Chapter 243: Descent
Changes in an era inevitably bring about various problems, or rather, no matter the era, conflicts between people have never ceased.
Virtually everyone desires to monopolize more benefits; the cake is limited, but desires are boundless, and thus conflicts naturally arise.
But no matter how these groups, whose interests were harmed, grit their teeth, they clearly could not halt the unstoppable advance of history's wheels.
“Next, let’s observe a group of ordinary people on their wilderness exploration journey in the VR world.” Another host, adopting the tone of a survival show commentator, broadcasted to the audience before their screens the arduous journey of a group of warriors venturing into the wild to hunt monsters.
The promotion of the entire VR world was a series of reports, primarily aimed at getting more people to quickly accept this novel concept and gradually grow accustomed to life within it.
“According to the data provided by the system staff, the Endless Continent will adopt an experience point-based leveling and attribute allocation model.”
“Experience points will primarily be gained by eliminating monsters. Each level-up will grant a certain number of points, and players can choose a free allocation mode to distribute these points among their six-dimensional attributes. As for the seventh dimension, combat intuition and experience, these are not within the scope of allocable points.”
“However, it must be noted that overly extreme attribute allocation is not permitted within VR; the six-dimensional attributes cannot become excessively imbalanced...”
The commentator once again explained some of the virtual world's rules to the audience. Many online game players were already howling with excitement, while countless game manufacturers were racking their brains, contemplating how to counter the foreseeable decline in popularity.
“Spending so much on the national defense system for decades was one thing, but now investing trillions into creating a monster-slaying leveling game—do they truly think taxpayers’ money is worthless?”
“The nation has just completed protracted reconstruction efforts, with hundreds of millions still living below the poverty line, and issues like exploding housing prices caused by coastal migration remain unresolved. How can the government pour so much money into something utterly unrelated to the national economy and public welfare?!”
“Shocking! Billions Squandered Just For An Online Game! Ninety-Nine Percent Of People Are Stunned After Reading This!”
Of course, these people had actually failed to grasp one crucial fact: all funding for the entire VR manufacturing project came from the surplus of the Contribution Point System.
Nominally, the Contribution Point System was a credit system endorsed by the Huaxia Federation government, but in reality, the vast majority of its power lay solely in Bai Mo’s hands.
The previously allocated funds were merely Bai Mo having Chen Xi go through the motions with the Ministry of Finance, so he could legitimately mobilize various resources belonging to the government to accelerate the VR system’s construction.
And this was precisely why officials from the Ministry of Finance truly resented him: they absolutely could not tolerate that a colossal monetary system, nominally part of the national framework with trillions in annual transactions, was completely outside their jurisdiction!
Aside from the review of data below B-grade—which was too immense a volume for him to waste excessive time on such low-value information—Bai Mo alone controlled all other system-related powers, including the right to issue Contribution Points.
To review the ever-increasing uploaded data, he even specifically divided off two thoughts to analyze and evaluate new ideas from people across the globe.
Upon seeing these negative comments, Chen Bo and the others merely chuckled and paid them no further mind. They were well aware of Bai Mo’s personality; if he were truly displeased, these people would very likely vanish the next day.
This arrogant, utterly self-centered genius wouldn't bother reasoning with common folk. Whoever dared oppose him would have their dog head smashed!
“This five-person exploration team has discovered a monster two thousand meters outside the city. With only rudimentary weapons, what choice will they make?” Just behind the group, an invisible narrator broadcasted the current situation to the audience.
“Finally got a chance to join the open beta! Our future prosperity hinges on today,” the young man leading the group, clutching a tattered sword, declared fiercely.
“Exactly. Us poor kids, we can’t compare to those Ability Users out there, no matter what we do. And we don’t have the money or channels to buy Rejuvenation Potions. Now that we’ve got this chance, we’ve got to earn our first pot of gold in this game, no matter what.” r{AN=OBES
“Those wretched Xuanhuang Fruits are ridiculously expensive, too; they’re being scalped for three to four million each now.”
“I want to cultivate!”
The five young people, unwilling to accept their fate, had at this moment made up their minds to carve out a career for themselves in this virtual world that was clearly anything but simple.
“Kill!”
“Kill! Let us be the first to level up on the entire server!”
With their blood boiling and killing intent surging, the five individuals, each wielding an ordinary iron sword, charged towards the wild monster in a flanking maneuver.
“It appears they’ve chosen to battle the monster rather than steer clear! Next, everyone will have the chance to witness a spectacular fight!”
The ox-like monster didn’t seem rigid in the slightest. Watching the five individuals converge on it, it calmly tilted its head, snorted, and decisively chose one side to break through, avoiding encirclement.
“How is this monster so realistic...?”
“It’s nothing like a rigid program; I really don’t know what kind of black technology created it.” The five people, experiencing it firsthand, felt it most deeply. They truly felt as if they were hunting a mutated monster, not fighting a pile of lifeless code.
The reason for creating NPCs of this caliber was naturally that they carried a wisp of Bai Mo’s projected will; otherwise, he wouldn’t have possessed the skill to craft such intelligent NPCs.
Or rather, throughout the entire Endless Continent, every single monster, whenever it engaged in combat with humans, would have a wisp of its creator Bai Mo’s will descend upon it.
According to his conjecture, since the Martial Path required endless battles to temper one's will, then using the method of will projection to control these NPCs to fight adventurers should achieve a similar effect.
And through his tests, such projections indeed had a faint effect on tempering one’s will, averaging one-thousandth of that gained from actual combat.
For Bai Mo, a ratio of one-thousandth was already perfectly sufficient.
One-sided crushing victories could hardly temper combat will, and those capable of fighting him without being utterly overwhelmed were already far, far too few.
No matter how much he held back, passive defenses like Xuanhua and Life Field already blocked the vast majority of individuals not of the same realm. Those truly capable of sparring with him were all regional magnates; they might indulge in one or two battles, but long-term practice was absolutely out of the question, as they all had their own agendas.
Thus, projecting minute amounts of his will into wild monsters, using the bodies of these relatively weaker NPCs to spar with players, naturally became his chosen method.
One-thousandth might seem insignificant, but it couldn't withstand the accumulation of sheer volume. His idle thoughts could find players at any time, and as long as he increased the rewards for killing monsters, he wouldn’t have to worry about finding enemies at all; countless adventurers would flock to them.
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