Chapter 77: Do you understand what accelerated mining is?

“The match has begun!”

“The final map is 【Immortal and Demonic Hills】, a classic 8-player battle map!”

“Lu Ze spawned in the camp in the true north, right in the middle. This position... is surrounded by two Sects!”

“To the left is Qingshan Sect, and to the right is Limitless Sword Sect.”

“Junior Brother Lu is under a lot of pressure!”

...

Zhong Yi’s commentary was impassioned.

However, Lu Ze and the others in the Illusion Realm could not hear him.

Zhong Yi's commentary was real-time information. On the first day of commentary, Tianxuan Sect and Limitless Sword Sect had a dispute because of it.

Tianxuan Sect believed that Limitless Sword Sect heard the commentary and prepared for their surprise attack in advance, which was why they failed.

From then on, when commenting, a sound barrier would be set up in the players' competition area.

“The Utility Disciples of all six players have started mining! Oh no, Junior Brother Lu’s should be called Slaves!”

Under Zhong Yi’s deliberate control, the screens showing the Sect bases of all six players appeared simultaneously before everyone.

Each player starts with 4 Utility Disciples upon spawning.

The basic production unit for the Demonic Path is called 【Slave】.

The five True Disciples all simultaneously drew a box around their 4 Utility Disciples and sent them towards the Spirit Stone mine next to their Sect.

Only in Lu Ze’s screen did something different happen.

On their way to the Spirit Stone mine, the 4 Slaves orderly separated one by one, scattering into the mine individually.

“Haha, Junior Brother Lu’s Slaves are like they’ve gained sentience, running off on their own!”

Zhong Yi joked, not taking it seriously.

In the early game, everyone's operations were pretty much the same.

Mine, recruit Utility Disciples, then mine again.

However, in just a few breaths, Zhong Yi keenly sensed something was off.

“What’s going on? Lu Ze’s Slaves seem to be mining faster than everyone else?”

Zhong Yi was also a veteran of “Immortal Realm Hegemony.”

Mining is an automatic operation for Utility Disciples, running back and forth between the mining spot and the Sect.

Everyone’s mining actions are almost synchronized.

In contrast, Lu Ze’s.

They were clearly half a beat faster than the others!

Especially at the two furthest Spirit Stone mining spots, the Utility Disciples accelerated the entire time, not even stopping once!

Almost all of the live audience had played “Immortal Realm Hegemony.”

They were greatly puzzled by this situation.

“What’s going on? Why is he faster than everyone else?”

“Utility Disciples slow down when they deliver Spirit Stones, why don’t his slow down!?”

“Is it a Demonic Path special ability?”

“Impossible! I saw the Crazy Enemy, its Slaves are no different from Utility Disciples!”

“Cheating! Cheating!”

“The Illusion Realm creator must have modified the values for himself!!”

“Don’t talk nonsense without evidence, Junior Brother Lu is not that kind of person.”

“Look quickly... Junior Brother ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) Lu’s operation speed is so fast!!”

...

Zhong Yi focused the screen on Lu Ze.

At this moment, not only the game screen but also his image in the command room appeared before everyone.

Lu Ze was using his fingers as a mouse, rapidly operating on the screen.

Various command options from his previous life had become incantations and spells.

What he was displaying was a classic StarCraft operation from his previous life—

“Worker splitting” and “accelerated mining.”

If workers, i.e., Utility Disciples or Slaves, were allowed to automatically collect Spirit Stones.

It would inevitably lead to situations where a collection unit was full and then turned to go to another mining spot.

Lu Ze habitually scattered his Slaves one by one at the start, manually controlling each to a designated mining spot to avoid such situations.

Of course, this was just the most basic splitting.

There were also some details, such as adjusting the angle at which Utility Disciples entered the mine to minimize their round-trip distance, thereby increasing efficiency.

Compared to worker splitting, accelerated mining required much higher operational skill.

Utility Disciples, or rather, all units, have acceleration and deceleration designs.

They are in an accelerated state while moving forward, and in a slow deceleration state when approaching their target.

When Utility Disciples return to the base to submit Spirit Stones, they will have a deceleration and turning action as they approach the base.

However,

This action can be canceled by operating.

The principle is very simple:

When Utility Disciples return to the base, manually control them to move behind the base.

When they reach the base entrance, because there is still some distance to the target point, the Utility Disciples are still in an accelerated state.

