Chapter 53
The Newcomer Ranking List’s top ten had been reshuffled due to dungeon counts and time limits.
1st Place – [Eye of Rebirth], an S-rank player, member of Resurrection Guild.
2nd Place – [Arrival of the God of Wealth], S-class player, member of the Star Guild.
3rd Place – [Messiah], S-class player, member of the Noah Guild.
4th Place – [Hand of Rebirth], A-class player, member of the Resurrection Guild.
5th Place – [Little Mermaid Ten], A-class player, member of the Ocean Heart Guild.
6th Place – [Vampire Prince], ranked sixth, A-class player, member of the Abyss Guild.
7th Place – [Hexagonal Wings], ranked seventh, A-class player, member of the Abyss Guild.
8th Place – [Ashes of Rebirth], ranked eighth, A-class player, member of the Resurrection Guild.
9th Place – [Pearl in the Shell], ranked ninth, A-class player, member of the Ocean Heart Guild.
10th Place – [Journey of Life], ranked tenth, A-class player, member of the Noah Guild.
What shocked the players was that the top three of this year’s list were so strong that the system directly rated them as S-class players.
Wait—S-class players could already be preparing to hit the Master Rankings, right?
“This completely ruins the bragging rights for every player who made it onto the Newcomer Rankings in the past ten years.”
“Damn, the Newcomer Rankings actually produced S-class players, and not just one, but three at once. That’s terrifying.”
“That [Arrival of the God of Wealth] is even scarier, though. [Eye of Rebirth] and [Messiah] at least had massive guilds pouring resources into them. Who knows how much was invested. But [Arrival of the God of Wealth]? He rose purely on his own—well, until Star Guild later dumped a ton of resources into him.”
“[Arrival of the God of Wealth] is the last surviving pillar of the Star Guild. He only needs to clear one more dungeon. Once [Eye of Rebirth] ages out of the rankings, he’ll be the undisputed number one.”
“Being born in the same era as them is just bad luck. Not that it matters—I can’t even get into one of the Five Great Guilds.”
“Yeah, the stronger they are, the happier we should be. Otherwise the Master Rankings of the Five Great Guilds would just be the same old veterans forever. At least newcomers like them keep us from losing hope in this world.”
“Damn it, these players are insane. Does [Arrival of the God of Wealth] have a fan club? Hook me up.”
“He does, he does. Star Guild just launched an official support club. Let’s go sign up.”
…
Lu Chuan was practically escorted back by Star Guild with all the pomp of welcoming an emperor.
Shen Li hadn’t even gotten the chance to remind Lu Chuan to “keep a low profile and stay humble” before he saw Lu Chuan enjoying the guild members’ service without the slightest hesitation. He did it so naturally that Shen Li wasn’t sure if he should even bother nagging.
Before leaving, though, Lu Chuan did meet with Lilus— and naturally, also saw Cynthia, the current number one [Eye of Rebirth].
The first thought that popped into Lu Chuan’s mind when he saw Cynthia: Did some two-dimensional anime character just break through into the three-dimensional world?
Cynthia didn’t even need makeup. As she was, she could walk straight into a comic convention and instantly be enshrined by the otaku.
Her looks, her aura, her natural hair color—she was practically an anime character come to life.
“What are you staring at?” Lilus glared warily at Lu Chuan. He didn’t like the way Lu Chuan was looking at his sister.
His sister’s eyes held a terrifying power. Unlike Gu Quan’an’s petrifying ability, hers was a hereditary NPC power that could lower players’ sanity. That’s why in the real world, she always covered her eyes with props. Combined with her natural hair color, Cynthia suffered even more prejudice than Lilus did growing up.
In the past, Lilus had been timid and weak, always shielded behind his sister. That insecurity stuck to him like a curse. When he finally grew strong, he centered his entire life around protecting her. To him, anyone who even glanced too long at Cynthia was a potential threat.
“I just think your sister is beautiful.” Lu Chuan shrugged. “It’s pure appreciation of beauty, nothing else. I was born to love money first, power second. Humans? Not interested.”
Even though Lu Chuan said that, Lilus still worried.
Hmph. You couldn’t trust a single word from Lu Chuan.
“You really are just like Lil said.” Cynthia’s tone was gentle. From her demeanor, you’d never guess she was the number one on the Newcomer Rankings. “Lilus told me what happened in the dungeon. Without your help, he would’ve suffered far worse injuries. I owe you a great debt of gratitude. If you ever need help, you can come to me. Consider it a personal favor.”
