Teammate Mode Friend-Ending Mode

The reason Lu Ze chose Slay the Spire II as his template was largely due to the unique team mode exclusive to the second generation.

Aside from the ever-changing roguelike elements that kept players coming back for more, friends were also an indispensable part of the experience. After all, no matter the game, friends are always the most precious part.

"Hey, Senior Brother, you like playing Iron Armor Sect Cultivator too? Want to spar a couple of rounds at Quenching Gold Peak after we finish climbing the tower?"

Mu Yawen, seeing Zhong Yi had chosen the same character as her, happily waved at him.

"No need to spar... but today, Senior Brother is going to teach you a trick. Watch closely and learn well."

Zhong Yi mysteriously patted Mu Yawen on the shoulder.

A few days ago, he had taught Mu Yawen quite a bit about playing the Iron Armor Sect Cultivator, but looking back now, some of those theories were pretty outdated.

He glanced at the other two.

Zhou Qiaoling had chosen the Crown Prince, while Zhou Yue picked the Malfunctioning Spirit Puppet.

"Oh? Lao Zhou, why'd you pick that little thing?"

Zhong Yi found it amusing to see the yellow little spirit puppet marked with Zhou Yue's nickname.

Compared to the fourth strongest character in the first generation, the malfunctioning robot in the second generation was actually quite a bit stronger. Especially at the beginner level, it was much easier to win with than characters like the Bone Sister or the Crown Prince.

But as players climbed to higher difficulties, the Malfunctioning Spirit Puppet's power started to fall behind. Around this time, a vague group of people bashing the Malfunctioning Spirit Puppet began to appear on the forums.

The term "the fifth favorite character" seemed to be slowly spreading...

"What do you know... I think this little guy is a lot like me."

Zhou Yue crossed his arms, putting on a deep expression.

Zhou Qiaoling immediately cracked up: "Your brain's broken too?"

"Bah!"

Zhou Yue shot Zhou Qiaoling a glare.

"It's called rising to the challenge and gaining strength through accumulation! Just wait—this time I'm going to prove it to you!"

"Alright, alright, enough talk. Let's start climbing already."

Zhong Yi chuckled to himself, planning to show off a new set of strategies to Zhou Yue and blow his mind.

What chance did he have to get started?

Once Zhong Yi got his build online, he wouldn't give Zhou Yue that opportunity!

The team mode wasn't too different from single-player. The main difference was that monster health was multiplied several times over, and attacks were area-of-effect damage.

As a result, certain cards that performed average in single-player mode were much better in team mode, especially debuff cards that inflicted status effects on monsters.

Zhong Yi didn't play team mode often, but he had a decent understanding of the general rules.

Players didn't play cards in order of their turn number; instead, it was based on card speed.

"Wait up, I can apply Vulnerable first and—Lao Zhou, you already played all your cards!?"

"Uh, I'm too used to solo climbing, I forgot... Next time, tell me you have Vulnerable sooner!"

"Are you some kind of Fiora? Hitting all five strikes in one second!!"

...

"Junior Brother Mu, I can apply Vulnerable—don't block. Just throw out your highest-damage cards, Strength-stacking ones are best... What the hell is [Fight Me]!?"

"Huh? Didn't Senior Brother say Strength-stacking damage cards were best?"

"But [Fight Me] gives the monster Strength too!!!"

"It's fine—he gets one, I get two. I'm stronger than him."

"It's a multi-hit monster... and we don't get any benefit from it, dammit!! That hit hurts way too much!!!"

...

"Hee hee, I've never seen this artifact before... What's Sulfur?"

"No, don't—"

"I got two more Strength, Senior Brother Zhong!"

"And the monster got one more Strength, Junior Brother Mu!!!"

...

"Lao Zhou, what are you doing..."

"Hold on, I'm about to get started."

"And you, Junior Sister Qiaoling, what are you doing..."

"I'm waiting for the monster to get low on HP. I have [Greedy Hand]—killing it gives me extra gold... Let me take the last hit!"

