Chapter 64: Famous Scene, The World's Disparity
The streets of Shadow Valley were forever soaked in the smell of sulfur and rust. Even on the floating platform at the top of the workshop, that desolate wasteland odor still lingered in the air, refusing to fade.
Hodell had changed into a gray white linen robe that made movement easier. His sleeves were rolled to the elbows, and his fingertips idly traced the cool wall of a cup filled with special berry juice while his gaze drifted through the half open gap in the alloy doors.
Outside, the purplish red cloud layer crawled slowly across the horizon like a festering wound that had never truly healed.
The intelligence report in his hand had just been delivered by Homan. The paper was rough, cheap, and stained by the smell of low quality ink.
He read it once, then let out a faint breath.
"Troy really does deserve to be called the man who crawled from Version 2.0 into Version 3.0. Even now, he still hasn't shown his face."
He took a shallow sip of juice and let his thoughts sink inward.
Things had already diverged too far from the original storyline.
In the story he remembered, Liuli Star had already started loosening by this point. Internal cracks had widened, trade routes had begun to leak outward, and certain people had already prepared exit paths into the outer star sea. But now the entire planet was still locked tight under the Empire's hand. The borders were sealed. External trade was sparse. Every route that mattered was under direct supervision.
For Troy to escape now would be far harder than in the original timeline.
And that also meant one thing.
If Troy could not run, then sooner or later, he would have to turn around and bite.
Hodell set down the cup and glanced at the unfinished advancement task on his panel.
Troy.
The School.
Neither one could be left alone.
He lifted the communication crystal ball and called Homan.
The projection rippled, and Homan's face appeared within the misty light. He still wore his usual calculating smile, but it looked noticeably more strained than before.
"Sir."
"I want to enter Shadow City," Hodell said directly.
The words were simple.
Homan, however, immediately stiffened.
"This..."
His face turned awkward in an instant. He clearly wanted to say something polite first, but under Hodell's gaze, all that small talk died in his throat.
Hodell's eyes narrowed slightly. "Money is not the issue."
"Sir, it truly is not about money." Homan forced a breath out through his nose, then lowered his voice. "I'll be honest. This matter cannot be solved with money anymore."
Hodell said nothing.
That silence alone was enough to make Homan's scalp tighten.
"There have always been two ways to enter Shadow City," Homan continued carefully. "The first is to purchase a Scarlet Pass. That channel has always been controlled by the Merchant Guild. The second is to participate in Shadow City's semi annual Ranking Festival. Only by placing high enough can someone earn permanent residency."
He paused, then his expression turned even more solemn.
"On the very day the Tide receded, one of the city lords personally pressured the Guild. He said the resources inside Shadow City were already strained, and the Scarlet Pass channel would be closed indefinitely."
Homan wet his lips.
"In other words, if someone wants to enter the city now, there is only one path left. The arena. And the Ranking Festival begins in half a month."
For a moment, the workshop fell still.
Then Hodell laughed.
The sound was low, cold, and carried no warmth.
This had nothing to do with resources.
Someone wanted him dead.
The logic was simple enough that it almost felt insulting.
If he stayed outside the city, he would remain an uncontrollable outsider with no regard for the rules. If he entered through the arena, then all the established monsters of Shadow City would have a legitimate chance to kill him in public. If he died, his liquid assets would instantly become ownerless wealth. The workshop, the funds, the channels, the spoils, they would all be carved up cleanly.
And if one thought a little deeper, even the Polar Merchant Guild itself might not be innocent. After all, Homan's people were his only large scale collaborators in Shadow Valley. If he died, the Guild would gain far more than it lost.
It was an open scheme.
No concealment.
No finesse.
Just a blood soaked stage, built in advance, waiting for him to step onto it.
Hodell crossed one leg over the other and folded his fingers lightly together. Instead of anger, something sharper flickered in his eyes. Excitement. A dangerous kind.
He had planned to enter Shadow City and kill people sooner or later anyway.
Now someone had been kind enough to prepare the venue.
"Sir..." Homan watched the expression on Hodell's face and felt a chill down his spine. "There are several very dangerous people in this Ranking Festival. To be frank, you could avoid them for now."
