Over these past three years, Conviction released two new dungeons, Chaos Temple and Sword of the War God. Both accelerated the levelling speed of players. More and more people completed their second class advancements, with Masters becoming commonplace. All sorts of powerful equipment dropped from the two new dungeons.
Asskickers United's strength had grown by an astonishing degree. The main guild had over 1,000,000 members, and the 30 or so branch guilds combined together had another 9,000,000 members. Among all these guilds, the now had 10,000 Masters.
After Nie Yan's departure, many outstanding talents rose up from the Righteous Faction. Some could even rival Bladelight, Sun, and the rest. Not to mention the even greater number of players who entered the ranks of experts after coming across a lucky encounter.
As for the Evil Faction, Fallen Angel also underwent tremendous growth, their strength rivalling Asskickers United's. Even though the two great powers butted heads occasionally, there was no sign of a big conflict. If a war did occur, neither side would win.
Smoke Stub arrived outside the Starry Night Potion Shop. The branch in Okoron was a Tier 16 building. The size of a large mall, its architectural design was distinctly from the Abernathy Great Grasslands, giving off an ancient tribal feeling.
The shop was bustling. Players browsed the hundreds of thousands of different potions on display. The number of transactions processed by the Starry Night Potion Shop every day was extremely frightening. In this establishment alone, there were 60 counters and hundreds of sales clerks processing purchases.
Smoke Stub walked to the very back of the shop and entered a side room only members of Asskickers United were allowed to enter. A dozen people were already there waiting for him.
"Smoke Stub, you're late," an Arcane Mage in silver ashen robes said with a faint smile. It was Tang Yao. He was wearing the Drankto Obscurus Robes, a Level 200 Legendary-grade item. In his hand was the Dark Inheritance Staff. Attached to the tip was a black crystal orb with a nebula of arcane energy circulating inside. Floating above his shoulder was a dark fairy about the size of a small child. The translucent black wings growing from its back fluttered up and down. With every beat, a whirlpool of magic energy would pulse out.
"Sorry, I got held back on the way here," Smoke Stub said with an apologetic smile.
Smoke Stub glanced over the group of people. They were all familiar faces. Since everyone was usually off levelling on their own, they rarely ever got a chance to meet like this.
"It's fine. You can make it up by treating us all to a few rounds of beer in our next get-together!" a tall Warrior laughed. The person speaking was Bladelight. He was taller than the people around him by a head. The Arlan Warsuit he was clad in looked just like a mech suit from the real world, protecting his whole body without a single gap. He got this set from the Chaos Temple. The powerful void metal was impervious to attacks. In his hand was the azure coloured Kelan Divine Shield. It was about half his height, and if he hunkered down, it could protect his entire body. A blue aura constantly thrummed around the shield, making it seem like it had a life of its own. The queer runic engravings were only barely visible under the blue glow.
"Damn, you switched out that dragon shield?" Smoke Stub asked in surprise.
"Its defense was too low for me. I passed it down to Lofty Shadow." Bladelight laughed.
The defense was too low!? Smoke Stub rolled his eyes. If anyone else dared to say that the dragon shield's defense was too low, he'd slap them to tomorrow.
"Alright, enough chatting. Bird prepared the 600 Sage-grade potions we requested. Let's set out," Bladelight said. He was the captain of the team while Young Seven was the vice-captain. There were 36 people in total. They were Asskickers United's top elites.
"Mhm." Smoke Stub nodded.
After the potions were divided up, they teleported to the city outskirts and summoned their flying mounts. Of the 36 flying mounts, there were 19 Rank 9 flying mounts while the rest were Rank 8. Two of them were on the verge of breaking through to the Legendary realm. This kind of lineup was one of a kind.
The 36 flying mounts flapped their wings and took to the skies. They flew in the direction of the Chaos Temple. After passing through the dimensional portal of the temple, you could reach the Sword of the War God. It was an enormous sword floating in the middle of the void. No one knew how long it had been there, but it was petrified. On top of it was a desolate barren. This was one of two great dungeons that came out recently.
...
While in the Righteous Faction everything was peaceful and quiet, something huge happened in the Evil Faction.
Necropolis, the capital of the underworld, was carrying out a grand ceremony.
