In fact, it did not turn out as Xu Zhi had expected.
He had known right from the start that it was going to be hardcore and would be a very difficult game to get started on.
Only those who had previously studied this area and were equipped with relevant specialized knowledge would be able to evolve a species. Even them, they might barely survive.
It was definitely difficult. If not, Xu Zhi would not have needed to seek help from other people to evolve a new species. He had found to be a headache and a task that was difficult to handle.
In addition, this was not the kind of game where a player could level up just by beating up monsters. It was a casual kind of evolutionary sandbox game that involved an extremely high level of difficulty. By rights, it should be a very niche game.
But it had never crossed his mind that someone would actually study a complicated subject like the evolutionary theory of unfamiliar species just to play a game.
Perhaps in this world, there really was a group of hardcore gamers who actually like to be "abused".
Casual sandbox games that involved construction simulation always boasted a large audience base. Some people simply did not fancy the idea of looking impressive by beating up monsters to level up in a game. Sandbox games like Stardew Valley and Minecraft had always been popular among players.
Following the posting of this long, detailed review, comments were piling in like mad. In just a short time, there were already thousands of replies. It was sensational.
The Dancing and Singing Basketball Player: Dubious! Is it really worth this amount of exaggeration? But to be able to go into such detail, it really seems like he's speaking the truth.
Crazy African: Too hardcore! Starting a game as a spore and evolving fully based on biological knowledge?
Beautiful Little Fist: Wow! Just listening to all the details make a slacker like me feel like playing this game. Infinite possibilities!
Super Tech Geek: I suppose the very first player of this game has yet to unearth its core essence. Take that non-player character, the giant, for instance. That is one thing I'm really interested to know more about… After all, he has only managed to evolve a malformed and incomplete species that did not survive for long before it headed for extinction.
Cerebellum Bluffs Its Way Down the Mountain: I've started reading the Origin of Species! I'm already beginning to build up my knowledge of evolutionary theory. I'm almost comparable to a biology professor in college! I just need a spore to practice on and test my theories of evolution. I am just one name away from being at the top of the beta testers' name list. Waiting online, very urgently!
...
Some people were filled with anticipation, some were frantically begging for a slot to play the game, and others were eagerly expressing their desire to play the game. Just listening to the descriptions made the game sound fun. Of course, there was an even larger crowd that said that this was nothing more than a giant hoax, and that the hundred players were all acting. They were all mocking the master of this thread and were just waiting to see how much longer he could keep up this act.
However, they were soon hit by their own mockery, which came fast and swift.
The "Racer of Mount Haruna" had begun a live broadcast. He was directly streaming the video images captured on his VR headgear onto the platform.
Right in front of them was a deep blue ocean, and the image was so realistic that it was like watching an epic movie that featured a magnificent and stunning ocean.
"Dear fellow gamers, I have just evolved my eyes. By now, I'm finding that getting to this stage is a breeze. Next up, I'm going to start preying on algae creatures and begin my conversion to a carnivore following the evolutionary path of arthropods that was based on the experience of species evolution during the Cambrian Period on Earth."
At that moment, a ferocious beetle appeared and approached him.
"Holy sh*t! What's that? It looks like an ancient trilobite. Quickly, eat him up!"
"Eat my foot! Anchor, hurry up and run! He is going to eat you! Quickly, run! Be a coward now as you develop and evolve. Once you have gotten stronger, after you have evolved into a carnivore, you can come back and eat him up instead!"
…
For a while, there was an outburst of posts in the thread.
Xu Zhi looked through it for a while and felt that the enthusiasm level was pretty good. So, he let them continue with their discussion and paid no heed to them.
There were even gamers who went so far as to propose a petition of ten thousand signatures, requesting to open up more slots for beta testers…
"You feel that the quota is too small? None of my business. I did not create the game to earn money from you. I'm not looking to gain any benefits from any of you. Speak your mind if you must, I'll be the loser if I listen to you."
Xu Zhi laughed and simply paid no attention to them anymore. Live or die, he would just let them run their own course.
