[Management Log] [Bai Qiu Li: cleared the Hell-difficulty dungeon-Withered Wind Canyon 36 times, funds +3.6!] [Wan Jiang: cleared the Hell-difficulty dungeon-Withered Wind Canyon 35 times, funds +3.5!] [Jiang Che: cleared the Hell-difficulty dungeon-Withered Wind Canyon 36 times, funds +3.6!] [Ye Xiu: cleared the Hell-difficulty dungeon-Withered Wind Canyon 36 times, funds +3.6!] ------ [You shared your employees' dungeon/monster-farming experience. Level increased: 16 → 24!]
After the three-hour Strategic Meeting buff ended, Yi Tian used Strategic Meeting again, though the experience bonus was only 40% the second time.
Even so, the four of them were still getting excellent results from their dungeon runs!
Bai Qiu Li, who had the highest level among them, had already risen from level 14 to level 20!
Wan Jiang, Jiang Che, and Ye Xiu had all reached level 19 as well.
The experience required for each level increased exponentially past level 15.
The fastest person in history to reach level 20 had been a rich heir who hired two professional power-leveling teams to work in shifts, and even he had needed nearly ten days.
Yet with the combined advantages of Yi Tian's buffs and Ye Xiu's dungeon-clearing efficiency, the entire team was already close to level 20.
Yi Tian, in particular, had soared to level 24.
He was now very close to his second class advancement at level 25.
Getting the tier-one skill Hold a Meeting had made Yi Tian even more eager to see the Boss class's tier-two abilities.
What Yi Tian hadn't expected was to recoup his funds before the battle for the medium secret realm even began.
His funds balance had now recovered to 14.3!
There had been no achievement rewards at all. They had earned every bit through sheer dungeon grinding, at 0.1 funds per clear!
For a moment, even Yi Tian couldn't help marveling.
As a Boss, having employees like these really made his life easy.
The next day.
News that a medium secret realm had spawned on Qingcheng's eastern outskirts swept through the entire city and its surrounding districts.
All eyes turned toward it as talented contenders gathered from far and wide!
Teams from all the well-informed Classholder Guilds rushed to the eastern outskirts at once, unwilling to fall behind.
By then, the Great Xia military had already deployed troops to secure the area.
A hazy image of an island was steadily taking solid form beyond the city-a sign that the secret realm's entrance was about to open!
At first, it had been a faint illusion on the horizon, flickering in and out of sight like a mirage.
Then the outline of a floating island gradually grew clearer, with what seemed to be a staircase paved in starlight ready to guide people onto it.
Once the staircase solidified and the entrance opened, the pioneering teams could enter and attempt to conquer it. After a successful conquest, it would remain there as a resource secret realm, continually producing resources and materials.
If no one conquered it within three days, the secret realm would vanish completely.
By then, in barely a dozen minutes,
pioneering teams from over ten guilds had already gathered, poised to act. Among them was the Sega Guild.
Sega's guild leader, Ma Xiang, had brought three newly recruited Epic-Class Professional teammates and looked especially confident.
"Guild leader, look! That should be East China's official pioneering team!"
"And that team over there-even the Hidden Dragon Base sent people! The competition is fierce!"
"That's the Earthshaker Team. Their blue-haired captain, Zhao Qi, is a Legendary-Class Professional!"
With every remark from his teammates, Ma Xiang's confident expression darkened a little more.
The three epic-class teammates he had gone to such lengths to recruit suddenly seemed rather inadequate in this gathering.
Ma Xiang's face twisted with resentment. "Damn it! Is the competition for a medium secret realm really this fierce?"
If Ye Xiu hadn't helped him secure a lesser secret realm, giving him the money to recruit epic-class members, the Sega Guild wouldn't have had the strength to compete for a medium secret realm in the first place.
His confidence had truly been misplaced.
Just then, another guild leader nearby said, "Medium secret realms produce plenty of resources and enormous profits. Members of other races or extremist organizations can easily slip in to compete!"
"That's why the Hidden Dragon Base came..."
As they spoke, several guilds quietly left, knowing they couldn't compete. Ma Xiang, however, stubbornly stayed.
