Chapter 7: The Player Forum

The post started with six simple, clear, large characters—Sorry, I was wrong!

‘What’s going on?’

Wang Yang was a bit confused.
He thought it was going to be a ten-thousand-word negative review, but this opening didn’t seem right at all.

He continued to scroll down the screen.

[-Old Li’s Gaming Diary:
As an UP Master who has reviewed so many holographic games, honestly, I really didn’t think any game could shock me anymore, but now the facts have proven me wrong. Sea Realm can!]

In terms of the most basic realism, Sea Realm has already crushed all its competitors! Right now, the realism of most holographic games on the market is between B- and B. Look at City in the Sky, which was hailed as the light of holography some time ago; just being able to see feathers on a bird was worth blowing up. And it’s no exaggeration to say that Sea Realm‘s realism is definitely above S!

[-First comment! Photo op!]

[-What the hell, Old Li is taking money for fake promotions now?]

[-Came in because I saw the poster’s name, leaving speechless. Are you really just hard-selling it? S-grade and above, why don’t you just say you’ve transmigrated to another world?]

[-Bad review for the client, there should be a basic law for hyping things up. Even if this game is that amazing, even if it’s a huge leap forward from its peers, it can’t possibly jump from the South Pole to the North Pole in one step, right?]

[-Agree with the person above.]

[-I don’t really think so. You know Old Li’s style all along, he wouldn’t tarnish his own reputation like this.]

[-Same feeling. I’ve been following Old Li for five or six years, and he’s never lied about a game. Like that time he criticized S Battlefield, the controversy was so huge but Old Li never changed his tune, and wasn’t he proven right in the end?]

[-You guys stop arguing, let’s just see what he says next.]

[-Old Li’s Gaming Diary:
No, I just went to get a glass of water, how did you guys build so many floors?
Forget it, brothers who are skeptical upstairs, keep reading what I write. I was just as skeptical as you at first, but after entering the game, my face was swollen from being slapped.
Just wait, I’ll give you the evidence first.]

[-Waiting.]

[-Yo, looks like there’s really solid proof?]

[-If it’s really S-grade, the next time Sea Realm opens up slots, I’ll definitely stay up all night to grab one!]

[-IDon’tBelieveIt:
No way, no way, in this day and age, there are still people who believe the nonsense about S-grade realism? I thought only those one-slash-999 holographic web games dared to boast like that.]

[-Person above, just wait for the evidence, what’s the point? Be careful not to get slapped in the face for talking so big.]

[-IDon’tBelieveIt:
Hehe, I’ve been playing games for so many years, how could I not know the merchants’ tricks? I’m planting my flag here. If it can reach S-grade, I’ll call the officials ‘daddy’ right away.]

The bro above is a ruthless man.

[-Old Li’s Gaming Diary:
[Link] ]

[-Old Li’s Gaming Diary:
This is a video I recorded in the game using the screen recording function, without any editing or modification. After watching it, you’ll know why I’m hyping Sea Realm.]

Wang Yang scrolled to this post, his finger clicking the link faster than his brain could think.

The video loaded for a moment, and then the colorful coral forest in the frame instantly submerged his thoughts—there were coral branches of various colors, soft and pliable; round fruits with a few thorns hanging from the branches; small fish darting through the forest, with each scale so vivid and lifelike, as if filming a real, living fish, not some game model.

At the end of the video, the person filming pointed the camera downwards, wiggled their dark green tail, and waved a greeting to the audience.

!!

Wang Yang incredulously dragged the video back to the beginning and watched it again, only then confirming that this was not some ocean documentary, but a recording from a holographic game?

Holy crap…

This tail, this realism, it’s incredible!

At this moment, the merman who had waved his hand and “logged off” all the players was also watching this post with great interest through the magic mirror, along with the Earth users.

Below this video, the tone of the humans instantly changed—

[-Holy crap, holy crap, holy crap, I can’t say anything other than holy crap. Next person, go.]

[The person below can’t come either, holy crap!]

[-Is this video fake? Which ocean documentary was it clipped from?]

[-How is that possible? Which sea has this kind of coral tree?? Didn’t you see that fishtail at the end? Did Old Li turn into a fish in Sea Realm?]

[-Old Li’s Gaming Diary:
Replying to the bro above: Not entirely a fish, but close enough.]

[-Not entirely a fish, has a fishtail… is it a merman? Is it a merman!!]

