Chapter 94: Chapter 34 - Chapter 34: Chapter 34: The Sage Online

Chapter 34: Chapter 34: The Sage Online

Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Finally, Jiang Qiao’s team’s instance record was forty-eight minutes and twenty-one seconds, temporarily ranking fifth in the first-tier instance record.

This was thanks to the impressive BUFF effect of “Flexible Healing” and Mo Shigui’s command.

Following this completion rhythm, Jiang Qiao spent an entire night at the first level of the Tower of Trial, leveling up from twenty-eight to thirty.

It wasn’t until six in the morning when Mo Shigui ended the instance journey with the excuse, “I can’t hold on any longer, I need to sleep.”

Jiang Qiao did not continue to explore the first level of the Tower of Trial with Zhao Mingwei and his team but chose to return to the Astrologer’s Tower with Hai Lan.

During his interaction with these five professional-level online game players, Jiang Qiao discovered a significant flaw in the Holy Spirit.

This flaw was that the Holy Spirit lacked a main storyline that could engage players deeply.

“Didn’t you say that as long as we provide those players with equipment and rewards, they would do the work for us?”

Hai Lan quickly learned new vocabulary. She was very happy all day because the energy of the Tower of Trial was being continuously consumed by her as players invaded.

Now, every second, Hai Lan received a bit of energy. From yesterday afternoon until six this morning, with the players’ joint effort, the Holy Spirit player server limit expanded by an additional four hundred people, reaching a total of 1,532 players. Even at six in the morning, the server had about 1,200 concurrent users.

“It’s different. A good online game requires a proper storyline, importantly, it should give players a sense of belonging and honor,” Jiang Qiao said.

Jiang Qiao believed that Earth’s “World of Warcraft” did this best. Even years later, players from the Horde and Alliance would still clash upon meeting – the best proof of this.

“I know how to solve the honor part! Just make them worship me,” Hai Lan said proudly, puffing out her chest. She knew the way to control someone was to make them believers.

“Players won’t worship a goddess who constantly craves crayfish. Even if it’s hamburgers instead of crayfish, it’s the same,” Jiang Qiao said, manifesting a Magic Power bread with his left hand and habitually stuffing it into Hai Lan’s mouth.

“Mm? Mm!” Hai Lan swallowed the bread and was about to say something when Jiang Qiao opened a web browsing tool.

Jiang Qiao logged into a forum called Player Community, the largest player forum in Huaguo, no exception…

The forum had many game sections. After browsing for a while and not seeing one related to Holy Spirit, Jiang Qiao clicked into the VR Online Games discussion section.

Right on the first page of this section, Jiang Qiao saw the post he wanted. The post was titled, “What exactly is the story of the recently highly popular VR game ‘Holy Spirit’?” The poster’s ID was Starry Scribe Team.

“Holy Spirit scholars appeared so soon? Let’s see…”

Jiang Qiao clicked into the post. The content was so abundant that it surprised him a little.

“Yes, it’s me again. I’m Starry… Today is still a day of analyzing the plots of major games. Today, I will analyze the plot of the recently trending VR game ‘Holy Spirit.’ The testing qualification for this game is currently very rare. I, Starry, luckily got one during the first beta, played for about ten days, and found the game’s plot to be increasingly horrifying upon detailed consideration.

First, the world view of Holy Spirit. It’s possibly a post-apocalyptic world, meaning a world that’s been destroyed. As for why there are so many grand buildings in good condition, it’s because the destruction of the Holy Spirit world was not physical but rather on a rule layer.

The most direct proof is a few lines of dialogue from the City Lord NPC, King Mesiel of Lionheart City.”

At this point, the poster had attached three game screenshots. The screenshots displayed the dialogue of Lionheart City’s King with subtitles, and Jiang Qiao continued reading.

“The dialogues are: ‘I haven’t seen a new face in a long time, ah… how long has it been? In this world, no one is born, and no one dies. Everything is in endless repetition at a single time point.’

‘I don’t know how many years ago we had many countries in our world, but since the catastrophe struck and shattered the world, everyone became lonely. Holy Spirit, are you lonely?’

‘Holy Spirit, under the guidance of the Sea Blue Goddess, please release us from this infinite loop.’

These are the NPC’s lines, further explaining why monsters can respawn, NPCs repeat the same actions daily, and another terrifying point is the Guardian Spirit in the Resurrection Cathedral, Fureya.

There’s another picture. This picture is of a young girl standing under the sunlight in the cathedral, her eyebrows and demeanor remarkably similar to Hai Lan.

This NPC is familiar to all Holy Spirit players because when players die in the wild without a Priest to run the corpse, they resurrect in the Resurrection Cathedral.

And the first thing players see upon waking up is this Guardian Spirit.

‘The Guardian Spirit is designed as a doll, a duplicate of the Sea Blue Goddess made by NPCs in the Holy Spirit world who worship the Sea Blue Goddess. This aside, I will refer to the Guardian Spirit as the doll girl. She is the prettiest NPC I’ve met in the game, yet here’s the scary part – the doll girl knows you’re from Blue Star! She also knows you’re a player. Here’s the evidence!’

