Chapter 1 The Elite Group

The five members of Young Master's elite team had uniformly set up an auto-reply of "Ask You-ge" (问佑哥). What the reaction was of those who received this auto-reply, the five had no idea, but at least their ears were quiet.

The messages had stopped, but the people around him were still there. Mang Mang tirelessly strived for Lan Yi and the others to register. It wasn't a big deal, and Gu Fei was about to casually agree when he suddenly remembered the group message he had received earlier. He paused: Yun Zhongmu was also going to come, what would happen when they ran into Lan Yi?

Gu Fei didn't want to get involved in their personal grudges, so he simply told Mang Mang about the situation. Mang Mang was taken aback after hearing this: "They're going to learn too? Then it seems like we don't need to learn anymore!"

"Oh?" Gu Fei was surprised. This didn't sound like Mang Mang's personality. Even if the Ten Guild Alliance was powerful, this girl shouldn't be retreating!

"If the Ten Guild Alliance learns it, then the entire leveling area will probably be occupied by them. Even if others also learn it, it seems like they won't have a chance to fight monsters," Mang Mang said.

"But..." Mang Mang had a new idea just after saying that: "There shouldn't be only the Ten Guild Alliance that has this plan, right?"

Gu Fei thought of Wu Shi Zhi Jian (Oathless Sword), Ni Liu Er Shang (Upstream), and Shui Shen (Deep Water). These were just the guild leaders he could directly talk to. He nodded.

"In that case, I wonder what it will be like when everyone competes for the leveling area..." Mang Mang said.

"If you were the guild leader, what would you decide?" Gu Fei asked.

"Looking at your studio's thinking, you're planning to develop leveling areas piece by piece, right? Only one or two leveling areas have been developed so far, and they're too scarce. It's too unwise to directly enter the competition. If it were me, I would contact you privately and pay a high price to have you specially teach us in our designated leveling area… But, that doesn't seem quite right either. Leveling areas can't be closed off. When we start leveling, other players will naturally see it. Even if you don't teach anymore, players can directly steal from our leveling… Ugh, this is quite troublesome!" Mang Mang frowned as she thought: "In the current situation, learning is one thing, but whether you have the opportunity to use it after learning is another matter."

"Yeah, that's right." Gu Fei nodded. He could foresee this situation, but he wasn't too worried. This was still a monster-grabbing problem, a long-standing dispute in online games. Gu Fei believed that any player had more experience than him in dealing with it. There was always a way!

"As for Lan Yi and the others, I should advise them not to learn for now," Mang Mang finally said.

"Okay!" Gu Fei had no objections.

Afterward, he parted ways with Mang Mang and the others. The students were no longer online. Gu Fei didn't need to prepare any lessons for them now, so he finally chose to log off and rest.

But the impact of the efficient leveling method was still going strong. The distances between the various main cities and White Stone City varied. Those close, like Lin Yin City and Moon Night City, could be reached in two or three hours. Those farther away would basically double that time. So, in cycles of two or three hours, players were constantly gathering in White Stone City from other cities. The wilderness camp no longer looked like a leveling area. As far as the eye could see, there were no monsters, only players. In this situation, who could still level up? Everyone had stopped worrying about the monsters and were asking each other about the efficient leveling method. Some people even took advantage of the crowd to set up stalls and do business.

The same was true on the White Mill side. Although they hadn't started teaching yet, a large number of players lingered here to observe. The two good leveling areas were forcibly turned into a gathering place, lively and extraordinary.

You-ge was clearly exhausted these past two days. He slept particularly long today. When he woke up, the sun was almost setting. He quickly got up and climbed to the computer. He didn't rush to enter the game. First, he went to check the post he had posted.

You-ge's original post had already exploded. The reposts on various websites and forums were also receiving extremely enthusiastic attention. You-ge was overjoyed. He didn't pay much attention to the forum friends who sent him messages asking for details. He couldn't wait to log into the game to report the good news to his brothers. As soon as he went online, before he could even stand firm, the messages came crashing down like an avalanche.

