DKIE CH78: Weaving the Web

After two seconds of self-reflection, Luka decided he was incorrigible. From his initial embarrassment, he was now starting to consider what other uses this race might have.

“For the next few batches, can we try to create a design that highlights a high-tech feel?”

Nellie’s face was cold. They’re just a pair of cheap glasses, what high-tech feel could they possibly have?

Luka used light elements to simulate a cyberpunk style.

Nellie: Cool!

Although she complained relentlessly, Nellie didn’t object before she left. Luka stood alone, lost in thought. He was long immune to 3D effects, so he needed someone else to test the sample. Quill would have been the first choice, but considering he was an actor who played a fake young master, it would be difficult for him to have an audience’s perspective. Luka decided to let him off the hook.

In the end, the Moke City Lord became the honored test subject. Luka had him watch a few minutes of the sample footage reprocessed with magic. When checking the results, he couldn’t help but feel a little nervous. “How is it?”

The Moke City Lord’s throat moved, and he only asked, “Can I watch for another five minutes?”

This request was the best answer. Luka smiled. “Looks like we can start thinking about promotion.”

A trailer format wasn’t suitable for “The Real and Fake Young Master.” This time, he wanted to hold a press conference and personally handle the promotion. However, it was unclear how the news leaked, but while Luka was still making arrangements, the news of the upcoming movie spread like wildfire. Whether they were fans or passersby, their first reaction upon hearing it was that it was fake.

Anyone could see that the theme of “The Real and Fake Young Master” couldn’t compare to “God of Forging.” Not only might the box office fail to meet expectations after its release, but it could also attract widespread ridicule. Yet, Luka never refuted it on the community forums, seemingly confirming this outrageous news.

–

As rumors swirled online, the fan channels were embroiled in passionate discussions. Experts jumped out to analyze that Luka had gotten arrogant, his ego leading him to lose his basic judgment. Amidst all the speculation and hypotheses, the Holy Court had the biggest headache. The handmaiden responsible for tailing Luka was now on a 7×24 work schedule.

In the open-air hall, the handmaiden hesitated for a moment. “We still haven’t investigated the identity of the man who is always with Iliad.”

The Saintess said nothing more and waved the reporting handmaiden away. The walls were covered with sculptures of trees, endlessly surrounding the hall from all sides. Before leaving, the handmaiden stole a glance. The Demon King was standing in an unnaturally frigid area, majestic and awe-inspiring, his gaze disdainful. The Saintess stood demurely and quietly, her pious posture a stark contrast to the Demon King.

“No need to investigate. That person should be the early continental legend, Alex.” The clues obtained from the auctioneer and later from searching Iliad’s study all pointed to him.

The Demon King’s simple sentence shattered the Saintess’s superficial calm, and she turned around directly. She didn’t try to verify or doubt the fact itself; the Demon King wouldn’t speak without substance.

“Then couldn’t we…”

“Announce this matter and call on everyone to crusade against the tyrant of the past?”

Hearing the cold sneer in his words, the Saintess gradually calmed down. “You are a demon lord, and you have yet to be crusaded against.”

The Demon King said faintly, “As long as you know.” The pilgrimages of past Demon Kings had caused numerous deaths, yet no one had jumped out to reason with him. He didn’t dwell on Alex; he was here for another matter.

“Do you remember the contract from our wedding?”

The Saintess nodded. The Tree of Life needed a child with a powerful and pure soul to listen to the divine oracle and thus learn the method of becoming a god. However, the idea that the Tree of Life could communicate with the world’s will was false. What the Holy Court truly needed was a soul that could heal the Tree of Life.

The Demon King said, “At the time, we all believed that only an atavist could meet this condition.” The soul of an infant was the purest but also fragile. The soul of an atavist was innately powerful and possessed innate knowledge, a perfect match.

The Saintess said faintly, “Is that not the case?”

The Demon King rarely answered her questions directly. He said, “I soul-searched a few demon guards and discovered something interesting. When Alec was killed, the core of Iliad’s magic formation was the sun.”

The Saintess’s face remained impassive, but her fingers hidden in her sleeves tightened slightly.

The Demon King continued, “The Faith Method. That child’s rise fits this trajectory perfectly.” A smile touched his lips. “A soul steeped in faith is the purest and most powerful.”

The dragon race, the Saint, atavism… Luka had too many fortuitous encounters. The Saintess had never seen him in action personally, so she naturally wouldn’t have thought of this unorthodox path. Only now did she finally understand why the Tree of Life suddenly showed such a strong desire for Iliad.