The appearance of this city was extremely unique. The ground was dotted with an endless sea of gravestones. Walking to the center of the graveyard, one would find an enormous portal gate. Floating just above the gate was a giant eye gazing around at the surroundings. The magic eye emitted a gloomy cold light. Anyone that saw it would feel like it was alive.
After entering the gate, players would be teleported to an underground grave. All around was green corpse water, flowing and crisscrossing every which way like a giant underworld river.
Players who were unfamiliar with this place would easily get lost. After travelling through the river landscape for a while, you would arrive in a massive underground city.
A labyrinth of streets and buildings, it was no different from the cities on the surface.
At this moment, on the main road, a grand ceremony was taking place. Necromancers in black robes raised their staff and summoned up balls of green soulfire, which hovered up and down in the air.
They stood around an altar in the center of the city, muttering cryptic incantations.
The central altar was made out of ashen-gray rocks. It covered a 600-meter wide area. 10 large Sanguine Dragons lay crouched down around the altar, trembling in fear.
Outside were 6,000,000 players observing the ceremony. They converged from the various interlinking streets and made a loud ruckus.
As the Necromancers continuously chanted, a large throne emerged above the altar. An NPC in black robes appeared in front of it and sat down. A long scepter hovered in front of his chest. Attached to the top was a black skull. Its jaw would occasionally unhinge and let out a frightening cackle.
A powerful aura of death radiated from his body, spreading out to the surroundings. All the players on the scene could feel their bodies brimming with strength.
The NPC raised his skull scepter and announced, "I am the Lich King, the ruler of the underworld. My soul is forever undying. In this world, I am the most powerful! Even fate is not beyond my control! I represent the will of the Death God. May death walk with you wherever you go, and spread out to everything you see. Calamity, blight, fear, madness. No mortal can escape death. All will fall into its domain."
Countless gazes focused on the throne. For many people here, this was their first time seeing the Lich King, the unquestionable ruler of the undead. It was rumoured he controlled the entire undead army of the underworld. Every time he set out, 30 bone dragons would pull his carriage. When he declared war, hundreds of millions of undead would surge forward at his call.
The Lich King's powerful aura caused everyone to involuntarily bow their heads.
"My pious believer, come up here," the Lich King's hoarse voice rang out.
A Dark Incantist in gray robes slowly walked up. When everyone saw him, they held their breaths. It was the guild leader of Fallen Angel! Why would he appear here of all places!?
Why did the Lich King call him up there?
They were all curious to find out.
The Fallen Angel players below erupted with thunderous cheers.
The Lich King flicked his wrist. A black crown appear in his hand. It was encrusted with blood red gems, which emanated a dazzling radiance.
Plenty walked up to the Lich King and kneeled down before him.
The Lich King placed the crown on Plenty's head. "From now on, you will be the chairman of the Dark Council, the leader of the underworld. This grace is only given to the most faithful believers. This grace is only given to a member of the Undead Empire who has fought for the glory of the underworld. Countless ancestors relied on their unyielding will to conquer the arrogant and despicable mortals countless times before. Now, you have inherited their will. Shoot down the sun of the Atlanta continent! The soul of Hades, awaken! Bless your believer!"
Everyone was astonished. The Chairman of the Dark Council, just how high of a rank was this title?
Many players suddenly recalled a matter. Wasn't it said that if you collected all six volumes of the Book of Chaos, you could become the Chairman of the Dark Council? Didn't this mean that Plenty had already completed the Book of Chaos? This was an incredibly shocking piece of news!
After Plenty received the crown, the staff in his hand shattered and transformed into a two-meter tall scepter. A powerful aura of death overflowed from his body. He stood up and gazed down at the crowd below.
"I am the new Chairman of the Dark Council! All the members of the underworld are under my command. Those who do not submit to Fallen Angel, shall be killed! All those who oppose me, shall also be killed!" Plenty's sharp gaze pierced the souls of all the spectators, his overwhelming killing intent causing them to tremble in fear.
Plenty's words were extremely arrogant, but he had every right to be. After becoming the Chairman of the Dark Council, there was no one in the underworld that could oppose him.
The Fallen Angel players below felt their blood boiling with excitement. They broke into even more fervent cheers.