He meant it.
If Hodell stayed in the North District, then the North District remained under one silent ruler. Compared to the usual packs of rabid scavengers and ambitious killers, a low profile Hodell who disliked noise was far easier for the Merchant Guild to live with.
"Avoid them?"
Hodell repeated the phrase softly.
Then his gaze sharpened.
"Homan, do you truly think that if I avoid them, things will simply settle down?"
Homan had no answer.
Because both of them knew the truth.
Once people smelled weakness, they only pressed harder.
Hodell cut the connection without another word.
The crystal dimmed.
He looked down from the platform toward the lounge area on the lower floor of the workshop.
Yen, World Final BOSS, and Floating Sleeve Rose Fragrance were sitting together like three victorious roosters, showing off the [Qi Power Refining Method] they had learned. The way they argued and bragged made the stream comment section go green with envy every single day.
Hodell rested one elbow on the railing and let out a quiet breath.
"I hope those self important old monsters in Shadow City have prepared enough experience packs for me."
Time passed.
Before anyone really noticed, the final days of the closed beta arrived.
Inside Hodell's workshop, Yen took a deep breath and skillfully began his last stream of the closed beta period.
The moment the stream went live, the popularity surged like a flood breaking through a dam. One million. Three million. Five million. It kept climbing.
"Brothers," Yen said with a broad grin, "today is the last day. No special tricks. I'll just show everyone, one final time, what the daily life of a top tier NPC's private disciple looks like."
The screen swept through the spotless metal floor of the workshop, then caught World Final BOSS polishing a piece of magic conductive alloy with a high energy grinding wheel.
The comment section immediately filled with a sour smell that could have corroded steel.
"Stop streaming. I am actually going to cry."
"Turn the camera away. I want to go watch that poor pro player in the neighboring beginner village who has been chewing tree bark because he cannot even kill a magic rat. Only then will my heart find peace."
"We are all in the closed beta, yet I spent twelve in game days hauling bricks on Planet Aquamarine just to buy a broken pistol. You three are already wearing green gear. Is there truly no justice in this world?"
The complaints were not exaggerated.
Over the past half month, Hodell had shattered the emotional stability of almost the entire closed beta community.
While most players were still killing, crawling, bargaining, starving, and grinding for scraps of experience, Yen's trio had been living in a top tier workshop. They never worried about food. The nutrient solutions casually tossed to them by Hodell could refill stamina, recover status, and sometimes even grant temporary buffs.
One batch raised Intelligence.
Another batch raised Strength.
A third restored mental state.
And the quests were even more absurd.
Sing a song, 10,000 EXP.
Dance embarrassingly, 10,000 EXP.
Introduce yourself properly, 15,000 EXP.
Play with Little Sparrow, 10,000 EXP.
The rewards were so ridiculous that closed beta players everywhere nearly wanted to dig through the network cable and strangle the streamer.
Meanwhile, the three of them had already pushed their main classes to Level 11 and maxed them out. Each of them had also stockpiled close to half a million extra experience.
Even their [Qi Power Refining Method] had progressed at a ridiculous pace.
And the only price they had paid was their dignity.
Yen grinned even wider and deliberately tilted the camera to the side, showing a row of exquisite test tubes on a nearby workbench. Each tube contained deep blue liquid flowing with a beautiful glow.
"Brothers, this is called Mysterious Happy Sparkling Water. During the event period, it only costs 10,000 EXP. One sip gives plus two Strength for two hours. Nothing too special. Mostly cheap. And the taste? Chilled watermelon juice. Shame there aren't any monsters right now, otherwise I could test the buff for you."
The comments turned into pure wailing.
Hodell stood above, indifferent to the noise, watching his panel instead.
During this period, he had treated Yen and the others as experimental samples for almost every NPC function he could find. In total, he had handed out around 2.1 million experience.
It sounded wasteful.
It was not.
This was marketing.
By now, tens of millions of cloud players already knew one thing.
On Liuli Star, in Shadow Valley, there was an NPC named Hodell.
And if that NPC happened to take a liking to you, he would feed you until you became the fattest pig in the entire Star Sea.
