Quadruple split.

Chapter 2653 The Gossip King Who Spawned by the Roadside

【Secret Realm Code: Eye of the Storm】 is the fourth of the limited-time Greater Rifts, and is also considered by many professional players to be the most difficult one to date.

The reason is simple: unlike the previous three lords of the secret realm, the monster that comes and goes without a trace, as the absolute ruler of the Eye of the Storm, is not as reserved as its three predecessors. To put it more clearly, compared to the flaming dog, the super-abnormal toad, and the rock behemoth, it doesn't seem to like sitting in the center of the domain waiting to die.

Rather than letting those greedy adventurers push them step by step into their faces and eventually be surrounded and killed, the monster named "Storm Lord" by the Professional Security Alliance (a joint alliance of professional organizations for mutual assistance and security maintenance) launched a strong attack from the very beginning, giving all players a rude awakening.

In essence, the Storm Lord expands his domain the moment players enter the Secret Realm: Eye of the Storm, encompassing everyone within it.

Indeed, the extent of its domain far exceeded the limits of what players could imagine. Each of these secret realms was vast, the kind that would take a long time to reach the center even without any obstacles. Yet, the [Storm Lord]'s domain actually managed to completely cover this area, which was no smaller than many large towns.

Of course, a domain with such a large coverage area can't be ridiculously powerful. In fact, inversely proportional to its range, its effectiveness is arguably the worst among known domains. Even players with relatively low skill levels, or even those at the intermediate level, wouldn't be instantly killed...

It will only lose about 30% of its health per second, and then die in the fourth second if it doesn't have time to react.

That's right, this [Storm Lord]'s domain is very hardcore. Simply put, it generates a never-ending storm within its influence area, causing continuous damage to everyone affected by the storm.

As mentioned earlier, even the most powerful mid-level professionals will suffer at least 30% of their maximum health as base damage per second in this storm, with lower-level professionals taking more damage. High-level professionals, on the other hand, will take a maximum of 30% of their maximum health as base damage, with higher-level professionals taking less damage.

It's worth noting that base damage is not the same as the actual damage received. For example, a mid-tier paladin with decent equipment and stats, just one step away from a high-tier paladin, would theoretically take about 30% of their health as damage per second in this area. However, considering factors such as talents, passive skills, equipment effects, aura effects, title effects, and automatic health regeneration, they might only lose 20% of their health per second, meaning they could survive for a full five seconds before dying.

Don't think these five seconds are ridiculous. You should know that at this stage, there are basically no intermediate casual players in the strategy guides anymore. The same theory is a completely different story when applied to those extremely strong players.

Take Xinglong, the top professional player in most people's eyes, as an example. Because he has officially entered the half-epic level, and his equipment, talents, skills and other elements are also top-notch, although he will probably suffer about 3% base damage per second, the final damage value will be basically negligible, that is, 'infinitely close to zero'.

In addition, support classes can also play a huge role in this regard. Here's another example: if a player named Black Vane appears in the game "The Realm of Innocence", even though he has a high level, he will probably still suffer about 20% base damage per second. With the reduction from equipment, talents, and passives, this value will eventually be fixed at 15% per second.

However, if there were a Dawn/Dark Saintess nearby who felt sorry for her mentally ill friend, then as long as she cast a [Holy Word: Shield] on Black Vane, the latter could basically ignore the damage for the next 5 minutes. Of course, this does not mean that Yu Chen's shield can absorb 300*15, which is equivalent to 4500% of Black Vane's health. In fact, the algorithm for this step is quite complex. Unless you have a large data processing team, ordinary players will absolutely not be able to get an accurate value.

Fortunately, the various clubs and studios in the [Professional Alliance] are all quite capable in terms of logistics. In addition, since everyone is in an alliance at this time, it only took less than 24 hours for the professional players to complete the data side calculations after exchanging information and begin to officially start the strategy.

