Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

——”Player Gates to Heavens applied to join Brotherhood.”

——”Player Upright Daily applied to join Brotherhood.”

——”Player…”

After numerous players got to know of the “supposed siege by monsters” incident, they all applied to join Brotherhood hastily, as if in a hurry to get reborn! Within a short one to two hours, there were nearly 7,000 new players in Brotherhood, and all of them were players from Prague City!

Gates to Heavens, “Who is Codename Lone Wolf? I want to thank him personally, hahaha!”

Upright Daily, “I will forever be loyal to Brotherhood from now on! Angel Descent had guarded Prague City as if it was a palace, freak, they were just short of conducting curfews! Great seeing them end up like this, hahaha!”

They did not bother to hide their names, but instead chose to vent their frustrations openly! As the major guild in Prague City, Angel Descent had definitely offended many casual adventurers and other small guilds. As the saying goes, “What millions died that Caesar might be great!” Many solo players were long angered by their overbearing stances, but they did not dare to stand up against them.

Even though Lin Jie had not spoken any words, his name was famous in the whole of Prague City, and eventually made known to the whole game!

As long as there were wars or system events, major cities like Prague City would definitely be affected. Once destroyed, the whole city would suffer a great blow.

The city’s item prices surged by 50%, while its transaction taxes increased by 30%! What’s more, all the attributes of players who were based in Prague City were decreased by 10%, and their EXP points to be gained from the game would be reduced by 10%!

All the above-mentioned conditions would persist for a whole three months!

This punishment was definitely severe! However, for normal players, they could just move to another city at any time, and so this wouldn’t affect them much.

What about Angel Descent’s members then? Prague was their home base, and they had invested large amounts of manpower and resources there. It would be a waste to give it up now, but everyone could easily see that it would be easier for them if they just gave up the city, given the state it was in now.

No matter what, this was the business which they had painstakingly invested large amounts of efforts in… Yet they could only watch helplessly as numerous players fled Prague City and moved to other cities.

If it was only that, it would be still alright. For the Angel Descent Guild, the greatest blow was the destruction of its Guild Base!

The revenue of a Guild Base was stunningly high, but the same went for the costs put in to maintain it. Now, though the Guild Base had become a dungeon, it was still registered under Angel Descent Guild’s name. However, as the degree of damage was close to 100% – even the map’s name was changed! – the daily maintenance costs needed would be $300,000! Angel Descent could choose not to pay, but once other players. non-guild members, obtained first clear of this dungeon, the Guild Base would be randomly refreshed in other areas.

In other words, it meant they had to spend hundred thousands of dollars per day to maintain the site, but this would not guarantee them that they could keep their Guild Base for certain! However, what else could they do? They could only grit their teeth and concentrate hard to obtain first clear of the Black Iron Frontline dungeon as soon as possible. If not, their Guild Base would be gone and so would be all their money!

As a Level 25 dungeon, the final Boss of the Black Iron Frontline dungeon was the Dark Gold Boss, Loja! Without at least a month of trying and getting wiped out by the Boss, Angel Descent would never be able to take it down. No matter what, this was just a disaster for them, and they were literally losing their talents and their money together all at once!

After reading this piece of news on the forum, many guild leaders couldn’t help but rethink again about getting rid of Brotherhood. They would rather watch it progress on its own, acquiescing in the development of this organization.

On the way back to the City of Light, Lin Jie thought about what happened in Prague City, and his mood lightened. When he reached the City of Light, he discovered to his delight that the traffic flow of players in the city had increased by 30%! Many of them had fled from Prague.

“Triumphant Midnight is recruiting members! Requirements are that you must be at least Level 13 and above, and possess Gold equipment. Interested candidates, private message me speedily!”

“The Imperial City Association is recruiting players! Those who join our guild will be able to enjoy a 0.1% discount for repair services at the Blacksmith’s Shop. Interested candidates who had changed jobs, contact us speedily!”

…

There were quite a few guilds who wanted to recruit people. This was the perfect time to expand and develop guilds! Only fools would not seize the opportunity!

Lin Jie smiled. There was competition among guilds everywhere, but even in the most powerful guild, there would be Brotherhood members! Should Lin Jie need any information, these people would be his informers. It was no wonder so many guilds couldn’t wait to get rid of this organization that seemed to lord over them.

