Chapter 55
Lu Chuan left the meeting beaming.
To him, a strong offensive artifact was far more reliable than a strong teammate. After all, teammates might not always follow orders, but an artifact would.
As for spending 5 sanity points per use…
What’s the problem with that?
In his last dungeon, he had earned 22 sanity points. That meant he could fire four shots. At worst, he’d just go earn more sanity again—it wasn’t even that hard. Compared to that, the sheer impact of being able to fire four bullets at a god—either seriously injuring or outright killing one—hit Lu Chuan much harder.
Previously, he had stolen the [Cross of Godslaying] from Wang Feng, but that item required close-quarters combat with a god to use. And if the god had no physical form, its usefulness was extremely limited.
With a handgun, he could attack from a distance, giving players much more of a sense of security.
The vice-guildmaster really had given him a bottom-of-the-chest treasure. If Lu Chuan had gone into dungeons himself to grind out rewards, how many runs would it take to get such a monster of an artifact?
So it turned out, he hadn’t avoided relying on connections because he disliked it—he just hadn’t had anyone to rely on before. If you can lean on someone, who seriously wants to struggle on their own?
Lu Chuan was over the moon. For the next few days at work, he was in such a good mood that even the finance department’s reimbursements went through smoothly.
On Shen Li’s side, he quickly handled matters with his own squad, handed them over to his vice captain, and then formally joined Lu Chuan’s team.
Naturally, his original teammates couldn’t understand this move.
Their Captain Shen was already an S-rank player—why should he become just another member in some newcomer’s squad? Sure, Lu Chuan was S-rank now too, but he was still a newcomer. In overall strength, he wasn’t on Shen Li’s level, let alone in seniority. No other S-rank player would willingly step down to become someone else’s subordinate, so why should Shen Li?
To these doubts, Shen Li patiently explained to his team that he had chosen this voluntarily, that he wanted to try a different lifestyle, and so on. Outwardly, his squad members accepted it, but what they really thought in private was no longer his concern.
As for Starry Shasha, since she had no squadmates to begin with, she happily joined as soon as she heard the news. From the moment she got the notification to when she showed up at Lu Chuan’s doorstep, it hadn’t even taken half an hour. She was more worried than Lu Chuan himself about being kicked out of the squad. After all, her ability, when used well, was like divine assistance; when used poorly, it was like the Grim Reaper had arrived.
“Shasha, come in and sit.” Lu Chuan welcomed her in. “Do you have any players you’d recommend? You can tell me.”
Her ability was meant to be a trump card, a hidden ace to be used only when story exploration stalled or when time needed to be shortened. Shen Li’s abilities, on the other hand, were perfect for logistics and mobile support. As the team’s core, Lu Chuan was the brain. Even in offense, he now had a powerful artifact to back him up—though with usage restrictions.
Overall, what they still lacked was a versatile all-rounder, someone who could contribute in every area.
Technically, Shen Li could have filled that role, but after learning that the vice-guildmaster had given Lu Chuan such a terrifyingly destructive gun, Shen Li decided his priority had to be keeping an eye on him.
With Lu Chuan’s tiny sanity pool, if he ever lost control and fired a couple of extra shots, he could very well become the dungeon’s most terrifying monster.
That was why Shen Li felt such a heavy responsibility. He’d rather sacrifice his other functions than leave Lu Chuan’s side.
“In our guild, players like that are really rare. The few that exist have already been recruited by other squads,” Shasha thought aloud, shaking her head. “Other guilds have plenty, but it depends on whether you can lure them over, Brother Lu.”
In the ranking of the five major guilds, the Star Guild was at the bottom. The smartest and most capable players had long been poached. The ones who remained loyal were usually already high-ranking. Shen Li was a special case, and having just him was already impressive.
“Then we’ll put it aside for now.” Lu Chuan sighed. “Only when you actually try to recruit people do you realize how hard it is to find someone who’s good in every way. Our guild is really lacking in talent.”
“But now that you’re here, Brother Lu, the talent will only keep increasing.” Shasha said seriously.