The Demon King once again emphasized their contract. “Don’t worry,” the Saintess said, her long eyelashes lowered. “The Holy Court will be responsible for capturing him, but you must lend me some of your subordinates. As long as that child ingests a sufficient amount of life fluid, he will completely obey the Tree of Life and will immediately tell you the answer once he has it.”

The Demon King looked at her with a half-smile, feigning belief. After a long moment, he uttered a single word: “Good.” Not long after he spoke, a weight settled on his shoulder. The Saintess rested her forehead against it, her voice like smoke. “…Let’s talk about personal matters.” She spoke in a tone that was almost a sigh. “I miss you.”

The Demon King was silent for a moment before saying, “Me too.”

–

After “My Demon King Father” created a pre-sale miracle by marketing itself as a forbidden book, Luka decided to do another print run. The labor costs for hiring the dwarves were not low, so earning a small fortune to supplement his household income was necessary.

“The cost of the new model is not low. It will have a semi-rimless design, glow when activated, and have an eye-protection feature. It also needs to flatter the face shape…” Quill was further adjusting the viewpoints in the sample footage when he glanced over and saw Luka muttering to himself with a pen and paper. He asked, “What about the million pairs of glasses from before? No one likes to be treated differently.”

“The new model will cost more,” Luka said without thinking. “If anyone asks, just say it’s a limited edition.” He was about to send the design draft to Nellie for her reference when he noticed an unread message on his terminal.

[Alicia: The Demon King has gone to the human domain.]

The message had been sent three minutes ago. Seeing no response, she initiated a video call directly. The once high-spirited Fifth Princess was not in a good state.

Luka leaned back leisurely on a soft cushion. “Have you finally decided to pledge your soul to me?”

Facing the constant risk of possession while her family chose to watch from the sidelines, Alicia said in a hoarse voice, “It hasn’t reached that point yet. My value has not been completely squeezed dry.” She paused slightly. “…Do you remember that book you wrote, ‘My Demon King Father’?”

Nonsense, Luka was just about to reprint it to make more money.

Seeing him silent, Alicia continued, “When you were promoting the book, there was a line in the summary: ‘Until one day, she accidentally overheard a conversation between her mother-in-law and her sister-in-law.'”

Luka said, “I made that up.”

Alicia replied, “But the Demon King did indeed have a sister.” This former demon princess was of average strength, acted arrogantly, and had a poor relationship with the Saintess.

Even fabrications couldn’t be completely baseless, a point Luka naturally understood. He yawned. His nominal aunt’s name seemed to be something like “A-something,” but he didn’t have a deep impression. However, the word “had” was very interesting.

Alicia’s next sentence instantly dispelled the weariness from his brow. “She is most likely dead, at the hands of Princess Mary.”

“A few years ago, Princess Mary was on the verge of death. After a period of time, she suddenly became revitalized. It was around that time that this former princess’s whereabouts became unknown.” It was a rather arbitrary deduction. Luka frowned.

Alicia continued, “Not long ago, I secretly launched an assassination attempt. Princess Mary was severely injured by the self-detonation of a demon servant I had planted.”

This time, Luka was genuinely surprised. As the former number one female warrior of the demon race, even in her decline, she shouldn’t have been so easily injured, especially by a demon servant.

Alicia said solemnly, “I have sufficient evidence to prove that Princess Mary possessed her own daughter and then used special means to disguise her appearance.”

Luka’s expression grew heavy. The possessed person was of ordinary aptitude, so naturally, Princess Mary’s power was lacking after the possession.

“Everyone in the demon realm knows that the old Demon King died at the hands of the current Demon King,” Alicia’s smile was cold and sarcastic. “Princess Mary only had one son and one daughter. The princess’s strength was average. As the only son, what need did the Demon King have to kill his own father? It’s possible he also faced the risk of being possessed.” Except the Demon King was no pushover. According to some secret demon lore, the old Demon King died a miserable death.

“Possession by a kinsman should be easier, and there’s a chance for the weak to overcome the strong. She must know the Demon King has designs on you; otherwise, she wouldn’t be staring so intently at just me.”

Watching Luka suddenly stand up and pace back and forth uneasily, Alicia felt a strange sense of pleasure. The Demon King was letting Iliad grow so freely, most likely to possess him later.

After a few turns, Luka stopped in front of Quill. “It’s over, it’s over. Mental illness has a certain genetic risk, and this kind of family mental illness is 100%. Will I inherit it in the future?” For example, something like automatically awakening a possession consciousness upon reaching a certain age.

