---Viktor's POV---

  "Why is the cost of the Realistic Pyer Sanity fun so much higher than other features? Wasn't that something I set randomly?"

  I could never my head around this part. Could the fervor of believers really be quantified as SAN value?

  I fiddled with the sole, browsing through options. There were a few intriguiures.

  "Hm... The realistic game panel is essentially a buyout of the game's interface funality. 100 divine power points may seem expensive," I mused.

  "But as long as there are more than 100 pyers in the game, buying out this feature is way more cost-effective than making individual panels for each pyer. If only I had one hundred pyers..."

  "Iory space. A must-have fames, and it es with five slots of ste. Portable space is essential for pyers!"

  I g the price of the iory feature and instantly cooled down.

  "1000 divine power points? No way, that's way too expensive. Highway robbery!"

  Early-stage game features were critical, and this was my first time choosing one. I had to be careful. 1000 divine power points could typically unlock two features.

  Spending it all on iory was just not worth it.

  Finally, there was the izatioure, which had much broader applications and came with variable costs depending on how it was used.

  I wao use the izatioure to add a mana value dispy to the game pahis idea stemmed from an i involving the pyers who were forcibly logged out because they'd depleted their mana reserves.

  Pyers, after all, weren't native inhabitants of Aeltia. They need numbers, bars, something crete. Expeg them to instinctively monitor their mana like real mages was asking too much.

  A digitized mana dispy could solve this problem perfectly. No more pyers colpsing from mana exhaustion simply because they couldn't gauge their own limits.

  After some tinkering, I successfully figured the realistia value dispy.

  "500 divine power... Of course."

  My st glimmer of hope was crushed. In the end, I couldn't afford anything!

  After much deliberation, I finally remembered why I'd e to the sole in the first pce.

  "Wasn't I inally trying to deal with the pyers' death penalties?"

  I rubbed my smooth skull.

  "Then Luminaris came along, and I fot all about it! I o use my brain more... Ah, right. I don't have a brain. I am a skeleton."

  The i with the worms during the day had reminded me of a crucial point. Although I could always craft new bodies for pyers who died, creating human bodies ed magical materials.

  Many of the materials required by the ritual were extraordinarily rare. And given my current "wanted" status, obtaining them wasn't easy!

  Each use brought me closer to running out, and I had no idea when I'd find repts. Until I secured alternative materials, I had to implement a death penalty.

  First, I checked if I could ize pyer respawn points.

  Good news: the sole did indeed have this feature.

  Bad news: the cost was a string of zeros, far beyond what my three-digit divine power could handle.

  As for penalties tied to resurre…

  I picked up a feather pen and began jotting notes on a floating part.

  "First, a respawn cooldown. Activating the ritual to craft a new body takes one day. That should qualify as a penalty for pyers."

  " is experience loss… ht, I haven't set up save points for pyers yet."

  I clutched my head in frustration.

  Just earlier, when my divine power value had updated, I'd felt fident about breaking even quickly.

  But now, as I began spending it, I truly uood the phrase "money burns a hole in your pocket." Though in my case, it was divine power burning through my ent pockets.

  "Let's leave the save points for ter. For now, after resurre, any experience gained beyond the st save point won't be retained. Yes, that'll be penalty wo!"

  "And then… right, we don't even have game currency yet. How do I fine dead pyers without money? Losing money upoh will be the third penalty!"

  I dropped the feather pen and carefully reviewed the pyer resurre system I had written down to ehing was missed.

  Penalties for pre-death (lost unsaved experience), durih (respawn cooldown), and post-death (currency dedu) were all covered.

  Later, I would set the amount of money deducted high enough to disce pyers from dying recklessly.

  My empty sockets glowed with satisfa.

  "With the addition of game currency, we finally start charging for starter gear and quest items."

  Our initial supplies weren't abundant; we couldn't let pyers squahem freely. Only when pyers paid for things would they value them.

  I spent another long stretch tinkeriually, I used 100 divine power to mark the undead resurre ritual.

  Now, when pyers died, the new body crafted by the ritual would use the data from their st save point.

  , I turned my attention to creating game currency. Unfortunately, creating currency required 500 divine power points—and it would only produce 10,000 s.

