Chapter 122 - 107: Mid-Autumn Event Part 2

Not only that.

The Divine Grace Continent also introduced a magical Moon Rabbit NPC from the "Unknown Otherworld."

Players can submit the ingredients needed to make mooncakes, and then obtain the magical item "mooncake" from the Moon Rabbit.

After eating the mooncake, the five-dimensional attributes are increased by 10% for 30 minutes.

"Ha, what’s the use of this?"

"Does Ba really think we need this minor attribute boost to beat the Demon King?"

"Can you攻略 the Moon Rabbit?"

Players of the Divine Grace Continent laughed their teeth out after seeing the Mid-Autumn update announcement.

An item that boosts five-dimensional attributes by 10% would probably drive players crazy in other games, eager to get a bunch of them for amazing effects in boss fights and monster battles.

But in the game Divine Grace Continent, the Heroes have long since laid back.

Demon King? Monsters?

You need monster materials, but what does that have to do with me, a Hero? Aren’t these NPCs doing just fine? If you have problems, ask the NPCs for help, what’s the point of asking me, a Hero?

This Hero just wants to watch some animation!

What serious Hero goes monster hunting, goes through the storyline to push bosses? Isn’t everyone treating the Divine Grace Continent as a video website, coming online to follow series and watch shows?

Am I short of those few mooncakes?

For players who are serious about leveling up and defeating the Demon King, the mooncake with all attributes +10% is quite appealing.

But for the majority, who treat the Divine Grace Continent as a video player and animation software, this Mid-Autumn event’s mooncakes don’t matter whether they claim them or not.

Instead of running tasks, it’s better to cook a bowl of instant noodles and watch another episode of Jen’s Adventure!

"It’s hopeless."

Chen Ba also felt helpless, as he wanted to use this event to awaken more Heroes addicted to following series.

Besides being an excellent animation player and animation software, the Divine Grace Continent is also an excellent RPG adventure game...

But clearly!

The vast majority of players didn’t take the update announcement seriously, thinking the mooncake event task was optional.

In contrast, the players of Star Emperor seemed more normal.

The newly launched "Mooncake Battle" event had an exclusive event point leaderboard. During the event, players could earn points, and the top ten players in the final ranking would receive special rewards sponsored by a graphics card company.

And... a real mooncake gift box handmade by Ba himself!

Whether the mooncakes are handmade by Ba or bought from a supermarket isn’t important. What matters is the first-place reward for this event is a limited edition 4090!

The value of a 4090 isn’t low.

Especially for the players of Star Emperor, wanting to achieve immortality requires a good graphics card, with 24G of video memory as the Immortal Emperor’s standard.

So this event reward could also be seen as a "Heavenly Flower," whether it’s the Great Emperor Venerable or the Immortal King True Immortal, taking it allows immediate breakthrough to the Immortal Emperor realm.

What’s an Immortal Elixir?

In the face of such a direct path to become an Immortal Emperor, any Immortal Elixir or Soldier is trivial. After all, in the Cultivation Realm, strength and realms are the greatest reliance.

Therefore, to compete for the top spot on the event leaderboard, players spared no effort, coming up with every trick imaginable.

The Mid-Autumn event included the Path to Immortality, ranked mode, and entertainment mode.

In other words, as long as you play during the event period, no matter which mode, you can earn points.

Among them, ranked activity points are the highest.

Winning a ranked match grants more points than two entertainment mode matches and 1.5 Path to Immortality matches.

Following this logic, playing ranked is clearly the fastest way to earn points, and an effective method for many ordinary players to compete for the top leaderboard spot.

But they overlooked one point...

The Path to Immortality, though earning less points per win than a ranked match, takes less time!

When there’s a disparity in strength, the Path to Immortality generally concludes within ten moves. If the gap is too large, the opponent might disconnect just as Extreme Sublimation is activated.

And for many players at the Immortal King or Quasi-Immortal stage, the 4090 graphics card is very tempting since their current cards aren’t as good.

Thus, after the event started, a large number of Immortal Kings and Quasi-Immortals chose the "Reincarnation Cultivation" strategy.

What’s Reincarnation Cultivation?

Commonly known as smurfing!

Big accounts playing the Path to Immortality have their win rates and matches visible, so matched opponents are of the same level, making quick wins unlikely, let alone quickly earning massive event points.

Smurfing is different!

The Quasi-Immortal rerolls, crushing all the Great Emperor Venerables who have no hope of reaching immortality, isn’t it effortless?

"This is too much!"

Lu couldn’t stand it anymore, as he was one of those smurfed fish, expressing his anger, "How can they deliberately smurf to crush others? Doesn’t this ruin the game environment?"

"Indeed!"

Chen Ba nodded.

No matter the game, if it involves smurfing to crush others, it’s right to criticize, without a doubt.

Moreover, these Immortal Kings and Quasi-Immortals smurf to crush others for the "Mid-Autumn event" rewards, which is clearly malicious intent.

If rewards are given to them, wouldn’t it mean the official is encouraging smurfing?

"Ban the accounts!"

With a wave of his hand, Chen Ba decided, "If it’s verified that such behavior exists, all related accounts will be banned for 10 years."

Permanently banning isn’t necessary.

But a few days or months as a penalty would be too light, offering no deterrent effect.

Ten years makes a difference.

It’s hard to say if Star Emperor will even run for ten years, so while it’s not a permanent ban, it might as well be.

Why such a harsh punishment?

Apart from the malicious nature of smurfing, it’s also because they’re smurfing in the Path to Immortality!

The Path to Immortality...

In other modes, smurfing doesn’t lead to such severe consequences. But in the Path to Immortality, it’s truly excessive, as it threatens players’ assets, leading to utter dismay.

If Tianba Studio doesn’t act, even if players have signed a waiver agreement before entering the Path to Immortality, they might still claim compensation from Tianba Studio.

Whether for the game’s environment or to protect weaker players, smurfing really needs to be punished.

Of course!

It should be differentiated.

Aside from those deliberately smurfing, there are indeed first-time players who "unknowingly smurfed."

For such cases, Chen Ba can only judge based on backend IP and login records whether it’s deliberate smurfing or just a naive newbie unaware of the effects of their actions.

This is easy to distinguish.

If there’s a login record for another account on the same IP, it’s clearly malicious smurfing, undeniable.

If this IP has never logged into Star Emperor before, it’s deemed a totally harmless newbie.

Though this newbie might have done what others can only achieve by smurfing, it genuinely wasn’t intentional; they’re just starting...

Can you blame them?

Surely, you can’t ban them as soon as they join because of their good graphics card, right? They need to advance step by step.

As for ordinary players accidentally crushed in the process, Tianba Studio can only show evidence and offer sympathy and condolences.

Meeting a newbie starting with a 4090, what can you do?

You just have to accept the misfortune!

Certainly, Ba can’t be held accountable for this or compensate for the corresponding losses. You signed the Path to Immortality disclaimer yourself, no one forced you.

Walking the night road often, you’re bound to encounter a ghost eventually!

If you’ve decided to venture on the Path to Immortality, then be mentally prepared, not only to deal with competitors of the same level but also the possibility of encountering those terrifying newbie wolves in sheep’s clothing.

Yes, terrifying newbies!

Whatever the case in other games, in Star Emperor, newbies are the most terrifying beings.

Players with the Immortal King or Immortal Emperor title, you can tell they’re strong at a glance and avoid provoking them.

But newbies?

Who knows their background and origin? What if you can’t defeat a newbie and get beaten instead...

Wouldn’t that be very embarrassing!