It had been more than a month since the end of the first closed beta, but because of the 6: 1 time flow, only a week had passed in real life.
In reality, it had only been a day since Xu Sili had upgraded the Imperial City to Level 3.
The fact that the Imperial City had been upgraded to Level 3 was only discovered by the data observer half a day ago.
After all, the internal and external time flow was different, and the researchers had left the game, so it was inevitable that the observation would be slower, and it was easy to miss some details.
When the problem was discovered, the game team called for an emergency meeting, but they couldn't come up with a solution for a long time.
At the end of the first closed beta, the Imperial City had been upgraded to Level 3. This speed was not expected by the game team.
The level of the main city was linked to the level of the main city to reduce the level gap between the NPCs and the players, and it was also a way to enrich the gameplay.
In the original plan, it would be at least half a year after the open beta, when most players reached the upper limit of level 20, before the restriction would be unlocked.
It was also because of the level restriction that they decided to adjust the time flow during the closed beta period, so that the NPCs, who already had difficulties in cultivation, would have a slight advantage.
However, no one would have thought that the development speed of the game would be completely out of control just a month after the first open beta. It was to the point where everyone's jaws dropped.
What was even more puzzling was that it was clearly during the closed beta period, and without the participation of the players, how did the NPCs unlock the level restriction of the Imperial City by themselves?
Although they intended to increase the AI of the NPCs, it shouldn't be to this extent, right? They actually found the way to upgrade the main city by themselves?
"Dean Wang, is there a way to get the mainframe to pull up the data of the Imperial City when it was upgraded? I'm very curious about what happened in the game. "
Someone raised a question.
This was probably what everyone in the room wanted to know.
Dean Wang was Wang Lao, the original founder of Star Age, and at the same time, the person in charge of the game.
He was already 69 years old, and his hair was white and sparse. At this moment, his head was slightly lowered, as if he was hesitating about something. Finally, he sighed and said, "Take a look."
Obviously, before the meeting, he had already discovered the problem.
Everyone looked at each other, but when the screen in the conference room started to play a video, they became quiet again.
A silver-haired, purple-eyed young man appeared in the video. He wore a crown on his head and a gorgeous suit embroidered with the national emblem of Roland. He was being interviewed by a reporter.
In the meeting room, everyone recognized who this young man with cold eyes and the majesty of an emperor was at a glance.
Snow Roland.
For those who were fortunate enough to participate in the Star Age project, Snow Roland was no stranger. It could even be said that they were quite familiar with her.
After all, regardless of how quickly he accumulated popularity after the launch of the game, his original model, the original angel investor of the game, Xu Sili, was still hanging in the lobby of the research and development center.
For nearly ten years, they would pay their respects to him every day before work. Even every new employee would be educated by the seniors about the contributions of this big investor to the Star Age.
It could be said that without him, the Star Age project would have died in the womb. Without his will and continued to invest, even going as far as to sell off their ancestral home, the success of the Star Age project would not have come to fruition.
So when they saw the game character based on him appear on the screen and heard him say the following words, everyone's feelings were as complicated as Wang Lao's.
"As everyone knows, after the Empire's Elementalists break through to two-star, their strength can no longer increase. This is the so-called star level limit. This makes us very passive when facing the Interstellar Beasts."
"…"
"And what I want to tell you today is that this should not have happened. This is all because of a seal! Or rather, a curse would be more appropriate. "
"When Roland's national strength increases, this seal will loosen. After a special ceremony, this loose seal can be removed."
"And today, with the completion of the Mercenary Town and Doha Town, the time is ripe. I will try to remove this seal."
"…"
After watching the video in its entirety, everyone understood the reason for the sudden increase in development of the game.
It was because of him! This NPC Snow Roland!
His intelligence was so high that not only did he see that the level limit was a man-made "seal," he also found the key to leveling up — construction!
This was the increase in national strength that he talked about. That was not all. He even found a way to complete the "ceremony" — stuffing the Level 3 Interstellar Beast Core into the players' summoning circle?
No matter how they thought about it, this was not something that an NPC could do. Even if it was a player, they would have to explore for a long time, right?
