They watched as Mingyan skillfully skipped the character creation stage, pulled out a two-handed greatsword, hopped around in place to familiarize himself with the controls, and then left the first campfire carrying the greatsword.
—We're about to encounter our first monster!
Everyone stared wide-eyed, peering closely at the screen.
As the chief designer, Mingyan naturally knew the locations of the levels and monsters perfectly.
He skillfully wedged himself against the wall, slowly and deliberately avoiding the monster's line of sight.
The first little monster didn't even see him.
He skillfully avoided the second monster during his patrol.
The third monster did appear directly in front of Mingyan, but the latter executed another extremely skillful forward roll, run, forward roll, run, forward roll...
The little monster couldn't even touch him!
Then Mingyan successfully arrived in front of the treasure chest, opened it, and was promptly killed by the monsters, saving himself the time of running back to the camp.
Important item obtained!
Meanwhile, the other players were still fighting the first monster.
A very few expert players, having just killed the first monster, smugly asked the secretary, "Am I the one who's progressed the earliest? If I can take down the next two monsters, I can get the treasure chest upstairs."
Secretary: "..."
The designers: "..."
While the other players were fighting the second mob, Mingyan had already arrived at the BOSS's door.
The designers were already clenching their fists in excitement, just waiting to see the real big boss declare that he would challenge the level boss they designed.
Unexpectedly, Mingyan once again used his skillful "lazy donkey roll" move to avoid the BOSS's opening attack, and then strolled out through another door.
Everyone: "..."
If this BOSS had any senses, it would probably still be confused, as if something had just flashed past its eyes.
In "The Mortal Soul", almost all the bosses can be avoided using special techniques.
That's equivalent to skipping the boss battle and going straight to the next map—of course, whether the player can defeat the monsters in the new map is another matter entirely.
Mingyan naturally wouldn't have this problem, because he... wouldn't fight any monsters.
His destination was a certain artifact enshrined in an abandoned temple, as shown on this map.
This artifact is called "Crimson Moon," and its function is: the lower the player's health and sanity, the higher their attack power.
After obtaining this magical artifact, Mingyan began his enjoyable life of logging.
(The word "felling" or "farming" refers to easily harvesting monsters.)
The designers currently only have a vague sense of foreboding, but they will soon find out why.
Mingyan happily carried his greatsword and stepped into the highly poisonous pool. He slowly lost health, health, health... until he reached the expected value. Then he walked out and continued to lose health for a while, until his health was just maintained at the limit of 1 point.
The artifact "Crimson Moon" was now glowing red, giving Mingyan a 298% boost to his attack power.
In addition, the two-handed greatsword is the weapon with the highest attack power in the game, bar none.
So Mingyan now says that he no longer needs to hide from monsters; he can just slash at them and kill them instantly!
Although he only has a little bit of health left, and even a slight touch from a small monster would kill him instantly, he just can't die.
The designers looked at each other, speechless.
The game "Soul of Mortals" features eight large maps, each with its own unique characteristics and guarded by one or two boss-level monsters.
The maps don't actually have a strict order, but the difficulty of the monsters they contain increases in a step-by-step manner.
If a player is truly skilled enough and knows the route, they can, as Mingyan said, head straight for the last map.
The final boss is set to be the former body of the God of Light.
When his flames vanished in the long darkness, the remains of the original god were also corrupted, becoming one of the fallen monsters.
On the first playthrough, the difficulty of this boss can be described in four words: "insane".
The goal of today's test is to observe how many skilled players can successfully defeat the final boss within the test time.
Chapter 69 Mingda BOSS
At this point, Mingyan, relying on his unparalleled familiarity with the game map, had finally reached the final boss after a series of trials and tribulations.
Of course, I didn't fight any of the gatekeeper bosses, and I didn't do any of the side quests.
Even if you finally defeat the BOSS, because you don't have all the necessary elements, the best you can achieve is an ending like "dying alone".
Mingyan clearly stated that he was very clear about his goals.
—He's neither a professional gamer nor a tester, so why does he care so much?
A good designer is one who can beat their own game! A good level is one that a designer can beat!
The final boss has three phases, each phase adding a new combo attack. Each combo attack also has corresponding variations. The boss has no blind spots in any direction, ensuring it can take care of players in any position.
In his presence, Mingyan, with only 1 point of blood, was like a small leek, easily killed by a gust of wind brushing his cheek.