Quill gently patted the back of his hand, his soothing words carrying great power. “Don’t worry, you’ve already split once.”

That’s right. Luka clapped his hands. He had split his soul in half before, which could be considered a form of schizophrenia. What was there to be afraid of? He had to be brave. First, he would start by ensuring he had no descendants.

Alicia: “…” What nonsense are you two spouting?

“The Demon King’s trip to the human domain this time is most likely not good for you,” Alicia forced the topic back. “If this information is useful, I hope you can let me into your fiefdom.” Her situation would be better in a safe zone where the dragon race resided.

Luka thought for two seconds and said with a smile, “As long as you can make it there alive.”

On the other side of the terminal, Alicia immediately summoned her personal guards and ordered in a low voice, “Prepare for a retreat.” Iliad’s meaning was clear: he didn’t mind temporarily taking on her trouble, but whether she could survive the breakout to the safe zone depended entirely on her own abilities. After being injured in the explosion, Princess Mary would be watching her even more closely.

After ending the call, Luka tapped his fingers on the table. “The demon race has a tradition of possession, and the Demon Ancestor also stated outright that he would try to possess me when my soul is strong enough.” As he spoke, his brow furrowed. “But I always feel like the Demon King doesn’t really want to possess me.” The cost-performance ratio was extremely low. Taking a huge step back, even if the Demon King succeeded, he wouldn’t be able to continue advancing through the entertainment route like Luka could.

Quill sat by the window, his features somewhat obscured. “Luka.” Usually, when he called him by his full name, he had something important to say. “You seem to have forgotten something.”

“Hmm?”

“The last time you entered the dream, what the Demon King saw was not you.”

Luka recalled for a fraction of a second, and his expression changed abruptly. He stood up straight. When he spoke again, his tone carried a rare uncertainty. “The Tree of Life… that old bastard, he couldn’t be planning to possess the Tree of Life, could he?!”

Holy crap, that’s too damn shocking.

Quill, however, was very calm. “The more powerful a soul, the harder it is to absorb. When the Tree of Life forcibly devours you, it will also be at its weakest. The Demon King will take advantage of this vulnerability and become the ultimate winner.” His ice-cold tone constructed the most perfect food chain.

Luka almost blurted out a curse. Wouldn’t the Demon King turn into a tree then? On second thought, all living beings with souls could shapeshift. For the powerful, their original form didn’t really matter. It was just that he had been human for too long and was habitually stuck in a fixed mindset.

“I used to think he was a pervert,” Luka said after a long pause. “Turns out he’s about to become a different species.”

Silence filled the room for several minutes. “By the way, do trees have genders? What are a tree’s genitals?” He had always wanted to land that one cut on the Demon King.

Quill, who had been worried about Luka’s mood, was almost angered into laughter by him. What time was this, and he was thinking about that first? A few seconds later, Quill attributed this to the admirable quality of perseverance.

–

Two days later, Luka received a message from Rio. Alicia had suddenly changed her route, temporarily borrowing a path through Red Banyan City. She had lent her army to the Red Banyan City Lord to fight against the remnants of Prince Nordin’s old forces in exchange for the opportunity to use the teleportation array. Unfortunately, she was discovered by Princess Mary’s subordinates halfway through and only had half a life left when she entered the safe zone.

“She’s quite smart.” With her army left in Red Banyan City as collateral, Luka was too embarrassed to ask her to sign a soul contract for the time being.

Not dwelling on the Fifth Princess’s affairs, Luka went to the factory to see the new samples and was pleasantly surprised. “They’re practically works of art.” The dwarves had further innovated on his design drafts. Based on looks alone, they could deal a heavy blow to the monocle market.

Nellie raised her chin proudly. “The internet says you’re holding a press conference?”

Luka nodded. “To be precise, a premiere press conference.” He wanted to do it all in one go.

“There are a lot of eyes on you right now, just waiting for you to mess up so they can break a big story.” Nellie’s tone was a mix of schadenfreude and well-intentioned warning. The development of the internet had brought the status of news hotspots back to the forefront, and every newspaper wanted to dig up a big scoop.

While Luka was talking to Nellie, Quill stood to the side, silently watching him. Luka was completely unaffected by the Demon King’s scheming and seemed to be in a rather good mood, as if he already had a counter-plan. Just then, Luka looked over, and Quill didn’t have time to avert his gaze.

Luka chuckled. “The premiere press conference, when do you think would be a good time?”

