Chapter 69-2: Revisiting Old Grounds, The Surge of Black Tide (2) |
How to resolve this issue? After reading the post, Qi Sheng already had an idea.
He planned to introduce a system where, after dismantling embedded Monster Souls, 5% of the resulting evolution points would be taken as a processing fee and added to the Sacrificial Power Pool, while the remaining 95% would be returned to the player for free allocation.
This dismantling refund mechanism would significantly reduce the energy and resources players needed when retraining Monster Souls.
The introduction of the dismantling function would also stimulate players’ creativity, encouraging them to boldly experiment with various Star Vein build combinations without worrying about the costs of retraining.
However, before rolling out the dismantling feature, he needed to contact the Transdimensional in advance to implant the new Monster Soul dismantling, refining, and resource return functionality into the Challenger System.
With the plan formed, Qi Sheng immediately contacted the Transdimensional underground through Guide and presented his idea.
Upon hearing his proposal, Transdimensional, who was currently developing the Armed Vehicles feature, immediately stated that this part was very simple and could be completed first before continuing work on the Armed Vehicles.
After finishing the conversation, Qi Sheng ended the call, and his vision shifted to the newly updated feedback on the Geomarrow Cliff region from Guide.
—
Energy derived from the Domain Node and freely floating particles between heaven and earth were continuously drawn into the towering Evil Eye Tower.
The black mist surrounding the tower churned violently as Evil Entities were generated within it, then dissolved back into the fog.
On the tower platform, the strength of the Dinian Evil Spirit gradually increased along with the surge of Black Tide energy.
“Evil Eye, have you extracted any divinity yet?”
In response to the question, the Overseer Eye hovering in midair glanced at the Dinian Evil Spirit.
“Don’t be impatient. The Domain Node beneath us contains Rule Power. I’m unable to extract the core of the Rule itself; I can only draw out some of the energy derived from the Rules. Even this derivative energy requires time to fully integrate into your body.”
Hearing this, though slightly impatient, the Dinian Evil Spirit still nodded in agreement.
Having understood the strength of Monster World, he had already tempered his arrogance and resolved to develop himself carefully in this world.
At this point, he continued.
“Inject the extracted portion into me first.”
The Evil Eye didn’t reply verbally. Several black tendrils extended from its pupil, directly piercing into the Dinian Evil Spirit’s back.
Immediately, a complex mark appeared on the Dinian Evil Spirit’s forehead, glowing faintly as surging energy poured into his body.
His physical strength was enhanced as the energy flushed through him.
Neither the Dinian Evil Spirit nor the Evil Eye was aware that their actions were completely exposed to Guide’s surveillance.
At the Primordial Altar, watching this scene through Guide’s feedback, Qi Sheng grew curious and looked up to ask Guide.
“Guide, is the Evil Eye extracting Rule Power from the Domain Node?”
Upon hearing this, Guide shook its head.
“Aside from you, who inherited the Trace of Origin from the Emperor’s Sign and can freely use the Rule Power stored within the Domain Nodes, no other being can accomplish that, not even us Four Retainers. The Evil Eye is merely extracting derivative energy produced by the Rule Core of the Domain Node.”
“For example, take the Shadowed Cavern. Its Domain Node trait is spirit ore production. What the Evil Eye is doing is essentially severing the output of spirit ore, converting the output energy into Black Tide energy, and using that to generate large numbers of Evil Entities. Since this process reverses Monster World’s natural laws, the energy conversion results in heavy losses, retaining at most only about 10% of the derivative energy.”
After hearing the explanation, Qi Sheng immediately understood the principle.
Using the Shadowed Cavern as an example: under Monster World’s laws, the Domain Node produces energy that naturally becomes spirit ores.
Severing the energy output pathway causes some losses. Then converting that energy into other forms leads to even greater losses.
Even at its best, the Evil Eye could only change the energy output form, it was fundamentally unable to extract the Domain Node’s Rule Trait that produces energy.
