5: Chapter 5: Getting Rich Quick and Collecting Protection Money

The friend who sent the message had a profile picture of a young man in his twenties; he looked several years older than Lin Xiao and was clearly not a classmate from Morning Star No.1 High School.

Lin Xiao's face showed no confusion as he clicked on the message.

"As agreed, this is what I brought for you; I am handing it over now."

A trade request was sent over.

Lin Xiao chose to accept, then placed one Source Crystal on it, and the trade was completed instantly.

[You have obtained a Random Hero Token (Rare)]

A Rare-grade Hero Token immediately appeared in Lin Xiao's backpack.

"Thank you, Brother Li."

Lin Xiao thanked him politely.

"It's nothing, just a transaction." The other party stopped speaking.

Lin Xiao then contacted the other two people.

Soon, a Rare-grade Troop Token and a Rare-grade Source Crystal Card appeared in his backpack.

These three Rare-grade items each occupied one of Li Qiang and the others' item slots; in a sense, they could be considered Lin Xiao's blood bags.

Similar situations are not uncommon in the Main World.

When wealthy and powerful factions or large Families have descendants they value enter the Chaos Source Sea, they will arrange for some blood bags to bring in countless resources, allowing the latter to grow at the fastest possible speed.

However, people who meet the criteria are not that easy to find.

The number of new Lords entering the Chaos Source Sea each year is already small, and not just anyone can be a blood bag; they need to have decent strength themselves.

Otherwise, even if they only lose one item slot, their probability of passing the Seven-Day Assessment would drop significantly.

Lin Xiao's parents are only mid-level Lords, and their foundation is far inferior to those large Families and factions. Moreover, they do not expect Lin Xiao to reach a very high Rank within just seven days, so they only found Li Qiang and the other two.

With the strength of Li Qiang and the others, the impact would not be too great if they only lost one item slot.

After the Seven-Day Assessment, when they return to the Main World, they will receive compensation provided by Lin Xiao's parents, so Li Qiang and the others are not at a loss; besides, Second-Generation Lords do not get any Seven-Day Assessment rewards anyway.

[You have obtained 1,000,000 Source Crystals.]

After Lin Xiao used that Rare-grade Source Crystal Card, he immediately obtained 1,000,000 Source Crystals, instantly becoming wealthy.

Opening the trading market, Lin Xiao began to sweep up goods.

Food, buy.

Timber, buy.

Stone, buy.

The basic resources lacking for upgrading to a Rank 1 territory were immediately replenished, leaving only the territory size missing.

Once Jiang Yao and the others clear a layer or two, that requirement will also be met.

Lin Xiao opened the Morning Star No.1 High School chat group.

At this moment, someone in the group was tagging him.

"Gao Yue: Lin Xiao, are you interested in joining my guild?"

"Gao Yue: As long as you are willing to come, you will be in the guild's management."

Gao Yue, a prominent figure at Morning Star No.1 High School.

His fame is much greater than Lin Xiao's; it is said that the Gao Family of Morning Star City has a high-level Lord overseeing it.

Lin Xiao clicked on Gao Yue's profile; the other party had made some information public.

"Already a Rank 1 territory."

"As expected of the Gao Family, they are indeed wealthy and imposing."

Lin Xiao could not help but sigh; the Gao Family clearly prepared far more blood bags for Gao Yue than his own, which is why he was able to upgrade his territory to Rank 1 in such a short time.

Territory size not enough? Just use an expensive territory expansion card to generate it.

This is just Morning Star City; looking at the East Province, or even the entire Main World, there are likely quite a few people who are already Rank 1 territories.

Fortunately, they are not counted; otherwise, the First-Generation Lord rewards Lin Xiao could receive would be greatly discounted.

"Join a guild?"

Lin Xiao's heart stirred slightly.

A guild is a common organization for Lords to watch over and help each other, and to huddle together for warmth. After all, after the Seven-Day Assessment, they will leave their single-player state and can be searched for by other Lords in the First Source Sea.

