Chapter 7: Task completed! Rave reviews?

The official appointment letter will be delivered the next day.

The graduation ceremony ended, and Luo Yan returned to the dormitory, just in time to see a messenger bat landing on the windowsill, its wings flapping urgently against the window glass.

Throwing away his shoes and walking to the window, Luo Yan opened the window and took off the copper tube tied to the bat's leg, and pulled out the letter inside.

Not surprisingly, the letter was sent by Priest Jiefu Li.

While expressing care and greetings, a string of bank card numbers and passwords was left at the end of the letter.

"... You are a child with your own ideas, and I am proud and proud of your choice to become a Demon King."

"Regarding the living expenses, your father, whom you have never met, actually left you a sum of money, and now this money still has some left. Since you are already an adult and have graduated, I think it is time to hand it over to you and let you decide how to use it."

"——Priest Jiefu Li."

Luo Yan read the letter to the end, and accepted the bank account and password with a grateful mood.

Although he didn't know how much money this was, he thought it would be no problem to survive this month.

Starting next month, he will be a person with a salary.

But then again, does the Demon King territory he is about to take office really have a place to spend money? Luo Yan is skeptical about this.

With a grateful mood, he seriously wrote a reply letter, rolled it up and stuffed it into the copper tube tied to the bat's leg.

Finally finished all the things, he sat on the edge of the bed, preparing to focus on studying a "Scourge" system left by a transmigrator predecessor.

【

ID: Luo Yan

Race: Human

Soul Level: Bronze (Level cap LV30)

Level: LV30 Experience: (30W/30W)

HP: (800/800)

MP: (2600/2600)

Constitution: 8 Strength: 8 Agility: 8 Intelligence: 25 Spirit: 26】

【Faith Value: 133】

First is the attribute panel.

For the calculation standards of these attributes, although the system didn't give specific formulas, it gave explanations for each item.

For example, Constitution affects vitality, recovery, and physical resistance; Strength affects load-bearing and melee damage; Agility affects speed and dexterity; Intelligence affects memory, spatial imagination, spellcasting efficiency, and spell power; Spirit affects mana value.

In the era of Lin Te Aisaike, the attribute panel of an imperial young soldier with average strength was 5/5/5/5/5, now it's unclear.

As for experience, it is the quantification of the growth process.

As for soul level, it determines the level cap.

However, generally speaking, most people cannot see their soul level; that is a dimension belonging to gods.

And the Scourge system not only marked the soul level but also quantified the abstract concept of "strength" with "LV" values.

For example, the cap for Black Iron-tier is LV10, the cap for Bronze is LV30, the cap for Fine Steel-tier is LV50, the cap for Silver-tier is LV70... and so on.

At the same time, the higher the level, the greater the difficulty of upgrading, and the more attribute points gained per level.

As for "race," it determines initial attributes and talents.

For example, the initial attributes of humans are 3~5, and the talent is the relatively chicken-rib "Balanced Development"—that is, the "growth efficiency" of the lowest attribute is increased by 50%.

Taking Luo Yan himself as an example, the lowest of the five attributes are Constitution and Strength, so he will get an experience bonus when training these two attributes.

By the way, attribute growth is not improved by adding points after upgrading, but occurs simultaneously with upgrading.

If he mainly trains his Spirit attribute by resisting the temptation of Succubi when he is at level 19, then when he completes the accumulation from quantitative change to qualitative change—when his level rises to level 20, the growing attribute will also likely be Spirit, and will not inexplicably gain growth in Strength and Constitution attributes.

It can be said to be unexpectedly realistic.

However, it is precisely because of this that the "Balanced Development" talent appears quite chicken-rib.

After all, in most cases, mages don't need too high Constitution and Strength.

Plus most people have a "level cap," so the attribute points they can get in a lifetime are limited.

Even if you get an extra 50% experience bonus from physical labor, the attribute points gained from upgrading will be added to the meaningless Strength and Constitution attributes, which is equivalent to wasting precious growth space, which is not worth the loss.

"..." According to the theory of the 'God of Machinery', does training Strength for mages have the opposite effect?" Luo Yan, staring at the attribute panel, fell into deep thought.

Although he didn't deliberately train his physical fitness, he still had attribute points allocated to Strength and Constitution.

Clearly, this is the result of various meanings of accumulation over the past eighteen years of living in Hell.

In addition, looking at his experience bar that was about to overflow, Luo Yan finally understood why he had been stuck at Bronze and couldn't go up.

Unfortunately.

His soul level is only Bronze.

If he doesn't change the talent cap, he won't be able to break through the final bottleneck even if he meditates until he dies... It seems that Lin Te Aisaike also encountered similar problems.