When they first came up with this series of design plans, they were dumbfounded.
"And, that's not all," Wang Lao said solemnly.
In the information that followed, there were some in-game images that showed Ikeda and the others building the two-way teleportation circle.
Of course, the sharp-eyed people also noticed that the NPCs building the teleportation circle were mostly Elementalists.
"With the Imperial City leveling up to Level 3, the ruins that hid the Elemental Potioneer's legacy and the two-way teleportation circle blueprint have been excavated. They are now building the teleportation circle."
Wang Lao said faintly, "And the one in charge of the construction is Ikeda."
"Ah? Ikeda? That special talent that could become a Master Builder? "The planning staff in charge of the NPC design could not help but ask.
When the others looked over, they explained the special ability of this game character that could increase the speed of construction.
"That's right." Wang Lao nodded. "At the same time, he was also in charge of the construction of Doha Town."
This was also reported by the testers during the closed beta, but they did not realize the severity of the problem at that time. But now … it was a little too late.
This was because someone quickly pointed out that the leveling up system of Snow Roland was linked to the construction of the town.
Whether he realized this or not, after Ikeda was appointed as the Chief Engineer, his leveling speed had unknowingly doubled. And the people who worked for Ikeda …
They were all Elementalists!
With a little thought, one could imagine how powerful these Elementalists would be after they were put into production.
However, according to the original setting of these Elementalists, they would not agree to do such menial work, right?
Wang Lao sighed. Although he was the person in charge of this project, he specialized in the technical aspects. For example, he was the core person when it came to the game's holographic technology.
But when it came to the game's content planning, as a technical person, he did not put too much effort into it.
During the closed beta period of more than a month, he and the researchers spent more time on the feedback of the game cabin data and possible adverse reactions.
After all, this was the first public test, and as many as a thousand people at once, it was a heavy burden for the research center.
Since the start of the closed beta, many people had been working overtime to monitor the situation, afraid that there would be an emergency that would endanger the lives of the users.
Especially that time, there were more than a hundred users who participated in the escort mission. For many consecutive days, they were online for more than 24 hours and offline for less than 15 minutes.
Fortunately, under close monitoring, there were not many problems with the users' vital signs.
As for the problem of the game progressing too quickly … it was naturally overlooked. Although some observers noticed it, Wang Lao did not pay much attention to it.
After all, compared to the game experience of the players, the safety of the users was the most important. If there was a problem, the project would be cut in half. Even if it was not stopped, they would have to continue with the research.
And with the Xu family's current situation, it was obvious that the financial chain could not support them. If they could not effectively recover their losses, the project team would face a severe test. They might even have to sell part of the technology, or make a more cruel choice.
These were not things that Wang Lao and the others wanted to see happen.
Because of the above reasons, even if some of the game designers noticed the problem, they were temporarily suppressed by Wang Lao. Without technical support, these designers could not solve the problem even if they found it.
It was just that no one expected the game to progress so quickly! Moreover, the person behind all this was an NPC?
"Currently, the highest level NPC in the Roland Empire, other than Si, has already reached Level 25."
The related information of Li Zheyu appeared on the screen. Everyone's expression became more and more complicated.
Wang Lao continued, "As the first novice planet, Ai Xue Planet was originally hoped that the NPCs would not be too far behind the players. It was best to maintain the same momentum as the players."
"But now it seems that the speed is out of control."
The first closed beta test had just ended. Although the first batch of 1,000 closed beta players were close to Level 20, that was only a minority of the strong players.
In the later second and open beta, these players would start from level 0, and the gap between them would only get wider and wider.
If in the open beta, the NPCs and closed beta players were all Level 30 or 40, how would the other new players play?
Who would want to play a game that was overpowered?
And the fatal problem was that there was only one server. From the beginning, there was no problem of fairness.
The more they thought about it, the more their heads hurt. At this time, Wang Lao spoke again.
"I'm sure some of you have seen the video of Si Sheng that I just mentioned on the forum."
On the screen, the scene of Si Sheng showing off his invincible power outside of Lan Yue City began to play.
