised his hand and beckoned those behind him.

"War! War! War!"

As the heavy footsteps were heard, Yin soldiers clad in full armor emerged from the dark fog.

Several tens of thousands of Yin soldiers raised their weapons and challenged the monsters in the air. There was not a single shred of fear in their eyes, but an endless desire to battle.

"Kill the enemies with me!" as Lu Wu cried out, all of the Yin soldiers levitated.

"War! War! War!"

A pitch black wind passed by. The flag of Beiqi was flying wildly in the air as the battle began.

It was a bitter fight. Dark figures fell off the sky unceasingly as severed limbs piled up on the ground. Countless soldiers sacrificed their lives, while the opposing army of monsters continued to suffer heavy losses under the Beiqi Army's persistent resistance.

At the end of the battle, the Black Dragon King itself entered the fray, battling against the battered Lu Wu.

The battle between two bosses stirred up terrible gusts of wind. The dark clouds around them were ripped apart by slipstreams, revealing the blood red moon that hung tall above the skies.

But the Black Dragon King clearly had the advantage. When the victory was about to be decided, Lu Wu yelled out loud, and his body started to burn with black flames. He became a ball of fire and rushed toward the terrified Black Dragon King.

Suddenly, the Black Dragon King's cries echoed in the air. The huge flames spanned a thousand miles, burning innumerable monsters, turning them into fireballs, and sending them down below.

The Beiqi Army ultimately won this battle, but they lost their leader, the King of Beiqi.

The awesome Mansion of the Dead was also lit up by the falling sparks, and burned brightly, declaring the death of its master.

A rain of blood descended from the skies. Countless soldiers kneeled and bowed their heads down in remembrance of the great king who gave up his own life for the Land of Beiqi.

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Chapter 12: NPC Settings

Translator: Larbre Studio Editor: Larbre Studio

"Cut!" Bei Li shouted with excitement.

Lu Wu emerged in the sky again, and descended hurriedly.

The props and backgrounds reverted to Yin energy and were blown away, returning to their original state.

The magnificent backdrops created using Yin energy were super realistic, but they were all empty shells. They weren't real, but they were amazing props for the shoot.

Lu Wu walked to the side of Bei Li, who was still excited. He took the headset from her outstretched arms and put it on.

The CG trailer started playing, and the scene started to develop from Bei Li's point of view.

Seeing the graphics, even Lu Wu, the lead actor, was shocked. The rendering and effects were way better than other animations out there.

Also, since it was shot in real-time, Bei Li was constantly running around in the battlefield. The viewers were given a first-person view to see the fight for themselves.

More importantly, Bei Li was always at the right spots, capturing the gallant warriors' determination, and the King of Beiqi's somber sacrifice at the end.

They planned to do a few takes and pick the best. But Lu Wu was completely satisfied after watching the product, and decided not to waste any more time.

So, he dragged Bei Li back to the world of the living.

After copying the trailer onto his computer, he opened an editing software to do some video cutting and post production. They were ultimately satisfied after watching the final version.

Wu Guoyi did ask Lu Wu to send himself a copy of the CG trailer when it's done, as a reference.

After all, a good trailer could attract many players. As a professional game developer, Wu Guoyi could give some pointers on what's lacking in a trailer.

Lu Wu attached the trailer and sent it to Wu Guoyi through email.

Then, Lu Wu took out the Default Soul he picked up from the Player's Market.

It shone a neon green in his hand, and the soul within it was still dancing around. Lu Wu began to think about the first NPC's settings.

NPCs are obviously important in a game. Other than affecting the players' experience, an interesting NPC might even get a player fanbase.

This was a challenge to Lu Wu, who had been in this industry for a few years.

In order to design this NPC well, Lu Wu began to study about NPCs, and read about a few NPCs with good reception from gamers. Only after discussing with Bei Li did he start to set up this NPC.

As it was a Default Soul, it was a pure soul. Lu Wu used 100 soul coins to activate it and shaped it into a humanoid.

Instantly, a black-robed, white-haired handsome young man appeared before Lu Wu.

After observing his work carefully, Lu Wu nodded with satisfaction.

A body materialized purely from soul coins was clearly stronger than one from Yin energy. Even as a newborn, its stats were equal to a Level 10 player.

But there was a fly in the ointment. The man's eyes were dull, seemingly soulless.

Thus, Lu Wu used his artifact to implant memories and his duties as an NPC into the depths of the man's soul.

After studying about NPC settings extensively, Lu Wu finally completed the setting of his first NPC. He named him Lu Mo, literally Lu's demon.

In the game's lore, he is the King of Beiqi's adopted son.

For the players, Lu Mo is like the chief of the beginner's village in other games. His role is to enlighten the players on some basic knowledge regarding the Land of Beiqi. Other than that, once they reach Level 20, they can pay 50 soul coins to Lu Mo if they wished to form a guild.

Of course, since Lu Mo is an NPC with a real soul, he has his own independent consciousness. Other than the necessary settings of an NPC, he also has his own hobbies and thoughts.

This would create many uncertainties and thus, increase the playability of the game.

After being sent to the underworld, Lu Mo started wandering around the Mansion of the Dead. Whenever he turned to look at the ruins of the mansion, his face would reveal a sliver of sadness.

After finishing all these matters, Lu Wu opened his notebook filled with his ideas on the back stories.

For now, the gaming experience should be great. But there was a lot to improve on the game's content, such as job skills and NPC development.

Lu Wu even planned that when the player count reached a certain amount, he would release some expansion packs, and several of them are battlefields that would make fighting more interesting.

But these were only ideas floating around in Lu Wu's mind. He had yet to do any real planning.

At the same time, Wu Guoyi, who was having a meeting at Platform173's headquarters, received the trailer sent by Lu Wu.

At first, Wu Guoyi wanted to wait until the meeting was over before he took a look. But when he saw that Lu Wu was the one who sent it, he paused the meeting, and played the video immediately.

When he saw the thousands of Yin soldiers battling the monsters from the skies, the Beiqi flag that stood tall and proud in the wind, and the final sacrifice of the king, he could not help slamming his hand onto the table.

"Excellent!"

Chapter 13: There's Something Missing

Translator: Larbre Studio Editor: Larbre Studio

His subordinates gave him a strange look. Wu Guoyi immediately sent the trailer to the computer in the meeting room.

"Wear your headsets and watch this trailer."

Everybody was confused, but they still took up the VR headsets provided beside every seat.

These headsets were often used in meetings since they usually discussed about the platform, game development, and game testing. So they needed the headsets to try out various games. But this was their first time watching a trailer using the headsets.

When he saw that everyone had their headsets on, Wu Guoyi put on his own, and told his assistant to play the trailer.

At the start, the title 'Battle Online' was golden-lettered, emerging from the darkness slowly.

The darkness was broken apart, revealing the underworld. A gigantic black dragon came down from the skies while leading countless monsters. It roared at the armored man to show its authority in the land.

When thousands of Yin soldiers appeared from the black fog following Lu Wu's cry, they were all excited, looking forward to Lu Wu defeating the giant dragon.

The battle scenes that followed were less of a CG short, and more of an epic war movie. The atmosphere was rendered into the video perfectly.

At the end, when the King of Beiqi turned into a ball of fire and plunged toward the dragon, everyone was held in suspense, as if they themselves were part of the Beiqi Army.

In the finale, the world turned into a sea of fire. Sparks lit the Mansion of the Dead on fire and burned the entire land. All the soldiers bowed down their heads and kneeled on one knee, paying respect to the deceased King of Beiqi. As the image dimmed, the title 'Battle Online' emerged on the screen once again.

"Actual gameplay footage," was what the trailer ended with.

Taking off their headsets, the meeting room turned noisy. Everyone was asking what kind of game was this, and how their graphics could be so amazing.

But many of them doubted if the video was taken from actual gameplay footage because it was way too realistic. There wasn't a single game with this level of quality in the market.

Also, having better graphics on cutscenes or trailers was common practice in the industry.

But undeniably, this trailer had conquered their hearts.

Wu Guoyi smiled mysteriously, "You will know very soon. This game will be on our main page in a few days. You can try it out then. I'm sure you won't be disappointed!"

The meeting continued after that, but on and off they thought about the amazing CG trailer they just watched.

After the meeting ended, Wu Guoyi lit up a cigarette, and furrowed his brows.

Lu Wu had wanted some advice on what to improve in the trailer.

But honestly, he experienced the game first hand, so he knew that the trailer was absolutely actual gameplay footage. So, he was frustrated as he did not know what to comment.

But he still took out his phone and gave Lu Wu a call.

When the call went through, Wu Guoyi answered with a smile, "Hey, I saw your trailer. I can't believe you did it so quickly! Did you actually prepare it beforehand?"

Hearing this, Lu Wu admitted to Wu Guoyi's suspicions, since it was unconvincing if he said he dished out the trailer in a day right after Wu Guoyi suggested it.

"Frankly, I can't believe that nobody knows about your team. Your skills are on top of the world! Can you introduce them to me?"

Lu Wu was in an awkward place. He couldn't tell Wu Guoyi that he had already met the whole team which comprised of him and Bei Li.

So he kind of danced around the topic.

After awhile, Wu Guoyi suddenly said, "Lu Wu, honestly there's nothing wrong with your trailer at all, but you lack one thing besides this."

Lu Wu was stunned. "What is it?" he asked.

"There's no music. The graphics and the battle sound effects were perfect. But there was no music to uplift the atmosphere. If you want to make your game a hit, background music is one of the most important factors. That's what you lack."

Wu Guoyi's precise opinion made Lu Wu realize their problem. A trailer without background music was a huge problem.

Furthermore, this extended to the other theme songs in the game, which Lu Wu hadn't thought about.

Unfortunately, Lu Wu was unfamiliar with music, so he asked for Wu Guoyi's advice.

"Haha, that's easy! To make a theme song, hire a songwriter and lyricist to make a song. Then, get a pop star to be your singer!"

It was simple for Wu Guoyi to make a suggestion, but they would have to incur expenses to hire someone to compose music and write songs for them, not to mention the heavy expenses of inviting a big artist. It was absolutely impossible for Lu Wu to afford the expenses based on his current budget.

Therefore, Lu Wu decided to abandon the plan for the time being. He will consider the theme song when he is flush with cash after the game development grows in magnitude.

Wu Guoyi was very surprised to hear that Lu Wu had no intention to create a theme song and the background music for the trailer's battle scene. However, Lu Wu was doing it for the purpose of giving an honest-to-goodness experience for the players.

Wu Guoyi had nothing much to say about this, he simply thought that Lu Wu had quite a different way of thinking and never would have thought that Lu Wu was simply doing so because he didn't have any money.

After all, in his opinion, although the game development team did not have ample funds in creating a game of such scale, they could not have been short of money to create a theme song.

After hanging up the call, Wu Guoyi logged in to the admin page of Platform173 and went through the fifteen games that were selected and given a score of more than eight by the game evaluators.

Among these, there were three games that had been given a higher score than 9 by the game evaluators.

They were Battle Online – 10, Natural Evolution – 9.2, and The Rise of Protoss – 9.1.

The look on Wu Guoyi's face said he had expected it when he saw that Battle Online was at the top of the rank. All the eight game evaluators had given a perfect score, unanimously believing in the potential of this game.

Since the evaluation was out, Wu Guoyi made the decision right away to let the players vote and rank the Player Killer charts for these fifteen games, starting from tomorrow.

On the first day of the promotion event, they would obviously start with the three games that received the highest score and complete the promotion event of all fifteen games in five days. After that, they would have to wait for half a month for the final evaluation.

Of course, Wu Guoyi had informed Lu Wu in advance about the news, leaving Lu Wu and Bei Li excited. They believed that, based on the quality of the game, they would absolutely gain many die-hard fans.

Meanwhile, in the general headquarters of Tamron Game Studios, downtown Shenkai City.

"Boss, look, the game evaluation on Platform173 is out!" a small man with spectacles said excitedly while looking at the message on the account on Platform173.

"Holy shit, boss, we got a score of 9.2!"

The man who was known as the boss quickly walked over to the monitor upon hearing that, and a grin rose onto his face when he saw the number 9.2.

It had taken them a total of seven years to come out with Natural Evolution. They had invested an enormous effort in the game.

What lay behind the score was their painstaking efforts of working against the clock, day and night.

"It seems like the number one game" the man was just about to say that the number one ranking was in the bag before he realized that there was actually another game above his game.

"Battle Online, a score of 10!" the smile on Li Tianxia's face suddenly froze.

He sent away the employee and sat in front of the computer with an uncertain expression on his face.

Li Tianxia was of the view that the game developed by his game studio would be ranked first for sure. However, there was actually another game that received a perfect score. Li Tianxia was unable to accept this for a while, he even suspected that there was an inside story behind this activity. He could not believe that his game would lose to another!

He opened the homepage of Battle Online to have a look. It further affirmed his speculation that there was an inside dope when he saw the brief introduction of the game that received a perfect score. It was written almost 100% real in the introduction.

He took out his phone immediately, flipped through the contact list and gave Wu Guoyi a call when he found his number.

Ring… ring…

The phone got through after a while.

"Younger Brother Li, we haven't gotten in touch for a long time, how come you have the time to call me today?" Wu Guoyi's joyful smile could be heard from the phone.

"Older Brother Wu, I treat you as my brother and participated in the game evaluation activity that you planned, but you manipulated from behind the scenes instead. You seriously have no regard for me at all!" Li Tianxia said in a low tone while suppressing his anger from bursting out.

Wu Guoyi was stunned at first when he heard about that, then a fire of anger rose inside him. He thought the person in charge of the activity that he planned was manipulating under the table, which was something that he absolutely could not tolerate.

"Tell me what's going on, Younger Brother. I will definitely give you an explanation if there's really something wrong on my side!"

Li Tianxia's anger reduced after Wu Guoyi gave him the promise, he then opened his mouth and said, "You should know that our team spent seven years developing Natural Evolution, right?"

"Of course, how can I not know about the treasured-sword that your Tamron Game Studios have spent seven years to sharpen? I remember that your game was ranked in the top ten game expectations chart last time."

"Since you know about it, can you please explain to me what's the matter with the game, Battle Online!"

Wu Guoyi suddenly came to understand the reason why Li Tianxia called him. He did not know whether to cry or laugh in his mind, "Younger Brother Li is saying that you feel unjust and is not convinced that Battle Online should be ranked first?"

"I would be convinced if the game was well-developed, but the game has a total size of 800 megabytes with an introduction saying that it is almost 100% real, yet you rank it the first and even shamelessly gave it a perfect score. I just want to know how much benefits this game has given to you that you have to promote it in this way. Aren't you afraid that this will ruin the authority of your platform?"

Li Tianxia spat out everything he wanted to say in one breath.

Wu Guoyi burst into loud laughter at this moment, "Younger Brother Li, I finally understand why you're being so angry. Alright, since all the games in the top three will be released to the homepage of the platform for promoting them, why don't you download the game and try? If you're still of the opinion that this game doesn't deserve the score of 10, I'll take it down from the platform myself and put your game as number one. What do you think?"

"I'll leave the discretionary power to you. I'm showing a lot of sincerity, right?" Wu Guoyi smiled and continued saying.

Li Tianxia intended to raise hell to Wu Guoyi at first but was left in confusion, "Older Brother Wu, what exactly do you mean?"

"You won't believe me no matter how much I say. The game will be launched on the platform tomorrow, just give me a reply after you have experienced the game yourself. That's it, I've got something else to do. I will hang up now."

Li Tianxia's eyebrows were frowning after Wu Guoyi hung up the phone.

He could tell from Wu Guoyi's tone that he seemed to have no suspicions about this ranking. Besides, apparently he had a lot of faith in Battle Online that he even told him to experience the game. Li Tianxia was unable to make sense of this situation.

Nonetheless, Li Tianxia did not believe that the game developed by his own team would lose.

He would feel better if he were to lose to The Rise of Protoss made by Devil Wolf Studios. After all, many players were anticipating this game when it was still in the development stage. Besides, the public often compared these two games as they would be launched at the same time to see which game was better.

Li Tianxia was in a complete disbelief as he had lost to a game with an introduction that looked extremely unreal, and that was never heard before. This was mainly owing to the reason that all the games with big productions would have been advertised publicly before launching.

"It's launching tomorrow, right? I would like to see how excellent this game actually is!"

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Chapter 14: The Launch Of The Game

Translator: Larbre Studio Editor: Larbre Studio

This day was undoubtedly a difficult day for Li Tianxia. He was still at the studio even though it was already eleven o'clock at night, smoking while waiting for the online promotion event of the new games on Platform173.

Unlike Li Tianxia, many players on Platform173 were keeping an eye on the changes of the website at the same time.

Two big games would be officially released to the public today, which was a joyous event for the players. They were ready to enter into the games and experience it as soon as the games were released.

But apparently they were only anticipating the two games with good potential, which were Natural Evolution and The Rise of Protoss. They had no feelings toward Battle Online as it was just a random unknown game.

When the sound of the clock striking midnight echoed throughout the city, Li Tianxia and all the hopeful players clicked the button to refresh the webpage.

[First day of the Battle of New Games, today's recommended games are as follows]

Battle Online (10)

Natural Evolution (9.2)

The Rise of Protoss (9.1)

Big red words appeared on the homepage of the website, but everyone was surprised to see the ratings.

In their opinion, this event of the battle of new games is supposed to be the contest between Natural Evolution and The Rise of Protoss, what the hell is this Battle Online that received a perfect score?

Driven by curiosity, they clicked on the game as they wanted to see the brief introduction and evaluation of the game.

100% similar to reality? Is this real?

Everyone was baffled upon seeing the introduction, they quickly scrolled down the page to see the comments of the evaluators on this game.

Seeing these game evaluators were very famous influencers in the gaming community. Their highly complementary remarks had certainly incited the curiosity of the players.

As a result, many players clicked to download the game out of a strong desire to know more about it.

Meanwhile, Li Tianxia was browsing through the comments from the game evaluators right now with an uncertain expression on his face. How could he believe that a game with a total size of 800MB was able to achieve the dreadful 100% real virtual reality? This truly was a complete joke in his eyes.

Then, he chose to download the game. He put on his headset and began his experience in the game.

The CG scene that was implanted at the beginning of the game appeared before him in an instant. Numerous ferocious skulls of monsters could be seen among the swirling clouds in the gloomy sky.

All the players who entered the game were undoubtedly amazed by the realism of the scene.

As the story developed, 10,000 Yin soldiers appeared, their feet stomping in unison. When the players witnessed this, their enthusiasm was ignited.

An epic battle began at this moment.

When the CG ended with the world looking as though it had turned into a sea of fire, the game officially began and the panel to choose their character class appeared before them.

Li Tianxia was just like all the other players, being in a state of astonishment at this point in time.

In the opinion of Li Tianxia, the making of the trailer was more than 800MB! What kind of crazy company is this? How exactly did they manage to compress it to a size of 800MB? This is totally against common sense.

In order to take a closer look at it, Li Tianxia chose to be a Berserker and officially began the game.

After entering the game, he noticed that he was surrounded by a swarm of players who just got into the game as well. Right now, they were standing around and pointing fingers at the Mansion of the Dead that had been burned and fallen into ruin.

"The great King of Beiqi, let me carry on your unfulfilled wish and recreate the glory of your past!" shouted a youth who was standing beside Li Tianxia right now. He was staring at the Mansion of the Dead that had fallen into ruin, his face full of grief and indignation.

"Seven, cut it off, let's go and find the boss quickly. This game is so freaking amazing, I'm afraid that we won't be able to kill and steal later when the number of people increases," the youth with the middle-school syndrome still wanted to express his speech but was pulled away by his teammate. They hurriedly ran out.

Li Tianxia looked around and fell into silence. Now only he understood the reason of Wu Guoyi saying those words back then. Although he was a professional, he still found this game unbelievable.

He would not dare to even think about achieving 100% realism in a game with the current capability of technology.

However, he had to believe it as such a game really existed before him now.

At this moment, Li Tianxia's mentality had changed from feeling unfair to exploring and learning in the game.

Following the instructions of the quest, he followed behind the large number of players and started running toward the direction of the Ghost Mountains according to the map.

However, the popularity of the game was obviously way beyond his imagination. He could not even complete the initial quest of hunting and killing ten Wandering Souls as the place was filled with people roaming around looking for Wandering Souls.