More NPC dialogue screenshots appeared.

‘The dialogues are: “Ah, kind Holy Spirit, do you feel any difference between this world and your original world?”

“Holy Spirit, the Sea Blue Goddess told me… your world is very prosperous. What kind of world is it?”

“Kind Holy Spirit, thank you for your contribution to this fragmented world. But I feel an evil force approaching your world. To prevent disaster from reoccurring, please become stronger…”‘

See? The doll girl not only knows you’re from Blue Star but also predicts that our world may face a huge crisis.

Jiang Qiao paused reading because the post seemed incomplete, perhaps the poster, Starry Scribe Team, was still editing, but there were already dozens of replies below.

“Our world is going to be destroyed too? How can a VR game destroy the real world? By a computer virus?” Replier: Lost Wanderer.

“You don’t say! Not long ago, I participated in a Holy Spirit Abyss Hunt event. The game map replicated the food street of Jiangcheng. A huge wave of orcs rushed in, wrecking the food street! If it weren’t in the game, I’d think it was real. Immersiveness exploded!” Replier: Short Dagger and Shield.

“I don’t want to hear anything now! Just want to chat with the doll girl! Holy Spirit officials, please open registration!” Replier: Wozki.

Jiang Qiao glanced at Hai Lan beside him, who was munching on bread…

Guardian Spirit·Fureya’s character setting struck a chord with countless players, and Jiang Qiao felt that Miss Fureya’s charm was potent enough to outshine a hundred of her Sea Blue Goddess originals.

The delicate and weak persona, along with that gentle voice like a lullaby… enough to arouse a protective desire among thousands of players.

At this moment, Jiang Qiao realized the terrifying potential of his Creator state.

The world view of the Holy Spirit perfectly matched reality. No, it should be said, the world view was reality.

And what’s the most immersive way for players? That’s to let players play themselves, not the mundane self in reality but the self empowered with extraordinary strength.

Starry Scribe Team, the post creator, seemed to notice players’ enthusiasm for the doll girl from the replies, so they began to dig further into her dialogues.

‘Another major discovery! The doll girl can chat with you! She knows about burgers and cola and asks about your real-life!’

Here are the screenshots: “University? Is that what your world calls schools? Kind Holy Spirit, if you feel tired from studying, please relax in this world.”

“Your world may be so ordinary, unnoticed by anyone, but here… Kind Holy Spirit, you are my hero, a powerful hero, please save us.”

Jiang Qiao did not need to see the comments; just the last line was enough to tug at countless players’ hearts, making them commit wholeheartedly… to work.

A minute later, Jiang Qiao refreshed the post, and as anticipated, the replies had exploded.

“Let me in! The strongest sword and shield player in Conflict Zone 1 is going to save the Holy Spirit World!” Replier: Wild God Sacrifice.

“I now unilaterally declare that the doll girl is my wife!” Replier: Aquatic Behemoth.

“What are you talking about up there? Have you asked for my opinion as one of the top ten shield warriors on the Holy Spirit leaderboard?” Replier: Thousand Sins.

Glancing at the replies, Jiang Qiao felt they were on the verge of quarreling and really wanted to reply… Don’t worry, if you join the game, everyone gets a wife.

Guardian Spirit·Fureya was a very special NPC, akin to a player’s small assistant. Each player would have a clone, filled with preset dialogues.

Jiang Qiao hadn’t expected her to cause such a stir in the gaming forum. The post had over a thousand replies and was viral.

Look at the doll girl’s popularity, then back at the actual Sea Blue Goddess near Jiang Qiao.

“What is it?” Hai Lan had a chocolate stick in her mouth, and Jiang Qiao had glanced at her with a “hate iron for not becoming steel” expression twice.

“Sigh…” Jiang Qiao sighed and refreshed the post again.

The post had more than seven hundred replies. At that moment, he saw another update from Starry Scribe Team.

‘Another terrifying setting about the doll girl! I have been analyzing the plot for almost seven days without properly leveling up! Just now, the doll girl’s body became very weak, coughing and unable to stand… I asked, and she said her power comes from our Holy Spirit’s power, meaning if we don’t level up or upgrade for a long time, the doll girl might die from exhaustion!’

“Too ruthless.” Jiang Qiao knew this was a setting he created in the Creator mode but couldn’t help but exclaim.

Once this news came out, the replies to the post undoubtedly broke a thousand. One of them, “Please, officials, give me an activation qualification, my doll girl… she’s dying,” even had more than five hundred likes and was still increasing.

“Holy Spirit is truly on fire now,” Jiang Qiao said softly.

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PS: Today’s extra two chapters are actually for tomorrow. To consider the reading experience of readers following the updates, they are released earlier_(:з」∠)_, during the new book period, I can’t release too many at once, but there will be no limit after going live.