The Fourth Disaster: People become gods through high martial arts and gaming

Chapter 221 Cultivation Tower and Town Gameplay

"With so many additions at once, no wonder it takes sixteen hours to upgrade."

Looking at the maximum number of players that can be managed as displayed by the system, Lin Qi understood why the system had upgraded to sixteen hours.

He couldn't possibly manage 4000 players all at once.

However, with so many more players suddenly appearing, his mining plan no longer lacks manpower.

At that time, not only Death Valley, but also the medium-sized mithril veins in Stranglethorn Forest can be mined quickly in a short period of time without worrying about being exposed due to excessive mining time.

Moreover, with these four thousand players, the defensive strength of Red Moon Town will undergo a qualitative change. In particular, if these players can become martial artists, the defensive strength of Red Moon Town will be comparable to those large, important towns in the wild, and ordinary monster groups will no longer pose a threat.

Lin Qi then turned his attention to the administrator permissions section.

Compared to the level one administrator, the level two administrator privileges only add an intermediate training room to the basic training room, in addition to the three main functions. Everything else remains the same.

The renovation cost for the intermediate training room is 50,000 units of energy and 10 energy crystals. It requires a minimum of 500 square meters of independent room, which contains an intermediate combat puppet. The intermediate combat puppet can be set to the maximum strength of a martial artist, and its combat level can reach the advanced stage of the microscopic realm. It can master up to four advanced martial artist-level martial arts techniques and consumes 500 units of energy per hour.

"Advanced level of the Microscopic Realm?" Lin Qi looked at the system's text description and was quite surprised.

In the world of high martial arts that he knew, people's control over their bodies was divided into three levels: basic, specialized, and subtle. The subtle level was not divided at all, and those who could reach it were extremely rare, even more so than martial artists.

However, at the level of "entering the subtlety," after becoming a martial artist, the improvement in combat power is mostly reflected in the learning of martial arts techniques.

Of course, this kind of learning can only stop at the seventh level of martial arts. The eighth level of martial arts is no longer something that can be easily learned by simply manipulating the body.

But unexpectedly, the system even has a division for the realm of subtlety, directly dividing it into initial stage, intermediate stage, and advanced stage.

This made Lin Qi very curious: what exactly was this advanced level of the Microscopic Insight technique, and how much could it enhance a martial artist's combat power?

Curiosity aside, the 50,000 units of energy required for the intermediate training room were a minor issue; the cost of modifying it with ten energy crystals was quite expensive, making him reluctant to spend the money.

Lin Qi then turned his attention to a new feature added to the secondary administrator privileges.

The beginner-level cultivation tower can be built, significantly increasing the energy concentration within a five-kilometer radius. The tower has three levels, each with progressively higher energy concentration. The first level has one hundred rooms, the second ten, and the third one. (Required conditions: the entire tower must be constructed from energy ore and require one thousand energy crystals as its core. After activation, it consumes three energy crystals daily.)
"This cultivation tower is indeed a divine artifact for establishing a base camp, but the cost is too outrageous. Even if you used up all the energy veins in a small mine, you probably still couldn't build it." Lin Qi looked at the description of the primary cultivation tower. Although he was very eager to build it, the construction cost was really outrageous.

According to the system requirements, the energy ore consumed is a minor issue; a small energy vein is certainly enough. However, a thousand energy crystals cannot be obtained even by emptying a small energy vein.

Even if he wanted to earn those thousand energy crystals, it would probably take him a very long time.

However, it must be said that the Cultivation Tower is truly powerful, greatly increasing the energy concentration within a five-kilometer radius. This will definitely allow the constructed Crimson Moon Town to reach a new level. After all, the more concentrated the energy, the greater the benefit to cultivation, which is even more essential after becoming a martial artist.

Moreover, he had to build this beginner cultivation tower, even if he didn't want to.

He currently holds Level 2 Administrator privileges. To upgrade to Level 3 Administrator privileges, he must have a Special Grade Martial Arts School, a High Grade Martial Arts School, and a Basic Cultivation Tower. At the same time, he must have one million disciples in his martial arts schools and twenty players at the Bone Forging Realm. Otherwise, he can forget about upgrading his Administrator privileges.

"These four thousand players are definitely not a freebie." Lin Qi looked at the requirements for upgrading to Level 3 Administrator privileges and couldn't help but smile wryly.

Upgrading him to a Level 3 administrator and expecting him to earn that much on his own is clearly unrealistic; the only solution is to transfer it to the players.

"To quickly earn so many resources, it seems we need to provide these players with more incentives." Lin Qi thought for a moment, his gaze involuntarily drifting to the player clothing management system and the Red Moon Town construction planning map on the table, when suddenly a flash of inspiration struck him.

Currently, due to the increased authority of administrators, players' clothing levels can also be upgraded to level 2 basic clothing and level 2 special clothing.

