Chapter Thirty-Five: The Subjugation Altar in the Replica Dungeon

After reviewing his gains, Zhang Shan teleported to the warehouse and carefully stored away the mysterious material, determined not to sell it. If he managed to find something like that pipe again, it could mean another artifact—though the chances were slim, one had to hold onto dreams. Without dreams, one was no different from a salted fish.

He looked over the two orange equipment pieces in his pack, the two skill books, and the seven purple items dropped by the Sacrificial Guard. He decided to ask his guildmates if anyone was interested.

“Orange sword, orange axe, seven trashy purples—anyone want them? Also, two skill books up for grabs: one Revive, one Summon Heavenly General. Any takers?”

“Artifact master is so generous, calling purple gear trash? Poor me, I still have several white boards.”

“What gear did you get? Show us!”

Zhang Shan displayed the nine pieces of equipment and the two skill books, then headed to the auction house to check current prices.

The Revive skill book was still listed at the auction house, starting at one million gold coins, with no buyout option; it had already been bid up to two million. So many wealthy players! The Summon Heavenly General book wasn’t listed—apparently, no one had looted it yet.

As for purple gear, prices varied widely: popular class weapons like axes and staves started at five thousand gold coins, while other purple items went for one to two thousand. Orange equipment was extravagant, with starting prices never below one hundred thousand gold coins. After all, orange gear was a key threshold—only equipment above orange grade had special effects, making their value vastly superior.

“Let me have both books, I’ll take them together for two million gold coins. I’ll convert that to blue currency at the current exchange rate and transfer it to you,” said the beautiful Wind Chime, swiftly claiming both skill books.

“Let’s call it one million; I’ll give you the other book as a gift, to thank you for bringing me into the guild. Otherwise, I’d still be a lone wolf.”

“No need, stick to two million. I’ll transfer the money soon. Buying both books for two million is already a bargain. Bringing you into the guild benefits everyone—it’s not the same as a personal favor.”

Well, it seemed the wealthy didn’t like to owe anyone favors—so straightforward.

“Alright, where are you? I’ll bring them to you soon.”

Just then, Winds of the World spoke up: “Six Pipes, no need to bring them over. Everyone return to the city. To establish the guild, we need to complete a task first, and I suspect it won’t be simple.”

“Received, loading.”

“I’ve returned to the city. Where should we gather?”

“Rendezvous at the Military Officer. Sort out your equipment and supplies before coming.”

Zhang Shan cleaned out his backpack, sold junk equipment to the shop, stored materials and miscellaneous items in the warehouse, and kept the nine pieces of gear and two books for his guildmates. After repairing his equipment, he teleported to the Military Officer’s location.

Upon arrival, he found the area crowded—not only with Winds of the World guild members, but many other players as well.

“Seriously? They’re charging a gold coin just to enter the dungeon—what a rip-off! Have the operators gone mad? Isn’t this supposed to be run by the Alliance government? How is it just as greedy as those shady game companies?”

“The dungeon’s a joke, all monsters inside are level 15, densely packed, didn’t even see the boss before getting wiped.”

It dawned on Zhang Shan: after he slew the boss, the dungeon system had opened—no wonder there were so many people, all preparing to enter.

Could the prerequisite for establishing the guild really be to clear the dungeon? That sounded challenging. If the dungeon’s guardian was the Tribal Sacrificial Priest, even the whole guild together might not be enough.

He checked the dungeon details at the Military Officer’s location.

The Demon Suppression Platform had nine floors: below level 20 entered the first floor, level 20–30 the second, and so on, up to level 90–100 for the last floor. The dungeon also had three difficulty modes: Normal, Hard, and Extreme. Entry allowed 1–50 players.

Sure enough, the first floor was open to those under level 20, which meant the guardian boss was likely level 20—possibly the Demon Priest. That wouldn’t be easy. He wondered what difficulty his boss kill had counted as.

Guild members began to teleport in.

“Boss, what’s the task? Don’t tell me we have to clear the dungeon—it’s tough, we haven’t even reached level 15, how do we clear a level 20 dungeon?”

“That’s right, the prerequisite for establishing a guild is to clear the first floor of the dungeon. No mode requirement, so we’ll try Normal. At least dying in the dungeon doesn’t mean losing levels.”

“Good thing there’s no difficulty requirement—this gives us a chance to clear it.”

“I wonder if Six Pipes’ boss kill outside counts as Extreme mode. If so, Normal should be easier.”

“I doubt it’s that simple. We’ll find out soon. Everyone’s here, let’s go in.”

Zhang Shan traded the two skill books to Wind Chime.

The other equipment was all level 20—no one could use it yet, so it wouldn’t help with the dungeon. Zhang Shan decided to hold off for now.

“Wait, Six Pipes, give me the axe—I’ll pay one hundred thousand gold coins,” Wind Sword called out.

“What’s the rush? You can’t use level 20 gear yet. Who knows, maybe the dungeon will drop an orange axe.”

“If it does, you guys can have it. I want to buy Six Pipes’ axe as backup—and orange gear isn’t that easy to come by.”

“You’re impressive.”

Zhang Shan traded the axe to Wind Sword.

“I don’t have the money now—after the dungeon, I’ll exchange gold coins for you.”

Okay.

“Give me the sword, I’m offering one hundred thousand,” Wind Secretary chimed in.

After trading the sword to Wind Secretary, no one else wanted the remaining purple gear—they were all big shots, unwilling to settle for lesser equipment. He’d just throw it all up for auction later.

“Six Pipes, what about your red gear? Didn’t you say you got some? Surely you’re not using all of it yourself?”

“Yes, I have three red items, all for spellcasters. I’ll give them to Boss World.”

He traded the three red items to Winds of the World and added, “Don’t even mention paying me—or I’ll really get upset.”

“Alright, I owe you a favor.”

“Boss, show us the gear—let us have a look. We haven’t even seen red gear, not even in the auction house.”

Winds of the World displayed the three items: a staff, a robe, and a necklace.

“Wow, isn’t that outrageous? Red gear is this strong? It’s almost as good as an artifact!”

“There’s still a big difference—these are level 20 items. Six Pipes’ artifact is only level 10 now. When he upgrades it to level 20, its stats will be far superior.”

“That’s right. It’s an artifact, after all—not just the stats, but those four special effects are all insanely powerful.”

“Enough chit-chat, let’s enter the dungeon. Hope the guardian is a red boss—I want to take it down, I want red gear, ahh!”

“Let’s go, then.”