"We have to recruit more players, and it has to be a major wave-at least fifty new players to help out!"
Lin En glanced at his admin panel.
[Current faith points balance: 791.]
According to the system's cost for customizing and reconstructing a new body, each person required 100 faith points.
Recruiting fifty people would cost a whopping 5,000 faith points!
"Fuck. Still broke."
Lin En rubbed his nonexistent temples. "Everything I own would only get me seven and a half players, tops. That's one hell of a shortfall."
Should he just wait for these five to slowly farm monsters and save up?
That would take forever. By then, it would be too late. If the Divine Core in Fog Town gave out and shattered early, Lin En would have nowhere to turn.
"No. As an outstanding game designer, how could I possibly pay the development costs myself?"
"The players have to foot this bill!"
A glint of cunning unique to capitalists flashed in Lin En's eyes.
He immediately opened the system's editing interface and started cobbling together the first "major update preview" for Awakening of the Old Gods.
"Since you're all so excited about the Second Beta Test and new companions, I'll give you a server-wide crowdfunding goal!"
As Lin En typed, he cackled inwardly.
"Pass the recruitment costs on to the players and make them grind themselves half to death to welcome the newbies."
"What do you call that? Watering the new cash cows with the old ones' blood, sweat, and tears! A perfect closed loop!"
That evening, on Blue Star.
The five players, including Lu Ziye and Ji Luo, had barely logged out before they messaged one another in the group chat and headed straight to the game forum, without even stopping to eat.
The screenshots Ma Lou had posted the night before had already sent the forum's activity through the roof.
Today, they had returned with the proud achievement of the "server's first Elite Monster kill"!
Lu Ziye wasted no time posting a battle report on the forum titled, "Day Two: Five Hardcore Baldies Tear the Regional Boss Apart-This Game Really Isn't for Idiots!"
In the post, he recounted everything that had happened during their battle, and even exposed Jiahao's embarrassing attempt to show off by making a monocle with Ashen Shaping, only to end up with black ash smeared all over his face.
The forum completely exploded.
"A monocle? Character customization and skills can interact like that? What kind of god-tier physics engine is this?"
"A spell-enchanted spear straight to the head? That level of combat freedom is insane!"
"Stop making shit up, OP. I don't believe you! Unless you hand over your beta code and let me see for myself!"
Countless people begged for beta access in the thread. Someone even offered fifty thousand yuan for a single account.
Just as the entire forum was filling with complaints over the lack of beta access, and people were starting to suspect that these five bastards were working together to manufacture hype-
At precisely eight that evening.
The Awakening of the Old Gods official website, which had contained nothing but a pitch-black background and a 1 KB download link, suddenly updated for everyone without warning!
"Holy shit! Something's happening on the official site!"
"Look! There's a new cinematic!"
Countless players who had been watching the site flooded in.
What greeted them was the epic cinematic Lin En had previously paid the system faith points to create.
Accompanied by despair-inducing, bass-heavy music, the barren wasteland, collapsing temples, blood-red crescent moon, and nauseating mutated monsters lurking in the black mist-
Assaulted the eyes of every Blue Star player who clicked in with astonishing realism.
The visual fidelity and lighting effects were so vivid that even through the screen, they could practically smell the despair and decay rolling toward them.
When, at the very end, the ruined statue's eyes lit up with deep-blue divine radiance-
Every player watching broke out in goose bumps!
"My mom asked why I was kneeling in front of my computer!"
"What god-tier studio made this? These graphics blow every AAA title on the market out of the water!"
"I hereby declare Awakening of the Old Gods the true god of gaming this year! Who's with me, and who objects?!"
Once the cinematic ended, the website did not stop there. Instead, a line of flaming, dark-gold lettering slowly appeared:
[Major version event: The Lament of Fog Town!] [Distant allies are being slaughtered by evil. The Lord of Ashes has turned his gaze upon that land.] [But the Deity's glory requires more apostles to bear it.] [Server-wide preparation event: Reforge the Ashen Portal is now live!]
Below it was an extremely clear progress bar, currently displaying [0%].
[Event rules:] [1. When First Closed Beta players kill monsters in the game, the system will automatically absorb ambient dark energy and convert it into reforging progress.] [2. Spectators who have not obtained access may click the [Faith Resonance] button below to apply for the Second Beta Test.] [3. Once server-wide reforging progress reaches 100%, fifty Second Beta Test slots will officially unlock! First Closed Beta players will also receive an exclusive, limited-edition title!]
The announcement sent the entire gaming community into an uproar.
Messages flooded the five players' group chat.
[Even Monkeys Have Dignity]: "Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit! The Second Beta Test's really happening! Fifty slots!"
[Passing Pure-Love Warrior]: "The devs are going all out! The whole server working together to fill a progress bar? That immersion is incredible!"
[Ji Luo]: "Guys, focus on the important part: exclusive, limited-edition titles! That's the ultimate bragging tool for veteran players. We have to grind that bar all the way up!"
Meanwhile, across the major forums and discussion boards, the hundreds of thousands of spectators who had been desperately waiting for beta access watched the breathtaking cinematic and went wild.
"Brothers! Where's the signup button? I'm going to click until my mouse starts smoking!"
"Fuck! Only fifty slots, and hundreds of thousands of people competing? That's harder than getting a government job!"
"Where are the five First Closed Beta legends?! @Passing Pure-Love Warrior, my dear benefactor! Please stop sleeping and log in to kill monsters!"
"Exactly! Even a workhorse wouldn't dare take that much time off!"
"Hurry up and get in the game to fix that portal or whatever! We're waiting to get in and play!"
"Ten thousand signatures demanding the First Closed Beta legends work through the night!"
Watching the forum's attitude reverse in an instant, Lu Ziye, Ma Lou, and the others, who had been called "shill scum" just yesterday, were now being affectionately hailed as "dear benefactors" by player after player.
As he read the comments frantically urging them to get to "work"-
Lu Ziye sat in front of his computer, deep in thought.
So this bastard of a designer set up a server-wide goal, then dumped all the pressure on the five of us unpaid workers?
Hundreds of thousands of people online are watching us grind away in the game?
Isn't this just fucking emotional blackmail?!
But then he thought of that exclusive, limited-edition title, and the glorious sight of himself showing off across the wasteland with fifty newbie underlings in tow...
"Let's do it! I'll just go without sleep for a few days! My grinding spirit is on fire!"
Meanwhile, in the Church in the other world.
Lin En watched the signup count in his admin interface break a hundred thousand in just half an hour, still climbing at a terrifying rate, and snapped his fingers in satisfaction.
"Emotional engagement is maxed out."
"Now all that's left is to see how my five best workers on the entire internet farm the monsters on the outskirts of the Black Forest to extinction tomorrow. It shouldn't take more than a few days to scrape together 5,000 faith points."
A capitalist's happiness was often just that simple, unadorned, and dull.
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