Chapter 1 What Can I Do For You This Time?

"Oh? Then what can I do for you this time?" The other party spoke methodically, returning to his seat while assessing the person before him, mentally reviewing his information.

Young Master Han, this was merely his new ID in Parallel World. In the online gaming world of the past, he was known as Drunkard, a top-tier player who usually chose support-type priest classes. He and Smoker, the number one player, later known as Sword Ghost, were a famous golden duo. They had great chemistry in two-person combat, command, and tactical thinking. However, besides Sword Ghost, his other acquaintances often described him as: annoying, annoying, extremely annoying. It seemed they all wished he were dead a hundred and eighty times over.

This golden duo had disappeared for a time after online games entered the Parallel World era, later resurfacing in the system's organized guild and mercenary group battles. Appearing with them was Qianli Yizui (Thousand Miles Drunk), currently the most ruthless and invincible killer in Parallel World... even in gaming history. In addition, there was Yu Tian Shen Ming, a former top mage who now played as an archer; Zhan Wu Shang, known as the number one warrior; and Brother You, who wasn't very good at the game but could flood an entire forum with his posts… The fact that these formidable characters had formed a small mercenary group was a topic that people still often discussed in the game.

Now, the newly established guild in Cloudbreak City, Exceptionally Heaven-defying, was centered around this group, with rumors of many hidden experts. Although small, the guild was known throughout Parallel World. Winning the city battle through defense and taking all the rewards was the biggest news recently.

Being too prominent always attracts envy. Soon, Exceptionally Heaven-defying was jointly attacked by the Cloudbreak City guilds, and their situation was said to be dire. Frankly, studios loved to see players fighting each other, as it was the best time to sell consumable items. Customers used them in large quantities and quickly, and more importantly, they rarely discussed prices in emergencies. As a result, Exceptionally Heaven-defying, through this person, purchased a large number of teleport scrolls, making it a very satisfying deal. He hoped their battle would last longer, but it seemed unlikely. Only a few members of Exceptionally Heaven-defying had escaped, according to reliable information. His colleague in Cloudbreak City, Ling Gu Feng, had witnessed it firsthand and almost been mistakenly killed in the siege.

He thought about many things because the person before him was quite complex. At this moment, Young Master Han finished half a glass of wine and placed the glass back on the table, making a slight clinking sound, seemingly intentionally. This snapped him back to reality, realizing his gaffe and apologizing repeatedly. He had been too distracted to even look at the person before him, and only now did he begin to re-examine him…

Amazement was certain. Anyone who hadn't met Young Master Han would react this way upon first seeing him. He also confirmed a rumor in his mind: that one half of the golden duo in the online gaming world had stunning looks but a terrible personality, while the other was admirable but unattractive. Now, at least a quarter of that had been verified.

However, he couldn't remain silent any longer. He knew he needed to speak, even though he had already said what he needed to say once. But since the other party wasn't speaking, he had to repeat himself. After all, he was in the service industry!

"I don't know what you need this time?" he said, phrasing it differently, but with the same meaning as before.

"Ya Xiaosuan Gen (Nitrite Root), right! A very scientific name!" Young Master Han called out his name. They had contacted each other before, so he at least knew his name.

"Just made it up randomly," Ya Xiaosuan Gen smiled.

"Then do your friends also have Sulfuric Root, Hydrochloric Root, and such?" Young Master Han asked.

"Hehe," Ya Xiaosuan Gen chuckled dryly. Young Master Han had been very serious about the matter when he arranged the meeting, but now he was talking about irrelevant things, never getting to the point, making it difficult for him to respond.

Fortunately, Young Master Han didn't continue to tease him. After finishing the remaining half glass of wine, he put down the glass and said, "Then I'll get straight to the point."

"Please, please," Ya Xiaosuan Gen said, refilling Young Master Han's glass.

"How big is your Yunteng Studio now?" Young Master Han asked.

"What do you mean by that?" Ya Xiaosuan Gen paused, cautiously hedging his words, unsure of Young Master Han's intention.

"There's a development opportunity in front of you!" Young Master Han said.

"Oh?" Ya Xiaosuan Gen remained calm. Getting excited at the mere mention of opportunities and benefits was too naive.

"Judging from Ling Gu Feng's introduction, your level seems to be higher than his, right?" Young Master Han said.

"Well, he's responsible for specific tasks. I manage more diverse and broader matters," Ya Xiaosuan Gen said.

Young Master Han smiled. Young Master Han needed a large number of teleport scrolls at the time, and Ling Gu Feng was mainly responsible for handling personnel. Smaller sales could be handled casually, but for larger orders, it was necessary to gather them from branches in various main cities, which required a supervisor to step in. Therefore, Ling Gu Feng had introduced Ya Xiaosuan Gen to Young Master Han, saying that he could talk to him about anything. Ya Xiaosuan Gen's position was clearly not low. His ambiguous statement, "manage more diverse and broader matters," could also mean he managed everything, indicating either humility or caution regarding Young Master Han's topic.

