[Who says you can only offer disasters to the Plant Master? You can offer plants and toxins too!]
[Actually, it’s better to make offerings to Queen Jiaojiao. All she needs is dirt. I dig for ore every day, offer the stones to Queen Jiaojiao, and she gives me gold coins directly.]
[Queen Jiaojiao is definitely the most practical!]
[Is the person above an idiot? Gold coins are the least valuable thing. Attribute points are the true way to go!]
[The big shots in this game have such absurd stats that newcomers will never catch up. It’ll go under sooner or later, and you’re still willing to work like oxen for them?]
[666. If you still think this is just a game, then you’ve already gotten your money’s worth out of this life.]
The argument had begun.
As the thread grew more heated, its popularity naturally soared as well.
On the surface, it seemed as though several people were fighting over the Divine War, but in reality, it was all a form of publicity.
Chu Fu even suspected that the whole thing had been orchestrated by Feng Huimin, but she couldn’t tell which accounts were paid shills.
Fortunately, Chu Fu, Shen Chi, and Jiaojiao were friends.
If they had been unrelated deities, they might have actually fought over their followers.
This was no joke. There were only so many followers. If someone went logging today, they couldn’t go mining as well.
That was why so many deities fought over followers and divine authority.
As the thread continued to spread, everyone gradually discovered that the materials being offered to them were increasing in number. They could improve their strength simply by lying around and doing nothing.
Sure enough, there was strength in numbers.
There were ten billion people across the globe. Even if only half of them were playing the game, and only one percent of those players worked for them, the rate of growth would still be terrifying.
…
At the same time.
Within the Land of Elements.
After Feichi City was built, the players finally had a place to settle down. One after another, they teleported there, their main bodies following soon after.
Only their main bodies could receive experience.
A single mechanical city could not accommodate too many players, so Shen Chi established Feichi City No. 1 through Feichi City No. 30.
Each city held roughly 3.3 million players, for a total of one hundred million.
Half of them were players involved in the “God-Making Project.”
The other half consisted of newly recruited players who had been carefully selected for their high aptitude and attributes.
They leveled up here in secret.
Players from outside also went to the Mechanical Star to hunt monsters.
However, Origin-level monsters did not respawn.
The monsters on the Mechanical Star grew fewer and fewer until they were eventually wiped out completely.
[System Announcement: The entire Mechanical race has been slaughtered. Humanity has achieved a Legendary-tier victory in the campaign. The Mechanical race has withdrawn from the Primordial Gate. All human players have acquired one random talent from the Mechanical race!]
[System Notification: You have obtained the talent Mechanical Mastery (D).]
What a great talent!
This talent had no class restrictions whatsoever. Whether someone was a magic-based or physical-class player, they could use it.
When a player awakened a terrible talent, they could at least become a gunslinger.
It was a boon for all humanity.
However, after losing the Mechanical Star, the major monster-spawning area, the players began returning to the cities and exploring the wilderness from there.
The farther they traveled from the cities, the higher the monsters’ levels became.
Moreover, these monsters were merely projections. Their strength was weak, but the experience they gave was pitifully low.
At this rate, raising one level would take months.
How could players who had already fought Origin-level monsters tolerate that?
Especially when they saw that the rankings were filled with players from China, they were consumed by jealousy.
But China would not allow them to enter the Land of Elements.
After all, resources were limited.
A single Land of Elements could support one hundred million players as they leveled to Level 60. That was already its absolute limit.
What no one expected was that the system would make its move first—and that it would be completely different from what China had predicted.
[System Announcement: The number of Level 60 players worldwide has exceeded one million. The Mechanical God has launched an all-out war. In twenty-four hours, a global calamity will descend. All mechanical units will be corrupted and attack players. Everyone, prepare yourselves!]
Then, as if the system had momentarily malfunctioned, a series of announcements suddenly followed.
[System Announcement: The Mechanical God has detected that the invasion of the Primordial Gate has failed. Humanity’s players have achieved a resounding victory!]
[System Announcement: The levels of all players worldwide have increased by 1.]
[System Announcement: Congratulations to all players worldwide for achieving the achievement “Not a Single City Lost.”]
[System Announcement: Congratulations to all players worldwide for achieving the achievement “Blitz Victory.”]
[System Announcement: Congratulations to all players worldwide for achieving the achievement “Pioneer of the Counterattack.”]
The players had already obtained the first two achievements before.
But the final achievement was new.
[Pioneer of the Counterattack (Legendary-tier Achievement): Destroy an invading force poised to attack the Primordial Gate before the evil god can organize an assault.
All attributes +1,000. Attack power +20%.]
The entire world erupted in celebration.
Chu Fu and the others received the news in the Land of Elements as well. After connecting the dots, they quickly understood what had happened.
“We were wrong. The next wave of attacks won’t require one hundred million Level 60 players. The number will be much smaller.
“The farther the game progresses, the stronger the high-level monsters become. Players without sufficient talents or strength won’t have the ability to advance. Many class advancement quests will be impossible for them to complete.
“If this wave required one hundred million players to reach Level 60, how many players would there be at Levels 70, 80, and 90?
“That means the number of high-level players will only continue to shrink. But one person can command an entire army—one person can save an entire city!
“The trigger for the next global disaster will probably be one hundred thousand Level 70 players!”
At present, Chu Feng was still ranked first on the leaderboard, at Level 73.
Players in the first tier, such as Chu Fu and the others, had just reached Level 70.
There were no more than a hundred of them.
And the farther they advanced, the harder it became to level up.
Xie Lin raised an eyebrow. “If we rely solely on the Land of Elements to level up, then we’ll have to reduce the number of players inside.”
Chu Fu understood as well, but who should be removed? That was not an easy question.
In terms of strength and level, the players from their Thorn Guild alone could easily provide one hundred thousand candidates.
However, the official organization had a much larger player base. In fact, ninety-nine percent of the one hundred million players belonged to the official side.
Even if the available one hundred thousand slots were split evenly, the officials would still be at a disadvantage.
Chu Fu frowned, then relaxed.
There was no need to overthink it.
They might as well use the most direct method.
This time, Chu Fu herself contacted Long Zhantian.
“Guild Leader Long, continuously exploring the game’s progression is about finding a path to survival for all of humanity. It’s about ensuring that, when the game descends into reality in the future, there will be people capable of standing at the very front.
“So I suggest that, for this selection, we choose the strongest one hundred thousand players without showing any favoritism.
“Everyone should submit their full character panels for big-data simulation.
“Everything must be included down to the last attribute point: talents, skills, equipment, and everything else.
“I know that the players in our Thorn Guild have slightly higher attributes than other players.
“But across China, every starting village is bound to have at least one S-rank class holder, and perhaps even an SS-rank class holder.
“After being nourished by divine power, these people will awaken even stronger talents—their second talents, their third talents.
“In that regard, our Thorn Guild may not have an advantage.
“That’s why a major selection like this will be fair to everyone.
“The selection must be conducted openly, impartially, and transparently. That is the most appropriate approach!”
