This Game Is Too Real
Chapter 219: New Talent! And New Year’s Event!

Chapter 219: Chapter 219: New Talent! And New Year’s Event!

Cow & Horse Club Group.

Today was as lively as ever.

Ever since Night Ten and Wild Wind became the first "Perception System" and "Intelligence System" players in "Wasteland OL," the Cow & Horse Team became immensely popular on the forum.

Somehow, people found the group number on the forum which led to daily requests to join the group.

To prevent weirdos from entering, and to shield Ah Guang from any harassment, the group admin, Old White, simply shut down the group joining requests.

According to posts on the forum, it seemed that the server had produced two more powerful Awakeners today.

And both of them were Strength Types.

The unlocked Talents were "Battle Berserker" which allowed "half of intelligence to be converted to strength attribute" and "Battle Passion" which provided "+10% agility and constitution." Both talents needed to be activated and lasted between 1-2 minutes, with not a very long cooldown.

Now, the idle chat section was abuzz, clamoring for the officials to open a channel to reselect Gene Sequences, and it would be great if they could also unlock gender modification.

However, it seemed that the officials weren’t interested in intervening, and Ah Guang, the planner, didn’t even pop up at all.

Since they couldn’t get a word in on the forum topics, everyone migrated to the group chat instead.

In the WC, Mosquito said, "Ah, I envy your fast leveling."

Quit Smoking laughed, "Haha, Brother Mosquito, come join us in the dungeons. It’s fun in the tunnels! I’m already at Level 5!"

In the WC, Mosquito cursed, "Damn, even Quit Smoking is Level 5!"

Quit Smoking retorted, "What do you mean even I’m Level 5! It’s been over a month since I started playing the game! (angry)"

In the WC, Mosquito clicked his tongue.

If he hadn’t started playing the game too early and was unfamiliar with playstyles, compulsively following Fang Chang to choose Agility, he would absolutely have been the second Intelligence System Awakener in the entire server!

But he wasn’t the most unlucky one, the real unlucky ones were the two factory directors at the neighboring No. 81 Steel Factory.

These two brothers, when they heard that Strength Type was the best, without a second thought chose strength, now they’re even more confused and hardly get to swing their hammers anymore.

Scrambled Eggs with Tomato said, "Time flies, huh? It’s almost been three months since the beta test started?"

Fang Chang said, "The newbie period in this game is really too long. It took three months just to grind to Level 10, I wonder if they’ll adjust the difficulty during closed testing."

Night Ten wondered, "What do you guys think the maximum level is?"

Fang Chang replied, "Who knows, the official has never mentioned anything about the level cap, but I feel like when we hit around level 40-50, we might face a big challenge, then according to the expansion pack’s progress, it would be progressively unlocked, probably similar to WOW."

Old White said, "I think you’re overthinking it, with the current rate, whether we can even reach level 40 by next year is a question!"

After reaching Level 10, Old White felt that the difficulty of leveling up had significantly increased.

Previously, when his level was lower, just chopping wood could be visibly seen filling the progress bar, but now cutting trees merely added proficiency, and the progress bar didn’t budge—he wasn’t even sure if it had increased.

This was indeed much harder than any MMORPG he had played before!

Recalling that Scrambled Eggs with Tomato had also awakened a few days ago, Old White continued to dig deeper.

"What was that Talent you unlocked again, brother Scrambled Eggs?"

Scrambled Eggs with Tomato replied, "Balance."

Old White queried, "Balance?"

Scrambled Eggs with Tomato confirmed, "Yeah, it’s literally called Balance. The effect is that for one to two minutes, it converts half of the constitution into strength."

Night Ten exclaimed, "Damn! Isn’t that awesome?!"

Wild Wind stated, "It’s a god-like skill..."

Converting half of the constitution into strength.

Wouldn’t you be able to tank and output damage at the same time?!

If Body Constitution System could all develop this skill, the dominative power of Strength Type on the battlefield after level 10 would at least be halved by the constitution system!