"I believe Ling Gu Feng has told you roughly about the attack we suffered in Cloudbreak City. However, there's one situation that Ling Gu Feng probably didn't realize," Young Master Han said.

"Oh? What is it?" Ya Xiaosuan Gen asked.

"This attack was instigated and manipulated behind the scenes by a studio," Young Master Han said.

"Oh, really?" Ya Xiaosuan Gen smiled without revealing any emotion. From his expression, it was impossible to tell if he was interested in the matter.

"The one pulling the strings is Yingqi Studio," Young Master Han said.

"Yes, currently the largest studio in the industry," Ya Xiaosuan Gen replied casually, showing that he wasn't going to reveal his thoughts until Young Master Han fully explained his intentions or plan.

"How big is the gap between Tengyun and Yingqi now?" Young Master Han asked.

"Quite big," was still a very casual and vague answer.

"Then have you seen the chaos caused by Yingqi in Moonlit City?"

"I've heard a little about it."

"Wouldn't it be great to take this opportunity to replace Yingqi?" Young Master Han said.

Ya Xiaosuan Gen looked at Young Master Han seriously for a moment, then suddenly smiled. "That's quite a leap. If that's what you wanted to say when you asked me out, and it's a conclusion derived from the previous sentence through a causal relationship, then it seems we don't need to talk anymore."

"Oh? Why?" Young Master Han said.

Ya Xiaosuan Gen hesitated. The person before him should be a shrewd and capable fellow, but if he was seriously thinking about such a question, then he was probably just a good-for-nothing. But if he was pretending, what was the point of pretending? Ya Xiaosuan Gen couldn't figure it out, but he spoke anyway. Even if this guy was a good-for-nothing, he was at least a big client, a wealthy patron. It was still necessary to establish some friendship with such a person. "Well, perhaps you don't understand the operation of a studio very well. In the game's hundreds of main cities, studios like Yingqi have a significant presence in each city. Let's not even say that their current troubles aren't much of a blow. Even if we destroyed all of Yingqi's forces in Moonlit City, it would only disrupt one percent of their current business. They can easily recover with a little effort. So, I say this isn't a good opportunity to replace Yingqi."

Ya Xiaosuan Gen was being polite. In reality, there was no "good opportunity" at all; it didn't even come close to being an opportunity.

"Oh, so your brain is still working," Young Master Han said.

"What do you mean?" Ya Xiaosuan Gen was confused.

"I thought you were asleep because you were always humming and hawing with irrelevant replies," Young Master Han said.

"@#￥%……&" Two-eighths confirmed! Ya Xiaosuan Gen thought. This guy's personality is indeed terrible, annoying, very annoying.

"Since we're all clear-headed people, let's get straight to the point!" Young Master Han said. "You have an opportunity to rise to the top."

"Oh, tell me about it?" Ya Xiaosuan Gen had been teased, but at least he knew that Young Master Han wasn't really a good-for-nothing. So, his attitude was also very sincere.

"Cooperate with us," Young Master Han said.

"Please elaborate," Ya Xiaosuan Gen said.

"As a relatively new studio, your Yunteng's reputation is good, but your bigger problem is your lack of recognition, right?" Young Master Han said.

Ya Xiaosuan Gen nodded, "That's unavoidable. We expected it."

"Cooperating with us will greatly help you increase your recognition!" Young Master Han said.

Ya Xiaosuan Gen was silent. This was true. They were all well-known experts. If they could use their names, it would indeed be helpful in increasing recognition. However, increasing recognition would only make Yunteng's situation better and its development smoother. Saying it could replace Yingqi still seemed a bit premature. If he was using this as a condition to make Yunteng start some direct confrontations with Yingqi, then Ya Xiaosuan Gen would have to refuse, even if it meant offending this wealthy patron. This was simply an unequal trade. Just for an image endorsement, they wanted his not-so-powerful studio to compete with the largest in the industry. That was a bit of a stretch.

Young Master Han didn't speak, waiting for Ya Xiaosuan Gen to respond. After carefully considering for a moment, Ya Xiaosuan Gen finally said, "I've long admired everyone's reputation in the online gaming world. If we could cooperate with you, our entire studio would be honored. However, even so, the question of replacing Yingqi still seems a bit far off."

"We're not just famous," Young Master Han said.

"I know, you're all top experts and very powerful in combat. But to be frank, combat power isn't something we studios need very much. Even if an expert kills monsters and loots items quickly, it's still faster for a hundred noobs to kill a hundred monsters, right? Even if..."

"That's not what I'm talking about," Young Master Han interrupted Ya Xiaosuan Gen.

"Then what is it?"

"We have something else in our hands. Can't you remember?" Young Master Han smiled.

