DKIE CH77: The Dwarf Clan Chief

Widespread doubt plagued the outside world. During an emergency meeting, the faces of the Holy Court’s high-ranking members were as grim as water. The most disgusting thing about this movie was that the director didn’t seem to have inserted any personal bias, and the story had nothing to do with the Holy Court.

Therefore, they couldn’t find any grounds to defend themselves. If they responded directly, they would surely be accused of having a guilty conscience—otherwise, why would they feel targeted? It was like having a fishbone stuck in their throats.

The High Priest with the highest status looked at the handmaiden. “Didn’t I tell you to bring that group of intern priests?”

The handmaiden braced herself and said, “When I went, I didn’t see anyone. They said they were… seconded to the Outer Court.”

At first, the group didn’t react, but after two or three seconds, everyone present realized what this meant. For a moment, the atmosphere in the great hall became terrifyingly silent. Compared to the movie, this was the real major blow.

“They’re just a group of intern priests; even if they died, it wouldn’t have much impact,” a high-ranking priest said sternly. “But this sets a precedent. If others follow suit and exploit this loophole, the consequences will be unimaginable!”

Which bastard came up with this idea? It certainly wasn’t the intern priests themselves. The Saint! That old undying fool. In a fit of anger, his words became reckless.

The High Priest looked at the Saintess. Despite his dissatisfaction with her recent mistakes, he had to admit that the Saintess’s schemes themselves were not flawed; it was just that unexpected results always occurred. Could it be that Iliad was truly their jinx?

“It’s not easy to make an example of them within the Outer Court’s sphere of influence. If we temporarily modify the employment contract…”

He didn’t finish his sentence, but everyone knew what he meant. They would be seen as having a guilty conscience again. Otherwise, why modify the contract? The Saint would surely take the opportunity to say something sentimental about the Inner and Outer Courts being one family…

The Saintess slowly uttered one word: “Wait.” Her spy in the demon race had reported that the Demon King had already come out of seclusion. The Holy Court was now in a weakened position. After sitting on the mountain and watching the tigers fight for so long, it was time for the other party to come down and negotiate.

Not long after she spoke, the mandarin duck pendant at her waist suddenly emitted a warm glow. Her eyes flickered. “He’s here.”

After “God of Forging,” the number of Luka’s fans skyrocketed, almost breaking one hundred million. With limited terminal ownership, movie fans went to internet cafes every day just to register accounts, leave comments, and follow him. Different interpretations of the ending also kept the film’s popularity soaring.

The passion and sincerity of the initial fans were beyond imagination. They formed a dedicated channel to support Luka, and its members were highly active. Where there was fervent support, there was also doubt. Across the continent, many people disliked Luka, and slanderous remarks fermented alongside the praise.

After Quill’s intervention, the fans in the group remained fans, and the haters gradually converted.

[Administrator: Everyone, please control your emotions. Someone is already using screenshots of our arguments to sling mud, accusing Luka of guiding his supporters to secretly slander and threaten others.]

[Carrot Patch: So we can’t even fight back when we see people cursing him? [Angry][Furious]]

[War Hammer’s Hammer: Hands and mouths are meant for fighting back. I won’t hold back [Hammer][Big Hammer].]

The channel messages quickly surpassed 99+.

[Administrator: It’s not that we don’t report, but that we need to report effectively. With a report card.]

After defecting to the Outer Court, Louis felt like a whole new world had opened up. His time as an intern wasn’t for nothing; he was very experienced in this area. A stream of questions floated up. The administrator used actions instead of words, directly leading the group members to create a report card, detailing Luka’s achievements over the past half-year.

• Early June of last year: Boulder City released “The Pampered Three-and-a-Half-Year-Old,” which won the “Most Popular with Readers” award at the Myriad Dynasties Assembly.
  
• Same month: Collaborated with the Rhine Commerce Guild to sell merchandise, was received by the Saint, spread suona culture in the Holy City, and escaped on a dragon unscathed.
  
• End of the month: Arrived at Dragon Island and convinced the dragons to film “The Real and Fake Young Masters of a Wealthy Family.”
  
• July: Challenged Crown Prince Alec to a duel, became famous in one battle, and officially participated in the Return Hunt.
  
• Same month: The continent’s first movie was released.
  
• October: Pre-sale record for “My Demon King Father” was broken.
  
• Mid-October: Victorious in the Return Hunt, unexpectedly experienced atavistic regression during the Blood Pool baptism.
  
• Late October: Traveled to the Elf Island to cooperate with the Elf King on the terminal, suspected to be involved in the death of a priest.
  
• November: Went all-in on creating the online community and officially pushed for the distribution of the terminal.
  
