Refining the Void Soul Crystal

The Illusion Alliance's recruitment exchange meeting had concluded, sending shockwaves through the cultivation world.

The main reason was Guo Yunfeng's breakthrough.

Many doubted the difficulty of cultivating the Emotionless Path, but no one had ever questioned its strength.

At the mid-stage of the Refining Void realm, Guo Yunfeng was now firmly positioned among the top tier of Refining Void cultivators.

The Emotionless Sect's status surged overnight, hinting at the momentum to become the foremost sect below the Five Great Sects.

The source of it all was none other than Lu Ze's illusion realm.

More and more sect masters began to focus their attention on the field of illusion realms.

For a time, the winds of change blew fiercely.

...

...

Beast Taming Sect, Divine Beast Hall.

"Illusion realms... such remarkable effects..."

The white-haired old man's murky eyes suddenly flickered with a glimmer of hopeful light.

He turned to look at the enormous, translucent hornless dragon behind him, his trembling hand stroking the beast's long whiskers.

"If there truly is a power that can turn decay into miracles..."

"Then can it perhaps find a way to prolong your life?"

...

...

Lingxiao Sect, Spirit Jade Pavilion.

"This thing is tougher to handle than I imagined..."

Lu Ze rubbed his chin, staring at the Tai Xu Soul Crystal in his hand.

Earlier, he had lightly brushed it with his spiritual sense and felt an unfathomable depth of soul-strengthening power.

As the system had described, the Tai Xu Soul Crystal's enhancement to one's spiritual sense was tremendous.

But naturally, absorbing and refining it was no simple task.

Luze estimated that, at his current cultivation level, fully refining it would take about two to three months.

And more importantly, he couldn't be disturbed during the process.

"Two to three months? That's quite a while..."

Lu Ze considered the matter.

Based on past experience, as long as the Immortal Abyss Operation stabilized his foundation, he wouldn't need to worry about his Demonic Path value even if he did nothing during that time.

But now, with the crafty Illusion Alliance as an opponent, they might still pull something unexpected.

The fact that they had handed over the Tai Xu Soul Crystal so easily was simply too out of character for them.

Were they afraid of Zhao Wendao and Nangong Yuan?

Others might not know the truth, but Lu Ze understood clearly that the Alliance Leader, who had always stayed hidden in the shadows, was definitely a fearsome figure above the Deity Fusion realm.

Considering how meticulously the Alliance had laid out their plans, just to obtain the Illusion Tower he had used and try to pry into the secrets of the Dao of Transfiguration,

Lu Ze felt that their willingness to part with the Soul Crystal so readily must conceal a trick.

Was it poisoned?

That didn't seem likely.

He had even had the remnants of the Heavenly Dao inspect it, and there were no signs of tampering.

Thus, Lu Ze's only conclusion about this was:

The Illusion Alliance was planning to do something while he was buried in refining the Soul Crystal!

Their most likely move would be trying to recruit some players away from him.

Though Lu Ze wasn't sure what underhanded tactics they might use, he knew he had to be on guard.

"Better create a new game just in case..."

Lu Ze made up his mind and muttered to himself.

"What kind of new game should I make?"

Currently, Immortal Abyss Operation and EclipsEternalwere the mainstays of the illusion realm.

That meant action games weren't needed for now.

A story-driven game that cuts deep?

While such games were brilliant at harvesting emotional values, they weren't suited for a back-to-back release.

Emotions needed time to build and store up.

Releasing such games too frequently would leave players numb.

Just as Lu Ze was pondering the kind of new game to maintain the players' fresh interest, Zhong Yi suddenly showed up.

"Junior Brother Lu, can you release a fourth floor for thea?"

These days, Zhong Yi had cleared the highest difficulty with all five characters from the Immortal Slaying Tower.

His understanding of the card combos had reached an elite level, and he was eager for new content to explore.

"The Immortal Slaying Tower?"

Lu Ze raised an eyebrow.

That actually gave him an idea.

Among the three illusion realms Lu Ze had created for the summit, only the Immortal Slaying Tower was suited for long-term development.

Both card games and roguelikes were great for killing time.

If he added an online PvP element, the game could sustain interest even longer.

With that in mind, he settled on a plan.

"There won't be a new difficulty level, but I do have a new illusion realm."

"Another new realm, Junior Brother Lu? Is it like the Immortal Slaying Tower?"

Zhong Yi's eyes lit up, since that was his strong suit.

Lu Ze shook his head.

"Not quite the same. The barrier to entry will be lower."

...

After sending off Zhong Yi,

Lu Ze began planning the new illusion realm.

A card game with online elements—two giants from his past life immediately came to mind.

Hearthstone, and the Battle of the Golden Shovels(CF translation reference).

Both had dominated their respective eras, sweeping across half the online gaming world.

In terms of pure game quality, Hearthstone was clearly the better choice.

But considering that the Immortal-Demon Clash, his adaptation of League of Legends , was already fairly well-developed, Lu Ze ultimately chose the Battle of the Golden Shovels as his new card illusion realm.

"How will I generate Demonic Path value..."

Lu Ze closed his eyes to think.

In a match of eight players, following the original design, an average game lasted 30 minutes and killed only seven people.

That meant the Demonic Path value generation rate would be too slow.

"Got it. I'll split the health bar into lives."

Inspiration quickly came to him.

He would divide 100 health points into 10 lives.

Whenever a player lost 10 health, they would experience a death-and-peril execution animation.

As for why not one health point per life...

If a player lost a small round and got executed dozens of times, it would hurt the game experience, reduce the sense of immersion, and mess up the Demonic Path value calculation.

Lu Ze had tested this: the system didn't reward Demonic Path value simply for showing a kill notification in the illusion realm. The player had to experience a clear sense of their own death.

That was why he had designed special death animations for games like Immortal-Demon Brawland the Immortal Slaying Tower.

With 30 minutes producing at least 70 kills per match, that would hit the baseline standard for an online game.

After solving the Demonic Path value issue, Lu Ze turned to the second question:

Which version should he use for the debut?

Season 1 was naturally a classic, with simple mechanics perfect for introducing players.

But Season 2 had been a flop.

The elemental grid design hadn't been enough to sustain an entire major version, causing severe player churn.

Season 4's Chosen One, Season 6's Hextech enhancements...

After some honest deliberation,

Lu Ze decided to use the characters and synergies from Season 4, while introducing the Hextech mechanic that only appeared after Season 6, as the launch version.

The reasoning for this choice was simple.

What had thrilled players most about the Immortal Slaying Tower was its roguelike element.

And the selection of Hextech enhancements, to some extent, matched the random combinations of roguelikes, making it perfect for drawing players in.

As for synergies and characters, Season 4's entertainment value and diversity were undeniably outstanding.

Who could resist picking up a winning hand when they see a Fortune Favored Tahm Kench at the very start?

“Since I’m going to build a Hextech system...”

Lu Ze’s gaze shifted to the declining backend data of the Fairy vs. Demon illusion realm.

“Then shouldn’t the Hextech Chaos Battle be joining the game as well?”

[The Hextech and Golden Shovel content will be summarized in a chapter or two, without going into detail. It’s only used to expand the game library and transition the plot.]

[Why a transition? Because the next game to be written is about Palworld, whose official version releases on the 10th. I need one or two days to play it, gather some material, and then start writing. In the meantime, I can’t just abandon the story update, so a quick game passage that can be briefly glossed over is necessary.]