More than a dozen people would surge forward whenever they found a Wandering Soul. Li Tianxia was dumbfounded at the sight of this as he was totally unable to kill or steal anything.

Unlike Wang Damang and his team, many new players were as good as dead when they were facing the Wandering Souls alone. Such a creature like a Wandering Soul was in fact stronger than using Yin energy to cohere into a player. If you did not have a robust physique and were simply fighting hand to hand, even a Berserker who was initially quite powerful, would not be a match for the Wandering Soul.

A ray of white light kept appearing from time to time, indicating that the players were killed by the Wandering Soul and exited the game.

In spite of that, there were still a large number of players entering the game.

Li Tianxia had to find another way to complete the beginner's quest. He broke away from the crowd and walked to the side.

His thought was certainly correct as he found a Wandering Soul that was alone in no time. A feeling of excitement filled his heart, he raised his sword and charged toward the Wandering Soul.

Although Li Tianxia was not as strong as those professional players in terms of combat skills, he was fully able to dodge the attacks from the Wandering Soul as it was not agile enough.

Looking at the Wandering Soul turning more and more transparent and going to disappear soon, a sense of satisfaction rose inside him. He had completely forgotten his true purpose of entering the game.

Just when he wanted to strike heavily with the sword in his hand and reap the life of the Wandering Soul, a silhouette suddenly emerged on the other side and knocked him so brutally that he fell down on the floor. A bloody number of -5 appeared on his head.

Right when Li Tianxia was confused about what actually was going on, another two silhouettes appeared behind him. They took out a dagger at the same time and stabbed him mercilessly in the neck.

-8

-9

[You have been killed by player Ye Xue'er!]

The screen gradually darkened, the dying Wandering Soul was reaped by the sword of a Berserker who knocked him into the air.

The two female assassins turned around and made faces at his dead body.

My kill was stolen! And I'm dead!

Li Tianxia was dumbfounded at this moment.

After logging out of the game, Li Tianxia still remained in a state of disbelief.

I was a victim of a kill and steal, and not only that, I myself was killed in the process?

A gush of rage burst out from the bottom of his heart as he tried to log into the game once more.

[Player, you have died in the game and entered the three-hour respawning period!]

"Damn, the creator of this game must have been insane to make such a setting!" Li Tianxia was dumbfounded.

As he was recollecting his thoughts, he suddenly remembered the reason he played, and how he had gotten himself into the game.

Li Tianxi took a deep breath. He realized that the game itself was quite menacing. It had made an experienced game developer like himself be so caught up in the game without him even realizing it.

He pulled up the main page of Platform173 and pressed on Battle Online once more. This time, he found that several new blurbs of feedback from other players had appeared below the page of the game.

Li Tianxia fell silent as he read the many messages that flooded the page.

He sighed as he moved his mouse to the top right corner of the page, where the voting area was, then placed his vote under Battle Online.

This time he was thoroughly satisfied. Initially, he felt so confident in his game Natural Evolution that he and his team spent so many years creating. But after having a go at Battle Online, it was nothing compared to his own game.

He exited the page twice and returned to the main list, then pulled up the page for Natural Evolution. Li Tianxia realized that just like the previous one, this game was crammed with good reviews at the bottom of the page. However, this was not enough to cheer him up, because deep down he knew that if these loyal players of his ever tried out the game Battle Online, they would immediately pack up and leave without ever looking back.

There was no doubt he was feeling miserable for he had come across an outstanding opponent. Li Tianxia felt his shoulders sink, as if a large boulder of stress was pinning him down, making him feel helpless.

…...

At this moment, Lu Wu and Bei Li's eyes were dead set on the main page of Platform173, their hearts hammering against their chests as they watched the number of votes bounce higher and higher.

Meanwhile, the artifact was sending notifications about players registering into the game relentlessly. As the number of messages were overloading, Lu Wu immediately created a screening system so that only the number of online players were displayed.

Their game had been on Platform173 for less than two hours, but the number of players who logged into the game had reached 30,213, including 29,864 online players. According to the statistics from the artifact, the fraction of offline players were mostly logged out of the game after dying.

In other words, the players who stayed after their first go at the game had terrifyingly reached 100%.

This clearly had caused Lu Wu and Bei Li to weep tears of joy.

Lu Wu could not imagine the terrifying undead army that he was going to have from the hundreds and thousands of people playing his game. When the time comes, he would take back the whole of Beiqi without so much as lifting a finger.

However, his phone started ringing, breaking his train of thought. He picked it up and saw that the number belonged to Wu Guoyi.

"Brother Wu, what's up?" Lu Wu asked curiously.

"My dear brother, you've got to help me this time!"

When he heard such a serious tone coming from him, Lu Wu instantly thought that something must have gone wrong with the game, and so he asked hastily, "What happened?"

"Sigh, I'll only get worked up if I talk about it. At the beginning, there were only a few players around, and I could still freely go online and battle the Wandering Souls. However, there were a whole bunch of players in the game today, and when I was killing a Wandering Soul, someone killed me and stole it, tell me, how can I not be upset about that?"

Upon hearing this, Lu Wu could not help but crack up, and here he was worrying that it was some important matter, but it was only Wu Guoyi being a victim of player killing and stealing, and had even died in the process.

"Brother Wu, what are you trying to say?"

"Soul coins. I need soul coins. Brother, can you please give me some to upgrade my outfit? I'm going to seek vengeance! This isn't hard for you, right!?"

Lu Wu was stunned by his request, he never planned on giving away free soul coins in the game, as the coins benefited him greatly as well. However he owed Wu Guoyi a huge favor for helping him, so he did not have the heart to turn him down, "Brother Wu, to be honest, the development of the game is now on the right track, so the only way soul coins can be harvested is from killing creatures. My hands are tied, and so are my team's. Luckily, before the game was set on this track, I had personally left behind 100 soul coins. I'm giving these to you, but in the future there won't be any more!"

When Wu Guoyi heard this, he agreed without hesitation, and his mood immediately lightened.

"But brother, are you saying that your team is no longer calling the shots after the game is already developing on the right track?"

Chapter 14: The Launch Of The Game

Translator: Larbre Studio Editor: Larbre Studio

This day was undoubtedly a difficult day for Li Tianxia. He was still at the studio even though it was already eleven o'clock at night, smoking while waiting for the online promotion event of the new games on Platform173.

Unlike Li Tianxia, many players on Platform173 were keeping an eye on the changes of the website at the same time.

Two big games would be officially released to the public today, which was a joyous event for the players. They were ready to enter into the games and experience it as soon as the games were released.

But apparently they were only anticipating the two games with good potential, which were Natural Evolution and The Rise of Protoss. They had no feelings toward Battle Online as it was just a random unknown game.

When the sound of the clock striking midnight echoed throughout the city, Li Tianxia and all the hopeful players clicked the button to refresh the webpage.

[First day of the Battle of New Games, today's recommended games are as follows]

Battle Online (10)

Natural Evolution (9.2)

The Rise of Protoss (9.1)

Big red words appeared on the homepage of the website, but everyone was surprised to see the ratings.

In their opinion, this event of the battle of new games is supposed to be the contest between Natural Evolution and The Rise of Protoss, what the hell is this Battle Online that received a perfect score?

Driven by curiosity, they clicked on the game as they wanted to see the brief introduction and evaluation of the game.

100% similar to reality? Is this real?

Everyone was baffled upon seeing the introduction, they quickly scrolled down the page to see the comments of the evaluators on this game.

Seeing these game evaluators were very famous influencers in the gaming community. Their highly complementary remarks had certainly incited the curiosity of the players.

As a result, many players clicked to download the game out of a strong desire to know more about it.

Meanwhile, Li Tianxia was browsing through the comments from the game evaluators right now with an uncertain expression on his face. How could he believe that a game with a total size of 800MB was able to achieve the dreadful 100% real virtual reality? This truly was a complete joke in his eyes.

Then, he chose to download the game. He put on his headset and began his experience in the game.

The CG scene that was implanted at the beginning of the game appeared before him in an instant. Numerous ferocious skulls of monsters could be seen among the swirling clouds in the gloomy sky.

All the players who entered the game were undoubtedly amazed by the realism of the scene.

As the story developed, 10,000 Yin soldiers appeared, their feet stomping in unison. When the players witnessed this, their enthusiasm was ignited.

An epic battle began at this moment.

When the CG ended with the world looking as though it had turned into a sea of fire, the game officially began and the panel to choose their character class appeared before them.

Li Tianxia was just like all the other players, being in a state of astonishment at this point in time.

In the opinion of Li Tianxia, the making of the trailer was more than 800MB! What kind of crazy company is this? How exactly did they manage to compress it to a size of 800MB? This is totally against common sense.

In order to take a closer look at it, Li Tianxia chose to be a Berserker and officially began the game.

After entering the game, he noticed that he was surrounded by a swarm of players who just got into the game as well. Right now, they were standing around and pointing fingers at the Mansion of the Dead that had been burned and fallen into ruin.

"The great King of Beiqi, let me carry on your unfulfilled wish and recreate the glory of your past!" shouted a youth who was standing beside Li Tianxia right now. He was staring at the Mansion of the Dead that had fallen into ruin, his face full of grief and indignation.

"Seven, cut it off, let's go and find the boss quickly. This game is so freaking amazing, I'm afraid that we won't be able to kill and steal later when the number of people increases," the youth with the middle-school syndrome still wanted to express his speech but was pulled away by his teammate. They hurriedly ran out.

Li Tianxia looked around and fell into silence. Now only he understood the reason of Wu Guoyi saying those words back then. Although he was a professional, he still found this game unbelievable.

He would not dare to even think about achieving 100% realism in a game with the current capability of technology.

However, he had to believe it as such a game really existed before him now.

At this moment, Li Tianxia's mentality had changed from feeling unfair to exploring and learning in the game.

Following the instructions of the quest, he followed behind the large number of players and started running toward the direction of the Ghost Mountains according to the map.

However, the popularity of the game was obviously way beyond his imagination. He could not even complete the initial quest of hunting and killing ten Wandering Souls as the place was filled with people roaming around looking for Wandering Souls.

More than a dozen people would surge forward whenever they found a Wandering Soul. Li Tianxia was dumbfounded at the sight of this as he was totally unable to kill or steal anything.

Unlike Wang Damang and his team, many new players were as good as dead when they were facing the Wandering Souls alone. Such a creature like a Wandering Soul was in fact stronger than using Yin energy to cohere into a player. If you did not have a robust physique and were simply fighting hand to hand, even a Berserker who was initially quite powerful, would not be a match for the Wandering Soul.

A ray of white light kept appearing from time to time, indicating that the players were killed by the Wandering Soul and exited the game.

In spite of that, there were still a large number of players entering the game.

Li Tianxia had to find another way to complete the beginner's quest. He broke away from the crowd and walked to the side.

His thought was certainly correct as he found a Wandering Soul that was alone in no time. A feeling of excitement filled his heart, he raised his sword and charged toward the Wandering Soul.

Although Li Tianxia was not as strong as those professional players in terms of combat skills, he was fully able to dodge the attacks from the Wandering Soul as it was not agile enough.

Looking at the Wandering Soul turning more and more transparent and going to disappear soon, a sense of satisfaction rose inside him. He had completely forgotten his true purpose of entering the game.

Just when he wanted to strike heavily with the sword in his hand and reap the life of the Wandering Soul, a silhouette suddenly emerged on the other side and knocked him so brutally that he fell down on the floor. A bloody number of -5 appeared on his head.

Right when Li Tianxia was confused about what actually was going on, another two silhouettes appeared behind him. They took out a dagger at the same time and stabbed him mercilessly in the neck.

-8

-9

[You have been killed by player Ye Xue'er!]

The screen gradually darkened, the dying Wandering Soul was reaped by the sword of a Berserker who knocked him into the air.

The two female assassins turned around and made faces at his dead body.

My kill was stolen! And I'm dead!

Li Tianxia was dumbfounded at this moment.

After logging out of the game, Li Tianxia still remained in a state of disbelief.

I was a victim of a kill and steal, and not only that, I myself was killed in the process?

A gush of rage burst out from the bottom of his heart as he tried to log into the game once more.

[Player, you have died in the game and entered the three-hour respawning period!]

"Damn, the creator of this game must have been insane to make such a setting!" Li Tianxia was dumbfounded.

As he was recollecting his thoughts, he suddenly remembered the reason he played, and how he had gotten himself into the game.

Li Tianxi took a deep breath. He realized that the game itself was quite menacing. It had made an experienced game developer like himself be so caught up in the game without him even realizing it.

He pulled up the main page of Platform173 and pressed on Battle Online once more. This time, he found that several new blurbs of feedback from other players had appeared below the page of the game.

Li Tianxia fell silent as he read the many messages that flooded the page.

He sighed as he moved his mouse to the top right corner of the page, where the voting area was, then placed his vote under Battle Online.

This time he was thoroughly satisfied. Initially, he felt so confident in his game Natural Evolution that he and his team spent so many years creating. But after having a go at Battle Online, it was nothing compared to his own game.

He exited the page twice and returned to the main list, then pulled up the page for Natural Evolution. Li Tianxia realized that just like the previous one, this game was crammed with good reviews at the bottom of the page. However, this was not enough to cheer him up, because deep down he knew that if these loyal players of his ever tried out the game Battle Online, they would immediately pack up and leave without ever looking back.

There was no doubt he was feeling miserable for he had come across an outstanding opponent. Li Tianxia felt his shoulders sink, as if a large boulder of stress was pinning him down, making him feel helpless.

…...

At this moment, Lu Wu and Bei Li's eyes were dead set on the main page of Platform173, their hearts hammering against their chests as they watched the number of votes bounce higher and higher.

Meanwhile, the artifact was sending notifications about players registering into the game relentlessly. As the number of messages were overloading, Lu Wu immediately created a screening system so that only the number of online players were displayed.

Their game had been on Platform173 for less than two hours, but the number of players who logged into the game had reached 30,213, including 29,864 online players. According to the statistics from the artifact, the fraction of offline players were mostly logged out of the game after dying.

In other words, the players who stayed after their first go at the game had terrifyingly reached 100%.

This clearly had caused Lu Wu and Bei Li to weep tears of joy.

Lu Wu could not imagine the terrifying undead army that he was going to have from the hundreds and thousands of people playing his game. When the time comes, he would take back the whole of Beiqi without so much as lifting a finger.

However, his phone started ringing, breaking his train of thought. He picked it up and saw that the number belonged to Wu Guoyi.

"Brother Wu, what's up?" Lu Wu asked curiously.

"My dear brother, you've got to help me this time!"

When he heard such a serious tone coming from him, Lu Wu instantly thought that something must have gone wrong with the game, and so he asked hastily, "What happened?"

"Sigh, I'll only get worked up if I talk about it. At the beginning, there were only a few players around, and I could still freely go online and battle the Wandering Souls. However, there were a whole bunch of players in the game today, and when I was killing a Wandering Soul, someone killed me and stole it, tell me, how can I not be upset about that?"

Upon hearing this, Lu Wu could not help but crack up, and here he was worrying that it was some important matter, but it was only Wu Guoyi being a victim of player killing and stealing, and had even died in the process.

"Brother Wu, what are you trying to say?"

"Soul coins. I need soul coins. Brother, can you please give me some to upgrade my outfit? I'm going to seek vengeance! This isn't hard for you, right!?"

Lu Wu was stunned by his request, he never planned on giving away free soul coins in the game, as the coins benefited him greatly as well. However he owed Wu Guoyi a huge favor for helping him, so he did not have the heart to turn him down, "Brother Wu, to be honest, the development of the game is now on the right track, so the only way soul coins can be harvested is from killing creatures. My hands are tied, and so are my team's. Luckily, before the game was set on this track, I had personally left behind 100 soul coins. I'm giving these to you, but in the future there won't be any more!"

When Wu Guoyi heard this, he agreed without hesitation, and his mood immediately lightened.

"But brother, are you saying that your team is no longer calling the shots after the game is already developing on the right track?"

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Chapter 15: Revenge

Translator: Larbre Studio Editor: Larbre Studio

"That's right, other than the amazing graphics designed by us, the internal programs are left to run by itself, even I myself don't know what's happening there. So brother, be prepared to be blown away!"

When the words settled in, Wu Guoyi took a few steps back and breathed in a mouthful of air, "Brother, when you get the chance, you have to let me meet your team... I'd like to see what kind of mysterious beings they are that they can be so capable!"

Lu Wu hung up after exchanging a few more words. He took a glance at Bei Li, who was nibbling away at her biscuit, then shut his eyes.

When Lu Wu checked his balance once more, there were only about 2,000 soul coins left. He searched for Wu Guoyi's name and after double checking that the details were right, he transferred 100 soul coins to Wu Guoyi's account.

After the three-hour respawning period was over, Wu Guoyi logged into the game once more and was surprised to find an extra 100 soul coins in his backpack. He instantly went to the shop and purchased a blue Python Sword for the price of 100 soul coins.

The faces of the players that were involved in his death still lingered in Wu Guoyi's mind, and his heart filled with hatred at the thought of them. Holding tightly onto his artifact that was emitting a ray of blue light, he rushed toward the direction of the Ghost Mountains once more.

Coincidentally, he bumped into Li Tianxia on the way there, who was also there for retaliation.

After the two started a conversation with each other, both of them found that their murderers were indeed from the same group. And so they teamed up and charged toward the Ghost Mountains, vowing to avenge their deaths.

In order to take revenge, they avoided any direct contact with the Wandering Souls. As they continued their journey, they finally met the three players, two ladies and a man, at the entrance of the Ghost Mountains. They were the gamers who often killed other players and practiced stealing their potential kills.

Li Tianxia was extremely resentful when he saw the three players and intended to confront them directly. However, he was stopped by Wu Guoyi.

"Younger Brother Li, you should not act impulsively. They killed us and stole from us, so now we only have to retaliate. We have the upper hand now as we are currently out of their sights and have the chance to ambush them at the right time!"

Li Tianxia thought that Wu Guoyi's advice made sense. Besides, he reckoned that it would be a better means for payback.

Therefore, the two of them shadowed the three players, occasionally concealing themselves with random objects.

Possessing the blue weaponry and having joined the game two days earlier than the rest of the players, Wu Guoyi's level was considerably ahead of the other players. Hence, he was rather confident in fighting against the three players although he was alone with Li Tianxia.

It was unsurprising that Ye Xue'er and her company did not notice the two indignant men who were stalking them. They were absorbed in player killing and were excited to look for new targets.

It was evident that the number of players was reducing as they were drawing near the Ghost Mountains. However, they encountered two players who were working hand in hand to fight a Warrior of Wreckage. They immediately put on an evil wicked grin as they discreetly approached the two players, planning to kill and steal two players at the crucial moment.

Time quickly went by. When the Warrior of Wreckage was almost dying, Ye Xue'er and her friends were ready to take action.

As always, the Berserker went forward to block the two players while the two female assassins snuck behind their backs, preparing to ambush them.

The trick worked perfectly. The players fixed their eyes on the Warrior of Wreckage and were utterly oblivious to the presence of Ye Xue'er and her company. In a blink of an eye, the two gamers were knocked over. Before they could react, Ye Xue'er and her partner had already aimed at the vital parts of their bodies, struck an attack and killed them mercilessly.

Unfortunately, they did not have sufficient time to celebrate before two Berserkers who were hiding behind a nearby bush, showed themselves, each carrying a big sword in their hands.

Appalled, they stared at the two berserkers who were charging headlong at them and ruthlessly slashed the Berserker of their team.

-18

-7

The points of damage appeared right after the attack. Their Berserker was killed within a second and was now lying on the floor lifelessly.

Seeing that Ye Xue'er and her friend were still in a daze, Wu Guoyi unsparingly cut the Warrior of Wreckage open and took away the creature's experience points. Then, he exchanged gazes with Li Tianxia and charged at Ye Xue'er and her partner.

Apparently, Ye Xue'er did not foresee that she would be ambushed. When she finally recomposed herself, Wu Guoyi and Li Tianxia were already standing right before her.

However, Ye Xue'er was not frightened. She immediately lifted her dagger and stabbed it at Wu Guoyi's neck.

She was staggered to find that Wu Guoyi did not have the intention to dodge her attack at all. Instead, Wu Guoyi quietly suffered the attacks from both Ye Xue'er and her partner simultaneously.

-12

-21

Two damage points popped up in synchrony.

When Wu Guoyi lifted his luminous blue sword that was glowing brightly, Ye Xue'er was thrown into panic. Then, her surroundings slowly turned dim before the death notification eventually appeared.

