Fengdu Town.
The high-level monster zones and dungeon areas were bustling with activity.
Thanks to Chu Fu’s arrangements, the entire Thorn Guild was frantically grinding levels.
“You won’t be able to enter this dungeon once you hit Level 26, and by then, it’ll be extremely difficult to secure a speed-clear ranking. Not only will first place be out of reach—you probably won’t even make fifth! So everyone who can level up, hurry up and do it.”
The entire Thorn Guild immediately threw itself into a desperate leveling spree.
Only players who leveled quickly would be able to enter dungeons with the Plant Boss and the others. That meant gaining 50 points in every attribute!
They had heard that the powerhouse Laoji Fuli from Huaishui Town was a veteran general who had even appeared on Linjiang City’s television station. He had paid 8,000 gold coins for a single spot on a team.
And in the end, he had only obtained 80 points in every attribute.
They, on the other hand, were getting 50 points in every attribute for free—worth 5,000 gold coins!
Of course, the value couldn’t really be calculated that way. Since the dungeon could be farmed endlessly, as long as the number of players remained within the control limit, countless people could obtain those attribute points. But only ten people could receive rewards from the town assault battle.
In any case, every player in the Thorn Guild was grateful each day that they had joined.
And so, during this leveling frenzy, a full two thousand players reached Level 20 within twenty-four hours.
The record for the normal speed-clear rankings of “The Necromancer’s Conspiracy” also became more and more terrifying.
First place on the speed-clear rankings: Wheelchair Captain Racing a Rocket—clear time: 2 minutes and 47 seconds.
At that clear time, only Shen Chi’s mecha could reach the destination within ten seconds.
Chu Fu and Xie Lin were no longer fast enough.
As a result, Shen Chi began specializing in carrying players through Normal difficulty, while Chu Fu and Xie Lin took care of the other difficulties.
The entrance to the dungeon looked like a Thorn Guild team-building event.
The players from the Thorn Guild were fully equipped, all wearing complete sets of gold gear. Their talents were all Grade A, and some of their classes were obviously extraordinary at a glance.
This was the strength of the Thorn Guild.
In just one day, it had already earned the reputation of becoming Linjiang City’s number-one guild in the future.
In a way, it was rather pathetic. At present, there were only a handful of guilds in Linjiang City.
The guilds originally established by the four major conglomerates had nearly all disappeared.
The Dragon Tour Guild had been wanted by the authorities and had vanished completely.
Rongxun Workshop had gone bankrupt, and its guild could not even be sold.
The Huanyu Workshop had been destroyed. Only its guild headquarters in the Novice Village remained, but without players contributing to it, the village chief would gradually revoke it.
As for the last major conglomerate, Longhan Entertainment, its main strategy was to build a guild around celebrities. Unfortunately, only Jiang Yixing had obtained a Guild Token, and he was still struggling helplessly in Fengdu Town.
Still, after so many days, several guilds had risen to prominence.
With Wantu Real Estate gone, there were still Qian Tu Real Estate and Bai Tu Real Estate.
As the saying went, when one whale falls, countless creatures thrive.
With the four major conglomerates no longer monopolizing everything, Linjiang City naturally had more players in the field.
The city’s major taxpayers began pouring money into the game, recruiting celebrity-level players to establish guilds.
The Bull Auto Guild, Yafan Guild, and Changsi Guild were backed by a local automobile group, clothing brand, and textile corporation respectively.
At present, even the leaders of those three guilds were still leveling up. Their representatives in Linjiang City were merely acting guild masters.
These days, any Level 20 player with an A-grade talent could be offered a monthly salary of ten million yuan.
No one would accept less. They could make plenty of money simply by running dungeons.
As for how small businesses could afford to offer such astronomical salaries…
Naturally, it was because they had made money in the game.
“Origin Gate” was simply too profitable.
Of course, there were also guild masters who didn’t make any money.
The master of the Mad Blade Guild, for example.
Its guild master, Yu Kuangdao, had the unique Blade Dancer class.
Regardless of their talent, anyone could join the guild. Its philosophy was that everyone was a friend and should help one another.
The guild offered no benefits, but the bonuses that came automatically with founding a guild—such as a 5% increase to experience gain, a 5% increase to drop rates, and a 20% reduction in equipment repair costs—were still highly attractive to players.
Of course, without any additional benefits, the guild master naturally didn’t have much say in anything. In fact, the members often teased Yu Kuangdao.
Yu Kuangdao had a good temper and got along well with everyone.
At that moment, the members of the Mad Blade Guild were engaged in a heated discussion.
“My god, aren’t the Thorn Guild’s players from District 030? They started so much later than us, so how does every single one of them have gold equipment? Don’t tell me the guild distributed it!”
“Their guild operates like a corporation. Members have to hand over 20% of their earnings from dungeon runs. The wool comes from the sheep, so there’s no point envying them.”
“That’s not entirely fair. You may not agree with the rule, but if you leave the Thorn Guild without paying that 20%, you won’t even have a team to run Hell-level dungeons with.”
“@Yu Kuangdao, Guild Master, take me through a Hell-level dungeon, buy me a set of gold equipment, and cook me two dishes while you’re at it.”
Yu Kuangdao replied, “How about I kick you twice instead?”
As he watched everyone discussing the Thorn Guild, tears of envy trickled from the corners of his mouth.
If he had known that establishing a guild would be so troublesome and exhausting—and provide no benefits at all—why hadn’t he sold the Guild Token back then?
It had been worth a hundred million yuan at the time!
A regular person like him really shouldn’t have established a guild.
…
Elsewhere, the military ace Duanfeng grew anxious as he watched the figures on the speed-clear rankings update again and again.
“General Laoji, if this continues, the Thorn Guild will grow stronger by the day and firmly secure its position as Linjiang City’s number-one guild. It’ll be very difficult for our War Soul Guild to surpass them.
“And this is terrifying. In a single day, more than a thousand people have obtained 50 points in every attribute.
“If things continue like this, we’ll have a hard time obtaining any more attribute points ourselves. There’ll be no way for our combat power to surpass theirs.”
Laoji Fuli looked at Duanfeng and said solemnly, “And what if we do surpass them?”
Duanfeng frowned. “General Laoji, if they surpass us, the consequences will be serious. We’re the armed forces of China. If our strength doesn’t overshadow that of every other organization, then when unrest breaks out in the future, we won’t be able to suppress it!”
How could it make sense for an official organization to be weaker than a civilian organization?
Laoji Fuli looked at the young military talent with disappointment.
Duanfeng was indeed formidable in battle, but his thinking had failed to keep pace.
All he saw was violence, suppression, and strength.
He had completely overlooked everything else.
“Duanfeng,
“The strength people possess in this game is really no different from the money they had in the past.
“You can’t stop someone from making money simply because they’ve earned more than you, can you?
“We’re an armed force, but we’re also a force that protects people. We protect the people. How can we compete with them for their benefits?”
They might not be the strongest people in existence, but they were the ones who would ultimately preserve order.
They could never forget their original purpose.
Besides, who said that those children weren’t one of their own?
At the very least, if China were ever plunged into a crisis, he believed Chu Fu would definitely be willing to help.
He was actually quite optimistic about Chu Fu and was willing to make things as convenient for her as possible.
“Enough. Instead of gossiping here, you should spend your time looking for a quest that can take us to District 030!
“At the rate they’re leveling up, their town defense battle is about to begin!
“They may not need our help, but we can still purchase talent stones to make the ace soldiers in our team stronger!”
When you have nothing better to do, use your brain and play some games. Don’t waste your energy fighting among your own people.”
