Why the bug I wrote became a core gameplay mechanic?!
Chapter 458 - 441: Pinching Faces, Then Turning into Ancient Gods

Chapter 458: Chapter 441: Pinching Faces, Then Turning into Ancient Gods

Zhuge Jun resurrected and went to challenge again.

This time, the tutorial level in "Blood of Lies" was still quite interesting, not just arranging a mindless cutscene or an extremely difficult narrative kill, but a setting where experts could pass in one go, and ordinary players could pass within five tries.

Moreover, this boss called "Lie Hunter" had his health obviously adjusted higher, allowing players more time to experience the different moves and skills of the boss when using various weapons.

Although players didn’t have settings like health potions, they could heal by attacking the opponent, and the amount of health restored was quite substantial.

As long as one wasn’t passively taking hits for a long time or wasn’t too careless and perfectly caught two or three sets of skills, they wouldn’t die instantly.

Not only that, but the performance of the Transform Slash was also perhaps too strong. Zhuge Jun had never seriously practiced it, and many times, just by feeling, using Transform Slash to exchange blows with the boss, he achieved a GP effect.

And once a GP was successful, not only did he not lose health, but he could also interrupt the boss’s actions and cause damage to his parts.

The Lie Hunter had weapons all over his body, and after each weapon was pulled out, one or two holes appeared on his body, and every time Zhuge Jun successfully executed a GP, these holes bled extensively.

Not only did the boss’s health drop significantly, but the blood splashed on Zhuge Jun, allowing him to recover a substantial amount of health in one go.

After dying just four times, Zhuge Jun cleared the last bit of the boss’s blood bar.

"Phew! That was close but no real danger!"

"I can only say that the battle isn’t really hard, those veterans in action games, probably a lot of them could pass it on the first try.

"Oh no, could it be that Nitiandang is showing mercy this time? Maybe the difficulty of ’Blood of Lies’ isn’t as high as everyone thinks?

"Please don’t compromise with players who lack dexterity, everyone is looking forward to an exhilarating battle."

Zhuge Jun soon thought his own subconscious thoughts were somewhat absurd. What kind of company is Nitiandang? They had never disappointed everyone in creating a buzz.

"Blood of Lies" definitely wouldn’t be this simple going forward.

A cutscene appeared on the screen.

"In the end you are just like me, abandoning everything...

"But was it all worth it?

"Look at yourself, take a good look, is this really what you expected..." His voice echoed in the cathedral, gradually fading away and his body seemed to wither, continuously drying out and breaking apart, finally becoming like sand scattered by the wind, disappearing without a trace.

However, his weapons remained there on the spot.

"Huh? These weapons can actually be picked up."

Zhuge Jun stepped forward and found all the weapons could be picked up, but there were notifications when he tried.

"After a prolonged battle, the weapons of the Lie Hunter have become dull and have accompanied their owner towards the end. Even craftsmen with the greatest expertise could no longer save it."

"Ah, I see, so this place is actually like a training room?

"Players can pick up all the weapons in the game here, try the attack modules of these weapons, and even compare them with the boss’s motions."

"Though these weapons can’t be directly used, they will definitely reappear later in the game, allowing for targeted selection.

"That’s quite nice."

Zhuge Jun casually selected some weapons he was interested in. He originally liked the cool looking scythe for its imposing appearance but realized after trying that it wasn’t particularly easy to use; its attack action was a bit clumsy, and the Transform Slash motion was also long, likely difficult to manage.

Besides, Zhuge Jun also tried the Sword and Shield and quickly determined it was likely his best choice throughout the game and needed to acquire it as soon as possible.

Because, from all angles, the Sword and Shield seemed tailor-made for beginners!

In Light Weapon mode, the shield was mounted on the left prosthetic, with a one-handed sword in the right hand. Not only was the attack motion module excellent, but when the defense button was pressed, the left prosthetic was raised, and the shield was just right to block the front.

Isn’t that invincible?

The defense button seemed a bit humorous at first, protecting against hardly any attacks, and taking hits would cause Anemia, and might even break the left arm. But with the shield, wouldn’t that be like directly fixing a weakness? Shouldn’t the defensive power receive a significant boost?

While in Heavy Weapon mode, the Shield combined with the One-Handed Sword to form a Shield Axe, though the attack actions were noticeably slower, the attack distance and other attributes like resilience reduction were significantly enhanced, which should be useful for some special situations.

Simply put... a perfect weapon!

Of course, dual swords and scythes were also great, but as an average player with dexterity issues, Zhuge Jun still felt Sword and Shield suited him best.

After roughly familiarizing himself with these weapons, Zhuge Jun continued forward to the next plot interaction.

