123: Chapter 123 A Crazy Business Ambition! Turning the Guild into a Money Printing Machine!

The night was as dark as ink, thick enough to seemingly drip like water.

Deep within the Black Wind Mountain Range, withered vines and old trees bared their fangs and claws in the cold wind, like countless vengeful ghosts lurking in the shadows. Qin Ji's figure moved like a ghost, silently weaving through the jagged rocks, his combat boots treading on rotting leaves without making a sound.

One moment he was outside Black Wind City watching the collapse of order; the next, he had already ventured deep into this lawless land.

In a hidden mountain hollow ahead, several faint campfires flickered in the wind, illuminating a group of ragged yet fierce-looking men.

“Who goes there?!”

The sentry on guard was just about to raise his rusty iron blade when a black-robed figure swept past the firelight and stood in the center of the camp.

A burly man in animal skins sprang up from a boulder. His bloodshot, tiger-like eyes burst with an astonishing light the moment he saw the newcomer. He rushed to Qin Ji in three steps, his normally gruff voice trembling with uncontrollable emotion.

“The item... did you get it?”

Qin Ji didn't waste words. With a flick of his wrist, a crystal emitting a faint blood-red glow appeared in his palm.

Inside the crystal, a heart seemed to be sealed, still beating. Every throb sent subtle ripples through the surrounding air.

[heart of the lord (Common)].

Though it was only of the lowest quality, in the eyes of the burly man, it was no different from a ticket to heaven.

“This is it... this is our hope!”

The burly man reached out with trembling hands. Those hands, which remained steady as a rock even when wielding a thousand-pound axe, now cradled the weightless crystal as carefully as if it were a newborn baby.

With this, their band of Rebel Army, who had been hiding like rats in the Black Wind Mountain Range, finally had a foundation to stand on.

“Thank you.”

The burly man took a deep breath and tucked the heart of the lord close to his body. Then, he solemnly pulled an old copper badge from his tunic. The surface was engraved with the national emblem of the Star Kingdom, but a unique wheat-ear pattern circled the edge, exuding an air of ancient history.

“We are going to the Land of Chaos; the Star Kingdom is no longer our home. Keeping this badge is just for sentimentality, I might as well give it to you.”

Qin Ji reached out and took it.

It felt slightly heavy in his hand, with the characteristic cold texture of metal.

He hadn't held much hope initially. After all, in the setting of ragnarok, the Star Kingdom was merely a low-level map with a maximum of two advancements, commonly known as “Newbie Village Plus.” Regional items produced in such places usually became junk once they crossed the border.

However, the moment his fingertips touched the back of the badge, a line of pale gold attribute descriptions caught his eye.

[Adventurers Guild President's Badge (Special · Unique)]

Requirement: None.

Effect: Automatically grants the status of “Star Kingdom Adventurers Guild President” upon being equipped. The holder possesses the supreme authority to establish, operate, and manage Adventurers Guilds in any city within the Star Kingdom.

Current Status: Activated.

Special Permissions: Fund Allocation, Quest Posting, Tax Exemption (Guild business only).

Durability: 100/100.

Qin Ji's pupils constricted slightly.

A regional item?

No.

This was clearly a key to a vault door!

His gaze lingered on the word “operate” for a full three seconds, as countless streams of information about financial operations from his past life flashed through his mind.

In this game, what did the Adventurers Guild represent?

It was the officially recognized absolute authority, the mandatory hub for all NPCs and players to accept quests and settle rewards. Its credibility even surpassed that of the Kingdom's royal family to some extent.

If he utilized this credibility to transform the Adventurers Guild from just a quest agency into... a bank?

The corners of Qin Ji's mouth curled into an uncontrollable arc.

Players needed to store gold coins, and NPC merchants needed capital turnover. If he announced “interest on deposits” in the name of the Guild President—even if it was only one-thousandth daily interest—the sheer volume of the base would allow him to instantly absorb a massive amount of liquid capital!

One had to realize that gold coins in this game were a hard currency that could be directly exchanged for real-world money!

“This is a cornucopia...”

Qin Ji murmured to himself.

Once the capital pool was established, he could exploit the time difference or launch high-interest loan services (enhanced by special skills) to frantically plunder wealth in this unregulated game world.

This wasn't just a badge; it was clearly a legal money-printing machine!

“A good deal.”

Qin Ji stowed the badge away, his smile becoming a bit more sincere. “Good luck to you in the Land of Chaos. Though there are no laws there, sometimes fists are more useful than laws.”

After bidding farewell to the Rebel Army, Qin Ji's figure flickered and merged back into the darkness.

His next target was the Devil's Den.

