Why the bug I wrote became a core gameplay mechanic?!
Chapter 664 - 647: Natural Players’ Freedom with Ribs

Chapter 664: Chapter 647: Natural Players’ Freedom with Ribs

Instructor Ding was completely shocked, and couldn’t help but feel infuriated.

"What the, what the heck is all this!

"How can you run into a marketing account even in a game?

"And it’s absolutely full of lies? Not a single truth?

"When did I get a feeling of fullness from eating Nine Dragon Elixir Pills? When did I have blood as precious as oil, with hundreds of toxins in my body? Leaving behind a private cave mansion and billions of Spirit Stones, and a peerless Tao Companion validated the dealer... all imagined, completely imagined!

"Everyone in the livestream saw everything, they can attest to it!

"It’s not that complicated at all; I just over-leveled the account, and then the dealer kept making money for me. Don’t believe in and spread rumors!"

However, no matter how Instructor Ding tried to explain, the comments were filled with "hahahaha."

"Come on, bro, stop explaining. Explaining is just covering up."

"Although the video has no truth at all when looked at closely, every line feels like the truth."

"The video creator is really talented. How did they make it look so similar? Even though the details don’t match at all, the overall vibe fits perfectly."

"Actually, if you really scrutinize it, it’s even more outrageous than in the video."

"Yeah, for example, the only peerless Tao Companion in the server didn’t marry the dealer because of approval; she just wanted to be the wife of a Level A dealer, regardless of who the dealer was."

"It’s not entirely baseless. Little Ding did indeed want the dealer to switch to a male Tao Companion, so saying ’wants his good brother to embrace a male bond’ isn’t wrong?"

"Agreed, this uploader truly understands the essence of ’bad news literature,’ with smooth, natural scripts carrying a dash of the unconventional. The funniest part is that although there isn’t a single truth, reality is even more absurd than the video. A solid follow!"

"I have a feeling this uploader won’t be short of material moving forward."

"Definitely not short. With the current pace of Reverse Heaven, I worry this uploader can’t keep up with the speed of people exploding and ascending."

Seeing the relentless ridicule in the comments, Instructor Ding realized none of his fans were on his side; they were all there for the entertainment.

"The only peerless Tao Companion in the server" turned into "the only shared Tao Companion in the server," which was indeed hard to keep up with.

"Ugh, ending the stream, ending the stream!

"Continue cultivating tomorrow. I don’t believe it, I’ve exploded twice already, and Brother Li hasn’t exploded?"

Instructor Ding ended the stream with some frustration.

...

The next midday.

Zhuge Jun crawled out of bed from his rented room, yawned, then sat in front of his computer and opened Reverse Heaven.

After graduating from college, he was no longer a happy student. He had to move out of the school and rent a place on his own.

As a slacker, he hadn’t learned much in his four years of college, but he never missed any game by Nitiandang.

But that’s not an issue. Playing games can actually feed you. Zhuge Jun gained fame through his videos of Endless Fantasy Legend 2, and is now a full-time content creator.

Just relying on income from video sponsorships, he could live a carefree life in Beijing.

Although he couldn’t afford to buy a house, his food, drink, and leisure were covered.

As for Hou Ji, that guy miraculously got into graduate school, now living a pig-like life.

Zhuge Jun’s main job was still Endless Fantasy Legend 2. Although the game had stopped updating, its abundant content, various endgame strategies, and occasional adjustments to character strengths allowed him to squeeze out new videos from time to time.

Zhuge Jun only needed to spend part of his effort updating the storyline for Endless Fantasy Legend 2, leaving the rest of his time to play Reverse Heaven.

Initially, Zhuge Jun was quite reluctant to play this game.

Because unlike Endless Fantasy Legend 2, which, though also a pay-to-win game, differed significantly.

Endless Fantasy Legend 2 gameplay leans towards single-player, where paying players can draw characters, and even free players can acquire good characters without any strength anxiety.

But Reverse Heaven was different, being a more demanding MMORPG where if you didn’t pay, you’d be constantly thrashed by others.

At first, Zhuge Jun didn’t want to play it. Although he made some money making videos, dumping it all into Reverse Heaven seemed utterly foolish.

If you’re not a coal magnate, you generally shouldn’t touch these kinds of games.

The least suited to play these games are those with a bit of spare money, as once they start spending a bit, they’ll find it’s like throwing money down the drain.

Zhuge Jun merely wanted to give it a try, hoping to make a couple of videos. If he could find a long-term replacement for Endless Fantasy Legend 2, that would be even better.

