The central square is bustling with people.
In the most lively area, you can see the Crusader Guild’s flag standing high and prominent from a distance.
Every now and then, groups of passing players come along, register in the designated area following the queue, and those meeting the basic requirements will proceed to the testing area for their strength.
Just by looking at their equipment, many of those who have registered are newly returned players, while some are seasoned players who came to join the fun, making the whole scene very lively.
Since the official implementation of the perfect exchange of in-game currency and real money in “Genesis,” more and more professional players have entered this continent to make a fortune. The growing popularity of the Century Cup has replaced keyboard gaming with holographic esports as the mainstream, and the rapidly changing landscape has naturally led to a more standardized demand for professional guilds.
Occupying their own territory in territorial battles has become an important criterion for judging the strength of a guild.
For many prestigious guilds, having an offline independent base is a powerful symbol, and even their guild’s management personnel are appointed by the group. Responsibilities are clear, and internal divisions are orderly.
Among them, the current president of the Crusader Guild, Po Jun Ba Ba, was originally appointed by the group to replace the first-generation president, Yi Shui Bian.
As everyone knows, Yu Weize initially joined the Crusaders mainly because of the first-generation president, Yi Shui Bian. Therefore, it’s not entirely unexpected that Yu Weize and Pojun Baba didn’t get along after the latter took over the guild.
Surprisingly, these two figures, despite their rivalry, never completely tore each other apart. The fact that Yu Weize was willing to represent the Crusaders in the Century Cup league was enough to leave people astonished.
It can only be said that you really shouldn’t try to guess the thoughts of some pros. Guessing won’t get you anywhere.
Just like the current situation, ever since Pojun Baba became the president, Yu Weize’s appearances on behalf of the Crusaders can be counted on one hand. Today, he even appeared in person at the recruiting scene, leaving many people shocked.
Although the so-called appearance was merely a brief appearance, the fact that he was willing to appear in the public eye already made him a kind of living advertisement. It was enough to make people exclaim, “It’s been a while.”
Many people did come for the excellent treatment offered by prestigious guilds like the Crusaders, but many others came just for fun, wanting to witness the extraordinary style of Yu Weize, a renowned figure among gamers.
Yu Weize brought a chair and sat not far from the recruitment desk.
His long legs were stretched out comfortably in a casual posture. He occasionally glanced at the people in line, as if searching for someone, and then withdrew his gaze, busying himself with his system panel.
This was his third day of setting up a stall here.
As for the results, not to mention the person he wanted to see, he hadn’t even seen a few familiar faces.
As expected, players drawn to such a righteous character could mostly be found at the recruitment booths of healers like Return to Spring’s Skillful Hands, Xuan Hu Ji Shi, and a few other virtuous gods. According to the rumors, the Blood Rose Guild had received an explosion in applications from healing players these days, which had made some guilds suffering from a severe shortage of healers quite envious.
However, there was no reason why, even if other light-elf players were not interested in the Crusaders, certain individuals wouldn’t be interested in some rare materials. He had clearly listed extra perks for light-elf recruits. So, why was there no response at all?
Thinking about this, Yu Weize couldn’t help but shoot a deep glance at the gaming ID in his friend chat box.
The other person was still messaging him.
Return to Spring’s Skillful Hands: “What’s your situation? In the past few days, many people have been asking me if Old Stomp and I deleted you from our friends list.”
Yu Weize: “Isn’t it obvious? I freed up a friend slot.”
Return to Spring’s Skillful Hands: “Don’t beat around the bush. So, did someone delete you?”
Yu Weize: “Couldn’t it be me who deleted someone else?”
Return to Spring’s Skillful Hands: #Smile.jpg
Yu Weize: #Smile.jpg#Smile.jpg#Smile.jpg
Return to Spring’s Skillful Hands: “You’re a problem.”
Yu Weize: “Oh, really?”
Return to Spring’s Skillful Hands: “I heard you’ve been helping with recruitment in the Sixth District for three days. So, what’s the connection with your friend slot?”
Yu WezZe raised an eyebrow.
It was said that Return to Spring’s Skillful Hands, the god of spring in the Blood Rose Guild, was indeed a nice person, but only those who knew him knew that this ever-smiling Buddha concealed at least eight hundred tricks up his sleeve.
For most people, deleting a friend and recruiting people for a guild were two completely unrelated matters. Only someone as sharp as Return to Spring’s Skillful Hands could connect the dots.
However, Yu Weize had a habit of speaking without giving away much, and even in the face of the almost broken window paper, he could still re-paste it without acknowledging the hole.
Yu Weize: “Huh? What’s the connection between these two things?”
Return to Spring’s Skillful Hands: “What do you think?”
