While the two of them were discussing this matter, Wang Xin walked in with two young men dressed in luxury brands.

"I'm telling you, Junlin, you should change the greeters downstairs. It's still the same ones from last time; there's nothing interesting to see."

Wang Xin breezed in, grabbed a glass of wine, and downed it right away.

Gulping Red Wine as if it were nothing—that was so typical of him.

The Three Great Merchants from the game were finally all here.

Junlin laughed and scolded, "I wouldn't lay a finger on my own people, so don't you think about poaching my greeters. Be careful, or I'll tell your dad to cut your allowance."

"Alright, I was wrong!"

Wang Xin immediately backed down.

The other two sat beside Wang Xin. They looked surprised upon hearing that Su Bei was the game's Evil Queen Morgana. The First Combat Power in the game is just a guy fresh out of college? Who would have thought that the fearless Old Mo would be so young? They had missed the last meet-up due to other commitments and had only been able to speculate about the offline lives of some players.

The group sat together, chatting and laughing about the game. Others would take several more hours to arrive, so they weren't in a hurry, enjoying massages while they talked.

"The forums are in an uproar right now; lots of people are waiting for Third Test slots," Wang Xin said with a smile. "Once the Third Test starts, the number of players will definitely double. It's just that no one knows how the Game Designer plans to handle the Third Test Players."

Su Bei, sounding puzzled, asked from the side, "When does this game go into Public Beta? That's when there'll really be a lot of players, right?"

Junlin thought, Public Beta? Indeed. Once the game hits Public Beta, the number of players will peak. By that time, Lingxiao Hall might have to change and recruit more people.

After a moment of thought, Junlin shook his head and said, "I guess this game won't have a Public Beta."

Wang Xin thought, No Public Beta? Is he kidding? The company would only start making real money once the game goes into Public Beta and the player base expands. Without a Public Beta, with just these few players, what's there to earn? But then again, the company behind this game seems like a shell; even Junlin and his team can't find out anything about it. The addition of the Official staff only makes the game even more mysterious. And after all this time, it doesn't seem like the game has any real way to make money. There are player limits and no basic cash shop to speak of. It seems like the game hasn't really earned any money during this period. So, whether it goes into Public Beta or not, it's all the same.

"No Public Beta? Now that's interesting." Wang Xin narrowed his eyes. "If it continues with Internal Testing, the player count probably won't even break ten thousand within a year. Right now, the Second Test Players and First Test Players don't get along. Once the Third Test kicks off, the same issues will likely pop up. The competitive nature of players will be completely revealed, and no one knows what the game will become then."

Just then, the Hall door was pushed open, and a young man poked his head in to look around. He was a stranger that no one recognized, obviously not having attended the last gathering.

"Is this the place? The player gathering spot?" the young man asked, somewhat tentatively.

Junlin smiled and said, "This is the place. Are you a player who missed last time or a Second Test Player?"

"I'm a Second Test Player. I live right here in Demon City, so I came directly." The young man added, "My in-game name is Zhuan Jie!"

Junlin thought, Zhuan Jie? That name kind of rings a bell. He seemed to be one of the players who went clubbing with Xu Xian and the others.

"Feel free to sit; we're all friends here. No need to be so formal." Junlin waved with a smile.

Zhuan Jie nodded lightly but still looked at everyone nervously, especially at Wang Xin and his two companions. He had a strange feeling about them. Zhuan Jie wondered, What's with these three?

Junlin said with a smile, "I'm Junlin, this is Old Mo, the First Combat Power, and those three are the Three Great Merchants you've probably heard of in the game."

Zhuan Jie thought, Old Mo? The Evil Queen Morgana? He's that young? And the Three Great Merchants... aren't they from Cloud Lament? No wonder they were looking at me like that. These three wouldn't beat me up here, would they? Coming here alone was rather rash of me.

Junlin, seeing his concern, explained, "Don't worry; people from Cloud Lament don't fight offline. We're here to discuss the recent updates. It's fine for you Second Test Players to join in as well. No need to worry about anything else. Here, even Flourishing Flowers has to give me some respect."

With Lord Junlin's reassurance, Zhuan Jie felt more at ease. For the players of the Second Legion, their interactions with First Test Players, like Junlin and his team, were somewhat better. Little Boss's group and those from Cloud Lament were too close, showing a cold shoulder to those from the Second Legion.

"Is your Boss Xuanqing coming?" Wang Xin asked with a teasing tone.

Zhuan Jie explained, "Xuanqing has already boarded his plane. Not many people are coming this time. Many don't want to meet with you folks from Cloud Lament, so they chose not to come. Only a few dozen are attending, I think."

HISS— A few dozen? That meant about two hundred players had decided not to come at all. The tension between Cloud Lament and the Second Legion was indeed severe. This couldn't be helped. After all, Flourishing Flowers had almost resorted to threats and bribes to expand Cloud Lament's numbers. Out of five female players, they had managed to recruit four. It would be a miracle if the Second Legion could swallow that.

"Four big spenders decided not to come?" Junlin asked, slightly frowning.

"Yan Guichao came, but Half-Leaf and the others didn't plan to," Zhuan Jie sighed. "Xuanqing has been trying to persuade them, but it hasn't had any effect."

The rivalry between the two factions was already intense, and the introduction of the leaderboard only exacerbated their conflict. The Second Legion had surged forward, pushing Cloud Lament down in the rankings. How would Flourishing Flowers, who cared so much about face, feel about this? All the effort Flourishing Flowers had put in previously not only had no effect but had even resulted in the other side overtaking them. Anyone would feel terrible in that situation, right?

Su Bei spoke while enjoying his massage, "Speaking of which, how did you guys improve your combat Power so quickly? Xuanqing even climbed to sixth place; that's pretty intimidating."

Zhuan Jie, not giving it much thought, blurted out, "We pooled together Contribution Points to buy dual Ultimate Techniques, and then..."

"What? Dual Ultimate Techniques?"

Before Zhuan Jie could finish, Wang Xin and the other two looked over with odd expressions. Wow. How many Contribution Points would it take to allow Newbie Players to start with dual Ultimate Techniques? Cloud Lament only has the Dragon Elephant Prajna Skill, and leveling it up nearly drained them. The Second Legion's players started with dual Ultimate Techniques and still managed to catch up? If Flourishing Flowers heard about this, wouldn't they suspect the Three Great Merchants of secretly selling Contribution Points?

"Where did you get so many Contribution Points to increase your Power?" Junlin asked, also surprised.

Zhuan Jie scratched his head. "We pooled them. For anyone good at fighting, we let them gather Contribution Points to use first. We raised their Power, and then they helped us improve. We have a Talent called Life and Death Together, which allows us to gain seventy percent of the Power of a player in a higher Realm. As long as high-Power players like Xuanqing are online often, those of us in lower Realms can also get a boost from the Talent, directly increasing our combat Power."

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