Chapter 231: Game Pool

In the car on the way back, Bai Liu, who was sitting in the passenger seat, gave a brief account of his ideas for the league.

"You guys want to compete this year?" Tang Erda wrinkled her brow.

"I think it's too much of a rush too, only two months to go and Bai Liu you and Muke are both 48 and 49 entries short of the league games." Liu Jiayi slumped breathlessly in his car seat, "I think you're having trouble signing up for both."

Bai Liu turned slightly to Tang Erda, who was sitting directly behind him: "Captain Tang, do you have any suggestions? If you were to lead us, what would be the fastest time to get through a copy?"

Tang Erda's brow grew tighter: "I don't know your situation yet, I can't predict ......"

Bai Liu changed the question: "If you were yourself, what would be your fastest time through a Level 3 copy, using reality as a time measurement dimension?"

Tang Erda doesn't think twice: "31 minutes."

Liu Jiayi, who was lying in the back seat of the car drinking water, choked violently, and Muke, who was in the driver's seat, heard the number and his hand slipped, almost driving off the road.

They questioned in unison, "How did you do that so fast?!"

Damn, what kind of monster is this guy? Thirty-one minutes to clear a Level 3 game?

"Time in the game dimension is converted to real dimensional time, in two separate conversions." Tang Erda recounts in a quiet voice, "once to the dimensional time in the system lobby, and then to the real time through the dimensional time in the system."

"And in-game time is converted to dimensional time in the system's lobby, not based on the length of time that passes within the game, but through three different game endings."

Tang Erda gives an example: "A game has three different ends, [bad end], [normal end] and [true end]."

"[bad end] converts to invalid dimensional time, meaning that if a player hits [bad end], dies, or becomes a monster in the game, then from the moment he enters the game, his time is invalid, completely stagnant in the game, and cannot continue to convert to dimensional or real time. "

"And Bai Liu the dimensional time you most often type out [true end] converts to, which is generally the longest a game can last, converting to the system lobby is generally 3.5~5.5 dimensional hours and further converting to reality is generally between 21~27 hours."

Bai Liu stroked his chin, pondering, "Is there a fixed ratio of conversion metrics for converting dimensional time to real time?"

Tang Erda shook her head, "No, there appears to be a pattern in the conversion of dimensional time to real time, but this pattern is fluid, remaining consistent at one time, but changing again in the next; at present I have not worked out a fixed ratio, I can only estimate."

Bai Liu narrowed his eyes, "The fluid, indeterminate time conversion laws of reality and systems like ......"

--Isn't it exactly the same as the time conversion rule between a copy of the game and the system lobby?

Together with what Bai Liu had seen in the [Future], he was basically sure that [Reality] was also some kind of game copy dimension.

If [reality] is also a copy of the game within the system, then the standard for dimensional time conversion between [reality] and the system should also be a different [end] line.

The system and [reality] maintain some kind of time conversion rule for a period of time, which should be that the player walks on a certain fixed [end] line during this period of time, and when the player changes the game path and walks to another [end] line, and the time conversion rule within the system changes as well.

-- So now, what [end] of the game path is he taking this copy of [reality] on?

[true end], [normal end] or [bad end]?

"And the fastest way to pass is to play the [normal end] line." Tang Erda continued, "Without exploring any monster books or looking for any pass clues, just kill the big boss and then reach the quest conditions to violently pass, my fastest record is 17 minutes for a single level 2 copy."

Liu Jiayi slumped into his seat, immobilised.

Seventeen minutes of secondary copies ......

At this level of clearance, even if you take four at a time, two months is perfectly enough time to take them all into the league.

The league is strong and scary as hell.

"But two months is still too short a time to join the league." Tang Erda warned seriously, "Even if you qualify, you are so far behind the quality of the players in the league that it is more important for you to train than to qualify."

"After you have received your registration, you will have to train in the game pool at least sixty times and have a basic knowledge of the game copy and rules of the league before you can enter."

Liu Jiayi raised his hand and added, "On top of that, popularity is very important, you need to canvass outside of the game to get the audience behind you and recharge your votes, and the players who rush to the top 100 in popularity value during the support season will be able to get the [get-out-of-jail-free card] for the league."

