---Viktor's POV---

The night sky was dazzling with stars. I stood bathed in moonlight as I returned to the Lord's Residence.

It was already past midnight.

Finally, I had the time to deal with my long-neglected divine power reserves.

[Divine Power: 5023]

Despite spending the day setting up a secondary server, or rather, a player signal tower, at the ruins, and another 250 divine power in the evening to help players break through to higher realms, the influx of new players brought an immense increase in divine power.

Each new player contributed 100 divine power on their first day, and the stronger the players became, the more divine power they provided daily.

With just 50 active players logging in daily, the average divine power gain had already reached 180.

I checked the logs of my divine power gains and was astonished to find that during the battle against the terror beast that morning, half of the participating players had contributed a whopping 800 divine power.

"No wonder those old geezers who love to put on airs are so eager to organize divine descents with their believers," I remarked in amazement.

It might be an old-school way to show off, but it sure worked.

Even in my half-baked faith-based game system, I had managed to rake in nearly four digits in divine power. For those with higher faith conversion rates, their ritual profits must be even more substantial.

However, despite the seemingly significant gain in divine power, not a single new function was available for direct purchase.

The console's features had barely been discounted recently, leaving me helplessly hinting to players, "Don't you think the game could use some new features? Come on, brainstorm and influence the pricing algorithm!"

After setting prices for a pile of low-level magic artifacts, I couldn't help but covet [Appraisal].

It would save me so much trouble, but the price was absurd: 99,900 divine power.

Well, at least it was 100 points less now.

Reluctantly, I tore my gaze away from the skill and started working on alternatives.

"I'll just have to create a stripped-down version to tide me over for now."

Aside from overseeing the goblin nest raid, I had also been busy tinkering with the Earth Network. After tireless efforts, I finally figured out a way to integrate the network with the game console.

Directly unlocking Appraisal required too much divine power, so what about creating a basic unified function instead? Hm... that was actually a nice idea for the current situation.

The game's official website's database already housed a plethora of player-submitted data on plants, animals, and the game's background.

If the new function only needed to catalog, search, and compare against the database while recording new discoveries about creatures and factions, the only divine power cost would be the scanning feature. The rest could be handled through coding.

"Perfect."

When the new [Illustrated Handbook] function appeared at a cost of 500 divine power, I was delighted.

As expected, I was getting wiser with age. Or was it because I didn't possess a brain anymore? Anyway, no hesitation was needed; the price was a mere drop in the bucket for me now.

Using this idea as a foundation, I also launched a Pathfinding Function that recorded terrain walked by players and converted it into 2D maps.

Then came a Translation Function: directly imprinting psychic translation onto players was too risky, but a translation system that expanded safe vocabulary could ease their language struggles while preventing terms like "game" and "NPC" from leaking to the natives.

Similarly, the half-finished Forum Direct Messaging function was polished and integrated into the game.

Once everything was done, I sighed contentedly.

"Truly, the power of computers is limitless."

If I'd picked up these skills earlier, I could've saved so much divine power.

With all minor bugs fixed and new major features launched, I had spent just over 3,000 divine power points.

I scheduled an announcement with detailed explanations of the new features, attached a pre-prepared promotional video, and set it to release automatically.

Finally, I double-checked the extracted essence from the terror beast.

Though the beast's self-destruction had left its corpse fragmented, reducing the essence extraction to half the usual amount for a Level-3 magical creature, it was still sufficient for a good while.

Once I confirmed everything was in order, I finally went to sleep.

---Third POV---

While Viktor rested, the Earth was still in daylight.

Players who had died early were bragging about their accomplishments on the forum.

When the new promo video, scheduled for release, went live, it racked up 100 comments in just five minutes.

By the time players finished watching the 21-minute video, the comment section had exploded to over 5,000 posts.

The video condensed over 20 days of gameplay, from the Lucky Stars Team discovering items in a red worm's body to the final battle with the terror beast.

It included major moments like capturing the first great goblin using traps, two days and nights of deciphering scrambled jungle signals, players experimenting with gunpowder, and a large-scale raid mid-story. Even some casual footage of players goofing around outside the main plot made the cut.