Compared to the previous three dungeons, [Dungeon Code: Eye of the Storm] clearly places more emphasis on numerical assessment. In other words, if players enter this dungeon without meeting the required strength, they will basically die in a very short time or become a huge burden to the team.

This means that a significant portion of the players who, despite not being individually strong, still managed to secure a place in the raiding teams and steadily earn contribution points from the rear, will be excluded from the [Eye of the Storm].

The reason is simple: we can't take care of them all, we really can't.

Admittedly, a support class like Yu Chen can allow a third-rate high-level player like 'Black Vanguard' to survive in the dungeon without any pressure. But how many players in the entire [Innocent Realm] can be Yu Chen or a healer of the same caliber?

It's no exaggeration to say that you can count them on one hand.

Therefore, under these circumstances, only those who are extremely, extremely, extremely strategically valuable are qualified to be escorted into the secret realm. As for the vast majority of players who are not strong enough, there is basically no possibility of them following the main group as slackers to pick up the scraps.

To be fair, while this unexpected situation has kept professional players somewhat busy, the happiest people are also the professional clubs and studios.

After all, there are fewer 'freeloaders' now, and those players who can join are mostly quite strong, good brothers who don't need much care and can make significant contributions.

Thus, under this overarching theme, people began to work on conquering the [Secret Realm Code: Eye of the Storm]. After three days, the latest command tower has now been advanced to the edge of the central restricted area.

Incidentally, the so-called Command Tower is a new piece of equipment for players exploring limited-time Greater Rifts. The concept was proposed by the engineers of the [Card Master] Club, the [Green Apple Merchant Guild] was responsible for the main materials, construction and assembly, and the [Fire Reborn Guild] provided the core materials that were extremely valuable. It is a positional equipment that is dozens of times more effective than the previous temporary bases.

Incidentally, the rare materials sponsored by the [Fire Reborn Guild] actually came from the governor of the local faction [Free City] in the game. However, this is not a secret. Although no one really believed the Typing Warrior's nonsense about "those who are not of our kind must have different hearts," he did indeed make this public a long time ago.

"But why bother?"

While hopping along beside the typing warrior, YOYO asked curiously, "Even if you don't say anything, President, as long as we have resources that others can't provide, won't they still want to use them?"

"It's different in nature, and in the end, it's just a trivial matter."

The typing warrior paused slightly, stopping at the edge of the barrier generated by the command tower, and said this before taking two deep breaths and stepping into the endless 'storm' outside.

"Ah, is the wind getting stronger?"

The typist raised his right hand, carefully examining the faint bloodstains that had appeared on it, and said with a smile, "Looks like the advance is going quite smoothly, isn't it?"

"That's right."

While YOYO erected several elemental shields for herself and the Typing Warrior, she said with a grin, "Otherwise, why would I be in such a hurry to call you out to help me steal monsters?"

The typist forced a smile and chuckled dryly, "You don't mean to mean..."

"Hey."

Just then, a familiar voice suddenly rang out not far away. The typing soldier turned his head and saw a silver-haired man wearing a mask and tight leather armor standing a few meters away.

"Yo~"

The typist chuckled and waved to the man, saying with a smile, "Isn't this Brother Ying? Any gossip to hear lately?"

"Have."

Immortal Shadow, the intelligence chief of [Evil Valley Studio], nodded slightly and said in a calm tone, "The infamous guild leader of [Burning Flame Guild], Typing Warrior, has put aside his rumored lover and casual confidante to have a secret rendezvous with a mysterious loli mage in a secret realm... How about that?"

YOYO's eyes lit up immediately, and she hooked her arm around Typing Warrior's and smiled at Immortal Shadow, "Brother Shadow, Brother Shadow! Don't we look like a couple?" "Stop talking nonsense."

Although he knew very well that there was no screenshot function in the [Innocent Realm], the typing warrior, fearing that the other party might have secretly hidden a tacky prop like a photo crystal, immediately shook off YOYO and said with a forced smile, "Don't be fooled by this girl's loud voice, she's just a little kid, the kind that matures later than a fertilized egg."

