Chapter 398

The moment Anser entered the forum, he spotted a sensational post whose popularity was skyrocketing.

When he opened it, it was even more outrageous. It was filled with nude photos of a woman, taken from every conceivable angle, all featuring the same woman.

Her looks were fairly ordinary, but her figure was incredibly sexy, with astonishing proportions that made for quite the visual impact.

Anser could tell at a glance that they were all candid shots. The woman probably had no idea she'd been photographed.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. That figure really is something. These people sure know how to think outside the box, coming up with a way to make money like this." Shamar clicked his tongue in admiration, clearly enjoying the view.

The forum also had a paywall feature, just like the news section. Whether to use it was entirely up to whoever made the post.

For now, the poster was merely building hype, stating that the upcoming pictures would cost money and would include even more explicit poses and content.

Anser's expression darkened slightly. Compared to Shamar, his own "True Neutral" alignment seemed downright fake.

When Shamar noticed Anser wasn't saying anything, he looked up at him and immediately composed himself, putting on an indignant expression.

"I'm just criticizing it. I can't stand people like this, profiting off someone else's body..."

Anser glanced at him but didn't expose the act.

There was no way he would allow this. The Spirit Net represented order, and on the surface, it couldn't be allowed to become entangled with crime and chaos.

Posting someone's nude photos online without their permission was a crime in itself, even if the person was a prostitute.

Some races regarded the body as utterly sacred. Something like this could potentially trigger large-scale bloodshed.

Today they were photographing sex workers. Tomorrow, would they start photographing other people's wives and daughters? Would members start exposing one another too?

If he ignored it now, tomorrow someone would dare to threaten, coerce, or bribe a whole bunch of men and women into running a porn business on the Spirit Net. The Spirit Net would then bear some responsibility for all the killing and crime that followed.

Anser contacted Sakkors through telepathy. {Why aren't you doing anything about this?}

{He's photographing streetwalkers. What's wrong with that? We make money from it too.} Sakkors didn't see a problem.

As far as he was concerned, even if it was a crime, the poster was the one committing it. It had nothing to do with the Spirit Net.

"Neutrality" meant not getting involved with good or evil. Interfering too much would be counterproductive.

Anser sighed. {Selfies are fine. Private photos of other people aren't. From now on, any revealing photo that isn't a selfie is banned from being uploaded.}

The Spirit Net allowed people to take selfies. Telepathy itself could produce a full 360-degree panoramic image.

It could also distinguish whether a photo was a selfie when it was taken. That wasn't difficult.

{So selfies are allowed? And people can charge for them?} Sakkors asked.

{Respect personal choice. Just remember to put out a disclaimer beforehand.} Anser had no intention of meddling beyond that.

Sakkors immediately understood. {Got it. I'll take care of it right now.}

A few seconds later, the post was taken down.

A notification popped up across the Spirit Net, listing a series of supplementary rules.

Shamar looked thoughtful. "This Spirit Net administrator is pretty impressive. He came up with such a comprehensive set of rules in such a short time."

Stopping it entirely wasn't realistic. Sex was part of biological nature; it was better to regulate it than try to suppress it.

"Taking secret photos of people is still wrong." Anser's expression remained stern.

He wasn't worried about Shamar becoming suspicious. Sakkors and the Spirit Net moderators were constantly patching things every day. This was routine.

"You'll never completely stop people from taking secret photos. Weren't you secretly photographing me just now?" Shamar shook his head.

"That's different." Anser made no attempt to hide his double standard. "You're a bard. You're a performer. I took the photo with good intentions, and I wasn't using it to make money."

"If we'd been by the river just now and you were an unmarried young woman bathing, I definitely wouldn't have taken a picture. I wouldn't even have gone near you."

Shamar froze for a moment, then smiled. "You're right."

He considered himself carefree and uninhibited, yet he greatly admired people like Anser.

Admiration was one thing, though. He didn't want to be friends with Anser, because being around him would make him feel ashamed of himself.

That kind of psychological and moral impact made a person uncomfortable, and if being around someone made you uncomfortable, naturally you couldn't become friends.

As the two were talking, another post appeared on the forum. It was from the same poster as before, and even the woman on the cover was the same.

The woman was sitting on a bed with a delighted smile, holding a small sign over her chest. Written on it were the words, [Photos taken voluntarily. Feel free to look.]

Dozens of silver coins were piled over her lower body, covering her reasonably well.

"This guy's clever!" Shamar burst out laughing, only for his expression to change immediately afterward. "Fuck, three Spirit Coins? That's highway robbery!"

Anser grinned and clicked on the post. Sure enough, the poster had put it behind a paywall. Unless you paid, all you could see was the extremely enticing cover image.

"Actually, this is even better. You know what subtlety is?" He clicked his tongue twice. "Leave something to the imagination. It gets your mind going and makes you want to see even more."

He paid and entered the post. The pictures inside still covered the important parts. The poses and camera angles were fairly crude, yet somehow they were even more enticing than the previous ones.

"You really get it. No wonder you're a genius sorcerer." Shamar looked slightly pained as he browsed the pictures and offered his commentary. "It's not being able to see what you want to see that really drives you crazy. This Spirit Net administrator is such a busybody. Sigh—"

For a Legendary Professional, three Spirit Coins were easy enough to come by, but spending them just to look at pictures still felt like a bit of a waste.

Anser merely smiled without saying anything.

Three Spirit Coins were actually pretty expensive. At the current exchange rate between Spirit Coins and gold coins, it was enough to spend several days in bed with the woman in the pictures herself.

Men were just like that. If they didn't look, the curiosity would eat at them!

"You really like the Spirit Net?" Anser looked at Shamar with a smile in his eyes.

"Put it this way: I spend more than ten hours a day online. At this point, I can't go a single day without it." Shamar narrowed his eyes, his face full of amazement. "Give it a few years and you'll understand."

No one felt its impact more deeply than he did, because he was one of its greatest beneficiaries.

All he had to do was spread knowledge, experience, and stories on the Spirit Net every day, teaching those illiterate members who knew nothing of the wider world, and his divinity would keep shooting upward.

That meant he was walking the right path!

Under those circumstances, who needed a divine revelation?

Anser caught the implication in his words and could vaguely guess what was going on. After all, he and Sakkors had discussed this kind of situation countless times.

Oghma's followers loved spreading knowledge in all sorts of ways, but unlike scholars, they followed certain rules.

For example, knowledge had to be freely disseminated, truthful and reliable, serve the Balance, and make no distinction between good and evil. Those principles aligned extremely well with the philosophy of the Spirit Net.

If the Spirit Net's telepathy were used for teaching, learning efficiency would multiply. Even fools could be educated. It was practically the perfect learning tool.

With that thought, Anser agreed, "The Spirit Net really is pretty interesting."

"More than interesting. Just wait and see. The Lord of the Spirit Net will be the Lord of Toril. It's only a matter of time," Shamar declared astonishingly.

"Isn't that going a little far?" Anser hadn't expected a native of this world to possess that kind of foresight.

"Heh..." Shamar chuckled twice but didn't explain further.

Anser decisively changed the subject. "I'd like you to introduce me to the royal family."

"Uh... you carry more weight than I do. Why would you need me to introduce you?"

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