Yu Weize: “Isn’t that what you asked? How would I know? You guys have recruited so many healers; why not send some our way?”
Return to Spring’s Skillful Hands: #Smile.jpg
Yu Weize: #Smile.jpg#Smile.jpg#Smile.jpg
Both were sly old foxes, and neither could gain an advantage over the other.
In the end, they both said, “I’m busy,” and ended the conversation.
Yu Weize closed the friend chat box and, as he lifted his head, he noticed a green figure in the corner of his eye. He raised an eyebrow. “Green, what exactly gave those people outside the illusion that ‘Return to Spring’s Skillful Hands is straightforward and harmless’?”
“Ah, who? Spring God? Spring God is really a good person!” Green Fanatic seemed to be thinking about something else and paused for a moment. Then, he placed the things he was holding on the table. “Master, don’t rush to argue with Spring God. Come over and take a look at this; Daddy is really going too far this time!”
Yu Weize reached out and took a look. “Oh, has the BOSS grouping for this week been released?”
Green Fanatic: “Why not! They won’t let you take command, won’t even let you join the main team, and they’ve given him control of the second and third teams. And now they want you to lead the Tenth Team to defend the Lipy Plains? It’s a low-level map in the First District, and the next boss is probably going to be Madman Tait, the loot from which is practically useless. Only guilds with nothing else to do will bother. Why do you have to go for it?”
Yu Weize: “Whatever.”
Green Fanatic couldn’t believe his eyes: “Is that it? They’re clearly insulting you!”
Yu Weize put the little green notebook that the Green Fanatic brought over on his face: “Just remember, don’t worry.”
The countdown to leaving the guild had already begun. Did he really need to work for free just for the sake of pride? That would be an insult to his intelligence.
After all, the facade had already been torn apart behind the scenes. If it weren’t for the need to make a show for the guild members, Po Jun Ba Ba probably wouldn’t even want to write his name on that list.
Yu Weize knew that the guild president was probably worried about what would happen when he left the guild, but he had no obligation to help resolve those concerns.
Instead, everything that had happened in the past few years was clearly documented in his little notebook, and he would slowly settle scores after leaving the guild.
As the saying goes, revenge is best served cold, and Old Six was no different.
After reaching level 75, Jiang Shi completed a second transfer quest and chose not to continue with a third transfer.
Staying at a fixed level.
Although he couldn’t continue to push to level 110, enjoying the benefits of the returning player buff within the next month was definitely not a loss.
After all, in “Genesis,” character level was not too important, especially for special professions like Rune Mages, War Artificers, Mechanical Engineers, and Alchemists, collectively known as “Artisans.” Their impact was even smaller.
For a first transfer Rune Mage, there were only three skills in total: the initial Rune Stone Carving, and two passive skills at level 25 (increasing the duration of rune areas by 10%) and level 40 (increasing the effects of all rune areas by 10%).
After the second transfer, the duration of rune areas increased from 10% to 20%, and two new skills, Rune Spirit at level 60 and Telepathy at level 75, were added.
The former was the only active skill in use, and while Rune Spirit was active, for each additional rune area on the field, the area’s range increased by 2%.
The latter was a new passive effect, adding extra damage to control-type rune areas.
These seemingly simple skill enhancements, combined with a variety of rune stones, could create a wide range of skill combinations, allowing Jiang Shi to operate effectively.
However, it was only after the second transfer that Jiang Shi finally understood why Rune Mages were so scarce in version 2.0.
In the “Genesis” world, each faction had three professions to choose from, while factions with “Artisans” like the Rune Mages only had two professions in total.
In the first season, there was no mention of a second transfer, and there were fewer profession skills. For example, the Light Elves that Jiang Shi used were divided into Rune Mages and Priests, with each player being able to learn all the skills of the same faction’s professions. It was common for players to practice two or three professions.
However, it was different in version 2.0.
Starting from the second transfer, each player could only choose one primary profession. Although it was still possible to occasionally practice other professions of the same faction, if one wanted to learn the second transfer skills of a secondary profession, additional skill books had to be purchased.
These skill books were quite expensive on the market, and even if players were willing to spend real money, there were additional level requirements – players had to be 20 levels higher than their current skill learning level for the second profession.
In simple terms, a character had to reach level 65 before learning the second profession’s level 45 skills. Just this requirement meant that the secondary profession’s strength would never catch up with the primary profession, greatly reducing its playability.
The changes made for the second transfer in version 2.0 standardized players’ understanding of their primary profession, but inevitably led to the weakening of many professions, with Rune Mages being the most obvious example.
As the only primary control profession among the four “Artisans,” Rune Mages were seen as underwhelming because rune stones, which were consumable items that any player could use, were the basis of their skills. In the eyes of many players, the passive skills that only increased the effect of rune stones were quite lackluster.
