Upgrade and Skills

Li Li took out his notebook and added new items to the "To-Do List" section.

"Two: Create a social system to allow Earthlings to communicate under my surveillance."

"Three: Create a forum section on the official website, using reservation qualifications as bait to get Earthlings to discuss things there."

Although he didn't understand the principles, since these Earthlings could use Earth's internet while also entering his world, there was no reason to give up the chat platform.

This also made it convenient for him to eavesdrop, providing another channel to monitor them.

The forum was the same.

As for their anomalies, Li Li currently had two guesses.

One was that his world was largely the same as a certain game from Earth.

Two was that these Earthlings were actually transmigrators from the future.

Both were guesses without evidence.

But bold assumptions, careful verification, right?

Li Li had actually considered whether his world might be fictional, just a game made of code.

But as the World Master, he felt more keenly than anyone that this world was real.

—Even though this world was tottering, on the verge of destruction.

Overall, Li Li believed the first possibility was more likely.

If that were the case, then it would be unrealistic to expect Earthlings to treat this place as a real world.

After thinking for a moment, Li Li wrote more in his notebook.

"Four: When dealing with Earthlings in the future, continue to claim this is a real world, but make some game-like modifications, such as the UI interface, and simultaneously claim on the forum that this is a game."

This way, as long as no one knew he was the administrator of the forum, even if the Earthlings discovered the truth of the world later, he could ensure he stood on the side of "righteousness."

After determining his future strategy, Li Li tore off the page and ate it.

About two minutes later, the warehouse's roller shutter door was pulled up.

"Golden Wind" had the Treant guard the entrance and walked in alone.

He had completely changed. His original clothes, which Li Li had prepared for the Earthlings and bought by the pound at the junkyard, had been replaced by a decent black suit. His weapon was stored in his backpack, but Li Li could sense it was an enchanted shotgun.

With his current appearance, anyone would call him a young master.

"Lord Li Li, I have collected enough faith. How should I convert it into my own power?"

The Half-Winged Celestial still performed an impeccable celestial salute.

He tied his golden bangs back, revealing his shining golden pupils.

"There's no need to be so formal. We are partners, not superior and subordinate."

Li Li stepped forward and extended his hand.

"Touch me, and I will ignite the radiance within you."

The Half-Winged Celestial grasped Li Li's hand and, after a slight sensing, transferred 10 units of faith.

Li Li took a deep breath, resisting the urge to absorb all of the other's faith. He tried to upgrade "Golden Wind" to level 2, consuming about 0.01 units of faith, then from level 2 to level 3, consuming 0.02 faith, level 3 to level 4 was 0.04...

He upgraded "Golden Wind" all the way to level 10, getting stuck at the advancement, consuming a total of 1.6 units of faith.

From the very beginning, Li Li had planned to take half the faith as a fee, so he swallowed another 1.6 units of faith and returned the remaining 6.8 units.

"You have reached the limit for the Mortal Rank. To advance further, you need to find the key to the path of [Transcendence]," Li Li said.

"One unit of faith equals 5000 experience points?" "Golden Wind" retracted his right hand and muttered to himself.

Seeing that "Golden Wind" seemed not to understand his hint, Li Li, who had just enjoyed the taste of faith and was still craving more, prompted, "I can provide you with the path to advance to [Transcendence]."

"That convenient?" "Golden Wind" clasped Li Li's hand again.

To his disappointment, he could only sense three paths to transcendence: [Novice Paladin], [Novice Divine Scholar], and [Novice Priest].

These were advancements that came with the [Divine Army] and were incompatible with the class "Golden Wind" wanted to play. Just as he was about to let go, he suddenly thought of something and asked, "If I advance to these three classes, can I learn the corresponding skills from you?"

"Of course," Li Li replied.

"What about skills from other classes?" "Golden Wind" tried to transfer his only skill.

"I comprehended this skill during combat but couldn't advance further. I hope you can guide me," he explained.

Li Li felt a warm current flow into his body, and the next moment, he mastered everything about [Meteor Strike].

[Meteor Strike Lv30: Instantly fires two arrows, each dealing 200% (50% + 5%Lv) of base damage. After the first arrow hits, the second arrow will automatically track and hit the same target.]

Li Li looked at the smiling "Golden Wind," thought quickly, and then said, "Of course. You are the first person to provide me with a skill. In the future, everyone who learns [Meteor Strike] from me will know that this skill originated from you."

The next moment, "Golden Wind" found that he could learn skills.

He upgraded [Meteor Strike] from Lv4 to Lv30 in one go, consuming a total of 13.98 units of faith.

If calculated by the [Experience Points] "Golden Wind" mentioned, one unit of faith was actually equal to ten thousand experience points, but Li Li had secretly swallowed half of it.

He decided he'd change [Faith] to [Experience Points] later.

"Upgrading skills doesn't cost money?" [Golden Wind] asked, confused.

"Of course, it does," Li Li immediately responded, adding a setting for himself. "But as the provider of the skill, you can upgrade this skill for free."

"I see..."

After [Golden Wind] left, a hungry Li Li boiled some water and made himself a bowl of instant noodles.

He sat on a cardboard box and brought up the power to [Exit Game].

The official website of "Despair Expedition OL" in the mirror was the only place he could influence on Earth. On the so-called "Retro Server Reservation" channel, 1.3 million souls had already left their mark.

While eating his noodles, Li Li pondered how to realize his idea.

He tried to project his soul, transforming it into a conceptual "film" that covered the right half of the official website page.

This was like covering the screen with an opaque cloth; no matter how the content on the screen changed, the writing on the cloth would never be affected.

This was done to prevent his forum from being altered by others.

After completing the overlay, Li Li wrote "Retro Server Forum" in five large characters on his half of the screen.

This way, anyone who clicked on it would leave the game website and enter the forum disguised by his soul projection.

Next, on his projection, he created four sub-sections for the forum.

"Open Discussion," "Official Announcements," "Bug Reports," and "Improvement Suggestions."

Then, he posted a pinned event in "Open Discussion."

[The "Despair Expedition OL" Retro Server Forum is now online! Participate in game discussions and write game guides to earn a chance to play the retro server. Join us now!]

Finally, there was a message in "Official Announcements":

[Announcement of "Despair Expedition OL" Retro Server Emergency Offline Update]

[Major Updates:

1. Updated the [Skill] learning system. Provide skills to the Main AI to unlock corresponding learning channels.

2. The [Sin Value] system is now online. If your [Sin Value] exceeds +100, you will receive a mysterious title. If your [Sin Value] drops below -100, your account will be permanently banned. Please regulate your behavior, players.]

[Optimization Changes:

1. Changed [Faith] to [Experience Points] with an exchange rate of 1:5000.

2. Social system launched. Adding friends allows for shared location.

3. Minor BUG fixes.]

ps: Regarding the experience required for upgrades, I referenced the values from Fantasy Westward Journey.