Ding~!

System Notice: Congratulations, you have obtained Dragon Meat Soup x8!

Ding~!

System Notice: Congratulations, you have obtained Dragon Meat Soup x7!

Ding~!

System Notice: Congratulations, you have obtained Dragon Meat Soup x10!

……

I liked what I saw. Every 20 Dragon Meat yielded 6 to 10 Dragon Soup or so, and I was going to sell it at 10 gold per dish. I was going to become filthy rich!

Half an hour later, after buying countless stacks of whatever ingredients I needed and using them all, I finally used up most of my Dragon Meat and obtained over 200 stacks of Dragon Soup in return. One stack had 100 consumables, but I was going to split them into stacks of 20 or 10. After all, how many could afford to spend 1000 RMB on Magic Consumables? I didn’t want to scare my customers away the moment they looked at the price tag!

I brought up the friend list and sent Purple Wind Chime a message: “Fresh Rank 10 Magic Consumables ready for sale. Do you want them now, and how much?”

A few seconds later, she replied, “I’m coming to the city right away. It’s 10 gold each, right? I want 2000.”

“Got it!”

“See you later!”

It wasn’t long before Purple Wind Chime appeared as she said she would. In fact, she was accompanied by a beautiful archer. The curves hidden behind her leather armor were sexy enough, but her face was dizzyingly attractive as well. She was no flower vase though, for she was the 14th CGL Hall of Famer and the guild leader of The Monarch Descends, Ling Xueshang. Clearly, she was the one who ordered Purple Wind Chime to make the purchase.

“Good evening, Xueshang!” I greeted her first. The Monarch Descends was my long-time customer, so I had to show them some courtesy. Any unscrupulous businessman would know that caring for their return customers always came first.

Moreover, Ling Xueshang and The Monarch Descends had been hiding their strength and biding their time ever since they came to Sky City. They were so low-key that they didn’t even participate in the war for the divine sites. This seemed like uncharacteristic behavior from a CGL Hall of Famer, but I knew better than to underestimate her. The Monarch Descends was absolutely stronger than Gods of Destruction and almost as strong as Warsky Alliance. I also heard that they had improved their guild to Rank 4. Only a fool would underestimate a CGL Hall of Famer with 5000 elite players beneath their banner!

Her bow behind her back and her battle robe dancing a little to her movement, Ling Xueshang walked up to me and smiled a little. “Who would’ve thought that the great Falling Dust would have to cook for a living one day? Still, I am deeply honored to be able to eat the food of the Little Heavenly King.”

Slightly embarrassed, I laughed and said, “This is just business, okay? I’m a man, and it’s my responsibility to earn money and feed my family, right? These days even packed rice is expensive as hell, so I gotta do something to survive these harsh times…”

Ling Xueshang burst into a giggle. “I’d like to buy more Dragon Soup than we originally agreed upon. Can you give me face?”

If only she knew I had over 20k Dragon Soup in my bag. I nodded. “Sure. Just tell me how much you want, and I’ll sell them to you if I can.”

“Awesome~” Ling Xueshang turned away to discuss with Purple Wind Chime for a moment. A while later, she faced me again and asked, “We’d like to buy 5000 Dragon Soup from you. Is that okay with you?”

I hummed for a moment before replying, “Of course it is. Although it’s a bit more than I expected, it’s a demand I can fulfill currently. I won’t be giving you a discount though. Since you want 5000 Dragon Soup, that’ll be 50k gold, thank you.”

Ling Xueshang simply smiled and opened the trade window. The next moment, I was met with the sight of 50k gold. Money, money, money!

As I had planned previously, I split the Magic Consumables into stacks of 100 before trading 50 stacks to Ling Xueshang. On the inside, I was absolutely delighted by the successful trade. I had sold less than one-fourth of my stock, but not only had I recouped the cost of the low-rank food ingredients, I also made a net profit of 40k+ gold. I loved the days where I counted my earnings in my room!

