Free Web NovelChapter 136: Chapter 136: The Second Place
The laughter in the grand auction hall of the Astral Emporium was loud.
Thousands of elite players, guild officers, and wealthy financiers were openly pointing and laughing at the man kneeling in the center aisle.
Silas remained on his knees, his hands trembling violently. He stared at the marble floor, completely unable to look up at the sky.
The two system announcements were still hovering overhead. The massive, blazing gold text declaring ’Dan’ and the [Aegis Vanguard] as the First Guild, and the tiny, pathetic silver text below it relegating ’Gilded’ and ’Vanguard’s Legacy’ to second place.
He had spent 1.5 billion Veridian Credits for a silver participation trophy.
"Sir," Vic, his chief lieutenant, whispered urgently, grabbing Silas by the shoulder plate. "We have to leave. The stream is capturing this. The corporate board is completely locking our accounts."
Silas didn’t move. He didn’t seem to hear Vic.
He slowly raised his head. His eyes weren’t focused on the stage or the laughing crowd. He stared directly up at the darkened glass of the third-floor VIP suite.
He knew.
He didn’t know how Dante had acquired a second Gold-tier token. But he knew exactly who was sitting behind that glass, orchestrating the proxy bids, completely manipulating the market to bankrupt him.
The shock and despair abruptly vanished.
A raw, ugly, unadulterated rage completely consumed his features. The pristine, arrogant Guild Master facade shattered entirely.
Silas violently shoved Vic away, scrambling to his feet. He didn’t try to salvage the PR narrative. He didn’t make a grand speech about bouncing back.
He opened his system interface and activated his global broadcast channel.
"Dan!" Silas screamed, his voice amplified across the entire Overture server, cracking with manic fury. "I know you’re in there! You think this is over?! You think a system milestone changes anything?!"
The laughter in the hall dialed down slightly as the crowd watched the public meltdown.
"Vanguard’s Legacy still has the numbers!" Silas roared, pointing a trembling, gauntleted finger at the VIP suite.
"We have the army! I am issuing a global, shoot-on-sight kill order for every single member of Aegis Vanguard! If you are wearing that tag, you will be hunted! We will camp your respawns until your avatars rot! I will personally see your real-world hardware dismantled!"
It was a total, unhinged declaration of war. He was openly threatening real-world violence on a global server broadcast.
Up in the VIP suite, Dante didn’t flinch.
He leaned against the soundproof glass, his arms crossed over his dark purple armor. He watched Silas raving in the aisle like a lunatic.
"Boss," Casanova murmured, standing a safe distance from the window. "He sounds genuinely unhinged. Are we going to have to deal with thousands of his goons hunting us everywhere we go?"
"He’s bankrupt," Nyx stated coldly, typing on her datapad. "He can’t afford to pay his army anymore. The bounty is an empty threat."
"It’s not about the money for his hardcore loyalists," Sera added, her expression serious. "Vanguard’s Legacy has thousands of fanatic players who genuinely believe in Silas’s narrative. They will actively hunt us just to spite Dante."
Dante didn’t seem concerned.
He opened his own system interface. He didn’t buy a premium, expensive global broadcast token. He didn’t need to shout to be heard.
Because he was the Guild Master of the First Guild, the system granted him a single, free, server-wide message to establish his guild’s presence.
He tapped the prompt. He didn’t write a long, defensive paragraph or threaten retaliation.
He typed exactly six words.
He hit send.
The sky above the server flashed.
Silas’s frantic, screaming broadcast was instantly overwritten by a massive, calm, white text box.
[Global Broadcast - Sender: Dan (Aegis Vanguard)] freeωebnovēl.c૦m
[Message: Second place doesn’t get to speak.]
The auction hall erupted again.
It wasn’t just laughter this time. It was sheer, chaotic pandemonium. The effortless disrespect of the message completely destroyed whatever remaining intimidation Silas was trying to project.
Dante hadn’t just beaten him financially; he had completely, verbally emasculated him in front of the entire player base.
Silas stared at the sky. He didn’t scream again. He didn’t issue another threat.
The Guild Master of Vanguard’s Legacy turned around and walked briskly toward the heavy oak exit doors of the Emporium, his head down, completely ignoring his lieutenants. He looked like a man walking to his own execution.
"And that," Dante said, stepping away from the glass, "is how you close a contract."
The system interface suddenly chimed with a rapid series of loud, triumphant notes.
[Guild Registration Complete.]
[Guild: Aegis Vanguard (Rank 1)]
[Guild Level: 3 (Gold-Tier Token Bonus Applied)]
The automated rewards for securing the First Guild milestone finally processed.
