"*Sigh* Can you give me some examples? Your idea is excellent, and it will help integrate the Concept and Intent in such a way that the Heavenly Laws wouldn't have a problem with it during the fourth stage. What I'm most worried about is the increasing amount of Qi Strands needed to craft this Secret Realm."
[Understood, sir.
The best example would be Lina's passive skill, Fiery Soul. We can equate this ability to that of a bloodline. After reaching the Foundation and Golden Core realms, a bloodline would significantly improve the cultivator's abilities.
Likewise, after the user reaches Levels 13 and 25 with Lina, in addition to the previously discussed increase in attributes, each of the four skills can receive further minor upgrades.
Not necessarily damage-related, but things like adding a burning effect to enemies damaged by the first two skills, adding a 'dazed' effect after an enemy is hit by the ultimate or other similar debuffs.](Mildred)
"We'll go with that. Draft a temporary skill presentation based on the player's cultivation realm for each upgrade. Actually, leave that for later. Let's focus on the skills and get this over with."
Looking back at the skill interface, he took a deep breath and restarted their actual mechanics now that the baseline had already been created.
[ Skills:
1. Dragon Slave: Lina channels the breath of a dragon, sending out a wave of fire that scorches every enemy in its path.
2. Light Strike Array: Summons a column of flames that damages and stuns enemies.
3. Fiery Soul (passive): Grants bonus attack and movement speed each time Lina hits an enemy with a spell.
4. Laguna Blade (ultimate): Fires off a bolt of lightning at a single enemy unit, dealing massive damage. ]
"Let's start with the first skill. Based on our previous conversations, draft a general description of damage, ability cooldown, and Qi used per skill level.
[Understood... processing...](Mildred)
Five minutes later, the first skill was properly quantified. After some discussion, the two kept the notion of Hit Points after deciding to go the full cultivation route; however, the Mana Pool changed to Qi Reserves.
[ Skill name: Dragon Slave
Description: Lina channels the breath of a dragon, sending out a wave of fire that scorches every enemy in its path.
Ability: Unit Targeted
Affects: Enemy Units / Allied Units
Damage Type: Magical
Pierces Spell Immunity: No
Damage: 95 / 195 / 295 / 375 (damage for each skill level)
Qi Used: 100 / 110 / 120 / 130 (Qi used for each skill level)
Skill Cooldown (minutes): 11 / 10 / 9 / 8 (cooldown for each skill level)
Skill Range: 12.3 meters ]
Seeing how the A.I. forgot to turn on the friendly fire, Michael wanted to object initially but then realized that he was trying to recreate the reality of this world.
In that case, how could a skill aimed at an enemy while an ally is blocking the way affect only one but not the other?
"This is good. I see you took the Black King Bar into consideration and added the spell immunity. However, isn't the damage for the third and fourth upgrades a little on the lower end?"
[As the Foundation and Golden Core breakthroughs are still in the testing phase, I've calculated these values based only on the regular increase without taking the extra +35 to all attributes into consideration.](Mildred)
"I see. That's good, then. Let's proceed with the other three."
It was already close to noon, but he managed to assign true values to only one of the four skills.
Furthermore, unlike Mildred, who was restricted to the level of a Tier 1 Programmer and only some other general knowledge, he needed the input of either Professor Morano or Elder Melinda on how to proceed further.
Unlike a regular game, which can be published once you've mashed your ideas into it, a Secret Realm required the Heavenly Laws recognition and a set of Restrictions to be added before it could be completed.
These Restrictions would not only act as Laws for his miniature world, but they would also serve as Qi magnets.
The better and clearer the Laws, the more Qi the Secret Realm can provide its users.
Around 2 p.m., the duo finished the details for the second active skill.
[ Skill name: Light Strike Array
Description: Summons a column of flames that damages and stuns enemies.
