Trouble After Trouble
After leaving Angmar's meeting room, Xiao Yu didn't return to the game; he had another meeting to attend.
In a previous email, Fester (the Flame Wraith, a minion recruited by the Tower of Amalarui) mentioned something: someone wanted to gather all the BOSS-level players in the Elemental Plane to unite and challenge the strongest BOSS. This matter was closely related to him. Seeing that it was almost time, Xiao Yu decided to set off.
Searching for Xiao Yuehua's meeting room on the login screen, Xiao Yu found that there was no login password set for this meeting room. He simply logged in, and this time, he was directly teleported to an open lawn.
The meeting had already begun, with hundreds of players seated on the stone benches and chairs on the grass—far fewer than in Angmar's reception room.
On a platform in the middle of the grass, a man in his thirties was speaking animatedly.
"Everyone, our Primordial Studio has been established for many years and has achieved certain results in many games. Some of you may have heard of us, but if you haven't, that's okay. Past achievements are just that—past achievements. Now we need to select a few leaders to lead everyone in attacking the strongest BOSS. We will definitely let strength speak for itself. This is our guild leader, Zhurong, a 3-skull-level Elemental Lords. This is our vice guild leader, Houtu, a 2-skull-level Mountain Giant. This is our guild elder, Gonggong, a 3-skull-level Ice Titan. I am also a guild elementalist, a 1-skull-level Wind Elemental Elder Tianwu."
The speaker introduced the people on stage one by one, which immediately drew gasps from the audience. No wonder, one skeleton-level BOSS is already amazing, but for a studio to produce four of them at once is truly terrifying.
The man continued, "Our goal at the Primordial Studio is naturally the strongest BOSS, but honestly, it's very difficult, really very difficult. We elemental creatures aren't a particularly superior race to begin with, and our abilities are relatively singular, making us extremely easy to target. Basically, to fight a fire elemental, you just need to stack fire resistance; to fight Water Elemental, you just need to stack ice resistance. Once you stack up those resistances, it's impossible to fight them. So, if it's a one-on-one fight, we really have no hope."
"Therefore, from the very beginning of the game, our Primordial Studio planned to gather the power of the four elements. However, that's still not enough. After all, we're a small studio with only a few people. But if we can unite, it will be a different story. Just think, if all of us elemental beings stand together against a common enemy, who can be our opponent?"
"Once we win the grand prize of defeating the strongest BOSS, I promise that everyone who joins us will receive a share of the prize money—everything! Some of you might be wondering, what's the point? Well, firstly, it's for fun, and secondly, it's for fame. Our Primordial Studio is here to make a name for ourselves."
Furthermore, if we were to establish an organization in the game, it naturally couldn't be called "Primordial Era." In fact, we've already come up with a name— Elemental Will. How about that? This name best represents our power.
This Elemental Will cannot be a one-man show by our Primordial Studio. In the monster world, strength reigns supreme. Therefore, I suggest that we find the strongest group of people to form the leadership of this organization and adopt a voting system. If a proposal is good, everyone should vote, and it can only be implemented if a majority agrees. As the saying goes, "Without rules, there can be no order."
The prize money will be distributed according to the level of skill; the stronger the skill and the greater the contribution, the more prize money they will receive. I have a prize money distribution list here, which I had a professional prepare. Please take a look and see if there are any issues.
Xiao Yu took a look at the table and had to admit that the Primordial Studio was quite fair. According to the distribution system on the table, if you could get into the top three and win the grand prize, a Skeleton-level Elemental BOSS would at least get tens or even hundreds of thousands of coins, and an Elemental Elder would get several thousand to tens of thousands of coins.
Xiao Yu calculated that if he joined, he should be able to get a share of a hundred thousand or so after winning the top prize, and four or five hundred thousand for the third prize. After all, there are only so many skeleton-level BOSSes among the Elemental Plane. However, this is under ideal circumstances. Who knows if what the other party said is true or false? Moreover, he is already at the third skeleton level. Judging from the current momentum, he will advance to the fourth skeleton level or even higher sooner or later. At that time, the host will be weak and the guest will be strong, and there will be no conditions for cooperation between the two sides.
If it weren't for his terminal illness, he might have impulsively agreed, since there's strength in numbers, and if all the elemental bosses joined forces, their chances of winning would be much higher.
In fact, quite a few people present seemed interested. Primordial Studio had put everything out in the open, which was fair enough.
