The Demon King is Unfathomable

In the dim mining shaft…

Two skeletons armed with pickaxes stood before the drop-dead dashing sculpture, rubbing their lower jaws as they discussed.

“Hasn’t this sculpture changed?”

Orcknight remembered the sculpture looking different when he was playing last night.

Minowarrior shook his head and replied, “I wasn’t paying attention… Does this sculpture serve any purpose?”

“Don’t know and don’t care. It’s hideously ugly. Let’s smash it!”

Orcknight would never admit that he was envious. As he raised his pickaxe to smash the sculpture, a ray of green light suddenly struck his head, blasting his soul out of his skeleton body.

“What the?!” The floating, soul-form Orcknight stared at his collapsed skeleton body in horror. “How did I become a corpse?!”

Autumnleaf, who had just gotten online, walked over to examine Orcknight’s collapsed skeleton body before looking at the sculpture. “You must have touched something forbidden.”

Orcknight was on the verge of tears.

“Shit! They should have put a warning on the sculpture… Hold on, how do I return to my body?!”

“Check your system interface. Are you under any abnormal conditions?” Autumnleaf asked.

All players had a system interface that showed their character stats, present condition, health bar, quest list, and so on.

Orcknight quickly noticed an abnormal condition on his character page. There was a demon icon with a small subtext beneath:

【Demon King’s Retribution: 59 minutes 21 seconds】

“What the hell… My soul will be separated from my body for an hour, and the countdown pauses if I go offline?!”

“It’s a feature. There’s no helping it.” Autumnleaf shook his head before walking away. “We should put a warning sign here… You were unlucky to have stepped on a landmine, so just go into spectator mode for the time being.”

“Shit!”

Player activity was limited to the vicinity of the demon king domain’s core when in soul form.

The other players guffawed upon seeing Orcknight’s pitiful plight, but at the same time, it taught them that the demon king’s sculpture was an untouchable entity.

Watching the players’ interactions, especially the one known as Autumnleaf, Roan suddenly spoke to thin air, “Youyou, is that fellow your side account?”

He recently realized that they could communicate even in the absence of mirrors.

Youyou replied speechlessly, “What are you saying, Demon King? That’s impossible.”

“All right. I just think that he’s too smart… Don’t mind it.”

Offensive actions taken against the demon king domain’s core would result in the player being evicted from their body for an hour. Subsequent attempts would be considered malevolent, and the player would be evicted for at least 24 hours.

Roan had intended to erect a sign warning the players not to attack the revival point, but he didn’t expect someone with itchy hands to make a move so quickly.

‘A warning sign might not be enough. I should quickly conceal this hatred-evoking sculpture.’

This was the heart of human territory, after all. Who knew when adventurers would start appearing here?

Roan stared at his dashing sculpture for a good minute before lamenting, “Youyou… You have put me in a spot.”

Feeling ashamed, Youyou meekly consoled, “It’s fine, Demon King! Your sculpture looks great!”

“It’s not about how the sculpture looks… I am in huge trouble now.”

Roan shook his head before looking up at the ceiling, not wanting to say anymore.

First and foremost, he couldn’t exploit Demon God Bayeris’ reputation anymore.

All humans knew Bayeris and what He looked like. As for Roan… what the hell was he?

Other than that, he was also worried about how the netherworld would interpret this.

Youyou could be right—the Demon God might be unable to sense the anomaly in this distant domain—but the netherworld would still eventually personnel over to check on the situation after things had settled down.

If they found that he had changed the Demon God’s sculpture into his own…

He dared not even imagine the consequences.

“We need to hire a sculptor from Thunderbuzz City.”

‘Hmm. Will any craftsman in an autonomous city worshiping Saint Sisto be willing to create a sculpture of the Demon God? Should I just kidnap one…’

“Demon King, you can put this matter aside for the time being. It will take some time for the netherworld to dispatch someone over,” Youyou said. “We should focus on the more important matters at hand.”

“All right.”

Roan first surveyed the mining shaft.

Quite a few skeleton soldiers stood foolishly against the walls, a sign that they were offline. He couldn’t believe how lazy they were despite being one of the rare chosen ones.

‘This won’t do!’