Admittedly, this scene was very cool and provided very good publicity material. However, the game planners had a headache.
Si Sheng was the only NPC on Ai Xue Planet that was not restricted by level. On one hand, it was because of Xu Sili's will. On the other hand, it was to prevent the Roland Empire from being destroyed because of the suppression.
This was something that Si Sheng had done very well three years ago in the game, and he had successfully become the Empire's Marshal and Guardian God.
But …
Even so, it was impossible for him to clear out all the galactic beasts within a radius of a few kilometers with one skill!
"Si Sheng's personal level has reached Level 82." Wang Lao rubbed his temples as he had a headache.
"The good news is that other than this time, he has no interest in clearing out all the galactic beasts in Roland or even the entire planet. Otherwise …"
Then what would the players do?!
Other than some nine-star and above galactic beasts, there was no other creature on Ai Xue Planet that could stop Si Sheng, right?
If they saw that Si Sheng had single-handedly killed a nine-star galactic beast, what would they think?
"We seem to have miscalculated the intelligence of the NPCs. After the first closed beta test, their intelligence has improved a lot compared to the previous tests."
"Perhaps this data can be used as an important reference in the field of artificial intelligence, but this is not what we are discussing today."
Wang Lao looked away from the screen and looked at the people in the meeting. He said seriously, "What we need to discuss now is whether we should intervene?"
Although the game team had always said that once the game started, there was no way for them to interfere with the progress of the game, and they had also unified their stance on the Xu Family, how could there not be a backdoor?
However, doing so would be a huge risk. Many previous experiments had shown that forceful intervention had a high probability of causing the entire game world to collapse.
Unless there was no other choice, the game team didn't want to do this.
This was because after the collapse, a lot of manpower and resources would be required to rebuild the game world. Even after the reconstruction, it might not achieve the same effect as before. After all, there were too many uncertainties in the evolution of the game world.
Now, whether it was time or money, the game team couldn't do as they pleased like before.
Of course, there was a more direct way.
After all, it was still in the closed beta stage, and there was no public announcement that this was a closed beta without deleting the files. Therefore, they could delete the files and start over before the open beta and pull all the players back to the same starting line.
This was because deleting the files and starting over was controllable. Although it still required a certain amount of manpower and resources, overall, it was less harmful than forcefully intervening and causing the game to collapse.
Everyone in the room listened to Wang Lao's analysis and fell into deep thought. However, not many people spoke.
In the end, it was the chief planner who said, "Wang Lao, I think … maybe we should ask for Mr. Xu's opinion."
At the end of the day, the Xu family was the biggest shareholder of Star Age. They had the right to make the final decision. The opinions of these people were only for reference.
Moreover, the most difficult problem this time was with a special NPC like Snow Roland.
Whether it was forcefully intervening or deleting the files and starting over, whether it was legally or rationally, the Xu family had to make the final decision.
Wang Lao nodded and took a deep breath. "I know this. That's why I gathered everyone today to discuss two sets of specific feasible plans.
You know Mr. Xu's temper and way of doing things. Before the plans are out, even if an old man like me goes to him, I'll probably be scolded. "
Because of Wang Lao's teasing, the heavy atmosphere in the conference room lightened up a little. Then, everyone went back to work and tried to discuss a set of plans before the start of the second beta.
In the game, Xu Sili didn't know that not only Si Sheng, but even he had attracted the attention of the game team.
At this moment, he had just finished his breakfast and was about to continue to take the shuttle with the Elementalist engineering team to the next stop — Star City.
However, before the shuttle left, the screams and sirens outside caught his attention.
At the same time, a shadow flashed beside him. Si Sheng appeared beside him.
Xu Sili calmed down a little and asked, "Brother Sheng, what happened?"
Hearing him call him Brother Sheng, Si Sheng's heart skipped a beat, but he said calmly, "Something happened at the beach."
Xu Sili stood by the window and looked out. He couldn't see the situation at the beach, and with his current range of more than three hundred meters, he couldn't see that far.
He looked at Si Sheng unwillingly.
