There's a clear villain, and the contradictions and conflicts are also quite apparent. If the scriptwriter is at least passable, the unfolding of the main plot should still be worth looking forward to.
However, the drawbacks are also quite obvious.
The gaming market of today is no longer the era of "Dark Broke X God," "Brave X Dragon," or "Happy X Landlord."
Whether it's single player or MMO, the variety of game themes can be described as lush and abundant, much like the gold tree in an old man's ring.
At least from his personal perspective, the setting of this game seems rather insubstantial compared to the current popular RPG blockbusters.
Unless—
The developers of this game could genuinely create what they call a fully immersive virtual reality MMO.
But is that even possible?
It's probably just a gimmick the developers came up with.
This world is very cruel; one careless move and you're fed shit.
Game developers only need to think about how to sell their game, while players have a lot more to consider.
Throwing a chip into his mouth, Zhao Jinyan tapped his index finger on the table for quite a while before finally giving a fair assessment.
"Feels not as good as Ming God..."
Hopefully, the actual game content will bring him some surprises.
...
"Luo Yan... Luo Yan... Wake up, the graduation ceremony is about to start."
Hmm... Hmm?
Familiar voices echoed in his ears, Luo Yan's pupils gradually cleared, yet his face still showed bewilderment.
More than an hour had passed since the ritual had succeeded.
At this moment, he had finished washing up and had changed into the gown that had been lying in the corner of the closet, standing in the square in front of the Demon King Academy's main hall.
Although he was physically there, he felt his soul still lingered in the shock he'd experienced an hour ago.
What the hell was the "Catastrophe" system?
And that Mechanical God...
He had lived in this world for eighteen years and had never heard of that title!
There's more—
There was that "Catastrophe Online" game, the official forum projected onto the monolith deep in his Sea of Consciousness, and the data on the First Epoch and the Second Epoch listed there...
Those things didn't seem like fiction, yet they were starkly different from the versions he had heard over the past eighteen years.
Vast information came at him like a tide, leaving him momentarily unsure of where to start processing it.
Luo Yan took a deep breath, sorting through the chaotic thoughts in his mind one by one.
First of all, there was Linte Isaac.
This guy's power was probably not just at the Demigod level as Professor Even had speculated but had truly stepped fully into the realm of the divine—
He had forged divinity with a mortal's body!
Though there was no historical record to prove it, Luo Yan believed him immediately after studying that so-called "Catastrophe" system.
And the reason was simple!
Because this system could actually connect with his home planet Earth!!!
Through the monolith deep in his Sea of Consciousness, Luo Yan had successfully logged onto the "Catastrophe Online" official website, and he had also seen a group of enthusiastic netizens actively posting on the forum.
Though the only website he could access was this one, and he could look but not post, it was enough to fill him with joy to see the language of his homeland after eighteen years!
Beyond accessing the official website, by touching the symbols on the monolith, Luo Yan could also check his attribute panel and switch to the player management page.
However, since the "player count" was currently 0, he couldn't yet test the "GM powers" the system had granted him, and the actual use of these players remained to be observed further.
Besides that, the system had another important parameter, named "Faith Value."
According to the system's explanation, consuming faith values could enhance soul levels without any side effects!
Based on Hell's Academic World's Soul School theory, soul level directly determined the upper limit of Transcendent power one could possess!
Although there were methods like demon ascension, Undead conversion, and so on, to forcefully raise a person's soul level in this world, these offbeat rituals invariably came with severe side effects.
Among the most typical was that after fusing with too many souls that did not belong to him, he gradually went mad or completely turned into someone else.
An increase in the level of the soul without side effects...
That was something only a god could manage!
Although he was a bit concerned about Linte Isaac's mental state, it seemed that this system might not be such a bad thing for him at present?
Especially from this system, he saw the hope of breaking through his limits!
Looking at Luo Yan, who had just woken up a few seconds ago and then fell back into a daze, Egger's face also revealed a trace of concern as he waved his hand in front of him.
"Hey, hey! Are you okay?"
Noticing the hand waving in front of his eyes, Luo Yan was startled at first but quickly shook off the trance and dismissively smiled.
"Me? Ah hah... I'm fine, just spaced out for a moment."
Exploring too deeply into the realm of the Spirit world, he almost forgot that he was still in Demon City!
There were High-level Demons everywhere here, just waiting to infiltrate at the slightest opportunity... fortunately, Egger was standing beside him.
But that's not right—
He also needed to be cautious of this guy!
Not minding the suddenly heightened vigilance, seeing Luo Yan energized again brought a relieved smile to Egger's face.
"That's great, as long as you're okay... I thought maybe Mckinley or Mia did something to you, senior."
"Don't worry, I'm not that easy to fool," Luo Yan replied with a hearty smile, quickly changing the subject and turning his gaze toward the towering, eerie ancient castle straight ahead.
That was the great hall of the Demon King Academy, and also where the graduation ceremony was about to be held.
It was said that this ancient castle was transformed from a bonafide war fort, so the battle scars left from wars hundreds of years ago could still be seen on the battlements.
The entrance to the castle was a huge black iron gate, covered with ferocious reliefs and chilling curses.
Fierce gargoyles and iron-clad headless Knights stood on both sides of the stone path, scrutinizing every person who entered the castle with an air of readiness, as if they would come to life at any moment and devour anyone who didn't follow the rules.
Formidable, terrifying...
Two words were enough to sum up this ancient castle.
Luo Yan usually didn't like to get too close to this place.
It wasn't so much because of those lifelike, sinister statues, but mainly because the moat-like decorative pond was filled with lava.
Just who was the genius who thought of using darn lava for a decorative pond! From the first day of enrollment, he had desperately wanted to complain!
Though it seems that so far, he was the only one to complain.
The plaza was packed with people, as dark and dense as could be.
In addition to the fourth-year students participating in the graduation ceremony and third-year students who were somewhat forced to attend, the second and first-year students also came to join the bustle, seeing off their seniors to the front lines.
As the clock struck the hour, the gates of the castle slowly opened, and the previously still crowd surged forward.
"Senior... it's time for us to go," Egger softly reminded Luo Yan, who stood unmoving.
"I know... you don't have to worry about me, I'm really fine," Luo Yan muttered in response before silently taking out a Crystal Ball from his pocket and aiming it towards the ancient castle.
It was a Recording Crystal.
Once infused with Magic Power, it could record optical images reflected on the surface of the Crystal Ball, a convenience surpassing even that of cameras.
Egger looked at Luo Yan with a puzzled expression but didn't say much more.
After all, graduation happens only once in a lifetime; wanting to take a picture to commemorate the event was only natural, and there were plenty of Demons around doing the same.
However, Egger was unaware that Luo Yan's actions were not for the sake of any memento but purely because of a novice task issued by the system that called itself "Catastrophe"—
[Task: Film a game promotional PV and upload it.]
[Reward: Depending on the PV's quality, you can receive 1 to 100 Closed Beta Test qualifications.]
Although he was not sure about the judges' tastes and evaluation criteria, with this "Dance of Demons" scenario, he was pretty sure the epic factor was more than enough!
-
(Thanks to brother Jingjing's silver alliance reward!!! Thanks to book friends 20171130004559159, hhhzz6, Pat the Little Dog Don't Worry, Egger the Little Angel, Falling Feathers, Tiger Brother's alliance!!! After the masked beating, I can finally show up again T.T)