To increase soul level without side effects, "Faith Value" is the key!

Remembering that in the morning, the Faith Value on the attribute panel was still 0, and it had become 113 in a morning.

Looking at this number alone, Luo Yan couldn't summarize any rules.

This value is likely contributed by players in another world, or it could be provided by some little fan girl or fan boy who worships him in the academy.

In short, it remains to be further observed.

By the way, upgrading a Bronze-tier soul to Fine Steel-tier requires 10,000 Faith Value, and the three-digit increase can only be said to be a drop in the bucket.

After studying his own attributes, Luo Yan then cast his gaze toward the task bar.

Currently, the only task he unlocked is one.

"Shoot a game promotional PV and upload it... I shot it, but how should this thing be uploaded?"

You, the God of Machinery, didn't sort out the computer in this world either?

Taking out the recording crystal used for shooting the promotional PV from his bosom, Luo Yan looked at it in his hand for a long time, but waited for a long time without seeing the button to upload the video appear.

Just at this time, his gaze suddenly fell on the residual traces of the magic array on the floor that hadn't been wiped clean, and his heart suddenly moved slightly.

"Could

A single recording crystal is worth 2,000 Kaila, equivalent to his living expenses for a month.

Luo Yan had been using this thing to record lectures previously, and the mere thought of this magic array potentially swallowing the crystal ball made his heart ache.

But heartache aside, considering long-term development, Luo Yan still took out the magic crystal chalk to redraw the magic array, then placed the crystal ball right in the center of it.

Just as he had expected.

The moment he attempted to channel energy into the magic array, a ghostly green light instantly flared up, enveloping the clear, transparent crystal ball.

However, unlike last time, Luo Yan didn't have his magic power drained until he fainted; instead, he remained conscious and persisted until the end.

Not only that.

The crystal ball also remained intact in the center of the magic array, its smooth shell undamaged, just like new! "It actually didn't eat the crystal ball?" A wave of joy washed over Luo Yan.

Great!

Saved 2,000 Kaila!

And at that very same moment, a calm, ripple-free voice sounded in his ear.

"'Shoot Promotional PV' mission complete! The voting thread has been automatically opened; please wait patiently for the judging results..."

A voting thread? Luo Yan was slightly stunned, but soon realized what it meant. He immediately sat down to meditate, sinking his consciousness deep into his sea of consciousness to access the official website of "Catastrophe OL."

Sure enough, the moment he opened the forum, he found the video he had just uploaded via the sacrificial ritual! The 360-degree panoramic, no-blind-spot footage had been stretched into an ultra-long 2D widescreen; the magnificent, atmospheric underworld and the towering, gloomy ancient castle directly shocked his eyes.

Little demons flapping their wings swept low over his head, along with those domineering and mighty Fear Demons, Flame Demons, and all sorts of other demons and undead.

This, is this where I usually go to school?!

Luo Yan was dumbfounded looking at the video; having studied in this place for three years, he almost didn't recognize it for a moment.

"... This filter is a bit badass."

Just as he was still surprised, the comment section below the post had already exploded.

Night Starlight: "Holy crap!"

Riding Two Bikes: "Is this in-game footage?!"

Pig-Headed Knight: "Fake, right! How could a promotional PV use in-game assets? It must be an outsourced animation!"

Peerless Hero: "The animation is badass enough!"

Minotaur Warrior: "Succubus!!! I want to be a succubus!!! Ahhhhhhh!!!"

Rock Candy Gourd: "Come to think of it... this mage holding the crystal ball is kind of handsome."

Roasted Lamb Skewer: "+10086"

Little Wan Is Never Full: "Because he's the only one around who looks somewhat human?"

Excited Netizen: "Is this a developer's test account? Or an NPC?"

Onlooker: "Strongly demand the development team release a DEMO version!!!"

Driver in the Pit: "Strongly demand the development team release an adult version!!!"

Old Man at the Village Entrance: "Good heavens, are we really getting succubi in the village this time?! (Dumbfounded)"

"..."

Watching the replies refreshing every second, Luo Yan couldn't help but stand frozen in place, wanting to post something but lacking the function to do so.

Directly below the video was the voting page, 10 points being the maximum and 0 the minimum. Currently, over 500 people had participated, and the average score had basically stabilized around the 9.8 mark.

This is too exaggerated!

Luo Yan's heart pounded violently; he never expected that a video he shot casually would actually be a huge success on the forum!? Although the points these silly netizens were focusing on were somewhat different from his own, over half the comments in the thread were clamoring for succubi. Those asking to raise a succubus as a pet were one thing, but what the heck is wanting to *be* a succubus?! Soon, the number of voters broke through one thousand, and the average score of the voting thread was firmly locked at 9.9.