"And you, Junior Brother Mu... Stop playing [Fight Me] already!!!"

...

...

Slay the Spire II's team mode could, in certain situations, be called a "friendship-ending simulator."

Take this moment, for example. Zhong Yi came out of the campfire room after resting and saw his three teammates all at low health. The corners of his mouth twitched violently.

"Don't look at me, Lao Zhong. I'm in this state—if I don't upgrade cards, I'll have even less damage..."

Zhou Yue avoided eye contact.

"Senior Brother Zhong, you know me. If I don't upgrade [Greedy Hand], I'd be betraying my reputation as the ultimate greedy player of Spirit Peak Sect!"

Zhou Qiaoling also looked down, not daring to meet Zhong Yi's gaze.

Only Mu Yawen stared back with big, bright eyes, grinning widely as he showed off his white teeth. "Senior Brother Zhong, last time you taught me—Iron Armor Sect Cultivators don't have HP bars; they have red block bars!"

"Dammit!!!"

Zhong Yi clutched his forehead and let out a wail.

"I can't carry this team anymore..."

"I can't do it!!!"

...

...

All joking and messing around aside.

After giving a few instructions, the team got back on track and stumbled their way to the first floor's big monster room.

Though it was clear that Zhong Yi was doing all the heavy lifting.

As the battle neared its end, Zhong Yi couldn’t help but find it almost comical watching the nearly idle faulty spirit puppet that had done next to nothing the entire fight.

If it weren’t for the fact that he had gotten lucky this round, drawing the powerful gold card [Crimson Cape] early on to hold the line, the four of them probably would have been eliminated by now.

Now that he had weathered the pressure and taken down the first-layer great demon, he grinned at Zhou Yue and teased, “Lao Zhou, where’s your damage output?”

“Well... you can’t put it that way…”

Zhou Yue flushed, immediately turning around.

“The monster only has so much HP. The more you take, the less I get. What’s the point of obsessing over damage output? Just give it another ten thousand HP, let me ramp up, and we’ll see.”

“Alright, alright. I’ll wait for you to ramp up.”

Zhong Yi laughed heartily, not pressing Zhou Yue further on the sore spot.

After all, Zhong Yi had seen Zhou Yue’s card draws for himself.

Just watching them was painful enough... anyone who could stick with that kind of luck and keep playing was a true legend.

“Here goes nothing…”

Zhong Yi rubbed his hands together, closed his eyes, and suddenly grabbed toward the golden energy sphere bursting from the great demon.

“Haha!! [Add Fuel]!! It’s [Add Fuel]!!! I’ve hit the jackpot!!!!”

Seeing the gold card in the middle, Zhong Yi couldn’t contain his excitement and burst out cheering.

“Senior Brother Zhong, once you burn through that card, what are you going to play?”

Mu Yawen scratched her head, puzzled.

“Don’t worry, you’ll understand once we get to the third layer…”

Zhong Yi wore a mysterious expression, eager to see the look of shock on everyone else’s faces when they witnessed his endless stream of card plays.

After defeating the first-layer great demon and resting at the start of the second layer to choose their artifacts, the four continued their challenge.

The moment they opened the map, Zhong Yi was dumbfounded.

All the rooms at the bottom of the map funneled into a single treasure room at the center, clearly indicating someone had secretly chosen the [Treasure Map] event.

“Shouldn’t we, as Lao Zhong said, pick the lower option since our combat power is stretched thin?”

Zhou Yue muttered, then quickly caught on, his gaze snapping toward the figure nearly hiding behind him.

“ZHOU!!! QIAO!!! LING!!!”

“You’re a bottomless pit in human form!!!”

[Been on the road all day, pretty worn out, and not in the best shape. I was going to rest, but I pushed myself anyway. These two chapters were written in a bit of a rush—I’ll tweak them after I wake up. Don’t want to miss a single day before hitting a million words.]