The Demon King is Unfathomable
Chapter 24: Version a.02 Update! Death Penalty!

There were plenty of rat tails to be looted. Many of the spiders in the labyrinth had also fallen asleep after overeating, making it ideal to hunt them now.

Roan also didn’t expect there to be buffoons to eye those worthless magic crystals when there were so much more better things to do.

‘It’s like taking off your pants to fart. They are wasting their effort on unnecessary places.’

He was planning to wait for more players to enter the game before introducing death penalties, but thanks to those two fools, he had no choice but to bring his plan forward.

Watching as the two players with names that killed his appetite walked away, Roan asked with a sigh, “Youyou, can’t you pick players with higher aptitude for the closed beta? I’m not saying that only pros deserve to play games, but we should at least blacklist the overly adventurous till the game mechanics are perfected.”

Youyou hesitantly replied, “I’m afraid that’s not possible. I can take back closed beta accounts, but I can’t hand accounts to specific players.”

‘Seems like the closed beta access rights have to be randomly issued. Is this one of the Calamity system’s base code, so it can’t be overwritten?’

Roan could only look on the bright side and think of the ‘overly adventurous players’ as game testers to root out bugs for him.

…

Meanwhile, the release of version a.02 made 《Calamity Online》’s forum bustle with life as if there was a celebration.

When the monsters were attacking the city earlier, a couple of players made use of the respawn delay to post real-time battle updates on the forum.

A rat stampede!

A boss who was the size of a little hill!

And the cool spellcasting special effects too… Even though an NPC doing the spellcasting, it still contributed to the gaming experience!

In a single day, they verified two things.

One, the game’s server was more amazing than they had imagined. Not only were the locations and events seamlessly linked together, but its physics engine allowed realistic destruction of the terrain too!

Two, the game was not just a monotonous farming and mining game!

Just the dense cluster of events in the beginner village showed just how conscientious the developers were! Other games definitely didn’t have such a level of production.

The players on the forum felt itchy hands seeing how much the closed beta players were enjoying themselves. If they could, they would charge into the game right away, pick up a dragonslaying blade, and conquer the world!

“I strongly request the developers to allow screenshots and videos!”

“I demand the development team to delete all closed beta data!”

“AHHHHH!!! I’m going to die without Calamity Online!”

“Holy shit, another update?!”

“I’m stunned! What’s with this development speed?!”

“Good news, brothers! The developers are releasing more closed beta slots!”

“Bad news—there are only 400 slots. (Laughs)”

“Second bad news—there are over 10,000 people on the waiting list now. (Guffaws)”

“@%#$！”

“I’m going to kill all of you! (Angry)”

Zhao Jinyan stared at the forum page in shock. He was not shocked by the netizens’ etiquette on the forum but…

“Damn… I got it?!”

He had long downloaded the demo. With a frantically beating heart, he quickly put on the goggles and keyed in his username and password.

He waited for a good five minutes or so before hearing a dissonant nose.

Bi!

He found himself faced not with the opening sequence he had heard so much about from existing closed beta players but a static screen instead.

“Fuck!”

He took off the goggles and angrily hurled it on the ground. The secondhand VR gear he had bought from Taobao for fifty bucks had hung on him!

‘What lousy gear is this?!’

…

While Zhao Jinyan was busy arguing with black-hearted merchants, the players on 《Calamity Online》’s forum finally began a proper discussion about the a.02 update. R

Villagegramps: “This looks like a huge update, and it is indeed a huge update! Putting aside the death penalty, we are getting social functions and in-game stores!”

Dogshit: “Gramps, it looks like you have said a lot, and you have indeed said a lot.”

Villagegramps: “Screw you! I’m summarizing the update details for our newbies, can’t you tell?!”

Dogshit: “Okay, okay. Chill. The more desperately you try to explain, the more awkward it gets. (Laughs)”

Villagegramps: “@#%$！”

Peerlessbear: “We finally have a place to spend hell coins. Hooray!”

Explodingknowledge: “But what’s the shopkeeper role? And it’s salary is just hell coins?”

Autumnleaf: “You think the developers will give you real money instead of hell coins? Is that possible? (Side glance)”

Explodingknowledge: “Our guide bro is here!”

FlowermonkLinDaiyu: “Guidebro, help us break down what’s going on! This is such a major update. Does it means the game is going to be officially released very soon?”

Autumnleaf: “Idk, I’m not part of the development team. Besides, even though this update is pretty big, the implemented things are pretty routine. I mean, which game doesn’t have death penalties, a social system, and in-game stores?”

Dirtypants: “Ah, you’re right!”

Noface: “Whew, that’s a close shave! I nearly got scammed by the dog developers!”

Goblinchief: “Fake update! Boo, I demand a refund!”

Minowarrior: “Bro, your username is pretty interesting! Shall we play together?”