"What's a game pool and a get-out-of-jail-free card again?" Muke listened a little dizzily.

As a novice player, he had just figured out the basic rules of the lobby and was far less familiar with the specific regulations of the league than Tang Erda, a veteran and a trained Liu Jiayi.

Liu Jiayi seems to have realised this as well, and held his forehead in a bit of a headache: "Right, I forgot you guys were new, listen up, the [Game Pool] is a brand new division that only players who have successfully signed up for the league can log into, and is generally used for internal training for league players."

Tang Erda nodded in agreement with Liu Jiayi: "This section contains a separate game selection screen, game log-in portal, and game log-out portal, and games played in this section are not shown to external audiences, so there is no small TV presence, also known as the [non-small TV section]."

"- In addition to that, the games played in this division are games that players can log out of at any time." Liu Jiayi held up a finger with a rare serious look, "This is also the most special part of this division, the system will have some protection for players who have successfully registered for the league, and the concrete manifestation of the protection mechanism is the existence of the [Game Pool] division."

"To ensure that league players who have successfully registered for the league can successfully participate in the league, before the league officially begins, these players train for the game within the [game pool] and can exit the game when they perceive that their lives are in danger by simply paying a certain number of points."

Bai Liu raised an eyebrow, "Looks like the league is really important to the system."

-- actually have this training area that gives up harvesting players' souls simply to exist, just to ensure that these players can participate in the league without any problems.

"Don't take it lightly." Tang Erda warned in a hushed voice, "The reason this mechanic exists in the game zone is because the games in here are level three copies that dovetail directly with the league, and many people simply die before they can log out."

"Exactly." Liu Jiayi nodded fervently, "From what Hearts said, the copies of the league matchups from previous years were randomly drawn from the game pool and were really hard to make sure that they could have some familiarity with the running of these copies, many of the players from the big guilds would immediately swipe enough copies 52 times after the league the previous year and then go into the [game pool] for intense training. "

"Is that why we don't see any big guild warriors out there?" Muke asked.

"The only people you'll see in the [small TV area] are the star players who have been pushed out by the guild for business, you won't get to see these more capable warriors who have basically been training in the [gaming pool] all year." Tang Erda said lightly.

Liu Jiayi counters, "But that doesn't mean that the star players are weak, on the contrary, most of them are very strong."

Muke was stunned: "A star player?"

Bai Liu took out a pen and paper from the front seat drawer of the car, wrote down a few key words on it briefly and circled one of them [death-free gold medal] before asking, "The existence of star players has something to do with death-free gold medals, right?"

Tang Erda was silent for a moment and said, "Yes."

"While games in the pool can be logged out at any time, games in the league can't be logged out until a winner is decided, which means the losing side is basically wiped out."

Bai Liu's nib tapped twice on [Value for Money], dropping his eyes and whispering, "-but this is a league, and if the losing team is all but extinguished, this means that one team will disappear for a game, and there is no way for the game to continue at all, nor can it do so by exploiting the audience's support for a particular fixed team's emotional support to induce them to charge the gamble and thus maximise the league's interest."

"In this case, the prop that preserves the more popular and valuable players - the league [Exemption Gold] - was born."

Liu Jiayi sighs, "That's probably correct, after a player has been awarded a [Death Free Gold], the system will automatically log you out of the game after your life or mental value drops to a dangerous level during a match."

"The [Exemption] is awarded on the basis of popularity value, which is how much support the audience has for you, and this is where the support season comes from - two months before the start of the league, the major guilds will start promoting their own teams like crazy, while keeping their star players open for business like crazy. "

"Basically if a team has one or two very bright star players, the rest of the team can stop worrying about their [immunity] because the fans of the star players will charge a whole team of everyone to vote and make sure they can go on the offensive in the league without any worries."

Liu Jiayi began to wrap his hand around the index: "For example, Hearts of the King's Guild, Spades of the Slayer Sequence, Charles of the Gamblers' Alliance, Georgia of Golden Dawn, and the Deer Hunter's Reverse God Inquisitor - but this guy transferred to the Slayer Sequence this year transferred to the Slayer Sequence."

Liu Jiayi put up two fingers next to Bai Liu: "So this year there are two star players in the killer sequence and their guild support season is simply not open for business because there's no need to worry about [get-out-of-jail-free] with this kind of camp."

