The Beastman Race had entered the City-State Era, with increasingly fierce battles and annexations among various clans. The cultural clashes and integrations among these clans continuously sparked the flames of civilization. Originally, the first Beast King of Qiluo City was from the Rat Clan, but by the fourth generation, it had shifted to the Tiger Clan.
Subsequently, the Dog Clan and Minotaurs took turns, and the current Beast King is the twelfth generation, Alistar of the Bear Clan. Meanwhile, the embryonic forms of several city-states began to appear in other regions, as tribes transitioned towards a city-state system. The fusion and annexation among the beast clans had already begun.
Regardless of which race was merged or annexed, its founder lost the right to observe and was forcibly logged out of the game. Ultimately, only four players remained in the game.
These players came from the Wolf Clan, Tiger Clan, Lion Clan, and Human Race. The first three clans had a significant advantage in size, while the Human Race, though weakest in numbers and strength, survived by staying in a remote corner, away from the core areas of the beast clans.
However, the Beastman Race developed too quickly, and the Human Race was still in its primitive stage, just beginning to develop, with language only just emerging, and still at the slash-and-burn agriculture stage.
If this trend continued, the Human Race would be wiped out by the Beastman Race before it could develop, erased by the law of the jungle.
At this moment, a prompt sounded in the minds of all players.
[The first closed beta has ended. The second closed beta will begin in three days. Please stay tuned.]
At this time, all four players were live streaming, each with tens of thousands of viewers. When they saw the system prompt, some were very disappointed, having expected to witness an epic war, only for the closed beta to end abruptly.
However, other players cheered, as this meant they also had a chance to enter the game.
When they exited and opened the game forum, the official announcement was pinned at the top in bold red letters.
[Second Life] Closed Beta Version 0.1 has officially ended.]
[We thank all players for their anticipation and support. Due to the creative ideas of various players, many potentially evolving creatures have been created, and the basic biological framework of the Western Fantasy World has been completed.]
[The 21 players from the Beastman Race and 1 Human player will receive the game title 'Progenitor.' Statues and stone carvings will be made in their honor for future generations to admire.]
[These 22 players will automatically qualify for the second closed beta. Equipping this title in the game grants special bonuses, the specific effects of which are for you to explore.]
As soon as this official announcement was made, the forum exploded.
"Holy crap, the developers are really something. Even races and humans were created by players. Does that mean there was nothing in that world, and everything had to be created by the players? Just thinking about it is exciting!"
"Is the game's freedom really that high? Players can directly become the progenitor of a race. Can we create a god directly?"
"Creating a race is already so difficult, and you want to become a god? Do you even know what gods are made of?"
"I'm so envious of those players who became progenitors. They're like the living ancestors of the Beastman Race!"
"Wow! It's so exaggerated! There are truly infinite possibilities! What if we bring things from reality into the game? Like gunpowder, building planes and tanks to dominate the world?"
"I just want to know how many slots are available for the second beta..."
***
While players were fervently discussing, Chen Luo had already begun using the Primordial Brush to analyze the genes of the Beastman Race and humans.
"Bearkin Clan, primary life form, not yet evolved to the peak of the clan, low genetic value, recommended to wait for further growth, currently can produce 0.01% Divine Descendant Gene, evaluation: ordinary."
When Chen Luo heard that the genes of the remaining 21 races were all evaluated this way, he thought for a moment and decided to hold off on merging these genes for now.
Since the Primordial Brush determined that the value would be higher after growth, he had to wait.
The reason he stopped the closed beta now was, of course, because he saw the precarious situation of the Human Race, so he had to pause first.
Having only one intelligent race dominate could easily lead to extreme imbalance. He wanted to create a world with many races, balancing each other.
Therefore, Chen Luo planned to give the Human Race a boost, allowing them to have the power to protect themselves first.
At this time, with the widespread promotion by players, along with the release of in-game photos and videos, the game "Second Life" quickly went viral online.
100% realism, near-infinite freedom, NPCs with highly autonomous intelligence capable of perfect interaction with humans became the key features of "Second Life."
Numerous media outlets and news reports covered it, and a large number of players flocked in, only to find that the second beta had not yet started. They could only watch the game videos released by first beta players on the forum.
At this time, many first beta players' game strategies and beta impressions were posted, pinned to the top of the game forum homepage.
"Hello everyone, I'm 'Starting with a Kun,' very fortunate to be the first to enter this game, and also a seasoned player and game reviewer.
Now, let me give a simple game review!
First, the point everyone is most concerned about: is it truly the actual five senses?
My answer is, absolutely a real five-sense experience, exactly like your sensory perception in the real world.
It's worth mentioning that whatever creature you evolve into, you will have the real sensations of that creature. For example, if you become an insect, you will have all the sensations of an insect!
The first species I evolved into was the Ant Clan, and I had all the sensations of an ant, like being able to lift objects several times my body weight, a perfect replica of the real world.
In this game, we can fully experience the world and perceptions of other species.
I also confirmed this with players who started as fish. After choosing fish, they indeed gained the abilities of fish underwater, along with their perspective.
And the terrifying pain sensation—I was first eaten by an animal resembling a pangolin, and the feeling of death was extremely intense.
Ever since, I only dare to set the pain sensation to about 30%. Raising it slightly really hurts like hell.
Secondly, this game, although claimed to be a casual game, is extremely hardcore. When you first log in, there are no traditional online game features like character creation or race selection, only one option: create a race yourself.
You might not believe it, but creating a race requires some biological knowledge.
I asked those players with the Progenitor Title, and each of them had some biological knowledge. Even if they weren't experts, they had a general understanding of species origin and evolution.
Moreover, this game only gives you 3 lives. If you die, you have to start over, with no saves or respawn points. Once you die, all your evolved abilities are wiped, and you have to create a new species from scratch.
We are "pawread dot com", find us on google.
Once you've used up your 3 chances, you're forcibly logged out of the game.
High freedom, infinite possibilities, 100% virtual tactile sensation, it's like a real world, incredibly fun!
Lastly, I want to curse the developers' entire family!
I had clearly evolved to the peak, ready to emerge and conquer the world, when suddenly a once-in-a-millennium tsunami came and wiped out my entire race. It's just too despicable!"
Proofreader & Editor: Peter Pan