Each minute was packed with content.

[SoySauceLeader]: ?!?!?

Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

[DroolingEvenCured]: Your favorite content creator finally updated!

[ChestBurster]: Wait, the gunpowder guide from the forum actually works?! This is insane!

[Apple]: Wait, the main storyline is made into a video? Won't I get publicly mocked for my bad behavior?

[FastingMidLane]: Thanks. I'm already digging my toes into the floor in embarrassment

[StoleYourOfferings]: Only 50 players? My grandma's village fights have more people than that!

[BobBobby]: Bro, have you ever seen a fight with just two digits worth of people?

[ChestBurster]: Never mind him, check out the video! Oh my god, the high-level gameplay is insane!

[SoySauceLeader]: Yeah, especially when everyone charged over the hill and scared the patrolling goblins, it was hilarious!

[CowardlySurvivor]: Wait, is that how I look from a third-person view? Way cooler than I thought!

[LootGoblin]: Hold on, why didn't they include my betrayal scene? I practiced my acting for two whole days!

[Thor]: Don't even talk to me. My pants got ripped off by a goblin, and they kept that in...

[PinkGuy]: This is amazing! Every character has their own personality. Is this a teaser for a movie?

[ExpiredKid]: You can tell they spared no expense, aside from fewer magical effects, the quality is flawless!

[Blade]: "True, even though it's a magical setting, most of the time it's just comically chaotic melee combat."

[Blade]: If it were me, I'd solve it all with one firewall spell

[FastingMidLane]: Cloud players really are the most impressive

[People Are Showing Off]: Fire magic is unbeatable. New players, welcome to choose fire magic!

[LootGoblin]: True

[Hedgehog]: Sigh, it just ended too quickly, I didn't get enough kills!

[ProGamer_Daddy]: And I didn't make enough money...

[Hedgehog]: I strongly suggest the developers add a fixed monster spawn point. I need to level up!

[FastingMidLane]: Friendly reminder: Death penalties have been reinstated.

[ClankClank]: I want to report someone! At 11:23, there was a player slacking off on the battlefield!

The tight plotline and spectacular visuals caused the video to skyrocket in popularity, with views and comments climbing rapidly. Some even submitted the video to other websites, further increasing its reach.

Besides the unanimous praise for the stunning battle sequences, many cloud players were puzzled: Why do the muscular men in the video all love wearing short skirts?

Players from the closed beta who made it into the video were shedding tears. If only they had known the footage would be recorded, they definitely wouldn't have been so cheap and bought the least expensive newbie outfits from the workshop!

At the very least, they'd have worn something presentable during the cutscenes.

With deep regret, they resolved to do better next time.

So much so that, within half an hour of the video's release, NeverShowOff received five orders for patchwork pants. Each order was for at least five items.

He was moved to tears.

Previously, since new players had gotten used to the breezy feel of short skirts, their newly launched pants sales were dismal, with pitiful promotional effects.

But now, players were finally gaining an awareness of proper attire.

The Cloth Cuckoo Workshop might just become the biggest winner following the release of the new promotional video!

The promo video was mostly a carnival for cloud players, while also satisfying the vanity of some top-performing players.

The real highlight for all closed-beta players was the upcoming update announcement.

---

[Chronicles of Aeltia Closed Beta Patch Notes]

[Key Updates:

Weaving! Farming! Building! Expansion! The external crisis has been temporarily resolved, but The Watchers must not stop moving forward. The best time to plant a tree was ten years ago. The second-best time is now.

Farming, construction, weaving, fishing, expanding your territory… If you can dream it, you can do it! Viktor will provide substantial support for all feasible plans. Although it's late summer and not the ideal farming season, perhaps the newly joined Watcher, Dwarf Craftsman Hawkes, might have a solution…

New Wave of Closed Beta Recruitment: A total of 200 new spots will be available. To prevent server congestion, spots will be released in batches. Returning adventurers, please stay tuned. The church's capacity is limited, and mornings might see peak logins~ Recruitment updates are ongoing, stay excited!