After all, the defensive power provided by the Strength Attribute was really too pitiful.

Moreover, in mid to long-range, the impact of Strength Attribute on DPS mainly reflects in weapon control and the range of thrown objects.

Unless you close in to an extreme distance, in most cases, the damage augmentation provided by the Strength Attribute diminishes at the margin!

Unless there is equipment that can further enhance the value of the Strength Type.

Something like the loyal "Golden Toilet" or chainsaw guns...

On the other hand, the Body Constitution System, once the attribute points exceeded 10, even without the exaggerated "auto-healing breath" method from FPS games, it still was very handy to quickly stop bleeding after getting shot.

If it doesn’t hit a vital part, it could at least withstand a couple more shots!

After awakening, you might even save on bandages!

Scrambled Eggs with Tomato remarked, "Godly skill, my foot. Old Monk’s ’Limb Regeneration’ is what you call a divine skill, okay? You can even regrow lost arms!"

Fang Chang praised, "Awesome!"

Wild Wind added, "That’s freaking a Variant’s skill!"

Elena wasn’t in the Cow & Horse Club Group, but she was familiar with the people in the group within the game, and they occasionally teamed up.

Especially on the forum, she and Night Ten often exchanged funny emoticons.

Hearing that he had unlocked the passive "No need for follow-up strikes," everyone was enviously discussing for a while.

Wild Wind said, "I feel like the spring of the Intelligence System hasn’t come yet, but the spring of the Constitution System seems to be on its way. (sigh)"

Quit Smoking said with a smirk, "Hehe, Constitution System ecstasy! (grin)"

Night Ten commented, "That’s really unreasonable. I thought Old Monk would unlock the Mouse People’s ’Iron Stomach’, but instead, he unlocked the regeneration traits of bears and lizards. (funny)"

WC’s Brother Mosquito: "Speaking of Night Ten, Wild Wind, have you both tested your talents? Are they any good?"

Night Ten: "I’ve tried it, it feels average, Ah Guang said the talent I unlocked is pretty Niubi, but I don’t feel a thing. (helpless)."

The talent he acquired was "Killing Intent Intuition."

According to the description of the talent, it was passively triggered and allowed the user to feel subjective killing intent on a cognitive level.

And the more intense the killing intent, the stronger the feeling!

Unlike perception mediated by light, sound, smell, vibration, and other factors, this type of perception didn’t seem to require a physical medium but read the killing intent at the cognitive level in some unknown way.

Brainwaves?

Heart rate?

Or some unknown type of "field"?

The talent description didn’t provide a specific scientific explanation; maybe the developers didn’t know how to make one up.

Putting aside these minor issues, there was actually a significant problem with the talent—it was severely weakened by distance!

In open areas, the maximum trigger range was only about 800 meters to 1 kilometer, and within indoor settings, the maximum capture range might just be a building of three to four stories.

Honestly, this distance is somewhat useless for a perception system.

After all, before Night Ten awoke, he had been able to catch the faint reflection of a sniper scope from a kilometer away, thanks to his enhanced perception attributes.

According to Fang Chang’s analysis, the real function of this Killing Intent Intuition should be to guard against sneak attacks.

For example, when they were at the Ecological Experiment Base, Night Ten’s perception completely missed a "high agility unit" hidden in the forest, the Claw of Death.

But if he had Killing Intent Intuition, he might have sensed it the moment he was targeted.

On the other hand, if the opponent hid their killing intent or didn’t notice them at all, the talent might become useless.

Overall, the talent was still useful.

But not as useful as one might imagine!

Wild Wind: "Mine is similar... it’s called ’Overclocking’, it works somewhat like Old White’s Intelligence System version and grants a 150% to 200% increase in brain efficiency. Lasts a bit longer, about 30 seconds."

Frankly, this talent might be even more useless than Night Ten’s "Killing Intent Intuition."

At least for the current version of the Intelligence System, what’s lacking isn’t attributes but the ability to convert those attributes into damage.