"But-" Liu Jiayi withdrew his finger with a sorrowful expression, "I'm the only one in our guild that counts as a half-star player, so it's problematic for you to get a [get-out-of-jail-free card], so we need to find a way to help you with your business circling the drain ......"

"It doesn't matter whether such things are given by outsiders or not, the league looks at its own strength." Tang Erda coldly corrected Liu Jiayi's statement.

Liu Jiayi's eyes rounded as she contemptuously pulled out a pair of goggles, put them on and gave Tang Erda a top-to-bottom look with an extremely mean gaze.

She snorted, "With your appearance, I can understand your jealousy of me when you don't become a star player and get an exemption."

Tang Erda is not really a good-looking person at the moment, bearded, ragged, red-eyed, smelling of a strange, disgusting mix of roses and blood, dishevelled and unkempt, sitting restrained in the back seat of the car, very much like a large dog that Bai Liu had picked up off the street and strayed for more than six months.

Tang Erda opened her mouth to say something else, but after a glance at Liu Jiayi, who was sitting only as high as his waist, she seemed to feel that she was arguing with a little girl, so she turned her head away and looked coldly out of the car window, not taking Liu Jiayi's words anymore.

Liu Jiayi grunted victoriously and plopped down behind Bai Liu's back, continuing to chatter, "Don't listen to him Bai Liu, [the get-out-of-jail-free card] is very important, Hearts showed me the league's fatality summary report and teams with star players have a higher overall survival rate than other teams. "

Tang Erda's hand clasped in an empty grip as he spoke of survival rates, his expression condensed, but his eyes dazed - maybe Liu Jiayi was right ......

At first he insisted that strength was paramount, did no business, kept the whole team in the game pool training like crazy, and when he played against Bai six, it resulted in the whole team not surviving except him, but ironically, he was the one with the immunity card ......

Bai Liu wrote the words [star player] on the face of a small notepad he had handy and put a small question mark next to it.

"I understand the importance of a star player, but it's not easy to develop a star player, is it?" Bai Liu squints at Liu Jiayi, who has leaned over the back of his chair, "I guess most star players are star players because they've been in a league where they've done extremely well, right?"

"Simply by being in the [small TV section], I think it's very difficult to build a star player with a huge fan base - like Jiayi yourself."

Bai Liu traces Liu Jiayi's face across the distance with his notes, calmly recounting the facts: "You have a face that's easy on the heart, a highly specific skill, a top-tier guild that's poured all its efforts into building your momentum, and a second-ranked star player to pave your way. "

"You've assembled the biggest advantage and gimmick of a player who hasn't played in the league yet, but can you be sure you'll get a free pass as soon as you play in the league?"

Liu Jiayi is stunned.

Bai Liu asks indifferently, "You can't, can you?"

"I agree with Captain Tang on this point, for our predominantly new team, it's more cost effective to work on something you can get yourself like strength than on something given by outsiders like popularity, the league is essentially a rivalry of strength not popularity, so our focus for the next two months will be on the game pool training mainly."

Bai Liu's smile is again chilling as he takes a glance at Liu Jiayi, who is dazed by the shock, and Tang Erda, who is immobile and relieved.

"But that doesn't mean we're going to give up on attracting an audience; we have nearly 50 more games that are played in the [small TV area] before we get to the game pool."

"We're going to use these fifty games to do everything we can to draw the audience in to support us."

Bai Liu's eyes linger for a moment on Tang Erda's hair, which is frozen in a tangle: "Let's start by making our Captain Tang a handsome man fit for business."

Tang Erda: "......?????"

------

Mu Sicheng choked and coughed as he ran out the back door of the factory, and only after making sure that the Heretic Authority team had completely taken over the flipped-out RI factory and had the generation director under control, who was ready to escape, did he slip out the side and run away on his motorbike.

Donning a motorbike helmet and a single-ear monkey Bluetooth headset, Mu Sicheng dialed Bai Liu's number in the middle of the wind and was in a hurry.

Bai Liu This guy is going out and claiming he's the bomber, leaving him in the relative safety of the inner world to stall for time.

There's no telling what the deranged crew will do to Bai Liu once he's under the control of the Heretics Authority!