“I didn’t realize you had the makings of a flatterer.” Lu Chuan gave her a surprised look. “Not bad, not bad. Keep working at it—I love hearing nice things.”
“I do have someone worth recommending, though you’ll need to put some thought into it.” Shen Li pushed open the door just then, overhearing their exchange, and rolled his eyes.
“What?” Lu Chuan blinked. “You have a recommendation, Brother Shen? Why didn’t you say so earlier?”
“I only just remembered. And she’s not from our guild,” Shen Li shot him a glare. “Do you know how many of my contacts I’ve already combed through for this? I could hardly find anyone suitable.”
There were plenty of strong candidates ability-wise, but finding someone without powerful backers, who could devote themselves fully to this little squad, and who would accept Lu Chuan’s chaotic dungeon-clearing style? That was like finding a needle in a haystack.
In other guilds, like the Resurrection Guild, core figures such as Cynthia or Lilus had teammates who had been trained alongside them from childhood, tackling dungeons together.
The only reason Lilus had come alone last time in that rules-type dungeon was because she’d tagged along. If she had brought her whole squad, her overall strength would have been multiplied several times over.
In this era, solo dungeon-clearing had already been abandoned. No matter how strong one person was, they couldn’t go far alone.
“Brother Shen, tell me,” Lu Chuan said, curious what kind of person Shen Li would bring up.
“Her player nickname is [The Paladin of Discipline]. She’s a sword-bearer type, but her abilities are quite versatile. She can main DPS, she can main healing, and she even has a degree of stealth. She’s trained in the church’s paladin disciplines.” Shen Li pulled up the game forums and searched for her profile, showing Lu Chuan pages of discussion.
“[The Paladin of Discipline] Edith was originally cultivated by the Noah Guild as Messiah’s handpicked teammate,” Shen Li explained. “Her best Newcomer Ranking was fifteenth. Sword-bearer types develop slowly in their early stages, so her results weren’t outstanding. But the Noah Guild had a complete career plan tailored for her. With their dungeon strategies and specialized training, she soon surpassed her competition and became Messiah’s teammate.”
“But if she’s Messiah’s teammate, she can’t come to us, right?” Shasha vaguely remembered the name, but not much else.
“She’s only B-rank now. In Messiah’s second dungeon, she was injured. Her sanity dropped and couldn’t recover, so Messiah forced her out of the squad to rest. After that, she was never reinstated. You could say she’s been abandoned.” Shen Li spoke earnestly. “From what I know, her current status in Noah Guild isn’t great. Messiah hasn’t contacted her, and many people believe she was dropped because she failed to protect him in the dungeon.”
For someone so disheartened, poaching her was actually ideal.
Especially since Lu Chuan’s Arrival of the God of Wealth was ranked higher than Messiah right now.
If Edith was smart, she’d see that joining Lu Chuan’s team would clear her tarnished reputation and give her a chance to rise again.
“Brother Shen, that’s worth considering. Someone already abandoned is unlikely to still be loyal to Noah. But the training she received is still there—that makes her a good candidate. The only real concern is whether she’ll accept me, whether she’ll acknowledge me as her leader.” Lu Chuan nodded, approving of the suggestion. “Do you know what she likes or dislikes? Any intel at all. If we’re recruiting, we have to start from her weak points.”
“I’ve already sent people to ask around. News should come back soon,” Shen Li said. “If we can bring her in, it’ll also boost our guild’s prestige. Don’t forget, Noah has poached plenty of people from us before. If those people hadn’t left, you’d already have a dozen options. You’d be like the other guilds’ core prospects, with your own exclusive squad—and countless top players lining up to pass your trials for the chance to join.”
Unfortunately, Lu Chuan wasn’t someone the Star Guild had raised from childhood, and the guild itself had declined.
Recruiting just one teammate had already become a major hurdle.
“If I had grown up being trained by the Star Guild, I wouldn’t be who I am now.” Lu Chuan smiled. Most of his dungeon-clearing instincts and strategies came from hardship. If he’d lived in luxury, the best he could have become was another Shen Li—not the man standing here today.
“True enough.” Shen Li nodded.
Information on [The Paladin of Discipline] Edith soon came back.