【Mission Complete!】

【Rating: S】

【Reward: 100 Closed Beta Qualifications】

Three lines of pop-up windows flashed before Luo Yan's eyes.

And at the same time, the homepage of the official forum refreshed with a new pinned post—

【"Catastrophe OL" Reservations Open!】

【To thank the vast number of players for their support, the "Catastrophe OL" development team hereby releases 100 test accounts and a download link for the DEMO program! Use any VR device to bind with your official website account to apply for a test qualification and download the DEMO program!】

【Note: This game implements a one-person-one-account policy; closed beta qualifications are distributed randomly, can be canceled, and cannot be transferred. Violating game behavior during the test period or long-term AFK will result in the revocation of test qualifications. Clicking the reservation button is considered agreement to these rules.】

I have to say, the timing of this post was just right.

Just as the entire forum was buzzing about that eye-popping promotional PV, the development team directly announced the release of a DEMO version.

Watching the number of reservations climbing rapidly, Luo Yan was happy but also inevitably felt a bit uneasy, worrying whether this so-called DEMO version would cause any impact on him.

What if a player causes trouble in the Demon Capital and it ends up implicating him? These guys can just pat their butts and leave, but he still has to live in this world.

At least Lin Te never said he could travel back to Earth.

However, thinking that he was about to go to the Demon King's Territory to take up his post, Luo Yan immediately felt at ease again.

His Demon King's Territory is still quite far from the Demon Capital; without using a portal, it's said to take a month or two of walking in the underworld.

Besides, there are only 100 closed beta qualifications in total, so even if there are risks, the risks should generally be controllable.

The closed beta qualifications were soon distributed.

Those who didn't win were clamoring about a cover-up, while those who did were showing off.

Some also speculated with conspiracy theories that the so-called closed beta was just a scam, and those who won were all robots, etc.

But these remarks were ultimately in the minority.

The vast majority of people, after watching that promotional PV, were still looking forward to the DEMO demo of "Catastrophe OL"! In this day and age, there aren't many conscientious manufacturers who dare to hold an online trial before the game officially launches; how many crappy games don't even give people a hot meal during paid tests.

Might as well try it.

It doesn't cost money to try anyway.

If it weren't for the fact that most families don't buy VR glasses, I'm afraid there would be even more people reserving for the test, far more than the mere one thousand currently.

Luo Yan browsed the forum, wanting to see what the situation was like after these players who got the closed beta qualifications went online, but suddenly discovered that the number of logged-in users had changed from 0 to 99.

Wait—

These people are already playing?!

Just as Luo Yan was confused, complaint posts had already appeared on the forum.

Little Wan Is Never Full: "What's going on???"

Peerless Hero: "Why is there no character creation interface?"

Pig-Headed Knight: "Damn! Why can't I move."

Minotaur Warrior: "Is there a bug?"

Old Man at the Village Entrance: "Everyone, stay calm! I just came off the line; this perspective seems unable to move, but it actually contains a mystery!"

Roasted Lamb Skewer: "???"

Rock Candy Gourd: "%￥#@! Stop keeping us in suspense, spit it out if you have something to say!"

Ye Ye Zhiqiu: "What mystery is there? Isn't it all obvious? The DEMO players are just playing as the crystal ball in that mage's hand. The mage is sitting right there; anyone who has seen the promotional PV could guess that!"

Old Man at the Village Entrance: "Holy crap! I hadn't finished typing! I was just about to say that!"

Holy crap?

Seeing this, Luo Yan was shocked.

These guys have traveled into his crystal ball?!

The thread continued to refresh.

Ye Ye Zhiqiu: "Who told you to type so slowly... but that kind of thing doesn't matter. By comparison, I'm more shocked by the way this game is opened. I don't know if you noticed, but the game screen isn't actually presented through the embedded screen of the VR glasses!"

Roasted Lamb Skewer: "Hiss... now that you mention it, I do seem to have that feeling!"

Rock Candy Gourd: "+1, my neck turned 360°, I was stunned at the time, thinking I was hallucinating."

Traces of Time: "Hmm, the image quality is also ridiculously high-definition, it's no longer something 4K or 8K can describe. The texture is simply like... real? Come to think of it, my second-hand VR glasses that I bought for 800 yuan shouldn't be able to achieve such high definition. (Bitter smile)"

Old Man at the Village Entrance: "What's going on? Listening to you guys... why do I feel a chill down my back. (Nervous)"

Ye Ye Zhiqiu: "A hypothesis: this game might use some kind of special technology still in the experimental stage, like remote hypnosis or something."

Little Wan Is Never Full: "Hypnosis???"