At this point, if you re-issue the “submit Spirit Stones” command, the Utility Disciple will stop directly and submit the Spirit Stones.

It sounds simple, but in actual operation, it greatly tests timing.

In addition, one or two operations are ineffective; it requires multi-unit, high-frequency operations to achieve the effect.

So, to perfectly achieve this step is very difficult!

But Lu Ze did it with ease.

“I just received a message from Elder Lin of Tianxuan Sect; he has checked, and there are no signs of tampering inside the Illusion Realm, please rest assured!”

“According to my analysis, Junior Brother Lu has probably adjusted the Slaves’ transport angle, reducing the round-trip distance... Such meticulous thought is indeed precise!”

Facing the doubts from the audience, Zhong Yi quickly defended Lu Ze.

In fact, even if he didn't say anything, the Disciples below the stage had much less doubt.

Just looking at Lu Ze’s rapidly moving fingers, they knew how much operation was involved!

At this moment, in Lu Ze’s Sect, new Slaves began to appear one after another.

“All five Righteous Path players have recruited new Utility Disciples, and Junior Brother Lu is the same... Haha, I thought Junior Brother Lu would come up with some new tricks, what a pity, what a pity!”

Zhong Yi sighed.

Actually, he said this just to liven up the atmosphere.

In the early game, even the most difficult Demonic Path AI had to develop steadily.

Without economy, where would the military power come from?

You can’t fight with Slaves, can you?

“Junior Brother Lu’s Slaves are once again heading to the Spirit... Wait a minute!!”

Zhong Yi was halfway through speaking when his mouth dropped wide open.

“Junior Brother Lu’s Slaves... ran outside!?”

“What does this mean? Is he using them to scout??”

“Wait! That direction is...”

“Qingshan Sect!!”

...

At this moment.

At the stronghold where Qingshan Sect was located.

Xu Huoyao was quietly developing.

After three days of competition, he had taken a lot of flak.

Yang Zhengxin didn't like “Immortal Realm Hegemony,” so they didn't dare to openly battle and train like other Sects.

They could only train secretly.

Their skill level was immediately widened compared to other Sects.

Actually, Xu Huoyao’s own strength was good, but the other Disciples dragged him down.

They only won one match in three days of combat, ranking last in points.

Now that there was no one dragging him down, he was determined to perform well.

Qingshan Sect’s Sect passive was an additional 15% damage to the Demonic Path.

This passive was useless in Sect battles, but in the finals, it was a divine skill.

“As long as I kill that kid, my points will definitely surpass his... Just you wait!”

Xu Huoyao muttered to himself while recruiting Utility Disciples and desperately mining.

He was determined to completely eliminate Lu Ze.

To wipe away his previous shame!

Just then.

He suddenly noticed,

Three Slaves wearing Demonic Path clothes suddenly appeared at his doorstep.

“What’s going on?”

Xu Huoyao was momentarily stunned.

When fighting against the AI, high-difficulty Demonic Path would frequently launch quick attacks.

But that was after the economy had stabilized a bit.

How could they come over right at the start like this?

Where did Lu Ze get the economy to build units?

Xu Huoyao was panicking.

But after seeing that Lu Ze only brought 3 Slaves, he relaxed.

What could 3 Slaves do?

Fight?

That little attack power wasn't even enough to tickle.

Xu Huoyao immediately realized—

Lu Ze was just here to annoy him!

If he sent Utility Disciples to kill them, their movement speeds were the same, so they couldn't catch them at all.

And it would delay the Utility Disciples’ mining progress.

If he recruited Elementary Sword Cultivators, he could kill them, but building a Martial Arts Hall at this point would be a waste of economy and still delay mining progress.

“I get it! You little brat are deliberately trying to annoy me, to make my Qingshan Sect take fourth place...”

“I’m telling you, I won’t!”

“You have the guts to come? You can’t possibly be here to mine Spirit Stones for me, hahaha...”

Xu Huoyao laughed halfway, then suddenly froze.

He found that Lu Ze’s Slaves had started hitting his buildings at his Sect’s entrance!

“Are you sick or something? Do you have to drag me down with you??”

Xu Huoyao cursed, and quickly started pulling Utility Disciples to build a Martial Arts Hall.

He thought Lu Ze was going to build barracks at his doorstep, dragging him into economic collapse.

But when the building’s foundation appeared, Xu Huoyao was shocked.

“This is...”

“An Arrow Tower!?”