Why the bug I wrote became a core gameplay mechanic?!
Chapter 641 - 624 Cultivation Team

Chapter 641: Chapter 624 Cultivation Team

"In that case, I shall take you to the Songyang Middle School of our Henggang Sect."

After saying this, the Alchemist Qian once again took Chen Tingquan on the flying sword, heading towards a new area.

On the flying sword, Chen Tingquan looked at the scenery rushing past below while pondering some questions.

"Instructor Ding must have reached the Qi Refining Second Level by now, right? Has he already triggered similar storylines?

"...That’s right, he went directly to the headquarters of the Erosion Spirit Heavenly Palace, completely bypassing all these meaningless competitions.

"When I reach the Intermediate Branch, I will have to work diligently; otherwise, according to the double-opening gate master’s words, any negligence will result in being eliminated at the bottom.

"In other words, this area of the Basic Branch centers around single-player gameplay and serves as a kind of protection for those players who want to slack off.

"If a player is determined to slack off, they can always linger in the Basic Branch, occasionally venturing to the outskirts of the Barbaric World to gather some materials to sell.

"For better resources, players must climb step by step and keep advancing."

Before long, a brand-new cluster of mountains appeared in Chen Tingquan’s sight.

The architecture here resembled the Henggang Sect buildings he’d seen before, but they were evidently more imposing.

The entire branch was spread over a range of mountains, with different buildings on each peak, and various Immortals flying back and forth, looking busy yet lively.

Unlike before, Chen Tingquan saw players, as they had IDs above their heads, clearly distinguishing them from the NPCs.

"So this must be entering the online area seamlessly?

"Not bad, not bad, it looks pretty lively. Though this game seems to have a lot of quirks, given that it’s Nitiandang’s new game, there’s no need to worry about its popularity."

The biggest fear for online games is that no one plays them. Without enough players, all matchmaking systems and online gameplay become castles in the air.

This is why many online games fall into a downward spiral of player attrition, server merging, more attrition, and eventual server shutdown.

But ’Reverse Heaven’ has the previous reputation of Nitiandang as its backing, so there’s no need to worry about its popularity.

The current player count that Chen Tingquan saw seemed just right, indicating that the game’s dynamic matchmaking systems were working effectively.

Upon landing, the Alchemist Qian said, "Alright, you should practice diligently here. The layout of the various branches of our Henggang Sect is basically the same, so there should be no issues in adapting.

"I hope the next time we meet, it will be to celebrate your joining the Wuxiang Pill Alliance and not because you were eliminated from Songyang Middle School."

After saying this, the Alchemist Qian flew away on his flying sword.

Chen Tingquan opened the map and took a look. This Intermediate Branch of the Henggang Sect was indeed not much different from the Basic Branch. Although both the map and buildings were much larger, the overall layout remained unchanged.

Familiar structures like the Practice Room, Martial Arts Arena, Elixir Room, etc., were still in familiar areas, and he was already quite clear about their purposes.

"Hey? Brother Quan? Is it really you?"

Hearing a familiar voice, Chen Tingquan turned around and saw that it was Liang Chun and Li Wenhao.

"Hey, you two are here too?

"Did you also choose the free start?"

Chen Tingquan was quite surprised.

Liang Chun was an independent game designer and usually liked to play games with Li Wenhao, which everyone knew.

For a network game like ’Reverse Heaven,’ it’s normal for streamers to band together with friends to stay warm, a common practice.

Chen Tingquan hadn’t expected that they, like himself, also chose the free character start, instead of like Instructor Ding, who spent 648 to instantly join the Six Major Sects.

Li Wenhao shook his head. "I picked the free start, and Liang Chun started as a 198 Small Sect disciple."

Liang Chun sighed, "Ah, got fooled! I thought that, from a game designer’s perspective, the 198 identity would certainly have the best cost-effectiveness. But who would’ve thought that Nitiandang would really not care about people!"

In this setting, players can independently adjust their microphone settings, initially defaulting to push-to-talk with automatic reception of all other players’ voices, or they can choose to switch to free microphone or only hear friends or fellow Sect members, with options being quite flexible.

Benefiting from the latest noise-canceling technology, even if some people have poor microphone quality, using a free mic won’t result in much blast noise.

In addition, in free communication mode, the farther apart the characters are in the game, the softer the voice becomes, achieving a decent simulation effect.

The three gathered, choosing to enable friend-only voice, making the world a bit quieter.

After a simple chat, Chen Tingquan came to understand the state of mind these two had.

