Chapter 44: The Top Ten Super Guilds!

Many countries are pouring all their efforts into developing the virtual gaming industry. For instance, in countries like Japan and South Korea, which have small territories but large populations, the virtual gaming industry serves as a pillar of their economies. Many unemployed individuals have become professional players, sharing in the massive cake of the virtual industry.

The development of the virtual industry naturally brings more interest disputes and competing interest factions. To maintain market stability, several major powers organized the world's nations to form an organized, disciplined, and legally protected [Global Player Alliance].

The [Global Player Alliance] consists of many parts, but the ones Lin Mu cares about most are the [Professional Player Alliance] and the [Global Professional Guild Alliance].

The [Professional Player Alliance] is the circle of professional players. It gathers all professional players from around the world and allows them to share professional experiences, techniques, and other data; it functions as a communication circle. Furthermore, within the [Professional Player Alliance], there is a Professional Player Trading Battle-Net Space that only professional players can log into. It contains vast amounts of information, such as high-end player techniques, the trading of various combat arts, player recruitment, professional training spaces, and more. In his past life, Lin Mu loved wandering through the Professional Player Trading Battle-Net Space; he loved the atmosphere there, which allowed him to absorb knowledge and grow like a sponge.

The [Global Professional Guild Alliance] is an alliance formed by professional players who have established super-guilds or large-scale guilds.

The [Global Professional Guild Alliance] serves as a comprehensive leaderboard for guild financial strength, resource quantity, player quality, and global influence.

The Guild Alliance unifies the top 1,000 professional player guilds in the world into a single ranking. The world's strongest guilds are all within this list, and the ranking is recognized by nations worldwide and known to all players, making it extremely authoritative.

Although the ranking has 1,000 slots, players generally prefer to focus on the top 100. This is because every time the Alliance releases updates, the information for every 100 guilds is consolidated into a single page of announcements. Many players dislike flipping through pages, a habit that results in most people only knowing the top 100 guilds while ignoring those further down. For the guilds ranked lower, it is quite tragic; therefore, everyone tries their hardest to break into that first page.

In the Huaxia region, ten super-guilds hold positions on the world rankings. Players across all of Huaxia generally know these ten guilds; their notoriety is incredibly high. Any topic or news related to them becomes a hot industry headline, while other lower-ranked guilds are relegated to being mere background characters.

A top 100 guild ranking is an honor—a global glory. Every guild in the top 100 is backed by major powers, corporate enterprises, or financial conglomerates. Their guild leaders and vice-leaders are wealthy individuals, and the wealth they generate is immense. This motivates ordinary players to work hard and play the game diligently to climb the ladder.

Becoming a wealthy person is the dream of many ordinary people, and Lin Mu was once an ordinary person as well.

In Lin Mu's former social circle, those conglomerate-backed super-guilds were usually the subject of envy and the ultimate aspiration of everyone. However, the current Lin Mu now has the opportunity to stand on the same level as them. A battle of heroes is brewing, and it remains to be seen who will emerge victorious!

The ten super-guilds of the Huaxia region, in order, are: [Dragon City] (3), [Thousand Machine Pavilion] (9), [Free Legion] (13), [Nine Heavens Dragon Radiance] (14), [God of War Guild] (17), [Allure of the Nation] (18), [Southeast Guild] (26), [Qinglin Guild] (34), [Heaven and Hell] (47), and [Divine Radiance Guild] (57).

The rankings vary; [Dragon City] is ranked 3rd globally, while the last one, [Divine Radiance Guild], is ranked 57th. This is still considered very high up. The overall strength of Huaxia guilds is an undeniable force and a "clear stream" on the global stage.

The regions where virtual gaming is highly developed include Huaxia, South Korea, Japan, the United States, various European nations, India, and so on...

There are no specific rankings between countries, but their competition is extremely fierce. From a national perspective, if a country can achieve a high ranking in large-scale virtual gaming tournaments, it is a matter of national pride that increases the country's international influence!

Much like the rankings of the Olympic Games of the old era or the martial arts tournaments of the new era, it brings glory, fame, and fortune, bringing honor to one's ancestors and pride to the nation!

Many professional players in the Huaxia region yearn for these ten super-guilds, wishing to become elites within them. They all harbor similar dreams: to become a captain, to become a legion commander, to marry a beautiful and wealthy woman, and to reach the pinnacle of the game! The thought alone is incredibly exciting.