Si Sheng had already seen through his thoughts. He ordered the pilot to stay put and then went forward to grab him and took him out of the shuttle.
The place where the shuttle stopped was not far from the beach, so Si Sheng didn't summon the Shadow Leopard. Instead, he took Xu Sili directly to the beach where the battle had broken out.
They saw that the beach where they had roasted fish last night was now full of ugly interstellar beasts.
They had the bodies of fish, but the limbs of amphibians. At this moment, the defenders on the beach were constantly shooting with bows and arrows, covering the civilians on the beach as they fled.
Although they couldn't go into the sea, every time the tide receded, there were still many civilians who took the risk to collect shellfish by the beach. Occasionally, they could also pick up small fish sea beasts, which were considered as a source of food.
Now, there were about a thousand civilians scattered on the beach. They had already abandoned their things and ran back when they saw the sea beasts coming ashore.
However, these four-legged fish were extremely fast and their bite strength was amazing. The civilians who didn't have enough food couldn't outrun them. After being bitten, they were basically powerless.
By the time Xu Sili and Si Sheng arrived, there were already civilians being dragged into the sea alive. They were bitten, and the blood that gushed out dyed the beach red.
Looking at the scene below, Xu Sili couldn't help but grit his teeth. He felt like he was going to vomit out his breakfast.
He resisted the strong feeling of nausea and took out the piccolo that Si Sheng had given him. This was the first time he had used it in battle after getting it.
[Music God's Piccolo]
Description: Legend has it that it was forged by the partner of the Music God. After the Music God fell, it was lost in the world.
Quality: Mythical
Equipment Effect: All attributes are doubled
Unlocked:
1. Enhance: Passive Skill. When wearing this piccolo, the effect of sound-type skills will be increased by ten times.
2. Advance: Active Skill. Temporarily increases the effect of sound-type skills by 100 times. Lasts for 10 minutes. Cooldown time is one hour.
3. Protection: When using this piccolo to play sound-type skills, a protective shield will form around the user that can absorb 99% of elemental damage.
Unlocked: Unknown
After equipping the piccolo, his Spirit attribute, which was originally as high as 235, doubled to 470. In an instant, he felt unprecedentedly clear-headed.
The detection range of his Spirit power had not simply doubled. It had increased from the original range of more than 300 meters to more than 1,000 meters!
This was more than enough for this battle.
Xu Sili didn't say anything and immediately started to play the piccolo.
As a superstar who had composed many songs himself, he had mastered many musical instruments. A piccolo was not a problem for him.
As he played, a quiet and gentle melody, with the unique light texture of the piccolo, slowly sounded on the battlefield.
Roland's Requiem Goodnight, activated!
The Requiem Goodnight, which had already been upgraded to Lv2, had reached a terrifying effect when the piccolo's passive effect was increased tenfold.
As soon as the gentle melody sounded, the battlefield, which had been fierce and cruel, suddenly fell into a dead silence.
Whether it was the three-star four-legged fishes on the beach, the soldiers who were shooting at the barrier, or the civilians who were running with all their might, all of them suddenly fell silent.
They were not in a coma, but under the control of some kind of illusion. Many of them had a silly smile on their faces, showing a serene expression in the bloody battlefield, which looked very strange.
Because it was the first time he had used the piccolo to deal with such a big situation, Xu Sili didn't use his Spirit power at the beginning. Therefore, it was impossible to distinguish between friend and foe.
However, at least he had prevented more civilians from being dragged into the sea.
He calmly played the piccolo. When he saw the situation on the beach, he slowly heaved a sigh of relief.
Although these four-legged fishes didn't seem to have any sense of hearing, the domineering sound elements directly affected the nerves in their heads. Therefore, they were still controlled.
Immediately after, Xu Sili released his Spirit power and began to control the spreading sound elements to gather back.
The archers on the shore were the first to regain consciousness. However, when they saw what was happening on the beach, they fell into a daze again.
Because of Xu Sili's control, they could no longer hear the sound of the flute. Those who heard the flute were also hypnotized, so no one could understand what was happening for a while.
Later on, more and more people regained consciousness.