“Alright, I’ll remember that.” Lu Chuan smiled. “Though I doubt I’ll ever need to trouble you. At most, maybe I’ll ask to do some business with you later.”
Cynthia didn’t really get it, but she still agreed.
“I’ll be heading back to Star Guild soon. Won’t be running dungeons for a while.” Lu Chuan extended a hand, bidding farewell to Lilus, also making it clear he had no intention of competing with Cynthia for first place. “I like win-win outcomes. Unless I’m pushed to the edge, I don’t burn bridges.”
Lilus understood his meaning, and his smile softened. “Don’t worry. If anyone in our guild tries to move against you, I’ll give you a heads-up.”
Lu Chuan nearly rolled his eyes.
If it weren’t for all the onlookers, he would’ve given Lilus a couple of punches.
Kid’s got no emotional intelligence. Who says that during a farewell?
But Lu Chuan couldn’t be bothered to argue. He was heading back to Star Guild anyway.
After saying goodbye, he had no reason to linger at Noah Guild.
As he boarded the airship, Mei Xue tossed him a phone.
“This connects directly to Noah Guild. If we cooperate in the future, you can use it to contact us.”
Lu Chuan caught it and nodded.
Phones did exist in this world, but most were on local networks. With guilds stationed in the sky, underground, or even underwater, signals were patchy at best. For example, Star Guild phones only worked within Star Guild, and Noah’s only within Noah. For work, though, there were some special phones that could cross networks.
The fact that Mei Xue gave him one meant Noah Guild was extending goodwill—a pleasant surprise.
On the flight back, Shen Li let out a heavy sigh of relief.
“Thank goodness. I was worried you’d overstep in the dungeon and trigger Noah or Resurrection Guild into hunting you down.” He really had been anxious. Fortunately, both guilds remained friendly.
“Of course. I already told Cynthia and Lilus I wouldn’t compete for first place. Once Cynthia ages out of the Newcomer Rankings, I’ll naturally be number one.” Lu Chuan shrugged. “As for Noah, I also tried to greet [Messiah], but he refused to see me.”
“[Messiah]really is reclusive,” Shen Li nodded. “Not just you—even Mei Xue rarely sees him. I asked, and she said he’s a good kid, just keeps to himself because of his abilities. He’s always been second place, and plenty in Noah Guild hoped he’d go for first. But he never cared. To this day, he’s only cleared four dungeons—still one short.”
In fact, [Messiah] had been on the Newcomer Rankings longer than [Eye of Rebirth]. When he first hit second place, Cynthia had only just entered the list. Normally, newcomers cleared dungeons quickly—about once a month, or at most every two to three months. But Messiah? His intervals were unusually long, three to four months, often using items to delay until he absolutely had to go.
Yet every time he did, he scored all S+ ratings and reaped massive rewards. So Noah members couldn’t understand why he avoided dungeons so much.
Messiah never explained, just followed his own pace.
But that was Noah’s business. Shen Li had no reason to care.
What mattered now was that Star Guild was going all-in on shaping [Arrival of the God of Wealth]’s image.
“The guild’s publicity team already wrote a ton of scripts. They’ll adapt them into movies and dramas. Normally, newcomers don’t get that treatment—the mortality rate’s too high. Imagine hyping someone up only for them to die before the script is finished. But you’ve already been rated S-class by the system. That qualifies you. When I got S-class, it was after ten years of dungeons, and even then it was considered fast.” Shen Li’s tone was tinged with sourness. No one knew how the system rated people.
But the truth was, Lu Chuan’s appearance had brought Star Guild enormous benefits.
Recruitment numbers alone had doubled compared to past years, with most newcomers joining just because of him.
That’s why guilds fought so hard to recruit geniuses.
One great example could attract a flood of players.
“Write whatever you want,” Lu Chuan waved it off. “As long as you don’t stick me with some cheesy romance subplot. If you must, at least make it with someone attractive. Spare me the artificial sweeteners.”
“You’re quite sharp.” Shen Li chuckled. “Now, there’s another very important matter—you need to decide.”
“What matter?”
“Do you want to donate sperm?” Shen Li dropped the bombshell without hesitation.
“Hah?” Lu Chuan almost choked on his own saliva.
Even the usually silent #888 couldn’t help but stick its head out: [Host, they want your descendants.]