After thinking it over, Xiao Yu decided to withdraw. He wasn't going to compete with these players because he had no intention of sharing the prize money. It would be fine if he made it into the top three and shared some money, but if he only won the entry prize, the money he earned would just be enough for his medical treatment, so he definitely couldn't share it. Therefore, he was destined to be unable to win over these people, so he simply stopped competing and let his strength speak for itself.
However, he also remembered these people; if he wanted to unify the Elemental Plane, this Elemental Will would likely become an obstacle.
After leaving the meeting room quietly, Xiao Yu returned to the login screen and was about to go back to the game when he suddenly received another message.
Unlike the private messages he had received before, this time he received official information.
Dear Xiao Yu:
Based on your recent in-game experience, there is a very important matter that needs to be discussed with you. Please contact the official game support office within 24 hours of receiving this email. Failure to do so will result in consequences.
Sky World Operations Team: Sixth Working Group.
Xiao Yu sighed upon seeing this. It was exactly what he feared. He had worried that the game company would cause him trouble because of the artifact, and it had indeed come to pass. But what's meant to be will be. Xiao Yu knew there was no escaping this, so he decided to stop thinking about it. He figured he was following the game rules perfectly, and the game company wouldn't be able to force him to comply easily. Xiao Yu entered the room coordinates and instantly teleported inside.
The official reception room of the Sky World is a space that resembles Heaven. It is enormous and has many areas of different heights. As soon as you enter the gates of Heaven, you can see many people walking around, handling various game-related matters. Since many people have adopted the appearance of characters from the game, it looks like you have entered a fantasy world.
Xiao Yu had been here once before when he applied for the Flame Demon Lord's resurrection service, so he was quite familiar with the place. As soon as he entered the gates of Heaven, an angel flew towards him.
"Xiao Yu? Please come with me, everyone has been waiting for you for a long time," the angel said somewhat anxiously.
Xiao Yu sighed and followed. Before long, the angel led him into a clean white room. Behind a long table sat three people dressed in white, two men and one woman. One man was smoking, while the other was chatting with the woman. As soon as Xiao Yu entered, all three stopped talking and smoking and looked at Xiao Yu.
Xiao Yu walked up to the three of them and sat down.
"Speak, what do you want from me?"
The man who had been chatting with the woman earlier coughed and said, "Hello Mr. Xiao, I am Jiang Zeyan, the leader of the sixth operations team. This is my team member Huo Xian, and team member Ma Xiaoyun. Mr. Xiao, we have already reviewed your personal game information before you came, and we are quite familiar with your past gaming experience. It is clear that you are a very experienced gamer with a deep understanding of the game, so I think we don't need to beat around the bush. I will just say it directly: Scourge of the Ocean must be taken back."
Xiao Yu thought to himself, "Wow, they really got straight to the point." He probably pretended to be surprised and didn't understand.
"Why? Isn't this equipment from the game? I got it, so it's mine. Why should you take it back?"
Jiang Zeyan explained, "If it were ordinary equipment, we would naturally have no reason to take it back, but the Scourge of the Ocean is no ordinary item. It's a divine artifact, and it has only appeared three times in the entire game so far, all of which were during special story events. In fact, we don't plan to make it available to players at this stage."
Xiao Yu continued his act, "That's strange. How could I have gotten it in a game? And why is it sitting at the bottom of the sea waiting for someone to claim it?"
Suddenly, the guy named Huo Xian jumped up, "What do you mean by 'putting it at the bottom of the sea for someone to retrieve'? That was used to suppress the Old Gods! You actually broke the seal of the Old Gods! Do you know how big of a mistake you've made? Do you know how terrible the impact you've had on the Sky World?"
That guy immediately put the big hat on Xiao Yu's head.
Xiao Yu was now furious.
Enraged, he laughed coldly, "The Old Gods are monsters in the game themselves. If they were allowed to be released, it means that's how you designed them from the beginning. If you didn't want them released, why did you design these monsters in the first place? Aren't you crazy? And don't forget, my identity in the game is that of a monster, an enemy of adventurers. Destroying the world is my job. Let alone releasing an Old Gods, even blowing up the entire Azeroth would be my duty. Your accusations are illogical, and your anger is meaningless to me. If you keep arguing with me like this, then I think there's no point in us talking anymore."
After saying that, he stood up, turned around, and made as if to leave.
The young girl quickly stepped in to stop him, "Mr. Xiao, please don't be angry, please don't be angry. This was indeed our fault, but there was nothing we could do. According to our original estimates, it was impossible for anyone to reach the bottom of the sea and seize that artifact within a few years, because no one knew of its existence. This incident was actually a consequence of a game glitch."