As a technical-minded player, Shen Fei had always hated flashy, pay-to-win buttons in games. Whenever they popped up, he'd quickly close them manually. But right now, all he could think was, "Just keep them coming."
Looking at the various gift packs, he decisively clicked on every single one.
[Congratulations to player Skyrocketing for obtaining First Tier Defense Tower Copy Scroll ×5!]
[Congratulations to player Skyrocketing for obtaining First Tier Defense Tower Enhancement Stone ×20!]
[Congratulations to player Skyrocketing for obtaining Defense Tower Base ×4!]
.
He had named his character "Skyrocketing." As he clicked rapidly, the game's notification sounds were nonstop, and the various items in his inventory stacked up quickly.
A few minutes later, having spent over 10,000 yuan, he had bought every single pop-up gift pack in the game.
WHOOSH.
WHOOSH.
WHOOSH.
Without hesitation, Shen Fei immediately bought all the top-up packs that offered double rewards on the first purchase, clearing out the 68, 128, 328, 648, 6,480, and 64,800 yuan tiers in one go.
[Your VIP level has increased to 5!]
[Your VIP level has increased to 6!]
.
[Your VIP level has increased to 10!]
[Honored VIP Player, you have received VIP level rewards: Fifth Tier Defense Tower Copy Scroll ×40, Fourth Tier Defense Tower Enhancement Stone ×50, Fifth Tier Defense Tower Durability Enhancement Scroll ×20...]
After spending another hundred thousand-plus yuan in one go, Shen Fei's game inventory was instantly stuffed full.
"Synthesize!"
Without a second thought, Shen Fei began combining his items. This game was all about Defense Towers. When his inventory space ran out, he simply consumed the scrolls and items needed to synthesize more towers. Two First Tier Defense Towers could be synthesized into one Second Tier.
WHOOSH.
WHOOSH.
WHOOSH.
Soon, he had synthesized the initial First Tier Lightning Ball Towers all the way to the Fourth Tier.
DING!
[To synthesize a Fifth Tier Defense Tower, your Crystal must be upgraded to the Fourth Tier!]
Shen Fei had been planning to synthesize a max-level Defense Tower in one go to check out its Attributes and appearance. He hadn't expected that he'd need to upgrade his Crystal before he could continue.
.
[Lightning Ball Tower
Tier: Fourth Tier
Range: 300m
Attack Speed: 0.8s
Attack Power: 60-120 (Single Target)
Rapid Fire: Doubles Attack Speed for 20 seconds. Cooldown: 3 minutes.
]
.
"Bring it on!"
After glancing at the Attributes of the synthesized Lightning Ball Tower, Shen Fei immediately started the monster wave. The only way to raise his Crystal's level was to kill monsters, as the experience they dropped was used for Crystal upgrades.
"Use double XP!"
As he started the wave, Shen Fei used the double XP potion he had just received as a VIP level-up reward.
[Monster Wave Countdown!]
5
4
3
2
1
.
As the countdown finished, a wormhole swiftly opened at the bottom of the slope of the sand-colored, square platform. The first wave of monsters—20 fuzzy little chicks—charged out of the wormhole.
POP!
The charging little chicks had only 1 HP and moved incredibly slowly. The Defense Tower instantly killed them. The first wave of monsters was pathetically weak.
"Too slow! Use a Monster Acceleration Scroll!"
Feeling that the first wave was dying too slowly, Shen Fei immediately used a Monster Acceleration Scroll.
WHOOSH.
Ten seconds later, all the monsters from the first wave were eliminated. He reaped a wave of rewards and experience. His Crystal flashed, leveling up from the First Tier to the Second Tier.
.
[Name: Crystal]
[Tier: Second Tier (20/40)]
.
After glancing at the Crystal's tier, Shen Fei continued starting waves.
Soon, with the help of the double XP potion and the Acceleration Scroll, his Crystal reached the Fourth Tier after a dozen or so waves.
.
[Name: Crystal]
[Tier: Fourth Tier (40/2,000)]
[HP: 40]
[Properties: None]
[Skills: None]
[Placeable Defense Towers: 16]
[Max Defense Tower Tier: Ninth Tier]
[Description: The Crystal is the source of energy for the Defense Towers. If it is destroyed, all Defense Towers will instantly become inactive.]