Therefore, as other primary control professions gained popularity, Light Elf players naturally leaned more towards Priests, the highly popular healing profession.
After all, the “carving” of rune stones was the Rune Mage’s basic skill, and even without learning the second transfer skills, it didn’t affect the manufacturing process at all.
But as the saying goes, new versions bring new gods.
Jiang Shi had already seen the third transfer skill list released on the official website, so he had no worries about the future of the Rune Mage. During his leisurely and comfortable leveling period, he also enjoyed some time as a casual player.
He would pick up quests from various NPCs every day and run guild tasks to accumulate materials for the new version. When he had collected enough, he would start researching the new rune stone recipe.
Rune Mages, War Artificers, Mechanical Engineers, and Alchemists were known as “Artisans” primarily because they were the only professions capable of creating equipment. Rune Mages “carved” rune stones, War Artificers “forged” golden puppets, Mechanical Engineers “developed” various machines, and Alchemists “prepared” magic water, each specializing in control, defense, output, or status, respectively.
These crafted items had no usage restrictions. Although the effects in the hands of other players were not as strong as those in the hands of their primary profession users, they still played a significant auxiliary role in combat, making them highly popular in the market.
The prices on the market varied depending on attributes like white, green, blue, purple, and so on. The rare gold-grade items were particularly hot commodities in the auction house.
Jiang Shi’s substantial little treasury was mostly accumulated from auctioning gold-grade runestones from previous years.
Compared to when he had just returned, there was now a beautifully crafted carving workstation in Jiang Shi’s temporary storage space, which made the already small area seem a bit crowded.
Jiang Shi was half-leaning over the workstation, with a single lens hanging over his right eye, adding a touch of refinement to his elven beauty.
In one hand, he held a delicate and sharp small knife, while the other hand held a simple-looking runestone. Various freshly obtained materials were spread around him.
This was currently his greatest source of enjoyment, researching new runestone recipes.
The butler NPC, Siheng, stood by, offering a kind reminder, “Don’t you find the utilization of this room’s space quite distressing, sir? If possible, you should consider moving back to your estate.”
Jiang Shi carefully embedded a green demon vine into the runestone, lifted it up to examine it in the sunlight coming through the window, and revealed a satisfied smile. “I’ve always thought that a service staff member like you shouldn’t have such a nitpicky character, Siheng.”
Siheng shrugged indifferently. “I’m just concerned about your quality of life, sir.”
Jiang Shi raised an eyebrow, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.
After contemplating the semi-finished product on the table for a moment, he decided to stop here for the day.
While all Light Elves possessed the skill to carve runestones, being an “Artisan” was not as straightforward. Regular players could usually only carve green or even white runestones. To be able to create precise purple runestones, one had to be considered a skilled technician by the major profession guilds. Crafting top-tier gold-grade runestones was another matter entirely.
After working in front of the workstation for quite some time, Jiang Shi couldn’t help but stretch his muscles and bones.
It was at this moment that he noticed the guild channel had exploded into a frenzy at some point.
The most prominent message had been sent by the Vice Guild Leader three minutes ago.
[[Guild] What Pen Carries Fragrance: MD, these people are guarding our corpses here instead of fighting the BOSS!]
This single stone caused a thousand ripples, and now the guild channel was instantly flooded with messages.
Jiang Shi: Huh?
He scrolled through the chat and eventually caught the gist of what had happened from one of the conversations.
[[Guild] SWhat Pen Carries Fragrance: Wow, wow, wow! We’ve encountered a field BOSS! It’s Madman Tait, so lucky!]
[[Guild] What Pen Carries Fragrance: We have a chance, anyone there? Let’s hide the BOSS!]
At this point, the atmosphere in the guild was still quite lively, and many members were signing up and eagerly forming teams to join in the excitement.
Then came the most crucial message.
[[Guild] What Pen Carries Fragrance: Our team, the Guild Leader and I, were wiped out by others!]
[[Guild] What Pen Carries Fragrance: MD, these people are guarding our corpses here instead of fighting the BOSS!]
Clearly, it was a dispute over boss contention.
Guarding corpses instead of fighting the BOSS? Their behavior was nearly as despicable as the ones who had wiped them out.
With these thoughts in mind, Jiang Shi was about to mind his own business and close the guild channel when he received a message from a friend.
[Deep Well Ice Player: Are you feeling bored? Want to do something big?]
Jiang Shi blinked slowly, instantly piqued by the suggestion.
[Material Main Account: Sure, why not?~^_^~]
Author’s Note:
We are professionals at causing trouble~
I love this troublemaker duo XD
professional troublemakers indeed
thank you so much for the update!!