“What about the energy being infused into the Dinian Evil Spirit?”
“The Rule Core of a Domain Node produces some Rule Fragments during the derivative energy process.”
“Derivative Rule Energy refers to a portion of the energy that carries an imprint of the Rule Trait during the energy incubation process. This energy normally dissipates quickly, but the Evil Eye intercepts it and imprints it into the Dinian Evil Spirit’s body, strengthening him… this process is like imitation. Theoretically, with enough time, the Evil Eye could create a counterfeit version of the Rule Trait, granting the Dinian Evil Spirit a similar Rule ability. But a fake is still a fake; its effectiveness can never compare to a true Domain Node Rule.”
“This is precisely what makes Black Tide warriors so terrifying. Every intelligent Evil Spirit possesses immense growth potential, able to gain strength by occupying Domain Nodes and extracting energy or by devouring living beings.”
Understanding this, Qi Sheng continued his questioning.
“Can I also sever the Shadowed Cavern’s spirit ore production and refine the energy into sacrificial power, like the contained Primordial Monsters, so that it continuously generates sacrificial power for me?”
“Of course you can, but I don’t recommend it.”
“The spirit ore production process at the Shadowed Cavern not only benefits from the Rule Core’s derivative energy but also receives direct infusions of universal energy at the moment of generation, like completing a game quest and receiving the world’s reward. Severing this process would be no different from the Evil Eye’s behavior, except with less energy loss…”
“The Evil Eye suffers over 50% loss because it cannot fully control the Domain Node, but you, having full mastery, would reduce the loss significantly, estimated at about 25%.”
“Mining, however, produces sacrificial power without any loss while receiving an additional 50% energy infusion from universal energy. In short: severing would yield 0.75 sacrificial power, while mining yields 1.5, double the output.”
After the explanation, Qi Sheng nodded in understanding.
As Guide said, since the Shadowed Cavern was already integrated into Emperor’s Mound Village’s resource production, mining was clearly the better option for maximizing overall returns.
At this moment, his gaze shifted to the floating light screen before him.
Beneath the tall tower in the footage, Evil Entities continued to be rapidly generated within the churning black mist.
He knew that the eruption of the Black Tide in the Emperor’s Mound Mountain Range was drawing near. Once the Dinian Evil Spirit had amassed enough Evil Entities, it would launch an assault on all Domain Nodes in the region, aiming to fully occupy the Emperor’s Mound Mountain Range.
If they succeeded, the Evil Eye would gain multiple Domain Nodes to extract energy from.
The Dinian Evil Spirit and its horde would also receive further power infusions, greatly enhancing their strength.
This would mark the first true battle between the player legions and the Black Tide.
Previously, the players had only encountered unintelligent Evil Entities such as Cursed Soldiers, Blood Corpses, and Black-Scaled Soldiers inside the Shadowed Cavern, beings born under the Evil Moon’s radiance.
But intelligent Black Tide warriors like the Dinian Evil Spirit were on a completely different level.
Yet Qi Sheng had little concern about the coming war. The Dinian Evil Spirit was merely an ordinary warrior within the terrifying Black Tide.
The approaching Black Tide campaign was, in his eyes, nothing more than a military exercise for the growth of the player legions.
It would allow players to experience firsthand the ferocity of Evil Entity rampages and contemplate how to overcome such crises.
Players might suffer in the process, but they would also grow stronger by slaying Evil Entities.
While Evil Entities’ endless nature gave them great strength in conquering other worlds, the Challenger System Qi Sheng had designed was specifically created to counter that trait.
The Evil Entities’ endlessness came at the cost of energy conversion losses.
But the players born of the Challenger System were infinite without loss, even if they died, their bodies could be reshaped and returned to battle without any reduction in power.
With the combined might of the Challenger System and Emperor’s Mound Village’s Flesh Reconstruction trait, a large-scale player legion would become a catastrophe even more terrifying than the Evil Entities.
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