Ye Ye Zhiqiu: "Yeah, you think you saw the game screen with your eyes, but actually, during the time you entered the game, you were asleep. The content you heard and saw in the game was generated in real-time in your brain's 'GPU'... this feeling is like dreaming, and it's a lucid dream."

Ye Ye Zhiqiu: "By the way, just in case, I'll say one more thing: I checked online and haven't heard of this technology on the market, so the safety of this technology is also a mystery. Considering that this website itself is full of suspicious elements, we can't rule out that we might have become lab rats for some mysterious organization. If anyone has concerns about personal safety, I suggest not trying it casually."

Heaven-Defying Dragon Emperor: "Bullshit! How could there be such technology!"

Arrogant Life: "Exactly! Unless you send me a pair of glasses!"

Ye Ye Zhiqiu: "Would it kill you to buy a second-hand one yourself! (Eye roll)"

"..."

The viewpoint of 【Ye Ye Zhiqiu】 quickly aroused heated discussion among everyone.

Many players who hadn't played carefully and ran to the official website to complain put their VR glasses back on one after another, returned to the game to try, and really discovered unusual things.

Not to mention the realism of the screen, the immersive feeling of being there really doesn't seem like something that brick-like VR glasses can provide.

Not only that!

More and more closed beta players began to discover that they could perform all kinds of incredible operations in the game, such as rotating the perspective 360 degrees, flipping upside down, etc. —

And after they exited the game, their bodies in reality still maintained the posture they had when they entered the game, not having moved at all!

This is too magical! Just as 【Ye Ye Zhiqiu】 said, they seemed to have fallen asleep in reality, and only their consciousness entered the game world.

As for how this was achieved through simple VR equipment and a mere DEMO program, it remains unknown.

Not only did the players find it outrageous, but Luo Yan, who was peeking at the screen in secret, also felt that this system was outrageous enough to actually stuff Earth's players into his recording crystal! With his current knowledge, he couldn't understand how Lin Te Isaac managed to do it.

That might also be the realm of gods! He could only guess by intuition that the consciousness stored in the crystal ball might be some kind of artificially created "soul mirror."

Players triggered some kind of ritual after putting on VR glasses, establishing a connection with the soul mirror of another world through a special medium.

This medium is very likely that stone tablet in his sea of consciousness.

In addition, this kind of "soul mirror" is very weak, like a ghost such as "Lady Susan," with only pure consciousness left, unable to even move freely, and can only reside in specific vessels.

However, unlike Lady Susan, Luo Yan saw room for growth in those soul mirrors controlled by players.

Although very weak, they are all complete!

Creating a soul that didn't exist out of thin air...

This is too incredible! "... If I replace the recording crystal with a skeleton, could I let the players get a body that can move freely?"

Just at the same time Luo Yan was thinking this, new text appeared on the stone tablet standing deep in his sea of consciousness.

【Mission: Prepare a body that can move freely for players (0/100)】

【Reward: 10,000 Faith Points】

Raising the soul level from Bronze (II) to Refined Steel (III) requires exactly 10,000 faith points; it's hard not to suspect that this reward was tailor-made for him.

"If it's just summoning a few skeleton soldiers, it's not a difficult task."

However, to avoid unnecessary trouble, it's better to wait until he goes to the Demon King's Territory to do this mission...

Ending his meditation, Luo Yan, who got up from the dormitory floor, walked to the magic array and reached out to pick up the crystal ball located in the center of the array.

He saw that the originally clear and transparent crystal ball had become turbid, as if filled with filthy fog.

Obviously, the magic program inside had been rewritten, completely losing its original function.

Bringing his face closer, Luo Yan could even hear the whispering conversations inside the crystal ball.

"He's looking at me!!" (Scream)

"Closer! Closer!"

"So realistic!"

"Shocked! I even saw the NPC's nose hair!"

"Let me out! I want to go out!!!" (Scream)

"Male NPC, get lost! Change to a succubus! I want the one at the end of the promotional video!!!" (Scream)

"..."

Even without a body that can move, these players were still having a great time, seemingly having treated this crystal ball as a chat room.

"So those 2,000 Kaila were lost after all."

Thinking of how this crystal ball had accompanied his three years of university life, Luo Yan felt a slight heartache, and casually wrapped it in his clothes and threw it into his suitcase.

Although he could force all the players offline through his sea of consciousness, there didn't seem to be any need to do so at the moment.

Luo Yan opened the wardrobe, changed into casual clothes in front of the mirror, and then stuffed the letter that Priest Jeffrey had sent him into his pocket.

His living expenses had bottomed out.

It's time to go to the Demon God's bank to withdraw some. - (Thanks to "Cloud Dove" for the alliance leader's reward!!!) (End of chapter)