Although You-ge was mentally prepared for this situation, he was still a little overwhelmed. Five minutes had passed since he went online, and the message notifications were still ringing non-stop. These people had been stifled all day by the five members' "Ask You-ge" auto-reply. Now, seeing You-ge in person, they were like hungry tigers pouncing on food, biting down and refusing to let go. If the sent message wasn't replied to in ten seconds, another one would come.

While answering the messages frantically, You-ge was also reporting to the others in the mercenary channel: "Oh my, the situation is great, the masses are extremely enthusiastic."

"Yes, too enthusiastic," the four said one after another.

"What's your situation? How many people have signed up?" You-ge asked.

"Signing up seems to be Qian Li's business, right?" Han Jia Gong Zi (Young Master Han) said lightly.

"Oh, right, why isn't Qian Li here?" You-ge was itching to start counting.

Speak of the devil, Gu Fei had finished dinner at this time, and logged on with a crash. You-ge saw him and immediately sent a message: "You're here, how many people have signed up?"

"Ask You-ge."

"Why ask me? How would I know?" You-ge wondered.

"Ask You-ge."

You-ge immediately understood what was going on. He also immediately understood why he was being bombarded with messages. He felt depressed! But what could he say? He could only lament that he truly had the life of a handyman. Helplessly, he sent a message in the mercenary channel: "Qian Li, turn off the auto-reply!"

Gu Fei was also dumbfounded at this time! Ever since You-ge's post was released in the morning, Gu Fei had been receiving emails one after another. At that time, he didn't pay attention to it. Since becoming a popular figure in the game, he would receive a lot of emails every day. At first, he replied seriously, but Gu Fei's patience was limited in this matter. Especially since everyone's letters were very similar, Gu Fei slowly began to ignore them in the end. He only remembered to take them out and process them when he passed by the city gate every day, and basically didn't read them much. But at this time, when he went online, the system prompted that there were already 21231 emails in his mailbox!

So, seeing You-ge asking him to turn off the auto-reply in the channel, he couldn't care about being embarrassed. He immediately announced this message: "It's crazy, 21231 emails! No, 21233 emails." Two more emails came in just from that one sentence.

"Too cool!!!" Yu Tian Shen Ming (Godly Cries of the Heavens) cheered first.

"Wu Shang, come and get the letters with me, bring a few sacks." Gu Fei named Zhan Wu Shang (Unyielding War), this was clearly a job that required strength, it was a fully immersive game! Everything had weight.

"Which mailbox?" Zhan Wu Shang was uncharacteristically diligent.

"Just go to the one closest to you!" Gu Fei took care of Zhan Wu Shang's short legs.

"Okay, see you at the north gate," Zhan Wu Shang said.

"Okay!" Gu Fei replied while turning off the auto-reply. At the same time, he also looked at the message history during the auto-reply period. Among them, the most impressive was Bai Shi Jing Lun (Hundred Lifetimes of Classics).

"How's the situation?"

"Ask You-ge."

"You-ge isn't here!"

"Ask You-ge."

"How can I ask if he's not here?"

"Ask You-ge."

"Is he invisible?"

"Ask You-ge."

"Asked, he didn't reply, he's not online, right?"

"Ask You-ge."

"How can I ask if he's not online?"

"Ask You-ge."

"Damn, is it an auto-reply?"

"Ask You-ge."

"You-ge isn't even here, why set up this auto-reply!"

"Ask You-ge."

Even with the auto-reply, Bai Shi Jing Lun still communicated with Gu Fei for eight sentences, the persevering spirit of a martial artist was evident. Looking at the record time, it was a while before Gu Fei went offline. At that time, Bai Shi Jing Lun might have just gone online. Now, he was nowhere to be seen again. In addition, Wu Shi Zhi Jian and the others stopped speaking after being "Ask You-ge" two or three times, some leaving a sentence of contempt.

Gu Fei walked toward the north gate mailbox. The number of emails was still increasing along the way. In the channel, Yu Tian Shen Ming was frantically calculating what 21233 multiplied by 99 was. The number directly broke seven digits, giving everyone a suffocating feeling.

At this time, Jian Nan You (Carefree Swordsman) and his party had also gone online. The diligent and responsible team had mastered the efficient leveling method taught by Gu Fei last night, and were now waiting to show off their skills. They also knew everything that had happened today. Jian Nan You had also received a lot of inquiries, but he didn't create a "Ask You-ge" ungenerously. He only replied uniformly that he didn't know, and told them to just operate according to the forum post.

