Chapter 183: The Rulemaker of the Game

Chapter 183: The Rulemaker of the Game

"What do you mean?"

The God of Life, who had first threatened Yu Sheng'an, narrowed his eyes, his gaze flickering with uncertainty. He was both shocked by his own speculation and doubtful whether he had misunderstood.

"Was my explanation not clear enough? In short, from now on, anyone who holds Keville Currency can exchange it for Source Essence on the internet. Of course, for clarity, I’ve decided to rename Keville Currency as Interconnected Coins!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the Five Gods could hardly believe their ears, utterly dumbfounded.

Had the Internet God gone mad?

That was Source Essence they were talking about!

The very thing gods schemed and fought over—wasn’t it all for Source Essence?

Allowing Source Essence exchange in the Conquest of Subdomains, though insane, was at least understandable—it was equivalent to hiring other factions with Source Essence, even indirectly nurturing one’s own direct forces.

But permitting currency exchange for Source Essence? That was sheer madness!

Didn’t he fear the gods would frantically hoard Interconnected Coins to exchange for Source Essence?

"What’s the exchange rate?"

The God of Life keenly seized upon a critical detail.

"Tentatively set at one Keville gold coin—that is, ten thousand Interconnected Coins—exchanging for ten standard units of Source Essence."

"Tentatively? Are you planning to feint, tricking us into opening our preaching zones and allowing your Interconnected Bank to operate, only to shut down the exchange later? Or perhaps setting it so a billion gold coins can only buy one unit of Source Essence?" Mother Earth sneered.

"Some things, once done, cannot be undone. If I dared to flip-flop on my decree, I wouldn’t just face your wrath—I’d incur the fury of the gods of the multiverse. Do you really think I’d dare to change my mind so capriciously?"

Yu Sheng'an spread his hands.

At these words, the Five Gods fell silent. They had to admit the Internet God’s reasoning was sound.

Once this door was opened, it wouldn’t be something the Internet God could simply close at will.

But why would the Internet God do this?

The Five Gods grew even more silent.

They racked their brains, drawing upon millennia of accumulated experience to decipher the Internet God’s motives.

Yet, in their vast lifetimes, they could scarcely recall a similar precedent.

They could only rely on their instincts to judge.

But no matter how they looked at it, the only apparent benefit for the Internet God was promoting the Interconnected Bank and deeply integrating it with the Interconnected Grand E-commerce.

But even without the Interconnected Bank—or even the Interconnected Grand E-commerce—the Internet God shouldn’t lack for users, right?

Why bother with such an unnecessary move?

After some thought, the God of Life tentatively proposed, "I can allow you to establish bank branches in my preaching zones, but these branches must not possess any form of offensive or defensive capabilities!"

Yu Sheng'an nodded. "Agreed. However, there must be portals—I’ll need them to transport currency."

"Additionally, I understand the restriction on offensive capabilities, but if defensive measures are also forbidden, then you’ll have to take responsibility for the security of the bank branches."

"If a branch is maliciously attacked, you must bear full responsibility. Otherwise, I’ll immediately terminate all banking operations within your domain, including Source Essence exchange. Don’t assume you can evade oversight by using avatars. Remember, you’re gods—your exchange volumes will inevitably be high, and such volumes can’t escape my surveillance."

At this, the Five Gods were utterly bewildered.

Yu Sheng'an's words essentially negated the fact that Interconnected Bank branches were being treated as Churches.

This almost completely defied their experience, naturally leaving them bewildered.

"Hmph, I don’t believe you’re this generous!" the God of Death spoke up.

After all, he had also followed the Internet God’s example by establishing banks. Now that the Internet God had taken this step, what was he supposed to do?

Was he expected to follow suit?

But was that even possible?

This was backed by Source Essence, after all!

Yu Sheng'an smiled faintly, offering no explanation.

Of course, he wasn’t being generous.

His ultimate goal was to establish a multiverse-standard currency.

Once successful, he would effectively seize the right to mint currency across the multiverse. With the nature of virtual currency, this would grant him the power to treat paper as money at zero cost.

The sheer horror of such wealth extraction needed no elaboration.

That was why he had initially proposed a unified currency.

However, the Five Gods weren’t fools—they outright rejected the proposal without even considering it.

