Chapter 75
Lu Chuan and #888 returned once again to the System Space of the Evil World.
But this time it was a little different—because this instance had been Shen Li’s Divine Challenge dungeon, Lu Chuan and the others had joined as a squad, so they were all transported back together.
Inside the System Space, everyone finally woke up.
“Those who just came… were they Burial Squad?” Cynthia asked immediately.
“Yes.” Lu Chuan nodded. “That god clearly lost, but tried to break the rules and override the System’s restrictions. That’s why the Burial Squad showed up.”
“They came a little too quickly.” Cynthia fixed her gaze on Lu Chuan. “They’re even more terrifying than gods.”
“Indeed.” Lu Chuan knew she had guessed something, but he simply didn’t admit to anything.
Cynthia knew when to stop and didn’t press further.
Sure, they planned to cooperate more closely in upcoming dungeons, but they still belonged to different guilds. If a better option appeared—or if their guilds came into conflict—this fragile alliance would instantly collapse.
“See, sis, I told you something’s fishy.” Lilus had long suspected some shady connection between Lu Chuan and the Burial Squad, but since Lu Chuan wouldn’t admit it, no one could prove anything.
And besides, Lu Chuan had a habit of getting entangled with dungeon NPCs.
Last time, he got mixed up with a loan company guy; this time, with Burial Squad. Yep, very on brand.
“Captain Shen, you’re back to normal! That’s wonderful!” Starry Shasha threw herself into Shen Li’s arms, nearly crying with relief.
“Ah, Shasha… you…” Shen Li sighed. “Forget it, you were just trying to save me.” Now that he was himself again, he remembered what had happened under the god’s influence—everything Shasha had said to him, plus his hidden stash of money… he didn’t want to recall any of it.
Hopefully Lu Chuan would leave him a little.
“Fantastic, Mr. Shen! You must be a true Master-Rank player now.” Edith was excited too.
“Let’s check the Master-Rank leaderboard to see.”
Messiah’s expression suddenly froze.
He saw the names on the leaderboard.
Mei Xue’s name was gone.
She had originally ranked higher than Shen Li, but now Shen Li had risen, and a different player’s name filled the slot.
Likewise, Gu Quan’an’s name had also vanished.
If they were lucky, it just meant they failed the Divine Challenge dungeon and would have to try again later. If not, it meant they had died inside.
“Mei Xue… she should’ve waited a while longer before attempting the Master-Rank.” Messiah spoke after a long silence.
As fellow members of the Noah Guild, seeing Mei Xue—who had once looked after him—fall, left his face clouded with grief.
Lu Chuan’s group had also crossed paths with Mei Xue and Gu Quan’an, and been helped by them. Learning of their failure left them with complicated feelings.
But still stuck in the System Space, they had no way of returning to reality to check what had become of them.
[Next is settlement for Player [Walks Alone for Ten Thousand Miles]’s Divine Challenge dungeon.] The System’s prompt broke the somber mood.
[Player [Walks Alone for Ten Thousand Miles] succeeded in the Divine Challenge dungeon. Overall evaluation: S. Personal evaluation: A+. Combined assessment: ranked #195 on the Master-Rank Leaderboard (total 200).]
[Congratulations, player [Walks Alone for Ten Thousand Miles], for officially becoming a Master-Rank player. Your Master-Rank gift pack has been delivered. Note: this pack is non-transferable, confidential, and cannot be discarded. Refusing to open it will be considered forfeiting your Master-Rank qualification.]
[Player [Walks Alone for Ten Thousand Miles] obtained the Skill “Resistance to Godly Mental Corruption.” This attribute can be upgraded. Please discover the method yourself.]
[Player [Walks Alone for Ten Thousand Miles] received the following items…]
As the System listed Shen Li’s rewards, the others eagerly opened their own panels to check their results.
Lu Chuan, having lost so much in this dungeon, was even more impatient than the rest.
[Congratulations, player [Arrival of the God of Wealth], on earning personal evaluation S in the Divine Challenge dungeon.]
