They Actually Made "Magic Tower"

Three days after the first topic was announced.

At the Lattice Tea Pavilion on Xianyun Lake.

"Checkmate!"

"No way, let's do that again!"

"Forget it, forget it... how boring. I should have called the other elders over, then we could have played a round of Three Kingdoms."

Nangong Yuan and Zhao Wendao sat across from each other at the chess table, halfheartedly playing Chinese chess.

"I wonder if that rebellious disciple's board game illusion can help us kill some boredom..."

"Master, you're getting old. That illusion is a bit too new; I'm afraid you can't keep up with the times..."

Lu Ze muttered under his breath, immediately drawing a scolding laugh from Nangong Yuan:

"Bah! You ungrateful disciple... are you going in for the competition or not? Don't tell me you really have no ideas?"

Nangong Yuan watched Lu Ze, who was meditating with his eyes half-closed, a hint of worry in his heart.

This topic was judged by the number of players and playtime.

In other words, the earlier you finished it, the higher your score.

Everyone else, afraid of falling behind, had already entered the Illusion Tower to start building their illusions.

Only Lu Ze stayed leisurely beside them, taking it easy.

"How could that be? Your disciple is just paving the way for Senior Brother Zhong..."

Lu Ze opened one eye halfway and said with a smile.

Ever since Lu Ze gave him that nudge a few days ago, Zhong Yi had clearly had an epiphany.

Lu Ze was curious to see what style Zhong Yi's first illusion work would take.

For a newcomer, competing on the same stage as someone like Lu Ze was hardly a good story.

The outcome would most likely be mediocrity...

Because aside from Lu Ze, everyone else's illusions looked the same, given the sheer gap in quality.

Considering that the strength of a cyber soul was tied to the person themselves, Lu Ze had always wanted to cultivate Zhong Yi's skills in illusions, so he could later use him as a handy helper.

That was why he chose to delay making his own illusion.

This way, Zhong Yi could get genuine feedback from comparisons with ordinary illusion masters, sparking his interest in creating illusions.

As for the competition result?

If he, who possessed the wisdom of human civilization from a past life and a system cheat, only beat the natives by a margin of just three to five days in scoring...

That would really drag down the average level of "transmigrators."

Just then, Zhao Wendao, who had been keeping an eye on the movements in the arena, suddenly perked up.

"Someone came out of the Illusion Tower!"

...

...

On the morning of the third day of the first round, the first illusion appeared.

It was a tower defense illusion modeled after Spirit Plant vs. Zombies.

In the afternoon, a real-time strategy illusion modeled after Immortal Realm Domination burst onto the scene.

...

On the fourth day...

...

By the fifth day, Zhong Yi came out.

His illusion was called Brave the Demon-Sealing Tower.

Typical failing when it came to naming things.

Lu Ze experienced it firsthand right away.

The illusion told the story of a younger female disciple who accidentally wandered into the Demon-Sealing Tower and fell into a deep abyss, prompting the protagonist to go rescue her.

Due to the special formations of the tower, players lost most of their power upon entering and had to find special artifacts scattered inside to gradually recover their strength.

Each special artifact was guarded by a demon...

Zhong Yi had indeed taken the hint. He assigned attributes to each monster, such as health, attack, and defense.

The battles between players and demons were simple number clashes, with damage deducted based on the difference in attack and defense.

Brave the Demon-Sealing Tower had 18 floors, each with a uniquely designed level that even impressed Lu Ze.

Simply put, it was the gameplay of the classic little game Demon Tower from his past life.

And in terms of level design, it surpassed Demon Tower by quite a bit, with excellent craftsmanship.

"Well, well, Senior Brother Zhong actually made Demon Tower..."

After finishing one playthrough, Lu Ze chuckled to himself.

He hadn't hinted at that much back then—he only suggested replacing combat with different formats.

Lu Ze hadn't expected Zhong Yi to create something like Demon Tower, and with such high completion.

"How is it, Junior Brother Lu?"

Zhong Yi rushed over to ask as soon as he saw Lu Ze exit the illusion.

"From a newcomer's perspective, it's very strong... as expected of Senior Brother Zhong."

Lu Ze praised without reservation.

"The illusions before yours are no match for this."

Before Zhong Yi, more than a dozen illusions had been completed.

Lu Ze took a quick look and knew they were arranged in advance by the Illusion Alliance.

All of them were polished and beautiful, but their core mechanics were the same, totally lacking novelty.

They weren't even in the same league as Demon-Sealing Tower.

"And what about from the perspective of a high-level illusion master?"

Zhong Yi didn't get cocky; instead, he pressed further.

After all, he always looked up to Lu Ze as his role model.

"Well, that's a bit... rough, I'd say."

Lu Ze thought for a moment and replied.

Demon Tower was a very classic game.

If Lu Ze hadn't appeared in this world, Zhong Yi's Demon-Sealing Tower alone would have earned him a spot among the great illusion masters.

Unfortunately, the games Lu Ze brought were all refined products from a mature gaming industry.

"If Demon-Sealing Tower is like a first-generation product, then a second-generation illusion master would make combat attribute design much richer, like adding skills, setting up combat progress bars..."

"This way, the number of solutions for each level could multiply tenfold."

Lu Ze didn't hold back with Zhong Yi, but to guide him gradually rather than force-feed him, he spoke vaguely, letting Zhong Yi figure it out on his own.

Of course, Demon Tower's numeric combat design was classic, but it was too rigid.

If you made even one or two wrong moves against the monsters, failure was inevitable, with no room for recovery.

While there was more than one way to clear the game, the options were limited.

In later games, this kind of automated combat often incorporated things like skills and moves.

By adjusting skill sequences and controlling attack speed, they added more engagement and fun to automatic battles.

At the same time, the number of solutions and playstyles multiplied.

Zhong Yi nodded, half understanding: "Junior Brother Lu is second-generation? Can you create illusions with hundreds of solutions?"

"No..."

Lu Ze shook his head with a smile.

"I'm third-generation. The number of solutions for my illusions is..."

"Infinite."

With that, amid Zhong Yi's surprised and excited gaze, Lu Ze stood up gracefully, his figure instantly appearing before the Illusion Tower marked with the number 749.

His divine sense sank into it, and Lu Ze slowly wrote the name of his illusion—

Kill Immortal Tower.

[P.S. The section on the Delta region is quite long. Next, we’ll pick three short and sweet games to give everyone a change of pace.]