Chapter 4: Reforging

  "The Parallel World" has five basic attributes: physique, strength, agility, wisdom, and spirit. Each level upgrade rewards 5 attribute points, which Gu Fei unhesitatingly added to his agility. He then swung his fists and feet, and indeed his movements became much faster than before. Overjoyed in his heart, he thought that if he continued like this, not only could he return to his normal level, but also, since this was a game, he could even reach speeds that his real self couldn't match. Gu Fei didn't want to become so abnormal, as long as he could return to his true self, the excess points would be added to his strength, making his attack power more like his own, which currently was really too weak. Gu Fei clenched his fists.

  But speaking of games, it's a must to loot the small monsters after knocking them down. Gu Fei added some points and started searching the six guys. In the end, he found two skinning knives and six small pouches. The little monsters wouldn't be too rich either, with only a dozen or so copper coins in each pouch. Gu Fei put all of them into his own pouch. He scraped off the rust on the two skinning knives and inserted them into his waist, tucked under his mage's long robe.

  In order to be completely realistic, "Parallel World" does not have occupational restrictions on equipment. Some are just attribute requirements, and most are strength-based. As for something like this primary weapon that has no attribute requirements, of course anyone can use it.

  Gu Fei put away his pickaxe and headed towards another mountain peak.

  Another bonfire, six brothers. But before Gu Fei could take a closer look to see if they were the same as the previous six, the system issued a prompt: Dear player, the game will be disconnected in 10 seconds, please make preparations to go offline. 10, 9, 8...

  After counting down, the game was disconnected and all simulated scenes in front of him disappeared. Gu Fei returned to reality.

  "What's going on?!" muttered to himself, Gu Fei connected to the official website.

  At this time, the developers and operators of "Parallel World" are sitting together, holding an emergency meeting overnight to discuss the many problems that have been exposed on the first day of public testing.

  As it is the world's first holographic game, in order to maintain its mysteriousness, "Parallel World" has been secretly developed until the internal testing period began to be heavily promoted. The internal test was all completed by internal personnel, and everyone's main energy was placed on the usual online game important parts such as characters, tasks, skills, and equipment, etc., while a large number of problems exposed on the first day of public testing today are almost all due to holographic technology making people feel unacceptable.

  Firstly, the data collected from the player complaint channel shows that the low-level exercise area's little monsters are too cute and have been complained about the most. Female players are outraged by this, while male players are afraid of being despised by female players for killing the little cuties, with their dissatisfaction towards the setting even stronger than that of female players.

  Apart from this, the monotonous and repetitive images of NPCs, buildings, trees, etc. in the game can also be technically enforced. What really gets people stuck is the man-made problem.

  The public test only lasted for half a day, but the frequent violent incidents in the game left the officials at a loss. The human sensory system simulation is the core of the entire holographic game, and the violent incidents occurred within this most basic framework, which cannot be solved by technical modifications. After repeated research, it was decided to classify this fighting as PK, and the PK protection range was raised to level 10. As for whether PK will appear in the future, with the right hand wielding a weapon in the game to perform skills, and the left hand using self-developed "monkey stealing peaches" to launch a sneak attack, only time will tell.

  "That's good too! It's realistic! Haha, full-sensory games are all about being realistic, and that was our original intention." A high-ranking official who attended the meeting comforted everyone.

  But what follows is a problem that cannot be concealed even with the excuse of reality: female players being sexually assaulted by male players.

  Game staff really didn't expect that holographic technology would expose the dark side of players so thoroughly. However, since sensory simulation is a complete system, if you say to simply remove the relevant XX parts, this is not something that the game company's technology can handle. Moreover, this matter is actually also a hidden selling point in the game, and the high-level officials are not willing to completely prohibit it either.

  The final solution can only be to design a choice that respects the intentions of both parties. However, this has stumped the technical staff. Think about it, in a warm and gentle environment, a loving couple is unable to control themselves and wants to take things further, when suddenly a pop-up window appears: "XX invitation from XXX, do you accept?" Even if you choose YES, the originally harmonious atmosphere turns into NO.

  How to grasp the degree of this XX? Does that thing count as XX? What about a kiss? A touch? Someone is going to touch you, do you accept it? When someone in the meeting hypothetically brings up this prompt, everyone in the meeting feels like vomiting.

  "In any case, let's get it done first and observe the players' reactions and opinions before making adjustments." The final big BOSS made up his mind.

  After discussing several issues, the meeting dispersed and each department immediately got down to work. The public test was only half a day old and already back in the oven for rework, this is absolutely a miracle in the history of online gaming. Fortunately, this time we can still use "first-time application of holographic technology, so lack of experience" as an excuse, but everyone's pressure is undoubtedly huge.

  The big BOSS watched as one by one, busy figures flashed out, nodding his head in satisfaction. However, he then saw that there was still one person sitting in their seat without moving, staring at him with a smile.

  Everyone left, and the big BOSS finally spoke up: "Xiao Wu, do you have something else?"

  "You know me so well!" The one called Little Wu stood up and walked to the boss's side, casually pulling over a chair to sit down.

  "Speak!" The boss looked at him. This Ye Xiao Wu was a member of the game planning department and one of the core members of the entire game production team.

  "Hmm! What I saw today makes me think that our game might have a bit of a problem," said Xiao Wu.

  "Oh?"

  "Because it's a holographic simulation, some people will bring their real-life skills into the game, giving them an innate advantage over other players. This is quite detrimental to the balance of the game we've been striving for!" said Xiao Wu.

  "What skills will affect the game?" The boss asked.

  "For example, Kung Fu!"

  Kung Fu?

  Xiao Wu nodded affirmatively: "Today in the game, I met a person whose profession is a mage. Bare-handed and empty-fisted, he defeated three knights at once. I think he's someone who knows kung fu."

  "There really is such a person!" The boss frowned.

  Xiao Wu said: "You think about it, police officers, soldiers, martial artists, boxers... and so on, may all create this kind of imbalance in the game!"

  "What can we do? We can't ban people from playing our game just because of their profession," said the boss.

  "No way." Little Wu also shook his head.

  The boss smiled: "If there's no way, you won't stay and talk to me."

  Xiao Wu also laughed along: "It's just that this kind of person gave me an epiphany."

  "Say."

  "Traditional online games, everything revolves around combat. But now we are holographic simulations, should we increase the development effort, remove combat and enhance other system functions? Let people with a special talent in life bring this specialty into the game to play, it's somewhat balanced, right?" said Xiao Wu.

  "It sounds simple, but it's actually very difficult to develop," said the boss.

  "Why don't you give it a try!"

  "Alright, you come up with a specific plan and we'll discuss it at our next meeting," said the boss.

  "Great!" Little Wu was overjoyed, "Then I'll go first."

  "Wait a minute!" The boss stopped him, "I'm telling you, how did you get into the game again? Don't you know the rules of the gaming world? As an employee of a gaming company, it's forbidden to play our own games. Some companies are so strict that even relatives can't play!"

  "I never agreed with that. We came out to play games, of course we love games, why should we lose the right to play games because of this? Don't worry, I'm a self-disciplined game worker, in the game, I'm just an ordinary player." said Xiao Wu.

  "Can you be normal with your understanding of the game?" The boss said.

  "Don't worry, I won't touch any of those things with hidden nature," said Xiao Wu.

  "What's your name in the game?" the boss asked.

  "A smile in the mortal world!" Xiao Wu smiled and left the meeting room.