Immortal Shadow nodded and said seriously, "I see. Typing Warrior is actually a hidden lolicon, and the ideal strike zone is the fertilized egg."

"Hey!"

The typist immediately got angry and said, "You fucking went too far! If this kind of rumor gets out, those bastards who demonize me every day might actually believe it!"

"just kidding."

Immortal Shadow shook his head and said calmly, "I'm not a newbie in this industry anymore. I understand the principle of 'better to offend a gentleman than a petty person,' and 'better to offend a petty person than provoke a typing warrior.'"

Typing Warrior: "...I feel like you just said something really offensive."

"illusion."

The Immortal Shadow casually brushed aside the previous topic and asked, "Here are two pieces of information related to [Rebirth of Fire]. Would you like to hear them?"

"Somewhat interested."

The typing warrior nodded slightly and said with a smile, "Go ahead and tell me. If you do a good job, consider it a favor I owe to your Evil Valley."

"it is good."

Immortal Shadow, who had recently revised [Fire]'s rating from 'Avoid it, stay away' to 'Make friends with it appropriately', was quite pleased and immediately said directly: "According to the information I have, although Lancelot, who killed you and the vice president of the Seventy-Six Clubs, was indeed just an ordinary player, he seems to have been trying to establish connections with some high-level individuals."

The typist nodded noncommittally: "Hmm, and then?"

"Then there is that high-profile person, who, if I'm not mistaken, should be Ke Yi, the founder of the Fishing King Club. Although he lost face in the Debate on Inquiry, his strength and wealth are not to be underestimated."

Immortal Shadow tapped the edge of his mask lightly and said in a somewhat subtle tone, "Although I'm used to the fact that you [Burning Flame] are hated, the fact that an ambitious new club owner would put aside his own interests to focus on finding fault shows just how badly you've offended them."

The typist spread his hands innocently and cried out, "Heaven and earth bear witness, I only stole a fish from that guy Ke Yi in the Aurasi Chronicles back then, and accidentally killed him once. Who knew he was so petty, holding a grudge over such a small thing until now?"

Knowing full well that things were far more complicated than the Typing Warrior made them out to be, but having no interest in digging deeper, the Immortal Shadow nodded noncommittally and said calmly, "In short, what is certain is that Lancelot's motive for killing you and the Seventy-Six Clubs was precisely because of Ke Yi's friendship. I wonder if this information has been helpful to you."

"No."

The Typing Warrior answered without hesitation, sneering, "I already told Boss Sakaki of Tokiwa about this, so while I appreciate your enthusiasm, I'm sorry, this information is worthless to me."

Immortal Shadow nodded: "Okay, I'll go and verify with Boss Sakaki later."

"As you wish."

The Typing Warrior yawned and said casually, "To be honest, I'm not really interested in either Ke Yi or Blue Hulk, so if your other intelligence is also related to them, don't tell me."

"Ah."

Immortal Shadow chuckled noncommittally, then said meaningfully, "But I do think you'd be interested."

"Oh?"

The typist narrowed his eyes slightly and asked with interest, "Tell me about it?"

"can."

Immortal Shadow nodded and said slowly, "However, I suggest we talk alone."

The Typing Warrior laughed heartily and waved his hand with great magnanimity, saying, "No need. Although YOYO is a new member of the Fire Reborn, our bond is already stronger than ever. What I can hear, she can naturally hear too."

"Um...are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure."

"Are you really sure?"

"I couldn't be more certain."

"Well, if nothing unexpected happens, it was this Miss YOYO who forced Lancelot to side with you and the seventy-six bastards, indirectly causing your deaths."

Wow, is that exciting?

"Ah."

"YOYO, what do you say?"

"YOYO doesn't know~!"

Chapter 2644: The End