After he killed Ye Xue'er, Wu Guoyi turned around and joined Li Tianxia to kill the other female assassin. They broke out in laughter as they showed their middle fingers to Ye Xue'er's dead body.

As she continued to watch the scene, Ye Xue'er was so upset that she trembled with rage. She swore to herself that she would definitely give tit for tat.

In a certain mansion that was located at Indigo City, a lady, who was dressed in a long pink dress, sat quietly on the bed. Her long purple hair drooped down elegantly, resembling a beautiful waterfall. She looked extremely ravishing and graceful.

After a brief moment of shock, Ye Xue'er regained her composure. She grit her teeth as her face was painted over with absolute grumpiness.

She lowered her head to look at the virtual reality headset, feeling immensely bitter.

Revenge! I need to take revenge!

Furious, Ye Xue'er took out her mobile phone to dial a number.

Before long, the call was connected.

"Xue'er? How can I help you?"

After a long night of work, Ye Chen sounded rather exhausted.

"Brother, someone bullied your younger sister and they were really awful!" Ye Xue'er threw a fit.

Upon listening to that, Ye Chen was stunned. Quickly, he was blasted by anger. After all, Ye Xue'er was the family's favorite child. The man who tormented her was definitely trying to look for trouble.

"Tell me his name, Xue'er. I'll vanquish him!" Ye Chen said in a menacing yet cold tone.

"He is a strong man. Bring more men over and I'll wait for you at home!"

"Sure. I'll bring my men over. You just wait for my arrival."

Ye Chen hung up before he rudely pushed off the woman who was clutching his arm. She gave Ye Chen a confused stare as he hurriedly put on his clothes.

After he was dressed, Ye Chen took out his mobile phone to contact his friends.

I don't care how strong you are. How dare you bully my sister? I'll make sure you get the comeuppance you deserve.

Enraged, Ye Chen left his house and gathered all his male friends in front of a clubhouse. After a brief discussion, they decided to put on red bandanas on their arms to avoid accidentally injuring their own members. Together, they headed for the mansion.

When they arrived at the mansion, Ye Chen's ferocious look terrified the butler.

Meanwhile, Ye Xue'er was already waiting at the hall of the mansion.

Upon seeing Ye Xue'er, Ye Chen approached her worriedly, "Xue'er, are you alright?"

"No, I'm not. I'm very angry right now!" Ye Xue'er sulked.

"I've brought along my men. Tell me. Who bullied you? We'll finish him!"

Ye Xue'er was astonished when she saw almost a hundred men standing behind Ye Chen with weapons in their hands, "Do we need this many people?"

"You told me that the man was strong. I am afraid that we might not be able to defeat him. Therefore, I summoned more men to send aid."

"You're indeed my good brother!" Ye Xue'er squinted her eyes and put on a grin. Then, she pointed at some metal boxes that were placed nearby and ordered the butler, "Uncle Mu, distribute the items. Each of them gets one of these!"

"Sister, what's this? We are all equipped with our own weapons!" Ye Chen was puzzled.

"The knives are useless. You need this!"

Ye Chen's heart skipped a beat when he heard Ye Xue'er's words, assuming that his younger sister had laid her hands on some restricted firearms. This must be something big, he thought.

However, they were all dumbfounded when they received the virtual reality headsets.

Just like the others, Ye Chen was stupefied. Do we need a virtual reality headset to fight?

"Sister, can you explain the situation to me? What happened?" Ye Chen asked, appearing extremely confused.

"Oh. Two shameless men kill-stole me in the game and killed me. Don't you think that's infuriating?"

"Yes, it is."

"Yes. That's very infuriating! So, are you going to help me?"

Ye Chen was completely flustered. However, he knew no other way to please his willful sister other than pampering her unconditionally.

"What are you waiting for? Get online, choose your character classes and we'll assemble in the game. Then, you should all follow my younger sister to kill the man. You'll be the one to get punished if you fail to take revenge on my sister's behalf!"

Ye Chen glared and yelled at the awkward crowd.

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Chapter 16: Get Rich

Translator: Larbre Studio Editor: Larbre Studio

With the large group of people, they were at an advantage. After Ye Xue'er resurrected her character, the team successfully located Wu Guoyi and Li Tianxia under Ye Xue'er's lead. They surrounded Wu Guoyi and Li Tianxia before they effortlessly killed the two of them.

Naturally, the two big men of the game were upset. They immediately gathered some of their employees and other players who had been killed by Ye Xue'er to form a team in order to counter the attack.

The first ever extensive conflict in Battle Online had begun. Both of the squads continued to grow bigger and stronger, all determined to vanquish their opponents.

The next day, Lu Wu was woken up by Bei Li as she hurriedly dragged him in front of the computer.

"What happened?" Lu Wu, half-awake, asked in confusion as he rubbed his eyes.

"Read the comments in the game!" Bei Li said as she put on a grim expression.

Lu Wu fixed his gaze on the monitor and was baffled to see the swamp of comments. His eyes were wide in shock when he read them.

Ye_Xueer_is_the_cutest: "I'm calling for soul coins and offering 500 for one. Besides, the Association of the Guardian Angels is recruiting!"

Watermelon_Taro: "I need soul coins urgently and will pay for all the soul coins you can offer. All the players who have soul coins please message me privately!"

A_Mammoth (aka Li Tianxia): "Association of the Guardian Angels is rubbish. They kill the innocents. Bar the association! Everyone is welcome to join the Avengers!"

Peppa_Boar: "I'm offering 600 for one to buy all the soul coins. I want to kill all the idiots from the Association of the Guardian Angels."

The comments flooded the entire page while new comments continued to show up.

Other than the fight between Ye Xue'er's Association of the Guardian Angels and Wu Guoyi's Avengers, all the other players were trying to purchase soul coins.

Lu Wu ran through the comments and realized that the price of soul coins had skyrocketed from 100:1 to 1:700 within merely a few hours under Ye Xue'er's influence.

Even with this price, a lot of players who were trying to spend money in-game found no place for them to spend it in.

"We're going to be rich!" Bei Li's eyes were beaming with joy.

At this instant, she was already imagining the unlimited supply of delicious food she was going to have, almost drooling.

Lu Wu was very astonished as well. Based on his knowledge, soul coins were considerably scarce in this game. He did not expect that the morale of the players would be pumped up so significantly.

For the past few days, an innumerable number of gamers had joined this platform. Other than paying the players who had completed their quests, Lu Wu had earned almost ten thousand soul coins for himself. In short, he would be able to obtain seven million in cash if he sold off all his soul coins.

Being overwhelmed with joy, Lu Wu was feeling a little light-headed.

However, when he recomposed himself, he weighed the entire scenario. Eventually, he decided not to put all his soul coins on sale. Although this was going to notably improve the players' abilities, the soul coins were equally useful for him, too.

According to Bei Li, they had to spend at least 50,000 soul coins in order to rebuild Beiqi's Mansion of the Dead. In fact, his soul coins were barely sufficient. However, he reckoned that he would also be able to survive his coming days if he was prudent enough to spend his soul coins wisely.

After he pondered over the situation, Lu Wu decided to trade 500 soul coins in exchange for cash, but definitely not with his official identity.

However, Lu Wu wanted to get a gist of the background story before he put his soul coins on sale.

"It has only been a night since I last checked the game. What actually happened?" Lu Wu asked curiously.

Being someone who forwent her sleep and kept her eyes on the game uninterrupted, Bei Li, the game master, was very familiar with the whole incident.

She giggled and said, "While you were fast asleep, two new forces have risen in the game. One is the Association of Guardian Angels that was founded by Ye Xue'er, while the other was the Avengers under the lead of Wu Guoyi."

"They have declared war because of all the player killings that happened before and have been fighting the whole night. Now, they have finally confronted each other and are determined to find out the final winner. Whenever they meet any player who has formed an alliance with their enemy, they will attack them unsparingly!"

"Due to the heated fight, the soul coins have quickly become important resources because the players need the soul coins to upgrade their skills within a short period of time and I reckon that both the parties are backed by some wealthy men. Subsequently, the battle blew up."

Upon hearing her explanation, Lu Wu was shocked. He did not expect to witness a civil war before the main quest had even started.

However, Lu Wu had no intention to interfere, thinking that the fight might not necessarily be a bad thing. It could actually motivate the players and make the game more intriguing.

"Lu Wu, Lu Wu. Hurry up and think of a way to sell your soul coins!" Bei Li clutched and swung Lu Wu's arm.

"Hmm. But I can't do it with my official identity."

"Then, sell it as a user," Bei Li suggested succinctly.

Lu Wu shared the same thought as Bei Li. After a brief discussion, Lu Wu put on the virtual reality headset, clicked on Battle Online's icon and logged into the game.

Lu Wu chose a mage as his character class.

It was difficult being a mage at the beginning of the game. Other than the Yin energy Bomb, which was just a basic skill, a mage was not equipped with any other damaging skills.

However, Lu Wu understood that this character class had great potential.

Actually, Lu Wu and Bei Li were already working on the skills of the character classes.

But, before they could debut the skills, Lu Wu was required to rebuild Beiqi's Mansion of the Dead. According to Bei Li, in the Sutra depository within the Mansion of the Dead, there were many journals regarding the spells of the underworld and books which discussed the Art of War.

When Beiqi's Mansion of the Dead was restored, he could enter the cultivating technique into the artifact and added another new skill to the shop's skill purchasing column. Then, the players would be able to develop their skills effectively.

The mage, a relatively weak character class, would usually surpass the other character classes toward the end of the game. That was also the reason why a mage always carried better equipment compared to the other character classes.

However, he needed some time to collect 50,000 soul coins. For now, he could only fight through the initial stage of the game with pure force.

After he chose his character class, Lu Wu officially logged into the game as a player in a sackcloth with a black wand in his hand.

He checked his bag and realized that the game master, Bei Li, had granted him 500 soul coins.

Lu Wu threw a quick glimpse at the Mansion of the Dead that had now turned into a ruin before he promptly began his journey to find the important client following Bei Li's orders.

Ye Xue'er was undoubtedly the one who needed the most soul coins at this moment. Therefore, she was naturally Lu Wu's first and foremost targeted client.

Being an authorized user, Lu Wu easily located the blinking purple label on the map.

That was Bei Li's way to guide Lu Wu to Ye Xue'er's live location.

At this instant, Ye Xue'er led the team of hundreds to the entrance of the Ghost Mountains, planning to vanquish all the players of the Avengers.

Lu Wu exited the newbie zone, made sure that he was alone before he summoned a cloud of Yin energy to rapidly send him to Ye Xue'er's current location.

When he was hundreds of meters away from Ye Xue'er, he dismissed the cloud of Yin energy. Not wanting to be conspicuous, he decided to approach Ye Xue'er by foot.

When Lu Wu arrived before the crowd, hundreds of pairs of eyes were fixed on him.

"Boy, are you a member of the Avengers?" a berserker stopped him in his tracks.

"I'm here to find Ye Xue'er. I want to sell her my soul coins!"

"You're looking for me?" Ye Xue'er jumped off the tree and landed right in front of Lu Wu.

Looking at Ye Xue'er, whose equipment was mostly blue, Lu Wu put on a faint grin and said, "I heard that you're interested in buying soul coins. I have some to sell!"

"How much do you have? I want all of them. Quote me a price."

"How about one for 700? I suppose that's the current market rate."

"Fine. How much do you have? I want them all!" Ye Xue'er agreed with completely no contemplation.

"I have 500 of them!" Lu Wu gently smiled.

"What?"

Chapter 17: Sell Soul Coins

Translator: Larbre Studio Editor: Larbre Studio

Ye Xue'er was expecting a few soul coins, but never 500, and thought that she had misheard the man.

"How many soul coins did you say you have?" Ye Xue'er repeated the question in disbelief.

"I have 500 soul coins! I'll sell you all of them if you are capable of paying the cost!" Lu Wu said as he grinned.

Noticing Ye Xue'er's doubtful expression, Lu Wu took a step forward and opened his transaction column. He showed her all the available soul coins before he promptly cancelled the transaction.

"Do you believe me now?"

Looking at the 500 soul coins listed in the balance column, Ye Xue'er was astonished. After all, she had barely earned 60 soul coins from all the fights she went through to beat the creatures. However, this guy, who carried only the basic equipment, actually had an asset of 500 soul coins. It was only natural for her to be shocked.

"Yes, I will buy all of them!" Ye Xue'er said in a firm tone.

"Sure. Let's head to the transaction website. The page is secured."

"That's not necessary. Just give me your account number and I'll transfer it to you immediately."

Lu Wu was astounded by her words as that was not a minor transaction. 500 soul coins were worth 350,000 real dollars.

But, if Ye Xue'er trusted him, Lu Wu was absolutely fine with closing the deal outside the transaction website. Without much hesitation, Lu Wu provided Ye Xue'er with his bank account number.

"Benzi, transfer the money to him!" Ye Xue'er yelled the command at a girl who was standing next to her.

The girl, who was addressed as Benzi, quickly nodded before she vanished into thin air.

A brief moment later, the girl returned. "Xue'er, I've transferred the money to him," she reported.

Ye Xue'er nodded in acknowledgement before she told Lu Wu, "I've transferred the money to you. You can check your bank account!"

Lu Wu shook his head, "If you trust me, I'll trust you, too. I'll give you the soul coins now."

As he finished his words, Lu Wu opened the transaction column and sent 500 soul coins to Ye Xue'er.

Of course, 350,000 dollars was a huge amount and Lu Wu naturally could not blindly trust Ye Xue'er. Bei Li had already informed him about the successful transaction and Lu Wu was only pretending to be unconcerned about the money.

After she collected the soul coins, Ye Xue'er gleefully visited the shop, picked a red superior leather coat and put it on immediately.

In a blink of an eye, a colorful light flashed across Ye Xue'er's body. When she reappeared, she was already wearing the exquisite and elegant gown.

Seeing that Lu Wu was about to leave, Ye Xue'er blocked him with her hand.

"Is there anything else?"

"How did you earn all of those soul coins? Did you complete a hidden quest or something?" Ye Xue'er was dying to know.

"Oh. There's a quest for the soul collectors. While I was loitering around, I was lucky enough to have picked up five default souls and I sold them in the shop."

Initially, Ye Xue'er intended to find out how he activated the hidden quest. But, Lu Wu's answer had certainly caused her to be flustered.

How much luck does one need in order to achieve this?

"I'll take my leave if there's nothing else. I want to take a stroll and try my luck again. Maybe I can pick up a few more default souls."

Once again, Lu Wu's words silenced the crowd.

Followed by Lu Wu's departure, Ye Xue'er turned to ask her members, "Have any of you caught a default soul before?"

They shook their heads.

At this moment, a man ran out of the Ghost Mountains, appearing extremely perturbed.

"Sister Xue'er, our brothers have been ambushed!"

Ye Xue'er straightened her face when she heard the man, "Were they attacked by the Avengers again?"

"No. They were assaulted by the NPC of the game!"

Shocked, Ye Xue'er spoke, "Tell me exactly how it happened!"

"When our team of ten was looking for the players of the Avengers within the Ghost Mountains, we met a troop of ghost soldiers who were riding on wolves. They were all wearing armor while their pupils were filled with fierce burning fire, appearing exceptionally terrifying and menacing. When they met the ten of us, they wanted to know which Ghost General we were working for."

"Then, how did you answer?"

"I said that we were the King of Beiqi's descendants. Then, they began to chase after us and attack us. Before long, all the members of our team were killed. I was the only one who was fortunate enough to have escaped through the underground tunnel."

Upon listening to this, Ye Xue'er was reminded about the story that was introduced during the opening of the game. It seemed like all the Ghost Kings and Ghost Generals who used to be subordinates of the King of Beiqi had begun to rebel against the King of Beiqi.

If that was the case, Ye Xue'er could understand why her peers were attacked when they revealed their identities as the King of Beiqi's descendants.

"Brothers, let's head to the Ghost Mountains and kill the traitors!" Ye Xue'er said in a frigid tone.

Having watched the opening story before, Ye Xue'er bore intense hatred toward the traitors. She understood how the King of Beiqi sacrificed for the billions of creatures living in the Land of Beiqi. However, not only were they not grateful, they actually had the audacity to betray the King of Beiqi. For Ye Xue'er, they were committing an unpardonable felony.

Moreover, Ye Xue'er reckoned that the ghost soldiers could possibly activate some hidden quests.

Then, the horde of hundreds fearlessly marched toward the Ghost Mountains.

After Lu Wu logged out of the game, he quickly checked his phone.

A total amount of 350,000 dollars has been transferred to your account ending with numbers, 6573. Your current balance is 351,236.

"Delicious food… delicious food…" Bei Li's eyes were beaming with joy and excitement.

This was easy money. Looking at the balance of the soul coins that continued to increase, Lu Wu felt gratified.

To celebrate their first paycheck, Lu Wu brought Bei Li to the best hotel in town for an expensive and delicious meal. Besides, he bought a bag of tidbits for Bei Li, the glutton. Bei Li, who was easily pleased, grinned gleefully and her eyes formed crescent shapes.

The sun had set when Lu Wu returned home. He sat down in front of the computer and browsed through the main page of Platform173 to check the status of the poll that was made for the games.

Just as he foresaw, Battle Online was significantly leading the poll. The number of participating players continued to increase and had already surpassed 80,000.

At this moment, Lu Wu's primary concern was to collect the soul coins. He was in a hurry to accumulate 50,000 soul coins in order to unleash all the power of the skills.

Actually, many gamers possessed soul coins. But, he had to figure out how to make these players spend the soul coins.

Lu Wu was undecided, not knowing if he should declare war against the Ghost General of the East. Once there was a war, people would definitely begin to spend a significant amount of soul coins.

After some deliberation, Lu Wu shook his head and decided to give up this idea. Although the number of players had hit 80,000, their ability did not allow them to beat the troop of ten thousand ghost soldiers. Constant loss could deflate the players' morale and ruin their gaming experience.

As he mulled over the situation, an idea hit Li Wu. With the help of the artifact, Lu Wu created a quest for the players with Level 15 and above.

[Reconnaissance Quest: Head to the east of the Mansion of the Dead to check out the Ghost General's territory. The reward will be decided by the total covered area.]

The quest was undeniably challenging as the strongest player was still no match for a normal ghost soldier.

However, the players had an advantage as they were invincible. It was the best means to send the players to ascertain the strength of the ghost armies. Then, Bei Li could scrutinize the players' status and report back to him.

Lu Wu intended to design a stratagem after he got the gist of the whole situation.

An hour after the quest was released, many players were already on their way to the Mansion of the Dead, intending to attempt the quest.

Just when Lu Wu was feeling proud and happy of his decision, a public notification appeared.

[Congratulations to Chen Ziyu for the establishment of the Great Dragon Guild. We are recruiting all talents across the game to build a renowned Beiqi hand-in-hand!]

Lu Wu was greatly surprised by the swift appearance of the first guild. He had never expected that Chen Ziyu, one of the pioneer players, would reach Level 20 so quickly.

So, he shut his eyes and shifted his gaze toward the underworld.

There was a great bunch of players surrounding the Mansion of the Dead in the underworld, and right in the middle of these players, there Chen Ziyu stood proudly beside the NPC, Lu Mo.

Chen Ziyu was full of excitement at that moment. To create the first guild ever, he and his brothers had been training to level up at the Ghost Mountains for days and nights. In the end, they successfully collected 50 soul coins and that was how they got to create the guild.

Right after the guild was activated, there was an additional option for guilds on his function panel. As long as the players were in the same guild, they were able to view the location of other players of the guild. At the same time, the guild chat room was unlocked and this has no doubt helped a lot in their team formation and development.

"Big brother, recruiting anyone?"

"Big brother, please guide me. I have no better skills other than spending money in-game!"

"Permission to join the guild, please accept my request!"

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Chapter 18: Encircle And Suppress The Ghost Army

Translator: Larbre Studio Editor: Larbre Studio

A group of rookies was circling Chen Ziyu, eager to join his guild for protection. Yet, Chen Ziyu smiled as he checked each of the requestor's message and accepted only powerful players with more than Level 10.

After around an hour of reviewing the messages, Chen Ziyu turned his head around to face the NPC, Lu Mo who had a spectacular aura but little expression on his face.

"Big Brother Lu, how much do you know about the Ghost General Cha Na, who forcibly occupied the East Side of Beiqi?"

