To ascend, I had no choice but to create games - Chapter 328 - Chapter 328: Chapter 207: Unable to Protect (First Update)_2

Chapter 328: Chapter 207: Unable to Protect (First Update)_2

“`

But he knew he wasn’t Fang Cheng, and the other party might have deeper intentions.

He restarted “Spirit Vessel,” choosing the open selection entrance to begin competing.

Since it was a competition, all mechas and chips were unlocked, allowing players to freely pair the mechas they desired and even to have two additional sets as spares during the match.

The AI in the game, however, chose the default mecha, which was evenly balanced in all aspects and didn’t have as many crafty tactics as the players did.

Landing in a spacious arena, Wang realized he was in a colossal arena.

Across from him, a gray-brown default mecha silently watched him, and after Wang entered, it gestured for him to come closer.

Stepping forward, Wang charged directly at the mecha opposite him, with the hydraulics on his arms running at full load, causing his arms to burst with a lot of steam.

He threw a powerful punch at his opponent, but instead of the opponent’s head shattering as expected, the mecha deployed a force field that deflected his heavy punch.

“What!”

The opponent moved with remarkable agility and operated the mecha with extraordinary skill.

Taking advantage of the moment Wang was thrown off balance, the AI mecha reached out, grasped Wang’s head, and forcefully pressed downward.

A knee strike followed, and amid the teeth-grinding roar, Wang’s head took a severe blow, followed shortly by a close-range blast from a heat-melting cannon to the abdomen. The energy released from the opponent’s palm erupted Wang’s power furnace, sending him straight out of the competition.

In less than fifteen seconds, Wang met his defeat.

Watching the AI mecha return emotionlessly to its starting position, Wang was utterly stunned and didn’t recover his senses for a good while before he yelled, “It’s cheating, right? Can a mecha even fight like this? Who could defeat this thing!”

Rallying his spirits, Wang prepared to switch tactics.

If close combat wasn’t working, then he would use long-range weapons to control the foe before delivering a vicious blow!

Entering the game once more, Wang quickly retreated after landing, then took out a cannon and began firing like crazy.

A barrage of missiles flew towards the target, but before they could get close, the opposing mecha deployed a force field that neutralized each incoming weapon.

Seeing his opponent stride out of the lingering smoke, Wang couldn’t help but shout, “You can’t be serious!”

Then, the AI mecha drew a lightsaber from its wrist and lunged at Wang, who was cut in half, unable to dodge in time, and with an explosion, he was sent back to the spawn point.

Two failed attempts made Wang realize the difficulty of the open selection was no joke.

Even a skilled technical player like him was defeated at first encounter; there couldn’t be many who would pass the challenge.

He decided to take a break for now, log into Bilibili to let his fans know he was still alive, then continue the challenges afterward.

However, as soon as he logged into Bilibili, he found that “Spirit Vessel” had flooded the platform.

It had been five hours since the “Spirit Vessel” competitive version had been released.

The game was free, and passing the open selection earned you ten thousand US dollars and a free plane ticket to the United States for a global competition…

Each of these conditions was enticing on its own, but together, they formed a knockout combo.

And with Druid Entertainment’s recent nonsensical behavior, the resulting chain reaction had exploded across the media, turning “Spirit Vessel,” its rival, into the hot topic of the moment.

In five hours, its global download count had already surpassed ten million, with Druid Entertainment’s biggest competitor emerging before its eyes, full of fighting spirit.

A flood of players joined the open selection, many talented gamers stood out, and a plethora of videos showing challenges against AI mechas began to surface, with even some live streamers engaging in seventy-two-hour challenges to see if they could defeat an AI mecha within that time frame.

These AI mechas were programs compiled by Fang Cheng Studio, imitating Artifact Spirits, and their level of competence was about thirty percent of the actual Artifact Spirits, more than enough to filter out players.

And in the sixth hour, the first kill was finally achieved.