"Something else?" Ya Xiaosuan Gen began to think. The something else that Young Master Han was talking about seemed to be very helpful to the studio's business. What could it be? It didn't take long for Ya Xiaosuan Gen to realize. The usually composed him couldn't help but feel a little excited. "Are you talking about the efficient leveling method?"

"That's right," Young Master Han nodded.

"This…" Ya Xiaosuan Gen's brain began to work. The efficient leveling method was different from ethereal things like the fame of experts. This was a commodity, a commodity that could be directly exchanged for profit in the market. More importantly, it was a monopolized, hard-hitting product. Which studio wasn't envious of the booming scene when Qianli Yizui and the others created the efficient leveling method? But they had visited experts in the game and couldn't find anyone who could create such a thing. Clothing, decoration, shipbuilding, and food – studios could hire professionals from reality to come into the game and use their talents to handle these things. But what kind of talent did the efficient leveling method require? There were rumors that Qianli Yizui was a professional fighting instructor, but what kind of job was that? Did that job even exist in reality? It wasn't that no studios had looked for people from reality. They had visited martial arts schools and the like, but the masters they hired mostly hadn't been exposed to games. Just understanding their ideas was a huge undertaking, and then putting them into production…

It couldn't be done. The newly arrived masters were level zero. How could they deal with level 40 or even level 50 monsters? By the time they reached level 40… the result was still unknown. It was said that some studios were raising masters to level up! But with the difficulty of leveling in Parallel World, how many levels would the players have reached by the time they reached level 40? Would they still need the old efficient leveling method? And what about the attitude of the game company? Would they ignore this kind of acceleration of player leveling, which was equivalent to shortening the life of the game, in such a long-term process?

All sorts of problems showed that if you really wanted to dig up this pot of gold of the efficient leveling method, you could only rely on Qianli Yizui and his group now.

So, some studios made a move. Five Nights sought to cooperate with Qianli Yizui, and then got slashed. Everyone in the circle had heard about this, and Five Nights was so insidious. He knew that cooperation could originally have been achieved, but his scheming angered Qianli Yizui and he had to bear a great responsibility. Five Nights was afraid that another studio would cooperate honestly with Qianli Yizui and steal this great benefit, so he spread rumors in the circle, describing Qianli Yizui as unreasonable. In short, whoever wanted to cooperate would be slashed.

Before the studios could have any thoughts on this, the great adjustment of game currency and the city battles all came in full swing. The city battles were one thing, but the currency adjustment had a huge impact on the studios. Almost all studios suspended their business and waited for the unclear market situation to become clear. Naturally, such a huge business as the efficient leveling method was also temporarily shelved.

And now, a very important figure in this team had taken the initiative to talk to him about cooperation in the efficient leveling method. It was impossible for Ya Xiaosuan Gen not to be excited.

But excitement aside, this was a money-making business. But it still seemed irrelevant to replacing Yingqi Studio.

Ya Xiaosuan Gen was anxious and directly asked the question: The efficient leveling method can make everyone a lot of money, but how do we operate to replace Yingqi?

Young Master Han smiled, "If the efficient leveling method is promoted, it can almost become a necessity for players, do you agree?"

"I agree," Ya Xiaosuan Gen nodded.

"If you have a product that all players need, will use, and will constantly obtain updates from you, you will have the largest customer base in the entire game. At that time, what business can't you compete with Yingqi Studio?" Young Master Han said.

"I know this. But this will take a long time!" Ya Xiaosuan Gen said.

Young Master Han looked at him in surprise, "Did you want to destroy Yingqi overnight? You can't find me for that, you have to talk to the game company for cooperation."

As soon as the game company was mentioned, Ya Xiaosuan Gen's heart skipped a beat, "The game company probably won't approve of the efficient leveling method, this meal can't be eaten forever."

"That's why I just said, this is still a product that needs to be updated at any time…" Young Master Han said.

"What does that mean?"

"Idiot, how can the game company stop the efficient leveling method? This is not a cheat program, this is a very healthy, popular way for everyone to kill monsters. If they want to stop it, are they going to ban player accounts? We're launching the business all at once, and millions of players will be using it, dare they ban it? If they can't ban accounts or programs, they can only change their own programs. At this time, we just need to update in sync..."

"This... can this work?" The composed Ya Xiaosuan Gen was now feeling a little guilty. This was playing against the game company! No matter how awesome the studio was, could it be more awesome than the boss? The stage for you to make money is set up by them…

"Now that your studio is more formal, you have more concerns. Even if the game company puts pressure on you, what can they do to you if you ignore it? This is a monster-killing method that players have explored on their own, without any external assistance. They have no formal basis to punish you." Young Master Han had a clear understanding.

"Think about it!" Young Master Han grabbed the wine bottle on the table himself and poured wine, waiting for Ya Xiaosuan Gen to reply.

"This plan is a long-term one after all, but what about now? Don't you need us to do something to deal with Yingqi Studio right now?" Ya Xiaosuan Gen asked.