Hearing the mention of the Ghost General Cha Na from Chen Ziyu, Lu Mo's expression turned vengeful, "My stepfather's cultivation toward Cha Na went to waste. For his own benefits, he chose betrayal! I can't wait to kill him with my own hands!"

As compared to the other NPCs, Chen Ziyu felt that Lu Mo, who often lingered around the Mansion of the Dead, was more like a human with flesh, blood, and feelings.

"Big Brother Lu, we must avenge the betrayal. Do you have more details on the situation at the East Side? I would like to go there and have a look myself!"

Lu Mo deepened his gaze toward Chen Ziyu and sighed, "The Ghost General Cha Na has 100,000 ghost soldiers under his flag. He has great power and has taken over the East Side through the Liuli District of the Acheron Sea. If you were to investigate, please take care of your own safety and don't try to be a hero!"

Chen Ziyu nodded solemnly and immediately sent a voice message to the guild chat, "To all members in the Great Dragon Guild who are above Level 15, please gather at the Mansion of the Dead after dinner. Let's complete the exploration quest together!"

Wang Chao: "For the King of Beiqi's glory!"

...

Seeing the replies in the guild's chat room, Chen Ziyu grinned slightly and went offline. He planned to have a quick dinner so he could arrange the guild formation to prepare for their very first team quest.

After Chen Ziyu left, quite a number of people gathered around Lu Mo.

They were mostly female gamers. As they were totally mesmerized by Lu Mo's handsome look, they could not stop bothering Lu Mo and chatted with him.

For the past few days, Lu Mo had been pretty popular among the vast number of female gamers. Besides, there were memories of the Land of Beiqi implanted into Lu Mo and with these, he had helped a lot of the players with their questions so he could pass as a village head of the newbies village.

To enrich the pleasure of gaming among the players, the second NPC had already been created by Lu Wu.

The name was Mysterious Merchant. The identity setup of this NPC was a lucky merchant who had been wandering around the Land of Beiqi. Any player who found this merchant would be able to purchase rare items that could not be found in any of the shops.

After browsing through the everyday lives of the gamers, Lu Wu shifted the God's Eye toward Ye Xue'er who had bought some soul coins.

As the Ghost Mountains appeared in front of his eyes, Lu Wu's gaze froze.

Because deep in the forest, there was unexpectedly a troop of ghost soldiers who were riding on wolves.

From the looks of these ghost soldiers, Lu Wu remembered the Ghost Wolf Riders from Cha Na's army that was introduced by Bei Li earlier.

At that moment, deep in the woods of the Ghost Mountains, Ye Xue'er and a hundred men were charging toward the Ghost Wolf Riders. However, there was an obvious gap between the power of both parties, so many players were being killed continuously.

Despite that, the players were not backing out. Instead, under the command of Ye Xue'er, the players kept on going forward again and again like maniacs, until they finally dispersed the formation of the Ghost Wolf Riders.

"Kill all these Beiqi betrayers!" along with Ye Xue'er's deafening cries, players from the Guardian Angels charged forward again, surrounding the Ghost Wolf Riders at the center and struck them fiercely.

Finally, amidst the crazy ambush from the players, a few of the Ghost Wolf Riders could not take the attacks anymore and fell from their wolves. All that welcomed these riders then were heartless strikes and thrusts right where they had fallen.

"They are running away. Circle them now, we can't let any of them leave this place!"

Seeing that the Ghost Wolf Riders had already given up on the battle and were trying to leave, the players naturally would not let them go. They should know that many of their brothers had perished just to kill these Ghost Wolf Riders.

There was a lot of hullabaloo as the crowd formed a circle and trapped the Ghost Wolf Riders right on the spot.

Accompanied by the howls of the giant wolves, the players repeatedly pulled back their circle, and the few Ghost Wolf Riders looked terrified.

They could not seem to comprehend the reason why there were so many uncommon ghosts. On top of that, these ghosts had claimed themselves as the King of Beiqi's descendants.

After the death of the King of Beiqi, all the subordinates should have betrayed the clan, but the appearance of these people was extremely weird.

"Not one is to be forgiven! Kill!" with Ye Xue'er's roars, the players speedily pulled back their circle again. The berserkers on the frontline accepted the Ghost Wolf Riders' stabs and strikes with their bodies as they were so eager to cut the betrayers that they did not mind dying from the attacks.

Amidst the madness, the small troop of Ghost Wolf Riders finally fell apart. As the last Ghost Wolf Rider was struck down by Ye Xue'er's attack, the entire troop of Ghost Wolf Rider bit the dust.

The players cheered and Ye Xue'er grinned blissfully.

"Hey, something is coming out from the ghost soldiers!"

At that time, the corpses of the Ghost Wolf Riders were disintegrated by the artifacts and only their armor and weapons were left on the ground.

"Wow, Level 10 White Armor, Level 10 Blue Sword!"

Seeing that the items dropped were artifacts that could be worn, the crowd quickly went into an uproar as everyone tried to squeeze forward to pick up the items.

Yet, Ye Xue'er did not stop them, because she knew that the players deserved it. Besides, she already had a full set of Level 10 Red Armor on, so she couldn't care less for these common items.

After the distribution, Ye Xue'er turned to face the crowd and swung her dagger boldly, "Brothers, you may have your meal now. After dinner, let's depart to Liuli District on the East Side and look for more ghost army betrayers to kill. By then, we will have Blue Weaponry for everyone. As soon as I reach Level 20, I will create a guild. We will be the first guild ever in this game. Are you all confident!"

"Yes!"

Chapter 19: Ghost Wolf Rider Army

Translator: Larbre Studio Editor: Larbre Studio

Around eight at night, Chen Ziyu started to form his troop in the guild's live chat. Soon, there were nearly 200 players whose powers were all Level 15 and above who gathered at the Mansion of the Dead.

"Depart!"

With Chen Ziyu's command, the troop of 200 men marched toward the East Side.

The Liuli District of the East Side was not that far from the Mansion of the Dead. Besides, the gamers' physical fitness had increased, so it was as easy as pie to go on this journey.

Whenever they ran into any Wandering Souls or other living things of the underworld along the way, the team would strike them down with ease. They were advancing zealously, with only one thought in mind and that is to kill the Ghost General Cha Na.

According to the map, the players of the Great Dragon Guild spent half an hour to reach the border between Liuli District and the Mansion of the Dead.

Stepping into the boundary of Liuli, the gamers were astounded by the brighter color of the sky. Just moments ago, the sky was raining blood, but now it was gone. The stones on the ground were colorful and there were white specks shaped like snowflakes in the air. The sight was entirely different from that in the Mansion of the Dead.

Amidst the surprise at the different landscape designs, the gamers began to feel alert.

They knew that this was the domain of the Ghost General Cha Na. Although they were among 200 other men, they were already mentally prepared to die before departing on this exploration journey. Besides, Lu Mo had already warned them about the 10,000 strong vicious ghost army under Cha Na's flag.

"Let's go, and be careful. Notify each other if there are any unusual happenings!"

The troop continued to move along as Chen Ziyu waved his hand in the air.

As they proceeded, the players noticed that the ghosts in Liuli District were all in animal forms and not human forms. Regardless, they were ferocious. They had encountered several wolf packs along the way and it took the players much effort to destroy them.

Another thousand meters into the journey, they marched over a slope, and the players were so absorbed by the scenery. All of a sudden, Chen Ziyu motioned for everyone to keep low.

All that could be seen below the slope was the Ghost Rider Camp.

"Be mindful, don't get caught. The camp is huge!" Chen Ziyu warned in the guild live chat.

Hearing that, the players popped up their heads to observe the situation in the camp.

There were several zombie wolves that had eyes blazing with emerald flames wandering around the campsite and a number of ghost soldiers hustling about, moving something around.

"About 2,000... this should be an outpost. There are too many ghost soldiers, we won't make it. Let's change the direction of attack!"

Seeing the huge number of the ghost army, Chen Ziyu was frightened secretly as he prepared to reroute with his brothers. At the same time, one of the zombie wolves that was nearest to them twitched its nose, sniffed the air, and its blazing eyes turned to stare at the hills where Chen Ziyu and his team were hiding.

"Howl!"

With the cries of the wolves, numerous ghost soldiers lifted their heads and looked toward the direction of Chen Ziyu and his team who were scouting the horizon.

"Stupid dog, howl at your grandfather!"

With their whereabouts exposed, Wang Damang was extremely frustrated by the annoying zombie wolf. So, he picked up a rock, threw it at the zombie wolf and the rock hit right in its face.

Unsatisfied, Wang Damang tried to pick up another rock but was stopped by Chen Ziyu with a tug, "Damang, stop being stubborn. They are coming at us, we should run!"

Wang Damang shifted his gaze and saw that a few of the ghost soldiers had already jumped onto their zombie wolves and started to gather around, obviously preparing to suppress them.

"Brothers, run!" with Chen Ziyu's command, the players quickly turned around and ran for their lives.

Then, the ghost soldiers in the camp gathered together and accompanied by the roars of the Ghost Supreme Commander, they advanced toward the direction of Chen Ziyu and his team.

In terms of speed, the ghost soldiers riding on zombie wolves were obviously faster than the players. With dust flying in the air, the Ghost Wolf Riders were catching up on the players.

Rays of bloodthirstiness were glistening in those eyes which were blazing with emerald flames. As ghosts, they were craving for a massacre.

"Fuck! I'm not running anymore. Let's fight these betrayers to the death!" at that moment, Wang Damang shouted furiously as he turned around and charged toward the Ghost Wolf Riders.

"Yeah, charge!"

"Charge! What is there to be scared of, I'll still be a man after three hours!"

Chen Ziyu knew that they could never outrun the wolves, so with a stern face, he turned to face the Ghost Rider Army, "Brothers, kill!"

With Chen Ziyu's command, the players stopped and together, they turned to face the Ghost Rider Army.

"Charge!"

"Kill!"

The Ghost Wolf Riders appeared shocked by the return of the players. They could not seem to understand why they had not run away. Did they not want their lives anymore?

"Rumble!"

The players went against the Ghost Rider Army directly, and instantly, men and horses fell. Things fell into an uproar.

Combat broke loose instantaneously. They were all players above Level 10, so, when in combat with the Ghost Wolf Riders they still had hopes in winning, but their number was at a disadvantage. A huge number of players were killed amongst the tumult.

Nevertheless, the viciousness of the players surprised the Ghost Wolf Riders. They could not understand the craziness of these living things. Their fighting styles were regardless of their own lives. They did not even bother to defend but repeatedly went against them.

Chen Ziyu's eyes turned red from seeing the continuously falling comrades. He shifted his body and locked target on a Ghost Wolf Rider. With a step forward, he cut fiercely at the rider's skull with his giant sword.

...

Not far from the combat, Ye Xue'er was staring into the turmoil with questions in her eyes, "What's happening there?"

"Sister Xue'er, it seems like a fight has broken loose!"

Ye Xue'er became curious after hearing that, so with a swing of her arm, her troop increased their paces forward.

When they finally got a clear view of the two parties who were fighting, Ye Xue'er's expression deepened.

"Sister Xue'er, it's a combat between players and the ghost army. We need to help!"

"Nonsense, brothers, charge and kill all the Beiqi betrayers!"

Following the pace of Ye Xue'er, her troop of a few hundred men charged toward the scene of combat fiercely.

"Big boss, there's backup!"

Chen Ziyu turned his head around after hearing the news, and abruptly saw the approaching Ye Xue'er and her men.

"Brothers, thanks for the help!" Chen Ziyu shouted as he struck a Ghost Wolf Rider to the ground.

"You're welcome!" Ye Xue'er answered him with a shout and with a swift duck to the side, she rushed toward the Ghost Rider Camp.

The reinforcement of the hundred men troop did reduce the pressure on the Great Dragon Guild, but the power of the Ghost Wolf Riders was indeed very strong. So anyhow, they were still at a disadvantage.

As they were being forced into a corner, another troop advanced from the side and knocked into the Ghost Wolf Rider's belly side vigorously.

"The Avengers troop has arrived to assist. Brothers, let us kill!" along with the roar of Wu Guoyi, another troop of a hundred men appeared and joined the fight.

The battle of four forces instantly caused a clamor at the scene.

Wu Guoyi, who was in the middle of a battle, coincidentally bumped into Ye Xue'er who was striking a Ghost Wolf Rider.

"Kill the enemy first, we'll deal with our revenge later!" Wu Guoyi spoke.

"Agreed!" Ye Xue'er answered coldly.

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Chapter 20: The Anger Of The Players

Translator: Larbre Studio Editor: Larbre Studio

Faced with the vicious Ghost Wolf Riders, the players had momentarily put away any personal grudges against one another as they formed an unprecedented team.

They showed no sign of fear, even though their numbers could barely compare with the Ghost Wolf Riders.

Accompanied by their battle cries, the players lunged at the Ghost Wolf Riders once again.

"Annihilate the traitors of Beiqi even if it means sacrificing our own lives! This is for our honorable deaths!"

Ye Xue'er's gaze was fixated on the Ghost Supreme Commander at a distance ahead. Clad in heavy armor, he was riding on a Fire Demon steed. With a swift leap, Ye Xue'er launched an attack towards it.

As he saw the oncoming attack from Ye Xue'er, the Ghost Supreme Commander revealed a look of disdain as he reached behind his back and wrapped his hand around a gigantic sword.

"Die!"

Just as Ye Xue'er's silhouette burst out before the enemy, the sword slashed out abruptly with an eruptive energy, striking her head-on. The visuals before her eyes slowly begun to fade into darkness.

[You have been killed by the Ghost Supreme Commander, three hours of cooldown to respawn!]

"Xue'er!"

Ye Chen, who was greatly surrounded at that time, was enraged when he saw that his younger sister had been killed. He bellowed in anger as he dashed toward the Ghost Supreme Commander.

Having seen Ye Chen charging down the lines of enemies, his comrades had also advanced forth to assist him in slaying the enemies before them.

"To bring down the enemy troops, we must first eliminate their commander! My brothers, do not fear death, we're bringing the Ghost Supreme Commander down with us!" aware of the situation, Chen Ziyu let out a roar too as his team immediately swerved to follow Ye Chen's charge toward the Ghost Supreme Commander with murderous intent.

Right when they were rushing like madmen in the direction of the Ghost Supreme Commander to secure a kill, the three forces reached a consensus, that even should they die they will bring down one of the commanders of the ghost clan with them.

Upon their clash of confrontation, many players who did not purchase weapons from the shop had their starter weapons shatter from being overused. However, they maintained their composure by continuing the fight using rocks picked up from the ground, or even with only bare hands.

The Ghost Wolf Riders were stunned by their crazed battle stance, of all the battles that they have fought, this was the first time they met such a deranged bunch.

Along the countless deaths of many players, the Ghost Wolf Riders were losing many of their fighters as well.

The battle grew fiercer as it persisted, even the Ghost Supreme Commander had no room to let down his guard.

Eventually, with the players hacking persistently at the enemy lines, a path leading toward the Ghost Supreme Commander had been cleared out.

Although the players were surging towards him, the Ghost Supreme Commander was unfazed. Instead, he brandished his sword and slashed forward forcefully. In a sweeping flash of the dark blade, the players were wiped out.

"How powerful!"

Chen Ziyu's face darkened when he saw the capabilities of the Ghost Supreme Commander.

"Take him down in numbers, forget the other Ghost Wolf Riders, just kill the commander!" Wu Guoyi roared as he led a charge toward the Ghost Supreme Commander.

Faced with the onslaught of hundreds of players, the Ghost Supreme Commander's green irises constricted as his pupils narrowed. It was followed by multiple forward slashes of his sword which had once again decimated the advancing players.

Yet again, the players could not be scared away as they continued pouncing toward the Ghost Supreme Commander in a clamor of angry shouts.

Under such circumstances, the Ghost Supreme Commander finally could not hold out against the players' extreme close-quarter combat and was surrounded in the middle.

A clattering frenzy of attacks were launched against him. Even players who had lost their weapons were attempting to clamber on top of the demon steed to bite at the Ghost Supreme Commander.

Though the players' attacks were violent, they were still facing off a Boss Level creature whose strength and capabilities far surpassed theirs. As anger boiled in the eyes of the Ghost Supreme Commander, a green glow appeared, encircling his body.

"Roar!"

Following the Ghost Supreme Commander's furious roar, the green light diffused in a sudden eruption and the surrounding players were completely blasted away.

At this moment, the Ghost Supreme Commander had gone insane. His sword was raised before the blade lashed out, killing all the players around him. At the same time, his demon steed had reared up only to stomp down with such force that shook the ground, knocking most of the players off balance before they fell to the ground.

The Ghost Wolf Riders around them had also taken this opportunity to break into the players' lines, killing the players as they went.

Because of that, many players died and went into respawn cooldown.

When there was only one player left, the Ghost Supreme Commander gave a wave of his hand which immediately halted the attacking Ghost Wolf Rider Army.

As he rode atop his demon steed, the Ghost Supreme Commander stared down at Wang Damang, his tall figure looming over the last remaining player.

"Tell me why did you guys come here!"

"Say, big guy, did you think that I would be afraid of a bunch of traitors like you?" Wang Damang kicked the front leg of the demon steed but ended up staggering backwards.

"I can spare you, if you tell me the reason you guys came here!" the Ghost Supreme Commander stared at Wang Damang coldly as he questioned again.

"I am a descendant of the King of Beiqi. As for our reason for coming here, it's obvious that we've come for your damned head!"

Wang Damang's reply made the Ghost Supreme Commander glower icily, "The King of Beiqi is dead, how would he have any descendants, you dare lie to me!"

After hearing those words, Wang Damang saw no point in saying anything else. He took a step forward and without warning, he leapt upwards, a dagger in his hands as he attempted to maim the Ghost Supreme Commander's head with all his might.

Clang!

His attack struck the Ghost Supreme Commander's helmet, to which the commander was not affected in any way and had merely tilted his head.

Reflected in Wang Damang's widened eyes, the Ghost Supreme Commander reached his right hand outwards with a powerful sweep and caught Wang Damang mid-air by his neck.

"Last chance!"

"You think I'm scared? I'll be good as new in three hours," Wang Damang struggled to lift his dangling legs and aimed a kick at the Ghost Supreme Commander's chest.

Crack!

The Ghost Supreme Commander did not give anymore chances. He swiftly wrung the boy's neck until it snapped.

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Chapter 21: Idea For The Ideal Game

Translator: Larbre Studio Editor: Larbre Studio

Lu Wu, who had been spectating for the entire duration of the battle, quit the God's Eye view when he saw that Wang Damang had died.

From this battle, Lu Wu realized that he had underestimated the power that Cha Na, the Ghost General, was capable of.

This was just a Ghost Supreme Commander but even the strongest group of players on his side had no chance of retaliating. Which meant that if it was the strongest Ghost General, Cha Na himself, he could probably annihilate all the players on his own.

Seems like the players will require further development. For now, conquering Eastern Liuli is out of the question.

After some thought, Lu Wu opened the gaming website of Platform173 and clicked in to Battle Online's discussion area.

Peppa_Boar: "I'm freaking pissed, this Ghost Supreme Commander is way too tanky, even a few hundred players couldn't take him down. I can't accept this, our Great Dragon Guild will continue recruiting members while we prepare for revenge in a few days!"

Strike_Gold: "The Great Dragon Guild is recruiting members, our guild has discovered the ghost clan traitors and we need more fighters."

Ye_Xue'er_is_the_cutest: "Guardian Angels are recruiting members, we vow to kill the traitors of Beiqi. Our guild will reward capable players by assisting players with their equipment."

Finding_Light: "This battle was intense, I could feel my fighting spirit burning. Does anyone have any spare soul coins? Buying at a high price, time to spend cash."

Invincible_Loneliness: "Buying soul coins at 1:800, don't hide them, highest price in history, no limit."

Crayon_Shinchan: "Cool! At least I've touched the Ghost Supreme Commander's damn head, I'm feeling ecstatic."

At the end of the battle, the players who went into respawn cooldown were spamming the discussion area like mad.

Not only were the prices of soul coins soaring, the big three guilds have also started to recruit strong players.

Many players who were clueless about the battle had also taken to the discussion area to enquire about the details of the fight. The number of comments were flooding the screen at a rate of hundreds of comments per second.

It was supposed to be an exploration quest, but the Big Three Guilds had forced it into a head-on battle.