He had not planned to invest much effort in this from the start. After all, this was just a minor project he created on the side. He truly had not expected it to stir up such a storm in this game forum.
"It's pointless for you all to cause such a huge commotion that startles even the gods in heaven." Xu Zhu simply did not wish to expand his game any bigger.
Why would I need so many testers?
It's not like I'm here to be at your service and create a game just for your entertainment.
Unless there was an unexpected surprise, he planned to stop at this version of "beta testing" for good; it would be nothing more than a niche game where only a hundred players were allowed to enter the sandbox. And all he had to do was wait for them to slowly evolve species with great potential.
At this moment, the online game, "Spore Evolution" was gaining popularity like crazy. However, Xu Zhi merely took a brief look at this little sandbox, and then shifted the focus of his attention over to the large sandbox.
After all, this was the main project that he was engaged in.
Strictly speaking, the Sumerians of the previous era only saw the emergence of three transcendent beings, and one of them was Gilgamesh. Xu Zhi wanted the next civilization to able to develop a mature cultivation system that was truly phenomenal.
It would be best for them to evolve a sorcerer civilization. Previously, for the sake of extending his lifespan, Gilgamesh had also gathered his court sorcerers and instructed them to research elixirs for longevity.
That was the prototype of a sorcerer.
Xu Zhi also hoped that a complete sorcerer civilization would emerge, along with a great sorcerer who was skilled in alchemy. This person could research sorcery and medicine and create a potion that could cure him of this terminal illness he had, cancer.
Therefore, in order to establish this complete civilization with a phenomenal system, naturally, it was essential for the sandbox to have all kinds of mysterious and dangerous transcendent species. They would serve as references for the sorcerers to study.
After all, following the death of the previous generation of Mother Queen of the Insecta nest, data on the technology side had been cleared, and there was no high-tech medical equipment of the Insecta technology to be found. If he wanted to treat his illness, the only thing he could do now was to think of a way to re-develop the sandbox and bring about the emergence of his own life-saving means, one that could be categorized as extraordinary.
Xu Zhi looked at the swampy mud land in the large sandbox.
"A day has passed. The big-eyed monster, Evil Eye, has started to multiply in large numbers and now, it has even evolved a special variant individual?" He was slightly pleased. Just as he had thought, such a bizarre kind of evolution could indeed bring about a great potential.
After a hundred or more years had passed, the newly created environment had met with no natural enemies, so the weak species had multiplied wildly under no restraints and could now be found everywhere.
But very quickly, due to overbreeding, the pressure of internal competition was increasing as well. The competition for food due to a shortage in supply, coupled with the fact that they had no natural enemies, led to them becoming one another's natural enemies. They began to turn on one another.
For food, they competed amongst themselves, and they began to kill one another within the swampy mud land in their fight for food. They had even started feeding on one another for food, which was simply an act of unparalleled cruelty.
Gradually, those Evil Eyes became increasingly tyrannical and ruthless.
A unique Evil Eye appeared.
It had a strange psychic power where all creatures that it gazed upon would be charmed by it and come to it obediently to become its food.
This was the first generation of such a transcendent Evil Eye species, and it rapidly rose to the top to claim its position as overlord, dominating the swamp ecosystem. As it had no natural enemies, it began to multiply wildly while preying on the other Evil Eye species.
It was survival of the fittest. The strong and adaptable survived while the weak and inflexible ones perished.
The ordinary big-eyed monsters were soon massacred in large numbers. The entire land in the swamp was filled with the offspring of the Evil Eye with the charming ability. It was constantly expanding, from one, to one hundred, to one thousand.
The ordinary Evil Eyes faced the fate of complete extinction and became a thing of the past.
"A transcendent species finally appeared, and it has a riotous psychic power?"
Xu Zhi was mildly shocked. "It really has potential. Although it doesn't have intelligence, it's already able to entice other creatures to become its food, like the Venus Flytrap found in the animal kingdom."
At long last, after the fourth era, the first transcendent species was finally born.
Xu Zhi was struck by a thought and suddenly looked at the large sandbox. To his surprise, another dramatic development had happened, for there was already a group of bugapes wading into the depths of the swampy mud land.