“The end of the month.” There were only a few days left until the end of the month. Since they couldn’t create a time gap with “God of Forging,” the closer, the better.

“Alright, the end of the month it is.”

Leaving the factory, the shadows of the intertwined buildings fell around them. In the distance, tourists were taking pictures at the filming locations. The number of tourists had been increasing recently. Besides the new building clusters, being a guide had become a popular local profession.

Along the way, Luka was engrossed in thinking about how to hold the upcoming press conference, not even noticing a common insect crawling onto his collar. Quill reached out and brushed it off for him. The Faith Method exuded an innate affinity, an aura that was almost one with nature, so ordinary animals were not afraid of Luka. It hadn’t been itchy before, but the fingertip that lingered for an extra second now sent a tingling sensation down his neck.

Luka lifted his eyelids, and in their close-up gaze, he changed the subject. “I’m not planning to hold the premiere in the demon realm…”

While Luka was speaking, in a patch of grass far away, a demon insect rested quietly, its two antennae on the side of its head standing up like antennas, its wings vibrating occasionally. The ordinary insects around it were all driven away, scattering in the air.

Soon after, the demon insect that had gathered information flew towards another location. In a crack in the corner of a wall, a Shadow Demon Servant, who had been waiting for a long time, stretched out its hand, ready to receive its little pet. The demon realm was too far away, so the Saintess had asked the Demon King for a batch of special demon servants to monitor Luka’s movements and find an opportunity to finalize their action plan. Shadow Demon Servants could understand the language of insects. They were currently at a sufficient distance, using the mixed scents of tourists as cover, making them difficult to detect even by a grand magus.

As the demon insect buzzed and landed on its palm, the Shadow Demon Servant was about to hold its breath and listen. From behind, an invisible shadow loomed, followed by a powerful force. The Shadow Demon Servant turned to counterattack. Crack, the demon insect in its hand was snatched away and crushed to pieces.

Who discovered me? It couldn’t be Iliad; the target had already walked far away.

Before it could think further, it met a pair of eyes red with excitement. The person who pulled it out said viciously, “Brother, don’t blame me. If you don’t have the skills, just get lost.” Competitors stealing business; in their line of work, you absolutely couldn’t be soft-hearted.

The uninvited guest stared excitedly at the distant figures of Luka and Quill, seeing the situation from a completely different angle. You could just use a flick of magic to get rid of a bug; was there a need to press a finger into someone’s collar? Thinking about it now, the little figure in the network loading screen, the fire thief in the horror game, and even the fake young master, were all based on the same person. The unusual relationship between Iliad and the man next to him had long been foreshadowed. That earlier moment when the soft evening light shone down, their awkward eye contact, the slight turn of Iliad’s head… The photo itself seemed to ripple with chemistry.

Without a doubt, he had captured a big story! An exclusive, it had to be an exclusive!

The Shadow Demon Servant had no idea what was happening. Was someone else also tailing the target? Similar scenes were happening in every corner of Moke City. A row of pebbles in the corner near the guild hall was bizarrely fighting, puppet birds were brawling in the sky… These highly stealthy Shadow Demon Servants and demon insects were completely outmatched by these gossip reporters. They were the first to be kicked out of the information war.

“You…” Who are you? All the Shadow Demon Servants wanted to ask this as they were being beaten up.

“Heh, whoever you are, that’s who I am.”

Just as Nellie had said, many eyes were on Luka right now. Recently, many reporters had disguised themselves as tourists, lurking nearby to try and get his next move. To fight for an exclusive, they had been assuming any suspected lurker was a competitor, directly snatching their dark-box cameras or memory stones. The reporters were ever-changing, and the demon servants’ space was infinitely compressed.

On the other side, the Holy Court, still waiting for the demon servants’ report, received a consolidated message.

[13:00: Bought a transformation potion, but a row of pebbles on the roadside were all transformed. We were beaten before we could even confirm their identities.]
[14:00: Tried to hide in the cracks of a wall, but it was seamless, no room to squeeze in. Had to go around to the roof to hide, got beaten again.]
[15:00: All surrounding observation points are occupied. We have no choice but to disperse.]
[16:00: The entire army has been wiped out.]

The Holy Court: “…”

Luka’s Diary Excerpt:

I’m naturally optimistic. Acknowledging a tree as a father sounds better than acknowledging a thief as a father. In the end, it’s all “fatherly kindness and filial piety” anyway.
Alex: Laughs from the spirit hall.
Luka: Likes this. Wait, why am I liking things in my own diary?

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