An anonymous player holding up a digital plane ticket and check in their phone, showed off their first kill accomplishment through a video and expressed their winning thoughts:

“Liuzi, where’s your hardcore? I can’t see it!”

Then, ten minutes later, the second anonymous player to kill an AI mecha showed their achievement and gave their winning speech: “You damn slowpoke! There’s a time difference here!”

Domestically, successive players started to succeed, and many international players also emerged victorious. Once they realized the rewards could indeed be exchanged, a second wave of social media buzz was born.

“`

Although many players initially chased after the prize money, they found something after actually downloading “Spirit Vessel”…

This game is off the charts!

No, to be precise, this game rocks!

The domestic players were fine, Fang Cheng Studio’s games had never disappointed them, so they could download it without a second thought.

But the international players were different.

Although they had been initiated through “Heavenly Demon,” many of them were not really interested in Eastern fantasy themes and would just skim through to claim they’d played it.

But “Spirit Vessel” was different.

Just watching the broadcasters’ challenge videos got their adrenaline pumping, and the videos of PVP battles were enough to make anyone’s blood boil.

Tearing apart Mecha with bare hands, close-combat wrestling, the lightning-fast Mecha fights were unbearable, and they just made people want to dive into a Mecha and experience it for themselves.

Upon discovering that “Spirit Vessel” also had a VR version, and that it was exclusive to Kirin Industry, plenty of rich gamers promptly ordered the Kirin VR Integrated Machine from overseas and after trying it, became people who could only repeat “Amazing” like parrots.

Seeing the Mecha customization segment, “Amazing”!

Personally piloting the Mecha, “Amazing”!

Destroying a city with bare hands, sinking an island, and altering the terrain of a planet, “Amazing” squared!

Especially when they engaged in PVP battles, the intense gameplay reminded them of “Pacific Rim,” “Mobile Suit Gundam,” “Six Gods Combined,” and “Transformers.”

The dreams of their childhood were realized to 120%, making them unable to help but shout out that this is what Mecha is all about!

Gamers started creating Mecha of their own design, finding various ways to increase their Mecha’s strength, and the PVP section became exceptionally lively, with both 1v1 and 5v5 reaching instant matchmaking status.

Millions of Mecha battling simultaneously, new tactics emerging constantly, also led to some players gradually gaining the strength to challenge AI Mecha.

But that didn’t include Wang.

After trying sneakily for a day, Wang realized he was still somewhat short of being a genius.

A typical genius would have already defeated the AI Mecha by this time, but he could only last five rounds.

He had watched plenty of walkthrough videos, learned various styles and thought he was ready afterward, but he would still get beaten up each time.

What really got to him was a private message from an old acquaintance, Dumb Dragon.

[Wang, don’t be a recluse, hurry up and join me in challenging the “Spirit Vessel” AI Mecha! It’s tough, but I’ve already made it through, and so can you.]

Dumb Dragon was Wang’s junior by half, and had always been dim-witted, just as he is now.

Though Wang long knew that Dumb Dragon had some gaming talent, he didn’t expect him to have already passed the preliminaries and secured a plane ticket.

Especially that line “and so can you,” broke Wang’s defenses and finally led him to make a tough decision.

He called Fang Cheng.

He agreed to become a commentator for the competition.

He got the plane ticket and the overtime pay, he could go to the United States!

Having secured the plane ticket in this way, he collected his emotions and replied to Dumb Dragon, [Don’t worry, I’m alright now. But I’ll pass on this challenge, I have to be a commentator. Let someone else have this opportunity.]

[You’re really something, Wang! I’ll go prepare my luggage then, see you in the US.]

[See you in the US.]

After regaining his composure, Wang took a deep breath, feeling that he had saved face.

Re-opening his own videos, he once again compared “Fallen Mecha” and “Spirit Vessel,” and couldn’t help but let out a laugh of satisfaction.

He had saved his own face.

But some others’ faces, I’m afraid, were not going to be saved.