Elsewhere, the tall, lean, blue-haired Zhao Qi, captain of the Hidden Dragon Base's special Earthshaker Team, was following beside Wei Yuan with his teammates.
Even as the captain of a Special Squad, he held Wei Yuan in great awe.
But remembering his leader's instructions, he could only force a smile and speak with trepidation:
"Elder Wei, our leader asked us to pass on a message..."
"She said that when we help anyone else compete for a secret realm, it doesn't matter whether we're paid. But if we're helping you, the price starts at five pieces of legendary equipment..."
Zhao Qi cautiously watched Wei Yuan's expression. "Of course, that's just our leader's personal stance. It has nothing to do with the Hidden Dragon Base."
As a Special Squad, they often helped other regions compete for secret realms, preventing them from vanishing after failed conquest attempts or falling into the hands of other races and extremist organizations.
After successfully conquering a secret realm, a Special Squad would hand full ownership back to the regional official in charge, though they would also collect a token payment.
But five pieces of legendary equipment was nothing short of an outrageous demand.
Wei Yuan wasn't angry. Instead, his lips curved into a smile, as though he had recalled an amusing memory.
"Heh. Ever since her days in the military camp, your leader Ling Luo has picked fights and gotten beaten every single time. It's been decades now. I suppose you have to admire her persistence."
Zhao Qi pressed his lips together and lowered his head respectfully, not daring to respond.
Neither side was someone he could afford to offend.
"Don't worry," Wei Yuan said with a gentle smile.
"If you really are the first to claim the secret realm, I'll personally bring five pieces of legendary equipment to her door as payment."
Hearing that, Zhao Qi straightened a little. "Rest assured, Elder Wei. Our Earthshaker Team will claim it, and we won't give the enemy an opening!"
The other Earthshaker members eagerly voiced their resolve as well. Though theirs was the most recently formed Special Squad, they were confident they could crush the other teams and guilds!
Meanwhile, Wei Yuan surveyed the area, a little puzzled.
The secret realm was about to open. Where had Yi Tian's team gone?
In fact, Yi Tian's teammates were timing things to squeeze in one more dungeon run before the secret realm appeared.
Waiting at the entrance was just waiting anyway, so they might as well gain another level. Those had been Bai Qiu Li's exact words.
And so, when Ye Xiu and the others emerged from Withered Wind Canyon again, they had reached level 20!
Bai Qiu Li had reached level 21!
On average, they had gained another level.
And Yi Tian's experience bar toward level 25 had reached 80%!
Entry to the medium secret realm was restricted to those below tier two. Almost every competing team, including the Earthshaker Team, had reached tier one, level 25.
The gap between his team and theirs was now far smaller than Ye Xiu had originally planned for.
If class quality was factored in, their lineup was actually far ahead of every other team!
On top of that, Yi Tian applied the Tactical Meeting buff again.
All four of every member's core stats increased by 30%!
As for why he didn't spend another 12 funds to raise the boost to 80%?
Naturally, there was no need...
At this point, Yi Tian simply didn't want to fight personally. It wasn't as though he couldn't!
On Qingcheng's eastern outskirts, the medium secret realm's entrance was about to open.
Wei Yuan, the Earthshaker Team, East China's military pioneering team, and the pioneering teams from the various guilds all waited there.
Just then, the sky abruptly fell still, blotted out by a fearsome figure.
Everyone looked up. In an instant, tension, worry, and terror spread through the crowd.
The figure exuded overwhelming pressure. His draconic body was massive and majestic, his wings blotted out the sun, and his scales resembled eternally burning flames. An earth-shaking dragon roar loudly announced his arrival.
The Yagu Dynasty's Crimson Emperor!
Behind him followed five Half-Dragons of varying forms, all carrying the bloodline of the Yagu Royal Clan.
Clearly, they had come to seize the secret realm!
"Damn it! These other races are here to steal from us again!" The East China military personnel glared with hatred.
The Earthshaker members furrowed their brows. "Looks like the pressure's on us now!"
Captain Zhao Qi's gaze was resolute. "We'll win!"
Before you continue