However, the ten super-guilds are not easy to join. Setting aside character requirements, even in terms of skill, if you don't have some real talent, how can you expect to make it?

In his past life, Lin Mu was only able to be absorbed into the Ji Financial Group's [Divine Radiance Guild]—serving as an elite receiving a generous salary and as a member of a million-player guild—because he had established a territory with great development potential quite early on.

Through his ups and downs, he had served as a gold-farming group leader, a raid leader, a logistics manager, and had even been assigned to the guild's information and resource management department. He even entered the vanguard legion. To his regret, after he made a name for himself, he was used as a scapegoat for certain dirty power struggles and interests. Although the guild did not publicly fire him, none of the guild's resources or power were ever directed toward him again, and he eventually became a pure logistics staff member.

...

The ten super-guilds generally maintain a standing force of professional players numbering in the millions. Naturally, those who receive high salaries are not ordinary people.

Guilds are generally divided into core members, elite members, resident members, ordinary members, and peripheral members.

Members at the resident level and above receive a salary and are considered guild employees, but their freedom within the game world is controlled by the guild.

Ordinary and peripheral members may have higher degrees of freedom, but they enjoy far fewer guild resources. Some peripheral members even have to pay guild maintenance fees or provide game resources, which is quite a rip-off. Nevertheless, many players still scramble and fight to join these guilds.

A little bit of game resources is nothing; joining a major guild is about prestige. If people on the street knew you were part of one of the ten super-guilds, you wouldn't know how many people would look at you with envy and jealousy!

The ten super-guilds are also very popular with game developers. With them, there is a massive player base, and where there are players, profits follow!

Although the ten super-guilds are domineering in the game world, they are not inherently evil. Most of the time, they are reasonable. They value their guild's reputation immensely; if there is a "black sheep" in their ranks, they will expel them immediately. In severe cases, they will blacklist them from the entire industry.

Those who commit evil acts in the game world are generally small to mid-tier guilds with low development potential, few members, and an uncertain future, which leads them to engage in self-destructive behavior.

In his past life, Lin Mu had also been plundered by several tyrannical guilds in *Mythic Three Kingdoms*, causing great losses. Of course, he later had his territory's army destroy the territories of those bully players, returning the favor by burning, killing, and looting to settle the score and vent his anger!

...

Lin Mu carefully examined the system announcements in his attribute panel. He knew that the six major financial groups and the ten major guilds had, either overtly or covertly, established territories. They were governing diligently and occupying corners of the world, secretly accumulating strength for the future.

Lin Mu made a silent comparison. Because he possessed the knowledge and experience of a predecessor, he knew most of the in-game information and historical trends. By utilizing this information, he already possessed substantial capital; he didn't need to worry about money, his population plan was in place, and his territory's development was in full swing with deep foundations. What worried Lin Mu was his own current personal strength.

A "weak Heteromorph"—that was exactly what a player like Lin Mu was. Skills: only one, and it was a support skill for recruitment. Talent: not yet unlocked, but his hidden aptitude was Tier 4. Specialties: two, spearmanship and archery. The only thing he could truly boast about was his level, which had reached Level 32, and that was only thanks to the more than tenfold training bonus from Feng Zhong.

Currently, the various in-game leaderboards had not yet been opened. Lin Mu didn't know the level distribution of other players, but they were likely not high. In the early stages, there are very few places for players to level up; without large-scale battles, leveling progress is extremely slow.

As another day passed, Lin Mu logged off to eat. Using the gaming helmet required him to log off to replenish his nutrition, though he mostly ate instant foods which were very low in nutrition. To save time, Lin Mu endured it. He hadn't been training his physical body much either, so he could only let his physique neglect for a while.

As a Great Lord with hundreds of millions in copper coins, who could compare to him! And yet he was eating low-nutrition food; it truly didn't suit his status. Once he had money and time, he would definitely live a life of luxury, hehe...

When he had leisure time, he would definitely exchange some money to improve his lifestyle. He wouldn't necessarily live like a vulgar nouveau riche, but at least he could change to a better environment, hire a servant to cook and clean the house, so he could free himself from these domestic chores and focus on the great task of his career.

Well, if he encountered a maid to warm his bed, that would be fine too!