For instance, The mechanical hand is a tool that can "turn intelligence attributes into DPS", but there’s a limit to the output power of the mechanical hand, especially after awakening, this becomes particularly obvious.

When the intelligence attribute is below 10, each increment increases the maximum efficiency of the mechanical hand by 10%, making it more coordinated with muscles and controlled more precisely. But when the intelligence attribute exceeds 10, the incremental benefit is negligible.

Wild Wind’s own analysis was that at times like these, one should either install a couple more mechanical hands or even implant a third arm or multi-functional limb like "Doctor Octopus."

Another approach might be using neural connection devices to operate drones or unmanned ground vehicles in multithreaded mode, turning one’s brain into a "drone hive."

However, pursuing these options hinges on the availability of such devices at the NPC store.

That’s just too hard!

Quit smoking: "Damn, an intelligence boost? That’s a bit scammy..."

Wild Wind: "Can’t say it’s completely scammy, maybe just needs a bit tweaked in how it’s used."

"..."

Reviewing the chat history in the group, Chu Guang collected the experiences summed up by the junior players and saved it quietly in a document.

Though his backend could see each player’s skills, those were just panel data; the actual performance still depended on the players’ feedback.

"... After awakening, the Constitution System might enter a strong phase, focusing on enhancing survival abilities, with more diverse talents compared to other systems."

However, this sequence somewhat depended on talents, and not everyone could grind out a "balanced" god-like skill.

Moreover, even after awakening, the combat power of the Intelligence System hadn’t significantly improved.

It seems this sequence is not newbie-friendly.

Following a career path in lifestyle professions might still be okay, but pursuing a battle career heavily relies on external aids, which could prove to be costly.

"Xiao Qi."

As Chu Guang called out, Xiao Qi’s voice drifted from aside.

"I’m here, master."

Chu Guang marked the document and leaned back in his chair.

"The content in this document, help me compile it, and update it to the official website’s setting collection."

"The Alpha1.0 version will have 300 newcomers, this information should be able to help them a bit."

After hearing Chu Guang’s instructions, Xiao Qi said with full enthusiasm.

"No problem, leave it to Xiao Qi!"

As soon as the words fell, a cute little Kali popped up on the desktop, giving him a thumbs up to cheer him on.

Although it was most likely a stolen emoji from the forum, Chu Guang couldn’t help but crack a smile, feeling the fatigue of a day’s work being dispelled a lot.

Turning off the emoji, Chu Guang was about to edit the New Year’s event copy.

Just then, footsteps came from outside the office.

After knocking twice, Dr. Yin Fang pushed open the door and came in.

He was holding a round silver-white earphone in his hand, which appeared to be made of aluminum alloy, not very heavy, and reasonably compact, covering about half an ear when worn.

There was a camera at the front end of the earphone, aligned vertically with the earlobe, facing forward when worn.

To take a photo, one just needed to press a button on the side of the earphone. For video, a two-second long press would do, and pressing it again would turn it off.

Dr. Yin Fang placed the headphones on Chu Guang’s desk and continued,

"I’ve made the headphones you wanted, and based on your instructions, I’ve added communication features to the existing camera and photo functions."

"However, I must remind you that the VM, that is, the vital signs monitor, has a very broad signal range, which can extend up to twenty kilometers, but the bandwidth for data transmission is quite small. Text and images are fine, but if you need to transmit audio, or even video, you might need to prepare a portable radio set for it."

Chu Guang tried to understand this explanation.

In simple terms, the headphones were paired with the VM and utilized the VM’s communication chips and signal transmitters among other components, which is why they could be made so compact.

Nevertheless, the VM was essentially a survival tool designed for wearers to be located by rescue personnel. Stability and reliability were its primary features, which made it unsuitable as a tool for long-distance, large-scale data transmission.

Using the VM’s signal transmitter, the headphones could facilitate communication within a small team, and making contact with Outpost Base several kilometers away might just be possible, but hosting a live broadcast would be challenging.

Unless, of course, you were very close to a signal tower, or you equipped your team with a mobile radio station that had stronger, more professional signal reception and transmission capabilities.