Dante’s personal character sheet flashed.
[Guild Master Bonus Awarded: 20 Free Attribute Points.]
Dante smiled. Twenty unallocated attribute points were incredibly valuable. At Level 69, gaining a single level only granted five points.
The system had just handed him four free levels worth of raw stats. He immediately dumped all twenty points directly into Strength, pushing his baseline physical damage output even higher into the stratosphere.
But the rewards weren’t just for him.
Lila, Mei, Casanova, and Garrick all gasped simultaneously as their own interfaces flashed.
[Guild Member Bonus Awarded: 10 Free Attribute Points.]
[Passive Buff Applied: +10% Experience Gained.]
"Ten free stats?" Casanova cheered, flexing his skinny arms. "Boss, I am going to put all of this into Charisma! The NPC merchants won’t stand a chance!"
"Don’t be an idiot, put it in Agility," Nyx advised dryly.
"I’m putting mine into pure defense!" Garrick announced proudly, banging his rusty helmet. "My spite shield is going to be unbreakable!"
"There’s one more reward," Dante said, reading the bottom of the guild interface.
[First Guild Exclusive Skill Unlocked: Vanguard’s Phalanx]
[Type: Combination Skill]
[Description: A massive, synchronized defensive maneuver requiring a minimum of 100 guild members to activate. Channels the collective mana of the participants to create a highly durable, moving barrier that reflects 50% of incoming kinetic force and passively heals members inside the perimeter. Effectiveness scales with member count.]
Dante stared at the description.
A 100-man combination crowd-control skill. It was designed specifically for massive, large-scale guild wars.
If a coordinated army used that skill, they could essentially create an impenetrable, advancing wall of healing and reflected damage. It was the ultimate siege-breaking tool.
"We need members," Sera noted, reading the skill description over Dante’s shoulder. "We have the building. We have the prestige. We need to open recruitment immediately. If we secure a massive roster, nobody will dare challenge us."
Dante crossed his arms.
"We aren’t recruiting a massive roster," Dante said flatly.
Sera frowned. "Dante, the skill requires a minimum of one hundred people to even activate. Silas still has thousands of players under his banner. If he attacks our resource nodes in the open world, we need numbers to hold the territory."
"I don’t care about numbers," Dante replied. "I care about quality. I’ve seen what happens when you recruit a thousand random players.
You get spies. You get greedy idiots who break formation to chase loot. You get people who stab you in the back the second a better offer comes along."
Dante looked around the VIP suite at his mismatched, chaotic squad.
A reality-warping toddler currently chewing on a chair leg. A blue-haired support player hiding a massive burst-damage class. A brawler swinging a frying pan. A flamboyant coward. Two corporate analysts, and an oblivious middle-aged man trying to tank with his divorce trauma.
"This is the core," Dante stated. "We don’t need a thousand people. We need people who actually know how to survive." freewёbnoνel.com
"So we’re just going to stay a tiny, elite strike team?" Mei asked, bouncing the skillet on her shoulder.
"We’ll recruit," Dante clarified. "But we’re going to be incredibly strict. No mercenaries. No fair-weather players. We only take people who can actually contribute to the progression curve."
"That’s going to make holding territory incredibly difficult," Nyx warned, pushing her glasses up. "But it minimizes internal sabotage."
"Exactly," Dante said.
Before they could discuss recruitment strategies, a heavy knock echoed from the solid oak door of the VIP suite.
Sera walked over and opened the door slightly.
Standing in the hallway was a heavily armored NPC guard, bearing the crest of the Aethelgardia City Lord on his chestplate.
"Outworlder Dan," the NPC guard announced, his voice stiff and formal. "The City Lord requests your immediate presence at the Keep. He has a task concerning the structural integrity of your newly established Guildhall."
Dante raised an eyebrow. The system had granted him a massive guildhall as part of the Gold-tier token bonus, but it hadn’t spawned a physical building yet.
He still needed to secure a physical location for the base within the capital.
"I’ll be right there," Dante told the guard.
He turned back to the squad.
"Sera, manage the auction house profits and secure the corporate transfer," Dante ordered. "Lila, Mei, Casanova. Go explore the capital. Don’t start any fights, but if Vanguard’s Legacy tries to jump you in an alley, make sure they don’t walk out of it."
"Understood, Boss!" Casanova saluted lazily.
Dante walked out of the VIP suite, his [Mantle of the Void-Dragon] billowing slightly.
He had the guild. He had the wealth.
Now, he needed to fortify his position. And knowing the Zenith Protocol, the City Lord wasn’t going to just hand him a heavily fortified castle for free. He was going to have to earn the bricks.
