Sword Among Us

Panda Novel

Just as Happy had expected, once the idea of the trading platform within the university was conceived, practically all the students responded to it. Deals were made like mushrooms after a rainshower, popping up continuously on South China Martial Artists Ranking Board. Of course, the person who shocked the entire university by using 50,000 RMB in exchange for in-game money also appeared…

Just like this, the Three Lonely Wolves earned their first bucket of money through the new content in South China Martial Artists Ranking Board. The boys and the girl searched for a decent restaurant to celebrate this matter.

Because of what happened last time, Xu Xin did not have the courage to talk to Happy. Their topic of conversation remained on how they should further develop South China Martial Artists Ranking Board.

Happy did not mind this. While everyone was excited, he dropped in a few sentences of some ingenious ideas that came far in the future. It attracted the attention of the Three Lonely Wolves and Xu Xin. Their eyes sparkled as if they were afraid of missing out on any of his words.

“Not bad!” Bai Lang’s face was red as he slapped Happy’s shoulder. “If I knew earlier on that you had so many great ideas, I wouldn’t have let you have such an easy life. From now on, you’re also one of our developers!”

“That’s right! If we join the offline ranks of the official website and compete with other similar websites, we’ll definitely be able to rouse more zeal among the students of the University of South China. We might even catch the eyes of the higher management of World of Martial Arts…” Chen Fan and Qi Ci looked at each other and nodded.

If Xu Xin’s suggestion had allowed them to create a platform from which they could make money on their website, Happy’s suggestions would allow their website to gain a higher profile and higher grade.

“But if you really register to become part of the official website, you will definitely have more responsibilities, and you’ll be busier than before.” When he said this, Happy paused for a moment before he laid out his requests before everyone’s contemplative gazes. “I’ll make things clear beforehand. I’ll only be responsible for gathering information in the game and making suggestions. You’ll still be the main people who’ll be handling the website. You know that I don’t know how to do those things, and I lack interest in doing them as well.”

“Tsk.”

Qi Ci rolled his eyes in disdain.

“Off with you. You just can’t let go of your status as a Murong Clan disciple. Alright, alright, as long as you can continue giving us suggestions like this, we won’t bother you…”

“Deal!”

Under the others’ gazes, Bai Lang pushed his glasses up in a very gentlemanly manner.

“I’ll handle the website. Young Black, you continue with the offline trading platform. Qi Ci, you handle public relations. Happy, if you and Xu Xin have any good ideas, remember to tell us.”

“Then that’s settled!”

“Cheers!”

Among the clear sounds of wine glasses clinking against each other, no one noticed Xu Xin’s curious and admiring glance shift toward Happy. There was a hint of puzzlement in her gaze.

*****

On the second day after the dinner, Qi Ci began gathering the documents and settling the procedures required for South China Martial Artists Ranking Board to become part of the official World of Martial Artists website. In the meantime, Bai Lang and Chen Fan began the meticulous process of programming and maintaining the website so that they could bring out something of quality once Ci Qi succeeded and become even more outstanding compared to their many competitors.

During that period of time, Xu Xin often joined their discussions!

As for Happy, he was actually very free during those days.

The suggestion and some of the plans about their website joining World of Martial Artists was already enough to make the Three Lonely Wolves busy for a period of time. Hence, even though Happy said that he would keep an eye on the developments within World of Martial Artists, he was actually practicing his martial arts every single day so that he could break into Gate Realm.

There was no other choice!

Within three days, all the “powerful” players ranked in the top 100 on South China Martial Artists Ranking Board would have a very eye-catching “Gate Realm” tag attached behind their names.

And there were more than ten players who had at least one of their martial arts in Grandmaster Realm. There was a faint golden light around that skill of theirs, and it looked incredibly noble and grand.

All these small additions were because of Happy.

Even though they were just tiny details, many of the students in the University of South China rushed off to tell about it to their friends. They were incredibly envious of those who had the golden skills and tags, and to receive them, a crazed martial arts training season began.

*****

As the number of players who entered Gate Realm shot up, signs of all sorts of competitions started showing up in the game.

Around two months passed like that!

The new and old players had now gained some degree of understanding toward World of Martial Artists despite being clueless about it before. Some of the players who initially did not bother each other and got along well also started to show how extraordinary they were!

As one of the important cities in China, Gusu City accommodated more than one hundred thousand players. They were usually scattered throughout different shops or carried out tasks at the sect nearby. At the same time, they also silently studied the low-tier martial arts. Every single person had the grand dream of being able to soar high in the sky one day!

Great players in Gate Realm had a faint white layer of aura surrounding them, and they began to frequently appear in and outside the city. The way they carried themselves was, of course, different from other people!

After all, they were in Gate Realm!

The phenomenon of activating one’s qi realm was known as realm activation. The qi which filled the players’ Dantian region would rush out and surge to their bodies! The air around them would be pressurized, and the strange phenomenon would appear.

Realm activation in Gate Realm was very weak. It could only affect the flow of air around the player. If they improved and reached Blessed Realm, the effects would be more obvious. The air around them would become thicker, and it would be very easy for the players to cause fog to form around them.

As the strongest disciple in Gusu City’s Murong Clan, Happy had still not reached Gate Realm, and it would be a lie to say that he did not feel any pressure.

But he was not anxious at all!

The increase in abilities once a player reached Gate Realm was not high. Besides, his Lancet Knife Throwing Technique was already in Grandmaster Realm. There were very few people below Blessed Realm who could pose a threat to him.

Over the past few days, he spent every single day hunting around Black Wind Mountain in search of Black Wind Mountain Bandits who were separated from their group.

He had gained some rewards from it.

He had around four thousand taels of silver crumbs, and that money was all from Black Wind Mountain Bandits. He also received around twenty low-tier martial arts. Among them were Black Wind Blade Technique, Black Tiger Fist, Black Cloud Sword Technique, and Black Snake Staff Technique.

He also obtained quite the number of Jinchuang Ointments and other small items.

The duplicate martial arts manuals were not useful to Happy, but he could still earn some money if he sold them. However, he already had nearly silver notes worth six thousand taels of silver crumbs and was not lacking in money. Hence, he decided to keep the ones he could use and divided the ones he could not to Whirlwind Young Li, Eastern Green Gate, Qian Kunzi, Azure Wolf, Xuan Kun, and Xuan Zhong.

Low-tier martial arts manuals could be bought in some sundry shops and pawn shops. However, each of them cost from five hundred taels of silver crumbs to one thousand taels of silver crumbs. The variety was not great either. Also, they could not buy manuals from Black Wind Mountain from the shops, unless someone pawned one of them in a pawn shop. But the price then would be higher than one thousand taels silver crumbs.

Whirlwind Young Li and the others were very happy to receive them.

However, when Happy returned to Gusu City at night, he ran into a dejected-looking Whirlwind Young Li and a livid Eastern Green Gate at the entrance to Murong Mansion.

The two of them were whispering to each other. When they noticed Happy get close to them, they quickly stopped speaking, but Happy still heard a few words which instantly made him frown.

Dragon Tiger Sect.

This name had appeared very frequently lately. It was the first player-created sect in Gusu City, and it had monopolized a few spots outside the city. Its players were very arrogant, and it seemed like Eastern Green Gate and the others had crossed swords with them.