I Became the Progenitor Vampire - Chapter 357

Chapter 357: Chapter 359: The Dominant Lide, Decreeing Fate with a Single Word (5200 words) Chapter 357: Chapter 359: The Dominant Lide, Decreeing Fate with a Single Word (5200 words) Spark, having become a prominent Mage, left the White Tower with his large box of yellowed papers and scrolls after bidding farewell to Little Yisha.

As the scene of hundreds of Pegasus escorting Spark faded into the horizon, the White Tower, which had stood in Green City for decades, was temporarily entrusted to Lide.

As Spark’s apprentice, it was only natural.

Lide stood at the door of the White Tower, watching the flock of Pegasus vanish from sight, his eyes reflecting a complexity of emotions.

“Hopefully, everything will be safe.”

Although Spark never told him what he was going to do in the Nolan Capital until the end, the tone of his words before departure still conveyed a sense of uncertainty to Lide.

It seemed that Spark might not return this time, that he, on the cusp of becoming Quasi-transcendent, might fall elsewhere.

Lide did not comment much on this. Being an individual who had lived through countless experiences, the old man knew what he was doing.

Everyone had their choices, and Lide had no right to interfere with Spark’s actions.

“Teacher, Grandpa Spark will come back, right?”

Little Yisha, holding Lide’s hand, turned around, her ruby-like eyes showing a hint of sorrow.

The girl’s mysterious talent allowed her to sense the deepest emotions of people, and she clearly felt Spark’s reluctance and determined resolve before he left, which saddened her.

“He will return. Teacher Spark is about to breakthrough to Transcendent. In this world, being Transcendent is to exist on a whole other level. As long as he wishes to leave, no one can hurt him.

Yisha, Teacher Spark has entrusted the White Tower to you. I’m just managing it temporarily. You need to work hard and try to take over the White Tower before Teacher Spark returns…”

Lide patted Little Yisha’s shoulder consolingly.

“Mhm. Teacher, I will work hard.” The girl looked up, her eyes filled with determination after being encouraged.

With Spark’s departure, the incident caused by the Power of Death came to an end.

Because of the Power of Death, he had gone to the Death Cemetery to find the Death Flower, secured the Land of Bone-Burying along the way, imprisoned the Twelve-winged Blazing Angel, and also advanced to level 18.

These enviable gains made Lide the largest beneficiary of this incident, perhaps along with Spark, since he was about to breakthrough to Transcendent.

The White Tower had its own operating mechanism, and since Spark had often acted as a hands-off manager, the Advanced Mages of the tower had long since become accustomed to his absence and did not fall into chaos despite their master’s departure.

At this moment, Lide did not need to do anything for the White Tower; he only had to do as Spark did with the Crimson Mage Tower before him–use his influence to shelter the White Tower.

It seemed to be a cycle, as well as a period of growth.

Lide, once protected by Spark during his weaker years, now finally had the strength to protect the once incomparable White Tower.

Of course, to say “shelter” meant that as long as Spark was unharmed, no one would dare to touch the White Tower; it was just an additional layer of assurance.

Lide did not make any extra efforts towards the White Tower; having the Crimson Mage Tower was enough for him, and he left the White Tower to Yisha.

The day after Spark’s departure, Lide visited the base of Crimson Moon.

This was his second time visiting his player guild since the game’s launch two months ago.

Contrary to the previous desolation, there had been significant changes at the base of Crimson Moon by now.

The manors he had purchased in advance had been refurbished and connected.

Next to the manor’s gate stood a large stone plaque etched with “Crimson Moon Guild” in the common language of the continent, fixed with a Three Circle Magic–Universal Literacy, creating an impression of grandeur and opulence.

A steady stream of people went in and out of the manor gates, and from their attire and behavior, most of them were players, apart from a few original residents.

Lide’s arrival immediately drew the attention of many players, especially due to his pure black embossed Mage’s robe, which was obviously expensive.

Additionally, his extremely handsome face captured people’s gaze, particularly the new female players of the Crimson Moon, who were struck by the sight, their eyes shining brightly.

