Dark Sand: My Players Are All Actors
Chapter 132 - 127 Exclusive Talent Upgrade

Chapter 132: Chapter 127 Exclusive Talent Upgrade

In the blink of an eye, two days had passed.

There was a little over one day left until the final candidates for the ultimate trial on the leaderboard were determined.

The players had all entered the last sprint phase.

At 6 o’clock in the morning, Li Hongyun and Chu Ge woke up on time in their dormitory.

The first thing the two did was in perfect sync: they grabbed their phones to check the rankings!

Seeing themselves still on the leaderboard, they each breathed a sigh of relief.

However, this relaxed mood didn’t last long, as they quickly noticed that the scores of several players ranked below them seemed to have changed again.

The scores of the players on the entire leaderboard were slowly rising every day!

Li Hongyun couldn’t help but lament, "It’s too competitive!

"I was the first player to clear this instance; shouldn’t I be directly granted an exempt spot!"

Chu Ge was more philosophical, having already experienced this pressure once before, "No problem, you’ll get used to it. After all, the ultimate trial is 100% pain sensation, there’s no room for error, and it’s about choosing the player who understands the instance most deeply.

"To be honest, I don’t think it’s that important whether or not I go to the ultimate trial. With 100% pain sensation and huge pressure, it might be better to just wait and reap the rewards."

Li Hongyun rolled his eyes, "Then why are you always so eager! It’s because of the movie’s box office share afterward!"

Chu Ge said earnestly, "How could that be? I simply want to play the role of a Return Order Expedition member, to defend our precious history! As for the box office share and such, those are just external possessions."

Li Hongyun didn’t bother with him and got out of bed to go have breakfast.

The box office share for "Destiny Still Awaits After the Coffin Closes" hadn’t come in yet. After all, there’s a lengthy process from a movie’s release to the share distribution.

"Dark Sand" released new instances too quickly, nearly one every week or two. One would have to wait for the share to come in following the usual movie process, and even a few months would be considered quick.

Of course, there’s a possibility that the "Dark Sand" officials were so efficient that the movie share could arrive at the speed of light, but even then, it would take at least a couple of months.

Though the money wasn’t in their accounts yet, the current performance of the movie’s box office could already give a rough estimate of the players’ income.

So far, "Destiny Still Awaits After the Coffin Closes" had been released for over a week, and the first week’s box office had already exceeded one hundred million.

If judged solely based on box office rankings, one hundred million in the first week was not such an eye-catching achievement, after all, the blockbuster movies’ first week’s box office was in the range of billions, and some big-production movies with fiery pre-release promotions, even if of questionable quality and lacking in stamina, could likely rake in one or two hundred million in their first week.

But one must know that this movie "Destiny Still Awaits After the Coffin Closes" was very different from conventional movies.

First, its ticket prices were incredibly cheap, with cinemas setting the lowest price, and online sales at only one yuan.

True, "small profits and quick returns" was also a strategy to increase income, but compared to those movies with expensive tickets, there was indeed a disadvantage in terms of box office.

Second, it hadn’t gone through much promotion beforehand and only became popular through the fame of the "Dark Sand" game itself and word of mouth from the audience, so it had strong staying power.

Third, it had no cost!

So, according to the previous announcement, after deducting the offline costs, all profits earned would be given back to the players; with a net revenue of 40% of the box office, the first week would yield nearly forty million in profit.

All players who participated in the "Return Order Expedition" could share 60% of it, meaning that, on average, each player could earn thousands or tens of thousands!

And this was just one week’s income.

The top players’ income was even more considerable.

According to the regulations, the players who participated in the ultimate trial would share 20%, those who participated in the instance strategy and had a clear effect would also get 20%. For someone like Chu Ge who participated in both, a share of about 5% would amount to three million!

Have you ever seen a game that could earn a weekly pay of three million?

And it’s not like everyone held a deep grudge against these players, the reason being simple: they earned it with real skills!

The movie itself was enthralling and the price was a bargain. The ability to generate such a profit to reward players was solely due to the officials’ generosity and the innovative filming techniques, which greatly reduced the production costs.

The players performed excellently, fundamentally different from those talentless pretty faces.

In short, this money was earned fair and square!