From the fight, many players came to the realization of just how strong the Ghost General Cha Na's powers were. Having that experience, the players were more united in joining forces, even player killer fights in the wild had reduced.

The reason was simple. The leaders of the three biggest guilds, which currently consisted of the strongest players, had had a discussion.

The battle had undoubtedly left them reeling, therefore, they had decided to temporarily put aside competing against one another. Instead, they were resolved to join forces in order to destroy the Ghost Camp situated at the forefront of Liuli District.

The peaceful development around the Ghost Mountains had led to overcrowding since huge amounts of players gathered there to hunt and advance their skills.

Luckily, the Ghost Mountains had a unique map where ghost-type creatures would keep respawning as the game refreshes, allowing players to kill monsters non-stop.

Going deeper into the Ghost Mountains, stronger creatures would appear, such as vengeful spirits, evil spirits and white-haired zombies. It was extremely challenging for the players, though it could be said that they were suffering happily.

Simultaneously, the rise of Battle Online had attracted plenty of gold farmers.

Especially with soul coins having a rate of 1:800, it was exceptionally tempting.

However, what boggled the minds of these gold farmers was how the game could not be opened in multiple windows. In fact, it was impossible to lend an account to another player. No matter what kind of tricks they had up their sleeves, they could not crack this game.

Lu Wu had even noticed that some businessmen in the black market of online games were offering premium prices for a type of crack tool in hopes of running multiple accounts in Battle Online.

Countless cyber hackers had also tried their hands, but to no avail. The game remained with having zero cheats and zero trade bots. Such outstanding results further boosted the game's popularity.

Lu Wu had full confidence about this matter, for Battle Online accounts were verified through soul-binding, so it was impossible to cheat unless the player had two souls.

At the same time, Lu Wu and Bei Li took in the suggestions by the players in the discussion area and went down into the underworld once more.

With the help of his multi-talented assistant, Bei Li, the headset was paired with the server. Thus, the issue where players found it difficult to record videos in-game was solved.

The introduction of this feature also helped in publicizing the game. By enabling players to post their videos on various streaming platforms, the game had gained more publicity.

The numbers of players had increased rapidly, hitting the 150,000 mark. Because of that, there were also more technical players.

There were three technical players in the forum who had caught Lu Wu's attention, one of them was a player by the name of Na Lanlan who drew a map of the Ghost Mountains, depicting the monsters in different regions of the mountain and their weaknesses.

The image had solved the troubles faced by many newbies in the game.

Another player called Dwarf_King had also used the newly introduced feature of video recording to upload clips of the maps which he had scouted and explored onto the forum dedicated for Battle Online in the gaming website, Platform173.

Inside the Dwarf_King's maps, the map fog which shrouded the nearby zones around the Mansion of the Dead was absent. Instead, there were four zones of wilderness, consisting of the Ghost Mountains where all the players were already familiar with, Langya Scorched Earth Zone which was at the West, and further in front were the Cliffs of Desperation as well as the Death Forest.

Dwarf_King's post had topped the discussion area of Battle Online for quite awhile. It garnered the attention of many players while stirring up their spirits to become stronger in the game.

The final player went by the name of One_Punch_One_Kick. According to him, he was a fireman who had lost an arm and a leg during a fire rescue mission. He was devastated as the unfortunate event affected him greatly, to the point where he attempted to commit suicide.

When he accidentally stumbled across Battle Online, he was moved to tears upon experiencing the game. The realistic sensation made him think that his arm and his leg were back, which greatly astonished him. It was the first time since he lost his limbs that he was able to feel their existence again.

At the end of the post, One_Punch_One_Kick gave his sincere thanks to the game developers of Battle Online.

His post moved the hearts of many players, but at the same time made people realize that Battle Online was freakishly realistic. It could even make a crippled person experience what it was like to feel their limbs again.

Not only were players comforting the original poster, One_Punch_One_Kick, there were also players who expressed their gratitude because they too have found solace among people who had experienced similar misfortune. They found a place where they could be complete.

Once again, Battle Online had gained even more fans.

A lot of players had also requested in the forum for a top-up feature. They were hoping for the operators of Battle Online to quickly launch the top-up portal to enhance their gaming experience.

Moreover, Wu Guoyi had personally called in to enquire about this very matter.

There was nothing Lu Wu could do about it, his soul coins were barely enough to construct the Mansion of the Dead. If he launched the top-up portal, no doubt all 20,000 soul coins in his possession would be gone in a matter of seconds.

For that reason, Lu Wu could only make up excuses such as keeping the game free-to-play would be better for the ongoing development of the game and there would be lesser differences in terms of strength between the players.

Lu Wu was starting to feel the pressure from Battle Online's rising popularity.

Right now, the gaming experience might be flawless but the content was not enriching. He would need to quickly design more ways for an interesting gameplay.

After going through the suggestions of players, Lu Wu felt that he was a step closer to his ideals for Battle Online.

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Chapter 22: Killing Action

Translator: Larbre Studio Editor: Larbre Studio

Firstly, this game style did not need to be a fighting game, it could be freestyle or a relaxing kind of game.

For instance, if they could take back Liuli District from Cha Na in the future, then players who enjoy fishing could totally fish in the Underworld Sea by Liuli District.

As claimed by Bei Li, the Underworld Sea was filled with plenty of rare fish, some with the ability to enhance players' Soul Strength.

Aside from selling it at the shop, players could consume it to enhance their strength.

Additionally, at the bottom of the Cliffs of Desperation laid a zone of murky land, which was currently the territory of the Rock Ghost King. That place would be great for cultivating new creatures.

Should they conquer that zone, it could unlock the ability for players to rear pets which they can even train to assist in battle.

As long as players could imagine creative ways to play the game, it could be said that there were endless possibilities in this underworld realm, making the gameplay so much more fun.

At the border of Liuli District and the Mansion of the Dead.

The Ghost Supreme Commander was looking coldly at those provoking players who were not far away.

He was unsure of the reason for the presence of all these weird creatures who called themselves the descendants of the King of Beiqi here at the Mansion of the Dead. Despite that, he was shocked when he saw many among them whom he had killed before.

Recently, his camp was disturbed by them numerous times already.

All these so-called players chose not to encounter him face-to-face anymore ever since the last battle, instead they had formed small teams and started their continuous provocations around the camp.

He initially thought that these weak existences would be terrified by a few massacres, but the fact was indeed the opposite, the disturbances were becoming worse and this had irritated the Ghost Supreme Commander. So he decided to bring along all of his subordinates to the Mansion of the Dead this time to identify the real situation.

But just as the armies crossed the border line, the sky turned dark all of a sudden, reminding Ghost Supreme Commander of the great king who was very powerful here in Beiqi, his heart then trembled involuntarily.

"Kill them all!"

The Ghost Supreme Commander suppressed his inner fear at once, he then said while raising his sword and pointed at the players far away.

The whole regiment of Ghost Wolf Riders immediately dashed toward the provoking players with their weapons.

"Your idea really works. These traitors really can't stand it anymore and are coming over here!"

Ye Xue'er said in disbelief after catching a glimpse at Wu Guoyi who was also observing the situation beside her.

"Of course, have you ever heard of the saying, 'the older the wiser'? Now, keep leading them in deeper, I've already asked someone to disseminate about this on the forum. By then, we'll have millions of players, so we don't have to be afraid of these few thousand ghost clan scraps," said Wu Guoyi proudly.

Meanwhile, Lu Wu was also paying attention to this annihilation war which was initiated by the players.

Three hours ago, the three biggest guilds had come to a consensus with numerous groups of players in the forum on annihilating the Ghost Supreme Commander.

This post of the annihilation action had been pinned on top of the forum, receiving a great number of followers among the players.

Maybe even Wu Guoyi, the initiator of this war was not expecting things to go so smoothly as well. The Ghost Supreme Commander was really leading his men to annihilate them.

Those groups which were sent for the purpose of provocation were caught and wiped out by the army of the Ghost Supreme Commander very quickly, without any chance to resist.

While looking at the Mansion of the Dead which covered with heavy dark clouds miles away, the Ghost Supreme Commander swung his sword while leading his army forward.

"Let's go towards Beiqi's Mansion of the Dead!"

There was sand and dust everywhere at once as thousands of huge wolves carrying the ghost soldiers ran toward the deserted Mansion of the Dead.

The Ghost Rider Army kept bumping into players who were alone by themselves and killed them without hesitation. This further motivated the Ghost Rider Army, making them think that although there were a lot of players, they were all weak and fragile.

But when the Ghost Rider Army reached the Mansion of the Dead, they were startled.

All they could see was a myriad of players who were staring at them around the Mansion of the Dead.

"What actually is this? Why are there so many!?"

The Ghost Supreme Commander was very familiar with this area, but since he was away for a few months, he was not aware of the presence of all the new creatures here.

"Retreat!"

The Ghost Supreme Commander could feel the numbness on his scalp while he was facing such a huge group of players. He was not going to continue to fight because even if he won, the price would be very high.

However, those players were already prepared for this, so there was no way that they would let him and his army escape. Once again, they gathered one by one quickly and formed a human barrier behind them.

This very scene was being live-streamed through a virtual helmet of a player onto the forum, letting those who were sacrificed watch this together. Many people were following closely to this counterattacking war.

Peppa_Boar: "Sad day, this is actually worth my life. Let's kill all the traitors, go!"

Invincible_Loneliness: "Offering a reward of a million to those players who manages to kill the ghost clan scraps, you can do it!"

Numerous players were commenting on the live stream, the war was on the verge of breaking out as well.

The Ghost Supreme Commander was really shocked this time, he could only choose to retreat while encountering such large numbers of players, but he never expected that he was not allowed to do so.

In order to stay alive, the Ghost Supreme Commander suddenly waved his hand and his army turned around immediately, killing the players behind them.

"Stop them! Let's kill them! Don't be afraid to die," one of the players shouted with rage.

At the very moment, the armies of players dashed towards the Ghost Supreme Commander from all directions.

Although most of their levels were rather low and some would be eliminated even with just one attack, this had motivated the fighting wills of the players, they attacked insanely as if they were committing suicide, splitting the whole Ghost Rider Army in a blink of an eye.

It was not that scary for one to go against ten, but it was indeed scary for one to fight against tens or hundreds.

The players had no particular formation of fighting, no commander, and no tactics. All they had was reckless abandon, they kept attacking just because they had an advantage on head counts.

As for the ghost clan creatures, although they were bloodthirsty and brutal, they were also afraid of being dead once again, but the players were not.

Death was normal to the players, despite the fact that it was just a three hour cooldown time, they were not afraid of death at all, they really could sacrifice their lives for good.

The players who were watching this on the live stream of the forum were very excited.

"Kick his crotch! Yes! That's it!"

"Dude, on your left, left hand side, aargh, not listening to me, no wonder you died!"

A bunch of netizens were commenting outside the fight.

There were players who died and joined the forum from time to time, it was bustling both inside and outside the game.

Contradicting to the players, the Ghost Supreme Commander looked gloomy right then, although every time when he waved his sword he would kill a bunch of players, there were too many of them, too many that even the Ghost Supreme Commander felt it was hard to handle.

It was then that the steed of the Ghost Supreme Commander almost shook him off all of a sudden. He looked back immediately and noticed that a person was stabbing the demonic foal's hindquarters with a big sword.

Off the game:

"Hahaha, great, a fatal attack, perfect!"

"I remember that this dude is the big boss of the Great Dragon Guild, his name is Chen Ziyu, he is really good!"

The Ghost Supreme Commander was so furious as if there were fire burning in his eyes when he felt the tremble of his demonic foal. He suddenly waved his sword backwards, trying to kill Chen Ziyu.

Suddenly, a figure dashed out from the side, pushing Chen Ziyu away while enduring this fatal attack by himself.

"Boss, take revenge for me!" the one who blocked the bullet shouted at Chen Ziyu before his screen blacked out.

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Chapter 23: The Scene Of The Explosion Of Equipment

Translator: Larbre Studio Editor: Larbre Studio

Although it was just a game, there was still real comradery. Looking at the one who died under the sword for him, Chen Ziyu mourned for half a second before he attacked the other ghost soldier.

This was common in the battlefield.

Meanwhile, Li Tianxia, who was fighting together with Wu Guoyi, was grabbing tight onto one Ghost Wolf Rider while shouting to Wu Guoyi,

"Brother, I've got him, kill him fast!"

Wu Guoyi was stunned for a few seconds, then he quickly killed the Ghost Wolf Rider with his sword.

While helping Li Tianxia up, Wu Guoyi patted his shoulder, "Brother, your fighting spirit must be the most reckless here in this ancient era!"

Li Tianxia rolled his eyes, "Brother Wu, stop teasing me and keep killing, we shouldn't let them get away!"

The two then continued to kill more Ghost Wolf Riders.

The players were happily killing while more and more of the Ghost Rider Army died, making them harder to resist.

Feeling no hope of getting through, the Ghost Supreme Commander howled furiously. He then jumped down from his demonic horse, swayed the sword in his hand aggressively and a path appeared before him.

However, before he took his step forward, the path was blocked by the players once again, making the Ghost Supreme Commander unable to move. It was impossible for him to escape.

It was then that a figure suddenly appeared from the side, a blue spark shone as a blue sword cut through the back of the Ghost Supreme Commander.

"Ha!"

While the Ghost Supreme Commander turned around, the aura around him expanded, throwing the sword on his back out.

After he turned and saw the person who attacked him, the Ghost Supervisor's pupil constricted, "You!"

Wang Damang widened his mouth with a smile, "That's right, it's me!"

"How is this possible, you're supposed to be dead. I killed you myself…"

The Ghost Supreme Commander saw the familiar face earlier already. At first, he thought these creatures had similar faces, but he knew he was wrong when he saw Wang Damang.

The Ghost Supreme Commander felt grave terror all of a sudden, he would never believe that such strange things could happen. Is it true that these creatures cannot be killed? They can even revive themselves.

When the Ghost Supreme Commander showed a sense of fear, all the netizens sneered at once:

"Hahaha, this is the end for the Ghost Supreme Commander, you should tremble as much as you can under the vicious power of the players!"

"[Facepalm] Under the respawning and plugins of the vicious power of the players, the Ghost Supreme Commander is finally in despair!"

"This is so funny, the facial expression of this NPC makes me feel so good, I've taken a screenshot of it; preparing to make it into a meme."

"To the brother above, remember to send me one when you're done!"

...

Confronting the Ghost Supreme Commander who was terrified, Wang Damang was ready to attack with his dagger.

"Just bring it on! I'm not afraid of death, at worst I'll have to wait for three hours to respawn, if you're so great, why don't you respawn, too?"

"Go to hell!" the Ghost Supreme Commander's face darkened as he could not bear with the sneering and swung his sword towards Wang Damang.

The furious attack by the Ghost Supreme Commander killed Wang Damang at once, leaving a deep pit on the ground at the same time.

Wang Damang's death did not affect the players from feeling high. Once again they had surrounded the Ghost Supreme Commander and started to attack in groups as if they were the suicide squad.

The Ghost Supreme Commander could finally feel the horror from the vicious power of the players.

After some time, the Ghost Supreme Commander started to gasp for air, his speed of swinging his sword was decreasing as well.

His determination to fight was becoming lower, he felt helpless thinking of these creatures who called themselves players and could not be killed for real.

The players were becoming increasingly insane when they saw that the Ghost Supreme Commander was going to be defeated soon. All of them started to pounce on him.

"First kill is mine, don't try to get it!"

"Stop pushing me, at least let me chop once so that I can get some experience points!"

"I feel like this big boss is going to give out high level red equipment, or something even better, shit, whoever gets it will be rich, get out of my way!"

All the players knew very well about the price of soul coins and the value of red ranked equipment. Lots of rich players who spent money in the game would be scrambling to get one, it was easy to get a few million from it.

Thinking of this, all the players had gone mad completely and squeezed beside the Ghost Supreme Commander, trying to touch his body after he was dead.

After the Ghost Rider Army was annihilated, the Ghost Supreme Commander was getting all the attention, which made his resistance more and more useless. The armor he was wearing was starting to crack, too, as it was being hit on continuously.

"Aargh! Get out of my way!"

Before he lost all his strength, a green aura sparked from the Ghost Supreme Commander's body once again, sending away the players around him.

"How dare you're still fighting back, just explode!"

"Deathbed struggles, just explode quickly!"

Within a second, the players surrounded him again, followed by countless attacks.

Under such constantly insane attacks, the fire in the eyes of the Ghost Supreme Commander started to shrink before it finally went out.

The moment the Ghost Supreme Commander died, tens of players around him leveled up at the same time. Meanwhile, the power of battle artifacts was switched on, breaking down the body of the Ghost Supreme Commander and three items appeared on the ground.

[Ghost Supreme Dawn Blade (red): the Ghost Supreme Commander's weapon]

Attributes: Increase Strength by 18 points

Weapon skills: Wind blade (triggered every hour, doubling the damage for long range skills)

Equipment requirements: Warrior character class, Level 30 or above

[Ghost Supreme Body Armour (red, broken)]

Attributes: Increase Defense by 15 points (broken, so the effect is halved)

Equipment skills: Defense aura (broken, cannot be released)

Equipment requirements: Any character class, Level 25 or above

[Magic – Number One Rune: One of the accessories of the Netherworld Rune Device set, can be sold in the shop for 500 soul coins]

The battle artifacts had analyzed the attributes and value of the three items.

Looking at all three items, the gaze of the surrounding players was full of excitement.

...

In the bedroom, Bei Li who had just finished watching this battle with Lu Wu stood up suddenly when she saw the Ghost Supreme Commander give out a blue rune fragment. She looked surprised.

"What happened?" Lu Wu asked.

"Earlier, you said that you want to set a few hidden jobs, right? I think now's the chance!"

"Huh?" Lu Wu was puzzled as he looked at Bei Li who was overexcited.

"This magic charm was used by the former top magic caster of Beiqi, Yin Jiumo, to produce the materials for special warriors. If we can get this thing, I'm positive that I can help you create the upgrading plan for a new set of rune warriors!"

"How is this thing so powerful?" Lu Wu was astonished.

"Of course, the idea of rune warriors have already been in my mind for a while now. Unfortunately, all this time I didn't have the real thing to examine. So once we get this thing, I promise I can create a way to transfer a player's job to a warrior!"

Hearing this, Lu Wu was interested as well, "Tell me about the details of this plan of yours."

Bei Li nodded, "Rune warriors were the system's name for a kind of special warriors created by Yin Jiumo, the top spellcaster of Beiqi. His process of forging needed a lot of materials which had to be fused by a forger. It was very complicated, but the warrior ability of the finished product was very terrifying."

"However, since we have the battle artifact, it will be less troublesome for us. All I need to do is to examine the rune completely and implant the template into the artifact, then a hidden job will be created: The Rune Warrior."

"Except leveling up, the other cultivation system for this character class is to collect runes. Every rune collected will be able to upgrade the ability of a Rune Warrior by a great deal."

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Chapter 24: Rune Master

Translator: Larbre Studio Editor: Larbre Studio

The players were bursting with joy after they defeated the Ghost Supreme Commander and his army.

It was a sleepless night for many of them. However, the next day, the players noticed a new notification message when they logged into the game.

[Notification of Berserker's first character class advancement into Rune Master]

Many players clicked into the message out of curiosity. Their screen display shifted to an empty area in the wilderness in an instant.

A warrior with a strong build stood upright in the middle of a vacant land. There were runes glinting in various colors on his body.

[Character Class Introduction]

Rune Master: In their chase for extreme power, Berserkers abandoned their weapons and used their bodies as containers to imprint runes of the world to train their bodies to the strongest

Character feature: Whenever a new rune is drawn, a Rune Master can obtain the rune's feature skill and have a huge improvement in his strength

Weapons: Bare handed, boxing gloves

Character requirements: Default character class has to be a Berserker, with a minimum of Level 30

After the introduction window disappeared, the Rune Master who was standing on the empty piece of land shifted his body. The runes on his body started glowing and formed a noise similar to the revving of an engine.

"Rune of Strength!"

The red gems on the Rune Master's body flashed instantly followed by his shout. Both his arms started expanding gradually and his veins were popping out. Smoke and dust flew everywhere when he hit the ground with his fists. A huge pit was then formed on the ground and cracks were spreading around.

"Rune of Defense!"

The blue gems shone with radiance followed by his second shout. The Rune Master crossed his arms on his chest as he bowed slightly. A blue spherical light screen was instantly formed.

