Ye Ci nodded and bowed in response, "Very well, General."
General Bruce saluted Ye Ci, "Hero, follow me." Then he turned around. Wind blew at the general's green cape, making him look exceptionally handsome. He led the way, and walked into the city at Ye Ci's pace.
When Ye Ci walked through the city gate, she noticed that a red carpet was already spread across the white pavement. Soldiers clad in silvery armor and helmets, with appearances similar to that of medieval knights, stood at both sides of the red carpet. All the other players were blocked by the soldiers, and not a single of them was allowed onto the red carpet.
"Salute the hero!"
The moment Ye Ci stepped onto the red carpet, the soldiers at both sides knelt down as Ye Ci walked forward, paying her the highest respect.
There were no less that 500 soldiers in Oasis City, and each one of them knelt down as Ye Ci walked pass them. For Ye Ci, in was an awe-inspiring sight that she was not able to describe with words, and to the audience, it was equally stunning.
The entire ceremony was recorded by players and uploaded online. It then became one of the hottest topic on the forums. Of course, that was something that happened after the fact.
The city lord, Van der Loof was already waiting for Ye Ci at the city hall's entrance. He too knelt down before Ye Ci, giving her the highest honor as a knight, "Dear hero, you're an eternal friend of Oasis City. Our gates shall always be open to you. As long as you require it, Oasis City will always be at your service."
Although it was just a scenario for completing the quest, it was still an event that would make one's blood boil. For Ye Ci and the rest of the audience, this would be something memorable even if it only happened once in their entire life.
Although the scene for completing the quest was flashy, for a "normal person" like Ye Ci, a materialistic reward was more important than that of a spiritual one. What mattered the most to her was of course the rewards for completing the quest.
Other than being recorded into the history of Fate, the completion of this quest had also unlocked the highest level of interaction possible between a player and an NPC. The system was very stingy. It gave nothing but 5 Talent Points and a couple of useless titles to Ye Ci. Van der Loof, however, was way more pragmatic. He gave her the title of honorary citizen, thousands of gold coins, and a Hero's Medal.
The medal had very good stats. Although no experience points were awarded upon completing the quest, Ye Ci felt that all her efforts worth it after looking at the stats of the medal.
Oasis City Hero's Medal: Upon equipping, you and your party's morale will be boosted by the Hero's Aura. All stats are increased by 20 points in areas under Oasis City's jurisdiction, including: Green Ark, Boneyard, Bloodied Plains and Savage Swamp.
Oasis City was the third largest city of the Eastern Continent, and very prosperous. Aside from being in a strategic location, there were a few level 40 dungeons near the city, with the most notable ones being Bloodied Plains and Savage Swamp. They were the dungeons that would yield the first equipment sets for all the players. These 2 maps would be very challenging for players. Ye Ci would never forget that in her past life, the large guilds had spent large fortunes so that their MT would have enough defense and their DPS players could deal enough damage. There were even guilds who went bankrupt because of it.
Now though, with Ye Ci's medal, the entire party's stats would be increased by 20 points each. They would fare way better than the other guilds when they explored those dungeons. Thinking of that, Ye Ci was itching to get to level 40.
Being an honorary citizen of Oasis City was one of Ye Ci's biggest catches. Everything she bought from the NPCs would be 50% cheaper than the other players, and she would receive 20% more rewards when she completed quests in the city. She would totally be able to purchase items from NPCs and sell them at 10% higher than what she bought them for, to turn a profit.
Ye Ci's achievement did not merely attain fame for herself, the reputation of Upwards Ho! had also soared. The guild began to receive a lot of applications from players. Bai Mo was vexed by such an incident. He had only wanted to create a guild just for Ye Ci's friends, but in a short span of 3 days, the guild's members had increased to more than one thousand.
"Say, what do I do now? There's so many members around, it would be hella tiring to manage this guild. As you know, I'm a very lazy person..."
Ye Ci glance sideways at Bai Mo, "Didn't you say that you want to be a professional player? If you don't have a guild, how would you earn money?"
"Managing a guild requires a lot of investment. The guild that I was originally in would give out benefits. How can we afford that?"
"The most important aspect of a guild is the quality of a member, numbers don't matter. Skills can be acquired. What matters most is the loyalty and the character of your guild members. Get a grip. Not all of them will stay for long. Just wait and see." In contrast to Bai Mo's worries, Ye Ci was quite calm. She no longer paid heed to the matter after that.
A guild with Gongzi You in it would definitely offer very good benefits.
