The Demon King is Unfathomable

The official letter of appointment would be delivered the following day.

After the graduation ceremony, Roan returned to his dormitory room and saw a messenger bat perched on his windowsill, striking the glass with its wing.

He kicked off his shoes and rushed into the room to open the window. He retrieved the copper tube from the bat’s feet and pulled out the letter inside.

It was from Father Jeffrey.

While expressing his care and concern, Jeffrey didn’t neglect to jot down a bank account number and its pin at the bottom of the letter.

【…You are a child with initiative. I trust you have thought through your decision to become a Demon King, and I am proud of your decision. As for your living expenses, your father has left a sum of money for you. Now that you have graduated from the academy, it’s time for me to pass the money on to you. You can use it however you deem fit.

—Father Jeffrey.】

After reading the letter, Roan gratefully accepted the bank account number and its pin. He had no idea how much money was inside, but it should be enough to last him through the month.

He would be able to earn a living from next month onward.

‘Now that I’m thinking about it, will there be any place for me to spend money on in my demon king domain?’

Roan reserved his skepticism about this.

He wrote a reply letter with heartfelt gratitude, slipped it into the copper cylinder, and tied the copper cylinder back to the bat’s leg.

After dealing with that, he finally plopped down on his bed and began examining the ‘Calamity’ system he had received from his senior transmigrator.

【ID: Roan

Race: Human

Soul Tier: Copper (Level Cap: 30)

Level: 30

Experience Points: 300,000/300,000

HP: 800/800

MP: 2600/2600

Constitution: 8

Strength: 8

Agility: 8

Intelligence: 25

Psyche: 26】

【Faith: 133】

First and foremost was his character page.

The system provided no calculations on how the value of each stat was derived, but it did explain the significance of each stat.

Constitution affected life force, recovery, and physical resistance.

Strength affected physical prowess and close-quarter combat damage.

Agility affected speed and dexterity.

Intelligence affected memory, spatial perception, spellcasting efficiency, and spell prowess.

Psyche affected mana capacity.

In Linte Isaac’s era, an average young soldier’s stats were 5/5/5/5/5, but it was unknown whether the standards had changed since.

Experience point was the quantification of one’s growth. Soul tier determined one’s level cap.

Most people wouldn’t be able to perceive soul tier; that information was exclusive to gods. However, the Calamity system indicated that and even used the concept of level to quantify one’s capabilities. ꞦÁℕОʙЕS̩

An Iron-tier’s level cap was 10. A Copper-tier’s level cap was 30. A Steel-tier’s level cap was 50. A Silver-tier’s level cap was 70… so on and so forth.

The higher one’s level, the greater the difficulty of leveling up, but the stat points obtained would increase correspondingly too.

Race determined one’s initial stats and talent.

Humans had a base stat of 3~5. Their talent was the most useless ‘Balanced Growth’, which raised the growth rate of the lowest stat by 50%.

For instance, Roan’s lowest stat was constitution and strength, so he received additional experience when training those two.

It was also worth noting that stat growth happened simultaneously when leveling up.

If Roan had focused mainly on tempering his willpower by resisting a succubus’ seduction when he was at level 19, when he finally accrued enough experience points to make a breakthrough, the chances were that his psyche would grow when he finally leveled up to 20.

His strength and constitution wouldn’t be randomly boosted as a result of his level-up.

It was a surprisingly realistic system, but that only made the ‘Balanced Growth’ talent even more useless.

Mages like him didn’t need strength and constitution as much, and the level cap meant that there was a limit to the stats one could earn. It would be a waste for his precious stats to go to strength and constitution, thus making the 50% bonus growth rate useless for him.

“…Based on the Machine God’s theory, it would be detrimental for mages to train their bodies?” Roan murmured while examining his stats.

He had stats allocated to strength and constitution despite not having made special effort to train his body. It could have been the natural result of him spending eighteen years in the harsh environment of hell.

Looking at his full experience bar, he also finally understood why he had been stuck at Copper-tier all this while.