At the same time, a shadow holding a wand appeared in front of the Rune Master.

"Death's Call!" meteor rain condensed from dark aura poured from the sky followed by the mage's angry cry.

However, the attacks only formed ripples on the blue light screen when they hit. There was no way for them to break the Rune Master's defense.

"Rune of Speed!"

After the attack, the green gems lit up and the Rune Master was shrouded by a green mist. With a flash, he disappeared from his original spot and started flashing around with speed.

The game's introduction window reappeared after the demonstration ended.

[The character class Rune Master has various cultivating modes, the number of runes available to be drawn can be increased by leveling up]

Newest update, addition of Berserker's advanced character class: Rune Master. Addition of new NPC: Character Class Advancement Instructor

[A Rune Master can only achieve character class advancement after completing the advancement quest]

Introduction of character class advancement quest: More information can be obtained from Character Class Advancement Instructor Master Qu

There was an uproar on Battle Online's forum when the contents of the newest update were released.

Peppa_Boar: "How original! That's so original! Looking for materials required for character advancement for a high price."

Lonely_Carefree: "Fuck! Why isn't it available for other characters? Is Berserker the son of the GM? Can I change my fucking character class right now?

KeyboardWarri0r: "I condemn this strongly. Why are there no advancements for assassins like me? I'm jelly."

CashyPlayer: "Sad. Is there no future for a useless mage like me?"

Crayon_Shinchan replied to CashyPlayer: "I'm a mage too. Let's cry together."

ThunderInCharge replied to Crayon_Shinchan: "Count me in for the crying fest. Also, send the devs a middle finger."

Strike_Gold: "Luckily, I chose to be a Berserker. I get to watch you all die from jealousy."

…...

A question post appeared in the forum as the players were discussing the update.

An image consisting of information about the character class advancement quest for Rune Master was attached in the post.

Requirements for character advancement into a Rune Master:

First stage: Hunt and kill specific creatures

Second stage: Collect materials to create a rune (Any one of the runes is required)

Materials required for Rune of Strength: Black burnt ore (produced in the mines in the Langya Scorched Earth Zone), volcanic core (produced in Flaming Hell), and 10 black shield fragments (dropped by Black Shield Demons)

Materials required for Rune of Defense: Black burnt ore, dead waters core (produced in Dead Waters River Area), Netherworld Pearls x10 (dropped by netherworld creatures)

Rune of Speed, Rune of Destruction, Rune of Flight, Rune of Explosion, Special Rune of Qiu Niu, Special Rune of Xing Tian...

Third stage: Character class advancement completed. Advanced character mode activated.

BeastFighter:

"Can someone please tell me, what the heck are these materials required for the character class advancement? Aside from Netherworld Pearls, I know none of them. I don't even know where they are located."

Replies:

Lonely_Carefree: "Awesome, the tougher it is, the better. It'd be best if you Berserkers go insane from looking for these materials."

CashyPlayer: "I agree with you. But then, I took a peek, the growth of this character class seemed really powerful especially the various growing range. No, I'm so jealous, I'm cursing you all so that you won't find them."

Peppa_Boar: "I'm shook. Rune Master is really strong. However, the difficulty for the character class advancement must be even higher than we can imagine. Even from the netherworld creatures that we know, there aren't many players who can solo it, not to mention the other creatures who sound really strong."

Strike_Gold: "I think I should find ways to improve the most basic strength, defense, and speed. The special runes seem to be impossible to be obtained by one person's strength."

Ye_Xue'er_is_the_cutest: "Objection! How can a great assassin like me not have such an original character class advancement? I'm requesting a rune assassin."

All Ye Xue'er's followers replied to her: "Everything Xue'er says is right!"

Crayon_Shinchan replied to Ye Xue'er's followers: "Bootlickers, bootlickers. Lick all you want, you'll get nothing in the end!"

…...

Looking at the players' debates, Lu Wu rubbed Bei Li's small head with a smile.

"You're such a genius, you developed a new character from just one small piece of rune!"

Bei Li pushed away Lu Wu's hand with her head. She looked proud.

"Yes, I'm currently researching on the mages' character class advancement. I'm planning to release three different character advancement options for mages that players could choose from."

"Which three?" Lu Wu asked with curiosity.

"The cursed path which is good at controlling and removing buffs, the demonic path which is a good attacker, and the gremlin path which is good at shape-shifting. Each has their own unique characteristics, all three are powerful."

"Sounds great!" Lu Wu gave her a big thumbs up.

"How about assassins? What are you going to do with the assassins' character class advancement?"

"I'm still thinking about the assassins. All the character classes I created require special materials from the underworld which will be added soon for the players which means that I have to create new body templates. It's not like I can just add anything whenever I thought of it. So, I have to really think through for the character class advancements and research about them over and over again!"

"Can I help you in any way?" Lu Wu felt a little bit sorry, looking at Bei Li who had been busy with research every single day.

"You… you can just bring me nice food every day. After all, research takes a lot of effort and thinking, I will need many different great food to replenish my nutrients. As for helping in the research, I think it's fine. The research requires very high talent and IQ, you will certainly not help much."

Bei Li spoke with a serious expression and her words hurt Lu Wu's ego.

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Chapter 25: The Opening Of The Cultivation Pavilion

Translator: Larbre Studio Editor: Larbre Studio

Near the coast of the Underworld Sea in Liuli District.

A humongous figure was sitting on a throne built from the bones of various living creatures.

Before him, countless creatures were bowing and worshiping him.

"What is the reply from those of the Underworld Sea?"

A deep voice was heard from the humongous figure, causing the living spirit beneath him to tremble.

"Lord Cha Na, the Sea King said that those from the Underworld Sea will acknowledge your status as the overlord of Liuli District if you're willing to contribute 100,000 Yin souls as an offering every year!"

Boom!

Thick flames were bursting from the throne. The flaming eyes were filled with endless rage.

"How can he be this arrogant when the King of Beiqi is still around? Does he think that I, Cha Na, am a loser?"

The black-robed Soul Liberating Envoy beneath him was shaking, "Lord Cha Na, do you mean… ?"

Cha Na went silent for a moment before he spoke again slowly,

"We'll bear with it first and agree with his request. I will certainly make him pay for this when I have my breakthrough to the Ghost King state!"

The Soul Liberating Envoy nodded upon hearing his reply. As if reminded about something, he spoke again,

"Lord Cha Na, the Third Ghost's soul flame has been put out."

"Third Ghost? Wasn't he guarding the boundary between Liuli District and the Mansion of the Dead? It's a safe area, how did he die?"

The Soul Liberating Envoy shook his head, "Not just him, it seems like all his underlings are gone as well. None of them returned to report anything!"

"Was it the Rock Ghost King from the Northern Zone?"

Cha Na then shook his head, "It can't be him. He wouldn't do something so stupid as to form enemies with me right after he seized the Northern Zone. It should be another force."

"Go investigate. I want to know who is going against me behind my back."

Upon hearing that, the Soul Liberating Envoy took a respectful bow toward Cha Na before disappearing into the shadows.

…...

Due to the fact that Battle Online's online forum was exploding with messages, Lu Wu and Wu Guoyi established a new official homepage for Battle Online after some discussion.

They gave the little gaming site a complete reform.

Some new features which were prepared earlier were added onto the web page, including live streaming.

At the same time, players uploaded the video of their battle with the Ghost Supreme Commander to both sites and other large video platforms, which resulted in a huge leap in the number of players for Battle Online, surpassing 200,000 players.

The number of soul coins had been increasing for the past few days even though Lu Wu hadn't done anything.

Aside from the assigning of various quests, Lu Wu's soul coins had a breakthrough of 50,000. Therefore, the construction work for the Mansion of the Dead which was planned a while ago officially started.

Under Bei Li's control, a huge amount of soul energy gushed out from artifacts and formed a soul energy sea which engulfed the abandoned Mansion of the Dead.

The building started its renovation process with the assistance from the artifacts. An odd scene of half-fantasy half-reality appeared and attracted the gaze and attention of many players.

Unlike Yin energy, the renovation by soul energy took more than ten minutes before the building's form was fixed.

The onlooking players gasped in awe when a black towering building appeared on top of the ruins.

[General notification: Character class skills training is officially available. All players above Level 20 can now select the battle skills corresponding to their character class in the Cultivation Pavilion for training]

A huge number of players who were leveling in the wild rushed to the area where the Mansion of the Dead was located after receiving the notification. They were curious to see how the Cultivation Pavilion looked like.

At the same time, Lu Wu and Bei Li entered the building hand in hand.

The Cultivation Pavilion was known as the Library when the King of Beiqi was still around. All the cultivation techniques and battle skills collected by the King of Beiqi were deposited there.

Artifacts had stored and arranged all the ancient books during the remodeling of the library. Under Bei Li's reformation, it transformed into a fantastical and colorful place with a classical charm.

The ancient books inside were converted into shadows. Players were able to check out the detailed explanation and demonstration of specific skills by clicking onto the shadows.

Of course, training skills here would require soul coins. Aside from soul coins, there was also the requirement of a certain level.

Although some of the players obtained improvements from leveling up and soul coins, they still could not withstand some of the overbearing cultivating techniques. That was why Lu Wu added many training limitations.

Also, Lu Wu asked Bei Li to transform the Cultivation Pavilion for the second time for a better distinction. She divided it into five different zones which were the beginners training zone, intermediate training zone, advanced training zone, spiritual level training zone, and king level training zone.

Due to the huge number of players, the Cultivation Pavilion had the setting of many channels. Each channel could fill a thousand players at most.

This meant that the actual Library was within a battle artifact, and numerous channels were opened from it. This was to prevent the crashing of the server from the flooding players.

The two wandered around the Cultivation Pavilion. After making sure that nothing was faulty, they returned to the world of the living.

At the same time, many players dashed into the Cultivation Pavilion to check out the cultivating techniques.

Warrior class skill zone, mage class skill zone, assassin class skill zone.

The three main skill zones were flooded with players.

Regarding character class skills, many players had been complaining for some time, especially mages. They only had the skill of the Yin Energy Bomb even when they achieved Level 20. This caused many players to doubt that the game managers never really paid much attention to the mage class.

However, the release of the few powerful beginner skills from this update brought good news for mages.

[Yin Soldier Summoning (Mage)]

Skill summary: Summon warriors of Yin soldiers by controlling Yin energy. Each Yin warrior's strength is equivalent to the player's Level 1 strength. A maximum of ten Yin warriors can be summoned at one time

Skill requirements: Training this skill requires 10 soul coins, and a minimum of Level 20

Skill leveling: Summoning Level 2 Yin warriors (available at Level 25), summoning Level 3 Yin warriors (available at Level 30)

Note: For each leveling up, the number of Yin warriors summonable multiplies by two

[Yin Corrosion (Mage)]

Demonic skill: Release corrosive Yin vapor with negative effects to form continuous damage in a large area

Skill requirements: Training this skill requires 10 soul coins, and a minimum of Level 20

Skill leveling: Yin Corrosion Level 2 (available at Level 25), Yin Corrosion Level 3 (available at Level 30)

Note: For each level up, the area of damage and damage points will be increased

[Demonic Possession (Mage)]

Demonic skill: Summon drifting demons to be possessed to obtain protection from the demon

Skill requirements: Training this skill requires 40 soul coins, and a minimum of Level 30

Skill leveling: Wicked demon (available at Level 40), Haunted Night (available at Level 80)

Note: This skill has uncertainties as the demons summoned might be affected by surrounding factors. The higher the level, the stronger the demons summoned will be.

…...

Looking at the release of the new mage skills, mage players who had been doubting their own worth were getting tearful.

It was finally their time to shine!

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Chapter 26: Live Stream Broadcast

Translator: Larbre Studio Editor: Larbre Studio

After sustaining a fight with the Ghost Supreme Commander, the players also realized the gap between their abilities and the Ghost General.

Hence, a wave of intense training took over the players' camp.

Simultaneously, many Berserkers started to exit the Mansion of the Dead into the outside world, searching for transition materials as they aspired to transition into Rune Masters.

In order to save the players' time on the road, Lu Wu used 5,000 soul coins to create two teleportation circles, both situated at the entrance of the Ghost Mountains and the Mansion of the Dead.

At the same time, he made an announcement, notifying all the players who had completely searched the area they were in to create a teleportation circle.

This was obviously great news for the players because every time they were resurrected, heading to the Ghost Mountains to level up required a lot of time.

Of course, the teleportation circles that Lu Wu created were not free, it required the players to pay a fee of one soul coin.

Lu Wu did not expect that he managed to earn back half of the expenses he used to create the portals just after a day.

While the players were obsessed with leveling up, at the same time, the official website for Battle Online released a new column.

That was the live stream broadcasting feature that all players were looking forward to.

This allowed the players who died during the game to feast their eyes during their cooldown.

Simultaneously, in order to earn more soul coins from the players, Lu Wu imitated the other live stream broadcasters and set up a reward function.

This reward did not waste real cash, instead, it was soul coins in the game.

Lu Wu even set up six types of gifts.

They were hearts (0.1 soul coins), cake (one soul coin), ring (five soul coins), flying saucer (20 soul coins), yacht (100 soul coins) and lucky crystal (1,000 soul coins).

Of course, all the rewards from the live stream broadcast did not go into the pocket, Lu Wu would collect fifty per cent service charge from the rewards given.

This meant that these broadcasting platforms were indirectly working for Lu Wu.

The first day this feature was released, there were over a thousand live stream broadcast requests.

After being screened through, they went online and there were a lot of live stream broadcast columns appearing on the website.

There were a few unusual live streams that attracted waves of fans, such as:

'No money for Krypton Gold: Cute girl to sustain herself by earning soul coins from live streaming' – 390 people watching.

'Ghost Mountains individual level up strategy: Teaching you how to create various traps and upgrade to challenge wild beasts' – 1200 people watching.

'Create your own house: How to use wild materials to build a hut' – 876 people watching.

'De Ye in the wild: Opening up a new area and swears not to go home until the materials for Rune Master are all collected' – 2876 people watching.

'Live streaming taming zombie wolves in Liuli District: The eighth try' – 3294 people watching.

'Berserker body combat skills and instructions: From a real-life Special Force soldier' – 2341 people watching.

'The Mage's Spring has returned: Guide to Wilderness Player Killing, today five Berserkers have been defeated, what a great day!' – 976 people watching.

'Assassin's Message: Liuli District's wandering Grim Reaper searching for ghost soldiers who have been left behind…' – 2111 people watching.

...

A wave of live stream broadcasts made this game even more exciting.

...

Capital of Dragon Nation, in the Black Sea Technology Corporation's underground research and development room.

Each and every one of the virtual game compartments were shining, undergoing the last screening test.

All of Black Sea Technology Corporation's higher-ups were here, anxiously observing this experiment, because they know that if this were to be a success, then they would have the advantage of swiftly dominating the market.

In the development of virtual games, time was of the essence, if you were slower than the others, then you will have limited options.

Du...!

As the light indicators for all the virtual game compartments flickered green, the higher-ups of the Black Sea Corporation showed expressions of excitement.

"Congratulations, the game is a success. This batch of virtual game compartments fused together well with the nutrient solution to allow players to stay in the game for 24 hours without harming their body's health."

A white-haired researcher said excitedly.

As he finished his sentence, the research room was filled with cheers, as everybody started clapping.

After ensuring that there were no mistakes, the excited higher-ups had an emergency meeting.

"Since we need to put it on the market, the methods used to swiftly dominate the market is of utmost importance. What do you all think?"

There was a brief period of silence after the CEO said this, after a while, everyone started to provide their ideas and opinions.

However, most of them were about selling at low prices, so as to open the market and search for agents to sell.

At this moment, a young man sitting at the end of the table stood up and said, "Since our products focus more on serving the game, why don't we look for game merchants, cooperate with them and use their fame as a way to expand the market? It would be a better option."

After listening to this, everyone nodded their head in agreement.

"In order to dominate the market first, we'll execute the proposals that you have proposed. At the same time, Xiao Li, you're responsible for discussing with the game merchants on this. Don't disappoint me!"

Just as the Board of Directors had made their decision, the secretary anxiously rushed in.

"Mr. Chen, our competitor Jie De just announced that they have developed the virtual game compartment during their press conference!"

After listening to this news, everyone was shocked.

The secretary took the tablet and connected it to the meeting room's projector. In a second, the video of the press conference was shown on the screen.

"After many years of research, from today onwards, the virtual world will welcome a new age. This is because the virtual game compartment that everybody has been waiting for has been successfully developed. After multiple data tests, I can guarantee the stability of the game compartment…"

After hearing the news, it was as if a bucket of ice-cold water had been poured onto the people in the meeting room, and the previously excited atmosphere was gone.

No amount of happiness nor sadness will ever be like this.

After a period of silence, Black Sea Corporation's CEO immediately announced to have a press conference. At the same time, all the proposed methods are to be executed immediately.

They must dominate the domestic market in the shortest time possible, they could not allow their competitors to have the opportunity. Also, they had to think of how to expand the market overseas.

The whole company was immersed in operating anxiously.

...

When the Jie De Corporation was holding their press conference, Lu Wu and Bei Li were sitting on the bed, eating their snacks in a carefree manner while watching television.

"Huh? Virtual game compartments? 24 hours of experience?"

Lu Wu was surprised when he saw this piece of news.You have to know that the only huge thing limiting gamers was potential. In order to ensure the health and safety of the gamers, he had to set a twelve-hour limitation on the game. However, upon seeing this piece of news, Lu Wu decided that an opportunity to allow the rapid development of the players' camp in the Underworld has arrived.

At this moment, Lu Wu's phone rang. When he answered the call, Wu Guo's voice came from the other end of the line, "Brother Lu, look at the news, the Jie De Corporation has announced virtual game compartments! You can experience 24 hours of gaming!

"I just so happened to see it, Brother Wu, why are you so excited about?"

Wu Guoyi breathed in deeply, and said, "Just now the operation department from Jie De Corporation came to find me. They hope that we can cooperate and also promote this cooperation. I thought of your game at the first second."

"This is a win-win situation, your game can help Jie De Corporation to expand its market overseas and Jie De Corporation could open up the domestic markets through our game. Their representative will arrive at the headquarters of Platform173 tomorrow to discuss with me. Including you, I have invited thirty other major gaming developers. You must be on time tomorrow morning!"

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Chapter 27: Master Beast Tamer

Translator: Larbre Studio Editor: Larbre Studio

Platform173 corporate headquarters, conference room.

Many well-known game developers in the country sent representatives to participate in this cooperation negotiation meeting with the Jie De Corporation.

Wu Guoyi was anxious, so anxious that he kept on looking at his watch, but there was no sign of Lu Wu.

"Mr. Wu, I'm afraid there isn't much time left, the meeting will start now!"

It was the representative from the Jie De Corporation who said this. He was a classy middle-aged man wearing glasses and dressed in a suit.

Wu Guoyi sighed, just as the start of the meeting was about to be announced, the door of the meeting room was pushed open, with Lu Wu and Bei Li entering into the meeting room.

Upon seeing Wu Guoyi, Lu Wu laughed awkwardly and said, "I got stuck in traffic, I'm sorry for being late!"

"Please have a seat. Why did you bring your sister here?"

Wu Guoyi indicated Lu Wu to his seat as he glanced at Bei Li.

"My sister doesn't like to be left alone."

Lu Wu had actually planned on attending on his own, but as Bei Li saw him leaving without her, her face fell, like a little lamb who was left behind.

He had no choice but to bring her along.

Seeing Lu Wu taking his seat with Bei Li sitting on his lap, Wu Guoyi felt a bit annoyed, but said, "Everybody's here. Orisa, you may begin."

The man standing in front of the meeting table nodded his head when he heard the direction to begin and pressed the controller in his hand. Suddenly, a 3D projection appeared on the meeting table.

Looking at sheets of data, Lu Wu was confused, but the rest of the game developers were carefully looking at the data.

"I believe that everyone knows our corporation's capabilities, especially in the virtual reality headgear, we are the first in the world. Right now, we have created something that is even more advanced than the virtual reality headgear. I hope that everyone understands the objective of this meeting, so we shall start with the discussion."

"The data shown is data regarding the sales of the virtual reality headgear that our company developed. All of you here are the Dragon Nation's biggest game developers, so I believe that if your respective games were integrated into our virtual game compartments, this would be a great opportunity to promote your respective games…"

Lu Wu nearly slept after hearing the representative sing an hour-long praise of his company, but Bei Li was already lying on the conference table with a trail of saliva at the corner of her mouth.

