The Almighty Ring

Compared to his run with the ladies of Rosette Knighthood, these punks were breezing through the dungeon!

First, Jiang Fei put Zhao Feng through a few equipment upgrades. After that, he got his rotund friend and several other punks to Level 20. However, as Jiang Fei was already Level 22, he barely got any experience points from the Elite Dungeon!

“Ding! The Aristocrats has officially received approval and now owns the first guild territory in Dawnlight City!”

“Ding! The proposed location to build the Fortress of The Aristocrats has been approved. The construction period is now initiated. For the next 30 days, other players cannot launch an attack on players from The Aristocrats!

When they stepped out of the Dungeon, Jiang Fei and the others were bombarded by a string of announcements.

“Hoho, Happy Drunk doesn’t loiter about!” Jiang Fei laughed. Although Happy Drunk had obtained the City-building Token yesterday, it was not enough to start building a city. You still had to pay a deposit of 50,000 gold coins!

It was daylight robbery. Even a tycoon like Happy Drunk was not happy about it. After all, the game had only been launched a few days ago. At the moment, players were still earning and trading in the silver coin bracket. The game had everyone acting like misers. They could not be blamed, for every single coin had their blood, sweat, and tears on it!

Although Happy Drunk was a tycoon, money in the real world did not exactly convert immediately into in-game gold coins. Even if he attempted to brute force it with real money, it would have been way too heavy. In the end, all the members of The Aristocrats had to contribute. Some members handed over 30 silver coins, others gave 20 silver coins. Fortunately, these super guilds were all massive. Sheer money and fortune may not cut it, but sheer numbers did!

The elite members of The Aristocrats were in a better position. After all, they were all legally contracted employees. Happy Drunk was in charge of their salaries. They donated without even being asked. It was still a small mystery as to why the grassroots had contributed just as willingly. It did not take much investigating — Billy Boy was simply one cruel sunnuvabitch!

Yesterday, Billy Boy had spent all day raiding The Aristocrats, together with the two other major guilds — Arkosios Sanctuary and Omnisword. After that, he did not stop there. He had sent hunting parties out to pick off lone The Aristocrats players. Finally, even the most confident of The Aristocrats members did not even dare to leave town. They were forced to find refuge in the city, relying on the protection of the NPC Guards.

In just one day, The Aristocrats’s average level dropped by a whopping 1.7 levels — their members killed by a total of more than 50,000 times. They had almost been stripped naked. If not for the City-building Token that gave these people unlimited hope, there might not be anything left of The Aristocrats.

Finally, The Aristocrats turned to their final option. Pool their sources and accelerate the construction of their City. There, they could finally relax!

As long as they did not actively attack members of other guilds, they were invincible, and they could not be forced into Player Killing Mode by other players. Finally, they could resume regular activities!

In Happy Drunk’s relief, the three other guilds found proper cause to worry instead. No one had expected such a protective system to actually envelop these players. Now, the plan of wanting to stifle The Aristocrats was no longer feasible. They were left with two remaining options. Option one: Get their own City-building Token. Option two: Form an alliance between the three guilds and stem the tide of The Aristocrats!

“Hahahaha… Brother Ah Fei, I was too busy yesterday. I haven’t had time to thank you yet…”

Soon, a voice message from Happy Drunk arrived. He sounded awfully chipper as if he was lounging in a bathtub.

“We both got what we wanted…” Jiang Fei smiled. He did not need to guess. Happy Drunk was here to attempt recruiting him.

The Aristocrats had survived the storm. Even Happy Drunk had been uncertain of himself. But it would be smooth sailing from now. He had a grace period of an entire month, and it was plenty enough for him to hunker down and fortify his position. The Aristocrats was bound to be the absolute hegemon of Dawnlight City. He intended to use his elevated status to keep the public Blacksmith to himself now.

“Brother Ah Fei, what do you think? The Aristocrats is bound to rule over everything else. Wanna join the winning team?” Sure enough, Happy Drunk extended him the olive branch.

“Hoho, I’m sure you can tell, but I have little interest in forging equipment, so forget it…” Jiang Fei shook his head. Was this guy joking? If he joined a guild, would he still have any freedom? Jiang Fei was not willing to hammer stuff in the city all day long!

“Hoho, brother Ah Fei, you don’t have to give me an answer now. You can take your time and think about it. The doors of The Aristocrats will always be open for you!” Happy Drunk was unperturbed.

“We’ll see…” Jiang Fei was not keen on prolonging the exchange. With a few more words, he cut off the communication with Happy Drunk.

“Big Bear, find them a suitable grinding spot and keep them safe…”

After cutting off the communication with Happy Drunk, Jiang Fei turned and said to Big Bear.

“Okay! Young Master, don’t you worry about us. Nobody’s losing levels today!” Big Bear thumped his heart with a closed fist.

“Brother Fei, the Class Queen asked me if you play games. How should I answer?”

Zhao Feng suddenly sent a private message to Jiang Fei.

“Sun Mengmeng? She’s playing ‘Dawn Break’?” Jiang Fei asked.

“Yeah! Many from our class are playing!” Zhao Feng replied. This was because Dawn Break did not affect one’s schedule in the slightest. If anything, the game promised a smooth, uninterrupted sleep. So, other than Jiang Fei’s old-fashioned father, many parents were more than willing to get their kids into the game.

“Oh well, just tell her!” Jiang Fei shrugged. There was no need to hide the fact that he played games anymore.

“Ding! CutiePie wants to add you as a friend, do you accept?”

Not long after, Jiang Fei received a friend request.

“Accept…” As Jiang Fei accepted the friend request, one of his eyes twitched. The Class Queen was somewhat audacious. She was 100% uncute and violent, yet there she was, using such an in-game name. I might just send in a note to the Consumers Association and report about your fraudulent activities!

“Hey, are you Jiang Fei?” Sun Mengmeng’s crisp voice rang through the chat.

“What can I do for you, o’ mighty class representative?” Jiang Fei asked.

“I heard that you’re really good at games, is that true?” Sun Mengmeng asked.

“I’m alright.” Jiang Fei nodded.

“Then come help us clear a Unknown Dungeon!” Sun Mengmeng ordered.

“What level? What party limit?”

“Level 15! Ten people!”

“Sss…” Jiang Fei sucked in a breath. Although it was just a Level 15 Unknown Dungeon, a ten-man limit sounded like trouble. This might be even tougher than a Heroic Dungeon!

“Let’s meet up and talk. I need to look at your party configuration. If it makes the cut, we can set off right away!” Jiang Fei thought for a moment before speaking. He did not want to make any promises at the moment. Unknown Dungeons were not Instance Dungeons. If he died, he would lose his Levels.

“Sure! We’re at the East Gate of Dawnlight City, come over!” Sun Mengmeng replied.

“Fatty, let’s go look at how things are on the Class Queen’s side!” As soon as Jiang Fei called for Zhao Feng, he was ready to leave.

“I wanna go too!” MrsAwesome instantly stopped whatever she was doing. She just wanted to go along with Jiang Fei.