This was despite the fact that Lide was not wearing a spellwoven robe that would increase his attractiveness to the opposite sex, otherwise, the female players might have had their eyes popping out.

“That’s the President, isn’t it? Damn, he’s even more handsome than before!!”

“Wow, the President is already an Intermediate Mage?? So epic…”

“Ahhh, my idol… I’ve seen my idol again…”

Lide gave a wry smile at the bustling discussions of the players and walked straight into the manor.

Having received the news of Lide’s arrival, Zhao Yue, who was about to head out, quickly came over to greet him.

“Good morning, President…”

Looking at the mature and voluptuous woman before him, Lide smiled faintly, “Morning, I came by today to see how Crimson Moon is progressing.”

He then gestured towards the substantial number of players around them.

“Are you going to complete a mission?”

Zhao Yue nodded with a smile and whispered, “President, we’ve been quite busy these last two months. The number of players recruited by Crimson Moon has already reached 5,000…”

“5,000?”

Lide’s eyes lit up.

“That’s right, half of them are in Anos City, under Chairman Qian’s command.

We’ve just taken on a mission to clear out Goblin robbers and are about to head out…”

Took on a mission? Leveling up through combat?

Lide felt a sense of unfamiliarity and discomfort upon hearing this. Players were creatures of a different dimension to him now, and the idea of taking on missions to level up simply did not apply to him.

Moreover, as his level had increased, killing ordinary monsters no longer gave him any experience.

“Are these missions given to you by Golden Wheat Commerce or are you taking them on your own from the outside?”

Zhao Yue glanced at the surrounding players who were curiously examining them and gestured toward the inside of the building.

“President, let’s go inside to talk.”

After speaking, she turned to a young warrior player beside her, “Mahua, you lead the team for this mission, be careful.”

“Yes, President Yue.” After answering, the young player immediately began organizing the team, then led a large group of players out in single file, their professionalism evident at a glance.

Clearly, he was a core member trained by the Crimson Moon itself.

Witnessing this scene, Lide showed no particular reaction; as a professional club, they were not lacking in professional talent.

The two of them, under everyone’s watchful eyes, entered the main hall of the manor.

Lide had been to the main hall once before, which was now empty and had few players.

“President Yue…”

“President…”

Upon their arrival, the surrounding players immediately greeted them. Interestingly, more people greeted Zhao Yue than Lide.

Most of them didn’t have much of an impression of Lide, who had only shown up once or twice. It was difficult for them to have a deep impression of him.

After making some arrangements, Zhao Yue cleared the players out, then she led Lide to sit at the central position of the long table in the great hall, with her taking a seat to his left.

“President Yue, please report the recent developments of Crimson Moon…”

Lide, not one for pleasantries, dove straight into the matter.

He had not gone offline for quite some time now, his focus during this period had been largely on Dawn City, and he had given much less attention to Crimson Moon.

Since his rare visit, he naturally wanted to take this opportunity to fully understand the current development status of Crimson Moon.

“Yes, President,” Zhao Yue said, her expression immediately becoming serious at the discussion of official matters.

“Crimson Moon has made certain achievements after two months of development, but we are still far from our goal.

Now, let me give you a detailed report on the situation.

Firstly, regarding personnel–the members of Crimson Moon are divided into three levels.

The third level players are peripherals; these are players who have just joined the guild, are low-level, and have high turnover. They can only be considered peripheral members, and they are the majority of our players, totaling about 3,000.

The second level players are official members, these players are currently around levels 2 to 3 on average, possess certain gaming talent,
and have become tied to Crimson Moon due to the contribution system, forming our backbone. There are around 1,400 of these players.

The first level consists of core players, all of whom are professional players from Crimson Moon, are highly reliable, and absolutely central to our operations.

They are currently our primary focus for training, with all of them at level 3, and a few have reached level 4. We expect the first batch of level 5 players to emerge in one to two months.”

