Jack was secretly observing the performance of the Adventurers. As an ambitious creator, he wanted to gather feedback to refine the Secret Realms of Miracle City. Watching Adventurers struggle and succeed was part of the daily fun!
Level-based gameplay and story-based gameplay have different design philosophies. When creating content for story-based gameplay, Jack focused on optimizing the original works, making minimal changes to ensure Adventurers experienced the authentic charm of classic masterpieces.
For level-based gameplay, the goal was to ensure both the 'grind' and the 'thrill'. Ideally, it should be both challenging and exhilarating! Before mastering the mechanics, Adventurers would face tough challenges. But as they gradually became proficient and understood the mechanics, they could experience an exhilarating thrill.
To achieve this, Jack incorporated many original designs to ensure Adventurers never tired of playing, diligently working for Miracle City and continuously creating value.
The third level of the Raging Tide was designed with this philosophy. This level contained both underground and above-ground elements. Underground was a secret research lab, and above ground was a military base. The scene design referenced the classic third-party map 'Buried Deep' from Left 4 Dead 2, with design elements from the Hive lab in the Resident Evil movie, such as poison gas and laser traps.
This level also featured thrilling and explosive large-scale scenes, similar to the Zombie tide Easter egg at the end of the second level. In terms of mechanics and gameplay, many innovations were made to enhance entertainment value.
The core element of Secret Realms is monsters, and the essence of monsters lies in BOSS design. The BOSS of the third level of the Raging Tide differed from the second level. Its appearance location and time were not fixed. Jack released a total of thirty G1s into the Secret Realm, ten of which could evolve into G2s, and one could evolve into a G3, the level's strongest BOSS. It would definitely appear but was full of randomness. Any G1 had the potential to become a G3.
As soon as the big BOSS appeared, it would relentlessly hunt down Adventurers, keeping them enveloped in unknown fear and excitement.
Jack's innovation in monster mechanics went beyond this. He placed one T103 mass-produced Tyrant in each of the four different areas, serving as a small BOSS as a second-tier one-star monster. If Adventurers directly alarmed them, the Tyrant Zombie would consider them intruders and begin pursuing them. However, if Adventurers could find the Tyrant controller and awaken them, they could send action commands to these powerful humanoid biological weapons, allowing the Tyrants to protect themselves, assist in combat, and escape. This would be the mandatory choice for most Adventurers to clear the level!
Scenes of Tyrants battling Zombie hordes, tearing apart Zombies, and even fighting G3 to the death to protect Adventurers were expected to bring excellent entertainment value, broaden the horizons of Adventurers, and leave them thoroughly satisfied.
Besides monsters, there were many original Easter eggs on other levels. While ensuring high difficulty, Jack aimed to make it as fun as possible. This level had a lot of content, plus two chapters of story, enough to keep Adventurers busy for a long time. Jack did not need to update the Raging Tide Secret Realm for a while and could concentrate all resources, energy, and time on the upcoming second Secret Realm.
In the Secret Realm Lobby, hundreds of Adventurers were watching the battle. When the team composed of Feng Zhongmian, Lonely Swordsman, Luna Snow, and White Crane Hermit walked out of the safe room, they were immediately attacked by a large number of Zombies.
Some Zombies were in the corridors and rooms, while others emerged from the ventilation ducts above and the pipes below. Lone Wolf sighed, "The third level is indeed not simple. The appearance of Zombies is unpredictable."
Black Stone Hammer King nodded, "This level requires enough tacit understanding and cooperation. Not only do you need to conduct three-dimensional combat and defense, but you also need to be cautious when firing in narrow corridors, especially when using explosives and Molotov cocktails."
"Indeed!"
"If you encounter a useless teammate, you're finished."
"With one Molotov cocktail, not many Zombies die, but your own people are gone first."
The four cooperated with each other, shooting and killing hundreds of Zombies. Monsters appearing from all directions kept their nerves constantly tense, and the periodic alarm announcing the remaining time for the self-destruct program invisibly brought a sense of urgency and more pressure.
In this atmosphere, Adventurers had to fully immerse themselves. They advanced cautiously, constantly firing and fighting. Zombies were blown apart one after another, with brains splattering and flesh flying, which was very stress-relieving!
"Look! There's a different kind of Zombie!"
The timely reminder from the surrounding Adventurers helped the four discover a strange Zombie. Most of its body still retained human characteristics, although a small part of its torso and limbs had begun to mutate. Its right arm was abnormally enlarged, covered with tumors and blood vessels, and a dark red, approximately 30-centimeter diameter eye had grown on its shoulder.
"This is a G1!"