“She tried several times to meet Messiah, but he refused every time. Not only that, Messiah even dismissed all his other teammates,” Lu Chuan read through her intel, focusing more on Messiah’s behavior. “What’s his angle—could he actually be a rare lone wolf?”
“No one knows. Messiah’s intel is strange. We’ve tried investigating his dungeon runs, but without exception, every dungeon he’s entered has mutated. There’s no way to check.” Shen Li paused, then looked at Lu Chuan. “In that sense, he’s just like you.”
“…If I said it was just a coincidence, would you believe me?” Lu Chuan sounded a bit helpless. The fact that all the instances he entered mutated wasn’t entirely his fault—sometimes it was because of the Burial Squad or the NPCs themselves.
“Do you think I’d believe you?” Shen Li chuckled, throwing the question back at him.
“Edith wants to find a new team to run dungeons with and recover her sanity points. But almost all the instances that can restore sanity are tied to deities. Normal teams don’t dare to take them, while the ones capable of facing deity-type instances already have fixed rosters. It’s impossible for them to add her in.” Shen Li analyzed seriously. “For us, a versatile teammate like her is rare, but for other teams, her lack of specialization makes her dispensable. So right now, she can only run dungeons solo, which naturally lowers her dungeon evaluations. Instead of leveling up, her player rank is actually dropping.”
“Sounds workable.” Lu Chuan nodded. “Let’s try contacting her and see where she stands. If she really is that loyal to the Noah Guild, then we won’t waste any more effort.”
“Alright.”
—Noah Guild.
Once again, Edith’s request to meet with [Messiah] was rejected.
She couldn’t understand why she kept getting turned away. Back when they had cleared instances together, there had never been any conflict between them.
Now, everyone assumed she was abandoned because she performed poorly in instances—but she knew that wasn’t true at all.
It was [Messiah] who had gone off alone and cleared an instance without them. They couldn’t even find him until it was already cleared.
Rumor had it that the Noah Guild higher-ups were pressuring [Messiah] to run more instances to climb the rankings. She thought that was her chance and gathered her courage to request another meeting, only to be rejected again.
Where had it all gone wrong?
She couldn’t understand.
Troubled, Edith returned. Along the way, players whispered behind her back again, but she had long grown numb to it and couldn’t be bothered to argue.
In their eyes, stepping on a once high-and-mighty player like her made them feel better about themselves.
Hah, a bunch of clowns. They knew nothing!
Just then, Edith received a call.
It was from an external guild.
Since being abandoned by [Messiah], plenty of guilds had tried to recruit her—but their offers were insulting.
No matter how low she’d fallen, she wasn’t about to accept terms that were nothing more than veiled attempts to exploit her.
That wasn’t recruitment—it was suppression.
“Is this [The Paladin of Discipline]? Hello, I’m [Arrival of the God of Wealth], but you can call me Lu Chuan.”
The name on the other end left Edith stunned in disbelief.
“I happen to be missing a teammate like you. Do you have any interest in transferring? The treatment will match what my current teammates get—it won’t compare to what you had beside [Messiah], of course.” Lu Chuan didn’t try to buy her off with extravagant promises. Instead, he added, “Don’t you want to know why you were kicked out of [Messiah]’s team? Join us, and I’ll tell you.”
Beside him, Shen Li’s eyes went wide as he tugged at Lu Chuan, hissing for him not to spout nonsense. They had no idea why [Messiah] had done what he did!
Lu Chuan shook him off easily.
Come on—this was recruitment. Why hold him back?
When poaching, you always tell people what they most want to hear. Whether you could deliver—that was something to deal with later.
Surely with his wit, Lu Chuan could handle a single stray teammate.
“How do I know you’re not lying?” Edith didn’t hang up immediately, but she was clearly wavering.
If she joined [Arrival of the God of Wealth], those mocking her would eat their words.
“Join my team, and you’ll hold your head high again.” Lu Chuan declared shamelessly. “As for [Messiah]—he may never tell you the reason if you ask. But if I ask, maybe he’ll give me the real answer. On this point, you can trust me.”