The soldiers naturally reacted quickly and hurriedly dragged the civilians away. The civilians who survived the disaster also ran toward the shore crazily.
Xu Sili gradually narrowed the range of the flute's effect to the four-legged fishes. However, as the range shrank to the center of the battlefield, which was the area where the civilians and interstellar beasts were the most concentrated, he felt the strain.
However, he felt the familiar light golden Spirit power.
He paused for a moment, then continued to focus on playing the flute. With Si Sheng's help and guidance, he felt much more relaxed. At the same time, he also had a new understanding of the control of his Spirit power.
Moreover, as the level of his Spirit power increased greatly, he could feel the special feeling when their Spirit power intertwined.
It was as if their souls were so close together that they could easily feel each other's emotions and some weak thoughts.
All in all, it was a very strange experience.
Xu Sili tried his best to ignore this strange feeling and focused on the control of his Sound Type skills.
After this battle, he clearly realized that no amount of practice could compare to actual combat.
Previously, he felt that as long as it was within the range of his Spirit power, he could control everything. However, the reality was that in a situation where so many people were mixed up, his control was still insufficient.
This was a small battle with less than a thousand people, and the situation was not that serious. If it was a real battle, he was afraid that he would not be able to completely control the healing effect on his own people.
Therefore, even if his Germinal skill was improved to the point where it could instantly restore the health of others, he could not use it casually.
Otherwise, it would be a disaster if he added it on his enemies.
It seems that being a healer is not so easy … Xu Sili thought sadly.
The civilians below quickly ran back into the protective barrier. Meanwhile, when the warriors saw that the four-legged fish was still dizzy, they became even more daring. Each and every one of them raised their weapons and slashed at the four-legged fish. There were also some Elementalists who rushed over to join in the one-sided slaughter.
Although the four-legged fishes were generally two or three stars, who asked them to be controlled so tightly by Xu Sili?
Soon, more and more Warriors joined in.
The speed at which the four-legged fishes were cleaned up also began to increase. In less than half a day, the defenders had slaughtered nearly a hundred four-legged fishes and dragged them back to the protective barrier.
When the barrier closed again, and there were no more people left on the shore, Xu Sili finally stopped playing.
In about three hours, he played almost forty times. Fortunately, the blue crystal necklace that Si Sheng gave him increased his Mana Cap. Otherwise, he would not have been able to use it up.
Furthermore, he felt that his mouth was numb from all the playing, and he did not want to play this song again for a while.
The civilians below cheered around the piles of Galactic Beast corpses, and a few family members of those who had died gathered together to cry.
When Xu Sili saw this scene, he did not feel relaxed.
He felt that he had not done enough. If Roland could become stronger faster, these people would not have to die, and the civilians of Glaze City would not have to retreat to the city and be helpless against the Galactic Beasts in the sea.
"Let's go back," he said to Si Sheng.
Seeing that he was in a bad mood, Si Sheng did not say anything. He only kissed his forehead, then brought him back to the shuttle and prepared to leave Glaze City.
After all, besides Glaze City, the situation in Star Catcher City and Twilight Frost City was not much better.
They had to send the Elementalist engineering team over as soon as possible.
As for the small battle that had just protected Glaze City, the two of them did not take it to heart.
To them, it was not a huge achievement.
However, the people who were being protected obviously did not think so. Soon, some people thought of Si Sheng, who had escorted the Elementalists here.
After asking around, they found out that the shuttle that was supposed to have left had stopped halfway through its flight.
Thus, after some thinking, the civilians gave all the credit to Si Sheng, thinking that it was the guardian angel who had secretly protected them.
When Xu Sili received Xiao Wu's complaint about this matter and felt indignant for him, he could not help but laugh.
He had snuck out secretly, so it was fine to give the credit to Si Sheng, lest someone else falsely claimed the credit. Anyway, Si Sheng did not care about this kind of thing.
In the end, under the enthusiastic farewell of the civilians, their shuttle left Glaze City and continued to fly to the next stop.
In reality, after some discussion and discussion, the game team finally organized the discovered problems and solutions into a report and handed it to Xu Fengqing's desk.
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