Solving this issue wasn’t difficult, as long as there wasn’t a deliberate pursuit of high integration or compactness. Even relatively "primitive" radio devices would work.

Not just a mobile radio station, Chu Guang also planned to build another signal tower at Changjiu Farm to extend coverage north of Elm District to provide information services for players exploring farther areas.

After examining the headphones on the desk for a moment, Chu Guang looked towards Dr. Yin Fang and asked,

"Is this the only one?"

"There are five in total."

Dr. Yin Fang took out four more headphones from his pocket and placed them on the table, sighing softly,

"The design blueprints are already uploaded to your computer, including the portable radio station. You can find someone to replicate them; it’s not very difficult... so please, don’t bother me about these things anymore. There’s a bunch of data to handle, and that robot, I’m almost too busy to manage it all."

While understanding that the scientific expedition team’s workload was heavy, Chu Guang made a helpless expression since he was the only one in the shelter knowledgeable enough to handle those complex carbon-based circuit boards.

"I’ll try my best," he said.

After Dr. Yin Fang left, Chu Guang looked at the blueprints he had sent. The content was very detailed,

including where to collect the necessary materials, how to process them, and the way to assemble them.

Later, Chu Guang planned to find a few survivors knowledgeable about radio communications to try replicating several sets based on the blueprints and distribute them to frontline squad leaders to facilitate unified command.

After recording his plan in his work journal, Chu Guang continued to edit the copy for the New Year’s event.

["Wasteland OL" First Annual New Year Celebration!]

[Notice: New Year’s Day is an important festival in the Wasteland! To celebrate another year of survival and pray for good fortune in the coming year, scavengers in the Wasteland often head out a week in advance to forage, searching for ingredients for their New Year’s feast!

What magical delicacies will make it into this year’s recipes? What miraculous creatures will be eaten into extinction next year?

A mysterious gift is prepared for all participating residents by the Manager, and participation guarantees a reward!

Moreover, the winner of the contest will earn the glorious title of "Wasteland Gourmet" and will be inducted into the Hall of Fame!

A reminder from the Manager: Safety always comes first!

Don’t get sick from eating bad food at any cost!

Unless you want to miss out on the celebration!

]

[Event Start Date: Wasteland Era Year 211, December 25 to Wasteland Era Year 212, January 1]

[Requirement: Use easily obtainable ingredients from the Wasteland to create simple yet delicious dishes.]

After reviewing the event plan from start to finish, Chu Guang’s face showed a pleased expression.

Not bad!

The only slight disappointment was that this significant festival activity happened to not include donation options.

If they added a donation bar, it would be just like the games from Goose Factory and Pig Factory!

To prevent players from acting recklessly, causing non-combat casualties, after a lot of thought, Chu Guang decided to appoint Crow as the taste tester.

He believed that Crow Boss, always eager to help, would be happy to take on this task.

"This way, it’s foolproof!"

The day after tomorrow was the 25th.

After completing the final edits to the event plan, Chu Guang clicked the mouse twice, setting the sending time to tomorrow evening, then yawned, stretched, and headed to his room to sleep.

...

Perhaps due to his recent exertions, Chu Guang had a long dream that night.

However, this dream wasn’t a nightmare, just bizarre.

The person chasing him for his DNA transformed from Heya wielding a syringe to Boss Xia.

After waking up bathed in sweat, Chu Guang waited until the peak of the players’ log-ins and log-outs had passed before heading to Level B3.

Medical laboratory.

Miss Heya, with her silver hair, was observing the specimen slides collected by the players.

Seeing Chu Guang arrive, she immediately stopped her work, skillfully turned on the scanner beside her, and patted the pillow.

"Come on, lie down here."

Perhaps because she had been observing specimens just a second ago, Chu Guang always felt her gaze on him was a bit too "intense."

But with Xiao Qi around, Chu Guang wasn’t worried about anyone in the shelter causing him harm.