Unfortunately, his soul was only at Copper-tier, and he had already reached his bottleneck. Unless he found a way to raise his soul tier and thus level cap, he would be stuck at his current level till death.

‘Linte Isaac must have faced the same problem.’

‘Faith’ would be the key for him to raise his soul tier without incurring side effects.

His faith had been at 0 this morning, but it had grown to 113 since. Just these numbers weren’t enough for him to figure the pattern behind his increasing faith. It could have been from another world’s players or his fans in the academy.

He needed more information to have a reliable deduction.

He would have to accumulate 10,000 faith to raise his soul-tier to Steel.

After studying his stats, Roan turned his attention to the mission page.

So far, he had only unlocked one mission.

“Film a game promotional video and upload it… I have filmed the video, but where do I upload it? It’s not as if the Machine God has put together a computer in this world.”

Roan took out the recording crystal he had used to film the game promotional video and held it in his hand for some time, but no option to upload the video popped up.

Just then, his eyes fell on the remains on the magic formation that he had yet to cleanly wipe off, and a thought popped into his head.

“Could this be it?”

A recording crystal cost 2000 kyrats, equivalent to a month of his living expenses. He had bought it to record his lectures.

The realization that the magic formation might consume his recording crystal pained him.

But knowing this might be crucial for his long-term development, he still took out a mana chalk, redrew the formation, and place the recording crystal at the formation center.

He tried infusing mana into the magic formation, and the formation emanated a dark green light that enveloped the transparent recording crystal..

This time, Roan didn’t faint from depleting his mana. He remained conscious to the end.

On top of that, the recording crystal at the magic formation’s center remained intact, and it gleamed brightly as if it was brand new!

“The magic formation didn’t consume the recording crystal?” Roan was overjoyed.

‘Great! I saved 2000 kyrats!’

Just then, he heard a monotonous voice in his ears, “‘Filming a Game Promotional Video’ mission has been completed. A voting thread has been posted. Please patiently await the evaluation result…”

‘A voting thread?’

A thought flashed across Roan’s mind, and he quickly sat down and immersed his consciousness into the depth of his mind to access 《Calamity Online》’s official site.

He accessed the forum and immediately spotted the game promotional video he had just uploaded via the magic formation.

The 360-degree video was stretched into a super long 2D screen, showcasing underworld’s majesty and the ancient castle’s loftiness.

Little winged demons flew past his head. Demons and undead of all shapes and sizes could be spotted in the video, be they furiataurs or ifrits.

‘I-is this where I usually study?!’

Roan was dumbstruck. He was shocked to realize that he could hardly recognize the place he had studied for the last three years.

‘…The filter is incredible.’

Meanwhile, the comments were blowing up.

Starlight: “Holy shit!”

Footontwocars: “Is that a live demo?”

Orcknight: “Must be a fake. A game promotional video wouldn’t use the game content. I bet the developers hired a couple of animators!”

Peerlessbear: “It’s still a high-quality work.”

Minowarrior: “SUCCUBUS! I WANNA BE SUCCUBUS!!! GAHHHHH!!!”

Bingtanghulu: “Don’t you think the mage holding the crystal is dashing?”

Lambskewer: “+10086”

Hungryhungry: “Maybe because he’s the only human there?”

Excitednetizen: “Is that the developer’s test account? Or a NPC?”

Dramamama: “Requesting the developers to release the demo!”

Cabbiecab: “Requesting the developers to release the demo!”

Villagegramps: “Damn, can we take those succubus as pets? (Shocked)”

“…”

There were new comments popping up every second.

Roan was flabbergasted. He wanted to say something too, but he didn’t have the access right.

The vote was held right beneath the video, and users could pick a score from 0 to 10.

More than five hundred users had already participated in the vote, and the average score had stabilized at 9.8.

‘This is insane!’

Roan’s heart beat fast. He hadn’t expected the video he had casually filmed and uploaded to be so well-received.

The netizens on the thread were focused on something completely different. Over half of the comments were about succubuses. He could understand those wanting to take succubuses as pets, but what was with those who wanted to be succubuses themselves?

The number of votes soon exceeded a thousand, locking the average score at 9.9.

