I have to get lucky right away.

Chapter 261 Magical artifacts are like building a computer

Where did the strategy team go?

As we all know, Hero vs. Demon King is a fully immersive virtual reality game that uses... well, enough of that. I just want to ask, did the strategy team all quit the game?

Even casual gamers know that this game, despite being called a completely open world, is essentially a tower defense game. Players can only enter the Demon King's Castle dungeon after completing the three Demon King dungeons in the current version, and the Demon King can only invade the rear city after conquering the three outer fortresses of the human realm.

[In previous versions, the upper-level fortresses could hold off the Demon King for at least a year of gameplay. However, this new version has only been online for two months, and two fortresses have already been lost. Moreover, the new Demon King's dungeons are now rarely even accessible to five-player raids.]

The most outrageous thing is that none of the strategy guide masters who are usually online 24/7 were seen during this siege battle. Could they have all quit? If even these top players have quit, is there any point in continuing to play this lousy game?

……

While the player forums were abuzz with discussions about the failed monster siege, the expert players mentioned in the posts were mostly holed up in the secluded village. Because of them, they had finally completed the four trials.

As it turns out, compared to the incredibly complex and ultimately useless spell calculator of the research maniac, the difficulty of the [Trial of Flow] was child's play. Coupled with the trials they had already endured in the other three trials, players practically lined up to speedrun through this final trial.

He even completed the three trials a little faster than the research fanatic.

In fact, the research fanatic could easily become the first player to master all four spells if he kept the spells secret. However, firstly, Guan'er's open-source project had already taken the lead, and secondly, he wasn't the type to insist on being number one. If this game had a title system or achievement system, he might have questioned his conscience, but since it's just an empty title now, he naturally didn't insist on it.

"Perfect, let them test the waters first..." With a touch of self-deception, the research fanatic emerged from the Trial of Arts, only to see a group of people standing at the entrance. Before he could speak, he heard the Tyrannosaurus Warrior wave and say:

"Why are you taking so long! We've already finished our exams while we were lining up! Hurry up!"

"Holy crap, you guys..." The research maniac was speechless, but Guan'er shoved the Tyrannosaurus Warrior aside and said:

"Alright, hurry up and take a look at this thing, we bunch of academic underachievers can't understand it!"

"..." The research fanatic's emotion vanished instantly, and he walked over with a cold expression. Then, he saw that a square table had appeared in the center of the square at some point. Baolong was standing next to the table, looking like he was constipated, with his hands on the edge of the table. In the center of the table, a glove was gleaming.

The research fanatic immediately recognized that the glove was a piece from the mage's endgame set in version 3.0, but in the current version, it was already outdated junk.

"What is this for?"

"The boy said earlier that this is a spirit-attaching platform, used to inscribe rituals onto objects."

As Baolong spoke, he also sent a video to the research fanatic. After confirming that the boy hadn't given any hints, the research fanatic was also somewhat at a loss, turning to look at the onlookers and saying:

"Have you all tried it?"

"A few of us tried it, but how should I put it?"

The jar immediately pulled out a ring, and as magic flowed into it, a Rasengan appeared in his palm.

"That's roughly it. If you inscribe it into a single spell ritual, it becomes a piece of equipment with its own skill. It's not very useful except for showing off, and it's not as good as the original spell."

"Why inscribe spells? Shouldn't it be inscribed with the four basic skills separately?" the research fanatic asked, frowning. Jar simply shook its head and said:

“We’ve tried it. Inscribing multiple rituals causes them to interfere with each other, and in the end, nothing can be played. Inscribing a single basic skill can work and does produce a certain spellcasting effect, but after leaving the secluded village, we can only use the inscribed basic skill, which is meaningless.”

"How could there not be... Oh, you mean, you can't even control it yourself?" The research fanatic stopped mid-sentence, realizing what she meant, and nodded.
"It's like the Rasengan. Although most of it is [transformation], which makes the magic power keep spinning, there are still some fixed components. Otherwise, it would be impossible to keep it in your hand. But after leaving the Hidden Village, once you have the transformation engraved, you can only use transformation. Releasing the Rasengan will cause a storm to explode in your hand. Of course, you can also directly engrave the complete Rasengan ritual, but that will only allow you to release the Rasengan."

"Then how about making one of each?" The research fanatic asked, though he thought it was impossible for anyone not to think of it.

"No, the rituals for multiple magical artifacts are independent of each other. If we take four, we'll have to transfer a ball of magical power back and forth between the four artifacts. Putting aside whether we have the brains to handle that, the magical power will start to weaken after leaving the artifacts, which is too much of a drain..."

"Yeah, it feels like... right, you know video editing, right? It's like video editing software has been broken down into multiple programs such as video player, audio player, cutter, merger, etc., and they're installed on different computers."

"To edit a video, you first need to play the file with a video player, remember the time you want to cut, then copy it to the computer where you're editing the video and cut it into different segments. Then copy it back to the video player. If you haven't cut it wrong, copy it to the computer where you're merging videos and combine them into one. Then play it again, and then put it in an audio player to check if the sound is correct. Do you understand what I mean?"

"Of course, so if you want to cast spells outside like in the secluded village, you have to find a way to integrate the four basic skills into one magic artifact? Can't you separate them?" The research maniac studied circuit design in college, and when he heard Guan'er's description, his first reaction was to draw the four circuits on the same circuit board.

“No, when attaching the second ritual, the first one will be affected. Forcing it will also cause a conflict. And the approach of having a hilt and a blade is like having multiple magical artifacts, which cannot be connected.” Guan’er shook his head. Hearing this, the research maniac’s long-forgotten professional knowledge resurfaced in his mind. If the previous mana calculator was the writing of “software”, then this was the design of hardware.

"The main problem here is how to connect the four basic rituals together... No, considering that any two rituals can be triggered consecutively, multiple sets of rituals need to be arranged in different combinations. As for ensuring the order of mana flow, this can be solved with 'wiring' and 'switches'..."

At this point, the research fanatic felt his brain wasn't quite working properly and immediately said:
"I'm going offline to draw a design..."

(End of this chapter)