Compared to the level 1 basic clothing, the level 2 basic clothing has an additional resurrection point selection function, allowing players to bind to an additional resurrection point. When resurrected after death, players can revive at either of the two resurrection points. Each player needs to consume 300 units of energy to upgrade.

Level 2 special clothing is an improvement over Level 1 special clothing in terms of attributes, with the improvement changing from a slight effect to a minor effect. Each player needs to consume 1,000 units of energy to upgrade.

The benefits of these two martial arts school outfits are obvious to any player: one allows for quick travel between the two locations after death, and the other provides attribute boosts. It's hard to imagine any player being able to resist such temptations.

In this situation, he could easily set these two outfits as reputation rewards for the town, and he wouldn't have to worry about players not contributing to Red Moon Town.

With that in mind, Lin Qi quickly returned to his room and began drafting new gameplay ideas.

After players were forced offline for nearly half an hour, and the entire official forum was in an uproar, the game's 1.4 new version and new gameplay were released, instantly causing the players who were still discussing it on the forum to almost explode.

System Announcement: The Crimson Moon Glory event, version 1.4, will officially launch after the update is completed. This update will be an offline update and will take sixteen hours.

The main updates of version 1.4 are as follows.

1. The maximum number of players online has been increased to 1,000, with an additional 100 players added each day thereafter.

2. After the launch of version 1.4, Red Moon Glory, the reputation system will be available in Red Moon Town. Completing reputation quests in Red Moon Town will increase your reputation in the town. Currently, the reputation levels in Red Moon Town are Friendly, Respected, and Revered. Players who have reached Respected reputation can spend 500,000 points to upgrade their inner disciple attire at the Martial Arts Hall. Players who have reached Revered reputation and obtained the status of a core disciple can spend 1 million points to upgrade their core disciple attire once.

3. A 100-kilometer free exploration area surrounding Red Moon Town will be opened, which all players can explore freely. Players with Level 1 wilderness exploration privileges or core disciple status can freely explore the wilderness area.

4. Fixed some bugs and improved the gaming experience.

Although the 1.4 update didn't include many new features, it made all the players on the forums extremely excited.

"I'm hallucinating! I must be hallucinating. Are game developers really this generous this time? Not only did they add 500 slots right away, but they'll also add 100 slots every day. Are they going to rewrite the underlying code?"

"Holy crap! I haven't even logged into the game yet, and town reputation is already unlocked?"

"The town reputation rewards are incredible! The upgraded inner disciple outfit even allows you to choose a resurrection point. Traveling back and forth between the martial arts school and Crimson Moon Mountain will be so much more enjoyable."

"But the most exciting thing is for the new players. Now the free exploration gameplay is completely open. From now on, they can run freely within a 100-kilometer radius of Crimson Moon Mountain. This game has 100% virtuality. With such a large area to explore, they can probably play for half a year just by exploring." "There are 500 spots this time. If I can dig my way into the top 500, I'll probably have a great chance of getting a spot. This time, I must dig my way into the top 500."

"To break into the top 500 now is extremely difficult. The number of people who have pre-registered for this game has already exceeded 1.5 million, and almost every day more than 200,000 people are online at the same time practicing digging. Some people even train like crazy in real life in order to break into the top 100, because this game can completely reflect physical fitness. People who can break into the top 1,000 now are no ordinary people."

"Holy crap! I heard this game was popular, so I started playing. Is even digging a hole this difficult?"

……

As players discuss the content of version 1.4 more and more, veteran players on the forums are feeling increasingly pressured.

Whether it's in-game quests or wild monsters, there weren't enough to begin with. Now, the game is adding 500 new players all at once, and another 100 every day thereafter. At this point, let alone quests, there probably won't be enough wild monsters to go around. Only players who have reached the level of a martial artist are relatively calm.

It's quick to advance from an ordinary person to a quasi-martial artist, but it's not easy to advance from a quasi-martial artist to a martial artist. On the contrary, although this game allows for free exploration in the wild, it's difficult for players below the martial artist level to survive in the wild. Only by becoming a martial artist can one truly explore freely.

Therefore, the players who became martial artists were all very excited and looked forward to the system upgrade ending soon so they could go to the wilderness of Crimson Moon Mountain as soon as possible.

A Floating Cloud: "O(∩_∩)O It's alright! This update didn't fix any bugs, so we still have a chance to exploit them."

Fang Zhen: "But this means sixteen hours of rest. How am I supposed to get through these sixteen hours? I feel like I'm not used to real life anymore! /(ㄒoㄒ)/~~"

Li Ranxing: "Come with me to the club for mecha training. The National Mecha Competition is about to start, so we can take this opportunity to practice."

Fang Zhen: "Is the National Mech Competition about to start? (⊙o⊙)"

Chen Ya: "Aren't you guys going to make any preparations? From what I've gathered, many new and highly skilled players have emerged from various teams this year. You guys are always playing 'High Martial Arts Descent,' so don't get eliminated in the preliminary rounds."

Fang Zhen: "Wait for me, I'll go wash up right away."