"Since this project profits both parties, we from the Swan Company agree to sign this agreement, but what are the requirements from your side?"

After listening to the introduction, many company representatives were persuaded.

"We would like to ask for five percent of the profits annually as a base for our agreement."

"Five percent?"

After listening to this, everyone in the room became silent.

It was a difficult decision to make, so many company representatives pulled out their phones to contact their superiors, asking for advice.

"Erm… I am not interested!"

At this moment, Lu Wu opened his mouth to say a few words. His words silenced everyone in the conference room for a short period of time.

"Huh? Sir, may I ask which part of the cooperation are you unsatisfied with?" the representative from the Jie De Corporation questioned with a smile.

"If it's on matters regarding money then no!" at this moment, Bei Li opened her mouth as she rubbed her eyes.

The conference room went silent again.

"Sir, this is a cooperation that would profit both parties, being able to integrate into your game would definitely help with the expansion of the overseas market."

When Lu Wu was about to speak, Bei Li took the chance and said, "You cannot do that too, talking about money would definitely hurt a lot of feelings…"

Wu Guoyi felt deeply ashamed and silently tugged on Lu Wu's sleeve underneath the table.

"Sir, what are your thoughts on this?" the representative directed his gaze towards Lu Wu.

"My sister's opinions are my thoughts. I would like to reject this cooperation!"

Wu Guoyi stared in bewilderment. He had hoped that Lu Wu would agree as this was a rare opportunity, but he never thought that Lu Wu would reject it so recklessly.

In Wu Guoyi's opinion, with Battle Online's potential, if he was not satisfied with the conditions, he could negotiate further. Hopefully, the percentage could be lowered down until two percent. But he never thought that Lu Wu would firmly reject it.

"Okay, since you have made your decision, I would like to express my regrets but also I respect your decision," the representative smiled and replied politely.

After rejecting the offer, Lu Wu stood up and exited the room with Bei Li in hand.

Actually, he felt confident about this collaboration, like what the company's representative said, this was a win-win opportunity.

However, the biggest problem was that the Jie De Corporation wanted to collect a fee, which Lu Wu was unable to accept.

Although five percent did not seem like much, with Lu Wu's ambitious nature, from the perspective of Battle Online's fame across the world, this number seemed a little bit bigger.

Also, regarding the matter of expanding into the overseas market, he was also not in a hurry to do so. This was because he was confident in Battle Online, so he would not share any of the profits from Battle Online with anybody, just as how he rejected Wu Guoyi from buying the shares of Battle Online.

...

After taking Bei Li home in a taxi, he switched on his computer and opened the main menu of the game, looking at daily statistics and observed the gamers online.

After scanning through the main page, his gaze suddenly narrowed down on a live stream that popped up on the top.

'Rise of Beast Tamer, the Nth try to tame a beast…' – 38236 people watching.

Curious to see why so many gamers were watching this live stream broadcast, Lu Wu entered into the channel.

As he put on the virtual reality headgear and entered the live stream broadcast, he noticed that the scene showed a male assassin who was silently heading toward a zombie wolf.

"Ladies and gentlemen, please pay attention. This time we will use force to subdue it when it knows that it can't overpower me, then we shall use food to tempt it. I believe that this time I will succeed in taming it."

Just as the assassin had finished speaking, there were comments flying across the screen.

"Sad times, be careful brother, I will still bet that you'll fail this time."

"God of Perseverance, master beast tamer, dying on a live stream!"

"Brother, you are the worst live stream broadcast host I have ever seen. After following you for days, I can't keep track of how many times you died, please stay alive…"

"Death is nothing to be feared, what should be feared is that you are addicted to dying. Don't think that I don't know that you tame wild beasts just to die for a reason!"

"Bro, I think you should go to the zoo and level up a few levels, don't try anymore, I'm afraid that I'll die of laughter in your live stream."

...

Many comments flew through the screen, all of them were not expecting the assassin to be successful in taming the beast.

However, the guy was not deterred and firmly advanced forward to the zombie wolf using the assassin's basic skill called the Shadow Step, and pounced on the zombie wolf when it noticed him.

At that moment, the assassin and the zombie wolf were fighting and rolling over each other.

Looking at this scene, Lu Wu let out a smile.

After defeating the zombie wolf, the assassin took out a self-made twine rope from his waist and tied the zombie wolf up.

Next, he did what he said, he tempted it with food and then overpowered it through force, of which he did all over again.

In the end, the zombie wolf was left with its last breath. The comments were all asking him to have mercy on the zombie wolf and let it go.

Just when everyone thought that he would fail in this attempt to tame wild animals, there was a hint of struggle in the zombie wolf's eyes. In the end, it lowered its neck to the assassin as a sign of surrender.

The assassin could not believe it either, so he carefully untied the rope and held the dagger in his hand, fearing the zombie wolf would pounce on him when it had the chance.

"Ooohhh~"

The spectating gamers were amazed when the zombie wolf did not rebel, instead it rubbed itself on the assassin's shin.

"Is it tamed?"

The assassin could not believe his eyes, so he randomly picked a stick from the ground and threw it forward, saying, "Go and catch it!"

The zombie wolf lifted up its head, looked at the assassin in confusion, and nudged his shin.

"It seems like you're not understanding enough, but then you're considered tamed," there was a smile on the assassin's face.

After spectating this scene, the comment section blew up.

"Hooray for Master Beast Tamer, you really succeeded! Dude, you're so cool, sending some love (0.1 soul coin)."

"What the heck, after following you for so long, I always thought you were a comedic host. When did you become so capable?"

"Bro, you're lit! I also want to try. This zombie wolf can become a mount to be rode on, thinking about it makes me powerful. Your humble servant admires you, hence I will gift you with the only three soul coins that I have (three cakes)."

"Ahhh, cool, the first mount in the whole district is born! Brother, you're lit!"

"Congrats bro on successfully having 'Pokemon Master' as a secret profession, bring up all your Pokeballs and begin your journey of taming beasts!"

...

The screen was filled with comments, different kinds of heart shape emojis, cakes, and other gifts. The success in the taming of a wild beast opened up another method of playing for the gamers.

A huge wave of gamers were inspired in which they rushed toward Liuli District, each aspiring to capture a glorious mount.

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Chapter 28: Soul Liberating Envoy

Translator: Larbre Studio Editor: Larbre Studio

Under the guidance of a certain host, a wave of beast-taming washed through the game.

Many players began forming alliances as they made their way toward Liuli District in search of lone wild beasts, learning the style of that certain host in taming the beasts.

Although the success rate was extremely low, the players were just having too much fun. Very soon, a few players got to ride a large-sized zombie wolf, leaving those unsuccessful beast-taming players in envy.

At this moment, a small three person group were trying to tame a zombie wolf in Liuli District.

Looking at the struggling zombie wolf that was tied to a tree, the three of them performed their various skills. Just as the zombie wolf was beaten to its last breath and when they thought they were just about to succeed, a figure suddenly appeared, levitating next to the tree.

Following the figure's appearance, the tree began wilting swiftly whereas the dying zombie wolf howled in terror.

Tendrils of black vapor rose from the zombie wolf's body as it entered the body of the black-robed figure.

"Fuck, you've got a death wish!"

Upon seeing their almost successful attempt at beast-taming being wrecked by the figure before them, the three players were so frustrated that they pulled out their weaponry to square up with the figure.

However, at this moment, the black-robed figure turned around, showing the dark gleaming skeleton beneath the black robe. With a flash of its red pupils, numerous black vines suddenly appeared on the ground to trap the three players on the spot.

"I ask, you answer," a hoarse voice sounded from the Soul Liberating Envoy.

"NPC?" seeing this person, the three players paused in surprise.

"NPC?" the Soul Liberating Envoy was quite curious as well, unclear of the reason why these people were calling him that.

Looking at the struggling players, the Soul Liberating Envoy stretched out its hand again, tightening the hold of the black vines around them.

"Tell me, where did you all come from? Do you all know why the Ghost Supreme Commander who was stationed here died?"

"You're one of Ghost General Cha Na's men?"

The three players were not stupid and had immediately guessed the identity of this person.

"Indeed, I am the Soul Liberating Envoy under Lord Cha Na. So now, can you all tell me of your origins and about the Ghost Supreme Commander?"

Hearing this, the three of them glanced at each other.

"Are we goners?"

"Maybe. He's here to collect our debt. I remember I even kicked that Ghost Supreme Commander once at the time."

"Shh, he can hear us…"

"Was it the three of you that killed Third Ghost?" the anger in the Soul Liberating Envoy's eyes flared up upon hearing their conversation.

"No, wait, that's impossible. With your capabilities, Third Ghost wouldn't have been killed!"

"You're just an NPC, what are you being so arrogant for? Do you think we're scared of you? Let us go if you have the balls! I'll take you on in single combat after I switch characters!" the leading player said in annoyance.

"Switch characters?"

Once again, the Soul Liberating Envoy seemed curious at their use of unfamiliar terms.

"I'm giving you all one last chance!" the Soul Liberating Envoy's patience was running thin and he did not feel like continuing this conversation with these three weird creatures any longer.

"You don't want to kill us since the three of us are very vengeful. We'll kill whoever kills us so you'd best not get on our bad side."

"That's right, that's right. If you kill us, we'll get our revenge on you once we become stronger!"

"Hehe, taking revenge on me after death? I don't think you all even have the chance of turning into default souls after this."

However, the Soul Liberating Envoy knew that he would not be getting any information out of these three people anymore based on their attitudes. Hence, stretching his hand out once again, a mass of black vapor surged into the vines.

Absorbing the black vapor, the vines began growing quickly as sharp black thorns appeared from within the vines to pierce into the bodies of these players harshly, wriggling in the process.

"Oh? I am unable to obtain the souls!" the Soul Liberating Envoy was shocked to find out that the souls of these three players could not be possessed, as if there was some stronger force pinning their souls firmly within their bodies.

The disbelieving Soul Liberating Envoy lifted his hand once more and a large mass of black vapor surged into the vines. This time, red spots appeared on the surface of the vines, making them seem extremely wicked.

Under the intense attack of the vines, the three players who had turned on their pain receptor shield died in helplessness. At the same time, their corpses on the ground started to slowly fade away into a black vapor.

What the Soul Liberating Envoy found surprising was that there was not a single trace of the loss of soul power from these dead beings. Moreover, the soul that had originally been melded with the body had also mysteriously disappeared.

"This… this is impossible!"

This strange turn of events stunned the Soul Liberating Envoy fully. The situation completely overturned his knowledge of the rules of the underworld wherein souls would enter into reincarnation upon death and their soul power would dissipate into the world.

Just as the Soul Liberating Envoy entered into deep thought, a small five person group appeared in the distance.

"Boss, look at that fellow over there!"

The person who had been called their boss was a Berserker with a large sword strapped to his back. He had also come to Liuli District for some beast-taming.

Hearing his follower's words, the Berserker looked up to see the Soul Liberating Envoy who was standing beside the wilted tree.

"What is it? I don't see anything wrong."

"Don't you think his appearance looks a bit like that Mysterious Merchant NPC that was officially announced?"

"Mysterious Merchant?" hearing this, the head Berserker paused in shock.

Many players had only heard of the Mysterious Merchant and had never seen him, but all players knew one thing. They knew that there were a lot of valuables they could not buy in the shop that could be bought off this NPC.

On the forum, they had once seen a lucky fellow who had encountered the Mysterious Merchant coincidentally and after a series of negotiations, he had spent five soul coins to buy a fragment needed for the character switch materials of a Rune Master. In the end, he had sold it off for more than a hundred soul coins.

They had been so envious at the time.

"Brothers, we've struck the jackpot!"

All five of their faces shone with excitement as they hurried toward the direction of the Soul Liberating Envoy, fearing that he would disappear before they got to him in time.

As if sensing something, the Soul Liberating Envoy who was still in shock turned to see the five players rushing toward him with excited faces.

Once they closed the distance, the head Berserker came to the Soul Liberating Envoy's side and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Bro, are you selling? Because I'm buying!"

Soul Liberating Envoy, "What?"

"All strangers take time to cozy up to each other. So, what do you say? Since everyone here was fated to meet each other, how about a discount?"

The Soul Liberating Envoy was now utterly and absolutely confused.

He wondered if these weird never-before-seen creatures had brains of cotton because he could not understand nor comprehend anything that came out of their mouths.

Seeing that the Soul Liberating Envoy had kept quiet, the head Berserker was somewhat anxious.

Could it be that I negotiated the wrong way? But that fellow on the forum who encountered the Mysterious Merchant never said how to do it. What should I do now?

Pondering this, a smile graced the Berserker's face once more as he tapped the Soul Liberating Envoy's shoulder.

"Bro, let's take a look at the goods. I heard that you've got a lot of good stuff on you."

"Yeah, that's right, let's get a look at the rare items you have first," said the other four excited players from the side.

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Chapter 29: My King Returns

Translator: Larbre Studio Editor: Larbre Studio

Facing the relentless questioning of the five players, the fire within the Soul Liberating Envoy's eyes gradually flared up. Finally, with a swipe of his hands, a mass of black vapor appeared to surround the five, locking them within before levitating them off the ground.

"Do you all know how the Ghost Supreme Commander who was stationed here died?" the Soul Liberating Envoy tested the waters in hopes of getting an answer.

The head Berserker struggled for a while, but once he discovered that he was unable to escape, he looked at his companions helplessly.

"Huh? The Mysterious Merchant wants to show off his capabilities before making a trade?"

"Cough… boss, I've never met him before either, so I don't know how the process is supposed to go."

"Then… should we praise him a bit to make him happy? So he'll give us a discount?"

Hearing the players' conversation, the Soul Liberating Envoy lost any hope whatsoever. With another wave of his hand, the black vapor began to surge and fold, crushing the five people within to pieces.

Observing the souls and soul power disappear mysteriously once again, the Soul Liberating Envoy's expression looked thoughtful. In a flash, he had transformed into a dark shadow that streaked toward the Mansion of the Dead with the speed of lightning.

…...

Everything that had happened here had naturally been seen by Bei Li who was on a 24/7 watch and she reported the situation swiftly to Lu Wu.

"Seems like Cha Na has sent people in for an investigation, but where exactly did this Soul Liberating Envoy come from?"

Bei Li rested her chin on her hands as she sat before the computer table, munching on junk food.

"The Soul Liberating Envoy is the next highest position after the Ghost General under the Ghost King and is in charge of collecting Yin souls to turn it over to them. Every Ghost King and Ghost General has a Soul Liberating Envoy beneath them and their powers differ from one to another, but they're skillful in blood sacrifice spells."

"Yin souls? What's that?" Lu Wu asked curiously.

"It's something like money in the real world, I guess. After all, normal people aren't able to collect this kind of soul power and Beiqi has a lot of districts that produce Yin souls. Yin souls are different from default souls in the sense that it's more like a kind of material used in cultivation, but it can also be used to construct weaponry and equipment. It just has a lot of uses, that's all you need to know."

Lu Wu nodded his head, "So that means that Ghost Kings and Ghost Generals don't occupy the area around the Mansion of the Dead because this area doesn't produce Yin souls?"

Bei Li shoved a handful of junk food into her mouth and answered with her mouth full, "Mm, that's right. Although the Mansion of the Dead is the capital of Beiqi, it's the most lacking in resources."

Even though he now knew the Soul Liberating Envoy's origins and the motives of his visit, Lu Wu had no idea how to deal with him. Hence, he looked toward Bei Li who was still stuffing her face.

"Don't look at me, I don't know either. Soul Liberating Envoys are able to blend into the shadows and with the capabilities of the players, he'd be really hard to kill, eh."

Seeing as Bei Li did not know how to handle this problem as well, Lu Wu fell into silence.

At this moment, Bei Li pointed a finger at the computer screen, "Wu, look at this. They're discussing this on the forum."

Lu Wu took a step forward and immediately saw the post that the players had just put up.

MetalBull: "Who can tell me why an NPC would be so unreasonable. I thought I was in luck when I met the Mysterious Merchant, but I ended up empty-handed and even got killed. Someone tell me why. I'm currently in an existential crisis mode."

A few screenshots were attached underneath the post from the player showing the Soul Liberating Envoy.

Where_is_Mundo: "[Facepalm] Bro, are you retarded? Even if this guy looks like the Mysterious Merchant, can you please tell me which part of him made you sure that he was actually him? Can't you see that he's a skeleton?"

Soda_Water: "OMG, bro, you met this fellow, too. My group of three met him in Liuli District as well when we were beast-taming. This isn't the Mysterious Merchant at all, he's a subordinate of Ghost General Cha Na. You've got real big balls, man. You actually served yourself up to die, I salute that."

My_CutieKing: "Where? Where's Cha Na's subordinate? This mage has reached Divine Skill Level 2 and is expected to be able to lead an army soon. Let me bring some Yin soldiers to slaughter him!"

ArrogantWolf replying to My_Cutie King: "Hey, the little mage above me, how are you so cocky? Do you need me to take you out in single combat in the wild with my sword to teach you a lesson?"

My_CutieKing replying to ArrogantWolf: "Mages are peerless in single combat. We are the best, the absolute coolest and we destroy brainless berserkers. You better pray that we don't meet in the wild, because I'll show you what death by numbers mean."

SwordSkill_Master replying to My_Cutie King: "Stop tooting your own horn. Mages are awesome now, but don't you know that there's a different god in different versions of the game? Just you wait till we switch characters, then only one of us will be needed to beat your mage asses!"

…...

Seeing the comments and replies of the players, Lu Wu could only laugh. Mages' skills had been allowed to elevate lately so many mages who had been down in the dumps for the longest time had gotten arrogant. After all, with the Yin Soldier Summoning Skill, mages in the wild were indeed excellent in single combat.

Just as she wanted to continue scrolling through the comments on the forum, Bei Li's facial expression suddenly changed.

"He's here, he's at the Mansion of the Dead!"

Hearing this, Lu Wu's mind entered his artifact and began observing through the connection between the artifact and the Mansion of the Dead.

He saw a dark shadow floating nearby the Mansion of the Dead which darted into the Mansion.

…...

Looking at the Mansion of the Dead in the midst of renovation, the Soul Liberating Envoy's heart was filled with terror.

Yet, he still could not believe it, he could not believe that that dead king was still alive. He had watched him die with his own eyes and he could even remember the feeling of dissipation of the King of Beiqi's soul power clearly.

Thus, the Soul Liberating Envoy spent a long time hovering by the entrance before he grit his teeth and went in anyway, deciding to take a look for himself.

After a walk around, the Soul Liberating Envoy fell into shock once again.

The damage he had once seen done to the outer structure of the Mansion of the Dead was now as perfect as it had been before, even the little details and marks were there. If he did not know better, he would have thought that the King of Beiqi had returned.

Yet, he could not understand why all the other buildings apart from the Sutra depository had disappeared.

Of course, this was because Lu Wu only had enough soul coins to restore the Sutra depository. The Soul Liberating Envoy could never have imagined that this was because Lu Wu did not have enough soul coins to restore the buildings like the material storage room and the weaponry room.

As he watched the Soul Liberating Envoy float around the Mansion of the Dead, Lu Wu thought of something. Subsequently, by controlling his artifact, a figure slowly formed within the Mansion of the Dead.

"Who is it!" feeling the sudden condensation of Yin energy, the Soul Liberating Envoy turned sharply to a spot within the Mansion of the Dead.

"Who do you think I am?" a dignified voice sounded from the figure.

At this moment, stormy clouds covered the sky and the large amount of Yin energy turned into a tornado that blew across the Mansion of the Dead continuously. At the same time, the figure began materializing more clearly.

"The King of Beiqi! No, that's impossible!" the Soul Liberating Envoy was stunned and his body started to tremble uncontrollably.

Raising his head to look at the Yin energy blowing and howling through the sky, the Soul Liberating Envoy suddenly lowered his head and kneeled.

"Du Yan welcomes the return of my King!"

"Do you know what the punishment is for betrayal?" Lu Wu uttered in a low voice.

His voice reverberated in the Mansion of the Dead through transmission of Yin energy, causing the terrified Soul Liberating Envoy to tremble even more.

"I am guilty and am willing to die for my sins. I hope my King will spare my soul from suffering in consideration of my many years of servitude!" the Soul Liberating Envoy replied as he trembled in fear.

