Gamers of the Underworld (Web Novel)

Chapter 544 Version 1.0 Update Description

While Sherlock was thinking of setting up a movie theater and using the movie produced by the gamers to make money, the gamers in the Otherworld were cheering excitedly about the Public Beta that was about to commence.

Gamers weren’t limited to the Chinese. Even gamers from the western countries were happily anticipating the commencement of the Public Beta. They didn’t have the chance to participate in the First Beta Testing, so they didn’t want to miss this opportunity. The western gamers learned Chinese so that there wouldn’t be any miscommunication with their Asian counterparts.

However, when they wanted to purchase gaming capsules, they were befuddled because they were unable to pay for them and have them delivered to their homes.

They strove hard to obtain gaming capsules from Chinese gamers, but each gaming capsule was bound to a gamer, so they were unable to use it even after they tested it for a long time.

Western gamers were resigned to their fate. It seemed like they weren’t allowed to play the game during the Public Beta.

Though western gamers were unable to play the game, Chinese gamers could play without restriction.

After a year of Beta Testing, the discussion about “Dungeon” being a scam or a revolutionary game had ended. Though some people thought that it was a scam, the experiences of the Beta Testers indicated that it was ultra-realistic. If there were such a game, then the technology must be arcane technology, and the Humans must be summoned to the game world for free labor.

If the 100 First Beta Testers were fake, then were the later 2,000 and 5,000 Beta Testers a scam too? There were too many videos that were too realistic. Which company would spend so much money on special effects just to create a scam?

Many professional engineers performed research on the gaming capsule. They concluded that it was arcane technology that was way beyond the current understanding of science. If it wasn’t science, then what was it?

Nobody knew the exact number of gamers for the Public Beta.

There was no official count on the official website. The gaming capsules were sold directly on the official website, so there was no official data.

Some people estimated that it had breached 100,000 gamers or even 1,000,000 gamers. Only Sherlock and Bru knew the exact number.

“Fifty million gamers?”

Sherlock was taken aback by the number given by Bru. Though the number of Underworld residents was high, it wasn’t in the range of tens of millions.

Only an extremely large Dungeon would have millions of residents. Most of the starting Dungeons only had ten to twenty residents, while the larger Dungeons would have thousands to tens of thousands of residents. The humongous Dungeons would have residents similar to a developing city.

Winterfell, which belonged to the Merchant Alliance and was a neutral city, was an exception. The residents of Winterfell weren’t employed by the Merchant Alliance. They settled in Winterfell voluntarily, just like residents of a city. As such, the Dungeons under the Merchant Alliance were much larger in size compared to other Dungeons.

Sherlock didn’t expect the number of gamers to breach 50 million, and he was astonished.

“Our Dungeon isn’t able to provide sufficient food. Don’t worry, Lord Sherlock, I’ve made preparations to limit the number of gamers even though we aren’t able to stop them from registering for game accounts,” Bru said, and Sherlock understood him.

Sherlock looked at the time and said, “It’s almost time to receive the Public Beta Gamers.”

…

“Dungeon” didn’t stop the game service prior to the Public Beta. The updates were conducted online without cutting off the internet connection.

Peasant looked forward to the participation of the Public Beta Gamers. The new gamers would boost the strength of his Guild and provide many business opportunities.

The equipment and skills of the new gamers would be inferior to veteran gamers. For the new gamers to upgrade their equipment and improve their skills, they had to look for a teacher and large amounts of equipment. Only veteran gamers could provide them.

Many veteran gamers intended to recruit students for a fee and sell their obsolete equipment.

Those pieces of equipment were worth money. In addition, many materials could be sold for money as well.

There would be many gamers during work hours. He originally wanted to stay online until the commencement of the Public Beta, when the new gamers would come in, but he had to get offline due to some matters in the real world.

He hastily returned back home, but it was already past the time for the Public Beta.

A youth threw his backpack onto his bed before rushing to his gaming capsule. A middle-aged woman shouted at him, “Why are you playing computer games the moment you come back?”

