"Sealing... a place for players?"
Chen Qing looked at the other person, feeling an inexplicable thud in his heart, "Is there... such a place?"
Tianji gazed at Chen Qing and, after a long ti, responded, "It seems you’re indeed new here; you know nothing about what happened later in this world."
As the other spoke, they drew a simple diagram on the ground with a stick. Chen Qing could tell at a glance that the other was a bare-headed expert at drawing, the very chief modeling designer from the original ga whose hand-drawn sketches ca effortlessly. Whenever they discussed maps, based on his and his colleagues’ ideas, he could provide Chen Qing with a rough sketch, asking, "Is this roughly what you had in mind?" He was unsurpassed in hand-drawing skills among all the people Chen Qing had worked with.
"I told you before, those pioneers occupied a large number of top ancient beings, didn’t I?"
Chen Qing nodded, "Are you finally willing to talk about this? I’ve been dying to know for the past six months."
"It’s not that I didn’t want to..." Tianji looked at Chen Qing, "Your identity is just too mysterious. If you’re Pu Yunchuan, then who is the guy who has been leading us all these years? When he gathered us, the developnt team, nobody suspected his identity. His habits, actions, and understanding of the ga chanics all proved that he was the chief designer who created this world. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to lead us and almost truly sealed all the ancients under such disadvantageous conditions!"
Chen Qing fell silent upon hearing this. He was actually quite curious about this as well, sealing the ancients?
How did the other manage to do that?
He himself was the chief designer of this world, yet for the life of him, he couldn’t figure out how, with the capabilities of the first version of demons, he could attempt to seal the ancients?
It’s just not at the sa level...
But now he guessed that even if he asked, the other wouldn’t tell him. Even after spending half a year together, Chen Qing could still tell that this person was defensive around him...
"Let’s talk about the matter at hand..." Chen Qing said quickly, "What exactly is this place of players’ seals?"
"It’s literal," Tianji sketched on the map. "After those pioneers found that they could replace the ancients, an unprecedented cooperation among players began. This information ca from one of the statues we sealed at the ti. According to it, players were united like never before, just so they would not continue to be prey. But even when talking about unity, they still had their own factions..."
"How were the factions divided?" Chen Qing was a bit curious.
Players are all transmigrators; normally, they wouldn’t all be acquainted before the transmigration, right?
"Guilds!"
"Ah?"
Chen Qing was stunned; this he truly hadn’t expected. Player guilds actually continued to exist here?
"I, together with the King of Qin and others, also studied the characteristics of this group of transmigrators and tried to figure out what it ant for our group to be sent here. Currently, we’re clueless, only aware that the first to co in were those beta test players!"
"Beta test players?"
"Right, do you rember before the ga started, we invited many guilds to test it?" said Tianji, looking at Chen Qing.
Chen Qing nodded, "Yes, for testing the playability and fun of the ga, we did invite guilds, but to prevent the ga from being monopolized by the gaming guilds, those we invited were reputable high-skilled guilds, so the beta test was actually quite small."
"Have you ever noticed that after the ga went live, many of those initial guilds involved in the ga disappeared without a trace?"
"Really?" Chen Qing widened his eyes.
"You might not have noticed..." Tianji said gravely, "The scale wasn’t large when we invited the guilds for testing. After your ga launched, it beca wildly popular, and a massive influx of players made few pay attention to the activities of those guilds. After all, the gaming market was so developed at the ti, and there were gaming guilds beyond counting..."
Chen Qing nodded slightly: he recalled that, during the developnt of the ga, the Federation had already rolled out the third version of complete automation. A vast number of people had been laid off, causing the gaming industry to thrive. The Federation citizens, supported by high welfare, had no concerns and could live well without working, leading to unprecedented demand in the gaming market. By the ti the Federation’s population had grown to forty billion, the market had already surpassed any other entertainnt sector.
Guilds were becoming more and more nurous by the day. There were no fewer than ten thousand large-scale guilds on the market, not to ntion the smaller ones. After my ga launched, it quickly beca one of the top three best-selling gas at the ti. The number of guilds that poured in afterward was more than a hundredfold. I was so busy at the ti, how could I have paid attention to what those guilds from the beta test were doing?
