The Golden Era guild was living up to their name as locusts of the gaming world. The effects of their presence in the game could already be felt 10 days after the new patch was introduced.
It came in the change in the top 20 to top 50 players on the leaderboards of each continent. Many of the players who had long held their place on the boards were replaced by new names that were previously beyond rank 100. And they were all the vanguards of the Golden Era guild.
The change would have gone unnoticed if it happened to only one or two old players. But dozens of players being replaced on the leaderboard across all four continents within the short span of 10 days was something that simply could not be ignored.
The major guilds have started to feel the peril knocking on their doorsteps. And even Ye Ci who was in the Forest of Mist could sense danger looming ahead. She decided to contact Green Hill’s Moon.
As an information broker, Green Hill’s Moon saw every other player as a gleaming pile of gold, with Ye Ci, who gave him a helping hand in his most dire hour, the only exception. He was someone who would acquire any sort of information as long as he was paid.
And business was booming for him.
He was so busy that Ye Ci’s call went into his voicemail. “Hello, thank you for calling me! If you wish to know something about the Eastern Continent, press 1. If you seek information about the Southern Continent, press 2. If you need information about the Western Continent, press 3. For information about the Northern Continent, Press 4. If you’re just here to talk to me, please hang up the call now…”
“You have 10 seconds to return my call, Green Hill’s Moon. If you do not do that, I will post what you did in the past to the forum.” Ye Ci left a message for the man, and began counting down.
It did not even take 5 seconds for Green Hill’s Moon voice to ring out in Ye Ci’s ears, “Ahhh! Mercy Gongzi You! Aren’t I here now? As long as you have a need for me, I will come to you even if I’m in the middle of a roller coaster ride!”
Ye Ci snorted at his words. Who knows how many people he had repeated the same line to.
“Say, what do you need?” Green Hill’s Moon felt awkward when Ye Ci expressed her disbelief, and immediately changed the topic. He knew that Gongzi You did not call him for an idle chat. And he also knew that he was also not someone who Gongzi You would engage in an idle chat. She was here for business, and an important one.
“What’s with the leaderboard in all the continents?” Ye Ci went straight to the point.
“You’re talking about Golden Era’s move?” Green Hill’s Moon had already accepted many requests recently, and they were always questions about a player’s location, skills, equipment, and strength. The players who were replaced on the leaderboard would also seek information from him.
“Yup.” and this was why Green Hill’s Moon was someone that Ye Ci enjoyed talking to. He could guess her intentions clearly just by listening to her words.
“You want to know how Golden Era players were able to climb the board so fast in such a short window.” Green Hill’s Moon knew that Ye Ci was someone highly intelligent, and he knew what information she needed.
“Green Hill’s Moon, do you know what I like the most about you?” she smiled.
Green Hill’s Moon chuckled in response, “Don’t tell anyone that you like me. I don’t want to have a bounty placed on my head as well. Admire is a better word.”
But his words were ignored by Ye Ci, “You’re smart. You always know what I want. It’s not tiring talking with you.”
“It’s my highest honor to receive such praise from Gongzi You.” and after a short conversation with Ye Ci, Green Hill’s moon proceeded to provide her with the information she sought, “I’ve received a lot of requests from Golden Era. they were never here alone. They must have a department of sorts for things like this.” and he continued after a slight pause, “Oh by the way, I’ve moved to the Middle Continent. I’ll be staying here from now on. You can come find me if you’re free.”
With the rapid development of Green Hill’s Moon business, staying only in the Eastern Continent will severely limit its growth. This was why he immediately moved to Hero City when the new patch was released. This enabled him to receive requests from players from all four continents.
And Green Hill’s Moon continued, “They bought information of players from me. Information like their levels, equipment, skills, pets, and their current location. I thought of it simply as a group of players seeking revenge on someone, so I did not ask questions. Their pay was quite high as well. But requests like this kept coming. I would get dozens of them a day. I was starting to feel that something was up, but nothing was happening, so I did not look further into this matter.”
Green Hill’s Moon let out a long sigh, “But things began to change on the 4th day the patch was released. The players whose information that I sold were dropping from the leaderboard left and right. I was shocked, and I sent some of my people to find out what happened. It seems that those players were assassinated by a group of unknown assailants.”
“They were very discreet, and were doing a very good job in hiding their identities. They did not entirely zero a player, but they would hunt a victim down until his or her level had dropped by 10, loot all their good gear, and disappear.”
“Won’t the players who were attacked receive notification about their assailants’ identity?”
Ye Ci voiced out her question, “They were all from major guilds. Why do these guilds not fight back?”
“Have you heard of August Cherry?” Green Hill’s Moon smiled.
August Cherry?! Ye Ci was shocked. The name was so familiar to her, and yet she could not remember who the person was, “No, I haven’t.”
“She’s a Higher-tier Tailor who was previously not well known. But she found a limited edition blueprint.”
“What sort of blueprint?”
“Have you heard of something called a ‘Secret Cloak’?” asked Green Hill’s Moon.
Ye Ci would of course know what it was. The cloak was sold at the price of as high as 1 million gold in her last life, and only a hundred of them existed in the game.
It was a normal accessory item, but it had the stats that were said to be game breaking.
It could hide the name of a player’s would-be assassin.
This meant that a player who was attacked by players equipped with Secret Cloaks could not identify their assailants, and not even the system would reveal their names.
Of course, it was a knowledge from Ye Ci’s last life, and she could not answer his question truthfully, “Nope. What is it?”
Green Hill’s Moon explained the function of the Secret Cloak to Ye Ci and said, “These cloaks were made by August Cherry. She’s a member of Golden Era.”
Ye Ci was stunned. She did not know that August Cherry was part of Golden era, “This is a BUG! If August Cherry can make one for every member of Golden Era, we won’t be able to fight against them at all!”
“Something like this would of course have a number limit.” Green Hill’s Moon could find himself relating with Ye Ci’s surprise, “Only a hundred of them can be produced from that blueprint. Which means that there can only be 100 Secret Cloaks in Fate.”
Ye Ci found herself frowning, “What are the classes of these assassins?”
“Most of them are Rogues, and sometimes a few Hunters or Rangers. They are always classes with high speed and are very hard to deal with. They would always attack with 10 players who were working well as a team. It seems that they have been practicing for a long time. That’s probably why very few of their victims were able to escape. I think even you would have trouble against such an attack.” and Ye Ci knew very well that Green Hill’s Moon was simply analysing the situation objectively.