“Mom! The Public Beta is commencing. If I’m late, I won’t be able to sell my equipment and materials at a high price.”

The middle-aged woman couldn’t say anything to rebuke him.

After playing the game, Peasant was able to earn some money every month. He gave most of the money to his mom and dad to supplement the family income.

The money wasn’t given by Arthur. It was easy to earn money in the game. He could earn thousands just by hunting Spiders and selling the materials. He could also do Daily Missions and sell the gold coins, which were worth a lot of money. Since the gold coins were produced manually, and there was no chance of cheating, the game officials didn’t interfere with the gold coin transactions between the gamers. The game officials wouldn’t even care if there were scammers. Why would they care about the gamers selling their gold coins?

Peasant couldn’t wait to enter the game and experience the new game content, which included the new Viewport System, the Assistive Combat System, Trading Groups, and Chat Channels. Traditional online games had all these features, while “Dungeon” didn’t have these until the Public Beta. Hence, this was a huge upgrade.

Peasant lay down in the gaming capsule and took off his clothing, leaving only his underwear. Then he shut the gaming capsule. A special liquid flowed out and covered his whole body. With the activation of the gaming capsule, Peasant entered a strange state of awareness.

It was all pitch-black. Then, it became bright, and a simple interface greeted him. The word “Dungeon” shimmered while Sherlock’s handsome portrait appeared before him.

Was the entry interface upgraded? Peasant couldn’t help but wonder in surprise.

Peasant identified himself and entered the game.

The character selection was limited to one choice since each gamer could only have a single character. If a gamer wanted to experience other races, they could complete the required missions in the game to change races. There were no fixed professions. A gamer could wear armor while playing as a Magician and could also wear a robe and be a frontline warrior.

A gamer could even attack a BOSS while naked.

The game didn’t place any restrictions on profession selection. There was a lot of freedom in the game as long as the gamers didn’t touch Sherlock’s private property or damage the facilities of the Dungeon.

That was why the game was so attractive.

Peasant waited for a while, but he didn’t enter the game. Was the game loading very slowly today?

It was then, amidst his curiosity, that a row of words appeared before him.

[The servers are full, you are number 562,352 in the queue.]

“D*mn, I’m so far back in the queue?” Peasant didn’t expect to be so far behind in the queue.

How long would he have to sit in the queue before he could play the game? Peasant felt hopeless.

Although the queue number was large, Peasant discovered that the change in the queue number declined rapidly.

The number five changed to a four. He estimated that it would take 20 minutes for him to enter the game. That was faster than he expected. Why did the gamers get offline so fast after the Public Beta?

Peasant was taken aback. He was contemplating whether he should wait for the game or take a look at the discussion forum. Anyway, he could still queue up while browsing the forum. The communication device in the gaming capsule shimmered. Peasant opened up the communication interface, and a chat box jumped out.

[Noon: Veteran Peasant, did you see the latest announcement? Oh my god, the game isn’t following the norms. They updated the Upgrade Description after the Public Beta. Gamers have to queue up after their character perishes!]

Peasant was shocked, but he quickly replied.

[Why do gamers have to queue after death?]

A reply came back immediately.

[Noon: Like the description says—if you die, you will be placed in a queue. For more details, take a look at the game announcement. It’s sick. There are way too many updates. Oh my god.]

Peasant didn’t chat with Noon anymore and went to browse the game’s updates.

There was a new announcement on the official website. Though the version was 1.0, there were more updates than the previous one. According to the official website, it was an addendum.

[Version 1.0 Update Addendum Description]

“Dear gamers, thank you for supporting our game. Within five minutes of the Public Beta, the servers breached 50 million active users, with millions of users in the queue.

Many gamers discovered that there were massive upgrades to the game and weren’t used to the changes. To allow the gamers to get used to the upgrades, we have provided the Update Addendum Description.

No. 1: We have updated to a new UI that includes Chat, Grouping, Auction, Maps, Guild, Homeland, Area Reputation Points, and NPC Affinity.

