Why the bug I wrote became a core gameplay mechanic?!
Chapter 79 The Profession of the Flame Thief

Chapter 79: Chapter 79 The Profession of the Flame Thief

The group had been moving bricks for a while until they finally started to become restless.

Even though the construction progress of the thoroughfare was visibly accelerating under the diligent brick-moving of the sixteen slaves, continuously doing so was just too boring!

Instructor Ding volunteered and said, "Brothers, why don’t you keep working while I go scout ahead? This world seems pretty big, so I should be able to explore a bit, right?"

As he spoke, he walked toward the distant square.

"Hey, Little Ding, what’s the deal with you going off to have fun exploring while leaving us behind to move bricks?"

"Exactly, get back here! Let’s go together!"

Before the crowd had come to any decision amidst their babbling, Instructor Ding had already cunningly run off into the distance.

Just as Chen Tingquan and Li Wenhao, among others, wanted to chase after him, something unexpected happened.

The Supervisor moved!

This Supervisor, towering over two meters tall and cloaked in heavy armor, was barely visible except for two shining eyes, resembling a small mountain.

Yet his speed was not hindered at all, quickly covering ground in a few large strides, and lashed his whip on Instructor Ding’s back!

"Ouch!"

Instructor Ding jumped in fright; the game, of course, had no real sensation, but when the whip came down, the sound effect in the headphones was so clear, and his character screamed in agony.

At the same time, Instructor Ding’s screen flushed with crimson and his movement speed slowed down suddenly.

"What’s happening? Hey, don’t hit!"

Instructor Ding hurriedly tried to run his character away, but it was no use. The Supervisor was too fast, tossing several more lashes his way.

"Smack!"

"Smack! Smack!"

Instructor Ding only saw his character on the screen scream in misery before falling to the ground, unconscious.

Afterward, the Supervisor grabbed one of Instructor Ding’s legs and dragged him back to the Cemetery, tossing him down like a dead dog.

"Get back to work! This is what happens to those who try to escape!"

The Supervisor yelled at the others, then continued to stand in his spot, supervising their brick-moving.

A moment later, Instructor Ding regained control of his character, crawled up from the ground, and rejoined the brick-moving brigade.

"Damnit, it’s bad enough that the game doesn’t allow free building, but no free exploration either? This is hardly treating us like humans, I tell it like it is."

Just as Instructor Ding was about to start planning his second escape, a "clang" resounded.

The large bell in the distant Bell Tower tolled!

A notification also appeared on the screen.

[A new "Flame Thief" has been selected!]

Instructor Ding noticed a faint blue glow appearing upon his character, wisps of which were converging towards the distant Bell Tower.

Besides him, Chen Tingquan, Li Wenhao, Liang Chun, and one of the stream viewers also had a faint blue glow emanating from them.

At the top of the Bell Tower, a column of light soared into the sky, seemingly connecting with a specific region of the Divine Realm, incessantly pouring some mysterious power into it!

The next second, these five individuals vanished from their original places, teleported into the Divine Realm along with that mysterious light column.

This left the other eleven Manual Laborers on the scene, looking at each other in dismay.

...

By the time Instructor Ding came to his senses, his character was already in the Divine Realm.

Scanning around with his mouse, he could see towering walls swooping into the clouds behind him.

The walls of the Divine Realm were incredibly high and thick, also faintly glowing with light. He had only glanced at them from afar before, but looking up from the foot of the wall now gave him a completely different impression.

"Damn it, the game randomly selects the Flame Thief? So much for specialization!"

Instructor Ding had asked everyone to briefly share their preferences upon entering the game. Among the five people currently chosen, only he and Liang Chun had explicitly expressed a desire to explore; the other three, whether due to timidity or a preference for building, were more inclined to stay at home and contribute to the construction.

But the game mechanics didn’t cater to them at all and forcibly drafted them into service!

Chen Tingquan sighed, "Well, there’s no helping it, since we’ve been chosen we can only go and steal the fire. What does this skill mean?"

Hearing him say that, the others began to notice that there were three different statues in front of them.

These three statues appeared to be demon statues, each with a distinct form.

The first statue was muscular and seemed to emanate a sense of power; you could see its name and information when you got closer.

