Chapter 53: The Video Concludes, the Grand Situation is Set

Chapter 53: Chapter 53: The Video Concludes, the Grand Situation is Set The Inference video was still playing, but the outcome was basically set.

The video was an hour and a half long, with the three main, non-fast-forwarded segments taking up an hour and twenty-five minutes.

The final five minutes were a montage of fast-forwarded scenes, showing the Rock Steel Giant Dragon bringing all the Demon Beasts subjugated by the Unihorned Demon Bear under its command.

Finally, the screen froze on a shot high in the sky, with the Rock Steel Giant Dragon looking down upon the Deserted Forest.

Like a monarch surveying the lands he had conquered.

Below in the forest, countless Demon Beasts howled up at their sovereign in the sky, a fervent response.

In the very end, the entire video sped up like a time-lapse, the camera panning rapidly from east to west, displaying over 30,000 Tierless Demon Beasts and more than 200 Entry Tier Demon Beasts roaring at the sky.

At the same time, the game screen also displayed a map of the ruled territory.

The map was a long, narrow, irregular rectangle, and its total area exceeded 130,000 square kilometers.

Seeing this, Lince’s heart finally settled.

’Only four hundred days, and I have over 30,000 Tierless Demon Beasts? And more than two hundred Entry Tier ones?’

’This has far exceeded my expectations! I’ve spread myself a bit thin this time!’

’But isn’t this exactly what I wanted?’

Lince was naturally in a very good mood at this moment.

After all, based on the information he had gathered in the Game World, a Beast Tide of this scale should be enough to catch the Western Realm of the Silver Lion Duchy completely off guard.

And the Human Race in the Western Realm would have absolutely no way to control the situation unless they organized tens of thousands of Elite Soldiers to resist. They would even need a significant number of Entry Tier and Low Tier forces, and it would be impossible without at least a few dozen Middle Tier individuals.

This was because they would no longer be facing a Beast Tide organized by a common, low-intelligence Middle Tier Demon Beast.

Instead, they would be facing Lince, the Player known as the "Master of the Demon Dragon."

Therefore, if Lince were to organize the Demon Beast Tide himself, he would never divide his forces haphazardly like previous Beast Tides.

He would meticulously coordinate his aerial, ground, and even underground and underwater units for combined operations.

If he could subjugate another dozen or so Middle Tier Demon Beasts, Lince would even have the Power to shake the entire Silver Lion Duchy!

After all, the number of Strong Persons in a Duchy was finite.

In the Silver Lion Duchy, for example, there were only about sixty-odd publicly known Middle Tier individuals, and the only High Tier one was the Duke, the Old Lion.

The Middle and High Tier Strong Persons in the Duchy were certainly powerful, but ultimately, the greater their strength, the greater their consumption.

The more they consumed, the more time they needed to recover through Meditation.

Moreover, the total Magic Power in a given region was limited. If too much was consumed, the Magic Power in the environment could not possibly recover in a short time.

Thus, in large-scale battles, the situation would often intensify to a point where no one could replenish their Magic Power, or where replenishment would be incredibly slow.

In such circumstances, the battlefield became a contest of attrition, a war of resources.

And on the Oakland Continent, the strategic resource was, of course, Magic Crystals.

Of course, this wasn’t to say that Lince truly had the strength to challenge a Duchy in the short term.

After all, the weaknesses of Demon Beasts were also very obvious.

They had low intelligence and their morale was difficult to maintain. If a Strong Person from the Human Race were to launch a decapitation strike, the situation would become very dangerous.

Furthermore, the Human Race had many specialized Magical Devices, Alchemy, Arrays, and the like.

Therefore, unless the situation became absolutely dire, Lince would definitely continue to lie low and quietly build his strength.

After all, you had to be strong yourself to get anything done, and Lince’s personal power was still on the low side.

What’s more, if a Beast Tide actually managed to destroy a Duchy, it was hard to say what drastic actions the Human Countries might take.

So, Lince’s current goal was actually very simple: to possess the Power to protect the entire Swamp Territory.

After all, his core gameplay was family development, not a lone wolf or Demon Lord playstyle.