• January of the next year: Developed the first horror game, called for the establishment of a magical script major, and officially opened internet cafes.
  
• February: Killed Alec, exposed the fake life fluid, and was promoted to a tenth-rank magician! In the same month, he founded the continent’s first news program, “Today’s Headlines,” and “The Beloved Three-and-a-Half-Year-Old II,” serialized on the Other Shore Novel Website, broke the site’s reward record.
  
• March: Vigorously promoted the fiefdom development plan, the Klin Sentry Tower joint office building was officially launched, and “God of Forging” premiered.
  

They wouldn’t have known without compiling it, but they were shocked once they did. And these were just the major, publicly known achievements.

“We really didn’t misjudge him!” A sense of pride welled up in the group members’ hearts. An idol who lived up to expectations could bring fans a higher level of enjoyment, and Luka was definitely the type you could show off.

When faced with insulting comments again, they no longer got bogged down in pointless arguments. They took the “report card” image and went through the comment sections. In an era where the internet was just beginning to emerge, even the nitpickers were momentarily speechless in the face of such genuine, unadulterated achievements.

By the time Luka scrolled to the “report card,” it was two days later. He had clicked on it from the trending topics. Bad comments were inevitable, so Luka hadn’t paid them much attention. He hadn’t expected that everyone would become self-taught experts in stan culture. He marveled, “Who is this genius? They actually made a battle report.” If this continued, it would probably soon give rise to systematic fan support activities.

Quill quietly stopped his activity in the channel, put away his terminal, and said, “When I was out this morning, I saw that the movie merchandise was selling well.” 

Luka hadn’t sought sponsors for this movie, but after its explosive success, he specifically called on Cullen to sell merchandise together. The movie-prop replicas were almost as hard to get as the movie tickets, and the Rhine Commerce Guild made a fortune from it.

Luka nodded. Suddenly, a subtle noise came from the side. Where his gaze fell, the Sage’s Sword was humming at its replica, the War Hammer, looking all fired up. Having been cared for daily with pure faith, the Sage’s Sword had repaired itself quite a bit.

“Weapons don’t have souls, only will, which means there’s no possibility of fusion,” Luka saw through its little scheme and said ruthlessly. “So please stop fantasizing about us becoming one, man and sword, and dying as martyrs together.”

The light of the Sage’s Sword dimmed for a moment.

Luka: “…” What exactly are you regretting?

Quill had gone out in the morning to buy refined blood. While Luka was lecturing the Sage’s Sword, he had already finished digesting it all, and his aura had become much more solid.

“How is it?” Luka also noticed the change in the room’s atmosphere.

“I’m still about thirty percent away from recovering my peak combat power.” This thirty percent would be difficult to fill with refined blood alone and could only be achieved through cultivation. However, Quill wasn’t too disappointed. To have recovered this much in less than a year was already rocket-speed progress.

Luka said, “I need to work harder too, and try to break through to the eleventh-rank grand magus as soon as possible.” Now that he had a huge fanbase, he naturally had to seize the opportunity. Liking was one thing, but fans couldn’t be thinking about you and feeling intense emotions every moment. Only when he made real achievements would he gain attention and receive a strong round of feedback in the form of faith.

Quill agreed with him. “The practice of faith is inherently an interactive process.” There was no method in the world that allowed one to progress while slacking off.

After a moment of thought, Luka said, “The second part of ‘The Real and Fake Young Master’ hasn’t been released yet. I plan to use it to maintain the hype.” They had been filming two projects at once for a while, and the entire series was almost finished, but they hadn’t started promoting it yet.

Quill was somewhat surprised by this decision. The theme of “God of Forging” was very profound and had received a great response, but this had also invisibly raised the public’s expectations for Luka. “The Real and Fake Young Master” was at a disadvantage in terms of grandness. Although they had put a lot of effort into filming it, with a masterpiece preceding it, it would inevitably seem petty by comparison.

Luka was aware of this and had already given it thorough consideration. “We can only take a different path and add value to something ordinary.” To surpass the first movie, they needed a new selling point.

Speaking of his area of expertise, his tone lifted. “In a plane I’ve been to, there’s a really fun thing called 3D glasses. The principle is simple: it creates a stereoscopic effect based on the binocular disparity of human eyes.” This time, he would lead the masses into the era of stereoscopic cinema. The continent’s first 3D movie would surely maximize the audience’s curiosity!

The term “3D movie” sounded unfamiliar, but “stereoscopic effect” was easy to understand. Quill hit the nail on the head: “To create an immersive effect?”

