Free Web NovelChapter 954: Seventy Percent
"What’s the situation right now? Dragonspire’s borders are open, right? Which guild unified everything?"
After asking, Ethan looked at them with a calm, steady gaze, as if the answer didn’t matter much to him, though the question itself clearly did. The group instinctively straightened under that look. They had already triggered the current wave, and the next one required them to move to another platform, so for the moment, they were safe. No immediate danger, and no pressure to act.
Silence settled over them, stretching longer than it should have. Ethan didn’t rush them. He simply waited.
At last, the rogue broke first, his voice uncertain. "Druid... God, sir... have you really not been online for a long time?"
Ethan shook his head slightly. "Not exactly. I’ve been leveling in a hidden zone. That map had no outside contact. And I... live out in the mountains."
It was a weak explanation, and even he knew it. His level clearly placed him far above ordinary players, yet he seemed completely unaware of current events. The contradiction was obvious, but it was the best he could offer on short notice. Whether they believed him or not, he didn’t press the matter further.
Surprisingly, something about his answer seemed to satisfy them. Or perhaps they simply chose not to question it too deeply.
The marksman, who appeared to be their leader, spoke up after gathering his thoughts. "If you’re asking whether Dragonspire is unified, then... yes. Sort of. But also no. The only real exception is your guild, sir, Renegade Alliance."
He paused briefly, choosing his words with care. "Your position is too important. You’ve locked down the entire Northern Frontier Region. People inside can’t get out, and people outside can’t get in. Honestly... I have to respect that. One guild holding a choke point like that, keeping everyone else at bay... the rest of us can only look up at you like we’re watching a river in flood."
What followed was an almost excessive stream of praise, growing more elaborate with every sentence. Ethan’s expression twitched slightly as he listened. It felt less like a report and more like a performance.
Was this guy some kind of natural-born flatterer?
Even the other squad members were starting to look uncomfortable, their expressions subtly twisting as the compliments piled on. Eventually, Ethan raised a hand to stop him.
"So the eastern, southern, and western regions are all unified?" he asked, steering the conversation back on track.
The others nodded.
"I see..." Ethan murmured, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.
"Sir, are you planning something big?" the shield tank asked, his deep voice rumbling with curiosity.
Before Ethan could answer, the rogue nudged the tank sharply with his elbow. "Don’t pry."
The tank blinked, clearly confused by the reaction, but Ethan only gave a small laugh and waved it off. "It’s fine."
He let the moment linger before adding, "Something big... you’ll find out soon enough."
The outline of a plan had already formed in his mind. Unlike before, there was no sharp urgency driving him forward, no restless aggression pushing him to act. His thoughts felt calmer now, like still water, but beneath that calm was something far more solid.
Ethereal had been his starting point once.
Maybe it would also be where everything ended.
"First step..." he thought quietly.
Winning or losing no longer seemed as important as it once had. But there were still things that needed to be done, and those wouldn’t change just because his perspective had.
He stayed with the freelance squad and finished the dungeon run. With Ethan present, what should have been a slow, careful process turned into something almost effortless. They cleared the Normal difficulty Trial Grounds in just an hour.
Normally, a group of five carrying a low-level player would need at least four hours to complete the same dungeon. With Ethan there, however, the others were reduced to little more than spectators.
Only the shield tank, the rogue who provided blindness control, and the priest who kept the tank alive contributed anything meaningful. The marksman and the fire mage, despite their decent gear, were effectively decorations. Their damage output, compared to Ethan’s area-of-effect attacks with no target limit, felt insignificant, like a drizzle against a storm.
When it was over, Ethan quietly left the party.
They exchanged brief farewells. The female priest hesitated for a moment before asking him for an autograph, her tone half shy, half excited. The others watched with poorly concealed envy, clearly tempted to ask for one themselves, though the thought of doing so as grown men seemed to hold them back.
After parting ways, Ethan teleported back to the capital.
He had logged in while invisible, so neither his friends nor his guild members had noticed his return. Once inside the city, he didn’t linger or wander.
He went straight to the auction house.
His current gear was far from acceptable. It had once been top-tier, but now it was hopelessly outdated. Even a basic set of Bronze-tier equipment above level 100 would far surpass what he was wearing.
The auction house was the obvious place to begin.
More importantly, he had a year and a half of accumulated income waiting for him there. He wanted to see how much it had grown. It should be more than enough for a full upgrade.
During his absence, aside from system deductions, no one else had been able to withdraw gold from his auction house or his shops. He had invested heavily in upgrading them before leaving, ensuring they would continue generating profit.
While other shops had likely caught up or even surpassed his in level, Ethan still controlled three prime locations. Gold-tier properties. Their value alone ensured that his income wouldn’t have declined significantly.