No wonder the competition was so fierce. Players were fighting tooth and nail to get on the leaderboards and participate in the ultimate trial. Fame and fortune were on the line—who could resist such temptation?

Moreover, these top players were beginning to gain more and more fans in the real world, where they could also monetize their popularity if they chose to do so.

However, for now, these top players remained relatively low-key, still focusing primarily on conquering instances.

This logic was somewhat similar to certain professional esports players.

Even though hotshot pro players had high visibility and prestige, they tended to prioritize playing their best in competitions, and not rush into cashing in on their popularity. Because shifting focus could lead to short-term fame, but would almost certainly result in getting left behind in the fiercely competitive environment, with the limelight quickly fading away.

Dark Sand, the game, followed the same principle.

With new major instances and a wealth of new content being released so frequently—almost every month—and with each update opening many new slots, the pressure to compete was intense. One small slip could mean elimination.

Thus, the main effort still had to be concentrated on clearing instances and maintaining a position in the top tier; otherwise, one would quickly become just another face in the crowd.

Even the players who had already made a name for themselves were working hard, let alone Li Hongyun, who hadn’t even been to the ultimate trial yet. He certainly couldn’t afford to slack off.

Over these three days, he first took on the advanced difficulty of the assassin’s trial instance, leveling up his talent abilities, then spent his time brushing up his scores in the "Bearing the Enormous Task" instance.

Since many players had tackled the advanced difficulty of the trial instances in advance, there was no shortage of guides online.

For Li Hongyun, this was a kind of "offset travel."

The difficulty level of the trial instances for all identities indeed had increased.

In the soldier and Ranger instances, the main increase was in the enemy’s combat strength, requiring players to demonstrate even more exquisite combat skills to clear them;

The assassin instance made Emperor Yanling and his ministers more vigilant. A player’s subtle expressions were more easily caught, and the ministers would actively protect Emperor Yanling, further increasing the difficulty of the assassination;

The scholar instance had improved the cunning of the three villainous characters. On top of the player’s rebuttals, they would expand and deepen their flawed arguments, even citing historical examples to support their views. The player had to dismantle these points to succeed in clearing it.

For Li Hongyun, the increased difficulty in the assassin instance didn’t feel significant.

The reason was simple—his approach to clearing it was already completely different from other assassin players.

Even though Emperor Yanling and his ministers were more alert, Li Hongyun could still kill Emperor Yanling with a thrown dagger the moment he entered the hall. And if he missed once, he would eventually succeed with a few more attempts.

At first, Li Hongyun felt somewhat embarrassed, as if he was exploiting some bug, using a method to clear the instance that the officials hadn’t anticipated.

But then he thought, so what?

Dark Sand never intended to teach players how to play the game. As long as the players used a logically consistent method to clear an instance, the officials deemed it legitimate.

So, Li Hongyun felt that his "long-range lucky assassin" playstyle was quite promising and planned to delve into it further.

Of course, after clearing the higher difficulties of the four trial instances, players upgraded their exclusive skills as they had hoped.

[Soldier Identity Exclusive Talent "Resolve to Break Through": The more desperate the situation, the stronger the combat power unleashed. (Upgraded effect: Increased resistance to being struck and a further reduction in the perception of pain when in the state of Resolve to Break Through.)]

[Assassin Identity Exclusive Talent "Commoner’s Wrath": After meticulous preparation and finding the right moment, you can deliver an extremely fatal blow. During the attack, you can ignore all pain and distraction until the attack finishes. (Upgraded effect: There’s now a lower chance to trigger Commoner’s Wrath even when preparation is insufficient.)]

[Scholar Identity Exclusive Talent "Overwhelming Righteousness": When you are guilt-free, the overwhelming righteousness in you can more easily influence others, and even a simple phrase can bring significant positive effects to others. (Upgraded effect: You can more freely activate Overwhelming Righteousness without being strictly tied to a particular form.)]

[Ranger Identity Exclusive Talent "A Hero Does Not Tarry": Your movement technique is agile, allowing you to have more opportunities to break into or escape from an encirclement, even amidst numerous foes. (Upgraded effect: You can sense danger and become alert one step ahead when possibly falling into an encirclement.)]

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