The result of trying was unexpected; the game was very different from what he anticipated.

If anything was frustrating, it was the game’s deceptive advertising.

At first, almost all the promotional materials for Reverse Heaven contained this phrase: "Nine Dragons pulling the coffin, dominating eternity!"

Many players keen on cultivation themes were drawn in purely by these eight characters.

No help for it, it just sounds so cool!

In just eight words, it vividly captures the essence of cultivation.

But after entering the game, they realized there was no Nine Dragons pulling the coffin or dominating eternity at all.

Okay, there was Nine Dragons pulling a coffin, but Nine Dragons referred to the Nine Dragon Elixir Pills, and pulling a coffin was literally pulling a coffin to the grave.

This phrase wasn’t suggesting players could ride in a coffin pulled by Nine Dragons dominating eternity after reaching the highest level, but that they’d explode and die from consuming Nine Dragon Elixir Pills.

What’s even more frustrating is that Nitiandang does this every time. Their marketing always misleads significantly without an outright lie.

Other less capable developers use false statements to trick people, or mix truths and lies to deceive.

But Nitiandang is different; they always deceive with truths.

However, over time, both Zhuge Jun and Hou Ji eventually got into the game.

Each had their reasons for getting hooked:

Zhuge Jun discovered the game could make money, enough for him to buy ribs, so how could a budget-conscious person like him refuse?

For Hou Ji, he found that he could play without spending money, relying solely on a Cultivation Loan. Rounding it off, wasn’t it essentially free to play?

With recent hot topics revolving around Reverse Heaven, the game gained significant online traction, and both were having a blast.

First thing upon logging in, cultivate.

But up to now, Zhuge Jun hadn’t used any Nine Dragon Elixir Pills. Though at the bottom of his Sect, he didn’t mind.

Bottom rung is bottom rung; as long as he didn’t get kicked out, it was fine.

Second thing upon logging in, enter the Barbaric World outskirts, complete Sect tasks, and harvest some Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures for cultivation.

Third thing upon logging in, visit the auction house, check the sales of previous items, sell newly gathered valuable stuff, and see if there were any bargains worth stashing away.

"Hmm? The Nine Dragon materials listed last night are sold out already.

"Sigh, Nine Dragon Elixir Pills always sell well.

"In contrast, Foundation Establishment Pill materials remain unsold for ages, requiring further price cuts."

Zhuge Jun collected Spirit Stones from the auction sales. Combining the week’s earnings, he’d unknowingly made over three hundred bucks.

Weekly side earnings fluctuated, peaking at over five hundred under ideal conditions.

Occasionally finding rare materials in the Barbaric World outskirts and with a tycoon in dire need, he could bypass the auction house using a shout-out item near the Six Major Sects, sparking immediate interest among several tycoons, allowing him to sell directly to the highest bidder.

No middleman for auction fees; one sale could make his week.

On average, he could earn around 1500 bucks a month this way, indeed not a negligible sum.

Solely relying on this game, he almost secured rib independence.

Most importantly, Zhuge Jun’s gameplay wasn’t intense, falling under casual play.

Relaxedly earning this much, it’s no wonder more players were continuously joining.

The game’s unique design greatly contributed to maintaining this ecosystem.

Just because Zhuge Jun could make this much casually didn’t mean one could earn more by playing seriously.

Quite the opposite, serious play often resulted in earning less.

This mechanism was essential to minimize market disruption by farming studios, letting regular players benefit most.

As for how this mechanism operated?

Zhuge Jun had researched a bit.

Simply put, the game’s most valuable commodities were materials related to Nine Dragon Elixir Pills. Even juvenile materials for Nine Dragon hatchlings, typically used by lower-level cultivators, remained in short supply.

One reason was the constant influx of new players; another was that every elder player’s body explosion and restart kept demand high for low-level materials.

Zhuge Jun played casually, selling all his materials without ever using any Nine Dragon materials himself.

Only thus could he ensure his earnings.

Had he played rigorously, attempting to upgrade to the Barbaric World’s advanced areas, things would go south.

Strengthening required using Nine Dragon Elixir Pills, an endless expense that his materials alone couldn’t cover.

This would force him to take Cultivation Loans, then more Cultivation Loans...

Such compounding would keep him perpetually in debt, growing poorer as he played harder.

Even getting help from higher-level players didn’t work, as items in Reverse Heaven were distributed based on cultivation level and resurrecting after death cost money.