While Fang Zhen and the others were talking about the National Mecha Competition, Yi Ye Fuyun, who was lying in the virtual game pod, was about to make a sarcastic remark when Ye Qinglu suddenly pulled him up.

"Sis, why are you pulling me? I'm still waiting to log on. If the system updates ahead of schedule, I can shake them off immediately." Yi Ye Fuyun looked at Ye Qinglu, who had a serious expression, with a puzzled look.

"This update will take sixteen hours. Even if it's ahead of schedule, it'll be good if it's an hour or two ahead of schedule." Ye Qinglu rolled her eyes at Yi Ye Fuyun and said softly, "Since we have so much time, you should come with me to meet the people in the group."

"Can we see them in the game now?" Upon hearing this, Yi Ye Fu Yun couldn't help but get excited.

Sky Traveler!
This is a legend in the virtual gaming world. Although Ye Qinglu is the vice leader, he has only seen members of the Sky Travelers in game videos and has never seen any of them in person.

"We won't meet in the game." Ye Qinglu shook her head.

"If we can't meet in the game, can we meet in real life?" A Floating Cloud was surprised.

The Sky Travelers are legendary figures, each with a mysterious identity. It is said that even the leader of the Sky Travelers does not know the identities of all the members. As an outsider who has not yet joined the Sky Travelers, it is hard for him to imagine meeting these people in reality.

“He’s a bit special. He was the one who introduced me to Sky Traveler in real life, so I know his identity,” Ye Qinglu said. “Now that Immortal Path Eternal is about to launch, he’s one of the most senior members in our guild. If you have his recommendation, you can almost certainly join us. He happens to be in our city today, and I plan to introduce you to him.”

"The most senior member?" A cloud drifted through the air, wondering which member it was.

"Stop guessing, just come with me now." Ye Qinglu said, turning and leaving without giving Yi Ye Fuyun a chance to think further.

In Yunhai City, at midday when the sun was at its strongest, Ye Qinglu, wearing a light blue short dress, and Yi Ye Fuyun, wearing a silver-gray long-sleeved T-shirt and jeans, arrived at an underground fighting arena in the suburbs.

The underground fighting arena was incredibly lively. People were packed tightly around a central ring enclosed by an iron cage, cheering and shouting for the two fighters battling it out, as if they were the ones fighting themselves.

"Sister, what brings you to this place?" Yi Ye Fuyun looked at Ye Qinglu with great surprise, not expecting that Ye Qinglu would bring him to such a place.

Underground boxing rings!
This is a favorite spot for a group of fighting game fanatics. In this era of thriving virtual games, there are actually many kinds of fighting virtual games, and now there are even many fighting games with a virtualization rate of over 80%.

These virtual games have actually done a good job of recreating fighting, but there are still some crazy people who are not satisfied with these virtual games and feel that they are not realistic enough. So, underground boxing rings were born, pursuing the most realistic fights with every punch landing. Many people are even willing to spend a lot of money to watch them. As a result, underground boxing rings have gradually developed to the point that almost every city has one, but they are not recognized by major fighting events.

Ordinary people wouldn't even come here, or those who could come here are all battle maniacs!
Ye Qinglu didn't explain, acting as if she were a regular here. When the others in the venue saw Ye Qinglu, they didn't try to flirt with her. Instead, they all took a detour and led Yi Ye Fuyun to a private room on the second floor.

The moment Yi Ye Fuyun stepped into the private room, he was also amazed by the atmosphere inside.

A robust man in his mid-thirties, dressed in a black suit, sat in the VIP section. Behind him stood six other men, each over two meters tall, also dressed in suits and wearing sunglasses. The aura emanating from these men was that of soldiers who had fought on the battlefield for many years, sending chills down one's spine.

"Xiao Ye, you're here." The burly man looked at Ye Qinglu as she entered the room, glanced at Yi Ye Fuyun, and couldn't help but laugh, "This is the young man you wanted to recommend?"

“Yes, he is my younger brother. He is quite capable, and I think he is qualified to join us, so I would like to recommend him to join us.” Ye Qinglu nodded.

The burly man looked at Yi Ye Fuyun and smiled: "Young man, you're quite something, but getting a recommendation isn't so easy. Little Ye should know my rules."

"What rules?" asked Yiye Fuyun.

Ye Qinglu had never told him these things.

The burly man pointed to the six bodyguard-like men beside him and said with a faint smile, "Choose one of these six."

"Can I choose one to fight?" Yi Ye Fuyun glanced at the six bodyguards and breathed a slight sigh of relief. She felt that this was acceptable, no wonder her older sister hadn't explained.

Although the six people in front of him were all menacing, in his eyes, their strength should be about the same as the coach he had hired. If it were just a one-on-one fight, it wouldn't be difficult for him to defeat them.

“No.” The burly man shook his head. “You choose one you don’t have to fight, and the remaining five will deal with you alone.”

(End of this chapter)