Autumnleaf: “Cough… It was rude of me to say that. While these are common features, we shouldn’t forget that Calamity Online is unique, open world exploration game developed by an indie studio… I’m going to start flattering, so don’t be in a rush to whack me, dog developer!”

Autumnleaf: “This update might not be a lot, but we can get a glimpse of the developer’s ambition if we read between the lines. For instance, it is stated that different races have different death penalties. They are already laying the groundwork for the implementation of other races.”

Orcknight: “Succubus! SUCCUBUSSSS!! (Shrieks)”

Autumnleaf: “That’s right. I’m guessing there will be some kind of mechanism in the future that allows players to spend contribution points to upgrade into orcs and succubuses.”

Fecespool: “Why contribution points?! Why not hell coins or magic crystals?”

Autumnleaf: “Magic crystals? Back to the point, the death penalty deducts contribution points, so it makes sense for changing races to require contribution points too. Hell coins are too susceptible to inflation. I would link such an important system to it if I’m the developer.”

Autumnleaf: “Also, I can feel that the developer is carefully regulating the distribution of contribution points, which suggests it might have a huge impact on the game’s balance. The biggest thing that will shake up the game balance I can think of right now is race change. Obviously, high demons are going to be much stronger than low-rank demons.”

Dogshit: “Amazing analysis! I submit to you!”

Explodingknowledge: “You dare claim you aren’t an internal staff! I bet you’re a shill! (Angry)”

Autumnleaf: “…”

Goblinchief: “Bro, give me a closed beta slot! I’ll let you have your way with me when I become a succubus! QAQ”

Autumnnleaf: “Scram!”

Villagegramps: “Hahahaha!”

“…”

Meanwhile, in the inn beside Northpeak Shaft’s entrance, Roan sat beneath a decrepit stable, peeping on the discussions on the official forum page through a mirror while barbecuing rat tail skewers.

He was averse to eating ratman flesh, but he had heard that rat tail was a herbal medicine.

Anyway, he decided to stow away his meat jerky, which had a longer expiration date, and survive on the players’ tribute for the next few days.

“Not bad. He has some substance to him.”

Roan repeatedly murmured “Roasted duck” under his breath as he mustered his courage to a bite off his rat tail skewer. It was surprisingly not awful. Now that he was chewing it, it did bear some resemblance to duck meat.

‘A pity I don’t have cumin and MSG. It’ll get too gamey if I eat too much.’

He suddenly remembered Thunderbuzz City was located next to the sea. There should be a coastline if he ventured southward.

‘I might be able to refine MSG if I can get some seaweed there.’

He had no idea how MSG was made, but he had an army of players to fall back on!

The more he thought about it, the more plausible he thought it was. At the same time, he was also surprised that his transmigrator senior hadn’t considered this possibility.

“I guess there’s a limit to what one can do by oneself. Even gods are susceptible to mistakes…”

Youyou: “Demon King?”

“It’s nothing. I’m just thinking that it’s good to have these rascals with us. Hahaha!”

Entertained by the netizens’ humorous discussion, Roan guffawed like a true demon king.

“Speaking of which, Youyou, why don’t you try a bite too?”

Youyou fearfully took two steps back in the mirror. “Uhh, I-I think I’ll pass… It’s not like I can eat in my current state anyway.”

“Is that so?” Roan wiped the grease off his lips. “What a pity. It’s surprisingly tasty, you know?”

All of a sudden, Bant, who was lying by the corner with his head dangling in an uncomfortable position, suddenly opened his pale eyes and growled.

“What’s wrong, Bant? Are you surprised by my culinary skills? Or do you smell a living being?” Roan asked with a cheery smile, but his eyes turned cold as he instinctively grabbed his wand.

He and Jack had agreed to trade their goods tomorrow evening, when the sun was going down. There was still an entire day to go before that.

“What’s wrong, Demon King?”

“I don’t know. It might be an assassin.”

‘That person’s aura is very faint. Likely an expert capable of concealing their aura. Furthermore, that fellow is agile enough to avoid the alert magic formations I constructed around the inn!’

‘As I thought, it’s still too dangerous to stay out here.’

Roan quietly rose to his feet.

He darted to the corner, pretending that he urgently needed the toilet. At the same time, he secretly ordered Bant to rein in his aura and wait for the target to appear before making a move.

Then, he grabbed a mirror piece and told Youyou to reflect the scene for him.

Shortly after Roan left, the figure hidden in the shadows darted out and scurried to the campfire.

‘Is that fellow planning to lace the food with poison? That’s a good plan, but I have a counter.’

The agile figure grabbed a rat tail skewer from the campfire and wolfed it down.

Looking at the cat ears swaying in the mirror, Roan was stunned.

‘Is that… a demonoid?! This fellow is from the underworld too?!’