“Youyou, announce an update on the official site… Inform the players about the hell coins,” Roan said. “On top of that, we should have another currency known as contribution points… Players can earn contribution points by completing quests, and contribution points can be used to purchase ‘soul upgrades’ and ‘job change’.”

Faith could be used to upgrade players too.

The players’ souls were currently at Ordinary-tier, with a level cap of 3. That was equivalent to mortals without transcendent powers. Only when their souls were upgraded to Iron-tier would their level cap be increased to 10.

Ordinary-tier souls only needed 100 faith to be upgraded to Iron-tier. It was a small expenditure compared to an upgrade from Copper-tier to Steel-tier.

If these players proved their worth, Roan didn’t mind elevating their gaming experience, like granting them the experience of being a high demon.

That being said, he also needed faith for his upgrades.

Thus, he decided to set the ratio of contribution points to faith to 10:1. Whoever gathered 1000 contribution points first would be granted the honor of being the first player to overcome the LV 3 bottleneck.

‘Try your best!’

Roan smirked in glee, knowing he wasn’t disadvantaged in this trade. He thought he was becoming more and more like a demon king.

“Got it!”

Youyou was also revved up after seeing her esteemed demon king doing work.

Soon, a new post was published on 《Calamity Online》’s official site.

【a.0.1 Update Notice: New Currency System!

Dear players,

To enhance your gaming experience, we will be pushing out a ‘Hell Coin’ and ‘Contribution’ system!

Hell coin, as the only legal tender in Necropolis, can be used to purchase equipment or tools from NPC shops and the Merchant Store. However, we ask for your patience as the Merchant Store is still in development and will only come online a while later.

Next up is our vital ‘Contribution’ system. Players can earn contribution points by completing the Demon King’s quests, and accumulated contribution points can be used to upgrade soul tier and unlock the level cap. It can also be used for racial changes in the future.

It will take a powerful soul to control a high demon’s body.

PS: It includes the succubuses that you have been looking forward to~】

Roan eyed the forum.

He was worried that Youyou wouldn’t get what he was getting at, but the latter was unexpectedly competent. It even made sure to dangle bait before the players to motivate them.

Unsurprisingly, the lazy bums constantly eyeing the forum immediately jumped to life.

“Holy shit!”

“Do the developers not sleep?!”

“It only took them a day to patch in yesterday’s suggestions!”

“Got it! In gist, we can shake free of our skeleton bodies as long as we gather enough contribution points, right?”

“See yall, bros! Big bro will be charging ahead!”

“Bro, lend me your account once you become a succubus…”

“Scram!”

“Damn it! Dogshit developers, why don’t you open more closed beta slots if you have the time to do updates!!! (Frenzied)”

“Screw it! I ain’t going to work! I’ll be taking a leave from my boss today!”

“…”

‘My poor little pawns. They’re completely hooked.’

All hundred skeleton soldiers came online within a minute and excitedly surrounded Roan.

“Great Demon King, who are we chopping up today?”

“Let’s invade the surface!”

“I’m overflowing with power now! I bet I can 1v10 god elects!”

“…”

Faced with this ruckus, Roan cleared his throat and commanded, “Silence! Listen to me!”

Excited players were hardly known to be the most obedient bunch in the world, though it was not as if Roan was ever banking on that.

He sealed their movements with his authority before calmly continuing, “The demon king domain needs to be further developed first. Use whatever means necessary to contribute to Necropolis’ growth. I have refreshed your quest list. You may check it on your interface…”

After finishing his piece, Roan released the players and placed his hands behind his back, indicating the conclusion of the cutscene.

A commotion broke out in the mining shaft, but it was not as chaotic as before.

Autumnleaf hurriedly accessed the quest list.

【Daily Mission 1: Clearing the Spider Den!

Description: Reclaiming the lost labyrinth is urgent business!

Reward: 1000 hell coins and 10 contribution points for each crypt spider killed with its corpse brought back as proof】

【Daily Mission 2: Eliminating the Traitorous Ratmen!

Description: The ratmen have betrayed the netherworld and are hiding in the shadows of the Northpeak Shaft. These cowardly things aren’t worthy of existing on the face of the world!