Seeing that the specimen had obediently lain down on the scanning bed, Heya hurried to the terminal at the head of the bed and tapped a few buttons on the touchscreen.

With a faint sound of electric currents, the scanning device quickly started working.

After a short wait, the organized attribute panel appeared in front of Chu Guang.

[

ID: Chu Guang

Gene Sequence: Manager (Stage 2)

Level: LV.14→LV.15

——Basic Attributes——

Strength: 17

Agility: 11

Constitution: 15→16

Perception: 12

Intelligence: 14

]

Perhaps due to his recent effective training, his level had increased by one, now reaching LV15.

"I wonder if I will awaken again when I reach LV20."

Chu Guang’s gaze rested on the suffix "Stage 2" within parentheses after the gene sequence.

Stage 1 at LV1, Stage 2 at LV10, by analogy, could Stage 3 be at LV20?

Moreover, although he still hadn’t figured out the upgrading pattern of the Manager sequence, Chu Guang could clearly feel that leveling up was becoming increasingly difficult.

"It’s incredible... Your physical values far exceed those of a normal person; how did you manage that?!"

Sitting at the terminal by the scanning bed, Heya looked at Chu Guang incredulously, her face brimming with intense interest.

As for his surprise, Chu Guang was already used to it.

He sat up from the bed and straightened his collar, casually replying.

"I’d like to know too; why don’t you research it for me?"

Heya nodded and said,

"No problem, but before that... I have something here that you might be interested in."

Chu Guang gave her an inquiring look.

"What is it?"

"Research on the Mucor species variants..."

Saying this, Heya took a tablet altered from a VM by her side and turned it towards Chu Guang.

"Based on the tissue samples provided by your ’players,’ my previous speculations were confirmed. Many Mucor species variants, including Eaters, Crawlers, Martyrs, and Tyrants, are not just offshoots of the mutated slime fungus; their morphology, predatory behavior, and all physiological phenomena and biological actions are, in fact, mimicking us."

Chu Guang raised his eyebrows slightly.

"Us?"

"Humans, but not limited to humans, even including... machines."

Heya nodded gently, paused for a moment, and then continued,

"For instance, the Tyrant... I found a highly similar form to the Eaters inside it, while the outer layer had a completely different hardened sporocarp structure. This also caused it to continue hunting and release spores using the organic matter obtained from its prey to spread the slime fungus and slowly repair the damaged sporocarps, even if the damage to its outer sporocarps reached up to 90%."

"Doesn’t that sound quite unexpected?"

Seeing Chu Guang’s growing expression of amazement, Heya enthusiastically continued with her astonishing findings.

"It’s mimicking us; although the mimicry is clumsy, it’s not entirely useless. It feels as if... um."

Furrowing her brow and pondering for a moment, Heya seemed to be figuring out how to describe her discovery.

However, Chu Guang understood it.

His adam’s apple moved slightly as he tried to say,

"... like an exoskeleton or, let’s say, power armor made of biotic material wrapped around an Eater?"

Heya’s eyes lit up, and she snapped her fingers saying,

"Exactly, that’s the feeling! Isn’t it amazing? No wonder those people are always clamoring to go out, the outside world is simply too unbelievable..."

Heya continued excitedly.

However, joy and sorrow are not communicated, and Chu Guang could not share her delight in discovering new species, even feeling a bit of a headache.

A self-repairable biotic armor and the astonishing mimicry exhibited by those slime fungi... what exactly is this creature?

"Is there any way to turn those slime fungal sporocarps into something edible?" Chu Guang interrupted Heya’s enthusiastic rambling, seriously looking at her as he asked.

Heya was slightly stunned, looking at him with a lack of understanding.

"Something edible? Why would you want to eat such a thing..."

Chu Guang heaved a gentle sigh.

"Because I can’t think of a better way."

——

(The weather has turned cooler, and I’ve caught a slight cold. Today there’s only one update, but I’ll aim for ten thousand words tomorrow... Apologies to the brothers waiting for the update; I’m truly sorry T.T. New plots and new Chapters, I need to think it over)

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