Seeing Gu Fei online at this time, Jian Nan You also came to ask for news. Gu Fei quickly grabbed him to be a coolie again, more than 20,000 letters! Even if Zhan Wu Shang had so much strength, he didn't have so many sacks.

Jian Nan You naturally didn't hold back when it came to working. He directly led six brothers to come and meet Gu Fei and Zhan Wu Shang. The nine people took out all the more than 20,000 letters at once. On the way out, the letters in the mailbox were accumulating again.

"Too fast, I originally thought it would take three or four days. At this rate, we can gather the required number of people in one day." Jian Gui (Sword Demon) and the others gathered in an empty room in White Stone City. It was inconvenient to do things in crowded places like taverns, so with the income from the wilderness camp yesterday, Han Jia Gong Zi purchased a property in White Stone City as their studio's office. Generally, studios would hang their signboard brightly, fearing that others wouldn't recognize them. However, they didn't dare. With the current momentum of their studio, if they really put up a sign, this street would probably be blocked.

Gu Fei and the nine others carried the sacks back to the office, dumping the pile of letters directly on the ground. He wiped his sweat: "In this short time, there are already more than a thousand more."

The experts who easily adapted to the big scenes didn't feel anything about the number of more than a thousand. They nodded casually. Han Jia Gong Zi had already started assigning tasks to everyone: "Qian Li, you take a few people to open the letters and take the money; You-ge, you lead people to sort out the incidents and statistics."

Han Jia Gong Zi didn't directly specify personnel. Jian Nan You was discerning and pointed three people from his seven to count money with Gu Fei. On Young Master's elite team's side, Yu Tian Shen Ming and Zhan Wu Shang also actively jumped out. They were also willing to have close contact with gold coins.

Not all of the more than 20,000 letters had gold coins attached. Excluding the hundreds of private letters that Gu Fei hadn't processed recently, half of the remaining ones were just inquiries.

However, Gu Fei and the others were now in an absolute seller's market. In addition, the person in charge was a guy like Han Jia Gong Zi, so of course there wouldn't be any good service attitude. Those who were hesitant and didn't give money and asked questions were directly thrown away. However, some of the letters were from guild leaders, intending to buy in bulk, so they wrote to discuss the price privately. There were even those who directly reserved a venue, as envisioned by Mang Mang. These letters were finally temporarily left behind.

In addition, the money bags were piling up in large quantities in the corner of the room. The money bags in the game didn't need to be prepared by the players. They would be automatically generated. As the amount of gold coins in the money bag increased, the money bag would automatically change color to show its grade. Currently, the top grade was the red ten-thousand gold bag, with a limit of 10,000 gold. Gu Fei and Yu Tian Shen Ming's main task was to concentrate the small bags of gold coins together as much as possible.

And these letters with money bags attached would be handed over to You-ge and the others. The letters would naturally follow the requirements You-ge mentioned on the forum, with players attaching their profession, weapon, and attribute information. And this time, Gu Fei and Bai Shi Jing Lun's development was quite comprehensive. The classification was no longer as simple as long, short, fast, and slow, but was distinguished by profession, such as warriors, mages, thieves, etc., with different professions having different play styles.

After a room full of people worked tirelessly, all of the more than 20,000 letters were finally screened. In the end, there were a total of 10231 letters with gold coins attached, but the gold coins sorted out were 1012457 gold coins, several hundred gold coins less than the theoretical number. Anyway, this income didn't need to be accounted for, didn't need to be taxed, and didn't need to be explained to anyone. Everyone directly ignored the error of several hundred gold coins.

And finishing these tasks had actually taken more than eight hours. Bai Shi Jing Lun had also come over to help in the middle. Han Jia Gong Zi finally couldn't be shameless anymore and didn't just stand aside pointing fingers. And at this time, Gu Fei reported that in these eight hours, the mailbox had received another 21457 emails. Everyone had a feeling of wanting to die.