Yen, who had finished provoking half the internet, finally climbed the stairs and approached the upper platform. For once, he looked a little restrained.
"Sir... there are only ten minutes left."
His tone actually carried some reluctance.
World Final BOSS and Floating Sleeve Rose Fragrance felt the same way.
These days had been too comfortable.
Too rich.
Too absurd.
Too far ahead of everyone else.
Hodell glanced at the three of them and then casually tossed over three lead gray metal nameplates.
The plates were engraved with a white crow spreading its wings. On the reverse side was his personal energy signature.
The trio caught them one after another.
Their panels lit up.
[You have obtained a special item: Hodell's Token]
[Closed Beta Exclusive, can be carried over into Open Beta]
[Note: You are now one of the drifters tacitly acknowledged by that man. Within Shadow Valley, this token will spare you much unnecessary trouble.]
For a heartbeat, the three players simply stared.
Then the comments went insane all over again.
"Carried over into open beta?!"
"You mean they can log in at launch and instantly count as part of the big shot's people?"
"What's the point of my life anymore?"
Floating Sleeve Rose Fragrance looked up, eyes shining. "Sir... when we return, will we still be able to see you?"
Hodell stepped to the edge of the platform and looked down at them.
"Liuli Star is about to become lively," he said. "When you return, bring more interesting friends."
The countdown in the workshop entered its final five minutes.
At that exact moment, the heavy alloy doors rumbled open.
Four figures crossed the threshold.
It was Inevitable Night's group.
All four of them were covered in dust, their movements stiff with exhaustion. Their status bars were stacked with ugly dark red debuffs. [Light Fatigue]. [Physical Exhaustion]. [Energy Exposure].
They had clearly crawled all the way here on willpower and repeated respawns alone.
The moment they stepped inside and saw the scene before them, all heroic emotion on their faces froze.
Yen was lying bonelessly in a leather hover chair, holding a glass of violet sparkling juice and lazily stirring the ice cubes inside with a straw.
The contrast was so absurd it bordered on philosophical.
The comments broke into hysterical laughter.
"It happened. It actually happened."
"The world's disparity."
"Pilgrims on a holy journey finally meet the nobles who stayed home."
Confusion and Darkness stood there blankly. They had risked death repeatedly to cross the Wasteland, convinced they were the hardest core, most technically skilled, most insane players in the closed beta.
And these three...
These three had become overfed decorative mascots in a planetary protagonist's workshop.
It was enough to make one's vision go dark.
Yen saw them and waved with the languid ease of a rich young master.
"Oh, Brother Night? Perfect timing. Big Brother Hodell just said this juice is too sweet. Want some?"
Inevitable Night said nothing.
He looked at the hover chair.
Then at the sparkling drink.
Then at his own dust covered self.
The expression on his face was so tragic that even Hodell almost smiled.
The new arrivals had clearly made it here through genuine effort. That alone made them useful.
Without ceremony, he made four more white crow tokens and floated them over.
There was only thirty seconds left.
The seven players below him all looked up, eyes full of anticipation, awe, and something approaching worship.
Hodell stood with his hands behind his back. The white crow exoskeleton behind him reflected a faint violet sheen under the workshop lights.
"The Star Sea is vast," he said calmly. "And everything has only just begun. Liuli Star will not remain isolated forever. That day is approaching."
[Closed Beta Countdown: 00:00:01]
The seven players shouted almost at once.
"Boss Hodell, wait for us!"
The next instant, all seven vanished.
The workshop went quiet.
The echoes of their voices lingered in the metal space for a few seconds before fading.
Sparrow, who had been watching all of this with wide eyes from the side, finally asked in a small voice, "Sir... will those leeks return?"
Hodell looked out the window toward the towering spire of Shadow Valley, then picked up another bottle of juice.
"No," he said.
Sparrow blinked.
Hodell took a slow sip, the corner of his mouth curling with an unreadable smile.
"What will come next will not be a few leeks."
He set the bottle down lightly.
"It will be a vast field of very interesting leeks."
.....
[If you don't want to wait for the next update, read 50 chapters ahead on P@treon.]
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