Chapter 663: A Conversation with Chan Dou Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The 46th checkpoint of the Heaven Alliance was built on one of the thickest tree branches. The branch, including hundreds of leaves that grew at its tips that covered an area with a circ.u.mference that spanned thousands of kilometers. The entire area belonged to the Heaven Alliance.
Lin Huang followed after Chan Dou, but he realized that they rarely met any Heaven Alliance members on their way. Lin Huang felt strange as he remembered Yao Lan telling him before that there were thousands of Heaven Alliance members.
As they reached the end of the branch, Lin Huang could finally see the leaves of the Stairway Tree. It was somewhat different from what Lin Huang had imagined earlier as the leaves that grew on the Stairway Tree were of peculiar shapes. They were not of the ordinary leaf type. Instead, they looked more like islands of various forms. On top of the island, different hemispherical white bubbles enveloped the leaves in the front.
Before reaching the leaves that were wrapped in bubbles, Chan Dou pressed against the bubble, and soon, a small door that was about two meters high was activated. “This is the Heaven Alliance"s territory. Most of the leaves are opened to the Heaven Alliance members. If you want to enter any of the dimensions through the leaves, you"ll have to place your hand that you used to sign the agreement on top of the bubble. The bubble will activate the door. Of course, some of the places are restricted at the 63rd checkpoint, and only the chief and vice chief are allowed to enter.”
After finis.h.i.+ng his words, Chan Dou strode into the bubble. The opening of the bubble immediately closed right at that instant as he entered and Lin Huang was blocked.
Lin Huang did according to what Chan Dou told him, placing his right hand on the bubble. Soon, a small, black door was activated, and Lin Huang immediately entered.
Lin Huang then discovered that there was a looming building that looked like the Union Government"s building upon entering.
“The leaf belongs to the Union Government. Therefore, the style of the buildings will somewhat look like the Union Government"s office. We didn"t bother renovating though, and these buildings are used as an office,” Chan Dou explained. Soon, he guided Lin Huang to their office.
In the living hall, a tall man wearing a suit stood stiffly. He slightly nodded his head as he greeted Chan Dou and sized Lin Huang up.
“He"s the person in charge of the 46th checkpoint, w.a.n.g Zhong.” Chan Dou gave a brief introduction and told w.a.n.g Zhong, “I"ll talk to him. You may come later.”
w.a.n.g Zhong nodded and guided the both of them to the meeting room. He then left.
“Please take your seats.”
On the table in the meeting room, w.a.n.g Zhong had already prepared two cups of tea. Chan Dou did not sit at the head of the table. Instead, he merely pulled a chair out and sat down.
Lin Huang sat opposite him. He thought that it would be Chan Dou"s clone who would meet him today. However, after he witnessed him killing the four men who attempted to rob him within seconds, he knew that this was his real body.
“Firstly, I"d like to welcome you on behalf of the Heaven Alliance members. To be honest, I was mentally prepared for the rejection when I sent you the invitation yesterday.” Chan Dou laughed.
“I originally had no intention of accepting the invitation. However, there was a sudden change.” Lin Huang did not tell him the exact reason.
“It seems like I"m quite lucky.” Chan Dou did not ask any further. “Since you"re already our member, I"ll briefly introduce the Heaven Alliance to you.”
“The Heaven Alliance was established 783 years ago. It"s the first organization that exists in the virtual reality during the new epoch. It"s also the only genius organization. As Division 1 expanded, the number of geniuses increased. We were then divided into different alliances. As Division 2, Division 3, and the safe zones were being developed, the rest of the organizations started to join in. Some of the sub-alliances gained independence due to specific reasons, and they are now called the Hong Alliance, the Tang Alliance.
“Over the past 700 years, the Heaven Alliance has been the leader among all the alliances in the Genius Union. Privileges are granted to members of the Heaven Alliance. For instance, we use points to exchange items in the Genius Union. All the items are offered at 30% off. As for the chief and the vice chief, they are eligible to enjoy a 40% discount on all items. On the other hand, the chief and the vice chief of Hong Alliance enjoy only 30% discount off. Moreover, many rewards are given to the members each month which are twice of what is awarded to the Hong Alliance members that rank second in the Genius Union. In reality, priority such as choosing the new ruins and gaining access to the ruins is given to us by the Emperor"s Heart.
“Of course, because we"re the leader, our actions are often monitored by the people. Some of the vice chiefs opposed my suggestion and the main reason is that during this period, there"ve been too many comments about you.”
Before Chan Dou finished his last sentence, Lin Huang already knew that many of the Heaven Alliance members did not want a cheat to join them as it would ruin their reputation.
“Why did you choose to stand by my side?” Lin Huang doubted.
“It"s because you"re really a strong person. Although I"ve no idea how you managed to do it, it would"ve been impossible for me to earn eight million points at the 21st checkpoint when I was still a blue flame-level. I won"t even be able to do that when I"m a gold flame-level. Moreover, for a blue flame-level to get to the 46th checkpoint, even if I have the strategy, it"s less likely for me to achieve this.” Chan Dou admitted that he would be weaker than Lin Huang if they were of the same level. He did not want to mention that he might have cheated.
“If you don"t die young, when you achieve immortal-level rank-9, your abilities can be compared to mine or be even stronger. I don"t wish to see such a young plant being dumped to grow in the wilderness and end up dying together with the rank gra.s.ses. You"ll only be able to grow into a ma.s.sive tree in rich soil. I hope that the Heaven Alliance will be the one to help you instead of the other organizations.”
“Thank you for your compliment. I"m just a blue flame-level…”
“This is just your temporary combat strength. I believe that you"ll grow up soon and prove to everyone that I"m right. You must show them that they are wrong!
“To be honest, over the past 20 to 30 years, we usually recruit those who are higher than immortal-level rank-6 or rank-7. It"s less likely that we"ll recruit those who are weaker than immortal-level rank-3. Most of the talented immortal-level rank-1 to rank-3s will typically be recruited by the Hong Alliance, the Tang Alliance, and the rest. They"ve been expanding all these years as the immortal-level of low ranks have leveled up to higher levels. However, those with strong combat strength in our alliance have left, and the number of people is decreasing.
“I realize that this is the downside since I took over the Heaven Alliance. However, I"ve no idea how to solve this issue. I hope that you can do something good for the Heaven Alliance. When the seniors see that the newbie is growing, we can then bring in new blood into the Heaven Alliance, so that the alliance can grow stronger…”
After having chatted with Lin Huang for more than half an hour, he was the one who ended up talking most of the time whereas Lin Huang listened to him. He had told him about many of their glorious achievements in the past, and about the challenge that they were facing right now as well as the Heaven Alliance"s vision. They even talked about the disasters that could probably happen in five years and some topics that were not related to the Heaven Alliance.
“I wanted to meet you as I"d like to know what kind of person you were. Now, I got to see you in the flesh. Despite being different from what I imagined, I"m satisfied with you.” More than half an hour later, Chan Dou finally got up from his seat. “I wish that you can build a sense of belonging in the Heaven Alliance and treat it like your home.
“As for the new member reception, I"ll pa.s.s it to w.a.n.g Zhong. If you"ve any doubts, you may ask him.” Chan Dou patted Lin Huang"s shoulder and said, “If you encounter any problems that you can"t solve, you may directly contact me since you already have my contact number.”