This was a large basin.

It was located on a beautifully intricate pedestal, much larger than a normal basin, positioned right below the statue in the cathedral.

As he approached, a notification appeared: "Gaze into the Meditation Basin."

After interacting, the character controlled by Zhuge Jun approached the front of the basin and looked down into the water.

At this moment, he was dressed in the signature attire of a hunter, wearing a triangle hat on his head and also a face mask, so his entire face was thoroughly covered.

However, the next second, the character reached out and removed his own mask.

Then, the game automatically entered the face customization segment.

"Hmm? There’s a face customization segment, awesome!"

Zhuge Jun couldn’t help but perk up, ready to seriously engage in the task.

Nowadays, mainstream games on the market generally have two approaches: either they don’t allow face customization at all, like some games where the protagonist has a strong presence and a clear storyline, or they allow extremely high freedom in customization, to the point where players can tweak every bit of flesh.

Compared to that, Zhuge Jun preferred the latter, since face customization itself could also be seen as a special kind of fun.

The first thing was to switch to a female character!

When it comes to face customization, players often have two extreme choices: one is to change the pattern and make the character very ugly, even deliberately creating an "Ancient God Face," with a unique ugliness; the other is to make the character as handsome or beautiful as possible.

Zhuge Jun was a staunch member of the beauty faction.

Moreover, he insisted that as long as there were female characters in the game, he would definitely play as a female character, because who wants to constantly look at a man’s butt in a game?

"Wow, the templates in this face customization system are all pretty good, it’s hard to choose.

"This one matches my aesthetic more, I just need to tweak it slightly ..."

Zhuge Jun found that the "Blood of Lies" face customization system was quite powerful, with each part being finely divided and allowing infinite adjustments by the player.

He found his favorite among many female face templates and simply changed the hairstyle and skin color, then made some fine adjustments to facial details and body shape according to his preferences.

Although it was just "a slight tweak," half an hour had passed before he realized it.

Carefully examining his final result, Zhuge Jun was quite satisfied and nodded.

"Good, I’m about ready to start wreaking havoc everywhere!"

In the face customization interface, besides adjusting appearances, there was also a special option called "trait," which included several different options such as "Tool Mastery," "Doll Affinity," "Weapon Master," "Blacksmith Apprentice," "Natural Liar," and so on.

These trait options would affect the player’s initial attributes on one hand, providing an extra boost to a particular single attribute and on the other hand, they would have some special functional effects.

For example, "Doll Affinity" naturally made the player’s body more suitable for doll modifications and defaulted in increasing the character’s carry weight by 3 points.

Moreover, "Weapon Master" allowed players to use weapons with lower attribute requirements, while "Blacksmith Apprentice" could reduce the resources needed for enhancing weapons, and so on.

These traits were all pretty much the same, and they didn’t fundamentally impact the game, so even if chosen incorrectly, it wouldn’t be a big deal.

However, if a player predetermined their play style, choosing the right trait could indeed help during the game progress.

"Natural Liar?

"The effect is that the lies told are more likely to be believed, and it also boosts the character’s dexterity by 3 points.

"Can you actually lie in this game?"

Zhuge Jun felt somewhat intrigued; although the game was called "Blood of Lies," the official release hadn’t mentioned any special mechanism or system related to lies.

But from the current situation, "lying" seems to be some kind of special mechanism in this game, and like equipment enhancement and doll modification, it would have a certain impact on the game.

Originally, Zhuge Jun thought the other traits were also quite good, like "Weapon Master," which could save attribute points, and "Blacksmith Apprentice," which could reduce the consumption of enhancement stones.

But after considering it, he decisively chose "Natural Liar," as it was a unique system in this game, and should be very useful, right?

After making his selections, Zhuge Jun clicked "Confirm."

The next second, the screen switched back to the previous cutscene animation, where the character, reflected in the Meditation Basin, removed his mask and revealed his face in the water.

Zhuge Jun had prepared himself to admire the beauty he had just created, but the very next second, he almost vomited on the spot.

"Hey, what kind of monster is this!

"No, did I not save the face I just created, or what? Why did it turn into this mess!"

The face in the Meditation Basin was completely that of a horrifying Ancient God Face.

The face was swollen, the skin tone was bluish-purple, the eyes were narrow, the nose was turned outwards, and the mouth almost stretched to the ears, with the lips also black and purple.

Even those players who enjoyed creating Ancient God Faces intentionally might not be able to achieve such an effect.

Zhuge Jun was dumbfounded; what was going on?

I had just created a beautiful girl, how did it turn into a monster?

Even if it wasn’t saved, it should have reverted to the default face, right?