The Great Thief

”The guild is level eight now, thanks to you,” Lu Li said sincerely as he lifted his cup.

Experiencing rebirth changed many things, but it didn’t change his ability to manage people. He didn’t have that ability in his previous life and he still lacked it now.

If the guild was in his hands, it wouldn’t have reached level eight in three days, like it had under Square Root 3’s leadership. He would have been bored by all the menial tasks and wouldn’t have been able to do Instance Dungeons, let alone take any First Clears.

Now he truly appreciated why Sorrowless was only level 18.

Square Root 3 may not have been able to defeat him, but his management ability was way beyond his.

Lu Li didn’t mind expressing his respect for someone who had such an ability.

”You are the one to be thanked. After we got the First Clear today, the guild applications grew by a dozen pages. If we were to accept them all, we wouldn’t even be able to fit them into a level 20 guild,” Square Root 3 shot back.

”That First Clear was just pure luck,” Lu Li explained the situation that led up to it; his version of the story was more legitimate than the ones that other players had been spreading.

Lu Li wasn’t some kind of dunce; his reactions to situations were decisive and brutal. That was why many players looked to him with such high expectations.

”No wonder. They wanted to raise the level of their star player.” Square Root 3 clearly understood the situation.

Lu Li nodded and said, ”They must have been. They reached a new part of the map, so they thought it was perfectly safe which gave me the opportunity. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have had a chance.”

”They had one person take the last hit on the Boss…” Square Root 3 thought about that for a moment before continuing, ”A mature team shouldn’t rely on one strong player – such reliance is only temporary. Their strength would only be an illusion and could come crashing down one day.”

For example, Sorrowless was assassinated by Lu Li in the Warsong Canyon and then, he had lost in the tournament. He was once a gaming legend, but now, the mysticism surrounding him had mostly faded.

Of course, he was currently making a comeback, so no one dared to underestimate him.

”Wait, this is something you have to deal with, right?” Lu Li asked. ”You are to deal with how the guild is to grow. Hopefully, the guild won’t be affected on the day I am defeated.”

Square Root 3 smiled bitterly as he took a drink and replied, ”You’ve asking for a lot even though you’re leaving it all to me.”

”It’s the most capable who do the most work,” Lu Li responded. ”I’m not a person who can do management work, but I think it is best if I leave it to someone who knows what they’re doing and not to interrupt them.”

”Thank you for your trust.” That was all Square Root 3 could say.

”You can ask Wandering for some help if you want; he has some talent in this area as well.”

”That guy is too lazy,” Square Root 3 said as he waved his hand and gritted his teeth.

”Oh, you said you wanted to start professionalizing. How are you going to do that?” Lu Li asked modestly.

He had started gaming too late and had always played alone, so he didn’t know anything about guilds, let alone the matter of running the guild’s club.

”To put it simply, it is the professionalization of the Elite Teams,” Square Root 3 said.

”Like signing a contract for a salary?” Lu Li asked.

”Almost. It’s extra incentive to concentrate on staying together. They will also need to have a stable income; this forces the employer find work for them,” Square Root 3 explained before he jokingly said, ”We are the capitalists exploiting the working class.”

Lu Li hated capitalists, but he didn’t hate being one.

”Another benefit is that it reduces the cost of training them and the risks of having a traitor within the guild,” Square Root 3 continued as he opened another bottle of beer. ”You must have already seen Gale Legion’s experience today.”

”Have they professionalized their elite teams?” Lu Li asked curiously.

”Only partly,” Square Root 3 explained. ”Of the top 30 guilds, the Gale Legion infamously contain a mixed bag of players with good and bad reputations. They specialize in taking PVP madmen who are usually unruly players. It makes focusing on progressing in the game a difficult thing to do.”

”Surely some players wouldn’t accept it?” Lu Li said after some thought.

Everyone had their own lives and were unwilling to drop whatever they had for a new career.

”They won’t oppose it, because those who do can’t enter our elite teams.”

Lu Li’s eyes widened. This guy actually wanted to exclude everyone who opposed. This strategy was just… insane. Lu Li had never heard of any guild that dared to do that.

Guilds were made up of a collection of players, ones that accepted the system of doing things. It was on this acceptance that the group continued to operate.

”Hear me out.” This kind of decision could determine the future style of management for Ruling Sword. He wouldn’t have done this without running the idea by his boss, but Square Root 3 was sure that he would be able to persuade Lu Li.

”Alright, explain.” Lu Li forced himself to calm down.

”First of all, we aren’t going lacking in players. Before even putting out any advertising materials, we already have enough applicants to fill up a level 20 guild.”

”True,” Lu Li nodded. A level 20 guild could hold 20,000 people, but this was still a conservative number. If Lu Li just stood there and personally invited more people to join, it was likely that even more players would defect from their guilds.

”Will you continue to take First Clears?” Square Root 3 asked.

”Of course,” Lu Li said confidently.

”Will the club be able to enter the top 100, wait no, the top 16 in the future?” Square Root 3 asked.

”Definitely.” Lu Li didn’t expect to take the championship next season, but he could definitely get into the top 16 at the very least. His goal was to be part of the top 3.

”See – your guild’s name will only get bigger and bigger, which means there will be a steady stream of people wanting to join,” Square Root 3 explained as he waved his hands and continued, ”Which definitely means we won’t have a shortage of players, not now, or in the future.”

”I think I partially understand what you mean.” Lu Li wasn’t a fool.

Square Root 3 meant to say that there were more than enough players for the professionalization to work. Even if some couldn’t accept it and left, there would still be countless players who were waiting to take their spot.

”You’re also so good at Instance Dungeons,” Square Root 3 sincerely said. ”It doesn’t matter who you take or what level the difficulty is; you will be able to quickly solve the Instance Dungeon.”

Each guild had their own Instance Dungeon genius, but none were as ‘stunning’ as Lu Li.

”You give me too much credit.” Lu Li was a little anxious.

”You are the one who came up with the Howling Caves strategy and I gave that strategy to some reasonable players,” Square Root 3 said. ”But we can’t continue to do that in future. To be honest, I don’t really trust them. I only trust black and white contracts.”

As a person of authority, maintaining a level of discretion was important.

The Xin Xin Mercenary Group was able to produce such a close and warm atmosphere due to its smaller numbers.

”So you will have demanding terms for the elite teams, just in case they decide to leak the strategy.” Lu Li finally had a full understanding of Square Root 3’s plan. He didn’t want their strategies to be leaked either for as long as they were still useful to them. The longer they exclusively held the strategy, the longer they could keep reaping the rewards.

”I am already working on selecting some players. The first 100 players will gather in the city this week.” Square Root 3 knew that Lu Li would agree and had already begun work.