Once the York family of the Swamp Territory was destroyed, Lince truly didn’t know what kind of situation he would face.

And the worst-case scenario was, of course, game over!

Therefore, being able to possess this degree of self-preservation for now, Lince was naturally very satisfied.

So, in this comfortable state of mind, he casually opened the comment section below the video.

Hauling Pigs at Midnight: "It’s over. Is this even the same Lizard I’ve been following? He was clearly just a big Lizard before, how did he suddenly become a Dragon? And the Master of the Demon Dragon at that? This is worse than death. I haven’t even gotten my second-round beta access yet, how did you get so strong, bro?"

IsItSpicy: "I’ll cut to the chase. After watching this video, I pretty much get it. This Demon Dragon Player has really hit the jackpot."

"Family-style gameplay, or rather, the faction-lord style, is already pretty rare in the game. And on top of that, this Player found a real treasure—and by treasure, I’m obviously talking about Knight York."

"Let’s not even talk about the advantage of him being a descendant of the Nobility. Even his mind is getting sharper with his wife’s companionship. That’s what makes him a treasure."

"Take this crisis, for example. If York had told the Demon Dragon to kill everyone from the Duke’s Mansion in the forest, the outcome would have been disastrous. But anyone with half a brain knows not to do that, so it turned out fine."

"In my opinion, the smartest thing about this York fellow is that he’s getting better and better at reading the situation!"

"He’s started promoting faith in the Player’s ’Deities’ on one hand, while cultivating Entry Tier Knights and Death Warriors on the other. Add to that secretly accumulating wealth under the protection and support of the Player’s current Demon Beast army, and he’s definitely going to rise up fast!"

"I’ll make a bet. Within the next one or two Inference Days, York will definitely reach Tier Three, and he will have several dozen Entry Tier Knights under his command."

Non-Relapsing Relapser: "The guy above is talking complete bullshit. I’ve followed all of Lizard’s videos. In the end, it’s just the Emperor of Luck showing off! The gameplay style, playing as a Demon Beast, Knight York... with a start like that, anyone who isn’t a complete idiot could’ve had an explosive takeoff, okay?! I’ll just say this: Emperors of Luck should all just die!!!"

FlyingCelestialGod: "None of you are getting to the point. I’ve been following Lizard’s videos this whole time, too, you know?"

"Shouldn’t you all be paying attention to why he started out as Tier Four this time and even became a Demon Dragon?"

"So, I’ve discovered a secret here. WAR!!! Only through war can you get better Inference Day rewards!!! Of course, the prerequisite is that you have to survive it!"

"Therefore, I’m giving a piece of advice to all you guys and gals who can still play the game: go stir up some trouble! If you don’t make some moves and take a gamble, you’re all going to get crushed by Lizard—oh, I mean, by Giant Dragon bro!"

Over 30 and Never Been to a Bar: "Give me a break. Stir up trouble? The number of Players is tiny right now, and we’re scattered all over the place. How the hell is Giant Dragon bro going to crush anyone?"

"Stir up trouble? Do you even want to keep your game access?! You just love watching the world burn. Anyone with a bit of sense knows that the current stage is all about stability. Even if your power progression is slower, it’s better than losing your right to play."

"Besides, that’s just Giant Dragon bro’s situation. It’s not like he chose war or an aggressive playstyle. It was all forced by circumstance. He had to swim against the current or face a major failure. So, a word of advice to everyone still playing: stay stable! At least stay stable until the second round of access is granted. You can’t waste such a major life opportunity because you got hot-headed for a moment! That’s all I’ll say."

"..."

The discussion in the comment section was intense, with some posts being insightful, others full of jealousy and envy, and some just enjoying the drama.

But there was no denying that there were quite a few smart people.

They also knew that the reason Lince reached Tier Four was a reward from the battle between Demon Beasts. But so what if they knew? Lince’s geographical location and gameplay style had already determined everything, creating a situation that was nearly impossible for any other Player to replicate.

So, after scrolling through the video’s comment section, Lince casually moved on to the Player forums.

After all, Lince was now very curious to see what kind of attitude the Countermeasures Bureau and the forum Players were showing.