“Exactly.” Watching the “crematorium” part in a more realistic setting—wouldn’t that just thrill the audience to death! By using magic to quantumly reassemble the sample footage, they could create an even better effect without needing a 3D filming rig or professional cameras.

But there was one difficult point to overcome: “The left-right displacement produced by ordinary parallax won’t fool magicians.”

Quill didn’t speak, thinking for a while. “Restraint props, to lower magic resistance.”

Luka had already considered this and sighed with regret. “To let magicians have a truly immersive experience, we also need to add deception runes. Activating the latter might disrupt the stability of the former.”

“Not difficult,” Quill said. “Embed magic stones at the key nodes of each rune.”

Luka’s throat moved upon hearing this. That would be a vast and complex workload, requiring extremely solid skills. “If… if I were to demand repayment for the favor and get the dwarves to do it, would that be too inhuman?” It was common knowledge that dwarves hated taking on purely troublesome manual labor; they would feel it was a form of contempt.

“Director!” A somewhat sharp voice suddenly came from outside the door.

Nellie’s voice arrived before she did. “I saw on the official account that they’re releasing behind-the-scenes footage, and I don’t look beautiful enough in it! I demand a reshoot.” What if they released the clips of her being unprofessional at the beginning?

Quill raised an eyebrow. “You see, a sign from the heavens.” It had delivered itself to their doorstep.

Luka: “…”

Nellie came in excitedly, only to find that the way they were looking at her wasn’t quite right, a bit like looking at a wonderful ‘tool’. Tools were indispensable treasures for dwarves, so for them to look at her as a tool-person— Damn it, they couldn’t have fallen in love with her.

Luka said, “I have something important to tell you.”

Nellie nodded. “You go first.” She would reject him after he finished.

Luka quickly explained the idea of making 3D glasses. This time, it was Nellie’s turn to be silent. She didn’t immediately object, but her hair slowly stood on end.

The situation didn’t look good. Luka coughed lightly and immediately pointed out the benefits for her to compensate. “After this technological breakthrough, in a few years, ‘God of Forging’ can be re-released in a 3D version. With the added nostalgia, your scenes will be deified in the audience’s hearts.”

Nellie silently imagined that scene, and her obsession with beauty dispelled some of her displeasure. After a moment, her expression softened slightly. “It won’t be hard to convince the other clan members to help, but with such a huge workload, we can’t hide it from the clan chief. He might come looking for trouble with you.”

Luka had heard a little about the fame of the current Dwarf Clan Chief. He shrugged, indicating it was fine. As the famous saying goes, don’t worry about things that are 2 hours and 8 kilometers away, let alone something that was at least a week and a million miles away.

Forty-eight hours later, in Moke City. The number of tourists coming to the filming location for photo ops had been increasing recently, and the place was bustling with excitement. The food street originally built for the dwarves had now become a local specialty.

Luka was hanging a plaque in mid-air, directing the citizens to build a tourist center, when the castellan of Moke City came to report: “Your Highness, the Dwarf Clan Chief has arrived and says he wants to see you.”

“…” Luka’s wings almost gave out.

In the reception hall, the fire elements in the air were unusually active. The person sitting inside had a square face, and his clothes were designed like a Rubik’s Cube, with each side having a different attribute. His bulging muscles were encased in a metal exoskeleton, any part of which could be disassembled into different weapons. Nellie was sitting beside him, looking a little uneasy.

The visitor had ill intentions. Under the gloomy gaze, Luka walked in with a composed gait and sat on the other side of the table. “You’re finally here.” His tone was as if he had been waiting for the other party for a long time.

The Dwarf Clan Chief, who was about to make a scene, narrowed his eyes. “You were waiting for me?”

Luka retorted, “If I didn’t use manual labor as bait, how could I easily meet the famous Dwarf Clan Chief?”

Nellie was shocked. Was he doing this on purpose?!

Of course, Luka wasn’t doing it on purpose. He was purely putting on an act. The dwarves were sharp and sensitive, and they had surely heard plenty of flattery. So he had to maintain a certain posture, speak cryptically, and create the feeling of two brilliant minds having a high-level showdown.

After speaking, he pushed one of the teacups over and smiled faintly. The steam was billowing, and the tea was fragrant. In the misty atmosphere, the Dwarf Clan Chief’s initially hostile gaze gradually softened, and his expression unconsciously became profound and mysterious. Nellie, being young, couldn’t hide her feelings, her face full of questions. The chief had rushed to the demon realm in two days, which showed how angry he was. How did they suddenly start drinking tea face to face?