Hearing this, Lu Wu paused in astonishment. He had only just come up with this idea of playing a trick on him, but he had not known that the Soul Liberating Envoy would be so easily scared to the point that he would willingly commit suicide to atone for his sins.

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Chapter 30: Surrender

Translator: Larbre Studio Editor: Larbre Studio

Looking at the Soul Liberating Envoy who was kneeling on the floor shivering, Lu Wu thought, and asked again in a low tone,

"Death? Do you think it's so easy to extricate yourself after betraying me?"

Hearing this, the Soul Liberating Envoy shuddered, and the soul flame in his skull thumped vigorously, pressing his head even lower.

"Please forgive me, my King. I am willing to atone for my betrayal."

Bei Li, who was watching this scene, was stunned. She did not expect Lu Wu to act like this, and the Soul Liberating Envoy to be so easily deceived and surrender.

Originally, Lu Wu had planned to let the Soul Liberating Envoy take his own life. However, at the thought that he had served Cha Na, the Ghost General of Liuli District, Lu Wu had another plan.

"Atonement? How are you going to redeem yourself?" Lu Wu said in a serious tone.

At the same time, the Yin energy in the sky continued to gather, accentuating the powerful figure of Lu Wu.

"I'm willing to help my King regain the lost territory, and restore the glory of my King!"

Lu Wu was pleased to hear this as he had not even mentioned it. He did not expect the Soul Liberating Envoy to be so smart.

Lu Wu was silent for a moment, pretending that he was thinking. Then, he slowly said,

"What do you plan to do?"

As Lu Wu finished his words, the Soul Liberating Envoy jerked up his head to look at Lu Wu, "You're not the King of Beiqi. Who are you?"

"Why would you say that?"

Lu Wu was a little dispirited. He didn't know what went so wrong that he got exposed.

"If you're the King of Beiqi, you would never release me even if I am of great value to you. I've followed him for thousands of years, and I know him extremely well. Moreover, I've witnessed his death with my own eyes, and his soul power dissipated on the spot. How can that be fake? Who are you?"

The answer of the Soul Liberating Envoy gave Lu Wu a headache. He was too inexperienced indeed.

"Who are you? How did you repair the Mansion of the Dead, and why did you come? The death of Third Ghost, and the creatures that suddenly appeared outside must be related to you!"

The Soul Liberating Envoy stood up, and his hoarse voice echoed throughout the Mansion of the Dead.

"Yes, that Ghost Supreme Commander was indeed killed by my people, and the next target will be Cha Na!"

Since he was exposed, Lu Wu frankly admitted.

Now that his doubts were answered, the soul flame erupted in the skull of the Soul Liberating Envoy. He slowly stretched out his hands, and dark flames blazed up from his palms.

"You're really bold, aren't you. Beiqi is not a place an outsider can mess with!"

Just as the fight was about break out, Lu Wu opened his mouth again, "Oh, do you think Beiqi is still complete without its King?"

"That's not for an outsider to decide!" the Soul Liberating Envoy waved his hands, and the balls of flame flew toward Lu Wu.

Boom!

The figure that Lu Wu made with condensation of Yin energy was instantly crushed, dissipating into a ball of dark fog.

However, Lu Wu controlled the Yin energy again, and recondensed his own figure right in front of the Soul Liberating Envoy.

"Die!"

The fierce flames blazed and surrounded Lu Wu, burning him unceasingly.

The dark fog dissipated, and Lu Wu manipulated the artifact again, forming his figure at another place.

"Du Yan, you won't be able to kill me!"

Du Yan didn't believe it, and continued to throw his dark flames at Lu Wu's figure, smashing him again and again. After his tenth attempt, Du Yan stopped as he realized that it really was not working.

Lu Wu formed himself once again, and as he was about to say something, Bei Li, who had been watching at the side said, "Wu, give me the manipulation authority of the artifact. I'll say it!"

Lu Wu hesitated, but he nodded, and gave the authority to Bei Li.

Under the control of Bei Li, the figure gradually solidified into a young figure.

This person was a little like Lu Wu. He was dressed in a purple robe with the flame dragon, and a purplish ray of light shined in his dark pupils. It was as if he was born with the faint authoritative aura.

The familiar uncontrollable and dominating aura surged toward the Soul Liberating Envoy, and he almost fell on his knees. However, at the thought that this person was not the King of Beiqi, he stood up instantly.

"Stop pretending that you're him! You can't scare me!"

"Du Yan, I'm not the King of Beiqi indeed, but his blood flows in me. The Land of Beiqi should be inherited by me!"

Just as the Soul Liberating Envoy was going to continue to taunt him, he saw the figure of the King of Beiqi wave his hands, and a drop of blood floated in the air.

As for the origin of the blood, Lu Wu was deeply in pain.

This was because Bei Li had suddenly grabbed his hand, and gave it a hard bite just now.

The Soul Liberating Envoy took over the blood, and looked at the figure of the King of Beiqi in confusion. Then, he chose to swallow that drop of blood.

After standing face-to-face for a moment, the Soul Liberating Envoy suddenly lifted his head and said in terror,

"You're really the descendent of the King of Beiqi?"

"I believe you have the answer. Why would you ask any further."

The Soul Liberating Envoy had mixed feelings now. As he examined the drop of blood just now, he found that it had the blood of the King of Beiqi. Although it was very faint, it was enough to prove the identity of the person in front of him.

"Why have I never seen you in all these years, and why did you return now?" the Soul Liberating Envoy asked in a deep voice.

Hearing this, Lu Wu took over the manipulating authority that was returned by Bei Li, and said,

"Beiqi is the territory of the Lu family. Although the old ancestors have died, it still belongs to us!"

"Hahaha, you must be insane. Do you think you're qualified to fight with the Ghost King, and the Ghost Generals?" the hoarse laughter of the Soul Liberating Envoy was particularly offensive.

"Being qualified or not isn't up to you. I'm giving you a chance right now, surrender to me!"

"Who do you think you are?" the Soul Liberating Envoy said with an ugly crack on his face.

"You must have seen and killed those creatures who proclaimed themselves as players, right?" Lu Wu smiled.

"Yes!" the Soul Liberating Envoy said unconcernedly.

Just as the Soul Liberating Envoy finished his sentence, the soul flame in his skull began to thump vigorously.

"This is impossible! You're saying that you're the reason that these creatures' souls disappeared, and yet their soul power remained!"

"You've mastered the Law of Reincarnation!?"

The speculation of the Soul Liberating Envoy scared him. The Law of Reincarnation was the greatest power that not even the King of Beiqi possessed. If the man in front of him had really mastered it...

Fear had once again spiraled through the Soul Liberating Envoy.

"I'm giving you one last chance now to either surrender to me, or be destroyed with Cha Na. The choice is yours," Lu Wu's tone had also hardened.

"How can I believe you? Your plan to regain the Land of Beiqi is way too crazy. I'm worried that I'll be beyond redemption."

This time, the Soul Liberating Envoy did not rebuff. Instead, he stared at Lu Wu and asked.

"Do you think I'm crazy?" Lu Wu laughed.

"No," said the Soul Liberating Envoy after being silent for a moment.

Then, his body gradually dropped, and he knelt onto the ground, "My King!"

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Chapter 31: You Deserve To Be Single

Translator: Larbre Studio Editor: Larbre Studio

Upon confirming that Lu Wu was the descendant of the late King of Beiqi combined with various factors which included Lu Wu's mysterious true strength and the possibility for him to control the rules of reincarnation, the Soul Liberating Envoy chose to vow loyalty and devotion to him after a prolonged struggle with his inner turmoil.

However, Lu Wu asked him to return to Cha Na to stir up trouble in the future instead of letting him stay.

The Soul Liberating Envoy went down the stairs made from skeletons and came to the side of the King of Skeleton's throne. He bowed his head slowly.

"Lord Cha Na, I'm back from the investigation."

"Why did Third Ghost die?" the silhouette on the throne spoke unhurriedly.

The Soul Liberating Envoy reached out his hand from the black robe and handed over a dry branch.

"The Tree Demon? The Rock Ghost King? I knew it!" the voice from the throne was obviously angry.

"Is the Northern Zone insufficient for him and he wanted my Liuli District as well? Does he think that I'm weak? Why is everyone provoking me!"

"Lord Cha Na, what should we do?" the Soul Liberating Envoy lowered his head and asked.

Cha Na remained silent for a while before he opened his mouth, "Let's put it aside and wait until I could break through the Ghost King State!"

The Soul Liberating Envoy nodded his head and was about to retreat when Cha Na commanded again, "Right, please go to the Underworld Sea and tell the Sea King that I agree with his suggestions."

Upon hearing that, the Soul Liberating Envoy gave another bow to Cha Na, "I've got it." Then, he gradually retreated.

After the Soul Liberating Envoy had vowed loyalty and devotion to Lu Wu, both Lu Wu and Bei Li burst into laughter in the bedroom.

They did not expect that they could settle this troublesome fellow so easily and this fellow was really going to put a spoke in Cha Na's wheel. This situation had made Lu Wu and Bei Li crazily amused.

During this period, the development of the influence of the players increased rapidly as the reputation of Battle Online was spreading with high-speed. A lot of players with strong influence from game guilds also joined Battle Online.

The participation of these guild players had made the game even more interesting.

As the saying goes, where there are people, there is trouble. It was common to have conflicts among the players. Having players killed in the wild was the most popular activity other than killing creatures for leveling up.

It was frequent to spot small conflicts between two players which led to huge fights between two game guilds.

The influence of the players developed actively as all of the players wanted to improve their strengths. They often denounced the officials at the forum collectively for not setting up channels to top-up.

This was amusing to Lu Wu. He had seen players who complained about spending too much money in-game but it was the first time for him to see players complaining of not being allowed to spend money in-game.

Another group of protesters who protested were the assassin class players.

In their point of view, the assassin character class had become a low win rate character at the present stage. According to the players, they were so weak to the extent that they would rather become autistic.

The reason was very simple. The berserker was a positive and firm character and its single combat ability was originally strong. Assassins could never be the rival of berserkers unless their player was very skillful.

As for the mage character class, it was much tougher to be antagonized now that it was revamped with summoning and demonic skills. It was seen as the king of player killing in the wild. It was a prevailing character at the present stage. Mage players who had been belittled with low win rates were finally able to show off themselves.

At least berserkers still had the possibility to have a character enhancement. In contrast, the assassins had no ability to have single combat at all other than moving stealthily around and bringing instantaneous explosively high damage, which was upsetting to them.

Lu Wu could not do anything about this. After all, the development of the characters should be in the light of actual conditions and this fully depended on when Bei Li could come out with it.

However, Lu Wu's question was soon settled by an online streamer.

The streamer had been joking that he used to be an assassin in real life so he wanted to teach everyone some strong assassination skills on his channel.

The streamer attracted the attention of a lot of assassin players. Lu Yi also entered his live streaming channel due to curiosity.

The title of this assassin player's live stream was: A Professional Assassin Teaching You How To Kill Reckless Berserkers and Vulnerable Mages on Solo, The Ultimate Application of Assassin Skills.

The live stream of the assassin was actually a practical tutorial. He kept looking for players from his enemy guild in the wild to assassinate them throughout the live stream.

Compared to the other assassins, his techniques were unique. Instead of fighting recklessly with the other berserker players, he utilized both the poison needles and close-quarter back-stabbing skills to deplete the berserkers' energy while wandering around using Shadow Step.

Berserkers could not overtake assassins from the aspect of speed so the berserkers could do nothing other than chasing after the assassin upon depletion. If the berserker players chose to escape, the assassin would approach and give the berserkers a stab in the back. After the health of the berserkers was reduced, the assassin would flee from the berserkers again and continue to release poison needles remotely.

The technique he possessed had a high win rate in his live stream. Other than a few berserkers with strong fencing skills, he basically obtained victory in every round.

While antagonizing a mage, the assassin would give up on back-stabbing skills but apply the poison needle skill to consume the opponent's health without giving the opponent a chance to get near him.

As for the mage's Yin Corrosion skill, it was a wide range skill so its damage would be less severe than a single poison needle's damage. Additionally, the assassin's health was higher than a mage's, so an assassin could deplete and kill the mage by wandering around using Shadow Step. It was not necessary for close quarters.

The streamer's despicable methods had gone viral in the forum. Many assassin players started to learn his techniques for player killing in the wild.

However, a lot of assassin players realized that it was hard for them to throw the poison needles accurately during battles due to the extremely high degree of reality of the game. Therefore, a lot of players who liked killing other players started to study throwing skills meticulously.

This post had made more players realize the importance of skills.

Although a character's strength was the first standard in the game, players with strong skills were absolutely capable to challenge other players of higher levels.

For example, there was a berserker player who was very popular in the forum known as QingFengMingYue.

This player was currently known as the best sword player in the game. It was reported that this player was a well-known master of fencing in real life.

Although he was only at Level 15, he once defeated five players of Level 20 which allied to attack him during a guild battle by relying on his skills and sword power. He became famous overnight and he was seen as a skillful player in the eyes of the berserker players.

The posts regarding skills were the popular posts in the online forum all along. Also, the appearance of skillful players enriched the diversity of the game.

The game made the players feel like they were in a different world rather than just a game.

The post of one of the players in the forum left a deep impression on Lu Wu.

This player was describing an incident that happened to him in real life.

One day, his girlfriend asked him, "Why are you always busy with this game after work? What's so fun about it? Can't we have a proper date?"

He answered, "You will never understand. I have another world here!"

Eventually, they broke up.

This sentence had induced an emotional stirring within Lu Wu. He felt that the development of the game had gone beyond his expectations.

However, the other players did not have the same emotional stirring as Lu Wu. All of them gave the same reply on that post,

"Bro, you deserve to be single!"

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Chapter 32: The Sea King

Translator: Larbre Studio Editor: Larbre Studio

It was three o'clock in the morning but the lights in Lu Wu's bedroom were still on.

Bei Li was snacking on chips as she raised her head occasionally to peek at Lu Wu who was cudgeling his brain for ideas.

Meanwhile, several papers were laid out in front of Lu Wu. There were sketches of various settings and written remarks on the papers. As Lu Wu pondered over the issues, he continued to add more notes on the papers from time to time.

Being the secret King of Beiqi, he was having a rather tough time as some of the players were perturbing him.

Recently, the players had gotten increasingly aggressive in requesting the developers to implement a top-up system, causing a severe headache to Lu Wu.

After some contemplation, Lu Wu took a deep breath before he moved the mouse to wake the screen up from sleep mode, intending to look for useful advice from the players in the forum.

As he scrolled through the pages, Lu Wu was attracted by a player's video game live stream which was pinned on top of the timeline.

The title of the post said, "A Battle by the Sea that You Wouldn't Want to Miss!"

After he clicked on the link, Lu Wu realized that this player was at the boundary of Liuli District and the Underworld Sea. The player was laying on his belly on a steep cliff by the sea. From above, he captured the scene under the cliff and streamed it for the other gamers of the forum.

Lu Wu had no idea how the player trespassed the territory of Cha Na, the Ghost General. His attention was quickly drawn by the numerous sea monsters that were rushing toward the shore from the offing of the Underworld Sea.

At the ocean, the water level continued to rise, eventually forming a huge wave that appeared as though it was going to swamp the entire place.

Riding on the wave was a sea monster that resembled a whale but was way larger in size. A naked man was standing on the back of the sea monster with a trident in his hand.

"Cha Na! Show yourself!"

"Roar!"

The sound waves of the man's enraged roar turned into an almost realistic ripple and rolled onto the shore.

"What the hell is this monster? Its roar caused me to lose more than 10 points of HP and I'm now stuck in a negative state of chaos!"

The player who was overlooking the event ranted grumpily.

In the comment section:

"Bro, I'll pay for your potions. Stop moving the camera. You might accidentally miss the great war of the NPC."

"Stay calm. It seems like the NPC on the back of the whale wants to challenge Cha Na. He's so bold!"

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Naked man on the whale, I support you to beat the bastard up!"

"Who is this man? Is he Poseidon? He's making a grand entrance."

"Haha, brother, have you been watching too many movies? He looks like the future self of the most popular livestreamer, the beast tamer. Can't you see all the sea monsters in the ocean that have been domesticated by him?"

"Cha Na! Show yourself!"

Another deafening howl resonated. The trees at the shore were shaken violently by the sound wave that propagated through the atmosphere.

"Oh god, please stop crying. It's causing ringing in my ears. Oh no, I need my medication."

The player who was live streaming the incident took out a red potion with a dejected expression and poured it into his mouth. He was worried that he would be instantly killed by the creature's next cry.

Followed by the monster's howl, a chilly wind swirled pass the shore. Then, six undersized silhouettes appeared out of nowhere, carrying a huge skeleton throne on their shoulders.

"Sea King, don't push me too far!" as Cha Na spoke and confronted the overbearing Sea King from afar, flaming fire was aroused around his throne.

"I'm pushing you too far? So, what can you do about it?"

The Sea King lifted his trident with a dauntless face. Suddenly, all the sea monsters raised their heads and shrieked in synchrony.

Cha Na seemed to be upset by the Sea King's words as he replied with a scowl, "Sea King, I have always respected you as the king of the ocean. However, you have been disdaining me."

"I don't need you to acknowledge my status. I respected the King of Beiqi when he was still alive. But now, you are nothing to me."

At the comment section:

"He is such a domineering Poseidon. I want to bear his babies. (From a girl who is addicted to the game)"

"This is great! The betrayer Cha Na is a son of a bitch! Punch him! Punch him!"

"This Poseidon is so fearless and manly! I feel as if my heart has been conquered by him!"

"Damn! That's awesome, brother! He must have learned it from Haoshoku Haki. I'll bet 1 soul coin on him."

"Upon seeing the great ocean and our brother, Poseidon, I doubt if there are still pirates out there. Anyone wants to join me for a treasure hunt?"

…...

The Sea King's words unreservedly humiliated Cha Na, causing Cha Na to appear increasingly resentful.

He clenched his fists and stood up abruptly from the skeleton throne. With his tall height, he overlooked the ocean.

"Since you want war, I'll fight with you!"

"Haha! So, you've decided not to be a coward anymore? I reckon that you're prepared for this war since you rejected my request. Am I right?"

Cha Na, who was ready to attack, suddenly paused his action, appearing confused.

"Did I turn you down?" I clearly remember that I told Du Yan to accept the offer. How did it turn into a refusal?

Noticing that Cha Na had stopped in his tracks, the Sea King sneered and raised his trident. Immediately, the sea churned chaotically and a gigantic wave rose from the water, which was at least a hundred meters tall. The wall of water rushed toward the shore mercilessly.

"Sea King, wait a minute! I think we're having a misunderstanding!"

"Weakling!" the Sea King's eyes were filled with contempt. The enormous wave continued to strike toward the shore as the Sea King had no intention to stop it.

Boom! The wave hit the shore. The skeleton throne which was carried by the six undersized creatures disappeared in a flash, leaving the man's silhouette in place.

"Roar!" Cha Na's figure expanded constantly followed by his bark and he transformed into a livid-faced giant with fangs and the height of more than 10 meters.

Coupled with several loud slaps, the billow repeatedly thrashed his muscular body.

The Sea King, who mounted on the huge whale, let out a long howl. The sea monsters began to approach the shore and surround Cha Na as though they understood his order.

"Sea King! When did I dismiss your demand? I've promised to offer you a hundred thousand sacrifices every year. Why are you still putting pressure on me?"

Surrounded by the army, Cha Na waved his hand and countless Ghost Wolf Riders and Steel Beast Riders appeared on the shore.

Upon hearing Cha Na's words, the Sea King bent down as water spouted from the blowhole of the huge whale beneath his feet. The waterspout then launched his body toward the shore as though he was a missile.

Looking at the Sea King who was advancing toward him, Cha Na's pupils contracted and all of his muscles tensed up. He then yelped and raised his fist.

Both of their fists collided and a gust of wind was instantly formed by the eruptive force, blowing away many of the sea monsters.

Drip. Drip.

At where their fists met, dark blood ran down their skin. Cha Na staggered backward.

The Sea King descended to the ground.

"Cha Na, I don't know why you have the audacity to reject me," the Sea King spoke scornfully as he looked at Cha Na's pale face.

"Sea King, I told you. I've agreed with your request. Why are you still upset with me? Something is wrong here."

Cha Na was shocked to learn the powerful strength within the Sea King's body. The Sea King's true strength was obviously far beyond his expectations.

Cha Na was no match for the Sea King.

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