Chapter 20 - 18: The Eve of Internal Testing
Chapter 20 - 18: The Eve of Internal Testing
However, for the native inhabitants who do not have a game panel, it is impossible to systematically feel this kind of progress.
Take the specialty "Reflex Enhancement" to the legendary specialty "Legendary Reflex Enhancement" as an example, players can continuously refresh the passive progress bar through a series of operations, accumulating to form the progress of a legendary specialty.
But what about the natives?
They are akin to starting from scratch, even trying to cross the river by feeling the stones is out of reach for them.
They can only accumulate experience and lessons through trial and error, and that experience might even be wrong.
The true realization of the existence of "Specialties" for the natives comes at the instant they advance to the Holy Land, where they can integrate their life experiences to generate the entry for the corresponding "Legendary Specialty."
The qualitative change from "Passive" to "Specialty" and then to "Legendary Specialty" allows every Holy Land inhabitant to truly feel the existence of the legendary specialties.
But such news generally circulates only within the Domain of the Holy Land and above.
How to retrace the path of top powerhouses becoming stronger, integrating scattered life experiences into replicable passives, specialties, and even legendary specialties, is in itself information of tremendous value.
This important information...
Was it told to him by his own father?
Or is it that Grandpa White himself knew about this?
If it’s the former, how much trust must his father have in Old White to divulge the foundation of a Holy Land inhabitant’s standing so readily?
If it’s the latter, then Old White’s past becomes quite interesting.
Kael chuckled softly, but had no intention of digging deeper.
Old White undoubtedly held goodwill towards him, otherwise, with his knowledge of the Charles family, he could have easily put him in mortal danger.
"It is ’Elemental Affinity·Ice’, hiss, I have to say, this thing is quite chilling to the touch."
Magic Power fluctuated around Old White, a warm force permeated into his palm, and the hand stiffened by the ice element rapidly returned to its original ruddiness.
Old White’s voice sank slightly, "Oh~ but this will cause frostbite to the young master’s skin, which wouldn’t look nice."
Kael: "..."
What’s with this undisguised tone of disappointment?
Old White spoke with a tinge of regret, "Although ’Elemental Affinity·Ice’ is not like ’Reflex Enhancement’, capable of developing an elegant posture and slender fingers, as a specialty to compensate for a mage’s defensive weaknesses, it’s still pretty good."
So your regret is about not being able to have an elegant posture and slender fingers?
You’re really all about appearances, aren’t you?
Kael maintained an impassive face, discreetly adding, "’Elemental Affinity·Ice’ can improve skin quality to some extent, making flesh and bones as clear as ice jade, and it can also greatly enhance my casting strength."
Old White nonchalantly pulled out a notebook from the inner pocket of his tailcoat and started making a memorandum, "First, let me see if there are any mild ice-attribute materials nearby the Lancaster Territory.
I’ve been to a Dungeon before, where there was a creature named Shiva, born with the superb magic specialty ’Elemental Affinity·Ice’, graceful and beautiful, with skin as white as snow...
What I mean is, their strength is indeed commendable, and if they could receive systematic mage training, it’s conceivable that ’Elemental Affinity·Ice’ would be quite suitable for the young master."
In the end, Old White put away the notebook, adding very seriously, "We need to prepare early."
Kael’s lips twitched.
He felt like laughing.
Had he triggered some switch in Old White, like a Pandora’s box being opened by an unboxer, unleashing the indescribable?
For some reason, his neck felt chilly.
Maybe it was because the Mana on him was running low.
Even with the Mana reduction from "Magic Control LV7", the overwhelming waves of battle still resulted in a considerable drain on his energies.
They didn’t linger, and the master and servant followed the road back, leaving the Twisted Jungle and returning to the border.
After getting on the carriage, he paused for a moment.
Old White, who was behind him, glanced at the Lancer standing by the carriage and asked, "Lord, did you forget something in the Dungeon?"
"No, it’s nothing. Get on the carriage, Grandpa White."
Once the carriage started moving slowly, Kael found an excuse to lie down for a little nap.
Just as he got on the carriage, he heard a notification sound from the game panel.
[Detected that the game beta testing will start in one week. Pre-download channel is now available. "Game Forum" function is enabled.]
[Today is also a day full of hope. Welcome back, my warrior!]
He tried to open the built-in game forum.
As he had guessed, the game hadn’t even started overhyping to players yet; the forum didn’t have a single post.
He tried posting himself, but then a notification popped up saying "User does not exist."
Troublesome… Can only look but not speak, huh? This way, the idea of controlling public opinion to guide players fell through right at the outset.
However, cutting leeks is a skill in itself, and guiding public opinion with forum functions would be better.
Without it, it’s not like there aren’t other ways to compensate.
It’s just that being able to look but not speak is somewhat lonely.
…
…
Meanwhile, in another time and space, at a location in Yu City.
The neighbors’ Little Kitten, male, 22 years old, a top indigenous up-riser and game streamer.
As for why he goes by a nickname instead of his real name, perhaps it’s because he has always promised to release game strategy videos but ended in either "definitely next time" or "maybe next time," fearing his fans’ rage might lead to them sending blades in the mail?
In recent years, as virtual technology from the Human Federation shifted from military to civilian use, a plethora of virtual reality games sprang up like mushrooms after rain in various industries.
Unlike those streamers who deeply delve into one type of game and bind themselves to it, "The neighbors’ Little Kitten" focuses on game reviews, and his critiques are as discerning as his tastes, to the point that shoddy game developers have grown somewhat fearful of asking him to review their games in the past two years.
Today, after purchasing a game touted as a AAA title, he went to check the player reviews out of habit as usual.
But when he glanced at the top trendy comments, he noticed that the players’ focus was quite strange.
"My review: not on par with the original demon (lifts skirts)"
"The least you can do is make the characters sway a bit, how am I supposed to give you a good review?"
"Keep it up, optimize the model a bit, the heroine’s nose is a bit deformed"
…
The Little Kitten, who was live streaming in first-person view from inside the gaming pod, was silent for a moment and then exasperatedly said, "Who exactly are the people playing this game? Do they all want to rush at the screen or what?"
Little Kitten, with righteous indignation, criticized the other players and then seriously started the game.
Half an hour later, he quietly exited the game and said to his viewers:
"What the brother said in the comments is right, this character is as stiff as a plank, I think we need to find another game."
Facing the barrage of teasing from the live chat, Little Kitten smiled disdainfully and opened the virtual game platform’s purchase square.