When they first started playing, they faced difficulties choosing between the three identities.

Li Wenhao naturally wanted to start free.

As someone who loved playing independent and single-player games and was a streamer himself, he didn’t particularly approve of spending on pay-to-win games. Seeing the character selection screen demanding money from the start surprised him: What’s going on? Haven’t even done anything yet, and you’re asking me to pay at the character selection? No way!

Liang Chun, however, analyzed it from a game designer’s perspective.

First, considering that the launch offers three different identities, the free identity must be the worst, undoubtedly.

Second, the 648 identity is clearly for the rich, with only a tiny fraction of people choosing it. Therefore, it shouldn’t have any exclusive high-end benefits, as doing so would easily get criticized harshly.

Thus, he concluded that 198 should be the most economically wise choice, so he picked that!

After exploring the game for a while, he discovered that, surprisingly, 648 indeed was the most valuable option.

That was certainly frustrating.

Yesterday, they had been bounced around, even dying twice in the Barbaric World. Though Liang Chun had a 198 start, his combat strength still couldn’t compare to a whale like Instructor Ding, so he couldn’t carry Li Wenhao through the Barbaric World with ease.

Being taught a lesson by reality, the two could only return and diligently cultivate, eventually arriving one after the other at the Intermediate Branch of Henggang Sect.

Since Liang Chun started at 198, his progress was faster, having arrived earlier. Li Wenhao and Chen Tingquan both had free starts, so their progress wasn’t too far apart.

Finding acquaintances in this place made everyone quite happy.

"Let’s first complete today’s cultivation tasks, then team up to head to the Barbaric World.

"When the strength is similar, forming a team ensures resources are roughly evenly distributed, which should be more beneficial."

The three couldn’t help but look forward to today in the Barbaric World, finding a bit of joy in hunting and multiplayer games.

"By the way, Brother Quan, I noticed there’s a system here where we can form a Cultivation Team, which seems to be similar to a guild. Why don’t the three of us form a team and see?" Li Wenhao suggested.

Chen Tingquan was momentarily taken aback, "Cultivation Team? Why does the name sound so peculiar..."

Li Wenhao was unconcerned, "Ah, could it be stranger than the name Songyang Middle School? Anyway, joining a team does provide some benefits, though you can only join with fellow Henggang Sect disciples."

Chen Tingquan nodded, "Sure, let’s do it."

Soon, Chen Tingquan joined a learning team named "Head Square."

"Really? What’s with this name..." Chen Tingquan was a bit speechless.

Li Wenhao chuckled, "I just came up with it randomly. No worries, Brother Quan, it can always be changed if we’re not satisfied later."

Chen Tingquan sighed and didn’t say anything further.

Up to this point, he had more or less understood the game’s basic social structure: at the top are the Six Major Sects, followed by ordinary Great Sects like the Henggang Sect, which internally divides into headquarters, Advanced Branch, Intermediate Branch, and Basic Branch.

Within these branches, players can freely form various Cultivation Teams to progress quickly as a unit.

Each team has a ranking, and the higher the rank, the more rewards it receives from the Sect.

However, if you want to advance, such as moving from the Intermediate Branch to the Advanced Branch, all team members must advance together, or else you’ll have to kick out members who are lagging behind. Alternatively, advancing members can leave the team and form a new one once they reach the Advanced Branch.

"This doesn’t seem so bad; the game has kept a little humanity after all."

Chen Tingquan couldn’t help but feel.

In the Barbaric World earlier, he deeply felt that there was an insurmountable power gap between civilian players and whales like Instructor Ding, who could end him with just a burst of aura.

If the Barbaric World were filled with whales like Instructor Ding, where would the average player find room to survive?

However, it now seemed that the team behind ’Reverse Heaven’ had retained some humanity, with certain settings to curb this issue.

Firstly, whales compensating civilian players for accidental kills is costly, escalating with each incident, even painful for whales.

Secondly, the game employs a soft matchmaking mechanism that prevents civilian players and whales from frequently running into each other.

Civilian players often gather in regular Sects, competing among themselves even when forming teams. Whales, on the other hand, converge in the Six Major Sects, competing amongst themselves.

Generally, interactions between the two are limited to within the Barbaric World and probably not even in the same area.

This is because the strength of civilian players only allows them to reach the outskirts of the Barbaric World, while the whales venture deeper.

With this realization, Chen Tingquan found a glimmer of hope rekindling.

Even though competing with whales isn’t feasible, as a zero-spending player, if he practices diligently, he should be able to stand out, right?