[Contract with Executor detected. Special title obtained: Executor’s Contract-Bearer. While equipped, this title resists certain levels of divine corruption, intimidates minor gods and god-touched beings, and simultaneously draws the gaze of higher deities.]
[Detected: player [Arrival of the God of Wealth] used the item Infinite Divine Pistol. As the corresponding god is dead, no further curse will apply to the wielder.]
…
The System went on with a bunch of minor rewards.
But Lu Chuan ignored them, opening his personal status screen instead.
Name: Lu Chuan
Game ID: Arrival of the God of Wealth
Age: 22
Charm: 83/100 (for some reason, your sanity increase has made you less charming)
Stamina: 90/110 (surprise—your potential stamina ceiling has grown)
Speed: 80/110 (yep, a little more room for improvement here too)
IQ: 91/100 (studies suggest human brain usage is below 10%)
Luck: ??? (suspected outside influence, indeterminable)
Sanity: 63/100 (even after firing four shots, it still went up a bit)
Achievements:
Godslaying Lord;
Lord of the Golden Tower;
Bewitching Gambler (title);
Executor’s Contract-Bearer (special title);
No.1 on the Newcomer List;
100% Dungeon Clearance Rate;
All S-Rank or higher evaluations;
Extreme Evil Loan Company VIP.
Skills: Eye of Wealth, God of Wealth’s Currency
Items: Infinite Divine Pistol, Cross of Godslaying (other items viewable in System Space)
Territory: +1 Golden Tower
Wealth: …Game-world wealth down by one-tenth. Real-world wealth decreased by 5 million.
Lu Chuan stared at that last line, heartbroken to the point of suffocation.
His game-world wealth—especially everything tied to the Golden Tower—had been seeded with his own startup funds.
After all, without using his own money, the System wouldn’t have recognized the Golden Tower he built in the last dungeon as his legitimate territory.
But then he’d burned through all his working capital with his skills—including funds tied to the Golden Tower.
Now, it hurt so much he could barely breathe.
Still, since the System acknowledged the Golden Tower as his territory, that alone was worth it.
He consoled himself: think of it as paying the land fee.
On the bright side, his dungeon points plus earlier savings were enough for #888 to upgrade another skill.
The God of Wealth System was troublesome: the higher you climbed, the more exponentially points it demanded. Without top dungeon scores, it could take a year or two just to level up one skill.
Tsk, who had the patience for that?
#888 didn’t agree.
Becoming a god was never an overnight thing. Even in human cultivation novels, immortals needed thousands of years of training. With the God of Wealth System’s planned path, if Lu Chuan just followed step by step, he’d reach godhood in about 200 years.
But Lu Chuan wanted it in 20…
Godhood wasn’t some mass-produced cabbage!
A “fast-track god” in 20 years? That just sounded low-class.
“Lu Chuan, looks like you gained a lot.” Cynthia had already reviewed her own evaluation, and she had done well too, earning plenty of rewards.
“Not bad.” Lu Chuan nodded. “I bet you did alright too.”
“Mhm.” Cynthia smiled. “You’re still No. 1 on the Newcomer Leaderboard. Once you enter your sixth dungeon, you’ll automatically drop off it. At that time, the System will give you a Newcomer No.1 achievement and a gift pack. You can look forward to it.”
“Huh?” Lu Chuan blinked. Since she mentioned it so deliberately, that gift pack must be valuable.
“I can’t say exactly, but it’s usually something the player needs most at the time.”
“I got one too,” Starry Shasha chimed in. “Mine had some good stuff, but first place should get even better.”
Lu Chuan instantly grew excited.
“Thanks, everyone, really.” Shen Li looked around. “If you ever need me in the future, don’t hesitate to ask.”
They exchanged a few more words before each disconnecting, returning to reality.
*
Meanwhile, in the real world, the Five Great Guilds were already analyzing the updated Master-Rank and Newcomer leaderboards.
The Noah Guild regretted Mei Xue’s failure to hold her Master-Rank position, though they worked to pull her out of the Divine Challenge.
One failure wasn’t the end; she could always try again.
What shocked them more was that Shen Li had succeeded on his very first try.
