The business of spider silk silk had yet to be concluded, but the amulets from the Flame King were already showing signs of being in high demand.

As Luo Yan had anticipated, these items were not only welcomed by the residents of Silver Pine Town but also pursued by adventurers.

After all, for most adventurers, it wasn't the desecration or utilization of their corpses that was terrifying, but rather the enslavement of their souls to be puppets for Undead Mages.

Although the amulets couldn't match the effectiveness of Holy Water, they could at least free their souls from their broken bodies.

Just as the threshold of the church in Silver Pine Town was worn down by the footsteps of believers, Luo Yan's "Great Graveyard" finally welcomed its third wave of newbies.

With the task "Ensure a net daily increase of over 1000 faith points for three consecutive days" accomplished, the five hundred closed beta access spots granted by the calamity system arrived, and a fresh batch of new players ran into the scene, causing a cacophony of clicks and clatters to fill the mine.

"Ohhhhh!!!!"

"It's real!!! It's actually real!!!"

"Holy shit, that's so badass!"

"Wait, why are you all freaking choosing skeleton soldiers?!"

"I'd like to choose a zombie if only you'd freaking let me!"

"If we're not choosing skeleton soldiers, should we pick dwarves and mounts instead?"

"????"

"Thanks, offended Undead Rat players!"

These noisy guys still fell within the range of normal players, but some not-so-normal ones had already jumped onto Sarah's counter.

Compared to when she first started her job, Sarah had become noticeably more composed.

Previously, she'd get scared out of her wits by these overly excited skeleton soldiers; now she looked at them as one would an uneasy kitten, and a yawn was about as much of a reaction as she'd give.

Now was the time for performance art.

Before these guys vented all their excitement, no one could function effectively.

Therefore, the clever Luo Yan didn't bother with them at all, instructed Youyou to keep an eye on his handsome sculpture, and decided to close his eyes and lie in bed a little longer.

He was seriously sleep deprived these past few days.

He had either been practicing Dragon Language Magic, grinding in the labyrinth, or running back and forth in various places in the Demon King Territory, playing the role of an NPC.

Soon he was going to fight with the Earth Dragon Tribe.

He needed to rest up beforehand.

Meanwhile, in a corner of the Quality Square, an unremarkable skeleton soldier stood alone at the edge of a sea of skeletons, staring blankly around and mumbling to himself incessantly.

"Shit..."

His ID was Past Like Smoke.

Even though it sounded like a name full of stories, the so-called "past" was nothing more than middle school and elementary school.

He didn't join the other lowbrow skeleton soldiers, nor did he rush to team up and level-up; instead, he followed the direction signs on the mine wall and went straight to the entrance of North Peak Mine, standing at the end of the winding mountain road.

What lay before Brother Experience rendered him motionless on the spot.

He had always thought that so-called full immersion virtual reality gaming was just a joke, perhaps even a poor scam... but the world presented before him was even more stunning and vast than he had imagined!

He sat down on a stone stool by the side of the mountain road, letting his gaze stretch along the autumn red spreading across the hills to the distant horizon shrouded in clouds and mist.

"This place..."

"It's just like the real thing."

It was totally worth the long battle with the scheming second-hand dealers!

Indeed, one must endure the bitterest of the bitter to become someone outstanding; in a flash, he felt that all the hardships he had endured these days had been worth it!

At this moment, Brother Experience didn't want to think about anything, he just wanted to sit here quietly for the whole day.

However, it seemed that misfortune always targeted the "unfortunate," and just when he had this thought, a dark green pop-up window suddenly appeared in front of him.

[Low activity account detected.]

[Friendly reminder, this game is currently in closed beta and has not officially launched. The number of accounts that can be maintained is limited. If a player remains inactive for a long time, game privileges will be frozen until the end of the closed beta...]

Past Like Smoke's face instantly changed, and he jumped up from the ground as if his butt was on fire.

"Damn it!"

...

[Faith Points: 7077]

[Daily Increase: 3120 (+560)]

[Daily Consumption: 1000 (+500)]

The Magic Workshop in the Demon King Territory.

Having lazed in bed for two hours, Luo Yan had just yawned and woken up; he was now sitting in bed checking the "financial report" of the Demon King Territory.

He had gained an additional 560 faith points after waking up.

It seemed that Father Matt's actions had caused quite a stir.

The increase in daily consumption was mainly due to the maintenance costs of the new players.

Sixty percent of the players this time were skeleton soldiers, thirty percent were Undead Rats, and the number of Earth Cave Spiders remained sparse as ever.

But that was up to them.

Anyway, anything below Black-iron is just cannon fodder, so choosing doesn't make much difference to him.

"...I didn't expect that the residents of Silver Pine Town worship not the Demon King; my side can still gain Contribution Value."

Youyou floated to his side and said excitedly.

