Chapter 20: Terrific Move (4) Quickly reading his mind, top external affairs manager Shu Lan said, “Well, a little less than 400,000 people.”
“400,000 people… Increase them to 500,000 by the end of this year. And 600,000 next year! It does not matter how much money you spend. Even if they don"t have the traits, recruit them if they are somewhat competent, and support and grow them!”
Although the Shanghai Clique was outmuscled by the Crown Prince Party and their leader President Xi, in particular, there was a time when they once controlled the Chinese Communist Party by overpowering the Crown Prince Party and the Communist Youth League.
Of course, they acc.u.mulated a tremendous amount of wealth at that time.
Moreover, Jiang Chianglin, the real power of the Shanghai Clique, could lay his hands on it.
“Yes, sir!”
“I will carry out your order!”
Jiang"s men responded right away.
But Shu Lan cautiously raised her hand to say something.
“Go ahead!”
Since her competence had already been verified, Jiang immediately pointed to her.
She said, “Why can"t we do the same thing as the US government did?”
Jiang and other top executives opened their eyes wide at her words.
Confirming their surprise, she immediately continued, “Don"t we have a good place to scout talent? It"s right next to China.”
All of them knew the good place that she mentioned, which was very close to China.
“Good. Do it immediately.”
“Yes, Chairman!”
When the chairman okayed it, everyone responded with a loud voice.
“And finally, we shall strengthen the monopoly of the boss monsters we have secured and the workshops we currently manage. We should not lose any one of them. I can"t even follow President Xi"s order as far as that is concerned!”
“Got it! I will make sure they carry out your direction..”
The meeting led by the top executives of Yanghwa Group led by Chairman Jiang ended finally.
“Ice Ball! Ice Bolt!”
Puk! Puk!
Two stone golems" knees were smashed and pierced through by my Ice Ball and Ice Bolt.
Bang! Bang!
Since one knee supporting the body was smashed, the stone golems inevitably fell.
Of course they were not dead. In other words, I needed another attack to kill them.
“Ice Ball! Ice Bolt!”
However, I used them to target other guys rather than the fallen golems.
Puk! Puk!
I moved to the first two stone golems that fell first, while my skills targeted the other stone golems.
Then I jumped after using an Ice Weapon on a long sword that I obtained while hunting a stone golem.
Soon, my long sword was stabbing the stone golem"s back. But I didn"t watch to the end because Ice Ball and Ice Bolt were on cooldown.
So, I immediately used my skills for another guy. And as soon as I used it, I pulled out a long sword with an Ice Weapon and hit the stone golem again.
Puk! Puk!
It sounded like digging mud, not stone.
At first, the long sword without an Ice Weapon did not penetrate the stone golem like this, even though it cut its body slightly. But the Ice Weapon was more powerful than I thought.
It not only stabbed the stone golem"s body, but penetrated it. Obviously, it was the effect of the ‘Iceman" trait.
Of course, at first, I didn"t intend to hunt like this, and I had never done it like this before.
However, after I allowed the stone golems to attack me as a test, I knew that I could still survive after being bashed by these guys several times.
So, I changed my hunting style slightly.
Namely, as soon as the cooldown was over, I used the Ice Ball and Ice Bolt immediately while I mounted a close-range attack by using the Ice Weapon that the stone golem dropped, dying.
This kind of hunt was unthinkable in the first, second, and third closed betas.
I didn"t even think about it even after choosing the wizard cla.s.s not only in the third closed beta of Forgotten Legend three times but also in other games.
Of course, it would be better to set Intellectual Power, Power, and Agility as Mutual Growth, but there was only one reason I chose to fight this way.
Namely, it was my confidence that even if I"m attacked several times, I would be fine.
I didn"t regret setting them as Mutual Growth because I mounted this type of attack confidently.
“Ice Ball! Ice Bolt!”
Puk! Puk!
My main power was still magic, and I was wrapped into hunting like that, forgetting the time.
“Check the access time.”
-7 hours and 47 minutes have pa.s.sed since you accessed the current game.
“Oh, that"s why…”
I felt like peeing a bit. And I was hungry.
Of course, the VR adaptor itself had a built-in program that indirectly affected one"s physical activity such as urinating, bowel movements, or digestion, but it was not universal.
So, to logout, I turned toward the safety zone which was the starting point of the Golem Habitat.
Of course, I fired Ice Ball and Ice Bolt at the stone golems I met along the way.
When I soon entered the safety zone, I moved to a remote place.
And I just opened my mouth in a low voice.
“Check status.”
Before logging out, I was curious about the status.
[Name: lumen
Level: 50
Kills: 0, Deaths: 0
t.i.tle: The only closed beta max level achiever, Scarecrow Destroyer.
Health: 605000/605000 Mana: 540000/540000
Strength: 715 Agility: 711 Stamina: 2010
Willpower: 1360 Intellectual Power: 2020
Remaining stat points: 400
Remaining skill points: 1
Trait: Iceman, Mutual Growth, G.o.d of Enhancement.]
I came here exactly at Level 10. And in less than 8 hours, I had reached Level 50.
It was a whopping 40 level increase.
Of course, the EXP required for leveling up would increase steeply over time.
And my leveling up would also be slower.
When I hunted a group of 5 stone golems, my level went up by seven, namely one or more levels per one stone golem. But when I pa.s.sed Level 20 and Level 30, my leveling up was noticeably slower.
Of course, I wasn"t really worried because I could say with certainty that even the current speed of my leveling up was also faster than that of anybody else"s, and sooner or later, I planned to move to a place with more powerful monsters.
“Then what about investing all these?”
I invested all of the remaining 400 stat points in Intellectual Power without hesitation.
Then, Intellectual Power now showed a figure of 2420. Of course, Physical Strength also increased to 2410. The difference of 10 came from the items I currently wore.
The increase due to the item did not apply to Mutual Growth.
Anyway, after confirming that Willpower had changed to 1560 after increasing by 200 right after Stamina, I logged out smilingly.
Then I went to the bathroom and enjoyed my late lunch with various side dishes delivered from my home, thinking of getting back to the game.
Five days later, I woke up exactly at 7:30 in the morning.
Then I washed, had cereal for breakfast, and went straight to the game.
After playing the game until 1:00 PM, I logged out. I had lunch, and took a nap for about 30 minutes to an hour for a break.
Then I continued to play the game in the afternoon. I logged out exactly at 6:00 PM.
Then I did an hour of exercise or jogging before I ate dinner and surfed the Revival Legend homepage once again, and accessed the game again. And I played it until 1:00 AM the next day. Then I logged out and went to bed immediately.
Of course, I vowed that I would become a game addict, so much so that I would no longer look back at games in my life after that.
That"s why I just blindly played the game until 5 or 6 AM on the first, second, and third day.
Then I fell asleep after confirming that the sun was rising.
I thought that was the right att.i.tude as a game addict who had to play the game properly.