Why the bug I wrote became a core gameplay mechanic?!
Chapter 180 "Back to Nature" Ending (Three more for monthly passes!)

Chapter 180: Chapter 180 "Back to Nature" Ending (Three more for monthly passes!)

A.M.

In Gan Di’s livestream room.

After roughly testing out a few entry points and the detailed mechanics of Sky Swimming, Gan Di continued to progress through the game and finally arrived at the battle with the final boss.

Up to this point, Gan Di had been struggling in "Ascension" for nearly two consecutive all-nighters, with the game time reaching nearly 20 hours.

However, to experience the full content of "Ascension," at least another ten hours would be needed.

Because there were still numerous side quests, hidden bosses, and multiple endings that could be unlocked in the game, all of which Gan Di had deliberately ignored in order to accelerate the game’s progress.

If one were willing to continue playing, there would be no problem at all with the game lasting two to three hundred hours.

After completing the first playthrough, the game would unlock multiple playthroughs and a type of endless mode featuring continuous boss battles.

In these repeated playthroughs, players could continually enhance their attributes, and the attributes, affixes, and set effects of the equipment would also be updated, allowing players to repeatedly farm and experience, as well as compose special BUILDS with corresponding strategies based on the random attributes and traits of the equipment, to meet stronger challenges.

Of course, those were matters for the future.

At this moment Gan Di was ready to face the final boss of the game.

He controlled Li Huanzhen to reappear in the palace of Jiangdu City, arriving at the loft at the very top.

There had already been many battles in this place before, such as the first time coming to the palace to challenge the Great General, as well as the two subsequent enemy invasions and the Great General’s return after becoming a Flesh Monster.

But this time, the entire scene had changed.

According to the storyline, Li Huanzhen had already collected the three key items required for the plot: the "Relic Sword," the "Red Flesh Crest," and the "Tai Sui Polymer," and he had also repelled the invading armies of the Great Liang.

But when he returned to the palace to look for the Little Emperor, he discovered someone blocking his way.

It was Zhao Siyuan, a very important NPC in this game!

Zhao Siyuan seemed to have undergone major changes at this point, dressed in heavy armor and still wielding the Horse-Cutter Saber in his hand, but his body was faintly emanating a black aura, and even his voice had changed.

That’s because, according to the development of the plot, Zhao Siyuan, who once defeated the Great General alongside Li Huanzhen, had also embarked on the path of Flesh Ascension. After the death of the Great General, Zhao Siyuan consumed his flesh core, providing himself with immense power.

Now, he wanted to snatch the three key items from Li Huanzhen to complete his own path of Ascension.

After the cutscene, the battle began!

However, what surprised Gan Di was that Zhao Siyuan was not difficult to defeat, in fact, he was quite easy to deal with.

Previously, while at the Taoist temple, players could spar with Zhao Siyuan. Besides teaching players some basic maneuvers such as Perfect Parry, dodging, and counter-slashes, there was also an option to "fight seriously."

If players chose this option, then Zhao Siyuan would go all out in the fight.

Gan Di had tried it and ended up getting demolished by Zhao Siyuan, finding his teeth all over the floor.

Zhao Siyuan’s Horse-Cutter Saber was heavy and powerful with a wide range of attack and swift moves. On top of that, he had variable attack rhythms such as draw-slashing, chain-slashing, and counter-slashing, causing Gan Di to suffer terribly.

But now, the situation was completely different!

Even though Zhao Siyuan had grown stronger compared to that time, Gan Di was handling him with ease.

The reason was that Gan Di himself had also become stronger!

After having been tempered by powerful enemies such as the Great General, the Spirit Ape, and the Crane-Riding Immortal, Gan Di was very familiar with the game mechanics. Coupled with his prior sparring experience with Zhao Siyuan, he was intimately acquainted with his attack patterns, so Gan Di managed to fill his stance bar without any real suspense, triggering the execution animation.

"If it’s you ascending, that’s also good.

"Prepare... to welcome the Heavenly Tribulation."

After Zhao Siyuan uttered these nonsensical phrases, he pulled out a special item that looked like a branch of some tree, with odd-shaped leaves growing on it.

The next second, a brilliant bolt of heavenly lightning descended from the sky, striking the branch directly and completely disintegrating Zhao Siyuan!

With a "boom," a thunderous explosion shook the top floor of the loft in the Jiangdu City Palace, flipping the rooftop completely and shattering the wooden pillars and walls around it, igniting towering flames!

On the heavy stone floor of the loft, scorched black marks from the lightning strike were also left behind.

At this moment Li Huanzhen stood in the loft with the surroundings in full view.

Overlooking the red walls and yellow tiles of the Jiangdu City Palace, it indeed gave a sense of déjà vu, as if one was on the top of Forbidden City on a full moon night.

The next second, a person who looked almost identical to Li Huanzhen stepped out slowly from the void.

This was Li Huanzhen’s inner demon!

