Free Web NovelChapter 45: Chapter 45: Guild
「Starry City.」
A white light descended. By the time Long Ming came to his senses, he found he had already been ejected from the dungeon and was back on the platform.
"..."
Long Ming barely managed to stop himself from cursing out loud.
He hadn’t expected those people from Star Tower City to be so ruthless. They actually detonated the entire building. He was blown to bits before he even had a chance to react.
Long Ming rubbed his aching head. ’Good thing I didn’t go into the game with all my gear.’
’Otherwise, I would’ve lost everything. With the way they just blow up entire buildings, who could possibly survive that?’
Even so, Long Ming’s heart ached. He hadn’t gained a single thing from this run. Instead, he had lost a pistol, 15 rounds of ammunition, and a tactical dagger.
’If this happens a few more times, won’t I go bankrupt?’
"Sigh!"
Long Ming sighed, raised his wristband, and tapped it a few times to log out of the game.
「In his room.」
Long Ming took off his helmet, walked over to his computer desk, sat down, and turned on his PC.
He logged into the Civilization Paradise forums to look up recent posts about running dungeons. freewebnovel.cσ๓
SWISH~
Millions of posts appeared, with new ones popping up every second.
Long Ming started browsing.
"Fuck, this game is unplayable! It’s crawling with guild players everywhere. Got wiped out again."
"The Iron Alliance Guild can go f—!"
"I just don’t get it. What do they gain from wiping us out?!"
"They gain a lot. First, no one’s left to compete with them for loot inside the dungeon. The supply drops are all theirs too, and those are guaranteed to have good stuff. Plus, no one’s fighting them for the extraction points."
"Damn it, aren’t these trial passes supposed to use random matchmaking? How are the players from those big guilds all able to group up together?"
"Are you stupid? They have thousands, even tens of thousands of players, all queueing up for matchmaking at the same time. Of course they’re going to get into the same instances."
"Holy shit, you can do that?"
"Then how are we supposed to play?"
"How else? Obviously, if you can’t beat them, join them."
"Tch, you say that as if they’d actually have you just because you want to join."
...
Long Ming skimmed through a few more posts, a thoughtful expression on his face.
’So it’s true. The supply drops aren’t generated by the dungeon itself; they’re random airdrops from the game system.’
’And now that everyone’s figured out how to play, trying to snatch a supply drop in the future is probably going to be countless times harder.’
’Also, based on the information I’ve gathered, the game’s environment has definitely gotten more hostile. Everyone’s started competing with and pushing each other out now.’
’Survival for solo players is probably going to get harder and harder, and they’ll be actively targeted.’
’In the game’s current state, it doesn’t matter how strong you are as an individual; you can’t win against a group ganging up on you.’
’Of course, it’s not an unsolvable problem. That saying, ’if you can’t beat them, join them,’ makes a lot of sense.’
Long Ming quickly made his decision. He would join the strongest guild. That way, with a powerful guild backing him, he wouldn’t be surrounded by enemies everywhere he went.
It was the only option he had. A wise man knows not to fight a losing battle.
Thinking of this, he immediately started searching the forums to see what the most famous guilds were.
The search quickly returned three results: the Star God Guild from Star Tower City, the Sin Abyss Guild from the Sinful City, and the All Stars Guild from Mountain City Mountain.
Long Ming stared at the Star God Guild’s emblem and couldn’t help but mutter to himself, ’This couldn’t be the same bunch of guys I just ran into, could it?’ frёeωebɳovel.com
’Now that I think about it, they do seem very similar.’
But Long Ming didn’t dwell on it. After all, there was no way he could join a guild from Star Tower City.
Although you could technically join any guild in the game, everyone’s default was to join a local one, because the three great Sanctuary Cities were hostile to each other.
If you joined a guild from another city, not only would you not be welcomed by them, but your own side might even see you as a traitor. You’d end up being an outcast on both sides.
So, Long Ming began to look up the membership requirements for the All Stars Guild.
A moment later, Long Ming was frowning and stroking his chin. He couldn’t find any membership requirements for the All Stars Guild. The guild was quite mysterious and didn’t seem to recruit publicly.
’Looks like my only option is to join Mountain City Mountain’s second-best guild, the Shadow Guild.’
With that thought, Long Ming got up, sat down on the edge of his bed, put on his helmet, and logged back into the game!
SWISH!
When he opened his eyes, he was already in Starry City.
He headed toward the area where people were shouting to recruit members.
Before long, he reached the southern district of Starry City and saw administrators from numerous guilds recruiting players.
It was easy to tell the good guilds from the bad; you just had to look at the length of their lines.
Some guilds had lines that snaked far into the distance, while other recruitment booths were completely empty, their staff having to actively pull people in.
Long Ming scanned the area and quickly spotted the Shadow Guild’s recruitment booth. Their line stretched over three hundred meters long, with at least a thousand people applying.
Long Ming walked to the back of the line and began to wait patiently.
Just then, he overheard two young men in front of him talking.
"Bro, I heard the benefits at this Shadow Guild are really good."
"Yeah, that’s why I’m here. But the recruitment standards are super high, too."
"Ah, you think we’ll be able to pass?"
"I’m not worried. I’ve got a connection, so I’m sure I’ll get in!"
"Awesome! Bro, can you help me get in too?"
...
Hearing this, Long Ming couldn’t help but shake his head. ’It seems you can’t escape nepotism, no matter where you go.’
「Over two hours passed in the blink of an eye.」
Soon, it was Long Ming’s turn. The person in charge of his application was a slovenly-looking young man in a loud, plaid shirt.
He glanced at Long Ming, noticed he had no gear on—the default look for a new player—and asked lazily,
"I’m Supervisor Lu Wei of the Shadow Guild. You want to join us?"
"Yes."
"Where are you from?"
"The Lower City District of Mountain City Mountain."
"From our city, that’s one point for you. But we at the Shadow Guild don’t just take any Tom, Dick, or Harry. You need to meet our requirements."
"What are the requirements?"
"Our guild prioritizes recruiting active and retired military officers. Are you?"
"No."
"Are you a high-level technician then?"
"No to that either."
"Then you’ll need to provide game combat footage to prove your abilities."
"So what skill level is required to join the guild?"
"It’s not that high. You need to be able to solo a monster with a melee weapon, and your KDI score has to be at least 3.0—meaning you eliminate an average of three players per dungeon run. You also need to have a basic set of gear, since the guild obviously isn’t going to equip you right from the start."
"That many requirements?"
"Many? This is just the basics. There are plenty of other requirements, like being on call 24/7 during your probationary period, attending guild training, and so on."
Long Ming fell silent upon hearing this.
"Of course, you don’t have to grumble about it. Our requirements are high, but the corresponding benefits are good too. Our starting salary is 10,000 Mountain Coins. You can ask around—that’s a decent wage even in the Upper City District. And if you’re outstanding, the guild can even get you residency in Mountain City Mountain’s Upper City District."
Lu Wei said to Long Ming, letting out a yawn.
Long Ming was a little surprised to hear Lu Wei’s words. ’They’re certainly painting a pretty picture.’