And the servant should be someone who can handle both the parlor and the kitchen—cough, cough—and have a good figure. It would just be for the eyes, purely for the eyes, hehe...

Lin Mu's thoughts drifted from great powers to his desires for a better life, and he continued to let out soft chuckles...

Lin Mu walked into the council hall and saw Gouwa sitting on the steps of the hall, playing with a little white dog.

"Gouwa, is your Uncle Changyin here?" Lin Mu asked with a smile.

"Ah, it's Uncle Lord! Uncle Changyin is inside, go in and find him. I won't take you, I want to play with Xiaobai!" Gouwa said, smiling as he patted the little white dog's head.

"How many times have I told you? Call me Brother Lord. Am I that old?" Lin Mu said gloomily. Ever since he became close with Gouwa, the boy no longer acted with the initial shyness. With a child's temperament, innocent and lively, Lin Mu wasn't that old either, yet Gouwa always called him "Uncle." Although it made him the same generation as Changyin and the others, in private, Lin Mu still wanted Gouwa to call him "Brother." He was dashing, in the prime of his youth, a rising star, a generation of Lord... cough, anyway, he was young, yet he was being called "Uncle." Sigh...

"Haha, Father told me to call you that. I'm a good boy, I listen to Father!" Gouwa teased, acting like a truly good boy rather than a mischievous one.

"Hmph, you and 'good boy' go together? Last time you went to Auntie Hong's house, you lured her daughter to the small river outside the village to play in the mud. She was covered in filth, and her mother gave her several slaps on the butt! Now her daughter won't talk to you, right? Haha!" Lin Mu said gossiping.

"Hmph, I was just taking Xiao Hong to see the world. It's so boring staying home all day! Learning tailoring and embroidery is deathly boring. I'll find her to play again later," Gouwa said with a sulky face.

When his father and mother found out about the incident last time, although his father had only scolded him with a bitter smile without hitting him, his mother was actually very pleased. She said he should ideally bring Xiao Hong back to be his wife. Although he didn't know what a "wife" was, his mother's words were always right, so he must bring Xiao Hong back to be his wife.

"Ha ha, aren't you afraid Auntie Hong will chase you around the village with a stick!" Lin Mu laughed.

"I'm not afraid, Auntie Hong can't run faster than me! Hehe..." Gouwa patted the little white dog's head and looked at Lin Mu with a giggle.

"Hahahaha..." Lin Mu patted Gouwa's head and asked, "Did your father tame this little white dog for you?"

"Of course not! Father is always so busy taking care of so many big cows and carefully tending to the pretty chicks. How would he have time for me? I found him in a small woods outside the village. He seems to understand what I say, and I seem to understand him too. It's so much fun! We became good friends after that. Now Xiaobai follows me every day to play!" Gouwa said happily.

As expected, like father, like son. From Gouwa's words, Lin Mu could deduce that the boy must possess extremely high beast-taming talent. To be able to tame a beast and communicate with it at such a young age was extraordinary. It seemed he wouldn't have to worry about beast tamers in his territory in the future, haha...

"Good, good, Gouwa is amazing. Here is a piece of candied hawthorn as a reward!" Lin Mu took out some snacks he had bought from the market and gave them to Gouwa.

"Wow! It's candied hawthorn! I haven't eaten this in so long. Mother used to buy it for me often. Our village doesn't sell it; I've dreamed about it many times!" Gouwa's mouth watered as he quickly snatched the candied hawthorn from Lin Mu's hand.

"Mmm, so delicious, so delicious, so sweet! I'll save some for Xiao Hong and Xiaobai later, mmm, mmm..." Gouwa said excitedly.

"Haha, you even know how to share. Then Brother Lord won't be stingy; I'll give you all the candied hawthorns." Lin Mu had bought about ten skewers from the market, and each skewer cost 100 copper coins.

However, Lin Mu didn't take this to heart; it was just small change. His territory lacked many types of resources and products, and candied hawthorn was just one of them. Many products still needed to be purchased from the outside. Furthermore, the products currently held by players were very low-end; mid-to-high-end products were controlled by the upper classes of the natives. To achieve comprehensive development, he had to venture out! The revolution is not yet successful; comrades must still work hard!

Lin Mu let Gouwa go off to play and walked straight into the hall.

(End of Chapter)