Chapter 47: Deduction Complete, Master of the Demon Dragon

Time passed without him realizing.

Soon, as his phone’s timer began its final countdown, Lince’s expression grew increasingly tense.

At the same time, it wasn’t just Lince; over eight thousand Players from all corners of Blue Star were just as nervous.

The reason was simple: by now, the Players had figured out the current inference mechanics of the True Game.

The True Game servers would shut down at midnight, Eastern Continent time.

Players just had to calculate the time for their respective time zones.

The moment the servers shut down at midnight in the Eastern Continent was the same instant the entire True Game’s inference was completed.

Simultaneously, the True Game would upload a compilation of Player videos to all of Blue Star’s internet video platforms.

In that same instant, the True Game also delivered its life-or-death judgment on each Player’s game progress.

In the game, if a Player’s inference failed, they would receive a notification of their failure at the stroke of midnight in the Eastern Continent—not a second sooner, not a second later. Their Character Card would be wiped clean instantly.

Although successful Players wouldn’t get a notification, they could determine their success by checking if their Character Card was still there.

So naturally, every Player was incredibly tense at this moment.

The room was so quiet that Lince felt like he could hear his own breathing.

Even though Lince had advanced to Tier Four, how could he not be nervous?

Tier Four wasn’t invincible. Moreover, he had made an aggressive choice this time and might even face an investigation from the Truth Church.

With all these factors piled up, Lince certainly had reason to worry.

In fact, his anxiety was no less than that of any other Low Tier Player.

And so, amid this tense anticipation, the moment finally arrived!

"AHHH!!!"

"Heavens! Earth! I passed!!!"

"I passed this four-hundred-day inference!!! Haha!!!"

"..."

At the stroke of midnight, successful Players all across Blue Star erupted in similar cheers!

Some clenched their fists in excitement, their faces flushed red.

Of course, there were also those who clutched their heads and cursed in agony!

"Damn it!!!"

"I knew it! I knew it! The four-hundred-day inference! This damn four-hundred-day inference!"

"My future! My key to a successful life! I can’t accept this!"

"..."

Some cursed, and naturally, others wept in sorrow!

Such were the great ups and downs of life.

「Meanwhile, in Dawn City’s Binhe District.」

Lince sat before his computer, looking at the Character Card still floating in front of him, and finally let out a long sigh of relief.

He didn’t shout or cheer for joy. All he felt was the sudden, total-body relaxation that follows heart-pounding fear.

For Lince, this feeling was far more thrilling than matching the first five or six numbers on a lottery ticket.

Honestly, Lince couldn’t imagine what the other Players around the world were feeling right now!

But he figured their situations weren’t much better than his.

After leaning back in his gaming chair for a while to compose himself, Lince finally opened a web browser and went straight to Pi-Station.

’The four-hundred-day inference.’

’Since I passed the four-hundred-day inference, the situation in the Wilderness near the Swamp Territory should be mostly under control according to my plan, right?’

’Alright, let’s see the results of over a year’s work in the game!’

This time, Lince went straight to his followed channels and found the True Game’s ID.

And then... he realized he didn’t even need to search!

Because his video was the very first one in the compilation!

[Praise! Celebrate! The birth of the Chief Elite Player! The rise of the Master of the Demon Dragon has officially begun!]

???

What the hell???

Lince stared at the title, and then at the video’s homepage thumbnail—a freeze-frame of the Rock Steel Giant—and his vision went dark.

’Damn it!!!’

Lince had considered that the video of this inference would put him in the spotlight.

But he never thought it would be this high-profile!

Looking at the image of the Giant Dragon in the homepage’s freeze-frame, he had to admit, the Rock Steel Giant looked incredibly cool now!

It perfectly matched his aesthetic standards for Power and strength.

Still, this left Lince feeling completely helpless.

’Weren’t the compilation videos always released in a random order before? They never highlighted anyone or sorted them by the Players’ Tiers!’

’But why am I on the front page this time!!!’

’Chief Elite Player?’

’Heavy is the head that wears the crown, is that it?’

At that moment, Lince really wanted to murder the unseen operator behind the True Game.

’I knew I’d be conspicuous this time, but did you have to make me *this* conspicuous?’

’And what the hell is with this title?’

’Could it be any more cringey?’

’It was so awkward he felt he could carve a three-bedroom apartment out of the floor with his toes.’

’Master of the Demon Dragon?’

Lince was speechless at first. But after calming down, his mind immediately started making connections based on the title.

’It seems this so-called Master of the Demon Dragon is definitely related to my character subjugating the other Demon Beasts in the Wilderness during Inference Day.’

"Alright, if they’re going to be this high-profile about it, then so be it."

"I just hope the events of Inference Day live up to this so-called ’Master of the Demon Dragon’ title."

Lince calmed himself and then clicked the play button on the inference video.

The moment it started playing...

...Wow. Just, wow.

The screen was completely filled with a dense wall of scrolling comments, totally obscuring the video!

"What’s going on? Chief Elite Player?"

"Master of the Demon Dragon? Is this the same Giant Lizard Player I remember?"

"What the heck? Why is this Chief Player a monster?! My handsome Elf is super strong too, why didn’t he become the Chief?"

"Tch! Come on, you Human Race Players, step it up! How could you let a monster Player take the top spot!"

"So ugly! What even is that thing! Master of the Demon Dragon? The Player using this character can’t be a good person!"

"Hahaha, go on, keep flaming. I love watching you rage. The day this Player shows up in reality looking like that, you’ll all know how wrong you were!"

"..."

The wall of comments practically blinded Lince.

He glanced at the viewer count and saw that it had instantly reached the tens of millions and was still climbing like crazy!

At this, Lince realized he had truly underestimated the impact of this event.

And this was just on Pi-Station. God knows what the situation was like on the other major global video sites.

But he imagined it was no less intense.

’Looks like I’ve really been thrown into the eye of the storm this time.’

’That means from now on, I’ll need to be much more careful in the real world!’

Lince’s expression turned serious.

This was no joke. He couldn’t afford to treat it with a half-assed attitude any longer.

After all, before, he was just one of one hundred and twenty-six Tier Three Players.

Even then, people had put out bounties for his information. Now that he was Tier Four and had been so ostentatiously dubbed the "Chief Elite Player," things would be even worse.

He didn’t even have to think about it; countless ’dignitaries’ and ’powerful families’ across Blue Star were probably offering massive rewards for his information right now.

His forum group ID being exposed was one thing; the game forums would protect Player information, so it didn’t matter even if other group members leaked his ID.

But in the real world, Lince absolutely could not use his Character Card carelessly anymore.

He couldn’t even casually buy or raise pets corresponding to the Forest Wolf or the Unihorned Demon Bear!

After all, the inference video would expose everything about his in-game activities.

The government and other major powers were definitely capable of reverse-engineering his real-world needs from his in-game situation.

So, with a cautious and serious attitude, Lince temporarily disabled all the scrolling comments and began to watch the progress and gains of his Swamp Territory and the Rock Steel Giant from Inference Day.

As for his real-world situation... for now, Lince had little choice but to take it one step at a time.