Chapter 82: Rankings
The morning sun had just risen, and by the end of September the weather had already begun to turn cold.
But in front of the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall in the Human Race Abandoned Area, it was already crowded with unregistered nomads repairing the hall, each of them in high spirits, as if celebrating a festival.
They were especially meticulous in repairing the outer walls of the hall, worried that even a bit of the repairs might not be perfect, treating it with several times more care than repairing their own houses.
“Old Luo, your luck is really good. Today is the last day of work, and you actually got chosen by the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall to become a long-term worker, and from now on will handle renovation for the hall.” A middle-aged man in his forties looked enviously at a sturdy man around fifty. “The treatment the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall offers long-term workers is one thousand Bit a month. Because of that, the past two days thousands of people came to apply for a job, and in the end only fifty were selected.”
“Old Wang, I am just good at handiwork. The Master of the Pavilion felt my craftsmanship was good, so he kept me on and will have me make all kinds of furniture for the hall from now on,” the sturdy man called Old Luo said with a chuckle.
“Look how happy you are.” The middle-aged man glanced at the busy players inside the hall and sighed. “But who would have thought that two days ago, after that battle at Crimson Moon Mountain, the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall would become completely famous. All the major wilderness gangs now have to show them some respect. When we unregistered nomads go into the wilderness, we even run into fewer problems now. It’s a pity the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall is not recruiting disciples right now, otherwise I’d really want my daughter who works in the suburbs to join.”
“Who wouldn’t,” Old Luo also sighed. “I heard that now when members of the major wilderness gangs see those people wearing dark gray long-sleeved T-shirts, they avoid them. And that girl Luo Qi, who used to be very close to Hall Master Lin, because she carries the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall’s badge of proof, all the other weapon shops in the suburbs have been trying to poach her at a high price. In the end it was that Cangjing Iron Miser who was smart and hired Luo Qi as a senior employee, with the treatment usually reserved for a Senior Mechanic, and that is how he managed to keep her.”
The salary offered by the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall to its long-term hirelings was already no less than what vagrants working in the suburbs could earn, but for these unregistered nomads, what was even more valuable was the identity associated with the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall.
The High Martial Arts World was full of danger everywhere; even the suburbs held some danger, let alone places beyond the suburbs.
Now, because of the battle at Crimson Moon Mountain, the strength of the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall had been acknowledged by many wilderness gangs. Anyone associated with the hall had, invisibly, gained an extra protective talisman, and their level of Safety had suddenly risen by two or three tiers.
One could even say that in the wilderness, this was more useful than having official resident status in the City of Light Chasing.
“I wonder what ranking the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall will get this time. If they can enter the top eighty among wilderness gangs, then we might be able to compete for a street block close to the suburbs. In the future, whether going to the suburbs to work or shopping back and forth, it would be much more convenient.” The middle-aged man called Old Wang spoke with some nostalgia. “More than twenty years ago, we Human Race vagrants still had four street blocks in the suburbs, with our own shops and companies there, and the cost of living in the suburbs was lower too. Unfortunately, after those several powerful races rose, the share of expenses for our Human Race got higher and higher. Now, if you are not an official resident, you cannot even afford to live in the suburbs.”
“There’s nothing we can do. The City needs martial artists to protect it, and martial artists are everything.” Old Luo sighed as well. “I also wonder how those people who left for other cities are doing now. Back then I heard that in other cities outside, there were already very few of the Human Race left. Some cities flat out refused to take in weak races, or treated them entirely as expendable materials.”
“From what I’ve found out over the years, the nearby cities all treat them as consumables, forcing them all into Supply Transport for wilderness bases, or else they are forcibly driven away.” Old Wang let out a sigh and looked toward the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall with some expectation. “I don’t dare hope for something like the hall producing martial artists, but if they can squeeze into the top fifty among wilderness gangs, it would be enough if fewer of our people die each year.”
The rankings of wilderness gangs in the City of Light Chasing were not just for show, but carried certain rights recognized by the city.
The higher the ranking, the greater the rights that could be obtained, especially regarding how many vagrants of each race had to serve in the military every year. The higher the ranking, the more the quota could be reduced.
In the past, the Human Race vagrants had a yearly quota of one thousand people, selected by lottery. For one year they had to go to and from the wilderness, transporting Supplies for wilderness bases, with their lives left entirely to chance. After a year, fewer than thirty percent survived; the mortality rate was extremely high.
Generally, if a gang could rank beyond fiftieth place, they could get a reduction of one hundred people. The top fifty got a full reduction of two hundred people, the top twenty a reduction of three hundred, and the top ten a reduction of five hundred. If a race had multiple gangs, only the highest ranking one counted.
This made it so that among vagrants of different races living in the Abandoned Area, the strong truly became stronger while the weak became weaker.
There were, of course, exceptions. The Crystal Race was one: their thirty-plus top tier experts who served all died in battle, causing the status of the Crystal Race vagrants to plummet, and they had no choice but to withdraw from the Residential Area at the edge of the suburbs.
“That might be difficult. The top fifty are all large gangs like the Green Sparrow Gang, each with over a thousand members. The Obsidian Martial Arts Hall has only just risen, after all, and needs time to accumulate.” Old Luo shook his head, feeling that the hall’s chances of entering the top fifty were slim, though top eighty should be very secure.