Chat: Gamers don’t need to shout at each other for communication. They can conduct private chats like old radio wave communication. We have also included Grouping, Guild, and Good Friends channels. We used up a lot of Mana to include these into the system. To elevate the gaming experience, the Mana usage is worthwhile. (Smile)

Grouping: As there are many gamers, during the grouping process, gamers may not be able to find their group members. To prevent such things from happening, we added the Grouping channel that allows gamers to find known or unknown gamers and their groups. The system can also allocate groupings without the gamers having to shout and recruit group members. We don’t encourage gamers to shout and recruit members, especially in areas with many NPCs like Winterfell.

Auction: There will be prompting during the auction so that gamers can follow the prompts accordingly.

Maps: Gamers don’t need to refer to road signs or get offline and browse the map on the discussion forum. Since the new system can locate every gamer and draw out detailed maps, the gamers can access the maps and check their locations and the surrounding areas. Unexplored areas will be covered with the fog of war.

Guild: We updated the Guild UI so the gamers can chat with Guild members in the Guild channel. The gamers can also use the UI to check the Guild’s territory. The Guild Chairman and the management members can use the UI to construct related buildings and facilities like Furnaces, Carpenter Workshops, Cauldrons, and tables. All of these have to be approved by Lord Sherlock or Queen Victoria, and the fees must be paid in Magic Stones. After approval, there will be specialized NPCs constructing the buildings and facilities at the Guild territory. Don’t hinder the construction carried out by the NPCs.

Homeland: Besides Guild territory, every gamer can have their own homeland. The gamers of Eternal Kingdom are no longer limited to 10 square meter areas. Each gamer can have up to 500 square meters, and it will require a one-time payment of Magic Stones. There will also be a monthly maintenance fee paid using Magic Stones and Reputation Points. For more details, please check inside the game.

For other UI related content, please check inside the game.

No. 2: We improved the Assistive Combat System.

According to the feedback regarding non-performing attributes of equipment and food BUFFs, we have made the appropriate adjustments. When gamers get food BUFFs that increase strength by 10%, the strength of the gamers will physically increase.

We have improved the experience of using long-range weapons. After training and paying a certain fee to increase long-range Weapon Level, long-range attacks will be more accurate. The accuracy applies to both friendlies and enemies.

No. 3: We updated the new Login System.

There are too many gamers logging in, so they have to be placed in a queue. To allow queuing gamers to log in as soon as possible, we have decided to impose more penalties on death.

If a gamer dies 10 times within an hour, the gamer is placed in a queue to enter the game. The gamers who were already placed in a queue will be given priority to enter the game.

No. 4: We updated the job scope of most of the NPCs.

The gamers are unable to obtain specialized services from NPCs like Simba and Mufasa. For example, the gamers are unable to purchase dessert from Mufasa or repair equipment with Simba. All these services will now be performed by gamers. Gamers can still improve equipment and purchase commercial goods.

No. 5: We updated the Guild Territory System.

The scale of a Guild can be expanded. With enough resources, a Guild can be upgraded to a Kingdom.

Firstly, the Guild has to obtain a territory that is located outside Eternal Kingdom or Victoria City and construct buildings on it. The territory won’t be protected by Eternal Kingdom or Victoria City, so the Guild has to provide for its own protection.

The development of the territory depends on the decisions of the Guild. The recruitment of gamers and NPCs will be decided by the Guild members. Please don’t forget to pay taxes. The Territory System will be described in detail in the next update.

No. 6: We have updated many rankings.

It includes:

[World’s most powerful warriors rankings (Weapon Level ranking)]

[Richest gamers rankings (Magic Stones and gold coins ranking)]

[Most generous gamers rankings (Donation of Magic Stones to Lord Sherlock)]

[Teacher rankings (Teacher-Student Points ranking)]

And many other rankings. The gamers can check out the rankings inside the game.

There is other new content that is broken down into modules. The gamers can discover the new content on their own time.

Wishing all gamers a happy gaming experience, and see you soon!”