The Truth About Rank Advancement!

The Tycoon's expression immediately turned serious after hearing the names of the two organizations that Lin Yu mentioned.

"The Marauders' and the 'Freedom Alliance'? Explain in detail, what exactly is going on?"

Lin Yu nodded.

"My previous Instance was a 'puzzle' type, so it wasn't too competitive."

"After entering the Instance, we exchanged identities and introduced ourselves. Two of the Player seemed a bit strange to me, but I didn't pay much attention to it at the time."

"It wasn't until near the end, because of a 'puzzle,' that they revealed their true identities."

"One of them is a 'Heavenly Artisan' from the 'Marauders'!"

The Tycoon listened, then suddenly realized, "Oh, that super newbie who just joined 'The Marauders' is really something... You should be able to find him on the bounty list if you browse the forums."

"That's what the Tycoon said."

"Is he targeting you? If I remember correctly, he's probably from the Northwest, so don't worry too much!"

The Tycoon calmly waved his hand.

Lin Yu shook his head. "No... on the contrary, he was quite friendly to me."

"On the contrary, that guy from the 'Freedom Alliance' is very hostile towards me."

The Tycoon's expression also turned somewhat serious.

"The 'Freedom Alliance'? It's quite rare for you to run into them!"

"To be honest, the 'Freedom Alliance'... is most likely Impostor!"

Lin Yu shook his head.

"It shouldn't be, because she didn't claim to be from the 'Freedom Alliance,' but I confirmed it myself through some means..."

"However, why do you say it's most likely Impostor?"

The Tycoon shook his head. "Tell me her features first!"

"She was a girl, not very tall, wearing sunglasses and a windbreaker. Her Profession seemed to be 'thief,' she had a rather nasty personality, and her accent sounded like a local from Jiang City..."

After Lin Yu finished speaking, the Tycoon suddenly understood.

"You've encountered 'Divine Thief A Nian'."

Lin Yu seemed to realize something upon hearing the name.

"A Nian... Bu Wang... so that's what her self-proclaimed ID meant."

He was thinking to himself, but his expression showed a blank look.

"Is he a famous guy?"

"She was very famous. Before she joined the 'Freedom Alliance' forum and was removed from the game, her ID 'A Nian' was Far-Famed... Basically, everyone who went into Instance with her would leave her with one or two Item —and even after leaving the Instance, those Item would never come back!"

Lin Yu was shocked to hear the Tycoon's words.

"Is her 'skill' permanently stolen?"

Normally, Item stolen by the "Thief" skill in Instance will be automatically returned to their Item owners after the Instance ends.

If a skill is activated in real life, it will be automatically returned at the start of the next Instance.

While stealing non-"Item" means stealing them forever, the "thief's" ability is not permanent when it comes to "Item"!

Previously in the Instance, Bu Wang... or rather "A Nian" showed off the Heavenly Artisan Item she had stolen. Lin Yu thought she just wanted to play with it or see what Item effect was.

Unexpectedly, she actually has the ability to permanently steal other people's Item!

The Tycoon said gravely, "Her Profession is indeed 'thief,' but she probably used some kind of Item to achieve it..."

The forum's assessment of her at the time was, "There are many thieves, but only one Master Thief!"

After the Tycoon finished speaking, Lin Yu showed even more concern.

"Wow, she's that powerful? If she and her organization are targeting me, am I doomed?"

The Tycoon shook his head.

"Don't worry too much. Although 'Master Thief' has a terrible personality, so far, she has rarely gone out of her way to kill someone!"

"This guy prefers playing pranks and tricks on others. If she targets you, you might get into trouble, but generally there won't be any danger to your life."

The Tycoon paused, then added.

"As for the 'Freedom Alliance,' there's even less to worry about!"

"Although this organization is 'Far-Famed,' it has very few members... So far, only nine members have been confirmed!"

Tycoon spoke, Lin Yu was stunned.

"So few? How many members should a normal organization have?"

Seeing Lin Yu's puzzled expression, the Tycoon continued to patiently explain.

"The largest organization is 'Order,' which has over five hundred, nearly a thousand members! Almost every major city has more than ten members of 'Order'!"

"Secondly, several nationally renowned organizations should each have several hundred members, the larger ones around four or five hundred, the smaller ones around one or two hundred... 'The Marauders,' 'Psychology Society,' 'Player Mutual Aid Society,' 'Night Watcher,' and so on are all roughly this size."

"A well-known organization in a certain region is generally considered to be small to medium-sized. For example, the 'Jiang'an Hall' that I founded in Jiang City has about a hundred members."

"Finally, there are various small organizations... but they need at least twenty or thirty people to be generally recognized by Player as an organization."

"Only the 'Freedom Alliance' is an exception!"

The Tycoon explained this to Lin Yu.

After hearing what the Tycoon said, Lin Yu pondered for a moment before speaking.

"Then why is the 'Freedom Alliance' an exception?"

"Because its joining criterion is to successfully 'Tier Advancement'," the Tycoon said calmly. "Although there are only nine people at the moment, each of these nine is a very famous 'strongman'... just like 'Divine Thief A Nian'!"

Hearing the Tycoon's words, Lin Yu was secretly delighted.

The conversation had finally reached Tier Advancement —he was just wondering how to naturally steer it in that direction.

Now that the Tycoon has brought it up himself, it couldn't be better for Lin Yu.

Therefore, Lin Yu put on a somewhat confused expression and spoke!

"Tier Advancement? Didn't you say before that the standard for measuring strength was the number of Instance cleared?"

"Many posts on the forum have mentioned 'Tier Advancement'... but what exactly is it?"

Lin Yu asked naturally.

The Tycoon looked at Lin Yu, picked up the tea on the table, and took a sip slowly.

"That's right, the number of Instance cleared is an important standard for judging Player's strength... but that's relative to Player of the same rank."

"After completing two Instance and acquiring so many 'Item,' you should have noticed... when you receive Item rewards, there will be a notification in the [Settlement Space] indicating that you received 'Non-exclusive item' rewards, right?"

"The so-called 'Tier Advancement' means that before a certain Instance begins, you will receive a prompt to start the 'Rank Advancement Trial,' and when you reach that Instance... you will receive some additional mission conditions beyond the 'Clearance Conditions.'"

"These extra quests are optional... but whether you do them or not, the difficulty of this Instance will increase significantly for you. Even compared to other Player participating in the same Instance, your difficulty will be exceptionally high!"

"However, if you successfully survive this Instance and complete those extra quests... then congratulations, you've completed a 'Tier Advancement,' transforming from a regular Player into a 'Tier 1' Player!"

"The reason for these differences is that among the rewards you receive is an 'Exclusive item' —compared to ordinary Item, it's equivalent to unlocking a second 'Profession ability' for your Profession!"

"Moreover, this new Exclusive item can often complement your existing Profession abilities perfectly, producing a synergistic effect greater than the sum of its parts!"

Therefore, there is a qualitative difference between Player have completed the "Tier Advancement"Tier Advancement and those who have not!