Of course, Yu Sheng'an had merely tossed out the idea casually. If it succeeded, it would be a pleasant surprise; if not, it was entirely expected.

So, he unveiled his ultimate trump card—backing the system with Source Essence!

He guessed that the Five Gods must have assumed they could earn Interconnected Coins through trade and thereby drain his reserves of Source Essence.

What a joke.

—This was like workers thinking they could buy out capitalist goods with the salary paid by capital itself.

First, the issuance of Interconnected Coins was under Yu Sheng'an’s control. Would he overprint currency to bankrupt himself?

Second, once the gods of the multiverse bent over backward to engage in trade for Interconnected Coins, it wouldn’t just mean they acknowledged and obeyed the rules Yu Sheng'an had set—it would also mean he had further tamed them.

Third, was money really that easy to earn?

It was foreseeable that once they became slaves to Interconnected Coins:

Either they would completely degenerate into resource-exporting nations, forever working for Yu Sheng'an.

Or they would have no choice but to reinvest their earnings into industrial upgrading to enhance competitiveness, further depleting their currency reserves. The actual Source Essence available for exchange would be quite limited.

The former would trap them in the quagmire of trade deficits, amplifying regional instability and eventually plunging their preaching zones into chaos, with their rule at risk of collapse at any moment.

The latter would mean engaging in involutionary competition across the entire multiverse, with only a tiny elite at the pyramid’s apex reaping the benefits.

And throughout this involution, Yu Sheng'an would amass enough Source Essence to spare a portion for the elite at the top—hardly a losing business.

Moreover, Source Essence wasn’t gold.

It was a consumable. Most of the Source Essence exchanged would be immediately spent rather than stockpiled for emergencies.

Only gods, under extreme circumstances, would be capable of withdrawing large amounts of Source Essence to exchange for Interconnected Coins and stabilize the situation.

If that happened, wouldn’t it be equivalent to Yu Sheng'an using paper as money to buy Source Essence?

Finally, and most crucially—

When the entire multiverse was playing by Yu Sheng'an’s rules, the multiverse would also become deeply intertwined with the internet. By then, would Yu Sheng'an still lack Source Essence?

Clearly not.

As the architect of these rules, Yu Sheng'an only needed to guard against one thing—

A dimensional strike!

Or, a violent disruption of the game.

"How have you all considered the matter?" Yu Sheng'an asked.

The Five Gods at the conference table lowered their eyes, silent as if in deep thought. In truth, they had already gathered through divine projections, engaging in fervent discussions behind the scenes.

Seeing this, Yu Sheng'an did not press further. His primary consciousness returned directly to the Dofi Temple, where he began contemplating the plans following the signing of the Six Great Gods Treaty.

First, the beastmen in the Dofi domain had to be swiftly eradicated to prevent any chance of the Five Gods secretly interfering.

This place would become one of his strongholds.

Second, the Keville Empire's system needed optimization.

To maintain core competitiveness in the future, he couldn’t stake everything on the Vilia domain, let alone the Prophecy Godhood.

He had to establish a talent pipeline.

Intellectual property protection also had to be implemented.

Third, the internet's content was growing increasingly vast, requiring professional personnel to maintain it.

The multiverse was too immense—trying to meddle everywhere alone was beyond his energy and expertise.

Finally, the friction between the Empire of Infer and the Farlay Dynasty in the Vilia domain was on the verge of escalating into full-scale conflict.

The irony was almost laughable.

The Empire of Infer sought to divert internal strife by targeting the Farlay Dynasty, unaware that the latter also aimed to exploit the former’s instability to expand its territory.

What a coincidence—the two empires, in perfect sync, had already shifted from localized clashes toward all-out war.

Yu Sheng'an decided to seize this once-in-a-millennium opportunity to strike straight at the heart—liberating the capital of the Empire of Infer.

Faced with external pressure from the Farlay Dynasty, the empire would likely rally behind a new monarch to resist the invasion.

Of course, some territorial losses would be inevitable.

But Yu Sheng'an didn’t care.

As a god, his goal was the entire Primary Domain of Azerai. The gain or loss of a single city meant nothing to him.

While Yu Sheng'an refined his plans, the Five Gods, after half a day of deliberation, finally reached a conclusion.