Her look of incomprehension played an important supporting role. The Dwarf Clan Chief was now particularly energized. The businessmen he had dealt with in the past all stated their prices directly, as if they were unwilling to spend an extra second with them. They were both sitting on mountains of gold and silver, yet everyone treated the dragons as nobles and the dwarves as nouveau riche, even though they were the true artists!

After half a cup of tea, Luka spoke again: “I wanted to see you mainly for another matter. The terminal that was popular across the continent recently actually has many shortcomings. The screen resolution is not high, the magic stones are consumed too quickly, and the style is outdated. Unfortunately, I have some friction with the nobles, so it’s not easy to negotiate a partnership.”

The corner of Nellie’s mouth twitched. It was more than “some friction.” With Alec dead and the rhombus crystals signed under an exclusive supply agreement, it meant that all his hard work on that research was for nothing. The Dwarf Clan Chief had clearly thought of this too, and his expression soured.

“But thankfully, you did not refuse the olive branch I extended.”

Nellie interjected, “Olive branch?”

Luka explained gently, “I invited you to act in the film, and the clan chief did not stop it. This was a signal, representing that we still have a possibility of cooperation.”

Nellie turned her head in astonishment. So there was this deeper meaning?

The Dwarf Clan Chief’s arm stiffened, and he nodded.

Luka stopped there. “After a long journey, Your Excellency can consider it first.”

The Dwarf Clan Chief gave him a meaningful look. “I thought you would want to talk immediately.”

Luka forced a smile. He wanted to, too. But this was an impromptu addition to the script; he hadn’t considered the contract clauses and such.

Luka said thoughtfully, “If we cooperate, I believe we should convey the craftsmanship of the dwarven race. Let its very existence become the most luxurious brand in the industry.” Just like the movie inspired by the dwarves, it should convey a kind of belief.

This sentence struck a chord deep in the Dwarf Clan Chief’s heart. Currently, luxury brands were almost exclusively tied to the nobility. Invisibly, he felt as if he had become noble too.

Luka raised his cup. “How to embody and convey this is something I also need to think about.” Before politely getting up to leave, Luka called a guard to arrange accommodations. “Do not neglect our distinguished guest.” With that, he walked out of the reception hall.

The weather was nice, and the sunlight outside shone obliquely on Quill. Their eyes met, and Luka said, “The talk went very smoothly.”

Quill casually asked about the content of the conversation.

Luka: “All nonsense.” There was no real substance.

“…”

The talk could be nonsense, but the work couldn’t be left half-done. That afternoon, Luka had Quill help supervise the details of the tourist reception center while he went to a quiet space and began to work on the project plan and design.

Just one night later, a detailed proposal was delivered to the Dwarf Clan Chief. The proposal included an introduction and a sample display. On the heavy terminal packaging box, a space was specially marked out with a dotted line, noting “Produced by the Dwarven Race.” In the instruction manual, Luka also specifically left one to two pages to detail the relevant craftsmanship.

The Dwarf Clan Chief then turned his attention to the project proposal.

[Based on the abilities of the nobles, they will certainly be able to achieve major breakthroughs in certain aspects. For example, XX display screens, XX technology… At that time, we will use this as the main selling point and carry out a full-network promotion, making customers feel it’s high-end just by looking at it. In the future, you will be the guarantee of product performance, and only the dwarves can produce innovation…]

There was a physical object and written copy. The entire proposal, from start to finish, expounded on the benefits for his race, and crucially, it wasn’t just empty promises.

After reading it all, the Dwarf Clan Chief’s thoughts had completely changed. From his initial gloomy intention to find fault, he was now no longer thinking about whether to cooperate, but how to create a super-powerful gadget and make a stunning debut with the new generation of terminals! The Dwarf Clan Chief pondered day and night, completely forgetting about the manual labor issue.

Nellie and the ten thousand-plus extras took this as the chief’s tacit approval and began to work on the assembly line. Three days later, Nellie took some time to see Luka and complained sharply, “It’s so troublesome. We’re still working relatively slowly right now.”

Luka said calmly, “It’s fine.”

Nellie had someone move a container over. “You check these first.”

The giant container was opened, and a million 3D magic glasses were suddenly laid out before Luka.

“…”

Luka, the capitalist, instantly felt a warmth that made his heart turn from red to black. He could see now that he had probably only unlocked less than 1% of the dwarves’ capabilities.

Luka’s Diary Excerpt:

@HolyCourt, I don’t understand why you have to maintain a lofty and aloof persona.
Dwarf Clan Chief: Compared to the Holy Court, Luka is actually pretty good.
Holy Court: Did I provoke you?!
Dwarf Clan Chief: You didn’t include me when you were making big money, you useless thing.
Alex passed by and silently gave a ‘like’.

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