[-IDon’tBelieveIt: Holy crap!! Sea Realm Daddy! I’m begging you to open up new slots!!]

[-It’s appeared, it’s appeared! The ‘true fragrance’, though late, has arrived. But count me in! I also want to ask for new slots!]

(TL Note: “True fragrance,” is a popular internet slang used to describe someone who initially dislikes or rejects something but then ends up enjoying it, essentially eating their words.)

“Human emotions are really so fickle,” Sykes lamented.

[Yes, according to analysis, humans have seven major emotions: joy, anger, sorrow, worry, grief, fear, and shock, supplemented by eleven subtle emotions such as interest, surprise, pain, and disgust. They are one of the most emotionally complex species recorded by Ella.]

“I think you should pay more attention to these humans. You might learn something,” Sykes said pointedly.

Ella tilted her head, not quite understanding what he meant, but she still obediently followed her master’s instructions.

[Yes, Master. Ella will observe and track this species more.]

Sykes smiled and shook his head, continuing to look at the other replies in Old Li’s post.

Old Li indeed did not go back on his word, writing a sprawling game review of seven or eight thousand words.
He rigorously analyzed the structure and principles of the spawn point, discussed the modeling difficulty of the coral forest, and even had conjectures about the mechanics of swimming with a fishtail, which triggered an uproar and carnival among other relevant professionals on the forum.

At the end of the article, Old Li sincerely lavished over a thousand words of rainbow farts to make up the ten thousand words, praising the game officials’ technology to the heavens and back, and strongly urged people to play Sea Realm.

(TL Note: “Rainbow fart,” is slang for over-the-top, exaggerated flattery or praise.)

And,

[-Old Li’s Gaming Diary:
[System: I have posted a bounty, everyone come and take a look~~— “Can any fish experts tell me how a human can swim with a fishtail?”] ]

[-Red red fire fire hahahahahahaha]

[-Finished reading, Sea Realm is amazing! A truly hardcore game, start with a machete, walk entirely by crawling!]

[-No fish experts, do you need a professional fish farmer?]

[-I feel like what Old Li said is all true. With such a detailed description, I’d believe it even if it was made up!]

[-It must be true! I just came from the next post, there’s a live stream replay as proof over there. If you don’t believe me, take a look. [Portal] ]

Sykes clicked on it with a curious mindset, and the title of the new post stabbed him right in the eye—

[Shocking! The beautiful merman lord actually did this to me!]

The merman: “…”

His golden eyes behind the lens blinked, then blinked again.
Finally, he took a deep look at the poster’s ID.

‘Hua Hua Shijie Miren Yan, you’re very good.’

No matter how angry the merman was, he still had to maintain the game properly.

Although today’s experiment failed midway due to an accident, there were still some delightful gains.

Sykes discovered that the otherworldly energy contained very active kinetic factors.
This kind of factor was common in energy ores.
Perhaps besides being effective in removing genetic shackles, could otherworldly energy also be consumed as an energy source?

Was its nature stable?
Could the instruments driven by energy supply adapt to it?
Would other unexpected reactions occur?

These were all topics that the merman needed to study next.

So, while the players were offline, Sykes set up a small new instrument at the spawn point.
It would automatically refill the fountain’s energy to avoid a situation like today’s, and at the same time, it could accurately collect the energy dissipated by the players upon resurrection.

By the way, he also cast a new domain rule on that row of dilapidated houses—all houses could be automatically repaired with coral wood.

‘Does anyone really think that by putting wood on it, the house can be automatically repaired? Don’t be ridiculous. If it weren’t for the domain’s ability, how could such a thing happen in the real world?’

Even in the world of merfolk, it’s the same!

Those were just ordinary wooden houses that fish could live in, not some magical artifacts!

“Ella, how is the players’ progress today?”

[Among the fifty players, 47 have completed Novice Quest One, 13 have completed Quest Two, and no one has completed Quest Three.]

“Give them something else to do,” the merman waved his hand and decided.
“We have to get them moving faster. At this dawdling pace, when will they ever finish repairing this clan land?”

[In that case, Master can learn from the practices of otherworldly games. If you want players to put in effort and increase efficiency, you must set corresponding quests and rewards.]

[Opening daily quests is a good choice. You can also add a reputation exchange system to replace game currency for transactions.]

“Do as you say.”
Sykes swam into the warehouse, picked through the human tributes he had received in the past, and selected a pile of useless shiny things, tossing them on the ground.
“Put these in the exchange column.”