  If I needed more, I'd have to pay again.

  The exorbitant price made my e ache. The system could've just robbed me ht, yet it had chosen to give me tokens with no intrinsic value instead.

  "The value of game currency isn't like other features. It shouldn't cost this much!"

  Uher funs, game currency didn't o monitor pyer health. It was more akin to a 100-poiure—just beling objects with a special identifier and anizing them.

  The only tricky part was creating the s themselves.

  "There's got to be a way t the cost down," I muttered.

  If I could solve the creation problem and only use divine power for the final identification process, the price might drop dramatically.

  With this thought in mind, I returo the sole and worked until dawn.

  At st, I found a cheaper way to produce game currency: alchemy for crafting the s and divine power for anti-terfeit certification.

  I wasted no time putting the pn into a.

  I ehe church, headed to a er, and began g away, building alchemical equipment.

  Sparks flew everywhere, waking Luminaris, who had been dozing on the idol overhead.

  "Hmm? What in the divine realms...?" His tiny eyes bli the faint light outside.

  "What are you doing?! 't a ball get some sleep?!"

  "Alchemy," I replied. "What else?"

  "You know alchemy?! Wait, even if you do, 't you do it during the day?"

  g!

  I tossed aside an iron funnel and fixed him with the hollow gaze of my skeletal head.

  "If you're so capable, why don't you do it? I'm a heavily injured being who hasn't eve, yet I'm w tirelessly for our future. Have I pined?"

  With that, I pulled up the system panel, emphasizing one particur stat: my remaining survival time.

  [Survival Time: 8 days, 13 hours, 14 minutes]

  Luminaris immediately became sheepish.

  "Well..." he stammered.

  "And look at Edgar over there. He's covered in wounds too, but he didn't even wake up." I poioward the padin, who was resting in another er.

  He had mao struct a personal room out of the barely usable bricks and stones from the town. Even though my area was exceptionally noisy, his side remained pletely undisturbed.

  I turned bad interrogated Luminaris, "As the only one among the three of us without a single scratch, don't you feel ashamed? Why don't you refle yourself for a moment? Maybe you're having trouble sleeping because your work during the day is too easy."

  Luminaris froze in pce. "Is... is that true?"

  "Of course!" I replied decisively. "I don't need your help right now. Go back to sleep!"

  He lowered his head in shame. "I'm sorry for disturbing your work." He obediently returo the palm of the statue's hand.

  I turned back to tinue my earlier task.

  At 700 years old, I had dabbled iype of magic. Alchemy was no exception. But even a clever ior couldn't craft without materials.

  Ba the Frostwind Pins, those two reckless novice monks had destroyed my ste bag. Now, my magical materials were pitifully scarce, especially the ones usable for alchemy.

  "Let's see..." I muttered, s through the meager remains. "Three ks of ented iron, some crystallized mana residue, and enough runic dust to maybe fill a thimble. Wonderful."

  After pig and s through my resources, the only thing I could create was an alchemical item capable of transf dirt into some sort of copper-like alloy discs.

  I Rune Fe.

  The Rune Fe had three material input slots. After passing through the rea chamber and the version matrix, the materials were processed into three output slots.

  The alloy discs produced from the outputs varied in size and design, representing values of 1, 10, and 100.

  The exterior was plete, but there was one final step: activating the version matrix in the fe's ter.

  I gathered golden-red energy in my palm, illuminating my hand bones in a bllow.

  "Seal!"

  The entire fe shuddered violently, its color shifting from pure bck to brass.

  "Cough, cough!"

  My body colpsed with a crisp "snap," scattering into a pile of white bones. "You know you're having a bad day when your skull rolls uhe furniture," I grumbled, reassembling myself.

  Three seds ter, I ropped up against the wall, adjusting my head bato pce.

  "Ah, I knew I ushing it too far."

  I opened my system panel and g my reduced lifespan.

  [Survival Time: 6 days, 19 hours, 56 minutes]

  Already limited, my survival time had been reduced by nearly a quarter. I barely reacted, skimming over the numbers as if they were ordinary figures.

  I closed the panel and began calg my mana ption.

