Chapter 8: The locks of the past are also beautiful

"Hmm... 2% experience for Level 4," Masuo replied after glancing at his panel. Masuo was certainly aware of his level issue—this level was entirely due to that twenty-five level half-orc and his five good friends, with the former contributing the most—an entire two levels plus 40% experience, followed by the contributions of the latter five.

It is important to note that even the independent team "Dragons and Beauties," which has consistently ranked first throughout the game, has faced dire challenges against the second boss on difficult difficulty, and the top ten elite teams in the Sword of the Sky have not even managed to clear the normal difficulty yet

By the way, I forgot to mention that there is more than one thieves' guild in the game, and among these guilds, there are also rogue guilds that lean towards chaos and goodness

Are you sure? Masuo's response also caught the attention of the twin sister, Mingmei. She brought up her own panel and then shared it with Masuo: "My sister and I spent the afternoon fighting goblins with the two guerrilla knights in the team, and we only gained 49% experience to reach level 2. Didn't you say you joined later than us? What is going on with this level?"

As he stepped out of the temple, Masuo noticed that the sun had already risen. For both players and NPCs, this signified the official start of a new day. The young cat-like shaman inhaled the air wafting in from the harbor district, which carried a faint scent of the sea, and carefully observed the soldiers on the street—there were at least twice as many as yesterday. Moreover, the ranks of the soldiers included many members of the guerrilla knight order, indicating that the unfortunate corpses left on the abandoned pier in the harbor district had likely been discovered.

Maso would certainly not reveal any flaws—after all, deep down, he is a middle-aged single man, and he firmly believes in the words of his master's wife, Mrs. Tershan, who taught him martial arts: Life is like a play, and the winners rely entirely on their acting skills

After finishing his conversation with the Lord of Storms, Maso performed a devout prayer once more before exiting the chapel

Although the kitten accidentally got caught in a performance mishap half a month ago and was sent back five years in time, he has been diligently honing his acting skills during this period. Therefore, at this moment, the kitten took the initiative with great professionalism. As a single man in his later years, he shamelessly extended his cat tongue to lick Ming En's little face, while very professionally acting cute: "Ming En, Maso wants to eat barbecue"

... ...

Faced with the enticing aroma of meat, the kitten lifted its hood and ran to Ming'en's side, emitting a satisfied sound from its nose towards the meat slices that the young lady was seasoning in her hand: "It smells so good."

It is certainly impossible for that foolish president to control the entire Paronster and the two southern satellite ports. Therefore, after gaining control over the entire Paronster slum and civilian area, the Sword of the Sky began a share consolidation. With Xu Xiaoshi and Guo Jing as the main wealthy party, they forcefully took over the Sword of the Sky, with Xu Xiaoshi and Guo Jing obtaining 35% and 20% of the shares, respectively. Although this game does not involve any currency exchange that could potentially ruin the credibility of real-world currency, the officials still launched an official trading channel. The two satellite cities generate a pure income of billions of gold coins annually, coupled with the meticulous development by the management team, allowing countless people to witness the exquisite management skills and limitless financial prospects of Xu Xiaoshi and Guo Jing. This also transformed Guo, who was once an insignificant character in the Guo family, into the first heir and someone who is approached daily by various beautiful girls with marriage as the premise.

Of course, this has nothing to do with Maso. The kitten has always preferred to keep a low profile, so when faced with Ming'en's affectionate feeding, it opened its small mouth wide and took a bite of the roasted meat from the fork.

The two satellite cities of Ernst and Ashubi, located at palo m.hetushu.com, are the three best deep-water ports in the Ashubi region, aside from the capital city of Giant Port. In this era, there is no more violent or effective way to generate income than through maritime transport and intercontinental trade

Is that so... Ming'en clearly still does not quite believe it. She moved her little head in front of Masuo, trying to discern any flaws from the kitten's face

"Mason, how about leveling up with us for a while and then going to the dungeon tonight?" As he twirled a piece of roasted meat with his fork, Mein looked at the kitten that was chewing and asked, "By the way, what level are you now?"

Therefore, at this point, NPCs can be even more ruthless than players. In the mid-game, in order to seize control, there have been dozens of large-scale battles involving over one hundred thousand participants among players versus players, players versus NPCs, and NPCs versus NPCs.

The control of neighborhoods is something that only exists in slums and civilian areas, as these outer regions of the city are the most chaotic and poorly managed places within the entire city. Essentially, as long as player guilds do not engage in excessively outrageous activities after taking control of these neighborhoods, they will always receive the tacit approval of the city administrators—having someone willing to manage the areas you are least inclined to oversee is always a good thing. Essentially, as long as player guilds do not engage in excessively outrageous activities after taking control of these neighborhoods, they will always receive the tacit approval of the city administrators—having someone willing to manage the areas you are least inclined to oversee is always a good thing

Understood

Moved! The kitten took the plate and roasted meat handed over by Ming'en with its paws, then wrapped its tail around the sweet sauce bottle that sister Mingmei had passed over. The latter, while flipping the pieces of meat, smiled and pointed to the dining table, saying, "Make sure not to cause trouble for Brother Guo and the president over there, sit here to eat"

Although the Sword of the Firmament was previously ranked over one hundred among medium-sized guilds in the Radiant Alliance, its control over the two satellite cities of Paronster and the northern part of the Ashubi royal capital led to a significant increase in strength after acquiring wealth, propelling its ranking into the top ten. The Ashubi region boasts the best deep-water port in the eastern part of the continent, where most goods transported from the southern lands of the Song people and the Yang Kingdom are loaded and unloaded at the port. Due to an incident a century ago where pirates disguised as Song merchant fleets invaded, the port of the Ashubi royal capital has consistently refused any merchant fleets direct access to the main port.