That was what 9 out of 10 players who had applied to join Upwards Ho! had thought. Once they noticed that there were no special benefits for them, they immediately left the guild. In 3 days, there were only around 200 members left in Upwards Ho!.
Among the 200-odd players that were left, some of them were those who truly admired Ye Ci; some of them were Life Players who had been kicked out by their original guilds; some of them were friends of the guild members who had joined previously. In short, they remained in the guild because of different reasons.
Out of the 200, 50 of them were Life Players while the rest were combatants. But, due to various reasons, their equipment was very low grade. A brief headcount by Bai Mo revealed that the more decent ones had 2-3 blue equipment at most; the rest had only the lowest quality equipment.
Some said that a person's behavior while playing poker was an indicator of the person's character. Based on the same theory, one could determine a person's character by observing their actions in a dungeon. Of course, Ye Ci had only talked about it with Bai Mo privately. The two then divided the 150 members into groups of 15, appointed the original members of Upwards Ho! as the leader of each group, and sent them into the dungeons.
As always, Ye Ci did not concern herself with guild matters. Since she was level 27, she continuously went on a rampage in level 20 dungeons. To call her action by a glorified name, she was leveling up.
Before long, the results were clear. Of the 150 members who went to clear dungeons, many left. Only 30 of them remained. A lot of the Life Players had left the guild as well due to the guild's inability to provide them with materials. Only 15 of them were left.
Within 2 weeks, Upwards Ho! was reduced to a guild with less than a hundred members.
From the member's list that Icy Cold Little Hands handed to Ye Ci, she noticed a few names that stirred her up. She immediately asked, "Who recruited See No Evil, Dragon Battling Heavens, Ashen Cliff, Pea Cake and Cutie Lemon?"
Icy Cold Little Hands replied after a short pause, "We recruited them by chance."
By chance? Ye Ci was puzzled. They would never know that these players would become very famous in Fate in the future. Where had they met them "by chance"? Why was it so easy to run into famous people these days?
See No Evil was a very famous elementalist in Fate. There was even a legendary moment where she annihilated a thousand enemies during a siege battle. Ye Ci remembered that she had faced a lot of hardships before joining the Street Assistance Guild, which gave rise to a legend.
Dragon Battling Heavens was the number 1 Barbarian in the Eastern Continent. He was a man of few words, and he was always honest and straightforward. He was somehow recruited into Tang Dynasty.
Ashen Cliff, one of Fate's top 10 Priests. He was a healer, but could also act as a DPS and was very skillful in controlling mana consumption. Ashen Cliff was a loyal player who had never left World Conqueror.
Pea Cake was a Grandmaster tier Engineer. He became very famous even in the foreign continents. According to Pea Cake himself, his earlier days in the game was full of hardships. He was very distinct when it came to the way he treated people. He would be totally devoted to people he was close with, and very harsh towards outsiders.
Cutie Lemon was a Grandmaster tier Tailor. She was said to be a young girl. She was in Wolf Pack in the mid and later stage of the game.
"What's special about them?" Icy Cold Little hands stared at Ye Ci with curious eyes. Why would Ye Ci regard them so highly?
Ye Ci laughed and replied with a question of her own, "How did they perform?"
"They have decent character, and were obedient even after dying for so many times. They have good behavior as well, but..." Icy Cold Little Hands continued with a sigh, "Gongzi, their equipment and skills are just too bad. The party got annihilated multiple times because of them..."
Ye Ci waved her hand dismissively and smiled at Icy Cold Little Hands, "Every expert was once a rookie. We're not the best around in town, so what rights do we have to resent them for doing badly?"
Icy Cold Little Hands was lost in thought for a moment. She was reminded of her times as a newbie. She then laughed, "I understand."
Pea Cake and Cutie Lemon were and exception. They were Life Players anyways. But... the rest of them had awful equipment and skills. Ye Ci went to a 10-player dungeon with them once, and she felt like crying after observing their positioning and mechanical skills.
When they finally took down the boss, the 3 of them stood at the back, not daring to walk up and get their share of the loot. They did not even dare to look at Ye Ci, who silently gave them an equipment each that suited their class.
They were shocked. See No Evil shook her head frantically, "Leader, t-this is unnecessary, we..."
Ye Ci cut her off. She turned around said, "Even if you guys are bad, your patience and determination in clearing the dungeon deserves a reward. In Upwards Ho!, skills matter, but what matters most is your effort. As long as you put your back into it, you'll get your share of the loot."
"We... We've been dragging down the entire party..." Ashen Cliff was touched by the blue equipment that he received. He was nearly choked with sobs. This was the first blue equipment that he received after gaming for 3 months.
"Experts were born through deaths."