This is a cultivation game, but the operation is bad

Chapter 231 A Letter to Players: Eight Major Benefits, Limited-Time Items Upgraded Again! (6K Reads, Please Continue)
It's... the legendary half-year anniversary celebration?!
After seeing the title on the event page, Jiang Liu was astonished, as if he had never imagined seeing an 'anniversary celebration' in the Immortal Cultivation Era. He was completely stunned.

As everyone knows, anniversary celebrations are the most rewarding events in any game, bar none, even in pay-to-win games.

Anniversary celebration, also known as the last act of conscience in planning.

He never expected to see an anniversary celebration in the Immortal Cultivation Era, let alone a half-year anniversary celebration.

So, have the developers finally realized it's time to give players some perks?

That's right. The cross-server event for the Chinese server is about to start. If we don't give some benefits to players in the fourth server and catch up, then the cross-server event won't be very interesting.

"It's been half a year, it's been half a year already."

Jiang Liu sighed slightly. When the fourth region of the Immortal Cultivation Era had just opened, he was preoccupied with catching up with the progress of the big shots in the first region as soon as possible.

However, just six months later, he had already reached the early stage of the Golden Core realm, only one major realm away from the top players in the first district. This leveling speed can be described as a rocket-like improvement.

How did he manage to become a Golden Core expert in just six months?

My achievements are entirely the result of hard work and dedication!

He had originally intended to take a few days' nap after this cross-server event, but the planners kept announcing cross-server events and half-year anniversary celebrations, giving him no time to rest at all.

Jiang Liu: I want to rest, I want to sleep.

Planning: Forget about sleeping, get up and party!

He was really into it. The half-year anniversary celebration had instantly dispelled the fatigue he had brought from the cross-regional activities, replacing it with a little excitement.

Right now, all he wants to do is see how generous the perks are for the half-year anniversary celebration!
"Am I some kind of divine being born with the body of an ox or horse?"

Jiang Liu muttered to himself as he focused his gaze on the half-year anniversary celebration event page, slowly scrolling down to browse through each item.

At first glance, when he saw the first wave of promotional activities at the top, he was immediately taken aback.

[Half-Year Anniversary Celebration Event!]

[Multiple benefits and gifts are being given away for free!]

[First Perk: A Letter to Our Players]

Jiang Liu: “????”

A letter to the players?

Was this written by the developers of the Immortal Cultivation Era?
This is supposed to be considered a benefit?
Haha, treating your own letter as a perk, how arrogant must you be!
Just click on it.

[Planner: First of all, on behalf of the entire planning team of Cultivation Era, I would like to thank the players of the fourth server in the Chinese server for their strong support. Your support is our driving force. As long as you are here, the entire planning team will be motivated to continuously innovate and produce content for this game, increase content production capacity, and make this game better and better!]

Sustainability, innovation, output.

Are you referring to a super-hybrid game that combines countless ideas from pay-to-win games?
Are you referring to the fact that it takes half a year for the second world boss to drop its loot?
If so, then you win; you're just more shameless.

[Looking back to when the fourth server opened, we, the game planners, were both excited and apprehensive. We were very worried that the different opening times of each server would affect the gaming experience of players in the fourth server. Here, on behalf of all the planners, I would like to sincerely apologize to the players in the fourth server. Due to the slow progress of the Supreme Immortal Artifact server construction, the players in the fourth server have had to wait for two years. We are very sorry!]

I sincerely apologize!

terribly sorry!

Planning basics.

Since you know the server construction speed is slow, why not delay the public beta by two years? What are you in such a hurry to launch the server? Are you in such a hurry to visit your mother's grave?
[Actually, our development team sincerely hopes to hear your suggestions and feedback, but due to the separation between the mortal and immortal realms, we are unable to open a fixed customer service channel, resulting in no notifications for your suggestions. We sincerely apologize for this.]

Suggestions? Feedback?
Sorry, no.

You just didn't open a customer service channel, otherwise I would have given your customer service a piece of my mind!
The core concept of the game "Cultivation Era" is to help mortals embark on the path of cultivation, aspiring to ascend to the immortal realm and explore the path to eternal life. Our development team is delighted that, even after two and a half years since its launch, "Cultivation Era" continues to prioritize assisting mortals in their ascension, and we continue to work tirelessly towards this goal.

Every time we see you players advance to a new level or acquire a top-tier item, we feel happy and joyful for you. Your smiles are what keep us going (smiley faces).

Are you laughing at me from across the room?

