<h4>Chapter 130: The First Step in Building a Large Network</h4>
<strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios
Based on the quests that Han Xiao assigned to the yers, Maple Moon had guessed that Han Xiao and the Germinal Organization were enemies. Most yers would just want toplete the task and get it over with, so they would not even bother with understanding any background information about the quest. However, Maple Moon enjoyed exploring the story plot and became curious about the background story of Han Xiao. ck Phantom—this name made her think of all sorts of assassins and stories of vengeance. She believed that there was something she could dig further into.
<i>She is the first yer to interact with me outside of assigning quests and selling equipment. </i>Han Xiao’s eyes lit up.
Han Xiao pondered about his rtionship with the yers and concluded that they were not enemies—except for the yers who took on missions that targeted him. He was able to not only extract profits from yers but also train yers with potential and let them be his allies. By exchanging help and resources, he could make these yers willingly fight alongside him.
As the yers could resurrect, it was somewhat unfavorable to Han Xiao. However, looking from another perspective, it also meant that the yers were best used as fighters and cannon fodder. Although most yers did not have principles, and therefore, using yers in such a manner could be rather chaotic, Han Xiao was clear about the yers’ psychology and what motivated them. As long as he manipted them properly, he could control the yers’ actions to a certain extent. If he made good use of this strategy, he could gain a huge advantage when fighting against NPC forces—the advantage could be as big as his advantage when interacting with yers!
<i>What’s this called again—two-timing?</i>
<i>Nah, it should be called focusing on both sides!</i>
A sh of thoughts sprinted through Han Xiao’s mind as he nced at her. He then suddenly walked up to the vehicle. Maple Moon was startled momentarily before she followed.
The vehicle storagepartment was a workshop full of spare mechanicalponents. Han Xiao casually pointed his finger to ask Maple Moon to sit wherever she wanted. He then lit a cigarette and began smoking. The smoke created a mysterious atmosphere, and Maple Moon, upon seeing this scene, knew immediately that something exciting was about to happen to her. This caused her heartbeat to thump rapidly. She was very expectant.
Han Xiao flicked the ashes off his cigarette as he said, “The Germinal Organization is an evil organization that is using the grief the people who lost their country to manipte them into fighting for their personal gains. They oundishly try to start a world war and add more scars to this world that is already covered in wounds...”
Han Xiao embellished the story with many details of the evil deeds that the Germinal Organization had previouslymitted, but he did not twist any facts around. The Germinal Organization had indeedmitted a lot of bloody acts. Han Xiao was able to know all this based on the memories from his past life and by reading the relevant case files on the Dark Net. He gave a good ount of all these incidents to Maple Moon.
As Maple Moon listened to Han Xiao attentively, her emotions fluctuated up and down. Her impression of the Germinal Organization plummeted as she felt the anger brewing within her. Maple Moon was the kind of person who would get emotional from the storyline of a game, and she would always make decisions based on what her heart wanted. She had never been motivated by personal gains.
There were actually a lot of yers like Maple Moon since most yers were there to enjoy the game. A game was a story that people could easily immerse themselves in. However, most of such yers were ying offline games, so it was rare to find yers like this in an online game.
Han Xiao, in fact, found yers like Maple Moon admirable. He coughed and asked a question that was clearly leading to a quest. “Would you be willing to be an enemy of the Germinal Organization?”
It was basically a yes or no question.
Maple Moon nodded solemnly.
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Your reputation with ck Phantom has increased by 5 points.
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After adjusting her reputation points, Han Xiao took out a mobile phone and handed it to Maple Moon. “Good, I have seen your courage. When you have grown stronger, contact me using this phone.
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You received the quest [ck Phantom’s Invitation]. Reach LV 20, then contact ck Phantom.
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Maple Moon was secretly delighted by her correct choice. She was right—there were hidden plots that could be triggered!
Han Xiao’s secretly chuckled as he saw Maple Moon’s delighted face. He was nning to spread a wide to catch all these yers with good potential. However, due to the limited number of yers he could train, choosing each yer carefully was a very important thing. Maple Moon would be a famous mechanic in the future and could be a good assistant for him. She was definitely a good spare tire... <i>Cough! I mean an alternative.</i>
As for the remaining candidates, Han Xiao had to think hard about them. He was prepared to choose the yers who had good principles and potential. As long as Han Xiao showed yers that they could trigger hidden missions from him, the rest of the professional yers would automaticallye to find him by themselves, and this would allow him to have more choices in picking the candidates.
A rough n was generated inside Han Xiao mind, and he believed that it was rather actionable, but for the time being, the yers still required a period of growth before he could proceed to the next step of his n.
...
After he sent away the excited Maple Moon, he waited till noon before creating a new quest for the yers.
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[Hunting Germinal]: Follow ck Phantom to attack a troop from the Germinal Organization. This quest is a Prize-Pool Mission, and the base reward is 35,000 EXP. 500 EXP will be consumed by epting the quest and be ced in the reward pool. The total reward will be split proportionally among the top 5 yers (or teams).