  "Casting Fireball to save those three only cost ten minutes of life, but making this alchemical item took two whole days..." I mused. "Hmm. I'll have to start being more servative with my magic..."

  Looking at the short, stout Rune Fe, I opes trol pahe currency fun had successfully been lowered to a cost of 100 divine power.

  My eyes lit up. "Not bad! Two days weren't wasted! I've essentially verted that time into 400 divine power!"

  I immediately purchased the currency fun and began experimenting.

  ---

  Ten mier, I held a freshly minted game in my hand. The 's front side dispyed the value "100," while the back featured an embellished chibi-style skull.

  The 's edges were serrated and decorated with intricate patterns.

  "This looks like something only an evil fa would use." I flipped the between my fingers. "But... who cares? As the designer, I like it, and that's what matters!"

  After all, The Watcher had already been beled as part of the evil fa because of my undead identity.

  At the same time, my game panel popped up.

  [New game currency added: 100 Game Currency!]

  "Wait! The currency's name is literally 'Game Currency'?!"

  I quickly opehe GM trol panel and re. "Undead s? No, too on the nose. Let's call it... Magis! Si's a produagical alchemy."

  I pocketed the 100-value Magi and carried the half-human-sized Rune Fe through most of the church. I knocked oemporary wooden door of Edgar's room.

  After a moment, the door opened.

  He appeared fully dressed.

  "Viktor, it's not work hours yet," he said.

  Outside, the sky was still a foggy blue. Dawn in the Divine Realm was at least two hours away.

  "Ah, but opportunity knocks at all hours, my friend!" I replied with utter shamelessness. "Even so, you're awake now, aren't you? And, dear Edgar, you should start getting used to the time difference. When more pyers join, they won't care what time it is. They'll be knog on your door 24/7!"

  "... I'm starting to think we should resider our pn to revive the anization."

  "I refuse!" I said without hesitation. "Now, won't you invite me in?"

  Edgar stepped aside.

  Si was a hastily built resting area, the room was small. Apart from the bed, only half of the floor space was walkable. With one human and one undead ihe room instantly felt cramped.

  I shoved the heavy Rune Fe into Edgar's hands and expis funality. "From now on, you're the Treasurer of The Watcher! Think of it as a promotiohis thing here. I trust you'll take good care of it!"

  Edgar g the alchemical tool he'd been forcibly handed. Although most of the materials were ordinary, its design roof of its exceptional craftsmanship. Even if it wasn't funal, it was worth preserving for its teical merit alone.

  "I believe you remember that four days ago, you appointed me as the Minister of General Affairs," Edgar said. "I'm already handling all the administrative work."

  "Exactly! You're already so good at it. This is just a small addition."

  "Small addition? This is aire financial system!"

  In other words, his current duties included assigning pyer missions aling mission rewards. Now he was also expected to manage finances.

  "Ahaha, is that so?" I ughed awkwardly. "But you're the most capable of the three of us. Your current power is the highest, so it's safest for you to keep it!"

  This was 100 divine poere talking about! With the three of us—a weakling and two cripples—Edgar was the only one reliable enough to hahis responsibility.

  I, whose magical power had been reduced to a mid-level mage's, and Luminaris, who had no bat capability at all, simply weren't viable options.

  "Soon, missions will include Magi rewards. Keeping the fe here will make task settlement easier, don't you think?" I quickly crafted an excuse, patting his shoulder. "Ed, this is a sign of trust from the anization! Whe more members, I'll assign you an assistant right away!"

  "You said that about the st three positions," Edgar reminded me.

  "And I meant it every time! This time it's different."

  "How exactly is it different?"

  "Because this time I'm extra sincere about it?"

  Edgar paused, theantly agreed. "Fine. But you must make finding help a priority."

  "Of course! The ime I find some unlucky soul wandering near Honeyvale Town, I'll bring them in to assist you!" I, being an undead, didn't even blink as I made my empty promises.

  "Noart from this..."

  Edgar's gaze sharpened as he suddenly grew wary. "What else are you pnning?!"

  I had mao push a onoble padin—educated in chivalry and iy—to the point of paranoia. A padin who now eyed me with the weariness of an overworked employee.

  For a brief moment, I reflected. Had I gooo far this time?