Since the Black Robe Leader's quest was complete, he naturally had to claim every bit of the reward that belonged to him.

...

Deep within the Devil's Den, it was cold and damp.

Sunlight never reached this place, and the air was thick with a faint scent of sulfur. Nether torches embedded in the walls emitted a ghastly green light, stretching the shadows in the cavern into distorted and hideous shapes.

The Black Robe Leader sat upon a throne of bleached bones, toying with two skulls in his hands.

As Qin Ji entered the hall, two ghostly fires ignited within the eyes hidden beneath the Black Robe Leader's hood.

“I knew you would return, but I didn't expect you to come so soon.”

The Black Robe Leader's voice was hoarse and grating, like two rusted iron plates rubbing together. With a casual wave of his hand, two streaks of light flew toward Qin Ji.

An ancient quest scroll.

An equipment evolution scroll emitting a purple glow.

Qin Ji caught them. His gaze swept over the equipment evolution scroll, and once he confirmed it was correct, he focused his attention on the quest scroll.

[Blessing of the Gods (Prequel Quest Scroll)]

Quest Description: Night Walkers should not only live in dark sewers. The Black Robe Leader's ambition goes beyond mere destruction; he hopes the Star Kingdom can have two regimes—where light and darkness coexist.

Quest Requirements: Assist the Night Walkers in establishing a legal regime within the Star Kingdom and gain actual control over at least three main cities.

Quest Rewards: Free Attribute Points +100, Blessing of the Gods +1.

Failure/Rejection Penalty: Unknown.

The air in the hall seemed to freeze.

Qin Ji looked at the text on the scroll, his brow furrowing until it formed a deep “river” shape.

What is this?

Raising the price on the spot?

“We agreed before that capturing Black Wind City was the only condition.”

Qin Ji slowly closed the scroll, his voice so calm it betrayed no emotion. “Now this ‘establishing a regime’ on here—isn't that a bit too greedy?”

The Black Robe Leader shrugged, his movements carrying a hint of roguishness. “I think it's quite reasonable. After all, a reward on the level of ‘Blessing of the Gods’ can't be obtained just by capturing a single city. If you think it's unreasonable, you're more than welcome to return the scroll to me.”

“Return it to you?”

Qin Ji let out a soft chuckle that echoed through the empty hall with a chilling coldness. “In my dictionary, the word ‘return’ doesn't exist. Furthermore...”

He looked up, his purple-gold pupils staring directly at the Black Robe Leader on the throne. “You seem to have misunderstood one thing. I'm helping the Night Walkers not because I want to help you, but because it suits my interests. So, if you were to die, it shouldn't affect my ability to complete the quest, right?”

Before his voice had even faded, killing intent manifested!

Hearing this, the Black Robe Leader was stunned for a moment before bursting into wild, unrestrained laughter that caused debris to fall from the cavern ceiling.

“Hahaha! Snow Emperor, you really are an interesting player!”

He stood up abruptly, black energy surging around him like venomous snakes slithering through the air. “You think that because you crushed those trash in Black Wind City, you're qualified to challenge me? Whether you can kill me—well, you're welcome to try!”

Twang!

His answer was the crisp snap of a bowstring.

Qin Ji raised his hand and fired three arrows in rapid succession. The feathered arrows tore through the air, heading straight for the Black Robe Leader's face with a shrill whistle.

Puff!

The arrows pierced the Black Robe Leader's body, but it was as if they had been shot into a cloud of mist.

The Black Robe Leader's figure instantly collapsed into dozens of wisps of black smoke that scattered through the air, making it impossible to pin down his physical form.

Infinite Displacement!

This was the Black Robe Leader's signature move and the trump card that had allowed him to survive countless encirclements. As long as the black smoke wasn't extinguished, he could be reborn from any wisp, making it a seemingly unsolvable survival skill.

However, there was no surprise on Qin Ji's face.

His gaze didn't even follow the scattering black smoke; instead, he shifted his eyes slightly toward an inconspicuous stone pillar on the left side of the hall.

“Left three, back two, condense!”

While reciting the formula in his mind, Qin Ji drew the jiu he long bow to full tension again.

This time, without the slightest hesitation, he fired a predictive shot into the empty Void Realm.

Whoosh—!

At the exact moment the arrow was about to reach that point, a wisp of black smoke happened to condense there. The Black Robe Leader's figure had just appeared and hadn't even found his footing when the arrow, as if it had eyes, precisely nailed into his shoulder blade!

“Ugh!”

The Black Robe Leader let out a muffled groan, his eyes filled with disbelief. “How is this possible?! How did you know I would appear here?!”