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Han Xiao had the ability to release different kinds of quests including a Prize-Pool Mission. Unfortunately, the reward he could dispense for a Prize-Pool Mission would still depend on the upper limit of a single mission. However, as the yers were mostly around the level of four or five, 35,000 was still an astronomical number to them.
The yers wanting to join the Prize-Pool Mission had to pay an ‘admission fee’. Han Xiao tried and realized that he could not manipte the EXP that the yers put into the prize pool. He felt bummed, like he had lost another way to earn—scam—the noobs.
The Kill-all Guild was the first to discover the Prize-Pool Mission. They were shocked by the sheer size of the reward for the quest.
“This must be the first Prize-Pool Mission!”
“Oh woah! 35,000 EXP! Even for the base reward, it is way too much! The quests that I can do now only give me a few hundred EXP!”
“If more yers ept this quest, the prize pool will umte to an astronomical number!”
All the members from the Kill-all guild could not contain their excitement.
SliceYouUp’s eyes shed, and he had a different thought. “No, we cannot allow other yers to ept this quest!”
Members of the guild were shocked and asked the president, “Why not?”
Slicer eighteen spoke volubly, “Only five yers or teams can receive the prize for this quest. The Big Horn Vige has few hundred thousand yers which even include some professional yers. Rather thanpeting with all of them and rely on luck, why not just get the 35,000 EXP into our hand! If we are the only ones to ept the quest, we can easily manipte the ranking and distribute the reward without the rest of our guild. Also, if we only win the quest as a team, each member will only gain an insubstantial amount of EXP. If we can distribute the EXP to a few individuals, it will be a lot more useful!”
He wanted to get several core members toplete the task and earn the huge amount of EXP—it was basically transferring the EXP that other members of the guild would gain to an elite few. If everyone in the guild were to gain the EXP, each person would only average about 500 EXP, which was insignificant. However, if the EXP were to be transferred to just a few members, their growth would be greatly elerated.
The guild members look at each other in consternation. Although they were reluctant, they did not want to lose their job. It was only a little EXP; it would not matter that much. So, everyone agreed.
“The quest only starts in the afternoon, and ck Phantom will definitely set out in advance. As long as we do not let any yerse into contact with him during these two hours, we are set!”
SliceYouUp ordered his guild members to hold up pistols and guard the area around Han Xiao. He then gave an order. “Warn any person that’sing near him. If anyone defies the warning, fire immediately.”
The Kill-all guild had more than twenty core members located within Big Horn Vige and more than a hundred secondary members. It was the biggest yer faction at the moment.
These guilds working in a studio were different from casual yers. They had a presence in many games, and only when they were certain that a particr game was valuable enough to have a great investment in would they then move their members based in other games into that specific game. The Kill-all Guild had a few thousand members, but there were only about a hundred of them based in Gxy. More yers from the guild would join the game when more VR capsules were on sale.
yers in this game could kill each other. However, the more people they killed, the more Sin points they would umte. The amount of EXP and equipment that a yer would drop for dying was proportional to their Sin points.
...
Han Xiao realized that there was a group of guild yers around him chasing the other yers away, preventing anyone from getting close to him. They were rather aggressive and stern—those that got driven away were afraid to speak up.
He pondered for a moment and immediately understood what the Kill-all Guild was trying to do. His face turned ck. “This guild to trying to swallow my Prize-Pool Mission alone—how fearless!”
His original intention of the Prize-Pool Mission was to get more yers to join in and be his canon-fodder, but the Kill-all Guild was now interfering his n.
Arge group of yers gathered on the side. They were indignant.
“They are too authoritative! I just want to buy some ammunition, that’s all!”
“What right do you have to forcibly upy ck Phantom?”
At this moment, members of the Sky Territory Guild forced their way through the crowd and confronted the Kill-all Guild.
Jade Green Sky then shouted, “What are you guys trying to do?”
SliceYouUp was expressionless. He did not even bother to exin before he gestured with his hand; his members around him immediately aimed their pistol at Jade Green Sky. This immediately triggered the members of the Sky Territory Guild—they responded in kind.
All the other yers were slightly shocked by this scene. They quickly moved backward, lest they got sshed with blood.
Jade Green Sky was hesitant. He had fewer people on his side, so he knew that he would be at a disadvantage once the battle began. He did not understand why the Kill-all Guild suddenly became so authoritative, but he was certain that something fishy was going on. Furthermore, with so many eyes around observing them, the Sky Territory Guild could not act like cowards.
Jade Green Sky and his members nced at each other, confirming each other’s thoughts.
Fight!
Tension was building on both sides.
Other yers stretched their necks to watch the show—two big, famous guilds fighting against each other was not an everyday urrence.
The battle was on the verge of starting.
Just then, every member in the Kill-all Guild received a notification on their interface.
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Your reputation with ck Phantom decreased by 10 points.
Current Reputation: -5
Current Rtionship: Cold
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SliceYouUp was astonished!