.
As the Crystal upgraded to the Fourth Tier, a flood of text notifications appeared:
[Auction House Unlocked!]
[Heaven-Reaching Tower Unlocked!]
[Chat Channel Unlocked!]
[Monster Path +1!]
.
Clearly, the newbie phase was over. Shen Fei saw that the "Heaven-Reaching Tower" dungeon for farming materials had appeared. The Auction House, where he could buy items from other players, was also unlocked. Moreover, his "base" had changed. Originally, there was only one monster spawn point at the bottom of a slope. After the Crystal reached the Fourth Tier, the number of wormhole spawn points beneath the square platform increased to two.
More importantly, the 2-in-1 synthesis formula for Defense Towers had become 5-in-1. One Fifth Tier Defense Tower now required five Fourth Tier Defense Towers to synthesize. Furthermore, when synthesizing a Fifth Tier Defense Tower, he could now add certain special materials to give it unique properties.
"I don't care about properties! I'm just going to brute-force it!"
Seeing the new rules after the newbie phase, Shen Fei didn't hesitate and just went all out.
This tower defense game is the foundation of my future. I've never played it before, so what I need to do now is familiarize myself with the entire game. The most important thing is to use the Gold Coins I bought to brute-force my way to a max-level Ninth Tier Defense Tower and unlock all the features. Once I have that baseline secured, I can plan how to improve further. If I mess up, it doesn't matter; I can just delete my character and start over. Time is of the essence!
WHOOSH.
WHOOSH.
WHOOSH.
Without another word, Shen Fei went all out. He used the Gold Coins he'd purchased to directly buy Lightning Ball Tower after Lightning Ball Tower. When the Defense Towers reached the Seventh Tier, the synthesis formula became 9-in-1. But even so, he didn't stop for a second. Spending money was all it took.
While he was synthesizing Defense Towers, the monster waves continued. Under the effect of the Monster Acceleration Scroll, the monsters were killed off rapidly, as if on 32x speed.
Soon, his first Ninth Tier Defense Tower appeared:
[Lightning Ball Tower
Tier: Ninth Tier (Max)
Range: 3,000m
Durability: 5,000/5,000
Attack Speed: 0.3s
Attack Power: 1,000–2,000
Rapid Fire: Triples Attack Speed for 1 minute. Cooldown: 2 minutes.
Lightning Chain: Attacks have a chance to scatter to other enemy units. Max scatter targets: 10. Scattered Attack Power is reduced by 50%.
Summon Lightning: Attacks have a chance to summon lightning, increasing Attack Power by ten times for that hit.
]
.
At the same time, within just one hour, his Crystal had become Sixth Tier:
.
[Name: Crystal]
[Tier: Sixth Tier (435/100,000)]
[HP: 500]
[Properties: Healing (Automatically restores 10 HP per hour)]
[Skills: None]
[Placeable Defense Towers: 64]
[Max Defense Tower Tier: Ninth Tier]
.
"Pay-to-win games are the best! They don't gate you with time or stamina. As long as you have money, they give you what you want, no questions asked!"
The hundred thousand-plus yuan he had just topped up was all spent. Shen Fei's "base" had been upgraded to the Sixth Tier, and he also had his first Ninth Tier Defense Tower.
"Excellent!"
Next, while I upgrade the Crystal, I'll keep buying Defense Tower scrolls and upgrade more towers to the Ninth Tier. This Ninth Tier Lightning Ball Tower is just a bare-bones tower for now. I still need to use items to boost its Attack Power, range, Durability, and so on.
Looking at what he'd gotten after spending over a hundred thousand, Shen Fei nodded rapidly.
Based on the current data, once my Crystal reaches the Ninth Tier, I should be able to build 512 Ninth Tier Defense Towers. Once I've figured out the various support Defense Towers and the right combinations to deal with different enemies, I can just mindlessly whale on it.
DING!
[Your Ninth Tier Lightning Ball Tower can be enhanced with an Enhancement Stone. Enhance?]
A new prompt soon popped up in the game.