Zhao Yue paused for a moment, waiting for Lide’s cue before continuing.

“Currently, the number of professional players in Crimson Moon is 600, and we are continuously recruiting and expanding.

For official players and peripherals who show talent, we extend invitations and offer contracts to integrate them as core members.

This is our current talent structure and recruitment strategy.”

After hearing this, Lide nodded slightly. Internal promotion and external recruitment were quite standard practices and, although not outstanding, were sufficient for the current phase.

Designing a more complex system was unnecessary for the time being; it could always be improved upon later, if needed.

“Core players are our mainstay, but I need to cultivate a group of even more powerful top-tier players.

You select 10 to 20 people from all our professional players for top-tier player cultivation.

I want to turn these players into the absolute trump cards of Crimson Moon Guild…”

Lide gazed at Zhao Yue with profound eyes.

“In the future, these top-tier players will be the hallmark of our Crimson Moon Guild,
Once you’ve chosen the candidates, I will find some hidden classes for them to transfer to…”

Glory is not like other games. In this world, one high-level fighter can be equivalent to hundreds, if not thousands, of low-level fighters. The concept of “zerg tactics” in Glory presupposes a certain level of strength.

Therefore, it’s very necessary to cultivate a few ace players for Crimson Moon Guild.

The influence of a Transcendent is much stronger than twenty Level 19s–that’s the value of top-tier combat power.

“These players we select must be bound by contracts in-game and also constrained by generous remuneration and strict contractual terms out of game.

I don’t want to see us cultivate a group of professional players who could be poached by others at any time.”

Earth is not the same as ‘Glory’; loyalty doesn’t hold much value on Earth. Interest and negative punishments are what effectively prevent such situations from occurring.

Zhao Yue clearly understood the concerns of Lide and nodded gravely.

“Yes, President, I will use the strictest methods to select these players, and the contracts will start at twenty years. As for the penalty for breach of contract… even a top 500 global company would bleed.”

Lide nodded with satisfaction.

“Continue your report.”

“Yes.

Besides our personnel structure, second is our commodity trading department.

This department consists of the commodity trading staff of the Crimson Moon Guild’s game, currently totaling 150 professional game merchants.

Their task is to trade within the game, buying low and selling high, to earn profits for Crimson Moon Guild.

At present, thanks to your connections, the commodity trading department often gets some low-priced items from Golden Wheat Commerce, making a tidy profit.

However, since commercial channels in various aspects have not been fully established, more investment will be needed in the future to build it up…”

Trade has always been the most lucrative approach. With the data provided by the Data Analysis Department, Lide was confident that this commodity trading department, still in its infancy, could develop.

And with the support he could usher through Golden Wheat Commerce, the trading department’s growth could exceed everyone’s expectations.

Although he had shares in Golden Wheat Commerce and the Crimson Mage Tower, cultivating a player-based commerce guild was also necessary.

Using players to form a guild and conduct trade has many notable advantages that native inhabitants can’t possess.

The most typical advantage is the extremely convenient transmission of messages.

Even though Glory lacks instantaneous communication systems, it doesn’t matter–nothing that going offline can’t solve.

This in itself could outperform most native inhabitant commerce guilds.

And not to mention, things like systematically keeping track of the prices of goods across Glory on forums, making targeted purchases, or even doing business directly on Earth and delivering in Glory–these are things natives simply can’t achieve.

“Although I hold shares in Golden Wheat Commerce, we also need to build our own trade channels.

Additionally, we could certainly employ more life-skilled players in the game to join the commodity trading department, as long as the stability of core members is ensured.

Besides players, we should also make use of NPCs, and not be averse to them–in many cases, having NPCs participate makes solving problems easier than with players.”

“Yes, President, I will make immediate corrections and improvements.”

“Hmm, how do players in the guild gain experience? Is it all from killing monsters?”

“Our players’ sources of experience are a few major categories…”

Zhao Yue pondered for a moment before continuing his report.

“The first is various NPC-given direct missions, which is the fastest and best-known method for gaining experience at the moment.

