Chapter 441 - Second Evolution

When the system had expelled the Zero Wing party from God’s Domain, Shi Feng had been automatically sent into his Sleep Space. He had not completely logged out and could still browse the internet. He could also communicate with his friends.

Calling out his system friends list, Shi Feng discovered that every one of his friends was in a Leave state, not in God’s Domain. They were all in their respective Sleep Spaces.

“Nobody’s on God’s Domain?

“What’s going on here?”

Shi Feng was puzzled, as this was the first time he had encountered something like this.

He had been kicked out of the game before he had a chance to read the emergency notification. Now, he couldn’t log into God’s Domain and could not contact anyone to ask about the previous notification.

Following which, Shi Feng contacted Aqua Rose and the others, hoping to gather some information.

Unfortunately, Aqua Rose and the others were in a similar situation; the system had logged them out of the game upon receiving the notification as well.

“I guess I can only check the official forums,” Shi Feng sighed.

Normally, crucial information was not available on the official forums. However, something big must have happened in God’s Domain if they had been forcefully expelled from the game.

Sure enough, after logging into the official forums, he discovered that everyone was having a heated discussion over their expulsion.

For some reason, however, everyone else had received their notification two hours ago, whereas Shi Feng’s party had only received theirs a few seconds before the Main God System started logging players out of the game.

“Two hours ago? Wasn’t that around the time I killed the Crimson Shadow Wolf?” Shi Feng calculated the time, and it matched almost perfectly. “Did killing the Shadow Wolf cause the Main God System to start the second evolution of God’s Domain?”

Giving it some thought, Shi Feng felt that it was highly possible.

Previously, when his party had entered into the Land of the Fallen Star, they just happened to activate the Free Combat System.

It was likely that the Main God System had used their party as an experiment. After seeing that they had easily defeated the Rare Lord ranked Crimson Shadow Wolf, the Main God System must have decided to initiate the second evolution of God’s Domain.

Considering the situation, Shi Feng really did not know how to express the emotions running through his heart.

Now that God’s Domain began the process of the second system upgrade, players would have to wait until the next day to log in.

Many players on the forums had expressed their frustration with the new system upgrade.

After the system underwent its first upgrade, the system gave its players a true taste of combat. The overall difficulty of the game had made a massive leap, affecting adventuring, grinding, and leveling for those in God’s Domain.

Yet, just a short time after the first upgrade, the second system upgrade had already begun. After this upgrade, the difficulty of the game might shock most players.

This upgrade also gave Shi Feng a headache.

The second evolution of God’s Domain had occurred too quickly. Based on the original timeline, it shouldn’t have happened for another several months. He was not prepared for it right now.

Indeed, just as he had guessed, after the second system upgrade, the Free Combat System would be introduced into the game. In future battles, the requirement of a player’s control over their skills would become extremely demanding, and mistakes might very well lead to friendly fire. It was especially true for AOE skills.

After the second evolution of God’s Domain, rather than dying at the hands of monsters, many players would send themselves to the graveyards with their own abilities.

Due to this, many players would act conservatively when fighting in groups long after the upgrade.

In addition, after the second evolution, the difficulty of Dungeons had also significantly increased.

However, although the second evolution had made the game more challenging and realistic, the system upgrade had also added a benefit for players.

And that was the improvement to Skill Proficiency. After the second evolution, the combat style of players also undergone a major transformation.

Players no longer needed to chant incantations or shout the name of their skills to use them. No, players would activate their skills with movement. Every skill possessed a standard set of movements. As long as players performed the corresponding movements, they could activate their desired skills.

After the second evolution, players were no longer required to damage a monster with their skills to raise Skill Proficiency.

Now, when players achieved a 50% Completion Rate with skills, they would gain 1 point to their Skill Proficiency. In addition, the awarded Skill Proficiency would increase with the percentage of their Completion Rate. That way, even if players fought monsters of the same level or two or three levels lower, they could still improve their Skill Proficiency.

As players gained Skill Proficiency, their skill Levels would also grow.

With high-leveled skills, players would have a much easier time killing monsters.

Players would undoubtedly find it challenging to adapt to such a combat style in the beginning. After adapting to the Free Combat System, however, players would discover that the new style allowed them to display more of their combat power.

However, it would not be easy for players to adapt to this realistic combat style. Normally, one had to undergo a long period of special training to familiarize themselves with their skills. If one were not up to snuff, the skills’ power would suffer.

“I need to hurry with the training center,” Shi Feng sighed softly.

Shortly after the second evolution of God’s Domain, the training centers and martial arts dojos, which were currently declining, would become instantly popular.

Having some time, Shi Feng browsed the God’s Domain News.

Other than news regarding Star-Moon Kingdom, Shi Feng also looked up information on the several surrounding kingdoms and the Black Dragon Empire.

None of the empires in God’s Domain were to be underestimated. The competition within an empire was far more intense than the competition in a kingdom. A kingdom such as Star-Moon only had around four or five competing first-rate Guilds at the moment. Some smaller kingdoms might only have one or two first-rate Guilds.

However, empires were different. Not only did they govern massive areas, but there were also far more resident players. They also had an abundance of resources. The number of first-rate Guilds residing in an empire was not something a single kingdom could compare with.

Statistically, there were at least seven first-rate Guilds in an empire. There were also many second-rate Guilds that rose to become first-rate Guilds due to the investments of major corporations.

In the past, there had been a total of nine first-rate Guilds in the Black Dragon Empire. The empire was many times stronger than the neighboring Star-Moon Kingdom.

In the future, if Shi Feng wanted to carve a place for himself in God’s Domain, dominating Star-Moon Kingdom would not be nearly good enough.

After a casual glance at today’s God’s Domain News, Shi Feng felt an immense weight on his shoulders.

Zero Wing had only obtained its Guild Residence after much difficulty, yet, several first-rate Guilds in the Black Dragon Empire had already established their own Guild Residences. In terms of development speed, these Guilds were not far behind Zero Wing.

Aside from these Guilds establishing their own Guild Residences, the various large Guilds had also begun purchasing prime real-estate in multiple cities. These purchases included Auction Houses, Virtual Trading Centers, Banks, High-class Restaurants, and the like. In the future, they would become a Guild’s main source of income.

After God’s Domain had spent a few years developing, the world had considered it a second home for mankind. Most people around the world spent close to half their days in God’s Domain. Moreover, time passed slower inside God’s Domain than in the real world. One hour in reality equaled two hours in God’s Domain. Based on the amount of time one experienced, people’s lives in God’s Domain might be even longer than their lives in the real world.

In the setting of God’s Domain, NPC cities and player-established cities were different. If players lived in NPC cities, they would never have to fear becoming embroiled in the struggles between major powers. Player-established cities, on the other hand, could be destroyed.

Hence, this had resulted in the real-estate in NPC cities becoming extremely valuable. Nothing was more valuable than the real-estate in NPC cities.

The more Shi Feng read this information, the more he realized the necessity of earning a large number of Gold Coins. Otherwise, how could he compete with these well-funded first-rate Guilds?

Inadvertently, Shi Feng had spent over half a day researching the various large Guilds in God’s Domain.

Suddenly, as he exited the virtual gaming cabin, his doorbell rang.