"You an, during that ti, those guild mbers from the beta test ca in here?"
"Yes!" Mister Tianji nodded. "The clues we have at present suggest exactly that. Many of their gaplay tactics originated from the beta version. It’s because of these bugs that the boss..." He looked at Chen Qing weirdly when he ntioned the boss and then continued, "found so bugs and seized a lot of power from the sealed players."
"So, the profound ice he obtained that ti was from the sealed players?" Chen Qing asked curiously.
"Pretty much..." Mister Tianji nodded. "According to our investigation, the pioneers who joined forces back then indeed managed to kill and replace many ancients. Initially, we thought it would herald a Golden Age for the Human Race, but the reality was different. The human heart is unpredictable. Upon becoming top-level Demons, their initial ntality changes. The first change is the craving for human flesh; this desire is inherited when one becos a Demon, and very few can resist the temptation."
"The next change is the struggle to control the desire for power, and the longing for longevity..." Tianji sighed and continued, "This world has limited resources. As more and more powerful ancients were unlocked, and players began to control more ancients, they quickly realized there wasn’t enough resources. The more powerful the Demon, the greater the energy requirents, and this world cannot sustain a large population of top-level Demons coexisting."
"So, that led to a civil war?" Chen Qing imdiately thought of the subsequent developnt.
"Yes!" Tianji continued. "It started with only small friction, but as it escalated, they began to limit newcors from acquiring top-level Demon channels. But the newcors also wanted to climb up the ranks, so how could they easily be contented? As ti passed, the conflict beca irreconcilable, ultimately leading to a great war."
"Since it was a war, there were winners and losers, but one characteristic of this world made the victors very troubled, and that was that the Reincarnating Demons of this world cannot be killed!"
"But you said one could replace them, right?" Chen Qing was puzzled.
"The premise for replacent is that you’re willing to..." Tianji said with a chuckle, "For instance, if I am already a very powerful Demon and I kill you, why would I want to replace you? I’m most accustod to my own talents and abilities. Unless you are much stronger than , what benefit do I have in replacing you?"
"Fair point..." Chen Qing stroked his chin, then quickly realized why so players were sealed.
The reason was simple: after a powerful Demon was killed, they would reincarnate, and naturally, they would co back to seek revenge endlessly...
If you were up against a very powerful one, you couldn’t even be certain they wouldn’t successfully take revenge eventually, because in Chen Qing’s Demon design, although Demons had extrely strong talents, there was a limit to their potential. Otherwise, how could players hope to stand against these monsters if the Demons could just keep growing indefinitely?
In other words, once you reach a bottleneck, it becos tough to progress, while the reincarnated ones could return to their peak in just a few decades or a century and continue to hassle you.
You can’t always assu you would win, can you?
If you want your authority and rule to be stable, then sealing those defeated players is the sensible course.
Once sealed, the opponent can’t reincarnate, and is sowhat more controllable...
"So, this place could be the Land of Seals of a certain player?" Chen Qing looked around, wondering.
"It likely is..." Tianji stood up and said, "Haven’t you noticed the world map has changed from before? That’s because many areas have been turned into Lands of Seals by that group of pioneers. When we were initially looking for these sealed pioneers, we used the differences between the old map and the current incomplete map to slowly find so. Actually, I suspected half a year ago that we were transmitted into one of the Lands of Seals. I didn’t say anything because I was observing the terrain to figure out which one..."
"Oh, and here I thought you were just dragging around for a casual stroll..."
"I’m not as idle as you are!" Tianji shot Chen Qing a glare.
"Then do we have any leads?" Chen Qing asked seriously. "Where could this place be?"
"If I’m not mistaken, this should be a piece of the missing land of the Southern Barbarians because the terrain and biological traits here are very similar to those of the Southern Barbarians. According to the intelligence we’ve gathered earlier, there are three Lands of Seals in the Southern Barbarians. Let’s hope we’re not in the most troubleso one right now."
"The most troubleso one?" Chen Qing’s heart skipped a beat as he stood up and looked around. "Which one is the most troubleso?"
"One of the most unreasonable monsters you designed..." Tianji said grimly looking at Chen Qing, "The Land of Seals of the Sparrow Bee Queen!"
Chen Qing: "....."
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