You mean the level of spending on in-game purchases, right? Well, you really haven't forgotten about that.

[Due to the separation between the mortal and immortal realms, our development team created "Cultivation Era" almost entirely in isolation. We consulted no materials and drew inspiration from any similar projects. Every element and item in the game was the result of our painstaking efforts, making its creation far more challenging than most players could imagine.]

[I'm not saying this to complain to you players, but simply to tell you about our determination. We persevered through the difficulties of the early stages of development, and now we can proudly say that we are confident in continuing to operate the Cultivation Era!]

The Era of Cultivation, a completely secluded creative process.

Jiang Liu was numb after seeing this for a while.

No, can these two words be used together?

If I hadn't played hundreds of games, I would have believed it.

Alright, that's enough rambling for now. Our development team will be engaging with players through various channels from now on. Let's put aside our differences and work together towards a brighter future!

This half-year anniversary celebration is a sincere gift from us to the players in Region 4. Please enjoy it to the fullest!

[A note from the planner of the Immortal Cultivation Era.]

Jiang Liu read the letter to the players word for word from beginning to end, and all he wanted to ask was one question.

Do you dare to leave your name?
You've been using "planning" to refer to the whole thing, so why don't you leave your name? Let me see which god has such a thick skin.

"Hehe, I've never seen such a shameless letter in my life. I'll save it and find out which big shot wrote it after I ascend."

Jiang Liu casually clicked to save the screenshot, then rubbed his eyes as if he were washing away some kind of filth.

After closing the planner's email, he continued reading.

[Second Round of Benefits: Multiple Gift Packs Given Away for Free]

[Multiple free gift packs: Players can claim a free Spirit Stone pack, a free Equipment pack, a free Limited-Time Card Draw Pack, and a free Cultivation Pack daily from the game's main interface, for 30 days.]

Ok?
They're even giving away spirit stones! It seems the developers are genuinely going to give out freebies this time.

To see if the planner is sincere, just look at what they give away.

Equipment and gacha tickets are both in-game items, so it's normal to give some away; many pay-to-win games do this.

But spirit stones are different. They are both the game's currency and the currency for in-game purchases, and can be used to buy all paid items.

In a sense, spirit stones are the most precious items in the era of cultivation.

Currently, players can only obtain spirit stones through daily check-ins, monthly cards, and exploring the open world by defeating monsters. The amount of spirit stones obtained is extremely small. This time, the free spirit stones given away for 30 consecutive days should allow players to accumulate even more spirit stones.

My personal assessment is that it's pretty good.

next.

[Third Bonus: Double the Boost]

[Double Boost: During the half-anniversary celebration (30 days), players will receive an additional 100% bonus to cultivation points gained from defeating monsters, and the drop rate will also be increased by an additional 100%]

Double experience points!
Double the drop rate!
This welfare package made Jiang Liu's eyes light up; it was exactly what he wanted.

He was just about to go on a monster-hunting spree to level up when a double experience event came out, and it lasted for a whole month. It seems the game planners really know what they're doing.

Damn, are they going to start cross-server battles in a month?

That would be a real disaster.

My personal assessment: Excellent.

[Fourth Bonus: Limited-Time Pool Items Return with Upgrades]

[Limited-time gacha items will be re-released and upgraded: During the half-anniversary celebration, all previously available limited-time gacha items will be re-released, and can be upgraded one level above their original maximum level. New limited-time gacha items will be available after the re-release period ends.]

Jiang Liu: “????”

It's a perk, but it's kind of funny.

Reruns of limited-time pool items are a basic operation and need no further explanation.

But what the heck is this about the limited-time pool items being upgraded again?!
In other words, with my Sword Spirit Root maxed out, Battle Supreme Body, and Golden Dragon Bloodline 100% concentration, I can still raise it to another level.
Wow, I didn't expect that you can level up after reaching the maximum level. Developers, why don't you just release several levels all at once? I want them all!

Personally, I think it's terrible forcing people to spend money, but I like it.

[Fifth Bonus: Celebration Dungeon and Celebration Shop Open for a Limited Time]

[Limited-Time Celebration Dungeon Open: During the half-year anniversary celebration, the celebration dungeon—Dragon Palace—will be open for a limited time. Defeating monsters in Dragon Palace will drop rare dragon corpse materials and celebration items.]

[The Celebration Shop is open for a limited time: During the half-anniversary celebration, you can use celebration items to redeem various top-tier items for free in the Celebration Shop.]

Jiang Liu: “!!!!”