However, it already had deep roots within the game!

If anyone wanted to get rid of it, they would have to be prepared to pay a huge price!

In fact, the Mercenary Association was replaced entirely by Brotherhood! It was originally a large organization that the system had set up in order to bring in more revenue for themselves, but now it was ruined by Lin Jie! The profits generated by Brotherhood every day were around 10 gold coins, which was to say, even if Lin Jie did nothing every day, he could earn as much as 300 gold coins per month! Converted into cash, it would be near to a few ten thousand dollars! This was comparable to the salary range of senior white-collar workers.

Holding on to the Earthly Core, Lin Jie came to a familiar place—the Blacksmith’s Shop.

Blacksmith’s Shop was also one of the most important attractions in the City of Light. Master Blue’s craftsmanship was superb, and the success rate of forging equipment here was 20% higher than the blacksmiths in other cities. The attributes of each equipment would be boosted by an additional 5%, and thus the business was brisk at the Blacksmith’s Shop in the City of Light.

At the entrance of the Blacksmith’s Shop, players were crowding around and eagerly waiting for their turns. They all hoped that the next equipment to be forged from the furnace would be theirs.

“Master Blue.” Lin Jie ignored the surrounding players’ insults and forcefully stepped into the shop, opening a path within the group of angry players with his powerful Strength and stats.

“Wth! You dare to cut in line, I dare you to fight 1-on-1 with me outside the city!”

“Young lad, how dare you to cut in line?! I will kill you in a shot!”

The player who was first in the queue was the most dissatisfied, and he looked as if he was about to eat Lin Jie up.

A player took his freshly forged equipment with joy, thanked Blue profusely and left. Blue wiped away the sweat from his head, looked up and found Lin Jie standing in front of him.

He immediately put away all other work and greeted him with a smile, “Sir, why don’t you tell me in advance when you come? I don’t even know that you came, it’s too busy here…”

The onlookers were shocked by Blue’s attitude. Who was this person? Why would Master Blue be so respectful towards him? Perhaps, this person was not a player, but a powerful NPC in disguise?

Lin Jie said calmly, “No worries, you can continue with your work. I am looking for your master.”

Blue suddenly seemed like he suffered from constipation, and after stuttering for a long time, he finally replied, “My master… my master is not here. Since last time, he… he went out to travel.”

Kuang!

A loud noise rang out from inside the store!

Lin Jie had ignored Bruce’s words, as he knew that Master Blue would give such an answer to him. Thus, he directly threw the Earthly Core into the store. A moment later, a short black shadow appeared in vision.

Smithing Grandmaster·Ryan Wall!

“Wth!! There’s a Grandmaster NPC in the City of Light!”

“It’s the craftsman who can forge legendary equipment!!!”

“Hahaha, I have uploaded the screenshot, I will definitely earn a lot of the players’ forum coins.”

That’s right, Blue’s master, the hidden dwarf NPC in the Blacksmith’s Shop at the City of Light, was the Earth Sword Saint Ryan Wall!

The dwarf’s flaking old face twitched and asked in a low voice, “Where did this come from?”

“The Dark Iron Castle,” said Lin Jie

“And your motive?”

“War of Light.”

The dwarf’s eyes trembled and disappeared after leaving a single word.

“Deal!”

Ding~

—’You have successfully invited Earth Sword Saint Ryan Wall to join the War of Light! You have received 400,000 experience points, Guild of Light reputation 50 points! You received the Earth Elemental Wrist Guard (Dark Gold).’

His EXP bar was almost filled up—he would be able to reach Level 16 soon!

Lin Jie smiled and left suavely.

“This…” A player reached out his hands and wanted to ask something. When he finally squeezed out of the door, he found out that Lin Jie was already lost within the crowd.

The Dark Gold Wrist guard had yellowish gems engraved at both ends—they were made from the Earthly Core!

Earth Elemental Wrist Guard (Dark Gold)

Can be used by Warriors.

Requires: Level 15

Defense: 35 – 55

Magic Defense: 20

Increase in Health Bar Cap by 200 points.