Major Game Functionality Updates!: New encyclopedia and data collection feature; New private messaging function (limited to reachable signal zones); New pathfinding feature; Translation feature remains in testing.

Other Events: New encyclopedia and data collection feature; New private messaging function (limited to reachable signal zones); New pathfinding feature; Translation feature remains in testing.

The Industrial Star event: With dangers resolved, applications for factory-related daily tasks have resumed.

Watcher's Member Handbook: Due to the rescue of numerous NPC captives, the handbook now includes the Prisoner Interaction Treaty, please review it carefully. Treasure your sanity; avoid the "little black room." The celebration banquet will be held tomorrow evening at sunset, don't miss it!

Other Updates: - Visual style optimization - Physics engine adjustments - Minor bug fixes]

---

[ProGamer_Daddy]: First comment!

[NationalChampion]: 200 newbies and dozens of new NPCs?!

[FastingMidLane]: That's a lot of people

[ImmuneToBeauty]: This time, surely I'll get in?

[SoySauceLeader]: Dream on. Look at the number of applicants, it's already over 20,000

[ImmuneToBeauty]: What the heck! You doubters who don't even believe the game exists, why are you seriously filling out the application forms?!

[StoleYourOfferings]: I have internal game channels, 10 beta keys available. DM if interested

[Apple]: Wait, didn't you just say a few days ago that the game was fake?

[Hedgehog]: Finally! My endless feedback paid off, translation functionality is finally here!

[ProGamer_Daddy]: Don't kid yourself. Your low favorability with Alyanne has nothing to do with communication barriers

[GameLord420]: The encyclopedia is what's most important! I don't have to memorize those data modules anymore!

[FastingMidLane]: Just the biological data alone is over 100,000 words. Hats off to you

[Garble]: The pathfinding feature isn't bad either. The forest's terrain and mines are so complex, this will be useful for exploration teams

[CowardlySurvivor]: Now LootGoblin won't have to worry about getting lost anymore

[LootGoblin]: That was just an accident last time!

Only closed-beta players truly understood how significant these updates were for the game.

Finally, they wouldn't have to endure NPC gibberish!

And LootGoblin wouldn't get lost anymore!

Cough cough, that last part could be ignored.

In short, the imaginative players flooded the comment section with countless ideas, eagerly waiting to implement them once they resurrected or their fatigue levels cleared up.

---

The next day, in the lamplit Honeyvale Town, early mornings were often peak times for player logins. At the same time, the temporary residents of the town began their workday.

Players emerging from the church couldn't help but rub their eyes.

"Wait, are there new NPCs in our game? And so many of them!"

"Heh, must be the recently resurrected ones. They started working yesterday!"

"Task points should be back to 24/7 operations, right? I'm going to find Alyanne for some bonding!"

"The notice said the dwarf craftsman is around here…"

"Selling loot! Fresh goods scavenged from the goblin warehouse, any takers?"

"Found some colorful mushrooms on the road, eat them to see stars during the day!"

Players quickly found tasks they wanted to tackle and dispersed throughout the town. Although the main storyline had ended, many players came to pick up daily tasks.

But with four new helpers around, Alyanne found herself much less burdened. Watching the four temporary recruits bustling around the counter, she felt an inexplicable sense of satisfaction.

"Hahaha!"

At last, someone else was dealing with the players' torment. She always knew the problem lay with the players, not herself.

During a rare break, she used her limited knowledge of English to maintain order, "Exploration tasks line up on the left; construction and cleaning tasks on the right! Don't mix them up!"

"Where do we line up for the romance missions?" a cheeky player joked from the crowd.

Unfortunately, only other players could understand and laugh.

Those who received their tasks dashed off quickly.

After the peak rush, the task point became quiet, with only occasional arrivals every ten minutes.

Alyanne looked gratefully at the scar-faced newcomer.

"Thank you, Cobb!"

His calculation and hands-on skills were extraordinary. Thanks to him, the players were dispatched so efficiently.

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