Although the landing points of Infinite Displacement seemed random, they were actually guided by the flow of shadow magic, following an extremely complex internal logic. This secret was unknown even to the other two leaders of the Devil's Den. How did this Outlander see through it?!

Qin Ji didn't bother to explain.

To him, possessing memories of his past life, this so-called “unsolvable mechanism” was merely a strategy he had long since memorized by heart.

Strike while the enemy is down!

Qin Ji's fingers became a blur as the vibrations of the bowstring merged into a single sound, like a symphony of death.

-216990!

-216991!

-433980 (Critical)!

Crimson damage numbers floated up from the Black Robe Leader's head. Even for a BOSS-level health pool, it began to plummet visibly under such terrifying output.

“Damn it! Damn it!!”

The Black Robe Leader was completely enraged.

He, the grand leader of the Devil's Den, was being suppressed and beaten by a player?

“Snow Emperor! Do you really think I'm some soft target you can just squeeze?!”

Boom!

An extremely frigid aura erupted from within the Black Robe Leader, and the black energy swirling around him instantly condensed into frost.

Eye of Frost · Passive Triggered!

Attacks carry a freezing effect and deal double damage to frozen targets!

“Die!”

The Black Robe Leader roared and stopped evading. His figure turned into a pitch-black blur, charging forward through Qin Ji's rain of arrows. Black energy swirled around his palm, corroding the air with a sizzling sound wherever it passed.

Too fast!

This explosive lunging speed almost exceeded the reaction limits of current players.

Qin Ji's brow furrowed slightly. Close-quarters combat wasn't his forte, especially in such a cramped space. He instinctively raised the jiu he long bow horizontally to block.

Bang!

The hand wreathed in black energy slammed heavily against the Golden-grade bow's body.

There was no massive impact as expected; instead, it felt like a hot iron pressing into butter.

Sizzle—

That mass of black energy actually began to frantically corrode the material of the longbow. The originally shimmering golden body dimmed instantly, and fine cracks even appeared on the surface.

[System Notification: Your weapon “jiu he long bow” has been hit by “Abyssal Corrosion.” Durability has significantly decreased!]

Durability -1!

Durability -1!

...

In the blink of an eye, this top-tier weapon that had accompanied Qin Ji for so long saw its durability drop below the 90 mark!

“What a sinister technique.”

Qin Ji's gaze turned cold. If he blocked a couple more times, this bow would likely be ruined.

He made a decisive move, flicking his wrist and putting the jiu he long bow back into his inventory.

Without a weapon to block, the Black Robe Leader's lethal palm strike drove straight through, slamming hard into Qin Ji's chest!

“Die!!”

A cruel light flashed in the Black Robe Leader's eyes. This strike contained the dual powers of Abyssal Venom and Frost; any fragile leather-armor class at this stage would surely be killed in one hit!

Thud!

A muffled sound.

Qin Ji's body was sent sliding back several meters by the strike, his feet plowing two deep furrows into the hard rock floor.

However, the expected scene of his body exploding and him turning into light to Rebirth did not happen.

Qin Ji patted the spot on his chest where he had been hit. Only his clothes were slightly damaged; there wasn't even any redness or swelling on his skin.

A damage number slowly floated above his head:

-111125.

Followed by a notification for continuous poison damage:

-1500.

-1500.

The air suddenly went silent.

The Black Robe Leader remained in his striking pose, frozen in place, his eyes nearly popping out of their sockets.

One... one hundred and eleven thousand?

His full-power strike had only dealt 111,000 damage?!

One had to know that this was an attack that could shatter even a heavy-armored knight in one hit! What kind of monster was this Archer?!

Qin Ji glanced down at his health bar.

That imperceptible sliver of loss wasn't even as fast as his automatic health regeneration.

“Is that it?”

Qin Ji raised an eyebrow, his lips curling into an extremely mocking arc, his eyes looking as if they were observing a child who hadn't eaten. “I thought you were supposed to be tough, but after all that fuss, it turns out you're just a scratching master.”

“You...”

The Black Robe Leader felt a tightness in his chest, nearly spitting out a mouthful of blood from pure frustration.

“Scratching?!”

“My single strike can wipe out a hundred-man raid group, and you call this scratching?!”

“Since your turn is over.”

Qin Ji slowly pulled a spare Heavy Sword from the Void Realm. Although it wasn't as familiar as his bow, it was good enough for smashing people. He cracked his neck, the joints popping, as he stepped toward the Black Robe Leader, who was questioning his very existence.

“Now, it's my turn.”

Under the dim firelight, the shadow of Qin Ji raising his Heavy Sword stretched long, like an executioner about to carry out a sentence, coldly looming within the Black Robe Leader's pupils as they shifted from shock to terror.