【Mission completed!】

【Evaluation: S】

【Reward: 100 closed beta slots】

Three notification windows popped up before Roan.

At the same time, a new post was posted to the forum and pinned to the top.

【《Calamity Online》 Open Invitations!】

【To thank gamers for their overwhelming support, 《Calamity Online》’s development team has decided to open 100 closed beta accounts. Once you bind your account to any VR device, you can request for a closed beta account and download the demo!】

【Note: This game only allows one account per user. Closed beta accounts will be randomly distributed. You can delete the account, but you cannot transfer it to another user. Users who violate in-game rules or are inactive will have their closed beta accounts revoked. You will be accepting the terms and conditions if you choose to subscribe.】

This post had popped out at the right time.

While the forum was busy discussing the incredible promotional video, the development team suddenly announced the game’s closed beta launch.

Seeing the number of subscribers surge up, Roan felt excited yet nervous. He was unsure how this closed beta launch would affect him.

‘What if these players cause trouble in the Demon Capital and it ends up implicating me? Those people can dust their asses and leave, but I am bound to this world.’

Linte Isaac hadn’t mentioned anything about transmigrating back to earth.

But Roan quickly calmed down when he remembered that he would soon be assigned to a demon king domain. His demon king domain was far from the Demon Capital—it was a two-month journey without using warp gates.

‘And there are only 100 closed beta accounts. I should be able to contain the risk they pose.”

The closed beta accounts were soon allocated.

Those who didn’t get an account complained that the draw was rigged, whereas those who got an account bragged about it.

There were even conspiracy theorists who claimed that the so-called closed beta was a scam, and that those who had been chosen were all bots. However, these people numbered in the minority.

Most people still harbored great expectations for 《Calamity Online》’s demo after watching its promotional video.

There was a lack of conscientious developers who would let players try a snippet of the game for free before the official game launch. Most would rather have a paid trial.

‘It’s worth a try. This closed beta doesn’t cost money anyway.”

If not for VR goggles being a rare commodity, there would have been far more than a thousand subscribers for the closed beta.

Roan browsed through the forums, curious to know what the closed beta players faced after assessing the game. To his astonishment, he saw the number of online users suddenly jumping from 0 to 99.

‘Hold on… all of them have already accessed the game?!’

While Roan was figuring out the situation, some people began complaining on the forum post.

Hungryhungry: “Huh? What’s going on?”

Peerlessbear: “Why is there no character creation page?”

OrcKnight: “What the hell! I can’t move!”

Minowarrior: “Is it a bug?”

Villagegramps: “Everyone, calm down! I just came offline. It may look like it’s impossible to change the perspective, but there’s a secret to it!”

Lambskewers: “???”

Bingtanghulu: “%￥#@！Stop keeping us in suspense and let it out!”

Autumnleaf: “Tsk! What secret is there? Isn’t it obvious that demo players are looking at the world from the perspective of that mage’s crystal?”

Villagegramps: “Fuck! I was typing that out!”

‘What? These people migrated into my crystal ball?!’

Roan was shocked.

The thread continued.

Autumnleaf: “Who’s to be blamed for your slow typing? But that’s not the main point. I’m more astounded by how the game is presented. Has any of you noticed that the game is not shown through the VR goggles’ screen?”

Lambskewer “Eh… Now that you mention it, that does seem to be the case!”

Bingtanghulu: “+1! I was shocked when I turned my neck 360 degrees. I thought that I was hallucinating for a moment there.”

Calloustime: “The image is ridiculously high-definition. It’s not just 4K or 8K anymore. It feels almost… real? I don’t think my 800 RMB Taobao VR goggles can pull off such high-definition display. (Bitter smile)”

Villagegramps: “What’s going on? My back feels weirdly cold after listening to your words. (Nervous)”

Autumnleaf: “Could this game be using some kind of experimental technology, like long-ranged hypnosis?”

Hungryhungry: “Hypnosis???”

Autumnnleaf: “Yeah. You think that you’re seeing the game interface with your eyes, but in truth, you have already fallen asleep, and everything you see and hear is generated in real-time by your brain’s ‘GPU’. It’s the same as lucid dreaming.”