[Warrior Statue: Acquire demon strength and become a warrior, gaining the skill "Capture", which allows you to immobilize medium and small-sized monsters.]

The second statue looked a bit like twin demons, with identical actions.

[Mimic Statue: Acquire demon strength and become a mimic, gaining the skill "Imitate", which allows you to mimic someone else’s actions for a certain amount of time.]

The third statue looked like a clown demon, with comical movements that made people laugh.

[Joker Statue: Acquire demon strength and become a jester, gaining the skill "Laughing", your laugh will randomly inspire allies around you, boosting their speed.]

These three demon-like statues seemed out of place in the opulent Divine Realm.

Upon closer inspection of the surroundings, it wasn’t just these three statues that were out of place. Around the statues, one could vaguely make out a sort of barrier that starkly divided an area at the foot of the Heavenly Kingdom’s High Wall, and the demon’s power had even corrupted the nearby scenery.

In the center of the barrier, behind the three statues and at the party’s spawn point, there was also a very peculiar stone pillar, likewise engraved with a variety of demons.

At the top of the stone pillar was a small fire basin with a faintly burning wisp of Divine Fire.

Instructor Ding immediately understood, "Got it! This must be our resurrection point, right? And these three demon statues in front of us, they are here for Flame Thieves to choose their professions?

"The three professions should be interchangeable."

The game didn’t provide much explanation or instruction, and players with a bit of experience could understand it at a glance.

Meanwhile, Chen Tingquan raised questions about the game’s background story.

"So, you’re saying humans are actually using demon powers? The CG mentioned humans sacrificed a great number of lives to use a secret technique to send Flame Thieves into the Divine Realm. So, the secret technique was learned from demons, right?

"This Nitiandang truly has a taste for the wicked. Demons are always powerful and on the player’s side, while angels are always sneakily preparing to cause trouble. Can I complain that they’re biased?"

Instructor Ding chuckled, "Brother, I think you’ve hit the nail on the head!"

Everyone else didn’t care too much; it’s just game lore, after all. Being unconventional is no big deal. There are plenty of games that smear the reputation of angels; this one’s not an exception.

The group gathered in front of the statues, pondering which profession to choose.

Instructor Ding stroked his chin thoughtfully and analyzed.

"The warrior is undoubtedly the tank (MT) of this game, right? It can control medium and small monsters; in case of danger, you can just grab a monster and allow your teammates to escape.

"There are five of us; we should have at least one warrior, perhaps even two would be more secure.

"The jester seems like a support? While it can’t heal, laughing can increase teammates’ speed.

"It doesn’t say whether it’s movement speed or action speed that increases. Look, this game does have attack actions."

While saying this, Instructor Ding controlled his character to throw a few punches.

"If it can boost attack speed, then that’s pretty useful. I think having one isn’t a bad idea.

"As for this mimic...

"Forgive me, but I don’t understand the use of this profession.

"Imitating other people’s actions, can it also imitate the warrior’s ’Capture’ and the jester’s ’Laughing’? If that’s the case, wouldn’t that be too overpowered? I doubt it’s likely."

Liang Chun, the game designer, quickly came up with a new hypothesis.

"I think mimics can only imitate some more basic actions, such as moving, attacking, carrying, etc.

"This should be a profession prepared for players who are not very skilled.

"Think about it, with numerous dangers in the Divine Realm, there must be some mechanisms or traps. What if some players can’t jump over? They can just directly imitate their teammates’ actions."

Instructor Ding’s eyes lit up, "Hmm? Brother Liang has a point! Indeed, it could be used that way."

Chen Tingquan had already rushed to the Mimic Statue, "OK, then I’ll choose this one. Old Ding, my life is in your hands!"

Soon, everyone selected their professions.

Instructor Ding and Liang Chun didn’t think much and directly chose Warrior, the profession that seemed most useful at the time; Chen Tingquan and the viewers chose Mimics; Li Wenhao didn’t really want to choose Jester, but considering the team needed a support, he reluctantly made his choice.

After selecting their professions, Liang Chun made a new discovery.

"Look, there’s another statue with a distinctive shape here. Seems like we can buy things from it?"