One SSS Affix per Level: My Novice Club Can Slay Gods!

The world channel fell silent at first.

Then messages poured in like a flood.

[A permanent enhancement?]

[It can improve Talents?]

[It’s only ten Silver Coins! I’m going right now!]

[Only? Ten Silver Coins is one hundred US dollars! Are you paying for me?]

[One hundred dollars for a chance at a permanent Talent upgrade, and you think that’s expensive?]

[Endbringer can even modify dungeons now. Are we sure he isn’t one of the game developers?]

Players near Blackstone Mine rushed over immediately.

Several players with [Gray Ledger] in front of their IDs followed the crowd toward the entrance.

[Entry failed!]

[You do not meet this dungeon’s entry requirements.]

The players froze.

"Why can everyone else enter, but we can’t?"

Someone noticed a newly added line of small text beside the entrance.

[Entry Restricted: Gray Ledger members and donkeys are not welcome.]

The air fell silent for an instant.

The next second, the surrounding players burst into laughter.

"Hahahaha!"

"Endbringer really knows how to hold a grudge!"

"He banned Gray Ledger directly through the dungeon rules!"

"There aren’t even any Name Change Cards at this stage. Isn’t this basically a permanent ban?"

The Gray Ledger members’ faces turned black.

Unfortunately, the dungeon belonged to John.

They did not even have anywhere to file a complaint.

...

Half an hour quickly passed.

The Guild Creation Token auction officially began.

John placed the token’s information inside the Public Auction Area.

[Guild Creation Token ×1.]

[Starting Bid: 100 Gold Coins.]

[Minimum Bid Increase: 10 Gold Coins.]

The price immediately began rising.

[Storm Guild bids 150 Gold Coins!]

[Temple Guild bids 200 Gold Coins!]

[Blacktide Guild bids 260 Gold Coins!]

[Judgment Guild bids 400 Gold Coins!]

The guilds continued bidding while mocking one another in the auction channel.

"You think four hundred Gold Coins is enough to establish the first guild?"

"Your Guild Leader hasn’t even entered a main city yet. What are you going to do with the token?"

"Stop talking nonsense! Keep bidding if you have the money!"

The price quickly exceeded six hundred Gold Coins.

Just as the competition reached its most intense point, a new bid suddenly appeared.

[Luna Wolf Guild bids 1,000 Gold Coins!]

One thousand Gold Coins.

The equivalent of one million US dollars.

The auction channel suddenly went silent.

No new bids appeared.

No one continued mocking the others either.

John frowned slightly.

One thousand Gold Coins was certainly a large amount.

However, it was definitely not beyond the financial limits of every top guild.

Gray Ledger had appeared determined to obtain the token moments ago, yet even they had suddenly gone quiet.

This Luna Wolf Guild was probably not simple.

John considered it briefly but could not reach any conclusion.

Since he had already said the highest bidder would win, the token belonged to Luna Wolf.

[Auction complete!]

[Final Bid for the Guild Creation Token: 1,000 Gold Coins!]

[Winning Bidder: Luna Wolf Guild!]

Several seconds later, a friend request appeared.

[Player "Luna Wolf" has sent you a friend request.]

[Attached Message: We would like to complete the Guild Creation Token handover through an in-person trade instead of the auction system. As a gesture of sincerity, we can pay a deposit of 500 Gold Coins in advance.]

John rubbed his chin.

An in-person transaction.

Half paid in advance.

The remaining half paid upon receiving the token.

It sounded perfectly reasonable.

However, there was also the possibility that they intended to spend five hundred Gold Coins to lure him somewhere and surround him.

Still, considering the current levels and strength of the player base, forcibly stealing something from him would be extremely difficult.

Even five Lv.20 Ten-Thousand-Player-Tier Bosses had been eliminated by him in an instant.

A group of players who had only just reached Lv.10 would be meaningless, regardless of their numbers.

John accepted the friend request.

[Luna Wolf: The deposit has been transferred to your account.]

[You have received a player transfer: 500 Gold Coins!]

[Luna Wolf: I will send you the transaction location shortly.]

John accepted the Gold Coins.

He was curious to see exactly what kind of background Luna Wolf possessed to make every other top guild fall silent.

...

By the time the auction ended, Endbringer’s Trial Grounds had already been open for half an hour.

However, the world channel was even livelier than before.

"Ten Silver Coins per entry? Why doesn’t Endbringer just rob us?"

"I entered and got washed away by lava in five minutes! Refund my money!"

"The dungeon is difficult, but the rewards are excellent. Stop blaming others because you’re bad at the game."

"I activated the blessing!"

"My C-Rank Talent was directly upgraded to A-Rank!"

"Seriously?"

"I’ve already uploaded the recording to the forums. You think I can fake a system notification?"

"I obtained three permanent Agility points!"

"My B-Rank dagger was upgraded to A-Rank!"

"The blessing is real! Hurry over, everyone!"

Before long, another group of players joined the discussion.

"Is nobody going to mention that statue?"

"I’ve never seen such a shameless dungeon designer in my life."

"To receive the blessing, you actually have to stand in front of a statue wearing nothing but briefs and shout that Endbringer is the most handsome man alive!"

"The worst part is that you can’t say it halfheartedly!"

"I shouted it eight times and nothing happened. In the end, I had to close my eyes and brainwash myself for ten minutes before it finally worked!"

John looked at the world channel and could not help smiling.

At the same time, the dungeon’s revenue completed its first settlement.

[Current entries into Endbringer’s Trial Grounds: 2,714.]

[Total entrance-fee revenue: 271 Gold Coins and 40 Silver Coins.]

[System maintenance fee deducted: 10%.]

[Actual amount received: 244 Gold Coins and 26 Silver Coins.]

More than two hundred and forty thousand US dollars.

In half an hour.

As news continued spreading, the number of players coming to challenge the dungeon would only increase.

How was this a dungeon?

It was clearly an automatic money-printing machine.

At that moment, his private-message panel suddenly began flashing madly.

[FireRose: You had a Guild Creation Token?]

[FireRose: You can even override dungeons?]

[FireRose: Why didn’t you tell me about something like this in advance?]

[FireRose: Are we still neighbors or not?]

John sent her a shrugging emote.

The status on the other side quickly changed.

[The other party is typing...]

Several seconds later, it disappeared.

Then reappeared.

Then disappeared again.

She had clearly written and deleted several different replies.

John thought for a moment before sending her a message first.

[Endbringer: Forget it.]

[Endbringer: Are you stuck on any quests right now?]

[Endbringer: I’ll carry you for free as compensation.]

The chat window remained silent for a moment.

[FireRose: There actually is something I need your help with.]

[FireRose: Where are you? I’ll come find you after I finish this dungeon.]

John sent her his coordinates.

[FireRose: Wait for me.]

John closed the chat interface.

...

Sunset City.

Outside the entrance to the City Guard Registration Office—

Four tall, bald men squeezed their way out of the crowd.

One of them turned around and glanced at the line that still stretched all the way to the end of the street.

He could not help cursing.

"We waited an entire hour."

"It’s bad enough that players have to queue, but we even have to wait in line with NPCs."

"Is this game making fun of us?"

The burly man beside him nodded in complete agreement.

"In my opinion, we should’ve killed everyone in front of us."

"I only held back because I thought waiting in line might trigger some kind of Hidden Quest."

The third man rolled his wrists.

"For a government department, their efficiency is terrible."

"I say we kill the City Guards inside as well."

"Good point."

"I agree."

The man walking in front suddenly stopped.

He turned around and swept his gaze across the three men’s faces.

"That’s enough."

His voice was not loud.

Yet all three men instantly fell silent.