DKIE CH60.1: Feverish Discussion Across the Web

The most important thing in business is to lay a foundation.

Yes, a mass foundation.

The terminals were expensive, and for the common folk, even if they bought one, they couldn’t afford the cost of burning through magic stones. But Luka had to expand the terminal’s user base.

At this time, an internet cafe was absolutely the most suitable choice.

Before a new magic inscription that could reduce magic stone consumption was developed, the internet cafe could serve as a transitional bridge.

“In the future, we’ll charge by the hour. It will definitely attract a lot of curious people.”

Only with more public participation can the network truly generate discussion and creativity.

Cullen was stunned at first, but he quickly reacted. His squinting eyes suddenly glinted with shrewdness. “It’s equivalent to us setting up a promotional experience store.”

He had always been very realistic.

The development value of the different modules on the terminal was very high. But for now, it was only popular in noble circles. The community, which clearly had the most development potential, remained lukewarm.

The vanity of the nobility cannot be set off by their peers alone. When they show off a necklace, a bracelet… they always need someone to admire it.

In other words, this community platform must have an audience with different levels of wealth.

Cullen didn’t yet know how sharp his insight was.

Real and fake displays of wealth, hedonism, an attitude of keeping up with the Joneses… even in later generations, these were phenomenal online trends.

Luka asked, “How are the terminal sales in other cities?”

Cullen smiled. “I followed the method from your last live stream. The Holy City has long been out of stock. But in more remote towns, I’ve insisted on maintaining the supply, so a group of scalpers who add to the price has appeared.”

Now, the price of a terminal on the black market had been driven up to nearly twenty thousand gold coins.

Luka raised an eyebrow. His methods were quite ruthless.

The Elf King, who had been quietly listening to them, suddenly spoke. “The dark elves have also been buying them up everywhere at increased prices recently. The demon race and the centaur race have both tried to contact me.”

Towards the end of the year, spies from all races were actively working, and the popularity of the terminal quickly caught the attention of the higher-ups of all races.

Among them, the most frantic were actually the dwarves, who were desperately trying to research and imitate it.

All this made the Elf King feel that the network’s popularity was by no means temporary.

Ever since he got a terminal, even he himself would subconsciously open the community in his leisure time. Over time, it had become a habit.

Luka breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this.

The Holy Court and the First Magic Academy were still busy investigating the Sage’s Sword. They were probably glad the hype was on something else and had even promoted it on campus. By the time the internet cafes opened and the Holy Court reacted, the entire network construction would have already spread like wildfire.

…

Cullen’s description of the stock shortage was an understatement.

The first batch of portable terminals sold a total of twenty-six million units. It was hard to find a single terminal anywhere!

The high price, the difficulty of purchase, and the celebrity effect made the terminal rapidly popular.

Now, walking on the street with the waist pouch, and chatting publicly, had become a new fashion trend!

Under the continuous efforts of the Quill Pen, the Immortal Fish Community was updated while the iron was hot.

The community would provide special verification services to celebrities to prevent impostors from muddying the waters.

In the past ten days, the Saint had gained twenty million followers, and the Elf King also had over ten million. It was said that the dark elf chief, who had not reached the ten million mark, was so ashamed and angry that he had even publicly posted a taunt that the Elf King was actually tone-deaf.

The demon race did not immediately join the network army. Alec and the other two royal heirs had personally gone to the elven lands one after another, trying to replace the human race as the elven race’s distributor.

Every day, nobles and dignitaries who were normally out of reach registered for network accounts. Every new verification would stir up a fierce discussion.

Among the many hot topics, the Holy Court stood out.

They probably never expected that the terminal would actually have material on them—

“The Death of the High Priest.”

This video, which had once caused a stir among the elven race, was now being seen by more and more terminal users of different races.

In the comment section below the video, the number of comments was increasing daily.

[Vacation Countdown 2 Days: A priest, and he was killed just like that…]

[10786723: The name of the person above is so vicious, just like the poison of that sword.]

[Super Big Eyes: Hehe, the human race is just hypocritical. Look at all these comments, not a single one dares to speak of the essence of the matter. That bottle of Life Elixir clearly had a problem. Why is the Holy Court targeting the elven race? What conspiracy is hidden behind this?]

At the beginning, everyone was still quite unfamiliar with posting comments. As the discussion level rose, they became more and more skilled.

[How dare the Elf King still cooperate with them? Wake up!]

[Yeah, elven race, aren’t you very proud? Then don’t cooperate with the human race that harms you!]