We just killed a world-class, ocean-destroying dragon, and now they've opened a dragon-themed dungeon. Good heavens, dragons are being released into the Immortal Cultivation Era in droves. Can't your Immortal Realm support so many dragons?
But it must be said that he was extremely interested in this particular instance.

Both dragon pills and dragon blood are rare items that he needs most.

I'm going to grind the Dragon Palace dungeon to the max!
My personal assessment is that I am very satisfied.

next.

[Sixth Bonus: Perfection in Both Alchemy and Artifact Making]

[Dual Mastery of Alchemy and Weapon Forging: During the celebration, the experience gained from alchemy and weapon forging will be increased by 100%, and an alchemy and weapon forging leaderboard will be opened, with the highest rewards being superior-grade elixir blueprints and superior-grade spirit weapon blueprints]

You finally remembered to send the blueprints!

In my personal opinion, this is an activity that I love, no further explanation needed, a perfect score.

next.

[Seventh Bonus: Server-wide Progress Rewards]

[Server-wide Progress Rewards: For every 1000 million monsters (regardless of level) killed during open-world exploration, players across the server will receive a Treasure Pack (bound); for every 1 million monsters (regardless of level) killed, players will receive a Heavenly Material Pack (bound).]

Jiang Liu: “.”

They've sent you another rare and precious item. Is this stuff really worthless in the immortal realm?
He was happy to receive rare and precious materials, but the total number of monsters killed across the entire region had nothing to do with him.

Even if he's incredibly skilled, he can't kill 1000 million monsters in a month by himself; that benefit can only be achieved by other players.

My personal assessment is that it's generous, but it has nothing to do with me.

[Eighth Round of Benefits: Breakthrough to Receive Amazing Gifts]

[Breakthrough Rewards: During the celebration, all players who break through a minor realm will receive the limited-edition title—Leveling Expert. Further breakthroughs will upgrade the title.]

Jiang Liu: emmmm.

The title is so-so, but since he's aiming to level up anyway, he might as well just get it for free.

My personal assessment: average.

finish watching.

next.

Jiang Liu continued to look down, and when he saw that the celebration interface had reached the bottom, a look of bewilderment appeared on his face.

Is this gone?

It wasn't that they complained about the low welfare benefits, but rather that they hadn't seen what he was guessing.

What about the pay-to-win content?
Apart from one limited-time banner rerun, there were no other gacha-related activities during the half-anniversary celebration!
No in-game purchase packages.

There is no ranking of who spends the most money on in-game purchases.

Cumulative spending: None. The cleanliness of this half-year anniversary celebration made him slightly uncomfortable.

"This is really just giving out perks."

Jiang Liu pulled the celebration interface down even further, and after confirming that there were no hidden pay-to-win elements, he couldn't help but sigh.

There are eight bonus items in total. Although it seems a bit forced, you have to admit that he is really giving out bonuses!
Congratulations on your planning! We've received a bonus: you've earned a month of free commenting. Everyone has a bright future ahead of them.

"Double experience, double drop rate, celebration dungeons, alchemy and weapon crafting rankings—this month is going to be busy again."

Jiang Liu sighed wearily, then closed the celebration interface and turned his attention to the extremely festive main interface.

On the left side of the main interface, an icon for a "Celebration Gift Pack" appears, with the words "Claim for Free" flashing below it.

Come on, let me see how much you can send.

[Do you want to claim today's celebration gift pack?]

【Yes】

[Open the celebration gift pack?]

【Yes】

You have received a free spirit stone gift pack, a free equipment gift pack, a free card gift pack, and a free cultivation gift pack.

After receiving the gift bag, he opened his backpack and looked at it with great interest.

[Free Spirit Stone Gift Pack: Open to randomly receive 1~88888 Spirit Stones, with a small chance of receiving 888888 Spirit Stones]

[Free Limited-Time Gacha Ticket Pack: Open to receive 1-888 limited-time gacha tickets, with a small chance of obtaining 8888 tickets]

[Free Cultivation Gift Pack: Upon opening, you will receive 0.1%~11% of your current cultivation level, with a small chance of receiving 66% cultivation level.]

[Free Equipment Pack: Open to receive one low-grade magic weapon or low-grade spirit weapon, with a small chance of obtaining a mid-grade spirit weapon]

Jiang Liu: “.”

As he looked through the four celebration gift bags one by one, his previously smiling face instantly turned expressionless and utterly indifferent.

The plan was generous, but only half generous.

The four celebration gift packs can contain up to 888888 spirit stones, 8888 limited pool gacha tickets, 66% cultivation value, and a mid-grade spirit weapon.

