34: Chapter 34: The Pay-to-Win Strategy – It's all about getting you to spend money!

"Yes, Master. This secret realm is a First-order Deity kingdom. Upon entry, you may choose from paid programs such as secret realm exploration, divine kingdom offense and defense, and Believer duels."

"Once inside the secret realm, a dedicated main brain will serve you, and you may terminate your current program at any time."

"Finally, the main brain will charge you based on your progress. Each activation of the secret realm requires a minimum of 10,000 divine power points."

Although the Lord had already provided a brief introduction earlier, Wang Tao and Su Xue still couldn't help but gasp upon hearing the mechanical creation's explanation. This was a deity! How many Divine Beings in Anping County had the greatest dream of their lives to become a deity?

Yet now, right here in this so-called villa area, a real deity was imprisoned, turned into a secret realm and a recreational program?

"M-Master... this, this is..."

Seeing Wang Tao stuttering, Lin Xiao just smiled. He then turned his head to look at the massive spatial formation before them.

"My Believers can now fight five second-order beasts without taking any damage. I imagine your progress should be much faster than mine. In a few more days, your Believers should be able to reach the threshold of the prodigies our teacher mentioned, so I came here today to let you experience a demigod."

As he spoke, Lin Xiao tossed a few building cards to the two of them.

[Clear Spring (B-grade): Ordinary building. Price: 3,000,000 faith points]

[Description: Bathing in or drinking the spring water inside can eliminate fatigue and slowly restore the Believers' blood vitality and stamina.]

[Spirit Gathering Pool (B-grade): Strategic building. Price: 30,000 divine power points]

[Description: Constructed from spirit stones, spirit plants, and formations. It can draw in spiritual energy from earth veins and combine it with the wood spirit energy from plants. It can quickly heal the Believers' physical injuries.]

[Verdant Ancient Forest (B-grade): Strategic building. Price: 80,000 divine power points]

[Description: A special ancient forest constructed from top-tier mortal-grade spirit wood, spirit plants, and formations. It is rich in wood-type spiritual energy. Believers entering it can continuously and rapidly recover from their injuries, and it also possesses the effects of calming the mind and nourishing the body.]

As a long-time customer of the shop, Lin Xiao only needed to pay a 100% premium to quickly acquire these strategic buildings.

Not to mention the faith points, he purchased three sets of the [Spirit Gathering Pool] and [Verdant Ancient Forest]. He now had 470,000 divine power points remaining.

"The main purpose of coming here this time is to let you experience the specific strength of a demigod, but we cannot neglect the necessary protective measures. If your Believers get injured later, don't push them; let them retreat and use these healing buildings to recover. Our goal here is just to experience it, so don't get hot-headed and treat it as a real life-and-death battle, understand?"

After loading the three buildings and feeling the vibrant life force emitted by the two strategic structures, the two tried placing some Believers who had been injured during previous training inside.

They watched as the injuries on those Believers began to improve at a speed visible to the naked eye. Seeing this effect, both of them were overjoyed.

"Thank you, Master, for the reward. We understand."

"Hmm, we are all on the same side, so there's no need to be so polite with me. Believers are the foundation of a deity. I can't control others, but within our own ranks, especially when I have no shortage of divine power points, there's no need to excessively exploit your Believers. Any problem that can be solved by spending money is never truly a problem. In the future, when you encounter issues, don't be stubborn and try to force your way through. Use your brains more and think about how to solve problems using divine power points. The highest form of warfare is to attack the enemy's strategy, followed by attacking their alliances, then their army, and the lowest form is attacking their cities. Mobilizing troops and attacking cities are the worst strategies, to be used only as a last resort. Under normal circumstances, we should ideally resolve battles during the alliance stage. As for the highest form of warfare—attacking the strategy—when we have plenty of divine power points, we only use open, honorable strategies! We leverage grand, overwhelming momentum! Conspiracies are merely minor paths taken when resources are insufficient."

After listening to Lin Xiao's speech, Wang Tao and Su Xue felt their worldviews being overturned yet again. Ever since they had become Slave Gods, the Master had consistently shattered their worldviews time and time again.

Wang Tao found it genuinely difficult to understand, but keeping the learning mindset of asking if one does not know, he immediately raised his right hand high. After receiving permission, he quickly voiced his question.

"Master, I understood everything you just said. The only problem is, without experiencing life-and-death tests, how can the Believers improve their strength? Whether it's our teachers or the principal, all the high-level beings I've come into contact with have always encouraged fighting and breaking through in the midst of battle, haven't they? If we rely too much on divine power points, won't that be bad for the Believers? An overly stable environment will breed war-weariness and a fear of battle in them... Uh, these are things our teachers taught us."

Faced with this question, Lin Xiao laughed disdainfully.

"Pfft! What life-and-death tests? Your Believers haven't experienced life-and-death, yet aren't they already nearing their First-order limit? And this 'breaking through in battle'—isn't it much safer to break through before the battle even begins? As for the war-weariness and fear of battle you mentioned? When you brought your Believers out before, were they afraid of death? Or were they afraid of fighting?"

Ah, this...

The Master's counter-question left Wang Tao at a loss for how to respond. It seemed his Believers truly had improved just by eating. If he hadn't been holding them back, it wouldn't have been impossible for them to be at the third order by now. As for war-weariness? He recalled the fanatical expressions of those thousand Believers when he had issued his divine oracle. Where was there any sign of war-weariness or fear of battle? They looked as if they couldn't wait to tear all enemies to shreds! He also clearly remembered the pride of General Zhan Yi's team when he had selected them, as well as the disappointment on the faces of the Believers who hadn't been chosen.

Seeing his two subordinates looking enlightened, confused, and conflicted, Lin Xiao knew they still hadn't fully grasped the point.

"Is it that hard to understand? Let's take you as an example. Those gifted individuals outside, even those Divine Beings with B-grade or A-grade talents—they don't have enough divine power points to let their Believers consume 15 pills every day. Naturally, they have no choice but to force their Believers to exhaust their potential through life-and-death struggles, trading quantity for final advancement. But you can afford it! Your Believers break through just by eating their fill of pills every day. In such a situation, if you insist on forcing them to undergo life-and-death training, isn't that just foolish? And regarding war-weariness and fear of battle: if an enemy were to appear right now and I needed you to fight, would you be afraid or terrified?"

As soon as he said this, the two subordinates immediately knelt on one knee, their faces filled with solemnity and devotion.

"Master, whatever you require, we will not hesitate to die for you!"

He waved his hand casually, signaling the two to get up quickly.

"Isn't that it? When you provide top-tier treatment, I don't even need to say anything; you yourselves know what to do and will even find things to do when there's nothing else. What war-weariness? What fear of battle? At the end of the day, it's just that those people want the horse to run fast, while also wanting the horse to eat little, or even not eat at all. It would be best if the horse could spit something out for them to sell! How could there be such a good deal in this world? Believers are people too. If you treat them like humans, place them in important positions, and consider their needs, the Believers will naturally feel it and will naturally repay you with all their loyalty and passion. You can't treat people like livestock and still expect them to sacrifice their lives for you, can you?"

These words instantly struck the two subordinates like a bolt of enlightenment, and they suddenly understood exactly what was going on.

This also made them gradually understand a truth: the Master's pay-to-win strategy focuses on paying to win. As long as there are enough divine power points, there is no problem that cannot be solved!