The last time Bai Liu went in, he felt like he lost half his life!

Although Bai Liu keeps saying he has a way to deal with it, he's just an ordinary guy in the real world, how much can he do against such a big organisation?

Mu Sicheng took a deep breath and waited impatiently for the call to be answered, and when it was, he asked, "Bai Liu, are you all right? Where are you?"

"I'm fine." Bai Liu's voice came unsteadily from the other end of the line, "I'm at ......"

Before he could finish his sentence, Bai Liu's voice was interrupted by a hysterical roar of resistance in the background: "Get away from me! What are you doing to me?! I'm not doing this!!!"

Mu Sicheng was a bit confused, he heard the voice of Tang Erda and slowed down his motorbike sprint and asked hesitantly, "You got Tang Erda out of the Heresy Bureau and took control of him?"

Bai Liu holds his phone up to Tang Erda, who is strapped to a hair washing seat and struggling with foam: "You can interpret it that way."

"Let me go!!!" Tang Erda looked at the beautician who approached him holding up a black duct tape shaped object with a creepy look in her eyes, "Put me down!"

"......" Mu Sicheng gloated and had mixed feelings at the same time, "What are you doing to him? Torture? This is the real world, Bai Liu, don't go too far."

Bai Liu tried to explain, "- I did not torture Tang Erda."

A muffled grunt of a grown man being tortured to the core came from the background.

Mu Sicheng stopped his motorbike, twelve thousand times unconvinced: "So what are you doing to him?"

"Full body hairdressing." - Bai Liu looks at Tang Erda's legs covered in hair removal tape, "removing his leg hair, to be exact."

With a grimace on her face, the beauty shop girl grabbed the end of the tape and tore it off with a swish.

Tang Erda clenched his fists and let out another hidden muffled grunt as he looked over at Bai Liu almost pleadingly, tears hidden in his eyes, "-why do I have to do this stuff?!"

"I don't know." Bai Liu shrugs, "Ask Muke, he brought us to this beauty shop and gave you this top of the line hairdressing package you ordered."

Tang Erda looks at Xiang Muke.

Muke smiles with a spring in his step, "This is the best male celebrity grooming shop I know in the industry, a lot of popular traffic comes here for styling and grooming, I thought maybe this would be better for you, Captain Tang, as well as being in business."

The beauty girl agreed: "Yes, yes, yes! Zhao Muchi, the star of the show, has been here for years! Two hit dramas this year!"

She said it with a smile on her face as she tore another sheet under her hands with no effort at all.

Tang Erda drew in a cold breath and said arduously, "That didn't have to go this far, I don't show my legs on TV ......"

"I think it's necessary, who can say, in case you ever show your legs?" Muke took two steps forward and approached Tang Erda with a friendly smile on his face, "We want to make sure every part of your body appeals to the audience."

Showing your legs on TV ...... to attract viewers ......

The little sister who was tearing the tape took one look at Tang Erda's perfectly toned body and couldn't help but have a weird expression.

Muke glanced back to make sure Bai Liu's back was turned while he was on the phone with Mu Sicheng and quickly lowered his head to whisper in Tang Erda's ear, the smile on his face undiminished: "Did you think it was unnecessary when you drowned Bai Liu?"

Tang Erda gives a faint, unnoticeable lurch.

Bai Liu, who was on the phone with Mu Sicheng, turned around after this sentence.

Muke quickly backed away from Tang Erda, then looked very gently at Tang Erda's taped legs and whispered, "- I ordered you the top of the line package, no need to be polite with me, I'll pay for it all, I ordered you a full body semi-permanent manual hair removal specifically for you It hurts a little, but it works."

Muke smiled and patted Tang Erda's torn red thigh, "Be a good businessman for our team after you become a big handsome man, Captain Tang."

Tang Erda, whose whole body is starting to ache: "......"

The beauty girl grabs the tape close to Tang Erda's inner thigh and yanks it down while Tang Erda and Muke are talking!

Looking at Tang Erda, who is gradually becoming lifeless in her chair, Bai Liu gives Mu Sicheng the location of their salon with a compassionate look.

Mu Sicheng removes his headphones, which are emitting various muffled grunts of pain, with a wooden face.