The second is completing missions from the adventurer’s guild or the Mercenary Guild. These missions offer slightly less experience, but the other rewards are high.

The third is going into the wilderness to grind monsters, like the Goblin Robbers we’re planning to farm today, which are a common sight in Green City’s Black Wood Forest.

Besides that, Ogres, goblins, Gnolls, and others also provide quite a bit of experience. The only issue is that Glory is too realistic, and ambushing these creatures involves considerable risk and can easily go south.

The fourth way is through long-term training.”

Players on the forum have experimented, even if they don’t fight monsters or do quests, as long as they maintain high-intensity training, they can still gain experience, and this way of gaining experience is quite substantial. It’s just very tough, and few players are willing to do it.

“Fifth…”

There were more than a dozen scattered methods of gaining experience, some of which Lide heard about for the first time, such as spellcasters being able to listen to Advanced Mages explaining magic, and gaining experience as long as they had some insights.

The complex experience system allowed players to gain experience in more ways than just fighting monsters to level up.

“Currently, the main ways Crimson Moon gains experience are by undertaking NPC-issued quests and quests from the adventurer’s guild.

The method of directly grinding monsters to level up is used less frequently. This time we are preparing to grind goblin thieves only after transferring two squads of level 9 Centaurs from Anos City.”

After Zhao Yue finished speaking, Lide showed a thoughtful expression.

The development model of Crimson Moon was still quite simple, but it seemed sufficient for the early stages.

“Let’s quickly finalize the number and candidates for the top players we plan to train. I’ll arrange their leveling later.”

He first planned to train a batch of ace players. With the resources in his hands, he could definitely quickly level up this group of players and have them fully skilled and luxuriously equipped.

With top players in place, Crimson Moon would have more leeway whether in recruiting personnel or carrying out other tasks.

Crimson Moon was to undertake a very important mission in his territory.

The current pace of development was not slow, but it was still far from his requirements.

“Besides, we need to continue to expand the scale and number of guild members.

I will allocate you 100,000 Gold Pucks, whether exchanged on Earth or used in Glory, I have only one request–expand the scale.

5,000 people is too few; I need you to increase the number tenfold within half a year.

If the management can’t keep up, poach people,
If we don’t have enough professional players, recruit,
If we have too few ordinary players, pull people in,
I need a guild with enough influence and combat power.

The expansion process will be challenging, large numbers of people will inevitably lead to a decline in quality, chaotic management, and even internal competition…

But I believe you can solve these problems…”

The sharp glint in Lide’s eyes sent a jolt through Zhao Yue’s heart.

At this moment, she recognized Lide anew.

This man, what grand ambition.

100,000 Gold Pucks to expand the guild, that amount exchanged on Earth was a full 2 billion.

Her gaze instantly became resolute, “President, since you trust me so much, I will not let you down.

In half a year, Crimson Moon will definitely become the biggest and also the most combat-capable guild in Green City and even the Southern Province.”

With money in hand, her confidence surged instantly.

At this moment, every Huaxia Guild, without exception, considered investing tens of millions in Glory as an act of madness. For Lide to throw in 100,000 Gold Pucks directly was the height of extravagance.

Of course, he didn’t care.

Wasn’t the enormous amount of Gold Pucks earned to be converted into real combat power, rather than just to rust away?

Resources transformed into possessions are truly resources; otherwise, they’re just a pile of junk.

“I look forward to that day.”

Lide looked at Zhao Yue’s serious expression, his gaze deep.

After saying this, he was set to officially support Crimson Moon.

Previous support was merely minor fuss.

He intended to fill in the missing piece of the player puzzle on his territory; he needed a powerful player guild as a sharp blade to fight for him.

Zhao Yue, at this time, did not yet realize to what extent she would be taken care of with the power Lide held in his hands. Once he decided to support a force, her lot was set to change dramatically.

Crimson Moon’s meteoric rise was destined from the day Lide personally renamed the Sword and Shield Club to Crimson Moon.

A single word could determine fate.