…

In an era without a real-name system, within a few short days, the comments online became more and more unrestrained.

The supporters and doubters of the Holy Court argued heatedly.

[Vacation Countdown 36:24:52: In the time I was gone, I signed for my copy of “My Demon King Father.” Speaking of which, the pre-order was so long ago, I almost forgot.]

[20382711: I received it yesterday! I don’t recommend reading it before bed. I read a few chapters yesterday and had nightmares all night.]

How terrifying can a novel be? Everyone was laughing at him for being an attention-seeker and deliberately changing the topic.

However, a netizen soon jumped out to refute, describing the book as [a needle hidden in cotton, bone-chillingly creepy].

The book always described the Saintess as naive and innocent of the world. That kind of purity inexplicably gave people goosebumps.

〖On the night the crystal orchids on the window bloomed, accompanied by a cry, the Saintess and the Demon King finally welcomed a new family member.
Gazing at the features of the newborn child in her arms, the Saintess gently coaxed, “Look, our baby’s features resemble the Demon Ancestor so much. I’ve seen his statue, the resemblance is uncanny.”
The tall man beside her looked down, a hint of a smile appearing on his usually cold face. “Actually, resembling the Human Ancestor would be very good too.”
The newlywed couple looked at each other. Soon, happy laughter came from within the room.〗

Netizen 20382711, not wanting to let things die down, specially hand-typed a passage from the book and posted it online, instantly causing a huge uproar among terminal holders.

They were at least of the middle class and were good at letting their imaginations run wild.

[…Why should the child look like their respective ancestors? Putting myself in their shoes, my wife and I definitely wouldn’t say at our child’s birth, “Ah, he looks like your dad.” “No, he looks more like your mom.” And then giggle.]

What’s so funny?

[Am I the only one curious about how Iliad knew about this scene?]

[Idiot, he wasn’t there. A child with an ancestral bloodline would definitely have a good memory.]

[So why was the Holy City the first to get shipments? How does the Rhine Commerce Guild do business?!]

[The person above is also an idiot. The Demon Realm suddenly banned the book this morning. Naturally, they have to supply it in places the Demon Realm’s hands can’t reach.]

Upon hearing about the banned book, the discussion level rose even higher.

A host of curious people all asked for answers. However, under the hunger marketing campaign at the time, those who had gone through great trouble to buy it would naturally not easily spoil it. At this moment, every one of them had a strong sense of copyright awareness.

[The Elf King has even posted a picture! He even put the book together with rotten, withered leaves. Those who know, know.]

[Remember that line in the introduction that mentioned ‘accidentally overhearing a conversation between my mother-in-law and sister-in-law… it was just…’? All I can say is, I suddenly feel a little sorry for Iliad.]

Actually, Luka’s memory of that was quite vague. He only remembered from before that it was for some great treasure of the Holy Court. When he revised the manuscript later, he changed it to [it was just to have a child for the Tree of Life.]

The article also mentioned several times in very cryptic language that the Holy Court was conducting secret experiments.

This kind of chilling interpretation, no one dared to openly state it for now, but the suspicion, buried in their hearts, was more likely to ferment.

In the past, when the Saintess abandoned Luka, the public felt it was understandable.

After all, there had always been rumors among the human race that the Saintess had married down for the sake of peace between the two races.

Times were different now. “My Demon King Father” was being talked about as if it were legendary. Even those who hadn’t read it added their own embellishments. When they discovered that this marriage seemed to be full of conspiracies and calculations, and no one was innocent, Luka, the so-called fruit of their love, seemed particularly absurd and pitiful.

The Demon King, on the other hand, had beautifully faded into the background.

The demon race’s reputation was well-known. The Saintess, who had always been known for her sacred and inviolable image, suffered a huge backlash in the public’s mind.

Killing a priest with her sword, abandoning her child without a thought. Many who had previously revered her to the extreme were now somewhat disenchanted.

Combined with the popularity of the “Death of the High Priest” video, the Holy Court was pushed to the forefront of the storm for a time.

As one of the topics of discussion, the ‘abandoned baby’ Luka was currently nestled in the guildhall, admiring the snow.

Not far away, the Quill Pen had been frequently going out early and returning late recently. Although he hadn’t gone out today, he had been holding the terminal the whole time.

Has he gotten addicted to the internet?

As if sensing him looking, the Quill Pen turned to the side, blocking his probing gaze.

“?”

Unable to guess, Luka simply drank his flower tea and continued to watch the snow hanging on the branches.

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