Chapter 77-2: Clone Gameplay Black Tide Enhancement (2) |
After reviewing the Trading House information, Qi Sheng shifted his gaze to the forum and started browsing the posts on the trending board.
The top post on the trending board was a strategy guide for star vein combinations.
[The newly acquired monster soul Flowing Shadow is insanely strong. Its strength lies in being strong at everything. It can be called an all-purpose monster soul. Let me show you some real test footage.]
Poster: Darkness Approaches
Content:
No lengthy explanations, straight to video (Attachment: Recorded Video)
—
Qi Sheng clicked on the video.
The footage showed the poster, Darkness Approaches, conducting tests in the test tower with the second-generation Primordial trait ‘Flowing Shadow.’
It showcased four star vein combination modes using the Flowing Shadow trait.
The first combination was Bonefire + Flowing Shadow + Owl-Headed Fiend + Qi Eater.
This star vein combo was practically cheat-level in the demonstration. First, Darkness Approaches activated the Flowing Shadow trait, splitting into three clones, each releasing Bonefire’s Inkflame ability. Then, using the Owl-Headed Fiend’s perception, both the main body and clones launched long-range coordinated attacks.
Although the clones only had 30% of the main body’s physical aptitude, the output efficiency was greatly boosted thanks to the clones.
Darkness Approaches named this star vein combination ‘Clone Fireball Technique.’
In the final evaluation, it was noted that while this combination had extremely high burst output, the downside was its heavy mental power consumption while clones were active. Releasing Inkflame from both the main body and clones rapidly drained mental power. Even with Qi Eater embedded, it couldn’t fully offset the consumption. The biggest advantage was the ability to deliver explosive damage in a short period.
The second combination was Light Shield + Bind + Qi Eater + Flowing Shadow, which Darkness Approaches called ‘Magic Defense Build.’
This star vein combo focused entirely on support rather than offense. Players using this build simply activated clones to cast Light Shield on teammates or applied multi-layered control with the main body and clones. It was all about functionality and performed excellently in tests.
The third combination was Gargoyle + Force Savage Axe + Resistance + Flowing Shadow, which Darkness Approaches named ‘Multi-Restraint Build.’
This build also focused on melee control with secondary damage output.
In the demo, Darkness Approaches summoned three clones that lunged at the enemy, each grabbing an arm, leg, or torso. Once linked together, they activated Petrification, instantly rendering the target immobile. Unless the petrified player or clones were killed, the target couldn’t break free.
It was essentially a walking prison, allowing one player to perform full-body multi-restraint by themselves.
For the fourth combination, Darkness Approaches didn’t embed any monster souls but instead pulled out a mining pickaxe in the test area.
In humanoid form, he summoned three clones and began a mining test.
The mining efficiency multiplied during the test. As the Flowing Shadow monster soul leveled up, it could split into even more clones, theoretically allowing one person to form an entire mining crew.
Once Guide post was published, the comment count quickly skyrocketed.
Dark Land Is Fun: Darkness bro, you’re killing me with laughter. That last one is ridiculous, an ultra-efficient mining squad! But seriously, Flowing Shadow is insane. Definitely worthy of being a second-generation Primordial. Feels like it can fit any star vein build.
Is This a Beaver?: Hahaha, out of all four builds, I favor the mining squad the most. Maxed-out mining efficiency, one swing equals N swings for others. Mining-focused players must be thrilled. It’s basically an official mining speed-hack script.
Drunken Milk (Kindergarten Little Class): The group fireball technique is just too cool. Ten clones casting fireballs together, triggering a meteor fire rain strike, one man becomes an entire army. The firepower is maxed, but yeah, the mental power consumption is brutal. Qi Eater’s trait can’t keep up. I hope we can soon contain the Sea Stone monster soul from the test tower’s library, that’s the core monster soul for casters, with insane mental recovery abilities.
Iron Hammer (Kindergarten Little Class): The Gargoyle + Flowing Shadow multi-bind build is just wicked. Had me laughing hard. Reminds me of some friends I met when I first joined the game, they loved running Black-Scaled Serpent bind tactics.
Explorer: Darkness bro is a real star vein combo nerd. Constantly researching star vein setups, I’ve learned so much from you. Thanks for sharing! (Donation: 3 sacrificial power)
Shattered Will: After watching Darkness bro’s video, I thought of a weapon-based star vein combo. Summon spirit weapons with the main body, then summon more with clones, an all-out arrow barrage combat mode. Darkness bro, could you test this build? Curious if it’s viable.
Darkness Approaches (Original Poster) replied to Shattered Will: Just from your description I know it’s not viable. Any Flowing Shadow combo has to prioritize mental power sustainability. You’re stacking melee spirit weapons, which already have weak mental strength. If you add a bunch of clones and simultaneously control an army of spirit weapons, you’ll drain your mental power instantly. No way to sustain battle.
Little Fierce Monster: Such a versatile monster soul, but feels exhausting to use. I still prefer Darkness bro’s original ‘Shadow Legion’ star vein build: Shadow Summon plus layers of buff stacking, so satisfying! The best part is that Shadow Warriors are compatible with the Smart AI system, allowing you to command them to auto-hunt and farm. In critical moments, you can directly control them mentally. If I had this star vein build, I’d have four Shadow Warriors carry me while the rest go hunt and farm with full buffs. I’d just lay back, browse the forum, watch livestreams, and enjoy evolution points and sacrificial power popping up in my head, pure bliss.
Darkness Approaches (Original Poster) replied to Little Fierce Monster: Stop dreaming. We haven’t contained a single monster soul needed for the Shadow Legion build yet. (God of Wealth helpless.jpg)
—
The newly contained second-generation Primordial monster soul ‘Flowing Shadow’ was being fully explored in this post.
The poster Darkness Approaches was already one of the players Qi Sheng was closely monitoring.
Every time a new monster soul was contained, this player would head straight to the test tower to experiment with combinations, always coming up with new ideas and providing fresh monster soul combo concepts for others.
These kinds of strategy players greatly boosted the development of the player army.
For this reason, Qi Sheng would sometimes have Guide use a small alternate account to give small sacrificial power rewards to valuable posts, fostering an atmosphere of innovation on the forum.
After scanning all the new posts on the forum in a few seconds, Qi Sheng shifted his perspective to players exploring outside.