Ability: Point Target
Affects: Enemy Units / Allied Units
Damage Type: Magical
Pierces Spell Immunity: No
Dispellable: Only Strong Dispels
Skill Radius: 2.5 meters
Cast Delay: 3 seconds
Stun Duration(seconds): 1.3 / 1.6 / 1.9 / 2.2 (duration for each skill level)
Damage: 130 / 195 / 260 / 320 (damage for each skill level)
Skill Cooldown(minutes): 13 / 11 / 9 / 7 (duration for each skill level)
Qi Cost: 100 / 115 / 130 / 145 (Qi Cost for each skill level) ]
Satisfied, Michael remembered another detail and quickly had Mildred write it down before he forgot about it.
"Mildred, note down that each hero should have a Spatial Pouch. However, unlike real ones with a specific space, this one will have slots. Let's go with six active slots and three inactive ones. Also, the heroes can equip only one neutral item, independent of the six active skill slots."
[Sir, please further expand on your idea.](Mildred)
"Ugh... right. So, as we already covered, heroes can buy items from the Shop. These items can provide various amount of benefits, from the usual attribute points to extra damage, extra armor, various resistances, and even skills. These item skills can only be used if the said item is placed in one of the six active slots."
[I see. Then what's the purpose of the inactive slots, sir?](Mildred)
"It will be simply storage. The heroes can store three extra items, but even if they have active skills, they won't be able to use them unless they swap items from one slot to another. Likewise, whenever they do make the change, the item enters a cooldown period, depending on how powerful its attributes are. We'll work on the actual mechanics later. I wanted to have you write it down before I forget."
[So it's similar to soul-bound artifacts, sir?](Mildred)
"Eh... what?"
Feeling that he was stepping into unknown territory, the wannabe cultivator was starting to feel the pressure of posing as the actual thing.
Rummaging through his memories, he didn't find anything 'artifact' related. It seems that the cultivation maniac didn't bother learning more about the world he was living in and instead fully focused on 'eating' more Qi.
"Please explain the notion of 'soul-bound artifacts,' Mildred."
[Of course, sir.
Unlike standard weapons and armor capable of only receiving a slight improvement once the user infuses Qi into them, an artifact, once bounded, can significantly improve a cultivator's physique, affinity with certain elements, or even allow them to cast skills/spells they didn't previously know.
However, each artifact burdens the soul, severely limiting the amount that can be bounded per realm.
Furthermore, one can only equip artifacts in the same range as their actual cultivation.](Mildred)
"*Sigh* I see where this is going... How many artifacts can one equip per each of the first three cultivation realms?"
[One at Qi Gathering, two more at Foundation, and up to five more at Golden Core.](Mildred)
Inhaling and mentally waving away his beloved M.O.B.A. game, who seemed to get further and further away from him, Michael gave his nod of approval.
"That makes it eight in total for the active slots. Good! Let's go with that. We'll also keep the three inactive ones. What about swapping items? Does 'unbinding' an artifact cause any damage in real life?"
[Yes, sir. Depending on the situation, a cultivator's soul could be crippled. Therefore, the World Cultivator Alliance declared that forcibly snatching someone's soul-bound artifact is a crime comparable to murder.](Mildred)
"I guess there are ways to lessen the impact of unbinding, correct? Otherwise, a Nascent Soul cultivator would still have to use a Qi-Gathering artifact."
[That is correct, sir. However, even with such methods, the soul enters a weakened period in which no other items can be bounded.](Mildred)
"That's fine then. We'll skip the need for these 'methods' in the game but instead, increase the cooldown duration of the items from seconds to minutes. We'll decide on the specifics later."
[Sir, it's worth mentioning that the higher one's cultivation realm, the stronger their soul becomes. Therefore, to make the Secret Realm as realistic as possible, the cooldown of the items should also be reduced accordingly per realm.](Mildred)
"*Sigh* Of course it is..."
Two hours later, the third skill was finally completed.
[ Skill name: Fiery Soul
Description: Grants bonus attack and movement speed each time Lina hits an enemy with a spell—stacks with itself.