While Old Luo and the other man were talking, in the distance a one-eyed giant man over two meters forty tall walked slowly up to the gates of the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall, drawing curious looks from many vagrants.
“Why has Old Qin come?” Old Luo watched Qin Mu notifying the players at the entrance and could not help feeling puzzled.
As the strongest combat power in the Human Race Abandoned Area, Qin Mu was always extremely busy, and people in the Abandoned Area rarely saw him at rest.
At this early morning hour he would normally be heading to work in the suburbs. Now he had come here, with joy on his face, which looked quite strange.
And when the players saw Qin Mu, it was like seeing a boss-level NPC; their impression from the Test Assessment was extremely deep. They respectfully led Qin Mu toward Lin Qi’s lounge.
“Old Zhen, this assessment NPC coming to the Master of the Pavilion, could it be that they are going to open that new Crimson Moon Mountain map?” Twilight of the Gods, who had just logged on, could not help speaking with some excitement when he saw Qin Mu walk into the lounge.
After two days of waiting, the players all suspected that the game manufacturer might open the true new map, Crimson Moon Mountain. After all, the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall controlled sixty percent of the Share of Crimson Moon Mountain; naturally Crimson Moon Mountain should fall under the hall’s Management.
And the new Crimson Moon Mountain map was clearly much larger than the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall, most likely prepared to receive a huge influx of new players, as a move by the game manufacturer.
By then, Crimson Moon Mountain would very likely become a novice village.
If these beta test players could take on some tasks in the novice village in advance, it would be a huge advantage for them when they later settled in the novice village.
“Very likely. When these two giant NPCs meet, it has always been a major event in the past, and this time should be the same.” Fang Zhen nodded and looked expectantly at the closed door of the lounge.
Since the end of the main storyline battle at Crimson Moon Mountain, the thirty of them had received basic Points of over three thousand, with elite kills giving ten thousand Points, and each of the two bosses worth one hundred thousand Points. They had all made a huge profit.
Unfortunately, after the three teams pooled their Points so each could buy one A6-level Weapon, they were all broke again, and could only hope for more new plot tasks, to save enough Points to redeem a B2-level Weapon. Then they could quickly farm the maze tunnels to earn Points and contribution.
They would no longer be stuck like now, where it took three days to grind down a single Gold-Devouring Unicorn Rat, and who knew how long it would take to become elite disciples and have their own private rooms in the hall.
The High Martial Arts Descend game now was no longer what it had been a dozen days earlier. Among the latest group of players, several were members of large guilds from other virtual games. As High Martial Arts Descend grew more popular, it had drawn their attention. The future competition would only get more intense.
If they did not work harder now to widen the gap, then as more and more players were brought in, the advantages of those large guilds would keep growing. Just like Heavenly Might now: among seventy players there were already five former Heavenly Might members, their numerical advantage was growing and so was the number of experts.
“How about I tell Captain Li and the Desert Border guys, have the team members come develop in High Martial Arts Descend too?”
Fang Zhen suddenly felt it was very necessary to persuade Li Ranxing and the others. After all, members of professional teams from Mecha Continent were all carefully selected experts. Once they entered High Martial Arts Descend, they could quickly form combat power and might well rival Heavenly Might.
And since Li Ranxing and the others had played High Martial Arts Descend, they should be keenly aware that Mecha Continent was already a thing of the past, and that the future would belong to High Martial Arts Descend. For professional players who only wanted to make money, this was an opportunity they absolutely could not miss.
While Fang Zhen was thinking about how to persuade Li Ranxing, inside the quiet lounge of the Master of the Pavilion,
the giant-like Qin Mu took a purple-gold metal token from his chest and handed it directly to Lin Qi.
“Brother Lin, congratulations.” Qin Mu said excitedly. “According to the evaluation of the Martial Artist Association this time, the strength of the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall has been recognized as ranking forty-second among wilderness forces! Now not only does the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall qualify to cooperate with some major companies in the suburbs, it can also rent a shop in the suburbs, freely conduct trade in items in the suburbs, and no longer be bled by those suburban gangs.”
“Forty-second! That high?”
Looking at the number 42 stamped on the token, Lin Qi could not help but feel surprised.
He knew quite a bit about wilderness gang rankings from Luo Qi. Based on the strength the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall had shown, they should have been outside the top fifty. With their small numbers, being placed in the seventies or eighties would not have been impossible, since the ranking measured a gang’s overall strength, not just individual combat power.
Any gang that ranked in the top fifty in the wilderness would allow even unregistered nomads to rent a shop in the suburbs and open their own store. That meant they could openly sell goods obtained in the wilderness and be protected by the City of Light Chasing.
Gaining that right meant truly gaining a foothold in the wilderness, no longer nameless nobodies in the City of Light Chasing.
And as Lin Qi received the ranking token, the vagrants living in the Abandoned Area who regularly followed the wilderness gang rankings, along with members of various gangs, all received the latest information on wilderness gang rankings.
In an instant, it was like a stone splashing into a thousand waves across the entire Abandoned Area.