Strength: 12

Endurance: 12

Additional effect: Increase Attack Power by 5%

Additional effect: Unwavering. When you are under attacks, there is a 45% chance that you will be immune to the attacks. The attacks may be Repelled, Flung off, or Displaced, etc.

Additional: Reduce Earth Elemental Damage by 15%

“Unwavering!” Lin Jie eyes brightened up at this.

This was a great skill! He could use this wristband for a lifetime!

In The New Age, many jobs could use the Displace type of skills; the most classic Displace skill would be the Resisting Aura. Mages who were afraid of being closed up would use the Resisting Aura skills to push their enemies away.

A Mage’s life would be at risk if the Resisting Aura skill could not fling their enemy out!

At the very least, Unwavering could be used to interrupt the Combo Attacks by Bandits and Hunters.

Equipping himself with the Earth Elemental Wrist Guard, Lin Jie found to his delight that his health bar’s cap had reached 1,600 points, while his Defense was over 350 points now. Such defense capabilities would beat any Shield Specialist! Even Dwarves from the Dark Iron Mountain would not be able to damage him by more than 100 points!

Now he was only left with the Elemental Sword Saint Grimm to complete his mission! As long as he helped Grimm retrieve the Blade of Destruction, the Four Sword Saints mission would be completed!

It was now time to go to the Level 15 dungeon, The Floating Temple! The Blade of Destruction was hidden there. This expert-level dungeon was definitely way more difficult than the Cat Demon Lair, and required players and their teammates to have great skills!

Lin Jie immediately contacted Qiu Yuan, but his call was blocked.

He contacted Bu Yi, but his call was blocked too.

As for Netherblue… well, he couldn’t contact her for now, in case she recognized him. The only one who was free at this moment was Water, who had temporarily joined other teams to complete some dungeons, but he wouldn’t be of much help in The Floating Temple dungeon.

Lin Jie pondered over this and contacted Dejected Night instead.

“Night, are you free?”

“I am completing a mission for the War of Light. What’s up?”

“I want to try a dungeon and need some help, do come and call Mixed Breathless too.”

Once he heard that Lin Jie was playing in a dungeon, Dejected Night’s eyes brightened up. He had long wanted to see how strong Lin Jie was, and thus immediately agreed to his request.

Ding~

Seven Ears contacted him at this time.

“Boss, I have to report two things to you,” said Seven Ears.

“I have settled down the NPCs which you mentioned, but an old man named Edgar gave me Runes. You can come back and take a look at it when you are convenient.”

“Other than that, you once told me to pay attention to a player named Star Kill. That player has completed the Master Level trials with all Bronze equipment, and he is now waiting for you at our store.”

Runes?

Surely… could he be that lucky? If he didn’t remember it wrongly, that old fellow seemed to only know how to produce one kind of Runes… Lin Jie thought about it excitedly, and he felt like he wanted to grow wings so he could fly back to the store immediately to check it out.

At that moment, his communication device rang again.

“I cleared the expert-level trials! Hahahaha!” A hysterical laugh rang out—it was Lost Camel! He had repeatedly been trying to clear the trials since the last time they met, and he had only accomplished it now.

His achievements were amazing! Imagine, completing an expert-level trial with just inferior equipment!

“Are you convinced now?” Lost Camel laughed.

At this time, a strange-sounding voice was heard over the device. “Why would anyone be convinced of your skills? It’s just an expert-level trial. I have also accomplished it.”

“You are equipped with Silver grade equipment, what’s so great about that!”

“Hah! You are just jealous that you can’t get my Silver set, do you dare to PK me?”

“Hah, of course, I’ve been afraid of nothing since young!”

Dong——the call was hung up.

Lost Camel was the greatest Beast King Hunter in Lin Jie’s previous life! Then again, who was that other person who could clear expert-level trials with just mere Silver set?

To put it simply, Lost Camel’s personality could be summed up in a word – stubborn! Furthermore, never go and challenge him. When asked if he dared to do anything, he would always reply with the standard answer, “Of course!” The best proof of this would be how he had cleared expert-level trials with inferior equipment this time round!

Lin Jie hurried back to Sky Provisions Shop, and when he caught sight of the Runes on the table, he almost fainted in happiness.

‘It’s the Life Runes!’