Are there many?
Absolutely too many!

Even he couldn't help but feel his heart flutter, especially when he saw the 66% cultivation value; his eyes practically popped out of his head.

but.

The four celebration gift packs will give you at least 8 spirit stones, 8 limited pool gacha tickets, 0.1% cultivation value, and a low-grade magic weapon.

Haha, are you fucking kidding me?
If so, then you've succeeded. I'm so angry I'm laughing.

If you're going to give away freebies, just specify how much to give. Can't you make it the same for every player? Why make it random? Isn't that just letting the lucky ones get crushed by the unlucky ones?

So you're trying to incite conflict and war among the players?

[You have opened the celebration gift pack and received 8 spirit stones, 8 limited card vouchers, 0.2% cultivation value, and one low-grade magic weapon.]

Jiang Liu glanced at it, his expression unchanged, as if he had expected it, and expressionlessly closed his backpack.

At that moment, he saw his friends list suddenly flash.

[Li Dongze: (Screenshot) Holy crap, I got 1000 gacha tickets! Hahaha, I finally got lucky!]

[Li Dongze: How many did you open?]

[Yi Luoluo: (Screenshot) This is invincible! This really can boost cultivation to 66%! I directly advanced a small realm!]

[Yi Luoluo: How many did you open?]

[Zhang Shuyun: (Screenshot) Sect Master, I got a low-grade spiritual weapon. The stats are pretty good. Do you want to use it first?]

Jiang Liu stared at the several glittering screenshots in the chat box, his lips twitching, and his face instantly darkening.

Damn it!
That's exactly what I'm talking about!
You have demoted Li Dongze, an elite disciple of the Tai Chu Sect, to an ordinary disciple.

You have demoted Elder Yi Luoluo of the Taichu Sect to an elite disciple.

[You have promoted Elder Zhang Shuyun of the Tai Chu Sect to Vice Sect Master of the Tai Chu Sect]

After a series of retaliatory actions, he ignored Li Dongze and Yi Luoluo's screams and cries, turned off the friends list, and ignored them no matter how many times they flashed.

Trying to show off your good luck to me?

You succeeded, but I'm petty. Let the two of you reflect on your actions for a while.

Having received the planner's sincerity, Jiang Liu began to show his own sincerity.

He clicked on the limited-time pool, and the three gacha pools in the pool caught his eye, making him dizzy and his wallet ache.

Sword Spirit Root/Rain Spirit Root Reissue!
The Battle Saint Body has been replicated!

Golden Dragon Bloodline/True Phoenix Bloodline Reissue!
They were all old acquaintances, which made him feel both warm and nostalgic.

"It's already maxed out, what other attributes can we add?"

Jiang Liu muttered to himself, filled with curiosity and anticipation, and first clicked into the Sword Spirit Root Card Pool.

[Sword Spirit Root/Rain Spirit Root Reissue]

[If the player has already upgraded their Sword Spirit Root/Rain Spirit Root to max level, level ∞ will be unlocked.]

[Note: To upgrade the Sword Spirit Root/Rain Spirit Root to level ∞, you need to draw another set of Sword Spirit Root/Rain Spirit Roots at max level]

Jiang Liu: “.”

What is the symbol ∞?
This is the infinity symbol!

To add another order to the max order, you even came up with ∞?

Wow, game planner, you're really good at forcing people to spend money.

He was puzzled when he saw that there was no pay-to-win content in the celebration event, wondering when the developers started doing things at a loss.
But now he knows he was too young.

The celebration event has no in-app purchases?

No need at all!
This limited-time banner rerun is the biggest monetization opportunity!

To upgrade the max level to the ∞ level, you need to draw another max level set!
In other words, just upgrading the Sword Spirit Root and Rain Spirit Root requires 1500 million spirit stones.

Damn it, game planner, did you just take all those spirit stones from my pocket to give out to the players?
The game developers are giving out perks to the players, so I'm giving out perks to the game developers!

"That's ruthless. Don't think I'll buy your limited-edition upgrade item just because you release it casually. If the ∞-level upgrade doesn't satisfy me, I'll just pretend nothing happened."

Jiang Liu muttered to himself, his face dark as he clicked on the demonstration of the Sword Spirit Root ∞ level in the limited-time pool interface.

[Sword Spirit Root Level ∞]

[Effect: All inherent attributes of a max-level Sword Spirit Root are increased by 50%. Sword Dao Opportunities and Sword Dao Law Affinity will trigger regardless of realm, and the trigger probability will be greatly increased.]