Invasion and counter-invasion, war and plunder, are problems every Lord must face.

Although internal war is strictly prohibited within the Human Race, there are countless other races in the First Source Sea, and they will not show any mercy when invading.

Under these circumstances, it is only natural for weak Lords to join a guild, pay some resources, and seek the protection of the strong.

After all, not all Lords will become War Lords.

There are also many Lords who follow the logistics route.

"Lin Xiao: Many thanks to classmate Gao Yue for your kindness, but I do not intend to join a guild for the time being."

"Lin Xiao: By the way, I wonder if anyone is interested in signing a contract with me, exchanging a certain amount of resources for one instance of vassal-level protection from me."

Lin Xiao spoke in the group.

He thought clearly about it; joining Gao Yue's guild would not yield him high returns.

The lion's share of the guild would definitely be taken by Gao Yue, the guild leader, and only the remainder would be divided among the management; Lin Xiao looked down on that little bit of profit.

Establish his own guild?

There are only a little over a hundred Lords in Morning Star No.1 High School; it is very difficult for him to compete with Gao Yue. As for recruiting from the regional channel, his fame is too low, so it is basically not worth considering.

As soon as Lin Xiao said this, the chat group suddenly went quiet for a while.

This was equivalent to saying that he was preparing to start collecting protection money.

"Vassal-level protection?"

"What should I do? I'm actually tempted."

"Is it real or fake? Lin Xiao, can you really do it?"

Many people in the group suddenly became interested and spoke up one after another.

A vassal is a closer relationship than a guild; vassal Lords need to hand over most of the output within their territory, and even the development of their own territory must follow the arrangements of the master Family.

Correspondingly, when a vassal Lord is invaded, the master Family must also dispatch troops to help the vassal Lord survive the danger.

What Lin Xiao was talking about was certainly not that kind of true vassal relationship, just a temporary one, but it was enough to be tempting.

This is much more effective than guild protection.

Joining a guild requires handing over far fewer resources, but the protection provided by the guild will not be very significant.

After all, with so many guild members, how could they possibly protect everyone? If the invading Lord is powerful, it is common for the guild leadership to turn a blind eye.

Lin Xiao's protection contract, however, requires dispatching troops for rescue regardless of the enemy's strength.

"Vassal-level protection? Is he crazy?"

In one territory, Gao Yue looked at the message sent by Lin Xiao, his eyes filled with disbelief. You must know that even he would not dare to play like this.

After the Seven-Day Assessment, the alien Lords they encounter will not just be new Lords from the same batch, but also veteran Lords who have developed in the First Source Sea for many years.

If a guild member were truly unlucky enough to be invaded by those powerful alien Lords, he would not dare to reinforce them either.

"Could it be that Lin Xiao opened some high-quality item in a regional treasure chest, which is why he has such confidence?"

Gao Yue speculated in his heart; he thought for a moment and did not say anything.

"Whatever, it doesn't affect me much anyway."

Don't look at how many people in the group expressed interest; not many will actually approach Lin Xiao.

Everyone is not stupid; this kind of highly binding contract requires extremely high demands on Lin Xiao's strength. Even if he has other opportunities, how many people can he really protect?

It won't affect Gao Yue's recruitment efforts.

The facts were indeed so; in the end, only three people approached Lin Xiao.

Lin Xiao was not picky; through the System, he established a contract with them, determining the rights and obligations of both parties.

The contract stipulated that the three must hand over resources worth 100,000 Source Crystals to Lin Xiao during the Seven-Day Assessment, otherwise it would be automatically void.

Honestly, one instance of vassal-level protection for only 100,000 Source Crystals is definitely cheap.

But if the price is too high, not many people would be able to afford it; after all, they still need to develop themselves, and it is impossible for them to die during the Seven-Day Assessment for the sake of future protection.