……

Ling Xueshang and Purple Wind Chime didn’t depart immediately after the trade was complete, so I asked them, “Xueshang, why do you need this many Magic Consumables? It would take at least an army of high-level mages to burn through everything.”

“That is a guild secret!” Ling Xueshang smiled enigmatically. “You have to join us if you want to hear about it. I and the 2458 ladies in our guild would welcome you with open arms!”

“Er…” A muscle in my face twitched once. “I think that’s too many ladies even for me, so I’ll have to decline. It’s also more SFW[1] to stick with the 8000+ men in Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls…”

“Hehehe…”

Ling Xueshang chuckled softly before shooting me a meaningful look. “It’s nothing, really. The Monarch Descends is tackling a high-level map where four Level 130 Purple Gold Rank mini bosses appear every 12 hours. We need these Magic Consumables to stay in top shape and firepower at all times.”

“Ohh, a map like this actually exists? That’s awesome. So where is it…”

“I’m not telling you…”

“...”

Ling Xueshang pursed her lips and grabbed the bow behind her back. Then, she said to Purple Wind Chime, “C’mon, everyone’s urging us to head back. You need to repair your equipment though. We’re probably going to be fighting all night today, and as the main tank you’re the last person who can afford to lose their equipment.”

“Yeah!”

Finally, she gave me a smile and bade me goodbye. “See you later, Lu Chen~”

……

I fell quiet as I watched the two girls’ back. The Monarch Descends was definitely a guild we couldn’t afford to underestimate. The four divine sites were great, but not so great that the buffs could single-handedly shift the balance of power in Sky City, so I am sure that there were a lot more forces like The Monarch Descends who chose to stay beneath the water. This peace wouldn’t last forever though. The moment the territory system comes online, all these guilds would come to life and fight for supremacy for sure. It didn’t take much imagination to know that The Monarch Descends could be a formidable enemy or a reassuring ally in the future depending on the situation.

Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls didn’t have many allies. In fact, Snowy Cathaya was practically our only ally. For now, establishing a good relationship with The Monarch Descends didn’t seem like a bad idea. Back in Spirit of Grief, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls was just a tiny third-rate guild, while The Monarch Descends was famous throughout the game. At the time we weren’t worthy of catching their eye, but not anymore. It was about time we befriended a couple of powerful guilds with good people in them.

……

I opened my friend list and summoned Murong Mingyue. Then, I gave her 10k Rank 10 Magic Consumables to distribute to all the high-level mages and priests in our guild including herself. It was time I contributed to the guild. You cannot earn all the money in the world, and this was but a measly amount of profit compared to what I would earn if Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls became strong and successfully claimed guild territory for themselves.

Finally, I unloaded 5k Dragon Soup at Air Force One and set the price to 15 gold per dish. It would be stupid not to greed a little when I still had a monopoly over the market, right? Especially since the Dragon Soup was a high-rank Magic Consumable that restored 2500 MP in one go. Maybe the average mage didn’t need it, but for those who already picked up skills like Dragon’s Roar, it was impossible for them to go all out most of the time without Rank 10 Magic Consumables. After all, a single cast of Dragon’s Roar cost over 200 MP already, and that was just one spell.

I walked to the inn after everything was done. I was in no hurry to level up anyway!

But just as I approached the entrance, a system announcement suddenly dinged across the city—

System Announcement: Player "Warsky (Sky City)" has successfully defeated the Dark Gold Rank Boss, Wild Rogue, and reached Level 110. They have also met the criteria to become a Famous General and become the tenth Famous General of China! They have gained Tactics +1 and the exclusive Famous General Skill, "Hegemon"!

Hegemon: Beseech the earth-shaking power of the hegemon and increase all party members’ critical rate by 15%, to a maximum of 40%.

……

Hegemon?!

