This Was My Second Life!

What excited Lin En most, however, was the single most fundamental rule underpinning the shop:

[All Ash Coins players spend in the shop will be automatically reclaimed by the system. The host may collect a 10% transaction fee, which will be converted into pure Faith Points and deposited into his personal account!]

"Brilliant! This is absolutely brilliant!"

Inside the Divine Statue, Lin En could hardly keep himself from pounding the table in delight.

Previously, when players earned Ash Coins from killing monsters, Lin En had deducted his cut in advance.

But the money in the players' hands just sat there, hoarded and idle.

Now that there was a shop, these players would have to pour their hard-earned Ash Coins into it to get stronger, show off, or even just wear something decent.

The moment they spent anything, Lin En could fleece them all over again!

A classic case of moving money from one hand to the other, collecting a cut both ways. This was the fucking beginning of a business empire!

"Not only that, with system equipment providing a solid baseline, these players' combat strength will improve steadily."

"Once fifty newbies put on standard-issue gear and go fight monsters with iron swords, they'll definitely be far more efficient than those five bald guys punching trees barehanded."

Feeling thoroughly pleased, Lin En listed the basic items for sale.

Just as he was about to close the shop panel, his gaze suddenly caught on the very bottom of the item list, where a special item glowed with a faint blue light.

[Lord of Ashes' Blessing (consumable)]:

[Price: 10 Ash Coins]

[Description: After consumption, allows free movement for 1 hour at night while Wild Black Mist permeates the area. During this period, the player will be completely immune to the negative effects of 'Darkmoon Mist Corruption.' (Note: This protection is ineffective against stage-two Mutants and above. If you encounter a powerful monster at night, you're on your own.)]

At the sight of this item, Lin En's eyes suddenly lit up.

"A permit for nighttime activity?!"

Until now, the environmental mechanic that forcibly drained Sanity after nightfall had kept players from venturing outside the safe zone, leaving Lin En with almost no nighttime income.

With this item, as long as players were willing to pay, they could grind all night in the Black Forest just as they did during the day!

"Ten Ash Coins an hour for access is a little pricey, but there's bound to be no shortage of grind kings among these Fourth Catastrophe players who care more about money than their lives."

"Now I can squeeze every last bit of surplus value out of their nights, too."

Without hesitation, Lin En placed the item in the shop's most prominent position and even thoughtfully added a "HOT" recommendation tag.

Once that was done, Lin En casually opened his [Divine Statue Upgrade] panel.

[Current level: Lv.1 (Border Village God)]

[Protected area: Ash Church and the surrounding 50 meters]

[Faith Points required to reach Lv.2: 10,000.]

Looking at that astronomical figure of ten thousand points, Lin En's excitement cooled a little.

"Ten thousand points... I've still got a long road ahead."

Lin En sighed, but his eyes no longer held the despair they had when he first arrived.

"Fifty workers are about to clock in. As long as I, their bastard game designer, arrange the events properly, ten thousand Faith Points will just mean fleecing them a few more times."

"The [Weeping Madonna]'s Divine Core in Fog Town is still waiting for me. If I don't raise my level, how am I supposed to devour it?"

Lin En closed all the system panels and sank his consciousness back into the deepest part of the Divine Statue.

The night wind slipped through the ruined window frames and swept over the magnificent, newly completed Portal glowing blue in front of the Church.

Everything was ready.

All he had to do now was quietly wait for dawn.

Only five hours remained until the "Awakening of the Old Gods" V1.1 servers opened.

Blue Star.

The fifty chosen ones who had received emails were spending an intensely excited, sleepless night.

The fifty players' "résumés" and "guild founding declarations" were everywhere in gaming chat groups, discussion boards, and forums.

[Guys, I got into the Second Beta Test! I've built the Forbidden City in MC, been a scavenger in Escape from Tarkov, and logged three thousand hours in survival games! Looking for a reliable veteran to lead the team. I'll follow every order and hit whatever you point at!]

[Veteran magic-class player here! Any first-beta veterans around? How do you trigger that hidden Night Survivor achievement? I want to play a mage!]

[Urgent recruitment before launch! An Undying Stars Guild branch is moving into "Awakening of the Old Gods," with funding ready to go. If you secured a slot, sign a contract for a monthly salary of over ten thousand! Our goal is to conquer the first starter village!]

Of course, aside from these hardcore players, there were also sightseers and big spenders drawn purely by the promise of "100% full-dive simulation."

As countless people waited eagerly, each with their own hidden agenda.

The gears of time slowly turned.

At last, the hour hand reached seven in the morning.

"Ding!"

In the other world, in front of Ash Church.

Within the enormous Obsidian Portal, the deep blue vortex suddenly began spinning violently!

A tremendous spatial disturbance surged skyward, even scattering the ash and mist for miles around.

More than fifty dazzling beams of white light shot out of the Portal like meteors, slamming into the clearing in front of the Church.

The Second Beta Test had arrived!

"Bzzzz!!!"

Accompanied by a deafening hum that reverberated through space.

At that moment, the fifty eagerly waiting Second Beta Test players finally, officially descended into the Wasteland World of "Awakening of the Old Gods"!

In the clearing.

More than thirty male players of various builds wore identical loose gray linen shorts, staring around in bewilderment.

The dozen or so female players wore gray athletic tank tops paired with shorts.

Though the outfits still provided no stat bonuses, the "tank top + shorts" combination at least eliminated the awkward prospect of female players running around half-naked in underwear alongside the men.

For a moment, deathly silence fell over the entire entrance to the Church.

The instant the newly arrived players took full control of their new bodies, every one of them froze as though struck by lightning.

The air was thick with the smell of raw earth and the stench of decay drifting over from the distant abandoned village.

A full five seconds passed before someone finally reacted!

"Holy shit!!!"

A scream of utter disbelief shattered the Black Forest's early-morning silence.

A male player with the username [Who's Afraid of Me, the Grind King] stared blankly down at his hands.

He clenched his fists hard, feeling the faint pull in his knuckles, then scooped up a handful of black mud that smelled of earth.

The wet, sticky feel of the mud, the tiny sensation of grit lodged beneath his nails, even the chill of the wind against his neck that raised goosebumps...

"This is a fucking 1 KB online game?! This is a fucking game?!"

He completely lost it, grabbed some black mud from the ground, and shoved a mouthful straight into his mouth, roaring as he spat it back out:

"It's bitter! And salty and earthy!"

"Holy shit! They even simulated taste! This is my fucking second life!"