Jian Gui and the others had stated from the beginning that they didn't want to spend too much time on this, and would rather recruit outside help to divide some of the money than do it themselves. But looking at it now, even with Jian Nan You and his seven joining, the manpower was still a problem. After processing another 20,000 letters, it would be almost noon the next day. After everyone slept and woke up, there would probably be another 20,000 letters, and then they would process them again…

Jian Gui and the others might not need to intervene during the teaching phase, but according to the rhythm arranged by Han Jia Gong Zi, they would have to start announcing the next leveling area at this time, which meant another round of receiving letters, counting money, and sorting.

Although Jian Nan You and the seven others had foreseen this future and realized the hardship, they didn't have the same resistance as Jian Gui and the others. After all, the starting points of the two sides were different. For the seven of them, earning this money was their goal, while for Jian Gui and the others, this money was just a bridge for them to pursue their goal. Sacrificing all their energy on this was something they could never tolerate.

"Go get the letters?" Jian Nan You asked Gu Fei while wiping his sweat.

Gu Fei was also a little unwilling at this time. Although the angle was different, the concept was the same as Jian Gui and the others, that he also thought this matter took up too much time. So a room full of people looked at each other, and no one answered Jian Nan You's question.

"What's wrong?" Jian Nan You asked, he didn't understand these people's mentality for a while.

"At this rate, there's no time to level up," Jian Gui said on behalf of everyone.

Jian Nan You was stunned, and immediately understood these people's thoughts. To put it bluntly, everyone's ideas were fundamentally different, but they were reluctantly working together. There was already a disagreement. Jian Nan You and the others definitely hoped that the business would be bigger and bigger, but Jian Gui and the others seemed likely to withdraw once they had enough money.

"It's already past three o'clock. If we process another 20,000 letters, it'll be time to sleep. We haven't done anything all day," Zhan Wu Shang also frowned. Counting money was certainly happy, but he didn't come to the game to count money endlessly.

Jian Nan You was a little depressed. He hadn't expected these people to have such thoughts when he first joined. It seemed that these guys wanted to be hands-off shopkeepers, only caring about dividing the money without doing any work. If Gu Fei and Bai Shi Jing Lun did this, Jian Nan You would have nothing to say, after all, the efficient leveling method was developed by them, and they had made the most important contribution. But these guys also wanted to be hands-off shopkeepers, why? Just because they were friends with Qian Li Yi Zui (Thousand Miles Drunk)?

Jian Nan You smiled wryly. He really couldn't do anything about it if that was the case. He had already discovered the current relationship between everyone. Even though Han Jia Gong Zi was exercising the responsibility of command in this team, the real bosses could only be Qian Li Yi Zui and Bai Shi Jing Lun. Why? Because the means of production belonged to the two of them! The efficient leveling method was completely in the hands of these two. So as long as these two had no objections, those guys could really be hands-off shopkeepers and still divide the money, and Jian Nan You could only stare blankly.

After deeply realizing his exploited status, Jian Nan You didn't say anything, only hating that he didn't have such good luck and hadn't made friends with Qian Li Yi Zui earlier.

"How many people does White Mill plan to recruit?" Gu Fei asked.

"If we use the efficient leveling method, that place can probably provide 3000 people with simultaneous leveling," You-ge said.

"Oh? 15,000 people? Then we're almost there!" Gu Fei remembered that Han Jia Gong Zi said to recruit five times the number at that time.

You-ge shook his head: "3000 people refers to the saturated number at the same time, which is the number obtained by only counting space, but the saturated number we need now should also include time. Taking one day as a cycle, I think White Mill can meet the leveling needs of 10,000 people. However, considering the enthusiasm after mastering the efficient leveling method, this number should be lowered. I think 6,000 to 8,000!"

"That's 30,000 to 50,000 people?" Gu Fei looked at Han Jia Gong Zi.

Han Jia Gong Zi asked a question instead: "What's the situation with the teaching venue at White Mill?"

"The conditions there are better than the wilderness camp. Because of the existence of the mill building, we can teach on the roof. If the players can see clearly enough, I estimate that it's not a problem to conduct 1000 people at a time. If we have ten people each occupy the mill and start teaching, at least 10,000 people in a batch. Theoretically, three to five batches can complete everything." The dedicated Jian Nan You had already considered this aspect of the problem.