“Man, am I getting my ass kicked! I should’ve known better than to choose the tank class!”
Inside the dungeon, Xu Ke’s face was twisted with pain.
“And it even made the announcement board? This name of mine is seriously embarrassing!”
After ten days of playing the game, Xu Ke had developed a deep understanding of the hostility directed at them by the younger players.
His ID, “A Leader for Life,” had been mocked as overflowing with “dad energy,” an old fossil, and a pretentious show-off.
But there was nothing he could do about it. His nephew had told them that they absolutely had to choose a name related to their class if they wanted a chance at obtaining a powerful talent.
Unfortunately, names related to his class were probably too common and had an extremely high duplication rate.
Since player names could not be repeated, Xu Ke was afraid of wasting time. On a whim, he came up with this name—and it happened to be available.
As for the others, aside from Eighteen Stabs, everyone had used a class-plus-name format to avoid duplication.
That was why the shorter a player’s ID was, the more likely it was that they had been created in an older server.
Players in newer servers came up with increasingly bizarre names.
“A name is merely an external possession. Talents are what you truly need to survive in the Primordial Gate. Have you all improved? My talent has reached S-rank and evolved into All-Knowing and All-Powerful. I can comprehend every element!” Shen Zongan could not contain his joy.
At first, he had entered the game because he wanted to help his son take revenge.
But now, his son had recovered and was back on his feet, while the person responsible for the accident had paid the price. Shen Zongan only wanted to focus on playing the game.
After all, this concerned their very survival.
Who knew what the outside world had become?
Even rabbits, rats, and wild boars could kill people now. Naturally, he wanted to make himself stronger.
With such a powerful ability, of course he was thrilled.
The others had also improved significantly.
“I got a second talent!” Xu Can announced.
“I can spin and dance, creating numerous phantom clones that can attack,” Xu Lan explained, introducing her talent.
“Hahaha! Mine is the Lord Template. My physical attributes and vitality have been increased tenfold. Look at my HP—it’s two digits higher than yours!” Xu Ke laughed heartily, having already forgotten his earlier displeasure at the possibility of being mocked for his name.
“My talent evolved and gained a resurrection spell. I can rearrange a person’s bones and bring them back to life. My class has also become capable of both fighting and healing. I can shatter an enemy’s bones,” Chen Daisong added.
The five of them exchanged information and had all made tremendous progress.
[Eighteen Stabs]: Level 20.
Talent 1: SSS-rank Vengeful Soul.
Talent 2: A-rank Bloodlust (newly acquired).
Class: Blood Vengeance Assassin (Hidden Class).
[Dancer Tianlan]: Level 20.
Talent: B-rank Nimble Body advanced to → Thousand-Spinning Phantom Form (S).
Class: Special Class Cheerleader advanced to → Hidden Class Phantom Dancer.
[All-Purpose Professor Zongan]: Level 20.
Talent: A-rank Well-Read advanced to → S-rank All-Knowing and All-Powerful.
Class: Special Class Earth Mage advanced to → Hidden Class All-Element Mage.
[A Leader for Life]: Level 20.
Talent: B-rank Natural Leader advanced to → S-rank Lord Template.
Class: Ordinary Class Shield Warrior advanced to → Special Class Bastion Guardian.
[Orthopedic Surgeon Director Chen]: Level 20.
Talent: A-rank Orthopedic Saint advanced to → S-rank: Bone-Shattering Revival.
Class: Ordinary Class Priest advanced to → Special Class Bone-Shattering Priest.
Furthermore, all five of them had reached Level 20, allowing them to skip the server merger entirely and head directly to Linjiang City.
Once there, they could officially join the Thorn Guild and catch up with the second-tier players.
…
Inside [Destroy the Undead Calamity], Chu Fu led nineteen players by herself and began attempting a speed-clear record.
Chu Fu’s regular teammates had also split into different groups, continuously challenging the speed-clear records and trying to bring along as many players as possible.
This was the fastest way to accumulate gold coins.
When she saw the global announcement, she was stunned for a moment before speaking in the guild management channel.
“Huh? This ID looks like Wheelchair Brother’s aunt! She actually entered a Primordial-tier dungeon and cleared it?”
Shen Chi was clearly delighted as well.
“That’s right. My aunt, my parents, my maternal uncle, and my uncle-in-law all have S-rank talents now. My aunt’s primary talent is SSS-rank, and she also awakened a second talent. Once the village-defense battle ends, she’ll be able to improve even further!”
“Excellent. Have her come to Linjiang City. We’ll focus on developing her. Manager Feng, make the arrangements. After Server 048 merges, she might even be able to help us take down another Primordial-tier dungeon in one of the towns.”
Chu Fu issued the order.
“Yes, Boss,” Feng Huimin replied.
When she had first joined the guild, she had reviewed its structure and learned that the Thorn Guild also had players in several other beginner zones.
There were not many of them.
One group consisted of Shen Chi’s relatives, who had entered Zone 048.
By coincidence, they were in the same beginner village as the team Feng Huimin had originally taken over from Huanyu Kuangba.
By now, the players under Huanyu Kuangba had long since vanished without a trace. Moreover, because of Shen Chi’s aunt’s intervention, Wantu Real Estate had completely changed hands and fallen into Chu Fu’s possession.
Shen Chi’s aunt had now become a new star player.
The people around the strong really were strong as well.
There was actually another team, recruited by Xie Lin.
At first, it had been very small, with barely a handful of members. They were reportedly friends Xie Lin had met during his time as a professional player, as well as streamers and prospective esports trainees from training camps.
In the beginning, practically none of them had been willing to join the Thorn Workshop.
After all, these people were top-tier players in their own right. They had talent for gaming and had entered the game even earlier than Xie Lin.
Only after some of them died unexpectedly—and Xie Lin painted them a promising picture—did he manage to form a new team. They had originally planned to enter Zone 55.
But plans could never keep up with reality.
Wangxi Village developed too quickly, while Zone 55 opened too late. These people could not afford to wait, so they entered Wangxi Village instead and gradually integrated into the Thorn Guild.
As the Thorn Guild grew stronger, more and more people Xie Lin knew came to join.
The guild had even made an exception to recruit a group of players with B- and C-rank talents.
After undergoing two Primordial-tier dungeons, these players had an 80 percent chance of reaching S-rank talents, which astonished even Feng Huimin.
They had also become the guild’s main force for organizing raids, grinding for others, and carrying players through dungeons. They never made mistakes when entering a dungeon.
Of course, when it came to attribute points, this group was actually inferior to Eighteen Stabs and the others.
Feng Huimin could only say that making the right choice mattered more than working hard.
Just as it had for her.
But Chu Fu was focused on something else.
She had requested the dungeon-clear video from Shen Chi’s aunt and was watching it now, deep in thought.
“The spatial rift in the beginner village was a conspiracy by the players of the Beast God Temple. The spatial rift in the town-defense battle was a genuine goblin lair.
“Every attack leaves clues.
“The Primordial Gate reveals who our enemies are through its dungeons.
“So what about the city-defense battle?
“We’ll soon have nearly ten thousand Level 30 players in Linjiang City, won’t we?”
After all, the Thorn Guild already had a thousand Level 30 players, not to mention the more than eight thousand Level 29 players behind them.
What if I could take part in one more town-defense battle? The siege battle isn’t far off, either.
Unfortunately, Chu Fu’s wonderful hopes didn’t come true!