Ability Type: Passive
Dispellable: No
Attack Speed Bonus: 8 / 16 / 24 / 32 (increase for each skill level)
Movement Speed Bonus: 1.5% / 2% / 2.5% / 3% (increase for each skill level)
MAX Stacks: 7
Stacks Duration: 18 seconds (if a skill is not used within this timeframe, the stacks disappear) ]
Seeing the attack and movement speed bonuses, Michael tentatively asked if Mildred had already created a formula for calculating both.
He only understood something about an average human's movement speed being 4.82 km/h, after which everything else crashed into his foolish face like the Titanic into an iceberg, sinking into the unknown depths of his ignorance.
Settling it with a 'Good job, Mildred!' he continued infusing Intent into the island while waiting for the A.I. to finish the calculations for the final skill: the ultimate!
[ Skill name: Laguna Blade (Ultimate)
Description: Fires off a bolt of lightning at a single enemy unit, dealing massive damage.
Ability: Single Unit Target
Affects: Enemy Units
Damage Type: Magical
Pierces Spell Immunity: No
Damage: 500 / 700 / 900 (damage increases for each skill level)
Supercharge Duration (seconds): 5
Supercharge Stacks: 12
Skill Cooldown (minutes): 70 / 60 / 50
Qi Cost: 150 / 300 / 450 (Qi Cost increases for each skill level) ]
Seeing the final skill and wanting nothing more than to take a break while leaving Mildred to handle the rest, Michael paused after seeing two extra lines in the skill's description.
"What is this 'supercharge'?"
[Considering how the ultimate skill is the most potent weapon in the user's arsenal, I've decided it needs proper synergy with the other skills. Due to Fiery Soul's passive effect, each time the hero hits an enemy with a spell, they gain a charge for the stack, which increases their attack and movement speed.
Due to both Dragon Slave and Light Strike Array being abilities with a large area of effect, they could target multiple enemies at once, rapidly increasing the stacks.](Mildred)
"That's right..."
[However, Laguna Blade is a single-target ability. Therefore, I decided to add a temporary effect that immediately raises the maximum stacks of Fiery Soul to 12 after an enemy has been hit.
This way, the user can clearly differentiate between regular skills and the ultimate.](Mildred)
"Absolutely brilliant! Let's go with that. What's the time... *Sigh* It's already 5:28 p.m. We'll go through each one of the remaining 123 heroes, and I'll give you a brief introduction to each one of their skills. I'll leave it to you to assign values to them, just like in Lina's case. As for each hero's Concept, we'll leave that for another day."
[Understood, sir. You can proceed at your leisure.](Mildred)
There was only one problem: Michael severely underestimated the time needed to go through the abilities of each one of the heroes.
By the time he realized his body felt stiff, he disconnected for a couple of moments to stretch, only to realize it was already past midnight.
Feeling like crying but unable to shed tears, he stepped back into the Editor and continued working until early morning.
Sensing the headset's notification that a loud external sound could be heard in his proximity, he disconnected after he was finally done with the last hero and was nitpicking with Mildred on things that didn't quite match the cultivation setting.
[Good morning, big brother!](Roderick)
"Good morning. What's up?"
[Mother said the breakfast is ready and you should join.](Roderick)
"Got it. I'll take a quick shower and be there in a few."
Moving his stiff body with some light exercises, he breathed in the cold morning air and felt somewhat refreshed.
Then, after a light breakfast with his family, he packed up some of his clothes and returned to Riverview City's 3rd Bright Moon sect branch.
As instructed, he first checked in with the reception desk and handed over his current badge - which held the identity of a trainee - but received a different, more fancy one instead.
[Before you head to your suite, I advise you first visit the 10th floor and retrieve this month's resources allotted to you by the sect. From what I see, you have a pending amount. Even if it's past the middle of the month and you just joined, the sect still considers the amount you receive the full one rather than half. Let me see... your pending amount is... Oh, wow! Five thousand spirit stones, huh? You seem to be someone with potential if the sect values you that high. Make sure you take care of me in the future, little brother.](Receptionist)
He thanked the enthusiastic receptionist for his kind words and assistance and took the elevator to the 10th floor, where this branch's treasury was.