Autumnleaf: “I just checked the web. There’s no such technology out in the market, which means that we know nothing about the technology and its safety. Given how suspicious the website is, I suspect we have become some enigmatic organization’s guinea pigs. I don’t recommend people with health issues to continue playing this game.”

Peerlessdragonemperor: “Bullshit. How can there be such technology?”

Unyieldinglife: “That’s right! I’ll only believe you if you give me a pair of goggles too!”

Autumnnleaf: “Will it kill you to get a secondhand one? (Rolls eyes)”

“…”

Autumnleaf’s theory sparked a heated discussion among the users.

The players had logged off to rant quickly returned to the game. They swiftly noticed the differences between this game and normal VR games.

Not only were the images highly realistic, but the immersion was also unlike what the brick-like VR goggles could provide.

On top of that, more and more closed beta players realized that they could pull off all sorts of inconceivable maneuvers in the game, like a 360 degrees perspective, inverted perspective, and so on.

And when they logged out from the game, their bodies were still in the same position as before, not moving in the least.

This was amazing!

As Autumnleaf had theorized, it was like they had fallen asleep in real life to enter the gaming world, but it still eluded them how that could be pulled off with a simple VR goggles and a demo package.

It was not just the users who found it ridiculous.

Even Roan thought that the system was ridiculous to stuff the gamers from earth into his recording crystal!

With the current limitations of his knowledge, he couldn’t wrap his mind around how Linte Isaac pulled that feat off—that was likely something in the domain of the gods.

But he figured that the consciousnesses were deposited inside the recording crystal through a manmade ‘Soul Mirror’.

Earth’s users, upon putting on the VR goggles, invoked a ritual that forged a link with this world’s Soul Mirror via a special medium, and that medium was likely to be the stone monument in his mind.

The Soul Mirror was still weak. Similar to his dormitory’s paintings and mirrors, this Soul Mirror could only house pure consciousnesses, and entities within it were restricted to their containers.

But unlike Madam Susan and the other specters, the souls controlled by players in the recording crystal was capable of growth. These souls might be weak now, but they were complete.

Creating souls that previously didn’t exist… this was an inconceivable feat!

‘…Won’t the players be able to move freely if I turn the recording crystal into skeletons?’

As this thought surfaced in Roan’s mind, new words appeared on the stone monument in the depths of his mind.

【Mission: Prepare mobile bodies for the players (0/100)】

【Reward: 10,000 Faith】

It was so coincidental that he needed 10,000 faith to raise his soul tier from Bronze (II) to Steel (III). that he wondered if this reward was tailored for him.

“It’s not that tough to summon a couple of skeletons.”

But to avoid unnecessary trouble, he decided to tackle this mission after he reached his demon king domain.

…

Roan concluded his meditation and rose from the ground. He walked to the magic formation and picked up the recording crystal placed in the center.

The previously clear rcrystal had grown turbid as if it had been contaminated. The magic programming previously inside the crystal had been rewritten, causing it to lose its original function.

Holding the crystal up to his face, Roan could hear murmurs coming from it.

“He’s looking at me (Shrieks)!!”

“Closer, closer!”

“This looks too real.”

“Damn, I can even see the NPC’s nose hair.”

“Let me out! I want to go out (Shrieks)!!!”

“Scram, male NPC! Get me a succubus instead! I want the one in the PV’s ending!!!”

‘…These players are still having plenty of fun despite not having a mobile body. They have pretty much turned my recording crystal into a chatting room. But I still ended up losing my 2000 kyrats.’

Losing the recording crystal that had accompanied him for three years in the Demon King Academy made Roan’s heart ache. He wrapped the recording crystal with his clothes before tossing it into his suitcase.

He could expel all the players with his consciousness, but he didn’t think that there was a need to do that yet.

He opened his cupboard, changed into a set of casual clothes, and stuffed Father Jeffrey’s letter into his pocket.

His savings had been emptied out. Time to get some from His Majesty Demon God’s bank.

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