"Brother Zhang, since you want us to stay, please ensure that you prepare the potion within six hours, alright?" Guo Longtao asked with a smile, "It’s as simple as that: either prepare the exploration potions for the Sixth Elite Team within six hours, or we twenty-one men and women will collectively switch teams. You must understand that not every elite team has a pair of Lin family sisters, nor does every elite team have a leader as easy to talk to as Xiao Shi."

If players are able to expand their controlled districts into satellite cities, they can also receive direct recognition from the administrators—players' guilds will gain official acknowledgment from NPCs. At that time, all income and expenses of the satellite city will be managed by the guild. Most importantly, when a satellite city controlled by players is attacked, the administrator will absolutely not stand by and do nothing—after all, the players' guild is also under his command. As a city administrator, if his subordinates are being attacked and he does not assist them, it is likely that he will have no future left.

"Hu, nonsense! It really is impossible to mix the potion." Facing the young man before him, the middle-aged man's gaze was somewhat evasive

The latter blushed, squinted in thought for a moment, and ultimately handed the rolled-up skewer to Maso—thus, the affectionate feeding continued

Standing by the street, watching a group of knights gallop by, Masuo followed the sign back to the inn. As soon as he pushed open the door, he heard Mingen's voice ringing out, "Look, Masuo is back! Come over and have some roasted meat; my sister and I just finished grilling it."

"Alright, the Doghead camp outside the city." Captain Lin Mingmei immediately issued the target instructions after assembling the team.

Of course, what he said to the young ladies was entirely different—Maso attributed his level to the Shenmei mission and some other minor tasks—most of these haphazard tasks involved delivering certain items to specific locations. Maso added some numbers to the experience rewards of each task, thus making this lie seem plausible.

"That's right, the team leader asked me to say this." Since it is a private conversation, Guo Longtao does not need to worry about his dialogue with this great team leader being overheard by the girl and the kitten who are busy by the grill. "Go ahead, which bastard gave you such a bad idea."

Watching Guo Longtao drive away the unfortunate president, Masuo swallowed the roasted meat in his mouth. For him, the highest difficulty solo novice dungeon required no potions at all, but that did not mean the others in the team did not need them

... ...

"Children are already able to engage in intimate activities, yet you still blush at the thought of telling a single lie." Looking at the peculiar middle-aged man before him, Guo Longtao rarely smiled as he spoke, "I have heard that even the Ninth Elite Team has been issued potions. Don't tell me that our Sixth Team is truly being treated like a stepchild. If that is the case, brother, don't blame us little brothers for turning against you. Do you believe I can have Xiao Shi take two girls and leave right now?"

If you know, then you! Old man! Hurry up and prepare the medicine!" Looking at the middle-aged man in front of him, Guo Longtao spoke word by word, and the smile on his face at that moment could definitely be described as ferocious.

As for why the supplies from the Sixth Elite Team have not yet arrived, it is entirely due to the Fifth Elite Team's interference. The leader of the Fifth Elite Team has a longstanding grudge with Xu Xiaoshi, the leader of the Sixth Elite Team. From childhood disputes over lollipops to competition over girlfriends during their time at military academy, the unfortunate Lin has been defeated by Xu Xiaoshi at every turn. Thus, this enmity can be said to be as deep as the sea and as high as the sky. If there ever comes a day when neither side resorts to underhanded tactics against the other, everyone in the guild would be astonished as if the sun had risen in the west.

Of course, this is specially prepared for you by Ming'en and my sister. Are you touched?" The younger twin handed the plate filled with roasted meat to Masuo.

Of course, all of this has nothing to do with the Shaman. The Shaman is currently in a state of half healing and half being a bystander—there's no way around it. For the vast majority of players, the current Shaman is still unable to heal as well as a Priest, cannot withstand damage like a Paladin, is not as agile as a Warrior, is less stealthy than a Rogue or Ranger, lacks the finesse of a Monk, and is not as violent as a Warlock. For a long time, it has been regarded as a useless class, alongside Druids who could only be bystanders at the beginning and Bards who were pelted with stones by NPCs due to their inadequate performance in playing skills. They have collectively been referred to as the three useless classes in leather armor.

Stop! As soon as Xu Xiaoshi mentioned that she wanted to take someone and run away, the president immediately shouted to stop her

After finishing the barbecue, it was time to level up. Although the girls from the Lin family were easy to talk to, they never slacked off when it came to serious matters. Thus, the kitten, carrying his throwing axe bag, followed the two girls to the area where the guild's elite members gathered—this gathering place for guild members was located in the slums. If Masuo remembered correctly, in two weeks, the guild would engage in a fierce battle with a small NPC thief guild to seize complete control of this district.

Mingmei laughed at the end, her appearance was undeniably adorable, but the skewer of roasted meat in the girl's hand pressed the beef firmly against the iron plate. Masuo watched as the beef fat and meat chunks struggled and sizzled on the high-temperature iron plate, thinking to himself that at this moment, silence truly spoke louder than words

While Masho was secretly observing the corner while enjoying the girl's heartfelt barbecue, Guo Longtao in the corner was staring wide-eyed at his guild leader.

Did that little bastard from the Xu family really say that? The scar on the face of the man in his forties was twitching.

... ...