"Of course, Lord Demon King, after all, the Flame King is you yourself!"

Luo Yan stroked his chin with interest.

"So, as long as it's about my legend, no matter whether it includes the Demon King element, I can still gain faith value?"

Reflecting on this question, Youyou seriously considered for a moment and then shook her head.

"Hmm, not exactly, there has to be an area of overlap in recognition for it to work."

Luo Yan: "Overlap in recognition?"

Youyou: "Yes, yes! For example, the amulets provided by the Flame King come from you, and the residents' faith in the Flame King is largely because his amulets suppress the Undead. If you round it up, people believing in the Flame King is equivalent to believing in you! This is an area of overlap in recognition."

"Another example is the life story of the Flame King is based on yours, right? If people also learn about Lord Demon King's life story, and they find unexpected similarities, it can be a huge bonus point! Of course, because they're so similar, there's also the risk of blowing your cover."

So that was it.

Luo Yan roughly understood what Youyou meant.

In short, the more identical the personas behind the two cover identities, and the more their miraculous deeds overlap, the more faith value he could share from his "alts."

And if the cover identities were entirely identical, there would no longer be an issue of splitting faith value; people's faith in the Flame King would transfer directly to his "main title."

This seemed to be the best approach.

But dropping the guise was not without risk.

After all, the majority of the residents of Silver Pine Town's reverence for the Flame King came with a precondition.

That is, the whole legend is within the framework of the Saint Sis faith, not the framework of the Demon God.

Before the faith in Saint Sis in the locality begins to waver, dropping the guise might actually cause most people's faith in the Flame King to plummet to zero. Even if it added a bit of their fear to the Demon King, it was in hindsight a losing proposition compared to the stature lost.

However, after hearing Youyou's words, Luo Yan came up with a good idea in his mind.

That is, the Demon King for what's the Demon King's, the Flame King for what's the Flame King's!

In his controlled core territories, he could directly spread the faith of the Demon King using his acolytes, while outside of the core territories, he would mainly leech off the traveling bards and adventurers spreading the legend of the Flame King!

And it's not just the Flame King.

He could create many similar aliases within Saint Sis territory and continually fleece the church through similar methods until they could bear no more!

"...I've got the basic situation now, and I'll pay attention," Luo Yan acknowledged.

"Yes, as expected of Lord Demon King! You grasped the crux of the issue in an instant!"

Seeing that the Demon King understood her, Youyou joyfully offered up flattery.

However, Luo Yan had long become calloused to blowing smoke, so he didn't take it to heart and instead focused his attention on the "financial statement."

The consumption of faith value has been a bit much these past days, mainly due to some extra expenses.

On the one hand, over a hundred players leveled up to Black-iron, directly consuming 10,000 points of his faith, which made up the bulk of the expenditure.

Then there was the cost of resurrection.

Ordinary players were still okay; the base cost of resurrection was only one point. But once elevated to Black-iron, the resurrection costs began to vary based on level and race type.

For example, if a player's level was lv4 Black-iron Skeleton Soldier, the resurrection cost would be 4+5=9 points. If it was an lv4 Black-iron Earth Cave Spider, the cost would soar to 4+10=14 points.

Although overall, the cost of resurrection was in the double digits or lower, when added up it was still a significant expense, with 460 points spent over three days.

Of course, due to the existence of a death penalty, the majority of players were quite cautious when facing life-or-death decisions.

Especially for those players with equipment on them. Even if equipment ownership was registered, retrieving it was still a hassle and there was the need to be careful of it being snatched by either adventurers or monsters.

According to the curve of resurrection expenses, as time went on and the players gradually became familiar with the characters they were controlling, the costs of resurrection tended to peak at the time of the players' mass rebirths, and in the following days there would be a downward trend.

In addition, the natural growth and unexpected income from the faith value over these three days added up to just over six thousand.

It was also thanks to this income that Luo Yan's reserve of faith value wasn't completely depleted by player level-ups.

"A thousand players leveling up to Black-iron will cost a total of a hundred thousand faith value... sheesh, that's expensive!"

A hundred thousand faith value was enough for him to make a push for silver!

The thought of players leveling up to Black-iron possibly starting to push for bronze next made Luo Yan's scalp tingle.

No wonder the Chosen Ones don't have long lives.

"I need to figure out a way to keep the Contribution Value earnings down..."

Wait until I've made it to silver, then you all can pursue bronze.

At this moment, Youyou's voice suddenly came from the side again.

"Lord Demon King, the emissary from the Land of Nightmare is visiting you again, and your mount, Alakdo, is receiving them for you."

Packing away the mirror in his hand, Luo Yan got up from the bed.

"Perfect timing, I just happen to have something to discuss with them. Tell that guy to wait for me in the usual place."

"Got it!"

Youyou responded with full vigor, and then floated away as joyfully as a Messenger Bat.

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