Indeed, the Star Guild’s momentum was clearly rising.
Ever since Lu Chuan joined the Star Guild, it was as if they’d gotten a second wind.
But it wasn’t as though the Noah Guild came away with nothing.
Messiah was still sitting at second place on the Newcomer Rankings.
That meant he had also shaken off the divine influence in this dungeon, and could still grow into one of the guild’s future aces. That was some comfort, at least.
The Abyss Guild’s atmosphere, on the other hand, was much gloomier.
Gu Quan’an had failed to break into the Master Rankings as well, and even lost several of his best people in the dungeon. It was a double loss. He barely escaped alive, but the one good eye he still had was ruined in the process.
Whether the Abyss Guild liked it or not, Gu Quan’an had no choice but to get a pair of artificial eyes. That meant the ability he was most proud of would be gone for good. His hopes of ever breaking into the Master Rankings were finished—he could only retire into a teaching role, training the guild’s new blood.
The Resurrection Guild, meanwhile, was calm as usual.
Cynthia and Lilus had both maintained their steady form, keeping the guild’s reputation intact. And with Lu Chuan about to drop off the rankings, their guild’s [Ashes of Rebirth] would climb back up again. Soon, the Newcomer Rankings’ top spot would once more belong to them.
Even though the Star Guild had stolen the spotlight this time, when it came to developing newcomers overall, none of the other guilds combined could compare to Rebirth.
As for the Star Guild…
When Shen Li and the others emerged from the dungeon, the headquarters building was already lit up with a massive screen.
A full-body image of Shen Li filled the display, with his achievements and details written alongside it.
And then a voice looped over and over:
“Congratulations to Star Guild’s Shen Li for officially advancing to the Master Rankings!”
Outside, his fan club was gathered, chanting cheers in unison.
Shen Li immediately covered his face.
Heavens, this was mortifying.
He wanted to bolt on the spot.
But Star Guild’s people had already been waiting near his home.
The moment he logged out of the game, he was spotted.
“Captain Shen is out!”
“Captain Shen, as the only filler candidate to truly advance to the Master Rankings, do you have anything to say to inspire our guild members?”
“Captain Shen, what’s next? Do you plan on forming your own player squad?”
“Captain Shen, do you still remember me?”
…
Seeing the crowd, Starry Shasha and Lu Chuan both instinctively started backing away.
There was no helping it—the guild hadn’t seen a Master-Rank player in far too long.
The last one to make it was [Greedy Wolf Star], ten years ago.
That’s how valuable a Master-Rank player was.
And Shen Li was homegrown, unlike Lu Chuan who had joined halfway through. So with Shen Li’s advancement, the entire guild was putting their weight behind him, celebrating hard.
Even Lu Chuan basked in the glory.
Everyone knew he was Shen Li’s disciple (at least, that was the official story).
Even if Lu Chuan was about to drop off the Newcomer Rankings, he still had a Master-Rank master on his side, and in the same team no less. Anyone from another guild who wanted to go after him would need to send a Master-Rank of their own.
That put him in a whole different league.
The same logic applied to Starry Shasha.
“Captain Shen, I don’t do well with crowds, so I’m heading home first.” Shasha looked deeply uncomfortable at all the attention and immediately tried to slip away.
Lu Chuan, on the other hand, wasn’t leaving. He looked at Shen Li with sparkling eyes. “Brother Shen, this is huge! Can I use your victory party to announce my residential project plans?”
What a perfect ad opportunity. No way he’d miss it.
“No.” Shen Li ground his teeth.
If Lu Chuan started pitching real estate at his Master-Rank celebration, his dignity would evaporate across every guild out there.
Even if he didn’t care about himself, he had to think about the honor of the Master Rankings.
“Fine, I’ll save it for when I make the Master Rankings myself,” Lu Chuan said breezily. He even thought Shen Li’s rank was too low—this level of publicity wasn’t worth enough.
He wondered what reward he’d get from the Newcomer #1 gift package.
Cynthia had said it would be whatever the player needed most.
And what he needed most was a rule-type item that could suppress other players’ abilities.