In the final stage of the game "Ascension," players had to face Li Huanzhen’s inner demon as well as the thunder tribulation necessary for Ascension.

The inner demon could use all of Li Huanzhen’s martial arts and props, and could even wield the two Relic Swords, Zhen and Huan.

Its AI was also very powerful and would choose its battle mode based on the player’s habits in previous fights.

If the player had been overly reliant on the skills of the Relic Sword before, then the inner demon would reduce its own attacking tendency, waiting for the player to actively try and use Relic Sword skills to attack, after which the inner demon would quickly dodge and launch a counter-attack.

If the player had overused the various props from Seeking Immortal Record before, liking to use skills like Locust Stone, fire, hatchet chopping, or spear thrusting, then the inner demon would select a Seeking Immortal Record skill that could precisely counteract the player’s preferred tactics.

Or, if the player had favored Perfect Parry in previous battles and rarely used props, then the inner demon would reduce its attacking desire, minimize the chances of sword clashing, and cause more trouble for the player with a variety of props and martial skills.

Besides, the inner demon would also coordinate with the heavenly tribulation, occasionally using the thunder in the sky to strike at the player.

The inner demon itself had three health bars, and its AI would change with each phase, generally getting harder as it progressed.

Adding the previous Zhao Siyuan, this final battle could be said to have four stages.

Gan Di never thought that, in front of the final boss, he’d start suffering again!

He had thought that after previously defeating strong enemies, he’d completely mastered the gameplay of this game; but the final boss still gave him an excruciatingly hard time.

However, Gan Di did not feel discouraged because only a battle of this intensity was worthy of the conclusion to "Ascension"!

Of course, if it were in a science fiction world, this boss would take on another form.

It would transform into the collective bugs of the entire world, as well as the world’s cleanup program.

However, there would be no significant changes in the combat mechanics.

Finally, after battling for nearly an hour, Gan Di finally succeeded in slaying the inner demon and completing the tribulation.

In the end, he controlled Li Huanzhen, bringing these key props to the Little Emperor.

After a brief struggle, Gan Di chose the "Return to Nature" ending.

That is, after helping Great Liang resist the invasion, he went to the Immortal Realm to bring back a cure, clearing all the Flesh Monsters and healing himself in the process.

The reason for choosing this ending was partly because Gan Di had always defaulted to the perspective of Li Huanzhen in the Immortal Cultivation World. Although he was well aware that "Return to Nature" could not be considered a perfect ending, it was still a conventional and directly narrative-led good ending for the Immortal Cultivation World.

On the other hand, of course, it was because he hadn’t completed various side quests and didn’t unlock many other ending branches, so there weren’t many options to choose from.

In the final ending CG, Li Huanzhen underwent a specific ceremony, integrating the "Red Flesh Crest," "Tai Sui Polymer," and "Proof of Ascension," which he had obtained by defeating the inner demon, into his own body.

The next second, his body rapidly swelled up, and countless tentacles burst through his flesh!

The clouds in the sky seemed to crack open as well, resembling the path to immortality through Ascension.

Across the Liang Kingdom, countless Flesh Monsters seemed to sense something in that instant; they stopped all their actions and just frantically waved their tentacles and pulsated their flesh, preparing to witness the birth of a new Immortal.

However, the next second, one of Li Huanzhen’s tentacles took out the cure obtained from the Upper Realm and stuffed it into the gaping maw that had just emerged on his belly.

Then, another tentacle of his grabbed the Relic Sword and plunged it fiercely into his own chest!

The great power of the Relic Sword erupted, emitting a blinding light.

A piercing scream rang out across Jiangdu. All the Flesh Monsters entered a frenzy; they began to expand and contract violently, their tentacles lashing out and attacking everything around them, but soon they dwindled, disintegrating into pools of broken flesh.

Li Huanzhen’s own flesh rapidly disintegrated as well, and he fell to the ground in human form.

The clouds in the sky cleared away, and under the sunlight, the pus quickly evaporated, while the remaining chunks of flesh were buried in the wilderness by disgusted people to decay naturally.

Jiangdu City regained its former prosperity, and Great Liang was saved.

Wearing a bamboo hat, Li Huanzhen, now returned to being a normal person, walked along the narrow paths between fields, looking at the large number of people who had started farming again.

The weather was clear with clusters of white clouds scattered across the sky; the grass was lush, and flowers bloomed like a brilliant tapestry.

The picture froze there.

However, at that moment, the style of the picture suddenly changed!

Everything before one’s eyes suddenly switched to the Mechanical World. A multitude of robots exploded, their components shattering on the ground, being piled into waste treatment plants for landfill. Piles of mechanical heads, limbs, and broken bodies were stacked as high as hills, with eyes flashing on the heads, seemingly conveying a bone-chilling resentment.

But the next second, more mechanical limbs completely buried it.

In the last scene of the picture, the game’s logo appeared again, still those two large artistic characters "Ascension," but this time, the characters were full of cracks, and the twinkling small green characters around them also disappeared completely after flickering several times.