Reward: 100 hell coins for each ratman tail (You may receive 50 contribution points by submitting 20 ratman tails in a day)】

【Daily Mission 3: Mine Digging!

Description: The Northpeak Shaft’s metal and coal mines are the cruxes to rebuilding the demon king army.

Reward: 1 hell coin for every every gram of coal or metal (You may receive 50 contribution points by submitting 1 kilogram of coal or metal in a day)】

【Mission 4: Capturing Adventurers…】

【Mission 5: Exploring Uncharted Territories…】

【Mission 6: Crafting Equipment…】

【Mission 7: Harvesting Crypt Spider Eggs…】

There were many quests, and they could be broadly categorized into combat and lifestyle.

Unlike yesterday, the quest requirements had more thorough details with their corresponding rewards clearly stated.

Autumnleaf eyed the other players. To his surprise, the others were much more motivated after this ‘major patch’.

‘Looks like it is important to provide gamers with some directions even in a sandbox game.’

“I see… Soul tier determines one’s level cap. I was still wondering what it is for,” Peerlessbear mumbled as he stroked his lower jaws while studying his character page.

Not far away, Hungryhungry sighed in vexation, “I… I’ll just dig some coal. Rats and spiders are too much for me. Call me when there are normal mobs.”

Explodingknowledge teased with a grin, “Digging coal is great! A gram of coal for a hell coin? You can be hella sure I’ll dig out this entire mine!”

Villagegramps rolled his eyes. “Brag. Continue bragging… That pickaxe of yours can only dig up at most 3000 grams a day.”

“No no, fatigue doesn’t apply in games. If I can mine 3000 grams in 8 hours, that would be 9000 grams in 24 hours!” Explodingknowledge exclaimed.

“Huh? You not going to rest?” Soreloser asked.

“…”

Roan was taken aback as he eavesdropped on their conversation.

‘What? Can they dig up that much in a day? Did I set the mining rewards too high?’

Unlike the chatting players, Autumnleaf quietly studied the quest list. His calm contemplativeness made him stand out among the skeleton soldiers.

A skeleton soldier equipped with a spear and a shield walked up to Autumnleaf and asked, “Wanna party?”

Autumnleaf turned to the skeleton soldier—it was an unfamiliar ID. He had no recollections of seeing it on the forum either, so he asked out of curiosity, “Sure, but why me?”

“You look the most reliable out of the bunch,” the skeleton soldier replied with a sigh. He extended his hand and introduced himself, “Nightfall.”

Players could see each other’s ID, but out of politeness, Autumnleaf also did the same self-introduction as he shook the other party’s hand, “Autumnleaf.”

Nightfall chuckled.

“Pleased to work with you.”

…

The players slowly left the ‘city square’, leaving behind Orcwarrior’s soul to howl pitifully before the demon king’s sculpture.

“Noooo, wait for me! I want to mine too! I only have 40 minutes more before I’m released!”

Looking at the players’ departing figures, Roan smiled in delight.

‘Good. It saves me a lot of hassle when my players are so motivated. At this rate, I might even be able to take a break in the human world.’

Chris, Amu, Hugo, and the others shuddered in their respective cells. They couldn’t make sense of the situation before them.

Roan noticed his prisoners had woken up so he opened up his suitcase and tossed them some rations. He waited for them to be done eating before raising his ring-wearing finger.

The frightened adventurers begged for mercy, but he still siphoned away a good of their vitality.

【Faith +13】

‘Tsk, that’s too little!’

Seeing how terrified the adventurers were, Roan wondered if he was becoming less humane.

“Youyou, let’s implement a ‘Party’ function too.”

“Sure thing, master! Shall I do it now?”

“No rush,” Roan calmly reasoned. “Players will take us for granted if we roll things out too quickly. We shouldn’t indulge them too much. Let’s wait for them to raise the matters before resolving them one by one…”

Youyou nodded in awe, saying, “As expected of the Demon King. Y-you are truly unfathomable!”

Roan accepted Youyou’s heartfelt admiration with a chuckle.

‘It’s a pity that I can’t receive faith from my divine persona.’

“Don’t get overexcited yet. We’re still on the basics.”

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