I was surprised. Considering the amount of Tactics Warsky had right now, he could probably boost his allies for 30% critical rate. That was seriously OP. 30% critical rate meant that any player could crit once every three hits, and anyone who played a game before should understand just how terrifying that was. Shit, October Rain already learned Heartpiercer last time, and now Warsky picked up a Famous General Skill for himself too. Warsky Alliance was most certainly going to make a comeback.

Beep!

He Yi sent me a message: “Warsky just learned a Famous General Skill. It looks really powerful.”

“Yes, it is. It’s useful in both PvE and PvP. Sigh, what a headache. Considering that the territory system could come any day now, this is the worst possible timing for Warsky Alliance to grow stronger…”

He Yi smiled. “Relax, it’s not as serious as you think. Did you forget that we have three Famous General Skills ourselves? Martial God, Royal Road, and Bow God are all ridiculously powerful offensive General Skills. If this is a headache, then Warsky Alliance’s headache is at least three times worse than ours…”

“Haha, that’s true. Anyway, let’s head to bed soon. We still have to work come tomorrow.”

“Mn.”

……

I logged out of the game and took a cold bath. I felt so comfortable that I fell asleep the second my head hit the pillow.

When I woke up again, it was early morning already. A bird was perched on a branch outside my window and chirping to the autumn dawn. It made me feel like shooting it with a slingshot.

After I washed myself and ate breakfast, He Yi, Murong Mingyue and I prepared to head out. Until we came back, Beiming Xue would be the only one left inside the workshop. Xu Yang said that he could travel in his own car, so we weren’t going to fetch him this time. Before we left, Beiming Xue caught up to me and grabbed my wrist. She complained, “Big bro, you work in HR right? Please find me a job too after you familiarize yourself with your department. It’s so lonely grinding by myself in the morning…”

I smiled. “Alright, alright, I got it. I promise I’ll find you a job in half a month at most.”

“Mn mn!”

I gave her a helpless smile before heading out for work!

……

After we arrived at GGS, He Yi left to attend a meeting at the office, while I followed Lin Yujia on a tour around the department. Half the floor belonged to us, and there were a lot of foreigners mixed in between as well. Lin Yujia pointed at a dark-skinned guy who was only 155 cm tall and said, “This is Tariq. He’s one of the employees President He Yi brought back from India. His name comes from Sanskrit ‘Tarak’, तारक, , which can be interpreted as ‘star’. From now on, he’s your assistant...”

I stared at him for a moment before asking, “Yujia, you sure he’s an Indian? Anyway, I like his name. Someone who ain’t a star doesn't deserve to work for me…”

The star was confused, and Lin Yujia was both confused and exasperated.

……

After we returned to the office, Lin Yujia explained a couple more things to me before excusing herself. Apparently, there was a VIP she needed to receive. While I was working, Tariq walked over to me and passed me a cup of coffee. He was a friendly guy for sure. Then, he spoke to me in a broken accent, “Sir, I just came to China. Can you teach me the, er, coolest or most classic phrase a Chinese might say?”

I took his question seriously and thought for a long time. There were a ton of such phrases, but there was one that stood out to me above all else. So I answered him, “Fuck your mom!”

I was glad to hear that Tariq was a fast learner.

It wasn’t long before noon arrived, so we met up at the restaurant downstairs and got ready to return home. Tariq was with me, by the way. I was surprised to find Xu Yang leading an Indian assistant himself, and the two Indians seemed to be very familiar with each other. Tariq probably thought that he was cool after he learned a cool phrase from me, so he greeted his Indian friend and said, “Fuck your mom.”

Here comes the classic. The other Indian replied naturally, “Your mom fucks well too.”

Murong Mingyue and He Yi could barely stand straight after hearing the exchange. Dammit, it must be Xu Yang who taught him that retort! God, he’s such a terrible influence to his subordinates!

……

My phone rang all of a sudden. It was Beiming Xue.

“What’s wrong, Beiming?”

“Come back soon, big bro! Something big just happened!”

“And what is it exactly?”

“Territory! A new territory just appeared!”

“WTF!”

1. Safe for work