Carl had not been idle in the ti before the release of Version 1.2.
Most of it was thanks to the Elysium protocol, though the Oath officials might not have realized that yet.
At this stage, Carl already possessed partial editing rights for Trial of Glory.
There was also Oath's marketing share involved in this part, though that was a performance-based agreent and would be explained in detail later.
At this stage, although Carl could not edit things like Contract Stones, basic gaplay, or the resource monsters in the ga.
Those belonged to Oath's official assets.
But Carl could absolutely add a new mode to it!
That was Netherworld Village Villager Mode, or Villager Mode for short.
In this mode, players could explore areas involved in Trial of Glory, such as the City of Glory and the Bright Plains, while using their Descent into Netherworld Village character state.
To put it simply... players could completely strip the City of Glory bare and take all its resources back to build Netherworld Village.
And this Villager Mode was actually an extrely difficult challenge mode.
First of all, the power players had as Saviors of Oath, as well as the powerful abilities of those gacha characters, still could not be used.
That part belonged to Oath's official assets, and Carl had no way to use it.
Players could only use various escape tools unlocked in the hideout within Descent into Netherworld Village.
Things like smoke bombs, flashbangs, short-range teleporters, fixed-point teleport beacons, and the like, all to escape from monsters and from the pursuit of other players in the main Oath ga.
To put it bluntly, this was an extrely difficult zero-to-hero extraction mode, but it also made up for Descent into Netherworld Village's major flaw of having no real challenge in the late ga.
At least for veteran players like Macchiato, Ryan, Kyo, and Crimson Night.
After ten sleepless days of full imrsion, they had almost finished the early content of Descent into Netherworld Village.
At this stage, the many monsters in Netherworld Village, such as Sound-Seeking Hounds, Statues, and Box Spirits...
In the face of their many bizarre items, they were now little more than toys to be bullied and ssed with. There was no challenge left at all!
Since you think the monsters in the village are not challenging, then co to the City of Glory!
The City of Glory is a grand stage. Co if you have what it takes!
Aside from anything else, the fun and thrill of playing hide-and-seek and outsmarting a bunch of hyper-competitive main-ga Oath players would definitely be maxed out.
But even so... Carl still had to make so simple modifications to the City of Glory's monster chanics.
After all, when Toyama originally designed these monsters, they were ant to deal with a large number of main-ga Oath players who possessed godlike abilities.
The monsters would basically start combat the mont they made eye contact with a player, and they could sense players from an extrely long distance.
As for how Carl modified the monsters' chanics, the answer was negotiation.
Negotiation with the monsters.
At this mont, in the shadow of the City of Glory's walls, Carl and Anan, the Commander of the Abyssal Knights, were looking at the bustling scenery below the city while holding a secret eting.
"So the reason you ca looking for is to put this strange symbol on and the mbers of my Abyssal Knights?"
Anan held a very strange icon in her hand. It looked like a closed eye.
But once she approached a player, the closed eye would slowly open.
Finally, when she discovered the player, the eye would turn into a crimson warning indicator.
"Think of it as a grace period for the Saviors. I know the elites of your Abyssal Knights can detect the Saviors' whereabouts from the slightest sound," Carl said.
Trial of Glory was divided into two areas: the Lower District of the City of Glory and the Bright Plains.
Carl had no way to negotiate with the mindless monsters on the Bright Plains.
But the ones responsible for security in the City of Glory's Lower District were precisely the soldiers and monsters played by the Abyssal Knights.
"After Trial of Glory begins, a group of unard Saviors with no ability to fight back will step into it. I hope you will give them a chance after discovering them."
"Do not attack them before that eye icon fully opens and turns crimson. Even if it does turn crimson, show them so rcy. Treat it more like a cat playing with a mouse rather than a lion pouncing on its prey."
The eye icon chanic Carl provided was sothing found in most stealth gas, a chanic used to determine whether NPCs had discovered the player.
This chanic was very important and a crucial part of giving players a sense of achievent in stealth and theft gaplay.
"Why should I listen to you?"
A strange smile appeared on Anan's face. Actually, she was very interested in Carl's suggestion, but she mischievously kept him in suspense.
"Because you are also here to play with the Saviors, aren't you? Even for the players of the main Oath ga, you ca here with the goal of earning pleasant emotions from them."
As Carl spoke, he looked toward a figure in the Lower District.
The Saintess.
She was currently using the positive emotions she had accumulated from the players to heal NPCs infected with the Calamity Virus.
At this mont, the Saintess truly looked like a saint.
The pale golden light radiating from her healed the illnesses of the NPC patients surrounding her.
Among them, many mbers of the Abyssal Knights were also lining up, waiting to receive healing from the Saintess.
This was probably why the Saintess worked so hard to win the players' affection.
Because the cure for the Calamity Virus was the most valuable hard currency in this world.
It was likely that after this healing ceremony, the Saintess's position in the Holy Nation would beco much more stable.
Carl withdrew his gaze from the Saintess and looked at Anan.
The Calamity Virus on her body still had not been cured.
"I suppose the reason the Calamity Virus in you hasn't been cured isn't because the Saintess doesn't want to cure it, but because she can't, right?"
Carl's single sentence struck the sorest spot in Anan's heart.
Because even cures were divided into different grades, and players' positive emotions naturally varied in quality.
Most of what the Saintess was currently absorbing was the montary surprise players felt when they successfully summoned her from the gacha.
The quantity of this "surprise" was very large, making it perfectly fine for treating ordinary Calamity infections.
But how could the pleasure of winning a gamble, the instant gratification of a successful gacha pull, ever dilute soone's deepest despair?
The deeper and darker the despair, the more profound and noble the positive emotion needed to offset it.
"You led your Abyssal Knights to participate in this trial because you wanted to obtain a higher-quality 'cure' from the Saviors, didn't you?"
At this mont, Carl voiced what Anan truly craved in her heart.
"Such as the sense of achievent from giving everything to defeat a powerful enemy, or the happiness of surviving against all odds."
"And the spirit of self-sacrifice that cos from Saviors helping each other of their own accord. Wouldn't any of those be more aningful than the fleeting excitent of a gacha pull?"
"Heh..." Anan chuckled sowhat helplessly and said, "I finally understand why our Saintess is so afraid of you."
Anan accepted the eye icon Carl gave her. More specifically, she accepted the detection grace-period chanic for player stealth, and said.
"I will order my soldiers to take good care of those 'Villager Saviors' who have no combat ability. Perhaps we can extract so 'cures' with a different flavor from them."
"Don't worry. If the Saintess still can't treat you in the end, co to . I guarantee I have a way to cure you."
Carl was not boasting.
During the Descent into Netherworld Village trial phase alone, by absorbing various kinds of "laughter and joy" from the test players, Carl had already allowed many Netherworld Village NPCs to gradually regain their human forms.
"Don't say such dangerous things to soone in my position. This secret eting with you is already violating Holy Nation law."
After making a joke, Anan waved her hand, and her petite figure disappeared before Carl.
(To be continued.)
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