"Handling too many messy types is too troublesome."
Luo Yan thought briefly and spoke.
"My territory is called the Great Graveyard... let's call it Joss Paper."
"..."
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing..." Youyou smiled reluctantly, praising falsely, "As expected of Lord Demon King, very much in your style."
Luo Yan glanced at the person in the mirror.
You've known me just a few days and you think you understand my style?
While the two were discussing the details about Joss Paper, the idle chat on the forum also continued and quickly shifted from complaints about the game mechanics to discussions about the game content.
This part was what Luo Yan was most concerned about.
Although Youyou could be used as a camera, the area currently covered by the Demon King Territory was very small, only around the statues, and the mines a bit further were not visible.
Not to mention the labyrinth ruins left by the old Demon King, where it was even darker, and he could only barely see near the entrance.
For those areas shrouded in "War Fog," Luo Yan could only understand the specific situations through discussions among the players.
Yiye Zhiqu: "...I previously received a quest from the Demon King to explore the labyrinth, so I went down to have a look, and I found the conditions there quite astonishing! Unlike the narrow mines, it's a huge underground space with sturdy pillars for support, incredibly spacious! The only downside is, there's a group of spiders about half a person tall roaming there, along with many spider eggs!"
Yiye Zhiqu: "Although it seems they have no interest in me as I'm just a skeleton, I could feel their gaze warning me... they would attack if I continued to approach."
Lil' Eve Hungry: "Why is it always rats or spiders, ugh. T.T"
Pighead Knight: "Wait till they supersize cockroaches. (smirk)"
Village Chief: "Did you attack them?"
Yiye Zhiqu: "Are you crazy, or am I crazy? Those creatures clearly aren't something a level zero player can handle, they felt like they were at least level 10 or even 20!"
Knowledge Burst: "A wide space, huh... seems more suitable for a newbie village than the mines."
Yiye Zhiqu: "Indeed, I had the same thought initially, the development team could actually move the newbie village downward, that labyrinth is much more stylish than the mines. But then I thought again, this might also be part of the gaming experience."
Village Chief: "What do you mean? (confused)"
Yiye Zhiqu: "The high freedom equal to no newbie guidance, and an ecosystem so realistic it blurs the line between reality and gaming... all clues indicate that the game's development team wants us to create our own gaming experience, to build a Demon King Territory of our own!"
Minotaur Warrior: "WTF? Paid testers?!"
Yiye Zhiqu: "You didn't pay either. (sideways glance)"
Minotaur Warrior: "But I came for the Enchanting Demons! T.T"
Gou Shi: "Think about it from another angle, there are already level 10 and 20 giant spiders on just the first floor, maybe the Enchanting Demons are in the labyrinth? (sideways smirk)"
Minotaur Warrior: "Brothers! Log in!!!"
Pighead Knight: "Awooo!!!"
Luo Yan looked through the mirror in surprise.
Good grief.
The leeks are moving by themselves?
...
The next day.
Luo Yan, unable to resist staying up late, slept till noon the following day.
Having never been so lax before, he quickly sat up from the bed and pondered intensely.
After spending last night, his Calamity System seemed to have fully integrated the Demon King Territory, consolidating features that originally required complicated rituals into the Calamity System with the click of a button.
It seems the Mechanical God, although not great in fighting, definitely had some technical skills.
A virus from a thousand years ago had successfully invaded an operating system a thousand years later.
At that moment, Luo Yan suddenly had a thought.
Could it be possible... the core of the Demon King Territory is also some sort of divinity?
It is said that Bayele, one of the Third Generation Demon Gods, was once a Demon King...
Could it be that Hell has found a way to mass-produce gods?!
And coincidentally, the Calamity System left by the Mechanical God was also divine, hence the fusion occurred...
The more Luo Yan thought about it, the more terrified he became, feeling that he had accidentally discovered something tremendous.
Of course, this was all his speculation.
He had too little information...
Sinking his consciousness into the Sea of Consciousness, Luo Yan carefully checked the changes in the Calamity System, and found the biggest change was in the section for faith points.
In his memory, there had only been a simple counter there before, but now there were two additional account items.
[
Faith Value: 277
Daily Increase: 101~120
Daily Consumption: 100
]
"The faith value has changed from 377 to 277... does that mean summoning a skeleton soldier costs one point of faith?"
At the same time, the skeleton soldiers summoned through the Demon King Territory also have a maintenance cost.
Although this maintenance cost isn't high, it still adds up to a significant amount.
Previously, the faith value balance of the Demon King Territory core wasn't quantified, and the Demon King could only estimate how much faith value was left based on the brightness of the crystal and his own experience. However, after the Catastrophe System devoured some of the former functions, it quantified this number directly.
"This is indeed a convenient feature... but isn't this daily increase in faith value too low?"
Leiming City is a large city with a population of a million; are its citizens so loyal all the time?
These 100+ points of income are probably mostly provided by his players.
Luo Yan didn't believe there wasn't a single person who would 'eat from the bowl and curse from the pot', especially since he had overheard countless people quietly cursing the family of Saint Sis yesterday in the tavern.
Logically, all those actions should be considered selling their souls to the Demon God...
"That's strange."
Just as Luo Yan was puzzled, a line of dark green pop-up appeared in front of him.
[Task: Ensure the current online players have an average daily online duration of more than 5 hours for three consecutive days. (Current average daily online duration: 2 hours 33 minutes)]
[Reward: 400 beta test qualifications.]
"Youyou."
"What's up?"
"Don't assign tasks to your Lord Demon King."
Seemingly predicting that Luo Yan would misunderstand, Youyou hurriedly explained.
"No no no, Lord Demon King, I didn't issue that task."
Luo Yan slightly furrowed his eyebrows.
"What do you mean, do I have another divine figure in my head?!"
"No, that's programmed into my base code, you can think of it as... something that comes with the Catastrophe System."
Youyou explained with a wry smile, but Luo Yan felt like the kid was making it up as they went along.
He sighed and continued.
"Alright, I'll take it as that... So, what exactly triggers these tasks?"
"I'm not sure..." Youyou said quietly, "but I feel... perhaps it pops up to give you a push forward when your progress is slow."
Luo Yan: "..."
And this counts as slow?!
Just 24 hours ago, he was sitting in the cafeteria of the western tower area of the Demon King Academy.
"Increase the players' online duration... basically, just keep them busy, right?"
Though he could cheat using the "idle to earn Joss Paper" method, considering long-term development, he couldn't be so reckless.
"That's true... Youyou feels that everyone actually likes you quite a bit, maybe you could try meeting their expectations? Give them something to do?"
"Got it."
Want to work?
That's easy.
If there's nothing to do, go mine coal; at least pump up the daily active users for now.
Luo Yan got out of bed, tidied up his appearance in the mirror, then headed to the mine.
The entire mine was permeated with a thick smell of blood, probably from ratmen...
He walked all the way to the deepest part of the mine, near the place where he placed the core of the Demon King Territory yesterday—the place where he imprisoned captives and where players were born.
However, as he walked into the sinister, pitch-black mine shaft, the sight that met his eyes made him freeze in his tracks.
The statue housing the core of the Demon King Territory, which for some reason hadn't taken the form of the Demon God Bayele, was replaced by a regal-looking human standing there instead.
Luo Yan couldn't believe his eyes and hurried toward the statue, only to shockingly find his own face on it.
Oh no—
Why is my face up there?!
-
(Requesting monthly tickets~~~)