“What does that mean?” Lu Chuan looked at Shen Li with some alarm.
“It’s perfectly normal. Every outstanding young player gets asked this,” Shen Li explained. “You know how high the mortality rate is for players. Even though the Evil World system stopped expanding after turning about one-third of the global population into players—to preserve humanity’s ability to reproduce—death happens in an instant, while raising a person takes more than a decade. So, to improve survival odds, guilds encourage strong players to leave behind offspring. The idea is, the stronger the parent, the greater the chance the child will also be strong—or at least, that’s what civilians believe.”
In reality, unless it was a special case like Lilus and Cynthia, children of players were no more likely to succeed than those of ordinary people—assuming equal resources. Player traits weren’t genetic. Strength mostly came down to intelligence and determination, which required nurture, not inheritance. Otherwise, Star Guild wouldn’t be filled with so many useless second-generation heirs.
But ordinary people didn’t think that way.
Many dreamed of having their children inherit “player qualities” to climb the social ladder. So the Five Great Guilds all collected player genes, from both men and women. The demand was so high that research and technology in this area advanced rapidly. Nowadays, either gender could leave descendants painlessly.
Otherwise, with the mortality rate in this brutal game, humanity would’ve gone extinct already.
[Host, this won’t do. You’re destined to become a god. Leaving descendants would be a huge problem.] #888 quickly warned him. [Once you ascend, your children would automatically be demigods. Demigods are easy targets.]
Demigods were much weaker than gods but stronger than humans—making them prey, both as “nutrients” for mortals and as coveted targets for evil gods.
From #888’s system memory, almost no demigod offspring of gods had ever met a good end.
“Relax, System. I won’t agree.” Lu Chuan shook his head. He was already rich—why would he let a bunch of random heirs appear?
Besides, kids were nothing but trouble.
If he left his genes and others used them to make children, ignoring them would make him irresponsible. But if he took responsibility, wouldn’t that chain him down for life?
He’d just clawed his way out of poverty—no way he was going back!
“I refuse.” Lu Chuan flatly told Shen Li. “Can’t you bring up something useful?”
“Well, I figured you’d say no.” Shen Li’s eyes glinted with amusement, then he grew serious. “The Vice-Guildmaster has already agreed to your proposal. Naturally, I support his decision. You want to become the Guildmaster? Fine—we’ll help you. But you need to know who your rivals are.”
Lu Chuan wasn’t surprised. Of course the Vice-Guildmaster would agree.
Come on—he was about to be number one on the Newcomer Rankings and already an S-class player. The only way the Vice-Guildmaster wouldn’t agree would be if he’d lost his mind.
All that “evaluation” nonsense earlier? Just a formality, to avoid giving in too quickly.
“Strictly speaking, you only have one opponent. Player name: [Greedy Wolf Star]. Compared to him, even Shasha doesn’t qualify as competition.” Shen Li sighed. “I didn’t want you to encounter him so soon, but if you want to be the Guildmaster, you can’t avoid it.”
“Yeah, I know. He’s on the Master Rankings, right? Supposedly the other Vice-Guildmaster, even stronger than you.” Lu Chuan had of course heard of [Greedy Wolf Star]. But the guy hadn’t appeared for about a year, staying inside dungeons. That’s why Lu Chuan hadn’t met him yet.
“He’s about to return. And when he does, his ranking will climb even higher.” Shen Li shook his head. His own rush to hit the Master Rankings was partly to help the Vice-Guildmaster against Greedy Wolf Star—he really didn’t like the man.
“Well, if I keep a low profile early on, he might not notice me right away.” Lu Chuan rubbed his chin. “I’m still young, haven’t even left the Newcomer Rankings. What if I play dumb—act like I don’t know I’m the next Guildmaster?”
Shen Li gave him a speechless look.
Now you want to play innocent? Too late!
“Those few suckers you conned to balance the books earlier? Their backer is [Greedy Wolf Star]. Why do you think the Vice-Guildmaster hasn’t kicked them out yet?” Shen Li patted Lu Chuan’s shoulder with a smile. “You’ve already crossed him without knowing it. Playing dumb won’t save you. Playing dead won’t either.”
“There are always obstacles on the road to success.” Lu Chuan showed not the slightest worry. “Then I’ll just have to knock him out of the game, too.”
No one would stop him from becoming Guildmaster of Star Guild!