Feng Zhongmian explained, "This kind of Zombie has very strong regenerative abilities. Its right arm possesses monstrous strength that can easily shatter walls and tear steel, but thankfully its speed is not fast. Absolutely do not let it get close!"
This was not the first time he had encountered a G1, so he had already unlocked its entry in the bestiary and had some understanding of it.
The G1 let out a painful and insane roar and immediately attacked the four Adventurers. Although this guy possessed a powerful right arm, its overall strength was stronger than a Charger but clearly inferior to a Tank Zombie. According to the monster bestiary recorded by the Adventurer Guild, it is a first-tier four-star monster.
A four-star monster? That's not simple either! Naturally, they couldn't let their guard down. Feng Zhongmian and Luna Snow quickly fired, using firepower to suppress it and prevent it from getting close. Lonely Swordsman took the opportunity to aim at its head and shot off its skull with one shot, but this still didn't stop the monster from moving.
"Its head exploded. And it's still not dead?" The other Adventurers were all shocked. They didn't expect this monster to be so tenacious!
Feng Zhongmian added, "This monster has two weaknesses, one is its head and the other is the big eye on its right arm. Hitting one is not enough to kill it."
"So that's it!" White Crane Hermit used a shotgun to completely blow out the big eye. This tenacious monster finally lost its ability to resist and fell down. All the Adventurers breathed a sigh of relief.
White Little Deer commented, "This new Zombie doesn't seem very strong. Although its vitality is very tenacious, its body is not coordinated, so its movement speed is too slow."
Mandy added, "This new monster is so underwhelming, this doesn't fit the Lord's style!"
"It's good enough that there are new monsters in the new level!"
"Do you really think the Lord's Sea of Inspiration is endless?"
Mandy was unconvinced but couldn't refute it.
Lord Jack must be hiding a lot of good stuff!
Feng Zhongmian rested briefly and checked their remaining supplies, immediately realizing a serious problem. Luna Snow's expression was solemn, "This is troublesome, we don't have much ammunition left, there are quite a few Zombies along the way, and there's definitely more than one G1..."
Lonely Swordsman added, "Resources are too tight in this level."
White Crane Hermit advised, "Try to save as much as possible and avoid unnecessary combat."
Feng Zhongmian concluded, "We still know too little about this place, we can only take it one step at a time. Even if we can't clear the level, we must strive to collect more information."
The four rested briefly and continued to search for an escape route. Before long, they encountered another G1 blocking the way.
"Let me do it!" White Crane Hermit actively moved forward to get close, first dodging the giant arm that attacked him head-on. This blow was as powerful as a small car accelerating to 100 yards and crashing, not only shaking the ground but also hammering a large pit in the wall.
Taking advantage of its loss of balance, Bang, he shot out its eyeball with one shot! Bang, he shot off its head with another shot! White Crane Hermit used a shotgun and killed the G1 in two shots, undoubtedly saving the team a lot of ammunition.
"Amazing!" "As expected of the Old Dean!" The other Adventurers all showed expressions of admiration. The G1's mobility was not great, but its attack speed was not slow. Such close-range point-blank shooting required not only strong psychological fortitude but also strong combat awareness.
White Crane Hermit felt a bit proud, "You young people still have a lot to learn!"
Just then, an unusual movement occurred, coming from the G1 Zombie that had just been killed. Something's happening! As soon as this thought arose, five giant, blade-like claws slashed through his body. White Crane Hermit felt his body hollowed out and looked down, "Wha... what the hell!"
He saw a third of his torso instantly being ripped and gouged out, truly being hollowed out in a literal sense!
Luna Snow cried out, "Old Master!"
White Crane Hermit, dead!
The Adventurers outside were stunned. Who would have thought that among the four Adventurers, the strongest White Crane Hermit would be the first to fall!
"Look quickly!" "That G1 Zombie isn't dead!" "It... it seems to have changed!" Everyone was horrified to discover that the killed G1 had come back to life. It had undergone a strange transformation!
Its blown-out head had withered and disappeared. Its entire body had undergone severe mutation, its epidermis was completely keratinized, presenting a gray-black scale-like texture, its skeletal system had deformed to form a hardened structure similar to an exoskeleton, and a pair of underdeveloped auxiliary limbs had begun to grow in its chest cavity, presenting a deformed state of intertwined bone and tendon.
This monster's right arm further expanded into a giant claw-like structure, its length exceeding 2 meters, and the claw tips had hardened to a metallic texture.
"How could this happen?" This wasn't the first time they had defeated a G1. This kind of change had never happened before. Because of this, they had absolutely no psychological preparation!
At the same time, a prompt appeared for several people.
**[You have unlocked the monster bestiary entry "G2 Creature"!]**
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