[Rain Spirit Root Level ∞]

[Effect: All inherent attributes of Rain Spirit Root at level ∞ are increased by 50%. Rain Dao Opportunities and Rain Dao Law Affinity will trigger regardless of realm, and the trigger probability will be greatly increased.]

At first glance, the introduction is concise and clear.

First, there's the most straightforward numerical boost: a 50% increase in inherent attributes. Just for this one point alone, spending 1500 million spirit stones is worthwhile.

Secondly, opportunities and affinity with the laws will disregard realm triggers.

What does it mean?
Upon seeing this effect, Jiang Liu subconsciously frowned, somewhat unable to comprehend it.

The purpose of a kendo opportunity is to encounter various kendo tools and kendo inheritances through chance.

The purpose of the principles of swordsmanship is to comprehend swordsmanship skills and master swordsmanship with ease.

According to normal understanding, ignoring the realm trigger means that I am currently in the Golden Core stage, and I can have a fortuitous encounter with the sword dao inheritance of a tribulation-crossing master, and comprehend sword-type dao techniques and sword-type immortal techniques.

If that's the case...
Holy crap, that's awesome!
I want to blow it up!

If I really have a chance to encounter a tribulation-crossing opportunity, or a chance to comprehend sword-type immortal techniques, I'd spend 1500 million spirit stones, let alone 1.5 million!

Although he knew that the chances of encountering someone and the probability of learning a skill depended entirely on the planner's actions, he still couldn't help but have unrealistic fantasies.

What if?
What if one day the planner has a brain fart and gives him a sword path opportunity at the Tribulation stage, or a Celestial Sword Technique?
I'm a high-spending player, so it's not impossible, is it?

"hiss."

"If even the cheapest sword spirit root and rain spirit root are this powerful, then what about the other limited-edition items?"

Jiang Liu gasped, his interest piqued. Instead of immediately drawing the ∞-level spiritual root, he turned to look at the replicas of the Battle Saint Body and the Golden Dragon True Phoenix bloodline.

[Replica of the Battle Saint Body]

If a player upgrades their Battle Saint Body to the Ultimate level, the Battle Saint Body (God King level) will be unlocked.

【Battle Saint Body (God King)】

[Effect: All inherent attributes of the Ultimate Battle Form are increased by 50%, the cooldown of the "Turning the Tide" skill is reduced to 1 day, the duration is increased to 10 minutes, the trigger count is increased from 1 to 2, and the damage increase effect of "Peerless Battle" is increased to 0.015%]

[Note: To upgrade the Ultimate Battle Body to the God King Battle Body, one Ultimate Battle Body is required.]

Another 2300 million spirit stones!
Another extremely brutal attribute boost!
At the same time, the cooldown, duration, and number of times the "comeback from adversity" ability can be triggered have been significantly increased.

Most importantly, the permanent damage increase for "Peerless Warriors" has been increased from 0.01% to 0.015%!

How could it not explode?

"This is amazing! This is incredible! You have to spend money on limited-time items to even consider spending real money!"

Jiang Liu's eyes lit up, and he exclaimed repeatedly, willingly spending money on this.

Finally, there's the dual bloodline, worth 1.2 million spirit stones.

[Golden Dragon Bloodline/True Phoenix Bloodline Reissue]

[If a player's Golden Dragon/True Phoenix bloodline concentration has reached 100%, then 100% bloodline purification will be available.]

[Note: Further purification of the Golden Dragon/True Phoenix bloodline requires a Golden Dragon/True Phoenix bloodline concentration of 100%]

Without exception, 1.2 million spirit stones.

The idea of ​​purifying 100% bloodline concentration is truly remarkable; the planner must have been incredibly resourceful.

【Golden Dragon/True Phoenix Bloodline Purification】

[Effect: All inherent attributes of the Golden Dragon/True Phoenix bloodline are increased by 50%, the cooldown time of the Dharma Avatar is halved and its duration is doubled, the cooldown time of the Body Transformation is halved and its duration is doubled, and after the Dragon/Phoenix bloodline is purified, you will be more able to attract the attention of the Dragon/Phoenix race, and the Dragon/Phoenix race will regard you as one of their own.]

Jiang Liu: “.”

He had anticipated the initial boosts, but the new effects that followed were truly unexpected.

In other words, will I really be able to meet the Dragon and Phoenix in the Great World in the future?

hiss.
You see me as one of your own kind, and I see you as prey. Isn't the malice you've been plotting all too obvious?
(End of this chapter)