103: Confident? Get ready to see the real protagonist

"Xuanhuan World is really too much fun, it's completely a power fantasy!"

"I take back my previous bad review, Xuanhuan World doesn't make things difficult for players at all."

"Don't you guys think the players' Golden Fingers are too overpowered?"

"Actually, the natives are only powerful with high cultivation at the start; they can't keep up with us players later on."

"After developing for a while, we'll be able to slaughter the natives!"

On the Xuanhuan World forum, one post after another was published.

Not long ago, players were giving Xuanhuan World terrible reviews because they kept dying and restarting in the Golden Core Tomb event.

But now they've gradually figured out how to play Xuanhuan World, and they're finally making a name for themselves in server-wide events, with even non-professional players achieving Immortal Foundation.

One highly upvoted post expressed the deepest emotion about this:

"Not long ago, I was just a small Qi Refining Cultivator. Simply because I practiced the Kongming Dao Lineage, I was captured by people from Duan Kong Cave. Then, because my Lifespan accelerated and ran out that day, greatly reducing my value, I was subjected to various humiliations by the Cultivators of Duan Kong Cave."

"Until I broke into an Immortal Cave and found the subsequent Immortal Foundation Method inside. I even found an Immortal Cave where a Senior had cultivated in seclusion. On this new day, I spent ten years of Lifespan and tried my best to Breakthrough. I actually managed to achieve Immortal Foundation!"

"The first thing I did after achieving Immortal Foundation was to find the Duan Kong Cave team and the Cultivator who humiliated me. Hmph, a Qi Refining Cultivator, I slapped his head right off."

"Do you still remember the Immortal Foundation Outstanding Talent from Duan Kong Cave? I think his name was Xiang Duanping? His Junior Brother was slapped to death by me, but he didn't think of seeking revenge. Instead, he politely told me about the benefits of Duan Kong Cave and wanted me to join them, haha."

Coincidentally, another player posted a similar thread:

"Sigh, I was also captured by people from Heshui Prefecture, but my relationship with them was quite good, so I didn't experience any humiliation."

"It's just that I chatted a lot with those Qi Refining Cultivators and found that continuing to cultivate upwards requires a lot of spiritual resources."

"As a Sect Disciple, I have many more spiritual resources than a Loose Cultivator, but I still have to spend a lot of time doing Sect missions, and even curry favor with Senior Brothers and Elders. Even then, sometimes I still can't get enough spiritual resources for a Breakthrough, and after my Lifespan runs out, I turn into a pile of dust."

"Although playing an online game for a dozen or even decades of years is normal, just thinking about having to grind in the game in the future makes me feel very sad and frustrated."

"Fortunately, I'm a player, not a native. I have a cheat!"

"reincarnation points directly gave me the Cultivation Technique of the Void Gazer Lineage at the start, allowing me to smoothly enter an Immortal Cave. Although I didn't dare to go deep, I still got a lot of good treasures, which allowed me to bribe an Elder and save my life."

"I've already decided, once I use Lifespan acceleration to digest the spiritual resources I've obtained, I'll turn around and kill this Elder, hahaha."

One post after another appeared on the forum, and also on other internet communities.

Everyone discovered that Xuanhuan World is indeed dark and oppressive. The bottom layer, from birth to death, is controlled by the upper echelons, with no future in sight.

But players are different!

Players possess reincarnation points that can grant them Golden Fingers, and Lifespan acceleration skills that allow them to rapidly increase their cultivation in a short time.

Even in the most pessimistic scenario, if they play their character to a dead end, they can easily restart with the uploaded Cultivation Techniques and acquired intelligence.

This kind of freedom and ease gives players a very high sense of superiority over the in-game characters.

Therefore, even players working in Mortal towns will proudly puff out their chests when mentioning the high-level players who achieved Immortal Foundation in the Immortal Cave.

As more and more players achieved Immortal Foundation within the Immortal Cave, especially after Old Potato confirmed and distributed the Immortal Foundation speedrun bonus, players erupted in cheers and excitement, causing the entire Xuanhuan World game to become even more popular.

As sales and the number of online players continued to climb, Jiang Feng, the game's producer behind the scenes, was also checking the forum posts.

After reading them, he just let out a chuckle:

"So confident, actually treating Xuanhuan World as a power fantasy game?"

Jiang Feng carefully examined the posts and understood them clearly.

The reason players feel superior to the natives is actually because of the Golden Finger cheats, which make them believe they can catch up to or even surpass NPCs at any time.

This isn't actually a problem. The Xuanhuan cultivation novels of his previous life were essentially like this; after the protagonist appeared, he could quickly surpass all Seniors in an extremely short time, sometimes even achieving Heavenly Dao in a year. The speed of cultivation was astonishing.

However, this is the treatment for a protagonist. Do mere players also want to enjoy protagonist treatment?

Jiang Feng clicked his tongue, his hand resting on a notebook beside him, on which was clearly written Xuanhuan World's next big event:

"Empress's Breakthrough."

"Players are so confident now, one reason being they think NPCs won't Breakthrough."

"Then I'll have to give them a good lesson and tell them that NPCs also Breakthrough and get stronger."

"And, besides Breakthrough and getting stronger, I also need to let them know that even if there only appear to be a few Golden Core Experts on the surface, the number of hidden Experts is an unknown..."

Jiang Feng pondered the future of Xuanhuan World.

The Golden Core Tomb event was actually like a beginner's tutorial.

In this event, players would learn information gathering, how to identify treasures, how to cultivate and Breakthrough, and how to fight and escape.

And in terms of plot, they would come to understand the basic settings of Xuanhuan World: if bottom-tier Cultivators want to break free from the spiritual resource allocation rules set by the upper echelons, then they must venture into the suddenly appearing Secret Realm (Immortal Cave).

Furthermore, high-level players and ordinary players should have discovered that Sect Disciples are much stronger than Loose Cultivators, and to cultivate upwards steadily, it's best to join a Sect.

Therefore, by the end of the Golden Core Tomb event, many players should choose to join a Sect, and some high-level players will choose to establish Sects or other forces.

This period will be considered the conclusion of the [Golden Core Tomb] and also the prelude to the major event [Empress's Breakthrough].

"Now, both funds and emotional value are unprecedentedly abundant. The next big event can definitely be made more exciting, released in multi-stage versions..."

Jiang Feng thought about the development of future plot events for a while, then glanced at his notebook, turning to new notes:

"Let players witness protagonists (Prodigies)."

Seeing the notes, Jiang Feng's mouth curved upwards, a smile he couldn't suppress.

Players have finally built up their confidence, believing themselves to be the protagonists in the game, possessing Golden Fingers like cheats, and having a cultivation speed that surpasses all natives.

Imagine, a player who has already achieved Immortal Foundation, confident and carefree, casually batting away a small Qi Refining Cultivator, and that Cultivator returns powerfully in the near future with the might of a Golden Core or even a Nascent Soul... All those classic characters, all those classic plots, can now be released.

"So, who should be the first protagonist?"

Jiang Feng pondered.