As for the auction house, he still held a monopoly.
Once an auction house was established in a capital city, no one else could build another unless the original owner shut it down or sold it. Otherwise, the position was untouchable.
Even more importantly, Ethan’s auction houses weren’t limited to a single city. They spanned all three capitals of the Northern Frontier Region.
That network was the foundation he had built early on, and even after two years, no one had managed to surpass it.
To this day, no one knew that the All-You-Need chain of shops was owned by the leader of Renegade Alliance, NotADruid, the so-called Druid God.
When he had first been reborn, his goal had been simple. Get ahead early and build a stable economic base. Back then, he hadn’t cared about dominating the world. He just wanted a comfortable life, enough money to live without worry.
Of course, like anyone, he had thought about getting rich quickly. That was why he relied on his knowledge of the future, leveling faster than anyone else, becoming the first max-level player, the first to reach a capital city, and claiming every possible reward.
Then he spent everything on gold-tier land that no one else wanted.
At the time, it had seemed absurd. If he had sold that land back then, he could have walked away with a fortune, enough to live comfortably in the real world.
But Ethan had chosen patience.
Two years later, those same plots had increased in value beyond anything most players could imagine. Based on his experience from his previous life, those lands would easily sell for tens of millions.
Still, he had no immediate need for that money.
After what happened with his last massive gold haul, he never had the chance to put it to use before everything changed.
And now, a year and a half had passed. He was back. It was time to move again.
He had no clear idea how much gold had accumulated in his accounts, but he suspected the number was already astronomical.
Spending it would be the first step.
When he reached the auction house, he didn’t enter immediately. Instead, he stepped aside and opened Ethereal’s internal exchange system, where players could convert real money into gold.
Since its introduction, players could list gold directly without needing intermediaries. Even so, middlemen hadn’t disappeared entirely. Their fees were lower, and for players who needed instant cash, they still offered a faster option.
Listing gold on the exchange meant waiting for a buyer, but a middleman would purchase it immediately at a reduced price, then resell it just below the system’s ceiling, profiting from the difference.
Ethan checked the current rate.
One gold coin was trading at around one thousand dollars.
Two years into the game, the price had barely dropped. The system maintained a price floor of nine hundred ninety-nine dollars per gold coin, ensuring stability in the economy.
Even in his previous life, five years into the game, gold had only fallen to around nine hundred dollars.
The reason was simple. While higher-level monsters dropped more gold, high-level players also spent far more. Those who tried to farm gold without investing in proper gear couldn’t handle stronger enemies, limiting their income.
Ethan knew that life well.
Back then, he had been a low-tier miner, earning just enough each day to survive, often relying on instant noodles.
Even non-combat paths required investment. To rise to the top, no matter the method, you needed gold.
That demand kept its value high.
After confirming the rate, Ethan closed the exchange panel and opened his friends list. Without hesitation, he selected a name and sent a video call request.
At the same time, in Harmony City, inside a busy tavern, a private booth was filled with tension.
A long table dominated the room, yet only one man sat at its head. The others stood or leaned around it, their voices overlapping as they argued heatedly.
At the center of it all was Trusty007.
His expression was strained, his patience wearing thin as the accusations continued.
"Why can’t we touch that money? It’s been seventy percent of our capital since the beginning, and it’s only grown. So why are we still locked out of it?"
"Exactly. You put in the biggest share at the start and took eighty percent ownership. The rest of us split what was left. It’s been over a year. You used that money once, we profited, and since then you only invest a fraction each time. Why?"
"You owe us an explanation. We’ve been operating with thirty percent of our capital for over a year while the rest just sits there." freēwēbηovel.c૦m
"No explanation? Then we’re not leaving."
"This is ridiculous. We do all this work, make profits, and you take the majority. We’re getting nothing out of this."
"Give us answers."
"If not, we’re done here."
"I’ve earned enough anyway. I can retire." fɾeewebnoveℓ.co๓
The room had descended into chaos, voices rising and clashing without pause. Trusty007 felt a headache building.
The money they were arguing about was real, and it had grown far beyond what he had expected. Even he was shocked by its size.
But it wasn’t his money.
When he had first formed this alliance and borrowed that fund, he had been terrified of losing it and facing the consequences. After recovering the initial investment, he had never touched it again.
The owner of that money had disappeared over a year ago. Rumors said he had quit the game. Trusty007 had even tried to track him down in the real world, but found nothing.
Still, he never believed the man was truly gone.
And just as the pressure reached its peak, when the noise in the room threatened to overwhelm him completely, a notification appeared before his eyes.
A video call request.
